"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them."
"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the hotel windows," said her mother.
"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?"
Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a single word of Italian."
"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith; "and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights for the sake of earning some Italian lire."
"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her mother.
As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great church.
English words floated across to the American people, although the voice which spoke them was an Italian one.
"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops," said the voice.
The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael—the boy of the boat and the serenade—knelt in the center, with a collection of tops on the pavement beside him.