The Royal Pawn of Venice Part 3

It was partly with this thought that the Patriarch had striven to interest Caterina in these incidents of early Christianity; and partly from his undefined dread as to what the future might hold for her, with the wish to keep the Church and its teachings uppermost in her mind, that she might lean upon them in need. She had been deeply interested and again and again had turned the talk upon this theme--a docile pupil, growing in grace and strength from the teachings he gathered for her from that quaint old volume so little known by the women of her time. It was his gift to fit her for the unknown life to which she was going, and it gave him an opportunity for many helpful words which if scarcely understood at the time came back to her later; yet he darkened her bright visions with no fears, thinking that hope and joy and faith would suffice for strength in trial.

The Senate, meanwhile, had matter less placid touching Cyprus and the betrothed bride wherewith to fill this period of waiting: and more than once the Senator Marco Cornaro had returned from lengthy sessions at the Ducal Palace in no gentle humor, yet mute to all questioning. For it had been learned in that innermost Council, and told no farther than was needful, that Ferdinand of Naples was intriguing to draw Ja.n.u.s into an alliance with a princess of his house; it was also known, by that singular penetration in which Venice had no equal, that the new Archbishop of Nicosia, Alvise Fabrici, was an agent for Ferdinand, secretly working to further his ends in Cyprus; and finally in sign of the willingness of Ja.n.u.s to break faith with Venice, came the rumor of some coldness toward Andrea Cornaro, who had hitherto been his fast friend.

It was enough to bring gloom to the brow of the Senator Marco Cornaro, whose heart was set upon this royal marriage.

But nothing of this transpired beyond the walls of the Council Chamber, from whence at last, to make an end of the pitiful waverings of this fickle King, an amba.s.sador was sent to the court of Cyprus to state in terms that could not be misunderstood, that if Ja.n.u.s were to disgrace his royal word, solemnly pledged by his Amba.s.sador Mastach.e.l.li in presence of the Serenissimo and the Signoria, the insult to a Queen already betrothed to him would be a slight the Republic would not suffer, and that Venice would become the enemy instead of the ally of Cyprus.

But no misgivings troubled the heart of the betrothed in the Palazzo Cornaro, where she waited in happy confidence, being taught through the ceaseless vigilance of the Senate, that in royal marriages haste was ever unseemly, and full time would be allowed for the fashioning of the wedding trousseau, the weaving of wedding damasks and the complete preparation of a household outfit consistent with the dignity of a queen.

The prospect of further enemies was not an enviable one for Ja.n.u.s, who already counted Genoa, Savoy and Portugal and his Holiness of Rome among them; for he had won the wrath of the Genoese by recapturing their important holding of Famagosta in the very heart of his own island, as he had most heartily gained the disfavor of his Holiness by his alliance with the infidel Sultan of Egypt; and through his sister Carlotta, the enmity of Savoy and of Portugal was a.s.sured to him.

So the galleys and favor of Venice were not to be disregarded, and it was not long before the Cyprian fleet appeared in the waters of the Adriatic, bearing in response to the secret emba.s.sy of Venice, the Amba.s.sador sent by Ja.n.u.s to bring his young Queen to Cyprus.

V

Ser Gobbo Di Rialto bore on his broad breast announcements of intense interest concerning the ceremonies which would make the day of the departure of the Daughter of the Republic among the most splendid in the annals of Venice. A crowd of citizens who had not been advised by special invitation of the various banquetings and happenings, came and went about the grotesque figure with much lively comment of delighted antic.i.p.ation, intermingled with benedictions upon San Marco that it was not long to wait, since to-morrow would be there after the next Ave Maria! For whatever of revelry was prepared for the n.o.bles, brought always in Venice a corresponding pageant to delight the eyes of the people.

Here and there some gondolier from the islands, sheepishly conscious of the brilliant _fazzoletto_, or the string of beads he had just bought in the tempting booths of the old, wooden Rialto, hung on the outskirts of the crowd before Ser Gobbo, to catch from the gossip of the more lettered ones about him the details of the morrow's _festa_ which he might not read for himself; for the knowledge would make him the oracle of his little circle in Burano--or at least with Giovanna, when he should bestow his silken trifle for the morrow's splendor. For, of course all Venice would be there to see the queen set forth.

"Santa Maria!--the Serenissimo himself upon the Bucentoro will escort the Regina. Heard one ever such splendor!"

"And at the Lido--hast heard, Tonio?--by favor of San Marco and San Nicol, the gondolieri with their barchette may float in line to make our part of the _festa_. Oh, the beautiful day!"

"And the Signoria, and all the n.o.bili! and the court of the young Regina--and all the banners and the _barca_--most beautiful to behold--one might die of the splendor of it, Santissima Maria!"

"Aye, Giuseppe, and the music of all the fleets!--it will be like heaven, if Messer San Marco doth but send the sunshine and the breeze."

"Nay, he could not fail his Venice for a _festa_ that doth him such honor; _Messer San Marco e galant uomo!_ But how then, Tonio, thou hast a _sposalizio_ of thine own--with thy string of coral and thy _fazzoletto_ fit for a Signorina: the bells will be chiming for thee to-morrow?"

"_Basta, basta!_" Tonio responded with commendable gruffness, considering his contentment at heart, as he hastily retreated to his gondola under the Rialto for needed shelter from the banter which followed him, until some other unwary victim became the centre of the well-meant pleasantry.

"Wait then for a day, Tonio mio, and the Bucentoro will be ready for thee," cries one of the more daring as he vanishes; "hast thou already bespoken thy groomsman? I also am a Castellan."

Across the Piazza San Giacomo, under the famous colonnade of San Giacomo di Rialto, the talk turned chiefly on the great event which was to culminate on the morrow, and which for three years had consumed much time in Senate and State, as the patricians strolled to and fro in lively discussion.

It was here that for generations everything that affected the commerce of Venice was held up in the light of expression as free and candid as it was possible for opinion to be in this highly organized oligarchy; and here as elsewhere, Venice, like a faithful mother, watched over the welfare of her sons, though they were grown to man's estate; and since her commerce was, in fact, the mainspring of her wealth and prestige--a very vital part of her--she kept before their eyes on the exterior of this ancient church in the market-place where her merchant-princes daily met, her admonition to uphold them in righteous dealing. One might decipher it wrought into the wall of the apse under the stones of the frieze, in quaint lettering that tempted to the perusal and endowed the mastered motto with the impressiveness of a rite--for the legend a.s.sumed a quality of mystery, being much defaced from time.

"_Hoc circa templum sit jus mercatoribus aequm, pondera ne vergant nec sit conventio prava._"

(Around the Temple let the merchant's law be just, his weights true, and his covenant faithful.)

Among the frescoes on the walls under the colonnade was the famous _mappa mondo_, upon which were indicated the various routes of Venetian commerce throughout the world.

Two dignified elderly men wearing the black silk robe of the merchant with chains of heavy gold links were strolling to and fro in eager conversation--their comrades showing signs of deference as they pa.s.sed.

"Cyprus will seem nearer now," said one of them, pausing for a moment before the map to point out a speck in the Mediterranean with his gold-topped staff.

"A century nearer than it was in the days of Comnenus," the other answered him, with a recollection of the attempted purchase and occupancy of the island in those earlier times. "But now--praise be to San Marco, the time is ripe."

"And Venice hath never ceased to covet that 'Island of Delights!' But now her fleets may lie at anchor in the splendid port of Famagosta while she taketh her leisure in dealing with the merchants of the East; for the King of Cyprus must aye keep faith with the Republic."

"Yet let Venice beware," the other answered, lowering his voice to a confidential tone. "It is not over-easy to hold His Majesty to any faith or compact, by what one may guess from the talk of the Senate: but the favor of Venice is needful to him."

"And none the less that there be those who favor him not. Genoa is wroth at him for having chased them from Famagosta--the most marvellous stronghold in the world, if one may credit Messer Andrea Cornaro, the friend of the King."

"He spake truly, from what I myself should have guessed thereof--getting no closer to the Fortress than any Cyprian might have done six years ago, when I had gone with my fleet to the Syrian Coast for a marvellous cargo of spices, and Cyprus tempted me to a voyage of pleasure, being not so far--the sail of a day with a fair galley. The Genoese held the great Fortress and the splendid city of Famagosta and the country for miles around; an enemy entrenched in the very heart of a kingdom! Small wonder that King Ja.n.u.s, being of a most laudable prowess, should claim his own again--which won him laurels, for the Cyprians had been sore over the matter. Aye; Cyprus is good for the commerce of Venice, and it would be a hard day when the ships of the Republic might not harbor in her waters. And if the good of Venice be the good of Cyprus,--the amity is the more like to last!"

"Aye, for the commerce it is well--most truly well. But there will be too many of our patrician daughters in the suite of the young queen when she shall sail on the morrow. I could more easily have spared fewer."

"They are but charming childish faces; and they have left their sisters behind them--they and the little Caterina; it is well that the bride should make a brave showing at the court of Cyprus--which is held for a marvel of splendor."

"Thou knowest it, Messer Querini, having been there?"

"Nay--not at court--it is Messer Andrea Cornaro who will tell of it. But I pa.s.sed some days at Nikosia, on my way back from Alexandria, and verily the cities were twins for richness. The beauty of the churches--one for each day of the year through,--we of Venice may not at all equal, save in our Basilica of San Marco;--the precious altars inlaid with gold and jewels,--like our Pala d'Oro that cometh not forth of our treasury save on days of _festa_; finest statues of ivory and silver; great carven columns wrought like our columns of Acre--but vaster and of that same fineness of workmanship: and such broideries of golden thread and great pearls for draperies and altar-cloths, as one may scarce dream of! And in their market-places, strewn with the spoils of the East are faces and voices of every clime and a very babel of tongues; more--far more than on our own Rialto; with schools for every language. And I saw a thing in Nikosia that in all my journeyings I have not met with before."

"Thy tales are more piquant than the tales of Marco Polo," his friend said rallying him.

"All is marvellous of which thou hast not hitherto known, though it be simpler than thou art wont to behold. So I found strange and n.o.ble, a great building already a century and a half old, in the heart of this sumptuous city, whereon it was signified by a writing cut into the stone, that all men of every clime who but confess the name of Christus, being ill or needy, should receive therein, freely given, rest and entertainment."

"If the entertainment were of the wines of Cyprus it would be verily a gift: for these one may even taste who hath not been in her great cities."

"Truth is truth." the other a.s.sented. "And that wine of the Commanderie"--the dignified speaker interrupted himself with slow unmistakable signs of approval--"I will make it known to thee to-morrow at the banquet. And her ortolans!--It is a rich land: the Senate hath done well."

"How sayest thou, 'the Senate hath done well?' Is it not that we are losing too many of our own patricians, rather than coming into favor of Cyprus?"

"How 'losing them'--to win relations that be wise for Venice? Andrea Cornaro hath never been one to keep himself at rest in his palace at San Ca.s.siano, and through his wandering hath come this royal alliance for Venice; and to-morrow he goeth again to Cyprus as auditor to the young queen, his niece. The Contarini, the Giustiniani--as thou knowest well--have already vast holdings on those Mediterranean sh.o.r.es."

"What sayest thou of the Senator Aluisi Bernardini--that _he_ is no loss to Venice?"

"Nay, nay: he is one that Venice may not too well spare: a man after her best traditions--one for an emba.s.sy or any place of power--a man to do us honor--overgrave and quiet, perchance, for his youth, yet of a courtesy and judgment!--and never leaving the thing undone! It is his father again."

"Might not some other man, less finely tempered, have served in Cyprus?"

"Aye--if the Bernardini himself were not so finely-tempered! I was in the Senate the day they put the choice before him--it was no secret, and it proved the man. To do him honor the Senate gave him choice--and the Senate doth more easily command. And this they laid before him. An Emba.s.sy to France, of which he should be chief--his father held it before him, and the Lady of the Bernardini hath been eager that her son should bear his father's honors: that, measured with this mission to Cyprus--to attend the charming little cousin, as private Chamberlain to the Queen, forsooth,--a man twice her years and already of an acknowledged dignity!"

"It seemeth not easy to translate his choice. What sayeth the proud Lady of the Bernardini? For it is less honor."

"One knoweth not; she being of Casa Cornaro, of the elder branch, and, like her son, of few words and great discretion. But she had lately spoken with me of this emba.s.sy to France, wishing that her son might hold it, thinking him well fitted for the place. Ah, well--she giveth no sign; and to-morrow she also setteth sail for Cyprus,--being created chief lady in waiting to her fair, young cousin."

"The Lady of the Bernardini in the court of the Caterina! Impossible!

She, in whose salons one might not think one's own thoughts!"

"By San Tadoro! one might think them, at one's ease, so only they were of a quality to please her."