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"Aye; it is verily true," Madama de Thénouris said quietly "as Ecciva hath told it; for a report hath come from Messer Mocenigo, himself. But that is like Carlotta, who leaveth no imagining of her brain untried. She hath even the courage to urge her near connection with Venice through her brother Janus the King, by his marriage with Caterina Veneta!"
"A regal mantle of cloth of gold, with its gleam of jewels for her lorn Majesty who will never again wear aught but trappings of woe, if she might have her will it is a waste of treasure!" "For shame, Ecciva!" "Nay; for we are only we not the Dama Margherita; nor the Lady of the Bernardini. Will the mourning bring back the child? One may weep one's life away in vain."
But the matter is naturally of deep concern for us all," she added, as Ecciva, having recovered her perfect self-control lifted her eyes to Madama di Thénouris with a smile that was intended to thank her for her trust, while assuring her that there was no possible ground for supposing that she had any knowledge of this intrigue.
"The crew were hidden within it," she continued after a moment's pause, "and if there had been pursuit, it would have started swiftly for Venice, to put the Prince in safety." "How came this tale to thee?" Dama Ecciva asked with a sudden twinge of jealousy "we both being of the court?"
But finally the Mocenigo told her plainly: 'The reasons which avail in kingdoms are arms not questions of legality." "It is a theme for a comedy! And Carlotta ?" "Hath sailed again with new wisdom for Rhodes; or, perchance to plan some enterprise that bespeaketh her less mad." "She is not mad but brave!" cried the Dama Ecciva boldly.
"What is 'untrue'?" Dama Ecciva asked, undisturbed. "How may one know? Shall one ask Carlotta? Or Queen Caterina? Or if he might but answer us now the charming Janus? My brain is too little to unravel the mystery."
Dama Ecciva asked lightly, but unconsciously opening and closing her slender henna-stained fingers, straining them into the soft palms with strenuous motions, while she waited for her companion's reply.
"It is thou, perchance, Ecciva, who knowest not how to win the favor of Dama Margherita," ventured one maiden, bolder than the rest; "for with us hath she ever been most gracious. And for Her Majesty, the Queen " But a sudden impulse had come to Ecciva to cover herself with glory by making her companions sharers in the news of which she had gotten knowledge by a fashion peculiarly her own.
And with them was another man wrapped in a cloak the feather of his hat drooping low over his face. And his face I never turned my eyes away from him and I saw it for a moment when the wind swept his feather aside his face was the face of Rizzo!" she whispered the name. "Nay, nay, Ecciva not he! It could not be he!" "Nay, my trusting children; believe your betters, if you will!
"But listen Ecciva they said, 'if we come not again, and our galley should be found waiting on the coast, then tell her that our lives were little to express our love; and she shall not mourn that we have given them for her and for her child. Oh, Ecciva!" she ended with a long sigh of adoring appreciation.
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