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Lorsque le document est trop grend pour ttre reproduit en un seui cHchi, 11 est flimt i pertir de i'angle aupMeur gauche, de geuche i droite, et de heut en bas, en prenant la nombre d'imagea nicesselre. Lee disgrammas sulvants IHustrent le mtthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 (ANSI and ISO TISI CtUHT No. J) 10 '^l^ IM l»V/ Ijg ^Ml MH I.I 1.25 u IH IM 1.6 ^ ^"^PPLIED fM/rv= (716) 2n-Mag.ra Inc _lf?5_ ^^^m'i: '... [t \ j ll'i'/A jihiihl, "■'■'/" EH latarad ac»rdta( to Act of Parlbaml of Caaido, lo tko jMr NbalMo Huiulnd tni Two, bjr Omamam N. MouM * CoarAin, Umhti, u lU DvuUMol of A(f<«iltan. ^K )$nms CONTENTS. Book II iaum» XXI. FtOBMCK EXPBOTII A OuMT 't?! XXII. TH«Pai.omi,i .... *'* XXIII. ArT«i|.THoiioHT» *** XXIV. IKIIOB TH« DUOMO ...'... ''''' :tXV. OUTSIOK TH« DUOHO . . . .' *** XXVI. Tm OASHEiiT OP Tmmm **° XXVII. Thk Youi.0 Wira . *" XXVIII. Th. PAIIIT.D Recobo ..'.'.■.■ ^ XXIX. A ItouKUT or Tbiuhpb . XXX. Thi AvEHOBB'a Skcbbt . ff XXXI. Fbott is Sbcd *^* XXXII. A Rbvelatiok . *** XXXIV ^'•°*'""»' «*«" Ai; AcQrA^TA,,;," ; : ; ^ XXXIV No PtAoB FOB Rbpektasce .... ZL TV^vT, ;ifl^"'" °'"'»<>'"" HEBgELF .... ^ XXXVm" ^ T^''"»*«"' UNLOCKED . . . ^ ■ ^ i-L. Ah Abbesting Voice ' XU. Coiuso Back "^ 878 Book III XWI. Rokola iw heb Place . XUII. The Unseen Madonna *" XUV. The Visible Madonna . ^ XLV. At the Babbeb's Shop ^ XLVI. Bt A Stbeet Lahp ^ • • . 400 ft CONTENTS. OHAPTKB XLVH. CmtcK . "" XLVIII. CorirrEB-CHECK . . . .' ..".'.'." f^f XLJX. Thk Ptbaiod of Vabities . . . . . ' .' ' ' 433 L. Tessa Abboad and at Hoke ■...!!! 434 LI. MosifA BbIOIDA'S CoNVKBSlOIf .... . . . 448 LII. A Pbophbtess UH- On San Miniato. •■.......'"''' 450 LIV. The Eveniko and the Mobniho . ^«o LV. Waitino ''''4m LVI. The Otheb Wife .fj LVII. Why Tito was Safe ■■...'.'.'.'.'.'' -^ hVIII. A Final Undeestandino Aaa LIX. Plbadino .... *f LX. The Scaffold •.."..' sm LXI. Dbifting Away ! ' ' ' bio LXII. The Benediction LXIII. RiPENiNa Schemes \ LXIV. The Pbophet in his Oeli. . .^ LXV. The Tp.iai, by Fibe .'.".'.'."! sS LXVI. A Masque of the Fdbies ....!! 661 LXVII. Waiting by the Kiveb ... rk- LXVIII. RoMOLA's WAKiNa ... ^ LXIX. HOMEWABD '".!!!'"' KTO LXX. Meeting Again LXXL The Confession .... ' ' * fasi LXXII. The Last Silence •■.....'.'.''' ^ Epilogue bos I^ M L A. BOOK II. CHAPTER XXI. WOBENCE EXPECTS A GUEST. joyous Easter time, and™had a r! >!°^"^ "°''^«fi' ^e devices of a subtle louU the Elev«n.r T""^' *^''» *» the f"ght as to his person^ XpS ton' ^. ^'^ '" """"^ co-.ne the strongest of Christiri?^.' v^'"" **^°^' ^^^ ho- of Cyrus and Charlemagne Z no „^^'?'*°'1*W» antitype subtle Louis _ the you^fSes th„ t' ^^ ^^' """ "^ ^ S-^ly, on a gene^ steteS h^,^'«''*^l.^°° °' ^'ance. more grandiose, or fitter to ^v';, ^^ LT*^'"* """^"^ "««« n-pmory of great dispensatio^ by Vhii ' ^'"""'^ °* '"^ the aid in the history of mankind An^ fe^'" '*""'" ^^ ^«" spread conviction that the advent of th^TTI "^ ' "'^ ^i-J^lj a«ny into Italy was one of rtL ^""^ ^'-^^ and his stetues might well Z l^ ieved to '7"*" "t "''■"^ "-^^L warriors to fight in tbV^TLT 0^2""'/^'^'^'^ ^^'J monstrous births- that irl'^.. 2 ,^'"P*''^ ^^ bring forth Providence, but wasTn a 1?^°' !!'°^*° *^« »«»-l order of was a conviction that IsZuZ^Z *' ''°''' °^ <^d- It character of a powerful fordj in^a^L " ^7""^ "°"'«°'°"» emotions to which the aspect of ZT ° °" '=^'**'° ""oral presentiments; emotion^S 1,^%*"°!? «"^^ '^' f°™ of utterance in the voice of altaj mn ""' " "'"^ ""'^''^''"e minioan^ol::: o^SafSTo fn^X"'^ ^T °' '"> ^ her morning, when men's e^swl""^- ^° » Septem- 216 BOMOLA. the Cathedral of Florence from the text, "Behold I, even L do bring a flood of waters upon the earth." He believed it wag by supreme guidance he had reached just so far in his ex- position of GenesU the previous Lent; and he believed the "flood of water" — emblem at once of avenging wrath and purifying mercy — to be the divinely indicated symbol of the French army. His audience, some of whom were held to be among the choicest spirits of the age — the most cultivated men in the most cultivated of Italian cities — believed it too, and listened with shuddering awe. For this man had a power rarely paralleled, of impressing his beliefs on others, and of swaying very various minds. And as long as four years aeo he had proclaimed from the chief pulpit in Florence that a scourge was about to descend on Italy, and that by this scourge the Church was to be purified. Savonarola appeared to believe, and his hearers more or less waveringly believed that he had a mission like that of the Hebrew prophets, ard that the Florentines amongst whom his message was delivered were in some sense a second chosen people. The idea of prophetic gifts was not a remote one in that age : seers of visions, circumstantial heralds of things to be, were far from uncommon either outside or inside the cloister; but this very fact made Savonarola stand out the more oonspicnously as a grand exception. While in others the gift of prophecy was very much like a farthing candle illuminating small comers of human destiny with prophetic gossip, in Savonarola it was like a mighty beacon shining far out for the warning and guid- ance of men. And to some of the soberest minds the super- natural character of his insight into the future gathered a strong attestation from the peculiar conditions of the age. At the close of 1492, the year in which Lorenzo de' Medici died and Tito Melema came as a wanderer to Florence, Italy was enjoying a peace and prosperity uuthreatened by any near and definite danger. There was no fear of famine, for the seasons had been plenteous in corn, and wine, and oil ; new palaces had been rising in all fair cities, new villas on pleasant slopes and summits ; and the men who had more than their share of these good things were in no fear of the larger num- ber who had less. For the citizens' armor was getting rusty FLORENCE EXPECTS A GUEST. " " vrujior. 217 «J>d populations seemed tn h<.„. i„ hands of masters who ^d L a 'dv T!, '""'' ""''"'8 *'"' wanted it, as they paid for eoolnf^s """^ *''«" ^^^^y of the Turk had^J^led to TSti ' anH." ^'"^ *^« ^^"^ more immediately profitable fo^n'/u*^ ^^^ ^°P« f°«°d it little prospectivey^^sontg'than to Ll'"^ ''°'" •""■ ^^ » qnenng or for converting him P'*°^ "'^«'" ^°^ 0°"- -^?fi:rchr?.r>Lr"r''/"'p^~ -^ ^'» mentforthe fe,. who wer^Tuokv or ^ """*"""« ^"'•'""ish- advantages of human fol?^ a woHH ■ 'u- ?°"8^ '^ '«''P the >ty, lying and treaoheryropp^s^n l^j'""'' !."'* ^""^ °^»««''- ant, useful, and when prCrTv „« ■»""!". were pleas- And as a sort of frin™ or ^1 ^ ""anaged, not dangerous lights of tyranny, avXralT.?"' *° '''' »"'''*^««1 dt patronage of polite Wing 'nd h„T°"'"'''' *''«™ ^^»« the could always be had in the oho.W T f' '^'' '° *'>'>t flattery that time, and sublime artists we ! «. !.° *^ '^ commanded at and the unclean with irTpartirii ''^"^ to paint the holy «aid, had never been so duCed in L \ ^^A^^''"'''' '* ^^ 80 few signs of renovating ^f Zu'^""^: ^^ "«'« shown nevertheless it was much mo™ .^ '" "" '"'^^^ members, days. The heavens were fair an7?T' *''"° '" '"-"^ Pas scourge was at hand" the wL. ^^ P^^^'^S that a for the lasting convenience of T ""^ "^"^^^^ °°t framed pressors. From thlmXt of thr""','' "^^*°«»' ^""l op- seen a sword hanging-tl L J r'''"^ ^^''^^■'s he had was speedily to d^so^end t th nu'rif"' ^""'^ J-tice- which Church and the world. In tX„/^^^^^^ punishment on the before, the contradiction between 1!" T' '^^^°**^'' ?««'« fessional beliefs had pressed nnli! '?^'' *"'' ^^'^^ P'o- been enough to destroy htapner^ f"" T^ " ^"<=« ">^t had age of twenty-three h[d driven h' i 7 f.' '"''^^' ^"^ ^t the 218 ROMOLA. hide the lamp As the years went on, aoandaU increased and multiplied and hypocrisy seemed to have given place to im- pudence. Had the world, then, ceased to have a righteous Ruler? Wao the Church finally forsaken? No, assuredly ■ in the oacred Book there was a record of the past in i -ich might be seen as in a glass what viould be in the days to come, and the book showed that when the wickedness of the chosen people, type of the Christian Church, had become crying, the judgments of God had descended on them Nay reason itself declared that vengeance was imminent, for what else would suffice to turn men from their obstinacy in evil? And unless the Church were reclaimed, how could the prom- ises be fulfilled, that the heathens should be converted and the whole world become subject to the one true law ? He had neen his belief reflected in visions -a mode of seeing which had been frequent with him from his youth up. But the real force of demonstration for Girolamo Savona- rola lay m his own burning indignation at the sight of wronir- in his fervent belief in an Unseen Justice that would put an end to the wrong, and in an Unseen Purity to which Ivine and uncleanness were an abomination. To his ardent, powe^ loving soul believing in great ends, and longing to achieve those ends by the exertion of its own strong will, the faith in a supreme and righteous Euler became one with the faith in a speedy divine interposition that would punish and reclaim Mea; irhile, under that splendid masquerade of dignities sacred and secular which seemed to make the life of Incky Churchmen and princely families so luxurious and amusing there were certain conditions at work which slowly tended ^^ disturb the general festivity. Ludovico Sforza - copious in gallantry splendid patron of an incomparable Leonardo da Vinci— holding the ducal crown of Milan in his grasp, and wanting to put it on his own head rather than let it rest on that of a feeble nephew who would take very little to poison hira, was much afraid of the Spanish-born old King Ferdi- nand and the Crown Prince Alfonso of Naples, who, not lik- ing cruelty and treachery which were useless to themselves, objected to the poisoning of a near relative for the advantage of a Lombard usurper; the royalties of Naples again were FLOSENCE EXPECTS A GUEST. 219 tory it should determine h7 .^.i L "\'^°"''''»y t^'ri" andall four, with every smSlTte ^J ,^''f'>'^''^ backing; Venioe-Venioetheoa^tious the 11 '^'.r"' "^"^^ "^ wanted to stretch its a^ms not o„lv ^ ' ""^ v" '"~°8' *»' Adriatic but across to thf^rts of th« f ^^^ '''^"' °^ ""^ Lorenzo de' Medici, itwM ttol^f /f **"l''°'"*- fatal outbreak of suih ^0^°"/^^ '^'? """"1' *° P^^ent the tine alliance with Naples a^dZ p*'""* "P *•"* °^^ ^^°™°- Milan that the alliance was fnr^j °P*' ^""^ y"* Pe^uading young Piero de' MedTciW 1';^^"^' "^•''^*"^- ^u? the effect of his fatWs Cj S ."^ t^"^""^ """'fi^l roused tosuspicionof a 1.,™^ ^■^', *°^ ^udovico Sforza, which wouldSk.1: Sra^vTsres' "he'^:^ °^* -- Tite the French kiug to march 31 t!i' ^^'^'•""'■ed to in- Jouse of Anjou, tak'e'^poSo tf Sr\m.i"'/ '""^ "orators," as thev were r.=ii<.^ • ""^.^'P'f'- Ambassadors — went and cameTa TecLant ' Jh° ^°'! ''"«"8°i°» times - knowlcdgeaPo^e elS by brib^^^V.^^^^^^^ ""' *° '^ enemy), went and camB ,i.„ "^'^^ (and his own particular hot rhetoric ^d thTvoal t? ""'""^'^ *" *»"*^«°» wit" ear. So that ?n iStte n,^°^ '''"I'^ '^ ''""^ * '""°8 and louder thatVhtl't^E^^he^^fl^l'^'^'^^ '-^^^ cross the Abs with <• ™;»i,4. ^'8""! ot France was about to tions, accXlfsince l£ h«7' ""^ *^« '*^"« W"'^ the Eoman empire to ^IIT ^ "^^^^ to be the heart of vaguely to ShTs 'olij ^^ rmSnTo/"" '""''' ^«*» I.isXhe;^^3tin?r^ x;r '^^ r ™ *^^' ears of the prophets of old W ,Y ^- 7J^ " *"* ^''^-^ the armies, coming to do th« w I , !''"*°* *~'«1 °f foreign looked vaguel^ I the ton/o? ffr re""' ''' "° ^°°«« pointed to the rising cloud Th„? ^ '^'""'8 =*°™= ^e deluge which was to purffv ^h ""lu "i^y "^ t''^' °ew French king, Charles^ll^t%he1 """ '"''l"'*^' *»■« God. as Cyrus had been nV^J the instrument elected by rather thL evif w^V'^oCb'^r "'° ''""^'' «°°^ "joice in his coming. For the "•"' BOMOLA. scourge would fall destruotirely on the imoeniteDt «l™. f**?°y °% of It«Jy, let Florence above iT-Tol^T' Joved of God, aince to it. ear the warning voice hadTe^sS-" oS^Ldth" .""*"', '".' *""! '""" •*" ""y- »"« Nineveh^ Cvn,^ h^"'r°? "v!"* T PO'^orf-li yet now that the new Cyrus had already been three months in Italy, and wm not far from the ^,^s of Florence, his presence 'w« edited there with mixed feelings, in which fear and distruft certeS predominated. At present it was not understood that he had redressed any grievances; and the Florentines clearly h^ nothing to thank him for. He held their strong Wkr fortresses, which ^iero de' Medici had given up to him w Ih out secunug any honorable terms in ^turn^e h^ lonj nothing to quell the alarming revolt of Pisa, ;hich h^ teen encouraged by his presence to throw off th7Florentin7yoke and "orators," even with a prophet at their head, could wta thinrwTt """ ^^' '''^^' ^^''^ ''« ''°"W B ttle ever^! thing when he was once within the walls of Florence. Stm there was the satisfaction of knowing that the ox^wratin^ Piero de' Medici had been fairly pelted out for theXm nf ous surrender of the fortresses.'a^ in that act of ener^ he spmt of the Republic had recovered some of its oldZ^ thn^ nr^'?^""' ■'" ^^ 'l"*^'^ K"™t ''"e not entirely those of a city resigned to submission. Behind the St drapery and banners symbolical of joy, there were nre^™! bons of another sort made with common accorf by ^vernS "ersTthe j,7«»,''''"«".:">'in walls there we're'^rdTl! dLtriot th ^"'' ^^''-^ "^^"^ '° *"'"■ ""« surrounding dwtriotsi there were old arms duly furbished, and sharp tools on shor7nTK '''M"' "^"'""^ "*' ^*'"'' *° "« Bnatc h'ed up form ^,H ?"'' '*""" ^^'^ '"^''«"«"* ^"^^ "-"l stakes to form barricades upon occasion, and a good supply of stones to make a surprising hail from the upper windows. Above alt r^Z^"'" T^ ■ 1^1 "''""S'y '" *••« •'""O' f°r fighting any personage who might be supposed to have designs of hectoring over them, they having lattV tasted that new pleasure^th muohrehah. This humor was not diminished by the sighToi FLORENCE EXPECTS A GUEST 221 metaphorioally speaking, a pC of ^h.^v ^"lu "•" '"•'> ""d- to mark ItalUn doors^^tW «, j'^*^ "■*•■«'' right hand torian. imply th,t :Ly .oi of^" ^^ " """^''^W'' Ws- charaoterized by soi^fni. ^'""* "*"* »' '''a' time moat have whetVdThe ^^^Zra '"'1^' ? ""*«"• "''■'"' throwing. 'Jorenline appetite for a iitUe stone- 17ro;t;em,L''r! S' °' ^'°'^- - "'^ --« cf the Si9 KOMOLA. CHAPa-EE XXII. THX PBUOVKIU, i>' !7t!"' ^^' ^"' *** '"»^« ''"!« difference in the Piazza del Duomo, which wm covered with its holiday skv of blue drapery and ite constellations of yellow lilies and coats It T°'^ :■? ^ r** °* '*°°*" ''*™ unfurled at the angles of the Baptistery, but there was no carpet yet on the steps of the Duomo, for the marble was being trodden by numerous feet that were not at all exceptional. It was the hour of the Advent sermons, and the very same reasons which had flushed the streets with holiday color were reasons why the preaohinir in the Duomo could least of all be dispensed with. But not all the feet in the Piazza were hastening toward the steps. People of high and low degree were moving T-ml fro with the brisk pace of men who had errands before them • groups of talkers were thickly scattered, some willing to bo' late for the sermon, and others content not to hear it at all The expression on the faces of these apparent loungers was not that of men who are enjoying the pleasant laziness of an opening holiday. Some were in close and eager discussion; others were listening with keen interest to a single spokesman and yet from time to time turned around with a scannine glance at any new passer-by. At the corner, looking toward f J'*« C«"«*»°i-j»»t where the artificial rainbow light of the Piazza ceased, and the gray morning fell on the som- bre stone houses - there was a remarkable cluster of the work- ing people, most of them bearing on their dress or persons the lignf of their daily l»bor, and klmoit all „t .1. ««a w-pon. or J«. toil wLh ^U 'j^. ^."^ ' upon oooaaion. Standing in '-.e btit li»hf^r»l . "P*"" jurt pauaed on his w«t to fk. Z—'' »•' yioni, wlio bad oould^et only a IViou. /eoSriw ""• *•'"". '""^' Wor. in the Meroato, but not X^e tTthT' ""* ' '^^ plaoent humor of a tU whZ^J^i, ^ """• '«"°- i.^con.iou. of .on.e inUr^Ke'S™"*- "^ "-" "n.rtLiS ^Tk.^tiM:f> \' '^'--^' ^try: they might a. WlbTt .^ " ^"^'' French in- mountains «i in f ui eteeTt! .^H * i"^" P^** »' ""• finest armie, of Z ^Toi^:^^^^:',^^^^:^ .^J once got them betwmn .*••„ „ • • ^ ^ "'^ '"^y h».\''r''''' """"^ in« bacV said oLit '^J;^,] ^rt.^^^^ S^trZ IN ROMOLA. we raued a burimde, and tha Frenohnen looked behind and Mw theniielvee in a trap ; and de' Medici wasn't oome after all ; and it wa* a pity; for we'd have left him neither lege nor wings to go away with again." "Well, spoken, Oddo," said a young butcher, with his knife at his belt; "and it's my belief Piero will be a good while before he wants to come back, for he looked as fright- ened as a hunted chicken, when we hustled and pelted him in the piazza. He's a coward, else he might have made a ' etter scand when he'd got his horsemen. But we'll swallow no Medici any more, whatever else the French king wants to make us swallow." " But I like not those French cannon they talk of," said Goro, none the less fat for two years' additional grievances. "San Qiovanni defend us I If Messer Domeneddio means so well by us as your Frate says he does, Ser Cioni, why shouldn't he have sent the French another way to Naples? " "Ay, Ooro," said the dyer; "that's a question worth put- ting. Thou art not such a pumpkin-head as I took thee for. Why, they might have gone to Kaples by Bologna, eh, Ser Cionl? or if they'd gon<> to Arezzo— we wouldn't have minded their going to Arezzo." " Fools 1 It will be for the good and glory of Florenoe," Ser Cioni began. But he was interrupted by Uie exclamation, " Look there 1 " which burst from several voices at once, while the faces were all turned to a party who were advancing along the Via de' i. srretani. " It's Lorenzo Tornabuoni, and one of the French noblemen who are in his house, " said cier Gioui, in some contempt at this interruption. " He pretends to look well satisfied — that deep Tornabuoni — but he's a Medicean in his heart: mind that." The advancing party was rather a brilliant one, for there was not only the distinguished presence of Lorenzo Toma- ■ The poorer artiRans connected with the weal trade— wool-beaten, cuden, wssiien, etc. TBI PRISOlfEIU. 9M tmoni, and tli* tplandid oottnms of the Pr»nolim«n with hit •Ubormtely diipUyed white lioeu and gorgeous embroidery: there were two other Florentinei of high birth in handsome dreeees, donned for the coming prooeMion, and on the left hand of the Frenchman waa a figure that wae not to be eolipeed by any amount of intention or brocade— a figure we have often seen before. He wore nothing but black, for he wu in mourning! but the black was presently to be covered by a red mantle, for he too was to walk in procession aa Latin Secretary to the Ten. Tito Melema had become conspicu- ously serviceable in the intercourse with the French guests, from his familiarity wit»: Southern Italy, and his readiness in the French tongue, which he had spoken in his early youth ■ and he had paid more than one visit to the French camp at Signa. The lustre of good fortune was upon himj he was smiling, listening, and explaining, with his usual graceful un- pretentious ease, and only a very keen eye bent on studying him could have marked a certain amoun , of change in him which was not to be accoucted for by she lapse of eighteen months. It was that change which comes from the final de- parture of moral youthfulness— from tl.e distinct self-conscious adoption of a part in life. The lines of the face were as soft aa ever, the eyes as pellucid ; but something was gone— some- thing OS indefinable as the changes in the morning twilight. -he Frenchman was gathering instructions concerning cere- monial before riding back to Signa, and now he was going to have a final survey of the Piazza del Duomo, where the royal procession WIS to pause for religious purposes. The distin- guished party attracted the notice of all eyes aa it entered the piazza, but the gaze was not entirely cordial and admiring- there were remarks not altogether allusive and mysterious t^ the PVenchman's hoof-shaped shoes-delicate flattery of royal superfluity in toes; and there was no care that certain snarl- mgs at "Medieeans" should be strictly inaudible. But Lo- renzo Tomabuoni possessed that powe- -^f dissembling annoy- Moe which is demanded in a man who courts popularity, and Jito, besides his natural disposition to overcome il' will by good humor, had the ntiimpassioned feeling of the auen toward names and details that move the deepest passions of the native. 10 329 ROUOLA. oyer the oentoKrTavexo^lT ""* ^'^'^ P'"""^ beckoned to P^ro^f CoaimT^ * '*''°""' """^ Tomabuoni this hour. wa^ZntrrrSKXp "Se'™ '* soon an animated discnssion an/itT! ?P" '^^'" ^«» f«.in thePVench^antrarettlSoV'^'i^ •^"""« of statement, which Tito tCS £,1° ' ^.i^'""*?'^ onlookers became curious anH Tkli * 7" ^^«n snarling half-smiling, ha^-huSte^t^l '°'%'^«'" *° ''^^ *^« within helping of the fc^f expression of people who are not Wht^r. It-laTl Sa tint ri^^f °"' £:sr^rw^tCiXitr.r°7^^^^^^ fell ai>utit:XToTAri ''^r'^'"' '^«''* aU disappeared within the w^^ nJTZ "''"ff K**™ l»d had been d^orated for Ire^llU^Uda^ '^ *^« P'«- Meanwhile in the grav liipht nf ti,^7 "" °"y- were oncomers who mal no show^l wiadomed streets there whose humor was f^ i„™ * ^T" '^^ •'''*'«'«. and dress and hoofedV^.^eZ*'^- ^T' *°°' ^'^ ^""^ pressed upon by a WrTd U ''"'"°"\''"' ^^^^ '"« »*i"8 Florentine^ In tt'l'^of ttfn ""^^' °' non-admiring scanty clothing- e^h C ht f 7^'* 7"'« ^'^ ""en in and a^ope ^iX^ro^.'Z'l^r^X''' '^ " <»."^ way that he who held the extremity ^f T ^' '" """'' » check any rebellious Z™™fi,^ . ^^ ^^ "••«'»* easUy Themenlh" held thrZ^T ^' f" '^"^' °* ^''""li^S broken ItaU^ph Jt Z^lT™ f *»"'' «°1'1^«''. and by the rope, theTf^oTt^rto « '^ *T *''*' '^°**«'i «"<» "f beg. T;o of them were olr T^'^f^ '^'" P"^*"'^" to they had encountered rdheMrl''"''j^ "^''^ ^l"'"^"^ in piteous tones,- ^ °"' ^^'^ '~'«"1 ^^o and said th;:g'i^:r;r^«iT^t sSnT^ -^ — prisoners in Lunigiana » Tuscans: we were made But the third man remained obstinately silent under aU the THE PRIBONBRS. 337 strokes from the knotted cord Ho »... aspect from his t^ofeU^-prilerf Tw"""^ ^'^'""'' ^ hardy, and in the scant clottiT which ^h J T"'- ^""^^ ^^ captors had left them Inntl^Tt , ^ *''""'« °* ^^'^ But he had ptsed tte i^d^ oVli*"' '"""^^ "indicants. be less thau^fonr or five :^Sc4 HrrV°"l' ^""^ grown long in neriect. Td rt» t" • ^".'^"'J' '^I'ioh had s^ghtrolnd his^il we e'n^^'ir Sth^".' set figure was stiU firm and UDrii^hwv,^. u ■ ^^"'^^ seemed to express energy^nspfte of a™ ^ emaciated, and was partly c^ried outlJSeKy « ii^rsZ"";"^ *'^' rmr^.?;uoraf ^-f ^-S^of^So:^^- lank gray hai« ^AnT' i^'*""' '*««P-'^°k]ed face with its eyesfhi^htntradtte/lrasralTr/ '""^ ^ *^« looking round with mil fi!^ ^^ °* *°*'^f57= after of insolence. But T Uif^^ I / "'"°'*5' in their acts the heart of the ci^ ^Lf^ ^'"* proceeded farther into Peared, and^h^souLr nffires'^frS'f ^ ''Z enng troop of men and boys, who keot ut,l^>, V »*"" posZn, for, Sr:XtrrnSeThrf '''^ tHe ho^ of fin'diLTsKinrCt:;;"'''' ''"''^"« ^-« - P-ners. They'll run as fast as'^^i^.^^-si^^J^ SM ROUOLA. fools do nothing but hoot. Come along I" he X«d t^llv behind hi. had a stimuttin^g ettt l':;Sd "Ttt:: was ready to burst out Ls Irnietht ,' as ra"liT alS sTlalLoKo'""!,' " •"''^ ■" ■«=*' ^ th'eXw^ Tp- ganuous ooys that made the majority of the crowd Lollo of an°:x'cXtTn5e"° V°H *'^ ^r°'"' ""' "^^^ -S: ^adse:mS:\SrmreJ^^^ rope and leap back again before the soldier who hddh r™M mrschL"T:i "°"'' "t ^" ^"^^« and dixLou'; r^ 5^ re^Sof^ S:5th^a^t SL*;rm- he^was^close-to the eldest prisoner: in an instant 1^^^':^, thrfr,"S' °^*^ °°*' " ^^ P*P"^ *° *''« prisoner's ear, as soon as * if he w?™ h° ,'"°V r' ''™=«" "«* '^^ example'ofTnin The oZL;'''''^ "^^ ^^*^ ^'°8S, like a scared fowl. ' the oln^ !! T'?*"""" ^"'^ "°* *°° sl°^ for him to seize !nt S- ^^ '■.fV^''' °^ '""^^ ^'"^ be«" continu^ly pr^ of the cro^d' ^''^^^:'';T.*"'« *'"' «*«P'^ l"" foot "ignori, whose bkch Jere C^Tv ^"^'"^ *^« 8-°"P of to recover his balanced heS^""'/""^ ""^ °"^y»We ^ It was Tito MeCa who felt tw T°i '""'^ ^y 'l-^ '^""■ head, and saw the fa^rof h ! !^ «"*''^- H" *»™ed his Cairo, close to his ow^ ^'' '"^"P''"^ *»*«'• Baldassarre -^wHrdLVSnraLVa'^tS.r^' ''' ^-*''= «^'^- worn hands on the velvet^l ^ ^^ ^'P "* '''« s^^ed lips all bloodless, t^^^^tZLrV"^ "''^'^ -^ whale to them-it was but amoment '' ''^'"^'^ * '°"8 CoX ^hrstdl-se rhiran? ''l^ '""«'' °^ ^^^ ^^ could see his face. ^ *"'* "*" *^« ""iy Pewon that " Ha, hal I tnow what a ghost should be now." w i S80 BOUOLA. h«l^«^"^ T"^ priwner," said Lorenzo Tomn- (MOM. "Who M he, I wonder?" &«» nuu^man, surely," said Tito. He hardly knew how the word, had oome to his Ups : there are moments when onr passions speak and decide forns. and we seem to stand by and wonder. They carry in them m in- spiration of crime, that in one instant does the work of long premeditation. ^^ The two men had not taken their eyes off each other and it STdl^^i.*"' "^T. '* ^-d spoken, 'thatso^SS.^ had darted from Baldassarre's eyes, and that he f^H it rosh- mg ttough his veins But the next instant the gr..^ on hi, armUd reUxed, and Baldassarre had disappeared ^iSiin the CHAPTER XXIII. AFTBB-THOUQHTS. "ToiT are easily frightened, though," said Kero, with an- other scornful laugh. "My portrait is not as go^d as the original. But the old fellow had a tiger look, I Ct go into .the Duomo and see him again." n.." \^ ^\?^Tt *° ^ ^^ ^°^^ 0* ^y » '"'dman, if mad- S he be," said I-orenzo Tomabuoni, in poUte excuse of Tit<^ "but perhaps he is only a rufSan. We shaU hear I thmfc we must see if we have authority enough to stop 'this h!, J^°f •'*^'*° "" P*°P^* '^ y"" countrymei^" he added, addressing the Frenchman. They advanced toward the crowd with their swords drawn, all the quiet spectators making an escort for them. Tito went top: It was necessary that he should know what others knew about Baldassarre, and the Hrst palsy of terror was bemg succeeded by the rapid devices to which mortal danger will stimulate the timid. """Bor The rabble of men and boys, more inclined to hoot at the soldier and torment him than to receive or inflict any serious womids, gave way at the approach of aignori wiUi drawn AJTKB-THOtJGHTS. mj oitjr that they might beg money for f,^ ^"~°"'' ^*» «>« pria"» an eldoriy man, was wt^Tvl^^Z ^""'«^»i a^e other, French forager; hadoometoE;*,?;"^*'' '''*^ ^'""" '^^ bemad, but he was harmlesT tC Ji^^°- ^"""'Sht being unable to underSTword^f'lr ^"^ °° "«'«'. heard so far, but he was derf to «™ .v ** "f" '^^^ Tito specially addressed. Twa^ To™»r^'^'°v'^ "^ *"^ ^>'' ^<« " Will „™, u , ^ iomabuoni who sooke Will you go back with us, Melema? o, • « w going off to Signa now x^l^tT, Pf,' '""* *^«^w of the times andV to h^aTSie ftlT ^k'°"°T; "^^ '»«"<» torrent at its height this m"mS?I^; it^^ ** "^« «"• you know, if we are to save onf w I ^* ''*' """* *" do. go if I had the leis" e » ^"^"^ '^^- ^ "hould -^i^rt Xt' XgTytt? "^" ""''• -^^ '^^ '^^ '^^ be"^LrsSg^,'r°"« i*^"- Of the inspired orator, with the SegretlL'till'ir^^r^J^^it^ """^'"^ again'TSr ''" ^"^ ^ '-"^ -^- -^ old man inay find oat whether Wanrl^rr^- ^''» """k" and piazza held memorfesrTn™^.- "'■"^/Paoes of street that might have made tte ^s^ZTZ:T^ '°^'"^8 '^ a serpent had begun to ool3,°i T f\ ^^ *«^' « " living, and in Flofe^oe w^ I S '™'''- »^dassarre more rest than a windW f 5 ™'''°«*' ''"«'' ^onld no crushed its p^y.' Tt wa7notTtt T'' "^' ""'^^ " J"-^ an injury pass InJngTtTltl °''n°' ?«* "^ *» let that passionate fervor which sub W ^f ^"'™^ ^'"o' ^ing. and make. amanSrSll^Lr ^^if^^t 233 ROMOLA. 'f ! were a deity to be worshipped with self -deBtruotion. Baldas- sarre had relaxed his hold, and had disappeared. Tito knew well how to interpret that: it meant that the vengeance waa to be studied that it might be sure. If he had not uttered those decisive words— "He is a madman "-if he could have summoned up the state of mind, the courage, necessary for avowing his recognition of Baldasaarre, would not the risk have been ess? He might have declared himself to have had what he believed to be positive evidence of Baldassarre's death : and the only persons who could ever have had positive knowl- edge to contradict him were Fra Luc^ who was dead, ind the crew of the companion gaUey, who had brought him the news of the encounter with the pirates. The chances were infinite against B^dassarre's having met again with any one of that crew, and Tito thought with bitterness that a timely, well- devised falsehood might have saved him from any fatal conse- quences. But to have told that falsehood would have required perfect self-command in the moment of a convulsive 7hook- ^.ITT*^, ^71 'P"^*° ^''*°"' "»? Pwoonoeption: the words had leaped forth like a sudden birth that h^ been be- gotten and nourished in the darkness. Tito was experiencing that inexorable law of human souls that we prepare ourselves for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice of good or evil which graduaUy determines character. There was but one chance for him now; the chance of Bal- dassarre's failure in finding his revenge. And-Tito grasped at a thongut more actively cruel than any he had ever en- couraged before: might not his own unpremeditated words hr„T\ ™? ^. *^r^ ^""S"" *™*^' »* '«'«*. to bear hin^outmhis denial of any declaration Baldassarre might make about him? The old man looked strange and wild- with his e.ger heart and brain, suffering was likely enough to We produced madness. If it were so, the vengeance that strove to inflict disg oe might be baffled. But there was another form of vengeance not to be baffled tte'Sfrr? rf ^'^<^«^™ belonged to a race to whom the thmst of the dagger seems almost as natural an impulse as the outleap of the tiger's talons. Tito shrank with shud- denag dread from disgrace; but he had also that physical AITER.TH0UGHT8. 38S dread which is inseparable from a Boft t,ioo«,~> i • and which prevents a man SZ mTdZ^^°^l'"'^'"^ a welcome relief from dia^race O* ^<>«"d «nd death a. some hidden defensive3rti.at m It a?vt h^T* °°""' *° geance which no subtlety could p^T ^ *""" " ^*°- seSit''tt:?rfrhidtp*"'°°''*« *- *^* p-- ing disease thtTad suddenly t^red't^" ''*^ " "'«•■*■ young life into pain. ^ """* *^^ '"y^"" "«""« «' There was still one resource onen fn T)t„ ti ■ ^ , of few, waa mH oLt hn h™j . ? *^ tnutotous sjbiu san-e ever oconrrBH tn >,;-, i n », * '"™™" oi iJaldas- through his Slve^to^-- ^" *f«' possibilities passed s^ulJdSre-com'^ ^"^'"•'" ""' - not'^h^hrt ing feit:n^nrwrzraif fr^^ '■"• ^-^ '"^«- would save him'fromtoingeifbv^^^^^^^^ °' '^'"^ that habitual choice. ^ *^^ consequences of 334 ROHOLA. CHAPTER XXIV. IKBIDS THI DUOr»" be thorn., ?n«t If »»•»»»',<>' wanton, .hall oome the pe.tUenoe. Tn,.t not m your gold and silver, trust not in yourhigh for tresses; for, though the walls were of iron, and the fo rtresse. If^'' ^^ ^'"* '''«'' '^'^' P"* *•"» ^^ your h^' foundedandfleehke women. HeshaU break in pieces mighty men without number, and put others in their stead. T^qZ W.U no longer endure the pollution of hi. .anctuaryj he wm I thoroughly purge h!a Church. »«7, newiu ^ I but ^i'Tr°A"v^* '• '"**** *bat God Will do nothing me hi. !!? '* *" •"'' ""'*"*• """ P^Pbets, hehas chosef ^ul iu tl!^7 ''^ ""r) ^-^ '"*'^'' ^'^ P^P""' P'««»t to^ soul in the hnng word of the Scriptures, and in the deeds of It' to r'""""' """ Y ^^^ "■^""'^ "' ^H'^ J"* ha. «veale1 burjtV°J""T- , ^^^" '"'■^ P""""* "« 80 that 1 1^ tralTif r^.°^ "' ""? *""** '^ *be wind of heaven pen^ mT^^ T •'• "■ °°'.^ "" *° ""^P """"^ "^ea though I maybeadensiontothescomer. And for four year. I have preached in ob^iience to the Divine will : in the t^Lmll me t.^^*"^f "^"^ *'^««' '"^'^ «'• ^^ ha. delivH tf ttat fe/ore Mo regeneration must come the .courg, over M Italy and that theee thing, will eome quickly shnw nf f yP°t"'«« ^^° 0'°'^ their hatred of the truth with a show of love ha^ e said to me, ' Come now, Frate, leave your prophe.ymgs= it is enough to teach virtue • To the^I ^ swer: 'Yes, you .ay in your hearts, God Uve. afar ^ rd his word IS as a parchment written by dead men, and he e^s Is of eT BuW ''"'*''**^.* unholy priestsas he Lote thf nota?«rnff .^"*^«'y»8'^« your ears: God is near and not afar off; his judgments change not He is the God of armies; the strong men who go up to battle are his minister, even «, the s*orm, and fire, and pestUence. He driveTttS IKBIDl THl DUOHO. 337 Und which hM fc-.iJt.n the covenant. And thou. O lulv «rt tl,. ohojjen Iwdi ha. not God pUced hi. Jc^^^aU w,u£ U..e, >md thou hMt pollut«l it? Behold, the mini.to.'i hta w™th .-e upon thee-they are at thy ve;y door."' » w> mi. point, when he became .uddenlv .ilent !«<: hi. !,._/ faUaodolanped them quietly before him "^i'^iSee,^ .t^d of being the .ignal for'.maU movementeaWi W. Through the ya.t area of the cathedral men and women «t wt^ISntTeKS""^-^*""' "" ---- might flee from it. There i. a .tillness before the storm ■ la InS *' V '^~' "•"'sen oity in the chcen landl Eeuent and forsake evU: do juatice: love mercy: put away K- oleannes. from among you, that the .pirit <,f tru^Sd hdl IsworH 1,T '"'*''*" *^« P«stUenceshaU notTte'ra^d the sword shaU pas. over you and leave yon unh-urt. ' For the sword is hanginB from tha abv . in. „ • Is there not a king with his army at your gites? C, w the earth shake with the tread of hoLs af^ tte wh^Is of ^tZZL'^-^'^'r' " ^'"^ ""Ititude t^ar'^'Vy oare the land as with a sharp razor? I tell vou the Vr^^ol k;ng witi his army is the minister of God God shall ^uMa wick d haU meU before him, and they shall be mown down as sti. Je: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away' and le that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. C tte LLto "uiBiuae, and the unbelieving priests who traffic in the souls a ^ ROMOLA. Of mm ud flU the rmy Muctiuury with fmniMtlon, thaU bt hurled fronr their toft oouohee into bnniing heUj end the pagaoi end thejr who linned under the old ooveoknt fh«U itand aloof and lay : ' Lo, theM> men have brought the itaiMh of a new wiokedneia into the everlaxting fire.' " But thou, O Ploienoe, take the o&ered mercy. Seel the Oroee ia held out to you : come and be healed. Which among the naboui of Italy haa had a token like unto yours? The ^rant ie driven out from amoug you: the men who held a bribe in their left hand and a rod in the right are gone forth and no blood haa been spilled. And now put away erer^ other abomination from among you, and you shall be strong m the stiength of the living God. Wash yourselves from the black pitch of your vices, which have made you even as the heathens : put away the envy and hatred that have made your city as a nest of wolves. And there shall no harm happen to you: and the passage of armies shall be to you as a flight of birds, uid rebeUions Pisa 8>.aU U. gi. a to you again, and famine and pestUence shall be far from your gates, and you shaU be as a beacon among the nations. But, mark! while you suffer the aoourse-? 'hing to lie in the camp you shaU be afflicted and tormented even though a remnant among von may be saved." -^ j » These admonitions and promises had been spoken in an in- cisive tone of authority; butintheneitsentenc *he preacher's voice melted into a strain of entreaty. "Listen, people, over whom my heart yearns, as the hewtof a mother over the children she has travailed fori Ood IS my witness that but for your sakes I would wiUinriv hve as a turtle in the depths of the forest, singing low to my Beloved, who is mine and I am his. For you I toil, for you I languish, for you my nights are spent in watching, and my soul melteth away for very heaviness. O Lord, thou knowest I am willmg-I am ready. Take me, stretch me on thy cross : let the wicked who delight in blood, and rob the poor, and defile the temple of their bodies, and harden them^lves against thy mercy-let them wag their heads and shoot out tne .ip at me: let the thorns press upon my brow, and let my sweat be anguish-I desire to be made like thee in thy gre«t miDI TBI DtrOHO. 339 lore. Bnt let me ••• the fmlt of mv tn»(l w .ki. • God, that the earth .hall be oonverted unto thy law ■ it U th, W.U that wiokedae™ ahall caae and love ,X^gn. iolZ ble.»d promiwi and behold, I am wiUing-lafme onZ iw bf L*""1i^ '"'^ *^' «" con,„n.e^i7but let 1 anSri WtJ."' "J?.^' S'"""*"*'* had stretched out hU arm. and lifted up h.8 eyes to heaven; hi. .troni, voice had alternately trembled with emotion and riwn ami^ in rl„.w^ menu loved h.m httle; neverthele... they too were cLT^ along by the great wave of feeling which gathered it. fo™ from .ympathie. that lay deeper than aU th^^ 1 toud Sf:*r.\T "' °°''"' '"- ""> wdemuTSudefie rnZ^!"^ -^l* '° *^** """"*"* *''« «Pt"™ and glory of aiartyrdom without its agony. ^ Kle5 '5lo^r!ri°V'"' '""'"'"'^* Baldassarre'. had min- gled. Among all the human being, present, there was . , hap. not one whose frame vibrated m'ore st^ngTy ra^ , « iTkfahar^Twvt'^.f ^P™^"''"'' •>"' '* had wta^d except on? TW^.'^*^r*''°«^^''<*''«^^ '^""J'^d away a futorei; ^''l*''n''* ' ^""^ inexorable vengeanoe-of hedb^af J^'"^ '•'"' •""""^ """"^ ■"'8''* ^ pursued and Jield by the avenger m an eternal grapple, had .Sme to him MO ROMOLA. n m II f priestly avipeTsZo^ZTfi '^"' ^^ "'"^ «*"''»"'?' fo' an8leroouw'Xyi.ave\iven?.r """'"'b'^^d them, what given by this roLcfJ I ' ^*** "*"* "''^ tJ-^ ""s^'er den;^ciati» fInTfis nT ° «°°^'f "»? The thunder of CHAPTER XXV. OUTSIDE THB DnOMO. having come solely to l<^k atX IIT ■ ^^^^^g, and touched Baldassar:1ra?m' Se'^ZTr "'^'"'^ the tears sUU slowly roUing dolT histi^^^ J^i^^ /iTJTSlDB THE DUOMO. 241 ith that outburst. The painter I have heard how you CUB sigh, as i; he had done spoke to him i ;, low toae, " Shall I out J .-uc '^^7rdf, for you? were made prisoner." ciourif^tthe„ffi'^-"°' "P^y^-^^diately; he glanced suspi- nouriy at the officious stranger. At last he said, "If you " Better come outside," said Piero Baldassarre again looked at him suspiciously; and Piero partly guessjng his thought, smiled, took out a knif^ and cui the cords. He began to think that the idea of the pri^ner^^s madness was not improbable, there was something so pecuL m the expression of his face. « Well," he though "Ifh" ^rr^^Tr^'"^' ^*'" «°°° 8«" ti^d up again.^ The poor devil shall have a chance, at least " ^ <^ ■ -^"^ Poor "You are afraid of me," he said again, in an imdertone- "you aon't want to tell me anything about yourself^ ' Baldassarre was foldmg his arms in enjoyment of the lone- absent muscular sensation. He answeredPiero with a lefs suspicious look and a tone which had some quiet decidon in 1 JMo, I have nothmg to tell." J' "^7°" P'^^'V' ^^^ ^'^'">> " b°t perhaps you want shel- ter and may not know how hospitable we Plorent^rare to visitors with torn doublets and empty stomachs. Ws^^ h^pital for poor travellers outside all our gates, and, f y^ liked, I could put you in the way to one. There's no rt»n^^! from your French soldier. He L been sent o^" *°''' ajdassarre nodded, and turned in silent acceptance of the offer and he and Piero left the church together on tL Jf /I ' *''*y "'*"* *^°°8 the Via dell' Oriuolo on the way to the gate of Santa Crooe. " I am a painter T would give you money to get your portrait." ^ ' ^ Inl ! ^^^Pi-'ion returned into Baldassarre's glance as he ^^!t"* T' ^"l «^d decidedly, "Ko.» Ah!" said the painter, curtly. "Well m -f^oi™!.* 16 MS HOMOLA. K If I: 11 •nd tt. W,„ M go., o,„Z 1,,« A^n^ tt. plo|«h OTrTBIDE THE DUOMO. 243 Medioi and made room fop Dublin «ni^f a* 4.1. • 1. abundant sprinkling of n,en with more conteSa fve IT^e^ sitive faces: scholars inheriting such high namelL^T- £ ^--ioli. who were aJready' mindedt tT Ww ^d jom the community of San Marco, artists, wrought t^ a nTw and higher ambition by the teaching of Savonarola li^e thaT young pamter who had lately surpassed himseUtoWs fr^S of the divine chUd on the wall of the Frate's bare ^U uT Tn^i^ ^'f»°'*°'»' Who was never to see the lightof another morning. There were well-bom women attir^ w X^uch scrupul^ous plainness that their more refined^ce was the IL • -T.,^ predominant proportion of the genuine ^^fan, or middle class, belonging both to the Mafor Td Minor Arts, conscious of purses threatened by war-taJes I^d rSe Fr .te?s^' -7"""^ ^''^^•^ ^ ^ *^« otter clats of tte Fr.te s disciples, there was the long stream of poorer badesmcL and artisans, whose faith and hope in^i^ Ee message varied from the rude and undiscriminatog tmst^ h^ as the friend of the poor and the enemy of the wfou^ oppressive rich, to that eager tasting of all the subtS o? hbhcal interpretation which takes a ?ec„liarl7strlg hold on iSriightriJ^eSce''^*^ " ^"^ "^« ^' -- ^ U^^^^i^'"'^'^°^'.^°'^^'"' °* *'>« IVate were scat- tered many who were not in the least his disciples. Some 3M ROHOIA. .1 /: 11; i ll ^Z^^ y^°^^ ''^'^^^' '""^ "oti'*" "t fear and Tfif^ ^5"? *° *•"' ^^^ P^^-JiagBPiritof the popular p^ a feigned deference. Others were sincere adyocZ of a "e^ govemnjen^ but regarded Savonarola simply as an .^bitious monk-half sagacious, half fanatical-whoYad mTde hi^e" a powerful instrument with the people, and must be aoceTted as an important social fact. There were even some of hS the W»^r"f ^^'Z'^^ ««' tl'e "ins once more tightly men, who detested him as the kiU-joy of Florence Fn^hf sermons in the Duomo had already beUeSrcI'iJde^t The men'of T" ^l""™"*^ "^^ "'^"-' - wel? L ofthh! The men of ideas, like young Niccold Macchiavelli went to observe and write reports to friends away in Z.t' vUlas tte rr "'^'^tr' '^' ''°"° «P^'' •*"* <» hunting S the Frate, as a public nuisance who made game scarcl w3 Sat Whir' "' "t^ '"* ^"^ ,^^rofZ2ZT. «nJ« th^ « °,° P™""''*' "^"^ ^"^ " "">" -nassive influ- ence than Savonarola, no preacher ever had more hete«,wne- ous matenals to work upon. And one secret of the Sve mfluence lay m the highly mixed character of his prSnl Baldas^ure, wrought into an ecstasy of self-marty"in™nB!' rv°°'^J^."*™'"^ •""« -^""S '^0 partial and n^ow svm- paaies of that audience. In Savo/arola's preacWnTS were strains that appealed to the very finest susceptibiWi^ elZ JTr '^.^i « srs? ""Ts gave a slight start and quickened hTspLfoftheT. 7^ tines Who cJed for ^L^^ tf= ~ - aU More^^ bug.^to-^,HtinstrdX"mori;mi^;^. Httle bit of -de doorway, standing at the truncated angW ^t bS ■'^mt-i^wm'M'w^ THE GAHMBNT OF PEAR 349 oarred capital*. >*R^n8t th« ,J ?• I. x '""^' "'"> ""ghly line of the J-uted tCild co,?.J'«''^r'^ '" ^^ t^' o"'^ gr«.d figure of ii J 6 S hthu " °°' '? '"f' """^ ^^e and fall, first hiding andXdLwT '" '^''^"'''' "»« n>outh and powerful brow Two iZ? ^"^"^^^ "^ ^" «'» at the anvil, the other at the lellowf tU^? ^^™''' °»« superior massiveness. ' °"^*^ *° »«' "ff hi* Tito darkened the doorwar wii-h . standing in silence, since Has ^i" 7"^ "■^"""t °"tline, should deign to paise and noZ h m ThT''' "''*" ^"^"'^ »n..th had beaten the head of ^ ^^'to Th 7"" T ""''''''« edge and dismissed it fron> hiraTvU R . .''"« ^''"Pness of Tito had satisfied himself La „W ro^n^H 1? "^l "'*''° *^« he turnedTm"thTrrrd\iir-\^°'^ """^ « hip. " ""^ ^sted his hammer on his ;; What is it, Messer Tito? Business? » interrpTfo/iSjel't'""'' "°* ''^^ -"^-'-i *» that^as^ajgn thaT/o^^ :o^^?^,« -»! ^o-- -- I take sj^ar-reaS" l^^rfooUhatlSaf ''^""f ^"^ "^ -^ put his pumpkin-head i^toTay^inntr '^''P ""^ and see the King of France anH h^^i ' „ ' **"" °°' """ns swered, 'No: 1 donWnf f v°'^'*"'^ ^^ I'^e an- their bieks."' "^' *° "** *^«' f""*"-! want to see in case of an uproar?" *^*° """^ ^"y"'*'' and spits walt'^t^em!"' The J^t^ZeT. '°°^' ?1 ^'°"°<'« " "''^'y *« them, But he doesn't see birds caught as some of our people try to make that I with w iking at out. He sees sense. } I ,' 800 BOMOLA. Md not noniwue. But you're a bit of a Medlowtn, UeMW Tito Melem.. Ebbwjel k I've been mytell in my time, be- fore the oaak began to run eour. What's your businese? » Simply to know the price of that fine coat of mail I law hMgmg up here the other day. I want to buy it for a certain personage who needs a protection of that sort under his doublet. "Let him come and buy it himself, then," said Niccol6, blunUy I'm rather nice about what I seU, and whom I .eU to. I like to know who's my customer.'- "I know your scruples, Nioool6. But that is only defen- sive armor: it can hurt nobody." ii'^™®' ]"" .- ""y "''k* «*• "«> who wears it feel himseU all Ui) .afer if he should want to hurt somebody. No, no- It « nc. my own work; but it's fine work of Maso of Brescia! I should be loath for it to cover the heart of a scoundrel. I must know who is to wear it." " T*}?' ^V^' *° ^ P'a>° ''** yo", Nicool6 mio, I want it -T^h f^ T *"- ,^T^8 '* '"" ""«'''» *° ^ persuasion. The fact IS, I am likely to have a journey to take-and you know what journeying is in these times. You don't suspect me of treason against the Republic? " "No, I know no harm of you," said Niccol6, in his blunt way again. "But have you the money to pay for the coat? For you've passed my shop often enough to know my sign- you ve seen the burning account-books. I trust nobody The price is twenty florins, and that's because it's second-hand You re not likely to have so much money with you. Let it be till to-morrow." ■««<." "I happen to have the money," said Tito, who had been wmnmg at play the day before, and had not emptied his purse. 1 U carry the armor home with me." Nioool6 reached down the finely wrought coat, which fell together into little more than two handfuls. "There, then," he said, when the florins had been told down on his palm. "Take the coat. It's made to cheat sword, or poniard or arrow. But, for my part, I would never put such a thing on. It's like carrying fear about with OuO* ■f i«vr THI YODKO WIFl. 301 STdfoT ""^ *^' """ " y"" "•"•"-wilding doi CHAPTER XXVII. THK YOlfNO WIFE. hJIhf" ^'*° "'"f ^^""S <"»«• the bridge with the new- bought armor under his mantle, Romola wm pacing up ITd c^the old hbrary, thinking of him and iZ^IZ^t It waa but a few fair faoea that had not looked forth fm™ h« nobles. One of the few waa Bomola's. She had bZ suddenly m his chair, three months before. ' Is not Tito coming to write? » he had said, when the bell had long ago sounded the usual hour in the even^g He h^ rwSirm"^^.''^"'-^"-*^- ---"*' ""'tnolitl kniw k/***"' ?^''"* to go to a supper at the cardinal's : yon !rof;":.rir '-""'' "^ "-'-^ -'^" -'' -— » ^ » apparently pacified by this hope ^ ^ ^'^°' ^^Hej.as silent a little whUe; then, suddenly flushing, he hai'Lr.'L^°°'^'^°"*'^^°'"°'«- Get the pen. He Id nnfv ^„\*^ *^"' *^« ^^'^ I'latonists. I shall d', and nothing will have been done. Make haste, my Bomoli' 2S3 ROMOla. I UW.whie,.oou.tomed to pauses in diototionf wd wheT « "I »m quite ready, fttherl " Romola looked Uok on that hou, with some indignation ^tJ.,.Tf ' ^:^ r° "*"" ""• fimoutburstofK" row there had mingled the irrepressible thought "Perhaw my We with Tito will be more perfect now " ^ For the dream of » triple life with an undinded sum «rf happmesshadnot been quite fulfilled. The I^ntew-^tS shower of sweete to have been perfectly typical, sho^d hale fault ^ JiT? "^ .'^"P*"*' d thorns. It was not Tito's fault, Romola had continually assured her«,lf. He was sttU M gentlene«i to her, and to her father also. But it ™ to Star: o7t°h"''Tw'"'"'' " clearly now-ftw^ Tth" nature of things that no one but herself could go in-i after month, a^dyear after year, fulfiUing patiefSy .«'?« father's monotonous exacting demands. Even she. »W .ymi«thy with her father had made all the paTs^^n^d^reuS Tu^^Jh^ ^- ""• """ *""" *^* l^^o" tteir mar- riage, and even for some time after, Tito had seemed mZ, SLTdf,nr*^- J^--"'""''* load with confident re^ ness, and up to a certain point the growing irksomenemTf pressure is tolerable; but at last the^esi^ te rTefZ no longer be resisted. Komola said to herself that she haHeL very foohsh and ignorant in her girlish time: she waTwi^ now, and would make no unfair demands on the man to wh^ she had given her best woman's love and worship. ^, breatii of sadness that still cleaved to her lot while she «. her father month after month sink from elaSon tto niv r TH» YOUNO Win. 383 q>p>intaimt m Tito gare him Im* and Ism of bli time, and mad. bland exouw. for not continuing hi. own .hare of the jotat work-that Mdnn. wa. no fault of Tito's, ,he wid, but Ill^W :^ ,^«:''«"« i«PPomtment? ^e.^ there was no otb ■ milder word that would t*!! the truth Perhaps all womer , suffer the disappointment of igno^ n 364 ROUOLA. H^il (m ^ 1 1 1 1- I :i: ^^■ i 1: Mnt hopes, if she only knew their eiDerienoe <.«ii *•■ ' luid been somethine wwnliar in h., i!* v , ^'^' *"• the solitary hours wift h«r f!^t fu .* "*'' heartache in atonement she oouldinaifn^T .If '"u"""^ "»" ''^ «"> to joy at his lo^ T^fLw ' *^?«^ ^"^ «~«"«i "**" seed-time without a harvest-™ ^^n.^ ^^'^'^ '""g remained of it hesid^l^^^- I *"'* '""'' ""* »" that fru^ity. Thettent o^er faS'sT.^T'" *°"..'"^ about thU library was a sacli'tugatiSlriCr" del Nero, though wS -' Pisa hangini over i^ S^ll^ ' ^^'^T*^ °* ^"^^8 *" P^y l"e« ^obsidfes to the s^ri^te * ^*' '" ^"""'y *" P'«**" """-y *° ""»""• „),,>? ?°°'°1» t^'sa grave political changes had gathered their chief interest from their bearing on the fulfilment of he" ^^k^f r "? '.* "^^ '"^ "^"^ '''"^ ^^«» accustomed to ^ebc to the vulgar present, of the Pnyx and the Forum as ^methmg more worthy of attention than the councils of living W ir . r .,'"" *^"' *^* """O**"" °* i«^ best hope about her father's library. The times, she knew, were unpleasant !««™?1f "l*^" ^'^' ^"^ ^'^ 8°''^''*ber and Tito! IZ- nt^ri,^? ^^~l'""^ *^« '^"P*'* '"bble were full of su^- cms, but her new keen interest in public events, in the out- break of war, in the issue of the French king's visit, in the Sfbv^h '"' '^t *° "^^^ ^ *^« StaV was kl^d^d ^1 L^ w '"T °f ^"^^ '^'^ •'"'7 *° ber father's memory. AURomola's ardor had been concentrated in her affections. UttLt!r™i^ "/"f'^'.^"™"^ P""""^** bid been for h'; httle more than a toU which was borne for his sake; and Tito's m L«^- '^* T"^ ^^ "" ''"'»<'«°° *" ber that was no merged m the deeper sympathies that belong to young love and trust. Romola had had contact with no mind that could fZ^^ ^^' possibilities of her nature; they lay folded and cnished like embryonic wings, making no element in her con- ..lousnwis beyond an occasional vague uneasiness. iJut this new personal interest of hers in public affairs had Mmm "s BOMOLA. n«de h«r care at last to underrtand preoiady whM tolh«» F« Gm,lamo'8 preaching waa likely to havS on tbatoT? Tshe co^^*^"" "", *"- '°™ "^ '^^ «*»*« '«" talked^. nd' ^LTki T}^}^^^'^ Tito, whose seoretaryahip and aer- mXtr^^ th""'' '™ "*" *••- ^"^ ''^»''"° busing made her only the more eager to fill out her lonely day by ^ hfSdZ'to'h^*'''"''; .'^'"'"°™^«'*-"'«fi"'S and^f ^» V l""'"' "'"' '""'^ *"""«•* » """Iden resolution, ^nffJ^ u f *^^ 'P°* "^"^ J"" fel-e^ was buried ta ^ta Croce, had walked on to the Duomo. The memoS oi that last scene with Dino was still yivid witiiin her wWer questions which U h^ta":wak?n:iT hHtS^ ie^' agam by that subjection to her husband's mind wWchT^^ ll^Z f ut :i°jr^" t '"^'""•^ -*^ passionate de "S O^^w.. • .**• ^^* remembered the effect of Fra Jn^w ^- ^°'"'' '"'^ P'^™"" »"» ^0^ «« a ground for eip^t tag that his sermon might move her in spite of his S. W^chlr nfT^ ,'«P'*"'""' ^P"'^'"". that this fanatical preacher of tribulations was after all a man toward whom i? might ..possible for her to feel personal regaTLTe^ mce The denunciations and exhortations simply arrested her attention She Mt no terror, no pangs of colincefSiL Z^tl:! Tf''^'^^^''^'''^'^'^^^ "ut could n^ Zm ^T /?"*^l|«°8Ji« heard Savonarola invoke martyr- dom she gobbed witii the rest: she felt herself pen^d apart trom aU the definable interests of her lifA Tf „.- _ I a^ether unlike the thrill whic^hfd lompanLTrir rare heroic touches in history and poetry; but fte re^ blance was as ti,at between the me^Try of musS aTdX BuV2:r ^'^'"' '■^ '"*"'^ ^"-^^K harmonL nnU^ . . i"^!!f "•' *'"°*'°°' "^^''S "" it was, seemed to lie quite outside th« mner chamber and sanctulry of her life She waa not thinking of Fra Girolamo now; she waa Cin^ THE TonNG WIFE. 2S7 anxionaly for the step of her husband. Durine these tJ.,«« TS 8^ Jf "'^"'^."'•'""r" "night begin to be more p^l feet. She was conscious of being sometimes a little too Zd or too urgent about what concerned her father's mem^!!; that were said and done in the world he frequented_a little tS hasty in suggesting that by living quite siiply as her fath^ h^ done^ they might become rich enough to pay BerLdo del Kero, and reduce the difficulties about the UbC itZ Tsh^'dS'^f f '° '°'^t"^' "" ^'"""^ly ""^ thiTlast poini 1 tL^t f It. "'"^^ " 8^«»* ^"'^ fr<"n hi°' to give up luxuries for which he really labored. The next time Sto came home she would be caref^ to suppress ,^1 those ZS ings thatseemed to isolate her f,x,m hii Bomola ^as Sr- W-,? ''ir"'8''°""« -""St, to subdue her nature to her hus- band's. Thegreatneedof her heart compelled her to strLwrle with desperate resolution, every rising Lpulse of suSn bS T« r\ '/ ''""' ."^'''8 **» '°'«- TI"** would have Z^W^.. f^.'""'^ "^^ """"^ ^«'' "^d l«a^« h" feet over- such a future for herself; she was only beginning to t^Z mTrp^e."^'"* " «>»* clinging WwmTKnSbet hompir'l'^ '"'^ ^^^"^ '°°8' *°' "f **° »"«i n°t come straight i . .w'J ^*™^''"'° ^« ""^ «""»i"g the Ponte Euu" conte aiat Romola heard the great door of* the couTtuSg on Its hmges and hastened to the head of the stone stTs There was a lamp hanging over the stairs, and they could see each other distinctly as he ascended. The eiE mouth! in lltos; the expression was more subdued, less cold ai,a morebes«chiug and, asthe pink flush oversprearht' f^e now in her joy that the long waiting was at a^ end she ™ on that day, any onlooker would have said that Bomola's M*§ .^mm I'M £ m S58 ROUOLA. n*ture was made to oommand, and Tito's to bend; yet now Bomok^s mouth was quivering a little, and tliere Ju wane tunidity in her glance. ^^ He made an effort to smile, as she said,—. not £,?^ ^°" ""' '^^' '' ^" ^'^ » '""s-^ff ^V: U it Maso was there, and no more -tos said untU they had crossed the ante-chamber and closed the door of the library behind them. The wood was burning brightly on the ^ dogs; that was one welcome for Tito, late a. he was,%™i Jtomola'a gentle voice was another. He just turned and kissed her when she took off his mantle- f ?!"« T* *°Z"^ " Wgh-baoked chair placed for him nea^ the fire, threw himself into it, and flung away his cap, sav- ing, not peevishly, but in a fatigued tone of remonstrance, as he gave a slight shudder,— "Bomola, I wish you would give up sitting in this library. Surely our own rooms are pleasanter in this chill weather " Bomola felt hurt. She had never seen Tito so indifferent m his manner; he was usually full of lively soUoitous atten- tion And she had thought so much of his return to her after the long day's absence I He must be very weary. I wonder you have forgotten, Tito," she answered, look- mg at hun wixiously, as if she wanted to read an excuse for hm. m the sigm. of bodily fatigue. " You know I am making aie catalogue on the new plan that my father wished for; you have not time to help me, so I must work at it closely " Tito, mst^ of meeting Eomola's glance, closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face and hair. He felt he was behaving unlike himself, but he would make amends to-mor- row. The terrible resurrection of secret fears, which, if Bomola had known them, would have alienated her fromhim forever, caused him to feel an alienation already begun be- tween them-caused him to feel a certain repulsion toward a woman from whose mind he was in danger. The feeling had taken hold of him unawares, and he was vexed with himself for behaving in this new cold way to her. He could not sud- denly command any affectionate looks or words ; he could only exert himself to say what might serve as an excuse. 'HK.^Misr A.Mcmi M'.ib .'T m'^m THS TOtWa WIFE. 2B» ^JtM. not wdl, Bomola, you mnat not be Mppriwd if I .m « Ah, you have liad so nrnoh to tire you to-day. » wid Eom- it^h^^""^ close to hin. and laying h^i' a^ oSi oieet whUe she put his hair back caressingly of Kt?int:i^' '*' "" "^'^ '^"^ "'"^ "«> "^ «- .s'S'^S.r*"*""''"^""'"^'^'*''? So-tl'ing "It « iron-it is ohain-armor," he said at once. He wu prepared for the surprise and the question, Z hflZke quiedy^ of something that he was not hurried t^ex^ There was some unexpected danger to-day, then?" said S^eT^ZlP""'""^'^*""- "^-^^"lentJyouToJ Every one is threatened in these tm. who ia nnt » ™wj en^nyof the Me ""^-^ *^^ sight of^ the Fwuch soldiers waddling in their broad shoes after their run! away prisoners! That comes of leaving my shop to sh^e Wficent chins It is always so: if ever I ^ Jtht tvd ^y^' '"°'''^' *^" ""^ °PP"*^'*y of\appeni^t ing lav "Tusw^* *° '^^ "T" *^'"^" ""-i ^^''«'. «Wsbit. ^ J /'*. ■• ^ ^* y"" ^*^°"'« ^^'eek look as frightened as If Satonasso had laid hold of him. I like to ^TZ ttnl 11 ^ V* "'■'P'*' °* themselves. What color dVyou think a man's Lver is, who looks like a bleached deer as ,^n as a chance stranger lays hold of him suddenly? " e.^J'w'h^r^-?''- '^'«"°* ""^^ ■" ^'"^ to thine own wh^ hSt a'tJ^^T' ""^ *^ «^»-*<.thathelooked startled When he felt a pair of claws upon him and saw an unchained sla f P " "^^"'^ ^°" ^^l'"'" " "ot like tho^bS Swi s and Germans, whose heads are only fit for battS ^^ and who have such large appetites that they thi^HZ mg of taking a cannon-ball before breakfast. We HorentL^ count some other qualities in a man besides thT^^^'t'^ff oaUed bravery, which is to be got by hiring dunderheads at so ZhS'^'T •'^"y''"' ""^ •« -"" ford out ttat ftey had more brains than oxen, they set the oxen to draw for ^; ^ ir "" ^^"«"'i"«« found out that we had Io» brams than other men, we set them to fight f or u. " A MOMENT OP TRIUMPH. 269 tnli'^Tl: ?*""' " ' ™'<* '^^ o»t from the innep «»»„ tarn; "that is not the doctrine of the State Bw!f v^hj^itKi^^n'^^ srA"oi^-fBr bsto^ who was offemg him a piece of honeycomb." *i.- u "7*5 ^""oesoo," said NeUo. "Florence hw » f«„ thicker skulls that may do to bombard Pisa wUh Zrl JZ ZiJ^'^r'T'' n^* '"''"« ^ '°^^ Sing rdi' 8ai7Nru^^T'™'°f"''^°**^*"^'^<'~' a^"". my Piero?" said NeUo, determmed to chase down the accuser "vL ought to be able to understand whv one ml ;! t\ 7°" S70 ROHOLA. ■u HI ?il M J^ll" rS- * f °?"^ ^"8k at Nello'8 defence, and it was clear that Piero's dUindination toward Tito wa^not^S at tLkZT- /^\P|^°*«'. ^"l" h« tindecipherablel^ Si!;.^ f ^'^ *""' ''" '"=^"» "^d stuffed his ears ^in- digiiant contempt, while NeUo went on triumphantiy,-! No, myPiero, Ican't afford to have my Jeierurfito decried • 8 light to Paradise, as the Frate has informer ,.■ and^e inoomparable Poliziano, not two months since, gone Cwel Sii^lge" " '' " ""' '"''' *° ""' •^"'"'* ^'"'"' - S "By the way," said Francesco Cei, "have you heard th«t of ii^r'ne h« H-^r r *""' ^"^ '"•"'■^ •^'^ - '^« «^e lUies ' said t.. ""^ "" November. ' Not at all the time of miesof France I meanti and it seems to me they are close fulfiUed, I'U declare myself a Piagnone to-morrow." You are something too flippant about the Frate. Fran- cesco," said Pietro Cennini, the scholarly. " We .^ mZ debted to him in these weeks for preaching peacV^ tZ ofT™^'^'^/'' ""^"^ "'*''' °* P-^ quarri-.'^herLTl of small disoemment who would be glad to see L peopte shpping the Frate's leash just now. And if the Ct K !^ ^^f-'V^'^'" '"^''* *^« '""'y to-day, and wUl ^^ s^ what IS fa>r and honorable to Florence, F« GiroCo U the man we must trust in to bring him to reason." You speak truth, Messer Pietro," said Nello: "the Frate ^oneof the firmest naih, Florence has to hang on-aU^t aiat 18 the opmion of the most respectable chins I have tte honor of shaving. But young MesserKiccoli was sajSg here tte other moming-and doubtless Francesco means th^^sH^ mZr r- •' "" ^?''^'>^^ a power of strotohing in the mM^ing of visions as in Dido's bull's hide. It seems to me a dr^ may mean whatever comes after it. As our Franco Saochetti says, a woman dreams over-night of a serpent biting H" 4 ^^rmii A UOUBNT OP TRIUMPH. 271 her, breaks a drinkiug-oup the next day, and cries out, ' Look yon, I thought something would happen— it's plain now what the serpent meant.'" " But the Frate's risions are not of that sort, " said Cronaca. He not only says what wiU happen-that the Church will be soourged and renovated, and the heathens converted-he says It shall happen quickly. He is no slippery pretender who provides loopholes for himself, he is " "What is this? what is this? » exclaimed Nello, jumping off the board, and putting his head out of the door. "Here aie people streaming into the piazza, and shouting. Some- Uung must have happened in the Via Larga. Aha I" he burst forth with delighted astonishment, stepping out laueh- mg and waving his cap. AH aie rest of the company hastened to the door. News ftom the Via Larra was just what they had been waiting for. But If the news had come into the piazza, they were not a little surprued at the form of its advent. Carried above the shoulders of the people, on a bench apparently snatched up in the street, sat Tito Melema, in smUing amusemen*; at the compulsion he was under. His cap had slipped off his head, and himg by the becchetto which was wound loosely roimd his neck; and as he caw the group at Nello's door he lifted up his fingers in beckoning recognition. The next minute he had leaped from the bench on to a rself LlrZ from h *^p\ac^t^ over every Florentine galley in aim o' Li^f / pn^^but above ^Td.ZTm^'ZXTir^:^ A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH. 373 « man who knew how to perBnade need never be in danger from «^y party , he oojUd convince each that he was feiS w?a t^o.^"T ^''» ««'*"'«•, "^d faces of we«ver8^d*dy«; were certainly amusing when looked at from above in thU wav Tito was begmning to get easier in his armor, and at thU TnTn v"" ^""**' "T""'''""' "^ '*• H« """"d with one hand itl^of l". "T^f '"^ """^ ''*^ *^' o""" »* Ws belt, the hghtof acomphwent smile in his long lustrous eyes, m he made a parting reverence t» his audience, before springing down from the bales-when suddenly his glance met that of f w»vr«°H "^ "°* f '^\*^' '^'"^« -"P"" °' tJ"" »S weavers, dyer^ and wool-carders. The face of this man was clean-shaven his hair close-clipped, and he wore a decent feU 1, f-^lf kV'"""^ '^""^^ ^'^^y ^""^ '"fficed to assure any Itfr^l ^^ V* ^^ T *^" "'*?"• »"* *° Tito it came not simply as fte face of the escaped prisoner, but as a face with which he had been familiar long years before It seemed aU compressed into a second— the sight of Baldas- sarre lookmg at him, the sensation shooting through him like a fiery arrow, and the act of leaping from the cart. He would ^ye leaped down in the same instant, whether he had seen Ba^dassare or not, for he was in a huriy to be gone to the Palazzo Vecohio: this time he had not betrayed himself by look or movement, and he said inwardly that he should not te taken by surprise again; he should be prepared to see this face rise up continually like the intermittent blotch that comes in diseased vision. But this reappearance of Baldassarre so toad : the Idea of his madness lost its likelihood now he was shaven and clad like a decent though poor citizen. Certainly there was a great change in his face; but how could it be of airj.'u L ^'> n u' T" P''*~*^y ^"'^-^ possession of aU his powers and all his learning, why was he lingering in ttis way before making known his identity? It must be for « .1^-°- , "•* ^" ~^'""* "^ vengeance more complete. But he didlinger: that at least gave an opporininity for flight. But whil| he, with his back turned on the Piazza del Duomo, ..MM r » 274 ROHOLA. had loit the reooUeotaon of the new part he had been playing, and was no longer thinking of the many things which aS bram and tongue made eaey, but of a few thin^ which 6^1 W TJt°7 ""!?' l'^ ^'^'"^^ **"" "ntlx^iaem which he had fed oontemptuougly was creating a scene in that piazza m grand contrast with the inward drama of self-centred fear which he had earned away from it. The crowd, on Tito's disappearance, had begun to turn ^eir faces toward the outlet, of the piazza in the dLc?ion^ the Via Larga, when the sight of maz^ieri, or maoe-beareiT entering from the Via de- Martelli, announced the apS 1^ZJ^^-J^7 T" ^ """ "^''^"^ °' commissi^ charged with the eflecti-ig of the treaty; the treaty must be a^ady signed and they had come away from thrroy^^r.^! kn^^n f "° Capponi was coming-the brave heart Lt hTd known how to speak for Florence. The effect on the crowd was remarkable; they parted with softening, dropping vcri^ 1 tlelS* T^ "U-ce.-and the sUence becLe so'KS the tread of the syndics on the broad payement, andthe rustJe rf their black silk garments, could be heard, like rainTtie night. There were four of them; but it was not the Wo W^ doctors of law, Messer Guidantonio Vespu'f aTd itt- Mr Domenioo Bonsi, that the crowd waited for; it was n^ Pnmcesco Valori, popular as he had become in the^eSayf The moment belonged to another man, of firm nre^n™ « Uttle inclin.^ to humor the people as to humoTany oZ^'u" reaeonable claimante-loving order, like one who by fo"e "f fortune had been made a merchant^ and by force of natu^ had become a soldier. It was not tiU he was seerat the^ toance of tiie piazza that the silence was broken, Ld the^ o^e rang through the piazza. ^>»piwiu. Hilf!ir''' V ""'°'"'* T" '°"'""^ «•""«» ^^ '^i't grave joy. His fellow-citizens gave him a great funeral two years liter rt- ■ ^ ^'^ '" ^8^*5 *^«™ "^^ torches ca^e" by aS the magistracy, and torches again, and trains of banne™ But deW«H^r *'"^* ^^ '"'' ""^ i°y « t^« oration tut S itSd"tha"^''r'''^"*""*"''''°^«''^*•-• ^ ia nfi glad that hu gut some ihanits and praise while he Uved. THB ATBNOER'B BKCRBT. 376 CHAPTER XXX. THK ATENOEb's SSOBKT. Jlr^ "" ^''* *' V? ""'* BaldMsarre had been in the Piaz- « del Duomo since his escape. He had a strong d^^e to hwptheremarkabe monk preach again, but he had Xui^ from reappearing m the same spot where he had heT^ hatf naked, with neglected hair, with a rope round hlTneck m tte same sp,t where he had been called a ^dm^ t^ ta«t hehad m the change he had made- in hU appearance Tor iTi it wJntl'"'":"^'"""' -«^y,"hadfall»from T to~ lips, It was not their baseness and cruelly only that had made tteir yiper sting-it was Baldassarre's instLta^eous bTtor conscionsness that he might be unable to prove thlT^sfllTe Along with the pj^sionate desire for vengeance whTposseted hm had arisen the keen sense that his Uer of aSg tte sZt.^Lrf""''**'^- "^-""if TUohad beenhJKy some diabolical prompter, who had whispered BaldassWs oddest secret m the traitor's ear. He wis not mT^]^ earned within him that piteous stamp of sanitv the «W „-» r^wi;' tr^^-"^*'-' ^eLasSi?:rreer MM. With the first movement of vindictive rage awoke a -^r like that of an insect whose litUe fragment of earth has pven way, and made it pause in a palsy of distrust Hw^ ftu distrust this determination to 4ke no stepTLih M b^y anythmg concerning himself, that had made sSda. sam, reject Piero di Cosimo's friendly advances. He had been equally cautious at the hospital, only telline S^ hS^e arr*' ^I *^' ^"^'"' °° '"'« W from GenoL he w« rf !: r« '^^"'f «=**'»'« i" his speech and manner that .uced the monks to offe^ .^^^^ ^S ^ZZ % f 1^ %} i srt ROMOLA. tanio to protect him from the cold, a pair of peatant'i ihoee, and a few danari, smallest of Florentine coins, to help him on his way. He had gone on the road to Arezzo early in the morning; but he had pansed at the first little town, and had used n couple of his danari to get himself shaved, and to have his circle of hair clipped short, in his former fashion. The barber there had a little hand-mirror of bright steel : it was a long while, it was years, since Baldassarre had looked at him- self, and now, as his eyes fell on that hand-mirror, a new thought shot through his mind. " Was he so changed that Tito really did not know him? " The thought was such a sud- den arrest of impetuods currents, that it was a painful shock to him ; his hand shook like a leaf, as he put away the bar- ber's arm and asked for the mirror. He wished to see himself before he was shaved. The barber, noticing his tremulous- ness, held the mirror for him. No, he was not so changed as that. He himself had known the wrinkles as they had been three years ago : they were only deeper now : there was the same rough, clumsy skin, making little superficial bosses on the brow, like so many cipher-marks ; the skin was only yellower, only looked more like a lifeless rind. That shaggy white beard — it was no disguise to eyes that had looked closely at him for sixteen years — to eyes that ought to have searciied for him with ^he expectation of finding him changed, as men search for the beloved among the bodies cast up by the waters. There was something different in his glance, but it was a difference that should only have made the recognition of him the more startling; for is not a known voice all ' ^e more thrilling when it is heard as a cry? But the doubt was folly : he had felt that Tito knew him. He put out his hand and pushed the mirror away. The strong cur- rents were rushing on again, and the energies of hatred and vengeance were active once more. He went back on the way toward Florence again, but he did not wish to enter the city till dusk; so he turned aside from the high-road, and sat down by a little pool shadowed on one side by alder-bushes still sprinkled with yellow leaves. It was a calm November day, and he no sooner saw the pool than he thought its still surface might be a mirror for him. He THE AVBNOIER-S SEORXT. 277 -mted to oontemplato himMlf slowly, »a he l»d not dared to . -) in the presenoe of the barber. He lat down on the edge of the^l, and bent forward to look eameetly at the image of Was there something wandering and imbeoUe in his face- something like what he felt in his mind? Not now; not when he was examining himself with a look of eager inquiry : on the contrary, there was an intense pur- pose in his eyes. But at other times? Yes, it must be so: in the long hours when he had the vague aching of an unremem- bered past within him-when he seemed to sit in dark loneli- ness, visited by whispers which died out mockingly as he strained his ear after them, and by forms that seemed to ap- proach hun and float away as he thrust out his hand to grasp them_in those hours, doubtless, there must be continual frus- tration and amazement in his glance. And more horrible still when the thick cloud parted for a moment, and, as he sprang forward with hope, rolled together again, and left him help- less as before; doubtless, there was then a blank confusion in Jus face, as of a man suddenly smitten with blindness Could he prove anything? Could he even begin to aUege anything, with the confidence that the links of thought would not broik away? Would any beUeve that he had ever had a mmd filled with rare knowledge, busy with close thoughts, ready with various speech? It had aU slipped away from him-that laboriously gathered store. Was it utterly and forever gone from him, like the waters from an urn lost in the "i^l^^K^^' "^ " **"' "^^^^ Wm, imprisoned by some obstruction that might one day break asunder? It might be so; he tried to keep his grasp on that hope. J'-or, since the day when he had first walked feebly from his Much of straw, and had felt a new darkness within him under the sunlight, his mind had undergone changes, partly gradual and persistent, partly sudden and fleeting. As he had re- covered his strength of body, he had recovered his self-com- iMud and the energy of his wiU ; he had recovered the memory of all that part of his life which was closely inwrought with his •motions; and he had felt more and more constantly and P»mfuUy the uneasy sense of lost knowledge. But more than 278 ROMOLA.. U»»fc-onee or twice, whan ha had be«i tttongly cxoitad, h* Ud Memed momentarily to be in entire poeiaesion of hU put self, as old men doze for an instant and get back the con- soionsnees of their youth : he seemed again to see Greek pages and understand them, again to feel bis mind moving unbe- numbed among famUiar ideas. It had been but a flash, and the darkness closing in again seemed the more horrible; but might not the same thing happen again for longer periods? If It would only come and stay long enough for him to achieve a revenge— devise an exquisite suffering such as a mere right arm could never inflict! He raised himsett from his stooping attitude, and folding his arms, attempted to concentrate all his mental force on the plan he must immediately pursue. He had to wait for knowl- edge and opportunity, and while he waited he must have the means of living without beggary. What he dreaded of all things now was, that any one should think him a fooUsh, helpless old man. No one must know that half his memory was ^ne: the lost strength might come again; and if it were only for a little while, that might be enough. He knew how to begin to get the information he wanted about Tito. He had repeated the words " Bratti Ferraveochi " so constantly after they had been uttered to him, that they never slipped from him for long together. A man at Genoi on whose finger he had seen Tito's ring, had told him that he bought that ring at Florence, of a young Greek, well dressed, ■"n J'^ a. handsome dark face, in the shop of a rigoMiere o^ed Bratti Ferravecchi, in the street also called Ferravecohi. This discovery had caused a violent agitation in Baldassarre Until then he had clung with all the tenacity of his fervent nature to his faith in Tito, and had not for a moment believed himself to be wilfully forsaken. At first he had said, "My ":' °\P*"^°'*"' ^»» never reached him; that is why I am stall toilingat Antioch. But he issearching; he knows where 1 was lost : he wiU trace me out and find me at last." Then when he was taken to Corinth, he induced his owners, by the assurance that he should be sought out and ransomed, to pro- vide securely against the failure of any inquiries that mW be made about him at Antioch; and at Corinth be thought ^:i^im> THK ATENOER'8 SEORXT. 879 ^y. "Here, .t Uot, he mn.t find m.. H«a he i. ,ure to touch whichever w.y he goe.." But befor. another year h^ yT^ f' "i°*" ^^ ~""" '""° »»'''''' ^' htd riL with body and mmd .o shattered that he wae worse than worthl*. to hu owner., except for the sake of the ranwm that did not come. Then, s^ he sat helpless in the morning sunliKht he b^ to think, "Tito has been d«.wn«i, or ufey have ide Amapnsonertoo. I shall see him no more. He'set out af^r ™1^" ""fortune overtook him. I shall see his face no T^: A !L?°' "'.'"• "'" f^W^'M and despair, supporting cT^H '""^1°^.^'' ^^"""^ •" ■""'"' '"«' "^ hopelessly imbe- »nH !n """J' *« * '"• "'""'" '"" <^°*«'"«^ t° bo rid of him, and al owed a Genoe«, merchant, who had compassion on hii^ as an Italian, to take him on board his galley. In a voyaw of ""any months in the Archipelago and along the sealiJd of Asia Mmor, Baldassarre had recovered his lidily strength, r^r ?>, tI ' '^°'°"* ""'"^ •"* ''»<> '^'•"1 °f «"" illness at Corinth. There was just one possibility that hindered the wish from being decided: it was that Tito might not be dead, but living m a state of imprisonment or destitution; and if ho 1''^',. ^".T,'*'" * ^°^ for Baldassarre-faini, perhaps, Za V in 't'""? ^"^""^ ''"' """ » J^OP*. tl'at he might find his child, his cherished son again; might yet again clLp hanii and meet face to face with the one being who emem- bered him as he had been before his mind was broken In this State of feeling he had chanced to meet the stranger ril.w' k\°T ™«' '^^ '^°"8h Baldassarre wo-Tld ^J«J^°.r*> • *° ^T'^ '•"* '^« beforehand, the sight of It starred the dormant fibres, and he recognized it. That Tito Z-^kL^T "^^^-^^ *"*'''" ^''^ been parted from him should thJ«^°v r,!'*"'vPP"*'" prosperity at Florence, selling ^L'^^ Aw r,"?^' °°' *° '"'™ ""^^ "11 *!"« l«t extremity, r« , ?1 ^^"^^'^ "h^nk from trying to account for: he was glad to be stunned and bewildered by it, rather than to have M.y dishnct thought; he tried to feel nothing but joy tw V '* !S^ ^^°^^ '^'^ ''«'^"- ^"1"'P« T>to had though that his father was dead; somehow the mystery would be ex- i ,1^ "~ ROMOU.. ^ln,d. " But .t lM.t I .hall „.,» ,j„ th.t will „»«„b« m«. 1 am not tlooe In tba world. » -""ow ^tin"* i°Z T"" ^'''•"*^ •^'J. "I am not alone in th« worldi I shall never be alone, for my revenge it with me " It WM M the instrument of that revenge, aa lomethinff merely eatemal and .ub.ervl.nt to hi. true life, that hrS^t ^ZTZJ^ "«ni«ehlm«lf with hard ouri,;.ity_no(, he though^ beoau.. he had any care for a withers!, for«Uten old nun, whom nobody loved, whoM «,„1 wa. like a deaertod home, where the Mhe. were cold upon the hearth, and the higheat, that there i. a point where it oeaae. to be preneriv ^Uc and U like a fire kindled within our beinrrwwS everything elM in u. i. mere fuel. He look^ at the pale blaok-browed image in the water till he^entified .t with that .elf from whiorT. revengle^meS to be a thmg apart; and he felt a. if the image too h«irdlS Mlent language of his thought li«vLT * 'Ti°* ^°°^~^ worshipped a woman once, and be- lieved .he «,uld oare for me; and then 1 took a helple„ ohUd •nd fostered him, and I watched him as he grew, to see if he ♦T i^ *"' r ""'^ • «'"•-<*«' for ^ov;r anTaC^ the good he got from me. I would have torn open my b^J towarm hm. with my life-blood if I could only have sLn^ oare a little for the pain of my wound. I have labored. I have strained to orm,h out of this hard life one drop of^lf! Mh love. Fooll men love their own delights; Lre i. no delight to be had in me. And yet 1 watch.^ tiU I 4heted ? saw what I watched for. When he was a child he wKfl eye. toward me, and hcM my hand willingly. I thought, this boy will surely love me u little : becau.e 1 irive mv life to hTm and swve that he .hall know no sorrow, hS ^i^cl^: .*°,S when I am th.rsty-the drop he lays on my parched hps wu! he with those red lips white and dry as ashes, and when he looks forp ty I wish he may «e my fwe rejoicing in hTs pait Ste J^^r;*^" "^''' is a lie-there is L go^ness but ^ hate. Fool! notone drop of lovecame with all your stiivlug: ii:^z rv! Tint AVBNQER'8 SEOROT 381 in undvinB hate mill ,\ '' " ' "^= ""^ "J"™ •>•. olid If h^ W f/^!?**' """" ^ """Wished and decently .tnpped of aU else that men would give coin for ^ tat a^v il^n ' °°'u '^'"'"°8 *^»' ** contained anything out a tiny goroll of parohment rolled no hard H« ™i„h*T, •-d k»pt It It waa part of the piety ««ooUted with w^ '..^u r u ^^"""^ °"*' "^^ T'to "« accustomed, when he felt her ha.id there, to raise his head, throw himself a htle backward, and look up at her. But he felt now as unable to raise his head as if her hand had been a leaden COWL He spoke wstead, in a light tone, as his pen still ran " The French are as ready to go from Florence as the wasps to leave a ripe pear when they have just fastened on it." Bomola, keenly sensitive to the absence of the usual re- sponse, took away her hand and said, " I am going, Tito" Maso wtrj; J '""* °°" I must wait at home. Take Still Tito did not look up, and Bomola went out without »ying any mor«. Very slight things make epochs in married Me, and this morning for the first time she admitted to her- seU not only that Tito had changed, but that he had changed ^.1 V ;. °"u *' ""^^ "« '" ''•'"««? She might p^ haps have tibought so. if there had not been the facts of the armor and the picture to suggest some external event which was an entire mystery to her. l,«!l"'i''°r,'Tf' ^"'"^'^ *''*' K""""!* ^^^ out of the sturitv r ^°'"' ^" P"° "^^ I'^'^^'i "P' ^ 'J'lightfnl security from seemg anything else than parchment and broken r /kZ 5* "^ "'*'**' disgusted with himself that he had not been able to look up at Eomola and behave to her i„«t as usual. He would have chosen, if he could, to be even more \m. d. 386 ROMOLA. I •If fi it m m if' I I J than usually kind ; but he could not, on a sudden, master an involuntary shrinking from her, which, by a subtle relation, depended on those very characteristics in him that made him desire not to fail in his marks of affection. He was about to take a step which he knew would arouse her deep indignation ; he would have to encounter much that was unpleasant before he could win her forgiveness. And Tito could never find it easy to face displeasure and anger; his nature was one of those most remote from defiance or impudence, and all his inclinations leaned toward preserving Bomola's tenderness. He was not tormented by sentimental scruples which, as he had demonstrated! to himself by a very rapid course of argu- ment, had no relation to solid utility ; but his freedom from scruples did not release him from the dread of what was disagreeable. Unacrupulousness gets rid of much, but not of toothache, or wounded vanity, or the sense of loneliness, against which, as the world at present stands, there is no security but a thoroughy healthy jaw, and a just, loving soul. And Tito was feeling intensely at this moment that no devices could save him from pain in the impending collision with Bomola; no persuasive blandness could cushion him against the shook toward which he was being driven like a timid animal urged to a desperate leap by the terror of the tooth and the claw that are dose behind it. The secret feeling he had previously had that the tenacious adherence to Bardo's wishes about the library had become under existing difficulties a piece of sentimental folly, which deprived himself and Bomola of substantial advantages, might pehaps never have wrought itself into action but for the avents of the past week, which had brought at once the pressure of a new motive and the outlet of a rare opportunity. Nay, it was not till his dread had been aggravated by tiie sight of Baldassarre looking more like his sane self, not until he had begun to feel that he might to compelled to flee from Florence, that be bad brought himself t^k lo-K before f«l ,nf>, . r 1"* ""'"«'"* "■"' '><"' '">«"1«'«' he would In 1«™ A '^'^™'. °* *■•'' f™"' '«"»' ''"> »■>« little 8h«r^ ."""".* ** the farther end, and the fire nearly out. She almost ran toward him. "Tito, deareat, I did not know you would come so soon," to^rji"'^ putting up her white arms to unwind hU " I am not welcome then? » he «iid, with one of his bright- est^mdes, clasping her, but playfully holding his head Lk " Titol " She uttered the word in a tone of pretty, lovina wproach, and then he kissed her fondly, stroked her hair^J his manner was, and seemed not to mind about taking off his Tf?.,// V 1^°'" '^""''"^ "'* '^''"Kh*- AH the emotions th„ ~f.^ had been preparing in her a keener sensitiveness to the return of this habitual manner. •' It will come back " she was saymg to herself, "the old happiness will perhaps come back. He IS hko himself again." i" wmo Tito was taking great pains to be like himself; his heart was palpitating with anxiety. 1. ?if / ^/t *'P~**;? y" »o 8«>n." said Eomola, as she at last helped him to take off his wrappings, "1 would have had a httle festival prepared to this joyful ringing of the bell.. home ■'" ""^ *° ^"^ '" *'"' "^™^ ''^'"' y" =«»»'» .kT w?"" ."'""J' ^'^eet, " he said, carelessly. « Do not think about the are. Come— come and sit down " Wo!!!^^ TlL^r '"°°[ "S"""* Tito's chair, and that was Eomola s habitual seat when they were talking together. She rested iier anu on his knfl«. a^ ah<> nat^S to A'- -— >-,.#•' • _ J , , , . - -T == -* — -i.--t. i~j a.„. .„.ji lief jjj^_Q_j,._ and looked up at him while he spoke. He had never yet ! 4 ! f ^ BOMOLA. Botioti the praMnoe of the portrait, and Om had not mtn- tioned it —thinking of it all the more. "I haTe been enjoying the olang of the belli for the first tune, Tito," ihe began. " 1 liked being shaken aud deafened by them : I fancied I woa gomethiug like a Bacchante possessed by a diTine rage. Are not the people lookiug very joyful to- night?" ' ' "Joyful after a sour and pious fashion," said Tito, with a shrug. " But, in truth, those who are left behind in Florence have litUe cause to be joyful : it seems to me, the most reason- able ground of gladness would be to have got out of Florence. " Tito had sounded the desired keynote without any trouble, or appearance of premediution. He spoke with no emphasis, but he looked grave enough to make Bomola ask rather anx- iously,— " Why, Tito? Are there fresh troubles? " "No need of fresh ones, my Bomola. There are three strong parties in the city, all ready to fly at each other's throats. And if the Frate's party is strong enough to frighten the other two into silence, as seems most likely, life will be as pleasant and amusing as a funeral. They have the plan of a Great Council simmering already; and if they get it^ the man who sings sacred Lands the loudest will be the most eligible for office. And besides that, the city will be so drained by the payment of this great subsidy to the French king, and by the war to get back Pisa, that the prospect wcu'i be dismal enough without the rule of fanatics. On the whole, Florence wiU be a delightful place for those TrorWiies who entertain themselves in the evening by going into crypts and lashing themselves; but for everything else, the exiles have the best of it. For my own part, I have been thinking seriously that we should be wise to quit Florence, my Bomola." She started. " Tito, how could we leave Florence? Surely you do not think I could leave it— at least, not yet— not for a long whUe. " She had turned cold and trembling, and did not find it quite easy to speak. Tito muot know the reasons she had in her mind. " That is all a fabric of your own imagination, my swest # .M- A MVILATIOW. 3J3 """"•d, that I wi.J,«i ^, !1, "!~ *" J^' y°". '«fore w. wer. ■7"" know what I n>e.„ wTen ft^ ^t ^"".P^P^*- ^o" in the Florentines that remiml. » ^ , A*'" ^' •"'"•thing ^■^ / '^•P~P'» -ho SeTejll*^; ""'*!f? -P-f !>• good for my Bomola. toTt^ .l! ^''^ ' "'• i' »ould to dip her . liitle ZT^ ,^ ^JT * "^ '"'• ^ •'"'"•'1 lik- He leaned forw^d ,^^£1^ k'/ V™"*'*'^^- " on her &i, hair .gain: but .hTw^K™''' ""* '"<» ^ h«,d h. had ki«ed a^i^. Sh. J^','^ '»^« "» "ore than if »«>•• of the diatanoe between Z^ ^ ^'"''' ^taUA by the W. Up. touoh«i^J """' '"""*■ '^ »» oonwio Jtha? pi^Ke wrd'rr^Srrr"- '• "-P'e-nte.t I-beoau«e we have to see t??.! '".'''"*"• " ■" ^ocuse ^^^ i.oM, he uZnT^^r:^ -;„':|^i^^ % n.i;j\Se^^'^4°:-^^^^«-^^^ ««>n why I oouldlish we werf ^o ^ *^' f^" <»'«' »^' l^renoe. I am obliged totile o^ J""*^ '""«"'"" f""* your own will: if th^ose ^^IT^J?""^ "PP""""" to f»l«ely, Imust see for them »nT' '""'^ * '•nder, see h« life in di«.ppoin^„ h««U L"'" '°^.'"« ^"^ -«ting Bomola sat sU^t ^d tl- ,^ "npraotioable dreams." «>lf tothedirecSiTwhrhSr "^^ ""'^•^ "o* "ind her- to persuade her that they mightl ?^^^'?^'"**'^ ^ ^^''^^ tome monastery, or take Lme oth« J ^'"^ ''*'P«'''«i « aelve. of a task andof a tfe to Fl ^^ """"' '» " York 14609 USA (716) 482 - OWO - Phont (716) 28B- M80 -Fax 294 ROHOLA. olerei, unimpassioned men, not to oTerestimate the peTsuaaire- ness of his own arguments. His conduct did not look ugly to himself, and his imagination did not sufSce to show him ex- actly how it would look to Bomola. He went on in the same gentle, remonstrating tone. "You know, dearest — your own clear judgment always showed you — that the notion of isolating a collection of books and antiquities, and attaching a single name to them forever, was one that had no valid, substantial good for its object : and yet more, one that was liable to be defeated in a thousand ways. See what has become of the Medici collections! And, for my part, I consider it even blameworthy to entertain those petty views of appropriation : why should any one be reason- ably glad that Florence should possess the benefits of learned research and taste more than any other city? I understand your feeling about the wishes of the dead; but wisdom puts a limit to these sentiments, else lives might be continually wasted in that sort of futile devotion — like praising deaf gods forever. You gave your life to your father while he lived; why should you demand more of yourself 7 " " Because it was a trust, " said Bomola, in a low but distinct voice. " He trusted me, he trusted you, Tito. I did not ex- pect you to feel anything else about it — to feel as I do — but I did expect yon to feel that." " Yes, dearest, of course I should feel it on a point where your father's real welfare or happiness was concerned; but there is no question of that now. If we believed in purgatory, I should be as anxious as you to have masses said; and if I believed it could now pain your father to see his library pre- served and used in a rather different way from what he had set his mind on, I should share the strictness of your views. But a little philosophy should teach us to rid ourselves of those air-woven fetters that mortals hang round themselves, spend- ing their lives in misery under the mere imagination of weight. Your mind, which seizes ideas so readily, my Bomola, is able to discriminate between substantial good and these brain- wrought fantasies. Ask yourself, dearest, what possible good can these books and antiquities do, stowed together under your father's name m Florence, more than they would do if A REVELATION. jj. them one means of Sin. t^^ *''** ^"^ '"'^ *<> valu^ of Italian citiea is ve^Svln^'^.r^*''''^ This riv^ st^tinople was the gTJ^Kho '^'"'v "^^^ ^°» "^ <^ Bomola was still torTfh. '^^ '''°^« civilized world." of the new reirTittSS^t '^'"'^ P— sistance to find any strong v^nt a/, w ^""'""^ ^°' ^«' "■ her ears there was a riaim, n! . . *^** ^"«°' talk fell on -ade her more oonsciZ „VhSL?^ '"' "''''='' -" We for the Tito she had married and tr''^* ^°"«' ^^' ture, possessed with the enS of ,t,""'"^ *"• ^er na- fromthis hopelessly shallow «aLl'*'t°l*'°°"°"' '^^^ propriate the widest sympIthir^H T j I""*™^*^ toaP" nearest. She stai spokXe ^ne wh ""^ °° P"^" ^°' the showing all she felt. She hadon^v H ""^ ™'*™'"«"* f«»" hw knee, and sat with her Ws 1 Tu''"*^ ^«' "^^ f™m motionless as locked wate„ "^"^^ ^^°"> »"«'> cold and "You talk of substantial Rood. Tito I * .. love, and sweet grateful m!l • A™ faithfulness, and ttat we should k!So^\^Z"oy "^' '' '* "° «^d »^use they believL our W'Trt."? ''^'"' """"^ blSd ajust life should be jusVh^rreAo .^^"-8°°<^ that should harden our hearts St all .>. ' " '* »°°<1 *hat we those who have depended on ^y "itt^ ""^^ ^^ hopes of men who have such souls? -r^f lu^f ^°°^ "^ b«long to ^soft couches forSe,,! ^5 itl"'^' r '''^^' -^ ba^ selves as their best companfC" '^'^ '^'' '^'^ «»«« mr-^^ ---- °"Kir:d"h?irs: -i'^rof ?ur^.5; tvri: '-r J ''"«- - *o be Ita^ian cities and the whole civil; T '',°,' *''""'''"8 »* other my father, and of my love and i T^i~^ ^» "''"king of oiaims on us. I wouH gTve ' ^1'°' ^^' '"''' °* l>is f"st leave F,o„nce,-whatelLdid'i7ef^r^w:' ''t'~' ''°"W But I will not give up that Lty^^V'" "l"" ""^ y°"? /■ vvnat have I to do with 296 ROHOLA. I' k I your arguments 7 It was a yeaming of hit heart, and there- fore it is a yearning of mine." Her voice, from having been tremulous, had become fuU and firm. She felt that she had been urged on to say all that it was needful for her to say. She thought, poor thing, there was nothing harder to come than this struggle against Tito's suggestions as against the meaner part of herself. He had begun to see clearly that he could not persuade her into assent: he must take another couise, and show her that the time for resistance was past. That, at least, would put an end to further struggle; and if the disclosure were not made by himself to-night, to-morrow it must be made in an- other way. This necessity nerved his courage; and his ex- perience of her affeotionateness and unexpected submissiveness, ever since their martiage until now, encouraged him to hope that, at last, she would accommodate herself to what had been his will. " I am sorry to hear you speak in that spirit of blind per- sistence, my Romola," he said, quietly, "because it obliges me to give you pain. But I partly foresaw your opposition, and as a prompt decision was necessary, I avoided that ob- stacle, and decided without consulting you. The very care of a husband for his wife's interest compels him to that separate action sometimes — even when he has such a wife as you, my Bomola. " She turned her eyes on him in breathless inquiry. "I mean," he said, answering her look, "that I have arranged for the transfer, both of the books and of the antiq- uities, where they will find the highest use and value. The books have been bought for the Duke of Milan, the marbles and bronzes and the rest are going to France : and both will be protected by the stability of a great Power, instead of re- maining in a city which is exposed to ruin." Before he had finished speaking, Bomola had started from her seat, and stood up looking down at him, with tightened hands falling before her, and, for the first time in her life, with a flash of fierceness in her scorn and anger. " You have told them? " she asked, as if she distrusted her ears. A REVEL4TT0N. j^^ "You are a U„,cher!n77j;,^l'"^''^^ ^i^- dominance that wa/latentl hit , T ""•"'" "^««^« P™" 7* angxy, he only feH LTt the Itr.'*'""- «"' '" -■" pleasant, and that when ml^olT ""^ eminently on- be glad to keep away from CI/'" 1' '^ «°d i« ^ouW was .absolutely neces^^lj"^"'* ?/ " '"l" ''''"«• But it Passiveness. ^ "' '''*' «be s'.ould be reduced to the'Se:: n^j.TXi^Ai.^r'r '" '^"^ '-^-^ ^ of a grim old Bomr NotXTL ^"'""^ '""^*' «>« b«»t heart palpitated with a m»al dread . T".^^ '^y ^iB amor could be found. H^had iZL^T' '^'"^ "° "bain- Bcorn but he had been owLed ^if V 'u^''*''" '^'^''^^ Mm'-rhStEi^rdir t-rh- "^ - ^-'^ eyes were flashing, and her Ih^/^ "* *"* scarsella. Her by impetuous forf^ St wLtJto ^p ouT "^ " •" "^'^^^ the crushing pain of Ai..T ■. ^ °"* "" ««"e deed All badmadetfernglt'StrclS '" '"^''-''' ^^^^ before, was annihilated iTthlt I °"""*^«*f«'' minutes She could not care TtlilComert ZtT °' '" ^•*'«»''«°° sp'smg as he leaned there rSrioa^t*^^'"'^ "^^ ^^ eir ■amounted by anxious Thought * '»8«miiig to be „ J^^ttey znaynoV said Tito, with cool decisioa. -f;;.2rB:rr'^ "^ '-""'•'^'— -«' ^ 7o„ «.• aiiirtrSo'rtSr """^ ^-^'^ ^- -- of terness thau of anxious p X Zh^ 7f '""^ "^ •>*'- he «w that the first i..;ulse^f'fu,/:l':,3f ""^'' '"' ask your godfather to bu^ SJee thol 7^^°*"" """"«"*> towhathehasalreadypaSonZ^ir 1""" '" '^^'^'O^ "^^.•J^Jicacy would sh^rKL^^tf^fy- ^""^yo-Pride n.efC^f'r^Ko^'^V""'^^"*^ -•«" ^-courage- ".tending. He welt on S'^,;:^ """"' -<« -i^ioH ahHTs ""huddered, as if it Cd been an^r^"""'', """**' ''^^^ "'"' over a hot cheek. ""^'^ ""^"i »*«*">» coursing wild one. And I C Tou to onn^M^ k'?" °''* *° ""«'^y step or utter any woV/onTh! T '^'''' '"*°™ J-"" ^ke any quences of yowS/volrl',? '""'' ^''^^ "'" »» *!■« ~ ing to exhibit yoShSn I" "S'-'^'*'"'' *° '"•'' «»d t.y. own distempered feeUn^lrofet f°^ ^'* "^'"^ y°" you serve by injuring T wTh T "S"' ^"^ °''J'"" will is irrevocable, tie K 7/101^2' ^'"""'"^ ^''« «^«-' Every word was snotX. I .u' 5 ^°" *™ ""7 wife." for hislteiitt was Sd So tL"^ °' "^ '"''"^*«"1 ^^^^ P^ of the crisis. Kew thatC" ' ' "'"''^ ''^ '^^ ''^■ iu rapidly enough all the wV« 1?^ " f ?""* ^°"^'' take waited and wat!hedLrL^tr^«°'"'"'J'««*- «« 11 I: I 900 ROHOLA. She had tutned her eyes fiom him, and waa looking on the ground, and in that way she sat for several minutes. When she spoke, her voice was quite altered,— it was quiet and eold. "I have one thing to ask." "Ask anything that I can do without injuring us both, Bomola." " That you will give me that portion of the money which belongs to my godfather, and let me pay him." " I must have some assurance from you, first, of the attitude you intend to take toward me." "Do you believe in assurances, Tito7" she said, with a tinge of returning bitterness. "From you, I do." " I will do you no harm. I shall disclose nothing. I will say nothing to pain him or you. Ton say truly, the event is irrevocable." "Then I will do what you desire to-morrow morning." "To-night, if possible," said Bomola, "that we may not speak of it again." "It is possible," he said, moving toward the lamp, while she sat still, looking away from him with absent eyes. Presently he came and bent down over her, to put a piece of paper into her hand. " You will receive something in re- turn, you are aware, my Bomola? " he said, gently, not mind- ing so much what had passed, now he was secure; and feeling able to Uy and propitiate her. " Tea," she said, taking the paper, without looking at him. "I understand." "And you will forgive me, my Bomola, when you have had time to reflect." He just touched her brow with his lips, but she took no notice, and seemed really unconscious of the act. She was aware that he unlocked the door and went out. She moved her head and listened. The great door of the court opened and shut again. She started up as if some sud- den freedom had come, and going to her father's chair where his picture was propped, fell on her knees before it, and burst into sobs. BAiJ>Afl9ARHB JU1U8 AN ACQUAINTAMd:. 301 CHAPTER XXXni. BALDAHSAKKE MAKEH AN ACgUA,«TAKo>. Wh«» Baldas8arre was wanderinir ahonf Tn,>~ . of a sparo outhouse where hrSf ^ Florence in search sheltered beds, i^i' Bt^sZtenlul^' ''"' f'T'' °' portion of ground wiUiin the wajJs oT^h ^"T^i^^*- ""l" perfecUy level, and where the o.!^ . ,*-' "''^ "''"^ « °ot of the houses, can sellTrn/fif^^'' Wted above the roofs and far-stret^hrg valM'l'"^.*" ""* P^^^oting hills -cept along the S::^^^nrg'"adtVl'"''" '" 7''"' Arno. Part of that Bronnd W ?! 7 ""^ °°""« °' the the hili of Bogolirat tEl. ^'° '^''^^ ""^ by us as aide toward J^IX B J5:L^™ 7iS ^'"T""^; but the that sloped down behinTZ vrdl^ ^H ^' 7" ""* "'"> oonunonly called the hill nf a VT . "' ""^ was most that Tito's dweUiT^i^n l?v '^°;, B«tti had told C veyingthatstreeCL turned uo!i«'r ^^'l ^^' "^^ ""• had observed as he wm oZs^^„?k K°?f °' '^^ ''" '^ioh he a sheltering outhousr^nSn/t "^^f; u" '"' """'-^ ^^l now for some years be™ Z.7 * ' ^' "'""''^ ^e glad: he had about him; JCmo^yeTt^""^ *° "'" ^'"' " "'"ad sky with their' strip ""'tot Td^Th^ ? °' ""^ '•^-«»' around them, seemed t^i^fensiv hi. "°'"°'™ '"^y^^tk feeble memoiy. intensify his sense of loneliness and den^^r inTn:^f ^a^JS^'o^ T' ^ "''^''^^ ^^ «"' gr^t Stones, which harneveXncSC""' ''^''^ ^'"^ had ruined some houses thflJT ""^^ated swce a landslip teenthcentu,^. Jurat^SZ X" „f tL'b 1 ""^ *"' stood a queer little square builL^^Lt' *",b~ken ground tower roofed in withflutedtnl. :,?'"« ''^« » truncated house, apparently built up aSst^n"™ ^^ ^^ " """^J ""'■ Pnder a large Llf-dea^Zt?!'^*"* '"^'^ ''*»''« wall. ingits last fluttering WerStX'' *"."* "" ""'^ ««"«• u«e to .hout at Mor'a lITh^ t""*" *".''''" '^''* " ''w no he wa. a .tranger'tran^Si c^efZ a ? '^''- ^^ went away aeain and li^I/T t * '°"» '*/ off and . naughiy, "heTeV tr :2d.":',^rai" frr"" ^* "- Tessa's idea of dut^- but iTw™,!^ i^ ^t '"»'«* P"* i" the Padre next Sua; and tCi '"'°!^'"^« *° '"'■'^'"» to exc.pt going to "^pti^^ZZTC'SZ'^ r"" !h?har. ;iidres?» .tr; ?« - -^^-rio: frighteaeu into tell ng ^h^Vs Sh„1 °°^' '^'^ "'" ""'" Bhutter with ratLer an MciL !t' "t** "'"^ '«»" !>" which wa. as wld Sn'reir "h " "'f^'' '='''-' that of a simple contadinrbut of^ Z.' ^- " ^^ "" «''" festa: her gown of duk^" ° contadma prepared for a very clean Imd neat "shfTad^r' 7-'^ ''I "^ «'"»'*• '"" «.und her neok: Td her b™l ,. • "°^ °J "'^ «'"» •«'«1« was duly knottedT a^d W? ^"l J°'i«'' *""" «"''»«"«. had but one neTom^ Td 1 ''"*'' ""* ""'*' P'°- ^h' it was a fine gold rk7^ ^ "'"' '"' ^'"y proud of it, for ori:rwthi:'Ht;rsfr!;o""j,''^'"" ^''««' *"-"--"'« the edge of tCXi^f^Z^^^'''1':Z^^'\r'''>'^K'>^ ible. She had been commanded to t.J ''"'*^ '""'"*• SM ROMOI^ III obedient that wh -a ihe had to go to church ihe had kept her fac« ihaded bjr her hood and had pureed up her lipa quit* tighUjr. It waa true her obedience had been a litUe helped by her own dread leit the alarming atepfather Nofri ahould tuni up even in thit quarter, «o far from the Por' del Prato, and beat her at leaet, if he did not drag her back to work tm hUD. But thia old man wu not an acquaintance; he waa a poor stranger going to sleep in the outhouse, and he probably knew nothing of stepfather Nofri j and, besides, if she took him some supper, he would like her, and not want to tell any- thing about her. Monna Lisa would say she must not go and talk to him, therefore Monna Lisa must not be consulted It did not signify what she found out after it had been done Supper waa being prepared, she knew — a mounUin of macaroni flayored with cheese, fragrant enough to tame any stranger. So she tripped downstairs with a mind full of deep designs, and first asking with an innocent look what that noise of talking had been, without waiting for an answer, knit her brow with a peremptory air, something like a kitten trying to be formidable, and sent the old woman upstairs; saying, she chose to eat her supper down below. la three minutes Tessa, with her lantern in one hand and a wooden bowl of macaroni in the other, was kicking gently at the door of the outhouse; and Baldassarre, roused from sad reverie, doubted in the first mom' ''•"d. and her. s\e'sakindoldwri^''rdr '"''f',^' ' "^« ^''^ And we live very well -« - ' , ^ °'" Whtened at her "•ed to have to work, a^d I .in°M,lr ^^'''u'" ^°'^ "<"'■ I the mules, and I shouW Hke to «1 "k^"' ^ Hked feeding mule, again. ^e',eZytTZt'^L^''T^''^ ''"' «"'« to talk to the goat a goodTal^ ""^ '"" ''"'"' ""* ^ ""ed but Monna Lisa. Kw ? W„r' '^V- """^ '""»dy eke guess what it is? " ' «°' "omething els»_oan you "-tat^B^IdiL're'ls'StherV'"''''^ ^'^ "^ <='"^««^«r to him. ' ■" "^ ''^'' ^»d proposed a difficult ridSe some me. o^e back out^i^^rf/ou^"* thing were .ou "zit:r:^::^i^/zs/.^''^' -- -* sausage?" ^ *"""" ^ «'«'» you a bit of cold 90S ROHOLA. I bom at the Nativiti, Monna Lisa says. I wag married one Nativita, a long, long while ago, and nobody knew. Santa Madonna I I didn't mean to tell you that! " Tessa set up her shoulders and bit her lip, looking at Bal- dassarre as if this betrayal of secrets must have an exciting effect on him too. But he seemed not to care much; and per- haps that was in the nature of strangers. " Yes," she said, carrying on her thought aloud, "you are a stranger; you don't live anywhere or know anybody, do you?" "No," said Baldassarre, also thinking aloud, rather than consciously answering, " I only know one man." " His name is not Nofri, is it? " said Tessa anxiously. "No," said Baldassarre, noticing her look of fear. "Is that your husband's name? " That mistaken supposition was vtry amusing to Tessa. She laughed and clapped her hands as she said, — " No, indeed! But I must not tell you anything about my husband. You would never think what he is — not at all like Nofri!" She laughed again at the delighted incongruity between the name of Nofri — which was not separable from the idea of the cross-grained stepfather — and the idea of her husband. "But I don't see him very often," she went on, more gravely. " And sometimes I pray to the Holy Madonna to send him oftener, and once she did. But I must go back to my bimbo now. I'll bring it to show you to-morrow. You would like to see it. Sometimes it cries and makes a face, but only when it's hungry, Monna Lisa says. You wouldn't think it, but Monna Lisa had babies once, and they are all dead old men. My husband says she will never die now, be- cause she's so well dried. I'm glad of that, for I'm fond of her. You would like to stay here to-morrow, shouldn't you? " " I should like to have this place to come and rest in, that's all," said Baldassarre. "I would pay for it, and harm no- body." " No, indeed ; I think you are not a bad old man. But you look sorry about something. Tell me, is there anything you shall cry about when I leave you by yourself 7 / used to cry once." iidi: BA1DA88ARRE MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE. ;;No ohUdilthiDkLhall 307 "Thli->.^~\.r """*■ ^ ""*" <"y no more." beSrhe!r\?e l^t^7' "^^ '■«'"". "^d doBed the door man who is wxestUng i^7e ^^^^ - ^'h ':ir'"r *° "''' W again tiU his drwmy wakin^^!' a ■ ''"^^ ""'"K^'t »' images of disturhedXp*^"^ """ *^« aore vivid te'dlh^Tul^-rZtd-'MS, ^''^ r - «-- - and insisted that the staZerfhrid t'^.T^'/^ *"«* 'J°"«. «8t in the outhouse w^en he fi*^ ^""t *° '"""•' "^"^ had had her notions of makW h^' V*^ ^°""^' ''l^" a great show of reluct^ce swJT,\"'f "' *«'^*' ""al" Messer Kaldo wonld be an^ySe let ^^ """ ""'"^ *^''' the house. Tessa did not believe t^i nL°°k T" "•»"* ">g against strangers who lited n^ti ^aldo had said noth- knew nobody except onrwrso^ wC^ "' '^^ *^ °^^ «an "Well," conceded M„T.' '''"'"as not Nofri. for a whUe Z^ 1°°"* L"^ at last, "if I ,et hi« stay keep thy counseSteTnflK:^^ »'' '"' '»' """^ «»- --t "Sd'tSn'^v"' "i;"»ly t^llthebinxbo." "GoSay !1 S°r, enTu;htt°"^^ '^^"''"^ "■"^«'*<'-, Kald^haTiofCLraTrgMr « ''»^-<'«. "I Wish he comes back agdn." * '°°^ "^^ sometimes before Ah, child I the world's n~ iv 808 BOHOLA. If" u - ft'M poor old stranger by showing him her baby. But before she ooald get ready to take Baldassarre his breakfast, she found that Monna Lisa had been employing him as a drawer of water. She deferred her paternosters, and hurried down to insist that Baldassarre should sit on his straw, so that she might come and sit by him again while he ate his breakfast. That attitude made the new companionship all the more de- lightful to Tessa, for she had been used to sitting on straw in old days along with her goats and mules. " I will not let Monna Lisa give you too much work to do," she said, bringing him some steaming broth and soft bread. "1 don't like much work, and I dare say you don't. I like sitting in the sunshine and feeding things. Monna Lisa says, work is good,, but she does it all herself, so I don't mind. She's not a cross old woman; you needn't be afraid of her being cross. And now, you eat that, and I'll go and fetch my baby and show it you." Presently she came back with the small mummy-oace in her arms. The mummy looked very lively, having unusually large dark eyes, though no more than the usual indication of a future nose. " This is my baby," said Tessa, seating herself close to Bal- dassarre. " You didn't think it was so pretty, did you? It is like the little Qesu, and I should think the Santa Madonna would be kinder to me now, is it not true? But I have not much to ask for, because I have everything now — only that I should see my husband oftener. You may hold the bambino a little if you like, but I think you must not kiss him, because you might hurt him." She spoke this prohibition in a tone of soothing excuse, and Baldassarre could not refuse to hold the small package. " Poor thing! poor thing! " he said, in a deep voice which had some- thing strangely threatening in its apparent pity. It did not seem to him as if this guileless, loving little woman could reconcile him to the world at all, but rather that she was ith him against the world, that she was a creature who would need to be avenged. "Oh, don't you be sorry for me," she said; "for though I don't see him often, he is more beautiful and good than any- wo PLACK FOB REPBaTTANCB. 309 "Yes I eordd," said Baldassare, rather bitterly. «You\LghtTis.trkr'^:ci^/r^«^^^^^^ 4r^t^^sa^r•'I^:S5fwtt?-^^ '-^^ - w ii ke wJd'L'f ot^-^rrLuTt'Tutr^r question appealini? to his tn.m J v ? "* * sudden an^..t.at-o.eu«,,:-ircrx:,^r,^^^^^^ looft^SherX:!!: ^'^ ^'*y««"<^-h» by his blank yo7Cbga"nt.rb,d\''*""^L.'' " "" "">««" "bout fast. You':Snie hTrt'^H'st^™^ ' '^ "^ •'-'^■ Lisa says you mar And I^t "'1"'^«'> y"" 'ike; Monna good to you." '' '^°° ' ''°" ** "^"m. for we'U be "Poor thingl » said Baldassarre again. CHAPTEE XXXIV. IfO PLACB FOB BEPEHTAWOB. ea^orSifeveX'of th!t T" *'"^ "*« «P«<^d-- he eleven da7s^Ste^f« !L ? *''«°*y-«8J^a "f Nove^r. only Avitnessed as it took prTZl '. ^ ^'^"^ '''^"^ ^^ ^^«^e « WOK place that evening in the Via de' EarOi 310 ROXOLA. f 'I may help to explain the impulse which turned his steps tow- ard the hill of San Giorgio. When Tito nad first found this home for Tessa, on his re- turn from Borne, more than a year and a half ago, he had acted, he persuaded himself, simply under the constraint im- posed on him by his own kindliness after the unlucky incident which had made foolish little Tessa imagine him to be her husband. It was true that the kindness waE manifested tow- ard a pretty trusting thing whom it was impassible to be near without feeling inclined to caress and pet herj but it was not less true that Tito had movements of kindness toward her apart from any contemplated gain to himself. Otherwise, charming as her prettiness and prattle were in a lazy moment, he might have preferred to be free from her; for he was not in love with Tessa— he was in love for the first time in his life with an entirely ditFerent woman, whom he was not simply inclined to shower caresses on, but whose presence possessed him so that the simple sweep of her long tresses across his cheek seemed to vibrate through the hours. All the young ideal passion he had in him had been stirred by Eomola, and his fibre was too fine, his intellect too bright, for him to be tempted into the habits of a gross pleasure-seeker. But he had spun a web about himself and Tessa, which he felt incapa- ble of breaking: in the first moments after the mimic mar- riage he had been prompted to leave her under an illusion by a distinct calculation of his own possible need, but since that critical moment it seemed to him that the web had gone on spinning itself in spite of him like a growth over which he had no power. The elements of kindness and self-indulgence are hard to distinguish in a soft nature like Tito's; and the annoyance he had felt under Tessa's pursuit of him on the day of his betrothal, the thorough intention of revealing the truth to her with which he set out to fulfil his promise of seeing her again, were a sufficiently strong argument to him that in ulti- mately leaving Tessa under her illusion and providing a home for her he had been overcome by his own kindness. And in these days of his first devotion to Bomola he needed a self- jnsti^ing argument. He had learned to be glad that she was deceived about some things. But every strong feeling makes »0 PLACB FOR REPENTANCE. 311 «o itaelf a oonsoienoe of its own ),.. j* much as the feeling of the Zt^™, ^ °'° Pi^i j"«rt a. wmetimes survive JT^ wZ .*" ""'"'"• ''^^"^ ^^ and Tito could n<^ jTh. ^j ^^.''Z.iZ'" °' ^"P^'^'^^on; •gainst his wedded love ""mmittrng a secret offence But he was all the more careful in » u- preserve the secrecy of the off3^ Wn ? P^eoaution. to niany of her class, never Iflft^r; u""""* ^"^- "1"°. like one or two particVar X? ^nd to c f " *'"^P' '» 8° *<> knew nothing of his reTn^^ ^.""^^'Z °°** » y««' knewthathepaidhersoast^.t^t ''''*""bo°t-- slie only minded little about the^^t. savelh-^J"'^ comfortable, and ^dfound pleasure in Z' re^t "whifh* st' °' '^"''^ There was some mysterv beLinrt Z. i • ^® ''^ PaW. contadina, and Messer KaJdo wi ^^' '"""" ^'"'»» '^ a Monna Lisa knew, he might £ a rllVT'J '""^ '"' ""ght thoroughly fright^ed Tessa into t^u""*^,^" ^"^ Tito had stances of their marria.rebrfiS'^ ^ "t *'~"' *he ciroum- sUence she would" evC' 1 tt"^ " *^'" '' ^''•' •''°'^« *hat dea&ess, which made t^^uff '"' ^^ ^onna Lisa's without some premeditatioCC tved ^7 T *^""« '" '" bou. revelation to her, such a7had n!n J f "^ ""^ «=""- mg with Baldassarre. For a W w^ t -^f *°°^« '" ^^- jare that it seemed likerenou°h L ' I'*? ' ^'''•*» ^«'« «» S'^r"^ '^'"•' P-pteTSyXl^e ir^^.^^t^ '^^Tr 7 thmgs were going on well with tIT *° ^*^ *hat always found his visit pleaT^terLn T' ^^""^^ '"' always felt anew the ch«m o^tw .. ^.' ^^'^^^ »* i*- and trust-he had notTeT ^v f""^ '«°°""* lovingness detemined, if possibl ,^t: p^Lve .hT'"';'-- ^"* ^« -<« the charm depended; to keeTTesIL "'fP^'^'ty on which "ot place the small field-flower Zn **'"'^'. '^''*^^ <^^ ~b it of its grace. He wITd H 1.'"""^.*^°'"' «"«* ''""^ m the dress of'^any other rLkth^"? *" ''"^''''^ *° ««« hor her talk would be all gone tf twf .!! "''"' *''" P'1"'^«y of tions for her, if her w "rid ^n '^ ^^° '° ^"^^ "e^ rela- childish; andthesquTr^Hi?;rovm ? .'" ^^^^^^^ '«'« marked the standard of the iLuS ^ °f °"*' "t discretion B. this mean, Tito s^J'T^^^'tT^^ fS; S13 SOMOLA. i hi •nd he alio, by a oanTMiient ooinoidenee, sared'Umaalf from aggTavating ezpenies that were already rather importunate to a mail whose money waa all required lor his avowed haUta of life. This, in brief, had been the history of Tito's relation to Tessa up to a very recent date. It is true that once or twice before Bardo's death the sense that there was Tessa up the hill, with whom it was possible to pass an hour agreeably, had been an inducement to him to escape from a little weari- ness of the old man, when, for lack of any positive engage- ment, he might otherwise have borne the weariness patiently and shared Bomola's burden. But the moment when he had first felt a real hunger for Tessa's ignorant lovingness and be- lief in him had not come till quite lately, and it was distinctly marked out by circumstances as little to be forgotten as the oncoming of a malady that has permanently vitiated the sight and hearing. It waa the day when he had first seen Baldas- sarre, and had bought the armor. Betuming across the bridge that night, with the coat of mail in his hands, he had felt an unconquerable shrinking from an immediate encounter with Bomola. She, too, knew little of the actual world; she, too, trusted him ; but he had an uneasy consciousness that behind her frank eyes there was a nature that could judge him, and that any ill-founded trust of hers sprang not from pretty brute-like incapacity, but from a nobleness which might prove an alarming touchstone. He wanted a little ease, a little re- pose from self-control, after the agitation and exertions of the day ; -he wanted to be where he could adjuit his mind to the morrow, without caring how he behaved at the present mo- ment. And there was a sweet adoring creature within reach whose presence was as safe and unoonstraining as that of her own kids, — who would believe any fable, and remain quite unimpressed by public opinion. And so on that evening, /hen Bomola was waiting and listening for him, he turned his steps np the hill. No wonder, then, that the steps took the same course on this evening, eleven days later, when he had had to recoil un '«'«»'' heard the openin^of 1 ^T' ^ t^of t . '^ ^'"'"'"^ not been lookingit l^erttTm^r^Z'^^^'Z' '" '.' ^k^' eyes. She opened them without Mvs1al»n-f ^"f ^" motionless looking at him, as tf t^^^s^^ ^' Z""*"*?."*" smiling at her shut out any imnube ^^1 ,J^l ^^ *^"* happy passiveness. BuTwHte l^t'^i:'* /"""'' *^'* chin and stooped to kiss hlf she saidl''" '""' ""''" ^^ IawoS:^a1/tri;^?'^^^*-^-^«-and then no;'ShS^rui;i^;j''°i^^'*-« ^^ •'''^' "^- ^- at your baby f itT„X"' ^ ^°" ^ '"'* ^""^8 Tes™, did not like those words, even though Tito was smil mg. She had some poutine diatnwq i„ >,. 7^ " bending anxiously ov„ ^^baby^" "* ^"^ ^'^' "» "^^ ^^ prettier than wh^n vou '^.J v w °°^ "' ^- ^e is even his hair -and it grows^^sn't !w ^^i"! ^ "^ ' ''^•"' y°» grows— wn t that wonderful? Look at himi 814 BOMOLA. It'i true hia face is raty much all alike yrhtfi Iia'i adecp, there is not so much to see as when he's awake. If yon kiss him very gently, he won't wake : you want to kiss him, is it not true?" He satisfied her by giring the small mnmmy a bntterfly kiss, and then, putting his hand on her shoulder and turning her face toward him, said, " You like looking at the baby bet- ter than looking at your husband, yon false onet " She was still kneeling, and now rested her hands on his knee, looking up at him like one of Fra Lippo Lippi's round- cheeked adoring angels. " No, " she said, shaking her head ; " I lore you always best, only I want you to look at the bambino and lore him ; I used only to want you to love me." " And did you expect me to come again so soon? " said Tito, inclined to make her prattle. He still felt the effects of the agitation he had undergone — stiU felt like a man who has been violently jarred; and this was the easiest relief from silence and solitude. "Ah, no," said Tessa, "I have counted the days — to-day I began at my right thumb again — since you put on the beauti- ful chain-coat, that Messer San Michele gave you to take care of you on your journey. And you have got it on now," she said, peeping through the opening in the breast of his tonic. " Perhaps it made you come back sooner." "Perhaps it did, Tessa," he said. "But don't mind the coat now. Tell me what has happened since I was here. Did you see the tents in the Prato, and the soldiers and horse- men when they passed the bridges — did you hoar the drums and trumpets 7" " Yes, and I was rather frightened, because I thought the soldiers might come up here. And Monna Lisa was a little afraid too, for she said they might carry our kids off ; she said it was their business to do mischief. But the Holy Madonna took care of us, for we never saw one of them up here. But something has happened, only I hardly dare tell you, and that is what I was saying more Aves for." " What do you mean, Tessa? " said Tito, rather anxiously. X Hake haste and tell me." NO PLACE FOR RBPlNTAlfCE. 318 ,™T *?°"8'" the old man would be gone awar before ;:: JTii" rnTtJrbSr^in'^'i irt; f'f, *"'*^^« "Oh, you wUl be sorry for him • I'm >fn>{j i,. • 1 went to hun first; it was because I wanted to talk to h^ take him something to eat." "»«* ^ talk to hun, and "Some beggar I suppose. It was naughty of you Tessa. "rSwT *'°°°''''"*- I-^t^veiiimirta^P Monnf'f , V" ''°* * ^«<^' '» J"" wanted to Ly iThetl^r^u'r^'l '''" *° '*'> work for her i^tJ^ And he gete hunself shaved, and his clothes are tidy ■ M^ Lisa says he is a decent man. But sometimes I SLk he i^ ^ndTi"flZ'a^.l^ am^tola. wasnotSlXnl didn''tknow whe'ehe wis^' ''' ''"^° '"'""^''*' '"«»'• to "h^^lT f ^"Z ^ ^"^ " "^^ '^''°' "8 heart beginning to beat strangely. He was so haunted by the thought atBal- d^sarre that it was already he whom he saw in ^^t^ s^g on aie straw not many yards from him. «Sy^ Htool, my Tessa, and sit on iL" ^ •te BOMOLA. M m IP "BhtU you not /orgira mef" tho laid, tlinidlv, morina from hia knea. " Yes, I wUl not be tagrj—mlj lit down, ud :»U me what •ort of old man thii U ." "I can't think how to tell you: he U not like my itep- father Kofri, or anybody. Hi» face ia yeUow, and he bat deep mark* in itj and hii hair is white, but there is none on the top of his head : and his eyebrows are black, and he looks from under them at me, and says, ' Poor thing I ' to me, as if he thought I was beaten as I used to be; and that seems as if ho couldn't be in his right mind, doesn't it? And I asked him his name once, but he couldn't tell it me: yet everybody has a name— is it not true? And he has a book now, and keeps looking at it ever so long, as if he were a Padre. But I think he is not saying prayers, for his lips never move}— ah, you are angry with me, or is it because you are sorrr for the old man?" ' Tito's eyes were still fixed on Tessa; but he had ceased to see her, and was only seeing the objects her words suggested. It was this absent glance which frightened her, and she conld not help going to kneel at his side again. But he did not heed her, and she dared not touch him, or speak to him : the knelt, trembling and wondering; and this state of mind sug- gesting her beads to her, she took them from the floor, and began to tell them again, her pretty lips moving silently, and her blue eyes wide with anxiety and struggling tears. Tito was quite nnconscious of her movements unconscious of his own attitude : he was in that rapt state in which a man will grasp painful roughness, and press and press it closer, and never feel it. A new possibility had risen before him, which might dissolve at once the wretched conditions of fear and suppression that were marring his life. Destiny had brought within his reach an opportunity of retrieving that moment on the steps of the Duomo, when the Past had grasped him with living quivering hands, and he had disowned it. A few steps, and he might be face to face with his father, with no witness by; he might seek forgiveness and reconciliation; and there was money now, from the sale of the library, to en- able them to leave Florence without disclosure, and go into NO PLACB FOR lUtraMTAKOE. know the whole truth, for .he^ou^ST '' ""^ "''"" of learning what had tak.n «i.- .i «IdaMarre, or B.lthed his dagger, and for a long while had been feeling its edge, his mind narrowed to one image, and the dream of one sensation — the sensation of plunging that dagger into a base heart, which he was unable to pierce in any other way. Tito had his hand on the door and was pulling it : it dragged against the ground as such old doors often do, scd BaldassarTe, iro PLACB rOR RtPBOTAKCl. ■♦•rtled out of hi* draAmlika .f.>. t-in .^. amJ.'Ta'LtTnor/r. "l ""^«'«- »»d not y«t tiMta to hii f-t .^ ^ .^f™ ''• *•*■ H« k««k wh,a the door ^.ww/oL" ""J kneriingonon, •«»iDrt th. moonlirfht.^tSS'T.r'* '" ""' ^^ «-.of o«rl..„doa.„^doirv.ohLk t^'"? °'' """ '»'*«•'» «i»-not •hadowy-olo^Md H^ll^^ ' ' '°"»' »' ""^ "»• the thirsty dmm oTlt iJ^S. ''• *;'«" « th, lip, .ft,, •jeer thir.t. fo „„, mo^„ ^''X m"^ r,',"'"'-'* ««* tt. old m„, with th, V^'t^r^t^l^to^ZZ^ 1^ *^^ Md »prun« forwai.il JLa .i. j "" ^ '■8» 'a h UlimbL »«t -o,„.nt thl tg«^ 1^' „^««; ^"d fl-ted out. InTe under the parrying foZotrTFJ^ '"v*'?' ""^ BiJ«l««m, xiio naa felt one (treat hasrt.l..^ _» ^ Jfere.1 under the weight of thelhn^ 1 *!T* " ^" ^ **^ of deliverance «>d .tJety HU H!, t'^V'"' ^^^ *"'^ v«.ge«ce lay helple„ ^^^forThir^ BuJl 'T" ^"""^ ""> nudeniahimDuke- , fi." 1 *"* 'he triumph raised clo«, tohin^Sabirtor^^Yf' "'^"«''' <" ^r ftW onoiliation eaaier. n^l\,Ct^ ""ade the effort atreo- the more nnmUed and d^f - f^V*"' ''"* J" had only thathe w.ahatlj^itr.lrha?^,^ '""» *'»• -"^ little while, Bald*w,rrelvintL^'^,°°'?*^ •* *"•» "th" • Tito «iid ta hi. 8oTSneZlu.r '^"" v^ deepairing rag.^ thej.s^partingon*thSri."f ^^^_^ ~«nd.d''bX '«>,^'^etor',o2Zl\':LT^ '''•' «- » -«1% but n.i^&eVrt:';^ tt'tle""^ ""^ •" ""^ -d« in Baldassarre: he Cm he h«,,^T ""f "" "«° "* «l»nge he wa. tren>bling/buTirw« f^'fr t^« °° »»« "^^ iim down. '"' *""" '^e ehook that had thrown l-PPy. that yon^y fo^ thft ^^l "" "'** "' y«" «. He paused aeain H?^ J / ° '''''^ suffered." paused agam. He had used the clearest «.d ab^ngeat 890 ROMOIA. h I );i words he conld think of. It was useless to say mora, until he had some sign that Baldassarre understood him. Perhaps his mind was too distempered or too imbecile even for that : perhaps the shock of his fall and his disappointed rage might have quite suspended the use of his faculties. Presently Baldassarre began to move. He threw away the broken dagger, and slowly and gradually, still trembling, be- gan to raise himself from the ground. Tito put out his hand to help him, and so strangely quick are men's souls that in this moment, when he began to feel his atonement was ac- cepted, he had a darting thought of the irksome efforts it entailed. Baldassarre clutched the hand that was held out, raised himself and clutched it still, going close up to Tito till their faces wew not a foot ofF each other, i^udn he began to speak, in a deep, trembling voice, — " I saved you — I nurtured you — I loved you. You forsook me — you robbed me — you denied me. What can you give me? You have made the world bitterness to me; but there is one draught of sweetness left — that you shall know agony." He let fall Tito's hand, and going backward a little, first rested his arm on a projecting stone in the wall, and then sank again in a sitting posture on the straw. The outleap of fury in the dagger-thrust had evidently exhausted him. Tito stood silent. If it had been a deep yearning emotion which had brought him to ask his father's forgiveness, the denial of it might have caused him a pang which would have excluded the rushing train of thought that followed those de- cisive words. As it was, though the sentence of unchange- able hatred grated on him and jarred him terribly, his mind glanced round with a self-preserving instinct to see how far those words could have the force of a substantial threat. When he had come down to speak to Baldassarre, he had said to himself that if his effort at reconciliation failed, things would only be as they had been before. The first glance of his mind was backward to that thought again, but the future possibilities of danger that were conjured up along with it brought the perception that things were twt as they had been be- fore, and the perception came as a triumphant relief. There was not only the broken dagger, there was the certainty, NO PLACE FOB HKPBNTANCE. 321 imbeoUe old man- and fi« T. ^ Baldawarre as a mad, aide that there^aTllrH, "? ''"" "^ "^""Kly <>" W. fear of ha^^J^ ^"nnTasSt S"" ''°' J"'^* ^ himself from what wasvetm^™,^ ""** "* ""^^^ <» «aw "No "°^i^r.*° "'"^ ^""^ " J"* '"'id- "S; sorS^'f/i*'Xt;r '"'^^*-"--^'' yo;p:;^^\^---«^- out- « ^' *» your straw. Then you mean to leave this dIscp? » ..i-i t-» lous^abont this eertainty than ^^^L "r^"' ""'" """ T,L J ''^^'^' """^ Baldaasarre. no3i!°,r?etent'„rrTra.l?;""H ."""^^ ^^ - Bide of her baby. ^ '*'* ^""""^ ^«' "^7^8 by the He lifted her^^ uS St^Th"' '"1^,'*° *° '-'^■" -d^dr rhj^tsiot^rT'^- ««^- or listen to him again » *• ^^'^^^ "P*"^ *» him « yrs^T wm'""'^- ««""^'''»^ "tat I have said to you » Tossl^il^e^r ;Sif *" " ''^^^^ -^ -"." Baid rnc^^^^lYihtrn^dot^'^t'''''''"''^ "- "««« t- severelyforlet^^n. *^'"'°'' ^'^ *o rebuke her Tito felt tlS dangerous man come about the house. tasteTSrSs b^ "thT ""T *">^' '^^^ "««• -O' evil- MounaLi»fasSS7/'™Jrf."P°" '^"'- «« J»«"d wi.outirr:::aSvro;.rdS?^^^^^^^^ 323 BOHOLA. Jill secure that Baldassane would go, and he oould not wait to see him go. Even Am young frame and elastic spirit were shat- tered by the agit»<^ons that had been crowded into this sin- gle evening. Baldassarre wax still sitting on the straw when the shadow of Tito passed by. Before him lay the fragments of the broken dagger; beside him lay the open book, over which he had pored in vain. They looked like mocking symbols of his uttei helplessnefis; and his body was still too tremblini. '^or him to rise and walk away. But the next morning very early, when Tessa peeped anx- iously through the hole in her shutter, the door of the hovel was open, and the strange old man was gone. •t; CHAPTER XXXV. WHAT FLOBENCB WAS THINKINO OP. Fob several days Tito saw little of Bomola. He told her gently, the next morning, that it would be better for her to remove any small articles of her own from the library, as there would be agents coming to pack up the antiquities. Then, leaning to kiss her on the brow, he suggested that she should keep in her own room where the little painted taber- nacle was, and where she was then sitting, so that sho might be away from the noise of strange footsteps, ilomola as- sented quietly, making no sign of emotion ' the night had been one long waking to her, and, in spite of her healthy frame, sensation had become a dull continuous pain, as if she had been stunned and bruised. Tito divined that she felt ill, but he dared say no more; he only dared, perct,'.- '.jg that her hand and brow were stone-cold, to fetch a furred mantle and throw it lightly round her. And in every brief interval that he returned to her, the scene was nearly the same : he tried to propitiate her by some unobtrusive act or word of tenderness, and she seemed to have lost the power of speaking to him, or of looking at him. "Patience!" he said to himself. "She will recover it, and forgive at last. The tie to me must still WHAT FLORENCE WAS THDncmo OF. 823 wniain the strongest. » Whim fi,» *_• ^ recover and look Cu notUnrh^ k "'"^ P*"°° " »!<"' *» glides u^to the Po.SS'^XSfrri^^'f 7''-"^ bruise himself, and is stron,,Iv^ J"*^' he feels no behavior eiace he Lflictdft J W °'^ °' '''' "'"' "^i^We orally disposed tofe':faS:.S:r;ed^rfr",l'"^^^ his mind was toward prooitiaHnn i jJ ^ ""Mtant bent of ted to much for the saW fS' e„"^ T^^ ^"^^ ""bmit- Jra^r:;' '^ - -cti\rcSr-." was more and more ini^ZZg ^Z iT °"* f '"^^ which IS in strictness a slowly nreoar^' f' "^* °* ""''"^ tireoharaoter.isyetalmostlwrr u,"*^"^ °* *•"•«"- 8ion as its point of a^^ent^'-^*"^."".*" "* ""S^" ''"P™''- in the Piazza del jAZo'ISL'"^ "T/'"* """»«"* had tasted a keen pleasiT'lJ^e o! '• °"°**'^ °° *^"' •"»J«». to tickle the ears ot ZTll^^T'°'"'T'' °* ^^ ''^^ bis imagination had riaT^ ^il?^^ "^t P'ea'ed then^ political activity which the tr^,?hT'^^{,.*°''"'i « ""rt 7f was likely enoulh to fed occIr„ / ^ »"" '"" °* ^°™°«e of Baldassarre, wak^d i. tl,« '' ^"* "'^ ^'"'^ dread immovable roly ^st^tion '^r*'"' ^ ^^^ lite an him into thr^^ of Kb^:::"^'' *^''' P"*''' •^^ tad urgS sible necessity of livinV^,?^' "* " P^P^tion for the pos- was beginning to ZlSV'C, "' *'' '"'^ *^« '^'"'" i« That dread wL ne Jly remled now" T ''"''^"°° ^" ''i»- stiU, he must prepare hSfor°-M'r'* '""^ ''*« '»^'"°' ness .-.d i^genuit^ butTe dfd „Tfe'?^^^^^ °° ^'^ '""l- oonvenient step of leaving FiL **«^ "•'■'8«d to take the in- s^dfifs-r^^^^^ faded, life was taking more Id iZ r'?/^/''"''^ P^"'"" aspect of a game in whi^h fte™ JL ^^'^'^^^ ^^ ''■'" the skill and chance """ "^ agreeable mingling of S24 ROMOLA. Ifi And the game that might be played in Florence promised to be rapid and exciting; it was a game of revolutionary and party struggle, sure to include plenty of that unavowed action in which brilliant ingenuity, able to get rid of allinnonvenieut beliefs except that " ginger is hot in the mouth," is apt to see the path of superior wisdom. No sooner were the French guests gone than Florence was as agitated as a colony of ants when an alarming shadow has been removed, and the camp has to be repaired. " How are we to raise the money for the French '-iicj? How are we to manage the war with those obstinate I: ;;^n rebe' t Above all, how are we to mend our plan of government, so as to hit on the best way pf getting our magistrates chosen and our laws voted? " Till those questions were well answered trade was in danger of standing still, and that large body of the work- ing men who were not counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to serve as an anodyne to their stomachs were likely to get impatient. Something must be done. And first the great bell was sounded, to call the citizens to a parliament in the Piazza de' Signori; and when the crowd was wedged close, and hemmed in by armed men at all the outlets, the Signoria (or Gonfaloniere and eight Priors for the time being) came out and stood by the stone lion on the plat- form in front of the Old Palace, and proposed that twenty chief men of the city should have dictatorial authority given them, by force of which they should for one year choose all magistrates, and set the frame of government in order. And the people shouted their assent, and felt themselves the electors of the Twenty. This kind of "parliament" was a very old Florentine fashion, by which the will of the few was made to seem the choice of the many. The shouting in the Piazza was soon at an end, but not so the debating incide the palace: was Florence to have a Great Council after the Venetian mode, where all the officers of gov- ernment might be elected, and all laws voted by a wide num- ber of cit:iens of a certain age and of ascertained quaiifica- tions, WitLuut question of rank or party? or, was it to be gov- emed on a narrower and less popular scheme, in which the hereditary influence of good families would be less adulterated ^^T TLOnmOE WAS THINKING OF 325 S«;derini alleged exoelle" re^oL^L ^T'/'^°^^^ exoeUent on the aide 0^1 * ° ""'^"^ '«««o°8 equallv question of boiW of "rowt whirhrd*^ *" '°"^ '* -- » palate, of the dispntante Idt,^ ^^ P^Judged bjr the have been protracted a lonrthUe w^"?' "«"^8 ^'«^* a>an that of deferring the c4w I, '■"'/ °'^" """J' mside the palace, haWng p^wer J™ J • ".^i'^'^ °^ «>« '°«° '^ith Vespucci, akd though rhLTi^'^tn'M*^."^ ^"^"^ ««™«ng of Savonarola. ImpTurd parUy bt ^^ ""^ *•"« P™'"'''- that was laid upon him to Kuid^J ^ , " V^tual necessity P~".pting of pSiio Ten XtuM ^.7'"' "^^ """^ ^^ *^« without his aid, he was ZZjT^ ? °° ""^^sures carried froni the general to ZsS' CT,,'" ^j.'. '^'^^ «""■»■«• they n.ust postpone tteTprl^teT, •"'*''" '•*«^«" ""at the public good, to tellinTthCpllfelvr. T^ ^"^"^ *° ment they must have in orX Tr^ . *■"" °^«°^««- ' Choose whatever is besUor a^ «t, " ^r*" *^* »«>d-from The o™rcr:^t:ro:j;-2^^ir r^^*^- expression to the public will 1„J1 " 1"'^° *°^ P'^8 an vitiating influence of pa^ Stetfte °r*'' *° counteract tte make honest impartialTblL „!■ 7** * P'*» *hat would the purer the goCmentS pi' "* ^*'"* Po^"'"*'- And secure from the de^Z of 1!! T' ""^^^ bccome-the more h> the moral debSnt ^f fh .° T '^'" '"'" «