258 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.
" Oh, yes," said Beppo.
" But we shall look as smart as that to-morrow, eh, Bep- po ?" said Walter.
" Yes, yes," said Beppo, grinning ; " your excellency has good taste."
And he had ; for the next day when Beppo and his comrade took off their hats at the steps and offered their broad palms to assist the ladies into their pretty vessel, both Dolly and Jenny expressed their surprise and de- light.
" Beautiful ! " said Jenny.
" What a change ! Is this the same gondola ? " asked Dolly.
Beppo showed his white teeth, and his fine figure was complemented by his fine dress, a rich blue cloth with crimson sash. The gondola was elegantly furnished with blue silk cushions and Oriental rugs, and at the shining steel prow there fluttered a tiny silk Union Jack, the red and blue of which the bluish-green water reflected back again as if in token of amity and admiration.
It was a glorious day. The sun was far away in a blue sky. There was not a cloud. A pleasant breeze came in a warm genial ripple from the Adriatic. It seemed like an invitation to every sentiment of love and friendship. " All the world is happy," it might have been saying, "and" thii is the loveliest spot in all the world." Philip tried to think so. On the other side of the lagoon the Church of Santa Maria del Giglio was decorated for illumination at night. On the left, beating up towards them were a couple of the great boats of the River Po, with pointed stern and enormous rudder, the sun finding out rich tones in the ridges of their furled sails, the red-tasselled caps of the sternsmen presenting grateful points of color on the black and brown of the hull and deck.
As Beppo leaned upon his oar, the gondola shot away from the shadow of a great P. and O. steamer gay with
