"
"Gelsomina, thou art happier than I, even in thy prison. I am
fatherless--motherless--I could almost say, friendless."
"And this from a lady of the Tiepolo!"
"All is not as it seems in this evil world, kind Gelsomina. We have had
many Doges, but we have had much suffering. Thou mayest have heard that
the house of which I come is reduced to a single, youthful girl like
thyself, who has been left in the Senate's charge?"
"They speak little of these matters, lady, in Venice; and, of all here,
none go so seldom into the square as I. Still have I heard of the beauty
and riches of Donna Violetta. The last I hope is true; the first I now
see is so."
The daughter of Tiepolo colored, in turn, but it was not in resentment.
"They have spoken in too much kindness for an orphan," she answered;
"though that fatal wealth is perhaps not over-estimated. Thou knowest
that the state charges itself with the care and establishment of all
noble females, whom Providence has left fatherless?"
"Lady, I did not. It is kind of St. Mark to do it!"
"Thou wilt think differently, anon. Thou art young, Gelsomina, and hast
passed thy time in privacy?"
"True, lady. It is seldom I go further than my mother's room, or the
cell of some suffering prisoner."
Violetta looked towards her governess, with an expression which seemed
to say, that she anticipated her appeal would be made in vain, to one so
little exposed to the feelings of the world.
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