Let us follow, for he
giveth them not many minutes, for fear of wearying them. We need lift
our mantles high, for the pavement is like a market garden of Mazzorbo,
with broken bits from the women's baskets--Faugh!"
The splendid senators seldom mingled in such a crowd, except at guarded
distances, to make a pageant for it; it was picturesque, shabby,
malodorous, composed chiefly of young women with bright-eyed babies and
baskets emitting unctuous savors of _frittola_ and garlic; now and then
an old peasant who could not be tranquil until she had heard Fra Paolo
speak was escorted by a rebellious grandson, bribed to quiet by the
promise of a _soldo_ for his little game of chance; occasionally a man,
impatient to have done with it all and get out on the canal again, moved
restlessly from place to place; only here and there the dim light showed
a face pathetic in its questioning, to whom the answer meant life or
death.
"What hath a man of such rare powers and learning to do with these
simple ones--a man whose time is precious to the State?"
The noble senators withdrew a little from the crowd to watch the scene,
as they put the question to each other; their servants brought them
chairs within the shadow of a column.
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