Fra Paolo considered him seriously for a moment before resuming his
stroll. "Fra Antonio," he said, in his passionless voice, "the head of
the Roman Chapter hath made inquiry for thee, and knew naught of thy
presence here. Thou wilt soon be recalled. That thou doest--do quickly."
A sudden pallor overspread the features of Fra Antonio, who staggered
and would have fallen, as he made an effort to steal away unobserved,
had not the others come to his assistance.
"What is thy sudden ailment?" one of them asked him roughly, for he was
no favorite.
But before the trembling friar could steady his voice or choose his
words he was forgotten, for the evening bells began to chime for
vespers, and as the brothers came flocking through the cloisters the
great bell at the entrance gate on the Fondamenta dei Servi sent back
the special deep-toned call, which took precedence of every order within
the convent. Those who had already reached the chapel streamed back in
wild confusion to answer the summons which filled the court with
clanging echoes, while the silvery notes of the chapel chimes sounded
faintly in the pauses of the deeper reverberations--like the voice of a
timid child crying to be comforted when it does not understand.
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