Have you not heard how, when Mary was scarcely more than a
child, she was taken to the temple and consecrated to the service of the
church?"
Maria shook her head; her childish heart was full; and with solemn eyes she
looked long and earnestly at the little girl, with tightly braided hair,
slowly mounting the long flight of steps to the high priest who, though he
seemed stern and austere, held out his hand in kindly greeting.
Long Maria lingered, noticing every detail, the blue dress, the lighted
taper, the halo round the head, and she was loath to leave, even when her
father came to the door, and her mother said gently:
"Come, we must be off, if we would be at the Lido for our lunch."
Soon they were in the steamer which chugged so merrily that Andrea forgot
all about the pictures he had seen in his interest in watching the wheels
go around and the white foam in the vessel's wake, but Maria sat in a kind
of dream until they reached the landing.
Then, in the hurry that ensued and the many distractions on the shore, the
picture of the brave little girl, for the time, faded from her mind, and
she, too, gave herself up with undisguised pleasure to the fascinations of
the Lido.
It is a strip of shore extending along the mouth of the Lagoon and forming
a bulwark of Venice against the Adriatic. It was here that the wedding
ceremony was performed in the long ago, and the view is most beautiful from
this point.
They sat on a bench in front of the Aquarium to eat their luncheon, and the
children could scarcely wait to finish, they were so eager to press their
noses against the glass and watch the funny creatures swimming in the
tanks.
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