' I answered readily. He turned to an attendant,
and ordered him to go fetch a suit of motley. No word passed between us
until that man returned with those garish garments. Then Giovanni smiled
on me in his mocking, infernal way.

"'Not that,' I cried, guessing his purpose.

"'Aye, that,' he answered me; 'that or the hangman's noose. A man who
could devise so monstrous a jest as was your challenge to the Tyrant of
Pesaro should be a merry fellow if he would. I need such a one. There
are two Fools at my Court, but they are mere tumblers, deformed vermin
that excite as much disgust as mirth. I need a sprightlier man, a man of
some learning and more drollery; such a man, in short, as you would seem
to be.'

"I recoiled in horror and disgust. Was this his clemency--this sparing
of my life that he might submit it to an eternal shame? For a moment my
mother was forgotten. I thought only of myself, and I grew resolved to
hang.

"'When you spoke of service,' said I 'I thought of service of an
honourable sort.'

"'The service that I offer you is honourable,' he said, with cold
amusement. 'Indeed, remembering that your life was forfeit, you should
account yourself most fortunate. You shall be well housed and well fed,
you shall wear silk and lie in fine linen, on condition that you are
merry. If you prove dull our castellan shall have you whipped--for such
a one as you could not be dull save out of sullenness, of which we shall
seek to cure you if you show signs of it.'

"'I will not do it,' I cried, 'it were too base.'

"'My friend,' he answered me, 'the choice is yours. You shall have an
hour in which to resolve what you will do. When they open this door for
you at sunset, come forth clad as you are, and you shall hang. If
you prefer to live, then don me that robe and cap of motley, and, on
condition that you are merry, life is yours.'"

I paused a moment. Our horses were moving slowly, for the tale engrossed
us both, me in the telling, her in the hearing. Presently--

"I need not harass you with the reflections that were mine during that
hour, Madonna. Rather let me ask you: how should a man so placed make
choice to be full worthy of the office proffered him?"

There was a moment's silence while she pondered.

"Why," she answered me, at last, "a fool I take it would have chosen
death: the wise man life, since it must hold the hope of better days."

"And since it asked a man of wit to play the fool to such a tune