abouts; nor yet of ancient Padua or haughty Verona;
nor of their Montagues and Capulets, their famous
balconies and tombs of Juliet and Romeoet al.,
but hurry straight to the ancient city of the sea,
the widowed bride of the Adriatic. It was a long,
long ride. But toward evening, as we sat silent
and hardly conscious of where we were--subdued
into that meditative calm that comes so surely after
a conversational storm--some one shouted:

"VENICE!"

And sure enough, afloat on the placid sea a league
away, lay a great city, with its towers and domes
and steeples drowsing in a golden mist of sunset.

-217-