When the Senate voted him a palace near San Marco he preferred his
simple quarters among his brethren of the Servi. When, in proof of their
appreciation, they doubled his salary and would have trebled it
again--"Nay," said he, "it is but my duty that I have done. May the
honorable words of the Senate's recognition but hold before me that
which, by God's help, I may yet accomplish"; and he would take but so
much as he might bestow in charity and gifts to his convent, having for
himself no need nor tastes that were not met by the modest provision of
his order.
And when, having refused to go to Rome for reconciliation--being not
penitent--or for preferment, which would not come without penitence, Fra
Paolo still pursued, unmoved, the quiet tenor of his daily round, from
convent to palace, without pause or tremor, in spite of continued
warning;--"My life," he said, "is in the hands of God. My duty hath he
confided to mine own effort."
* * * * *
The Lady Marina was a guest in the Ducal Palace, detained under
surveillance, yet treated with much honor; her friends might see her in
the presence of the ducal guards who watched within the doors of her
sumptuous chambers, but she was not free to go to her own, who had
guarded her with such laxity that in striving to reach the court of the
enemy she had imperiled the dignity of the Republic by her silent
censure.
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