Thus
may not the patrician of St. Mark be a lord in other lands, nor may the
heiress of a name, great and valued as thine, be given in marriage to
any of note, in a foreign state, without counsel and consent from those
who are appointed to watch over the interests of all."
"Had Providence cast my lot in an humbler class, this would not have
been. Methinks it ill comports with the happiness of woman to be the
especial care of the Council of Ten!"
"There is indiscretion, and I lament to say, impiety in thy words. Our
duty bids us submit to earthly laws, and more than duty, reverence
teaches us not to repine at the will of Providence. But I do not see the
weight of this grievance against which thou murmurest, daughter. Thou
art youthful, wealthy beyond the indulgence of all healthful desires, of
a lineage to excite an unwholesome worldly pride, and fair enough to
render thee the most dangerous of thine own enemies--and thou repinest
at a lot to which all of thy sex and station are, of necessity,
subject!"
"For the offence against Providence I am already a penitent," returned
the Donna Violetta. "But surely it would be less embarrassing to a girl
of sixteen, were the fathers of the state so much occupied with more
weighty affairs as to forget her birth and years, and haply her wealth?"
"There would be little merit in being content with a world fashioned
after our own caprices, though it may be questioned if we should be
happier by having all things as we desire than by being compelled to
submit to them as they are.
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