"There is surely some great error," she said; "for I had it in confidence that the Embassy to France hath been offered thee by the Senate."
He confessed as much.
"Thou wilt revise thy decision: I would gladly see thee wear thy Father's honors. Thou hast the gift of statesmanship."
He waited to choose his words, for her tone betrayed more than her speech, and he grieved to thwart her ambitions for him.
"So may it fit me the better for the Cyprian post," he answered with an attempt at playfulness.
"Thou wilt verily give up this Embassy to France to go with the Caterina to her new land! There is some reason of which thou sayest naught—else were it hard to comprehend thy choice. We are but two, Aluisi; may not thy mother hold thy confidence?"
For answer he raised her hand to his lips, smiling upon her. Her brow cleared.
"It is not that the little cousin hath touched thy heart?" she questioned half seriously—"thou who art known as gracious for all and tender for none! I have not this to bear for thee—now that the marriage which thy Father would have favored is no longer possible? Then France were surely wiser for thee—the Fates are kind."
"Nay, nay," he answered frankly—"have no fear. When I set sail from Venetia for my long voyage, the Caterina was still a child. And when, returning, I found her grown a charming maid, she was already set apart from all such dreaming for any honorable knight of Venice. Thou dost not guess the spell that holdeth me?"
"It is not one of her fair maids of honor who go with her to her court of Cyprus?"