150 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 



tion into the Palazzo garden, and had only to step at once 

 upon the terrace walk, which lay in the bright moonlight, clear 

 and unoccupied. The maiden advanced a few paces, looked 

 for a moment towards the villa, which was brilliantly illumi- 

 nated, and as the light streamed through the Piazza could 

 discern figures moving beneath it. But what, to her, was that 

 abode of luxury, its picture-laden galleries, its gilded halls ? 

 what now even one amidst the motley throng which filled 

 them? She turned away, and looked towards the sea and 

 the illumined city. To her, little were now its gorgeous 

 palaces, its humble dwellings, its glare, its bustle, its numerous 

 inhabitants, lew of whom she had ever known, and of these 

 not one was she likely to see again. 



In all that wide expanse, teeming with life, and now, both 

 on land and sea, more than usually alive, the whole of interest 

 not dead to her, lay centred in the galley intended to convey 

 her on the morrow to another shore. It and its fellow vessels 

 she could plainly discern at anchor in the harbour, the seamen, 

 in honour of St. John, having hoisted their lamps in aid of 



* 



the general illumination, while the few left on board uplifted 

 their hoarse voices in alternate hymns and strains less sacred. 

 Bianca, as she looked and listened, was, in fancy, already, with 

 her father, of their company, ploughing the deep blue sea, 

 away, away from the receding shores of Genoa. 



" Bianca my Bianca!" whispered a well-known voice, and 

 Marco, wearing a Spanish dress and masked, but to her in no 



