A Venetian June

ian Tho

I

ian Tho

ankers',

the Signore go by

don't hurry. There

e! The bank

ore sounding across the harmonising water spaces. And yet the Colonel was only half aware that every word, every inflection of the little d

thing to occupy them but the use of their eyes and ears, they must have noted the fact that while the soldierly figure of the old gentleman had not grown a whit less erect, the many wrinkles upon his clean-cut countenance were perceptibly deepened in the interval. A curious effect of years, those hard-headed little images must have thought. They could perceive no such change

so long ago. Presently the gondola, in its leisurely progress, came opposite a pretty old palace with charming rose windows to give it distinction. There were flower-boxes in the balcony, and other signs of

g little Gothic palace known a

her Signor son i

, not because of any inherent objectionableness, but because of its implication of a change, that the Colonel found himself quite thrown out of his accustomed line of procedure. That this was the case was made manifest by the fact that

; only the mother

mother, I t

; she died i

the thought was apparent to the quick perception of the gondolier, a

one of gentle reproach in his voice, as he said: "W

ed, eager to disclaim his unspoken disloya

hen the Milan doctors told him he must take a long rest, that he needed a change, he said:

oes he

is content as the king. More content, for he is doing what he pleases, and the king,-it i

of the gondolier. That a king should not do as

oing wel

and yet he loves the go

had not given him unmixed pleasure. "Do you think he i

Scuola di San Marco, the great hospital, to see the sick people and talk with the doctors. Signore," and V

padrone's. Keeping the oar constantly in motion, and with an occasional deft turn of the wrist to avoid a collision,-for the Grand Canal wa

and again his voice dropped, and this time to a wonderfully melodious tone: "But the Madonna listens to us ev

e of the passenger, and he said, rather abrup

many and he is not rich. Ecco! The gondola of the

r boat had looked in their direction, Vittorio had stepped back to his post at the stern, and had giv

tiny sandolo, and the big boat actually did slow up a bit, while Vittorio swiftly

adrone remarked. "I always said that I s

while a flashing smile lit up his handsome face; "I would rath

the railing of the adjoining ferry-landing, with a view to pressing his services upon the foreign gentleman. His efforts were finally successful, and when, a few minutes later, the Colonel emerged from the doorway, he found his entry into the gondola relieved of all supposititious perils by the appl

himself had never been a Venetian ragamuffin, gave three long strokes of the oar, whic

hotel, S

ready to go out by this time.

eir first vis

inter in Italy, and we le

e still lov

he world. We will take the

hines in full radiance upon any but an Italian face, turned the gondola into the same n

hough not usually as early as this. But then, he had never before had the pleasure of his two precious Pollys in anticipation. As the gondola drew near a certain stone br

ncle Dan looked up to a certain high balcony, whence his

a claim, be it observed, which the two Pollys would have been inclined to dispute;