26o BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.
sunshine, that even the theatrical tokens of the night to come were absorbed, and became unobjectionable.
There was on all hands a general air of delighted expec- tation. Here and there between the palaces and at odd points, are steps leading to distant water streets, and these were coigns of vantage for the sovereign people, who filled up the open spaces. Among these democratic assemblies were some of the most beautiful women in the world. The poorer citizens of this city in the sea have inherited a physical loveliness, the tradition of which has come down to us from classic history, and which lives in the never dying art of Italy, in the pictures by famous masters, and better still in the women of this nineteenth century, who still go about the streets of Venice barehead- ed and with slippered feet.
Presently the fleet of gondolas and gorgeous barges came as it seemed to a sudden anchor. All the varying and flitting colors of the moment stood still in one spot, as if the finger of Fate had paused in turning life's kaleidoscope to permit of a restful observation of some specially lovely design that had been developed after many changes. It was a happy jumble of artistic form and tone, of radiant color, and subdued hues of brown and blue in the sha- dows. So beautiful was the picture that it looked as if it might fade away at any moment, and leave Leicester Square or the Strand mockingly behind. This is how Phi- lip felt, and how he phrased it in his mind in one of those moments when he was not on the look out for the red gondola. At length the distant whistle of a railway train was heard. Then everybody knew that the King and Queen of Italy, the idols of the people, and justly so, were steaming across the marshes. Next there was a firing of big guns ; then the music of military bands, the air El Rey ; anon there is a movement ashore, and in sympathy there- with a movement on the canal ; at last the picturesque
