the visitor to Ca’ Dolfin arrive, and closet
himself with Zuliani. It was only when her grandfather was leading him back out that she heard their voices echoed in the reception hall. There was an entreaty from the visitor that what he had
spoken about should be kept secret. This aroused her curiosity immediately. She put her precious copy of Dante upside down on the table to preserve her place, and moved to the door of her room,
which gave out on to the reception hall and the doors to the water gate. But by the time she looked, the visitor was out of the gate and in his boat. She waited until the sound of an oar slapping
through the water of the Grand Canal told her that he had gone, and then dashed out to speak with Nick.
‘A secret. Do tell.’
Zuliani took her arm, and they strolled back towards her room.
‘The trouble with telling a secret is that it’s then no longer a secret. So you end up destroying the very thing you are charged with keeping.’
Katie tugged on his beard, which was more grey than red by this time.
‘But I know you can’t keep a secret long, Grandpa. So you might as well tell it to me now.’
He laughed that deep, throaty laugh of his. They were now in Katie’s room, and he saw the book carelessly laid with its pages open facing downwards. That was bad for its spine and he
picked it up. He read out a few lines from the place she had been reading, chortling as he did so.
‘“Since knowledge is the highest perfection of our soul, in which our supreme happiness is found, we are all by our very nature driven by the desire to attain this.” Dante
Alighieri shouldn’t be the one to lecture on perfection of the soul. He was at the head of the White Guelph faction after they defeated the Ghibbelines in battle, you know, and was as greedy
for power and influence as any Florentine.’
Katie knew Nick was talking about the struggles between those who supported the Pope and those on the side of the Holy Roman Emperor. But she didn’t want to know about Dante’s
allegiances. Only what the mysterious visitor had told her grandfather in secret, and she wasn’t going to be diverted by a discussion about the greed of a poet. He could see the determination
in her eyes, and knew she was as stubborn as he was. He sighed heavily, knowing he would have to tell her eventually.
‘Very well, it will be our secret. They want me to be on the Council of Ten.’
Katie couldn’t believe her ears. The Council of Ten had been set up after the failed coup of a couple of years back purely as a temporary measure to ensure public safety. There had been a
fear that in its anxiety to avoid a concentration of power in one man, the republic had ended up with an unwieldy bureaucracy. Almost all the Doge’s decisions had to be ratified by the Great
Council, which numbered around a thousand people. It was so cumbersome a process that it could not make decisions quickly, and the coup had almost succeeded because of this. That it had failed was
mainly due to its own incompetence, and some underhand work by her grandfather. The Ten was then set up so that urgent matters could be resolved more swiftly and decisively. But the Council was
still an elected body.
‘Won’t you have to stand for election?’
Nick smiled enigmatically. ‘Of course, but when I was a youth I worked out a way to circumvent the convoluted system to elect the Doge. I almost made it work, too. So getting on to the Ten
will be simple in comparison.’ He pulled a face. ‘Though I’m not sure I want to do it.’
‘Why not? You’ve always complained that the
case vecchie
run everything. That the old order keeps the common citizens out of the positions of power. Now you can change all
that.’
‘I know. And that’s why I was wondering why they asked me to stand for the Council. Maybe I will just be a token commoner. And it’s only for a year, anyway.’
‘But you would have a turn at being the head of the Council in that
himself with Zuliani. It was only when her grandfather was leading him back out that she heard their voices echoed in the reception hall. There was an entreaty from the visitor that what he had
spoken about should be kept secret. This aroused her curiosity immediately. She put her precious copy of Dante upside down on the table to preserve her place, and moved to the door of her room,
which gave out on to the reception hall and the doors to the water gate. But by the time she looked, the visitor was out of the gate and in his boat. She waited until the sound of an oar slapping
through the water of the Grand Canal told her that he had gone, and then dashed out to speak with Nick.
‘A secret. Do tell.’
Zuliani took her arm, and they strolled back towards her room.
‘The trouble with telling a secret is that it’s then no longer a secret. So you end up destroying the very thing you are charged with keeping.’
Katie tugged on his beard, which was more grey than red by this time.
‘But I know you can’t keep a secret long, Grandpa. So you might as well tell it to me now.’
He laughed that deep, throaty laugh of his. They were now in Katie’s room, and he saw the book carelessly laid with its pages open facing downwards. That was bad for its spine and he
picked it up. He read out a few lines from the place she had been reading, chortling as he did so.
‘“Since knowledge is the highest perfection of our soul, in which our supreme happiness is found, we are all by our very nature driven by the desire to attain this.” Dante
Alighieri shouldn’t be the one to lecture on perfection of the soul. He was at the head of the White Guelph faction after they defeated the Ghibbelines in battle, you know, and was as greedy
for power and influence as any Florentine.’
Katie knew Nick was talking about the struggles between those who supported the Pope and those on the side of the Holy Roman Emperor. But she didn’t want to know about Dante’s
allegiances. Only what the mysterious visitor had told her grandfather in secret, and she wasn’t going to be diverted by a discussion about the greed of a poet. He could see the determination
in her eyes, and knew she was as stubborn as he was. He sighed heavily, knowing he would have to tell her eventually.
‘Very well, it will be our secret. They want me to be on the Council of Ten.’
Katie couldn’t believe her ears. The Council of Ten had been set up after the failed coup of a couple of years back purely as a temporary measure to ensure public safety. There had been a
fear that in its anxiety to avoid a concentration of power in one man, the republic had ended up with an unwieldy bureaucracy. Almost all the Doge’s decisions had to be ratified by the Great
Council, which numbered around a thousand people. It was so cumbersome a process that it could not make decisions quickly, and the coup had almost succeeded because of this. That it had failed was
mainly due to its own incompetence, and some underhand work by her grandfather. The Ten was then set up so that urgent matters could be resolved more swiftly and decisively. But the Council was
still an elected body.
‘Won’t you have to stand for election?’
Nick smiled enigmatically. ‘Of course, but when I was a youth I worked out a way to circumvent the convoluted system to elect the Doge. I almost made it work, too. So getting on to the Ten
will be simple in comparison.’ He pulled a face. ‘Though I’m not sure I want to do it.’
‘Why not? You’ve always complained that the
case vecchie
run everything. That the old order keeps the common citizens out of the positions of power. Now you can change all
that.’
‘I know. And that’s why I was wondering why they asked me to stand for the Council. Maybe I will just be a token commoner. And it’s only for a year, anyway.’
‘But you would have a turn at being the head of the Council in that
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