They had just told her a thing most strange--a secret that made her
childish heart stand still with wonder, then beat with a sort of
frightened excitement, all unbefitting the new dignity to which she was
called; for she was still enough a child to feel the glamour of it
through all the strangeness, and she had stolen out upon the balcony,
high over the Canal, to say over to herself the words that had been
confided to her--the little maid Caterina.
She dropped the title softly down to the water below, and started at the
echo of her own trembling voice.
_Caterina Queen of Cyprus_: Caterina--Regina!
A swaying figure in a passing gondola glanced up to the balcony of the
old Palazzo Cornaro and the young girl hastily fled, not pausing until
she had reached her own little chamber, looking on an inner court--the
only sanctuary that she could call her own, in all this great ancestral
palace, she, the future Queen of Cyprus.
Had any one heard her murmur those words? Would the Senate know that
some one in a gondola had caught the new title from her own lips? And
so--perchance--to punish the indiscretion--for the Senate was masterful,
never-to-be-disobeyed, and the matter was not to be known until it
should be declared by that solemn body of world-rulers. And if the
gondoliero had carried her word to the Palazzo San Marco----? What if
he had been sent there by the Senate itself to watch and see if she were
already woman enough to be trusted? Then there would be an end to the
golden dream--no coronation--no splendid ceremony of adoption. For there
was more. Before she should be made queen of that distant island she was
to be formally acknowledged "The Daughter of the Republic----" She was
to be made a real Princess of Venice!
What wonder that the heart of this young Venetian maid quivered with the
excitement of these visions of splendor, for by all the traditions of
her ancestors she measured the unwonted honor that was being decreed for
her--no one had yet been adopted "Daughter to the Republic"--the title
was to be created that she might wear a crown, to the further honor of
Venice! For her, who had never worn a jewel, nor a robe of state, nor
taken part in any but the simplest fete, who had never left the walls of
her ancestral palace, save under closest veil and guard--this sudden
vision of freedom and empire was intoxicating.
If she had known of those wonderful tales of the "Arabian Nights" these
things that were happening to her would have seemed more wonderful
still: but her young mind was free of similes--a sensitive blank whereon
the Senate might duly inscribe whatever tendencies seemed judicious; and
after the Betrothal there would be much time.
Caterina had taken courage again and stolen back to the balcony that
opened upon the Canal Grande from the vast upper salon, impelled by her
longing for freedom and light. The ripple of the water to the plash of
passing gondolas took on the note of distance and soothed her like a
lullaby, as the charming maid yielded herself to the golden
daydream--the soft breezes lifting the bright rings of hair that
clustered about her dainty head, while the wonderful light of the skies
of Venice smiled down upon her like a caress. The strangeness slipped
away from the new facts she had been repeating to herself, for she had
already begun to take pride in them; and the other questions that had
troubled her for a moment, were forgotten. All kings were to her
youthful imagination great and noble when they were the friends of the
Republic, and Janus was the close ally of Venice. In this stately
patrician household she had suddenly risen to be first--not only as all
maids are wont to be on the eve of their betrothal, with much
circumstance of laces and brocade and gifts and jewels--but she was to
bring new honor to their ancient house--honor even upon Venice, for her
father had declared that the Senators, the Councillors, all the great
men of the Republic--the Serenissimo himself--would bring her homage. It
was a dizzying dream of glory--beautiful, child-hearted and fancy-free,
she could dream of no more golden vision than the Signoria were
preparing for her.
So many generations of Cornari had gone forth from their palaces
scattered through the great places of Venice, as ambassadors on
momentous missions, or as Senators or Savii, had instilled the lesson of
the glory of service to Venice; and more than once the mighty Lion of
San Marco had set his imperial seal above their portal, and she,
Caterina, was to lead them all in the honor she was bringing upon her
country! If her own estimate of the part she was to play was a foolish
one, only a Venetian patrician maid could comprehend the glamour that
overlay this vision of Caterina's--the royal delivery from bondage--the
unknown delights it must open to her!
"Thou art sent for, _carina_, to the crimson salon; thy Father would
speak with thee."
It was the Lady Fiorenza, who seemed always a little sad to
Caterina--too sad for all the state that surrounded her; too grave to
suit the splendor of her silken robes and gleaming jewels; too weak to
cope with the masterful ways of her lord, the Senator Marco Cornaro. Her
mother's hand almost crushed hers in the strenuous clasp which,
strangely to Caterina, seemed to convey a passionate message of
sympathy; yet surely, at this radiant moment, there was nothing to
regret! She met the love in her mother's eyes with the smile of a
satisfied child, though she would have liked them all to rejoice with
her.
The curtain that hung before the door of the crimson salon was raised by
the page who stood in waiting. Her stately father rose to greet
her--which he had never done before in all her little life. She felt
with a sudden vague discomfort, that the world was changing for her.
"My daughter," he said, with a gravity of demeanor that befitted the
importance of his message, "thou bringest honor, not alone to the Casa
Cornaro, but also to the Republic. I have this day received from the
island of Cyprus--of which thou shalt be Queen--" and he bent his knee,
in courtly fashion before his child, as though he would be first to
bring her homage, "by the hand of the ambassador Mastachelli, this
portrait of thy Lord, Janus, the King; and these Eastern pearls--a royal
gift."
He kissed the little hand which Caterina eagerly stretched out for the
casket; but her mother covered her face with her hands, almost in an
attitude of prayer.
The miniature was blazing with diamonds, and the pearls were more
lustrous than any that had ever been seen in Venice--for Cyprus was even
beyond Venetia in luxury; and Caterina called to her mother, with a note
of triumph, to clasp them about her childish throat.
"I must learn to _look_ a Queen!" she said with a little, playful, regal
air: and then she dropped her eyes upon the beautiful, laughing face of
the royal lover who was to open paradise to her. Her father watched her
furtively; while her mother, over her child's shoulder, studied the
picture closely, feeling that it was too beautiful to trust.
"He is charming!" the girl cried in pleased surprise. She had not known
what his face would be like; she had scarcely had time to think of it
since the strange news had been brought her, a few hours before.
"He will be kind to thee," the mother said at length with conviction,
yet with a sigh, as if dissatisfied.
Caterina meanwhile, in the simple straight blue robe of a young Venetian
maiden, her dimpled throat encircled with the pearls that had been the
ransom of a kingdom, stood turning her miniature from side to side,
catching the sunlight on the jewels and the face, with the pleasure of a
child in a new and splendid toy--for it was all beautiful together. "He
is charming--charming, my King!" she repeated.
But a shadow had crept into her mother's eyes. "It is a face that an
artist might paint for his pleasure," she said with hesitation, as if
seeking expression for some vague fear that haunted her; "I pray that he
may make thee happy, _carina_; that he may be good and--and--noble."
"'Noble!'" cried Marco Cornaro, scornfully; "what seekest more? Is
Cyprus not enough for thy nobility? Is there another mother in Venice
who doth not envy thee thy fortune! Go to thy tire-women and consult
with them, for the Betrothal will be soon, by order of the Senate, and
there is small time to waste in regrets that somewhat more to thy liking
hath not befallen thee. See to it that the robing of Caterina be fit for
that other kingdom thou wouldst, perchance, have chosen for her."
"If he be noble--truly noble," the Lady Fiorenza said with unwonted
persistence--for something moved her to assert herself, "I ask no more."
But the Senator permitted her the questionable honor of unanswered
speech, as he turned with a scowl and left her. For her word had
rankled: since it was known, in the innermost circle of the Council and
there discussed in strictest secrecy, that had Janus been born in
Venice, the law would have excluded him from its _Libro d'Oro_, and no
patrician father would have sought him for his daughter. But Cyprus lay
far away beyond the sea which washed the borders of Venetia, and many of
Oriental race had peopled its shores--the ideals of Venice might be no
law for Cyprus.