"Here cometh the Consultore--hold thy tongue."
"No, no, Luigi; it is only a frate from the Servi; Fra Paolo is a great
man, with a robe like the Serenissimo; he might wear a crown if he
liked! Ah, to be great like that!"
But Fra Paolo and his secretary wore the grave garb of their order, to
the great disappointment of the younger women, who had been attracted by
the expectation of some pomp.
"Word hath reached the Contarini secretly from Rome," said one senator
to another, as the Consultore passed them, "that they have found
themselves a new diversion before the palace of the Vatican, and that
some of our great ones here are burned in effigy to instruct the
populace. A pile of Fra Paolo's writings doth light the funeral pyre;
and all that he hath written or _may hereafter write_ is placed upon the
Index."
"_Davvero_! his words would make me wrathful if I held the views of his
Holiness, who may well fear the incontrovertibility of his wit. But our
Consultore looketh a simple man to have been shown such honor!"
"He beareth honors bravely," the other answered, with due appreciation
of the humor; "but lately, when the master Galileo was before the Senate
with his telescope, he had a pretty tale of Gian Penelli and Ghetaldo,
wherewith in Padua Fra Paolo hath won the title of 'the miracle of the
century.
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