uttonous mouth quivered and twitched. But
he excused himself in the end. He must on. He had business to discharge
in the town, and he must return at once and render an account of our
safe journey to the Countess at Mondolfo. If he tarried now it would
grow late ere he reached Mondolfo, and late travelling pleased him not
at all. As it was his bones would be weary and his flesh tender from so
much riding; but he would offer it up to Heaven for his sins.

And when the too-amiable Fifanti had protested how little there could
be the need in the case of one so saintly as Messer Arcolano, the
priest made his farewells. He gave me his blessing and enjoined upon me
obedience to one who stood to me in loco parentis, heaved himself back
on to his mule, and departed with the grooms at his heels.

Then Doctor Fifanti set a bony hand upon my shoulder, and opined that
after my journey I must be in need of refreshment; and with that he led
me within doors, assuring me that in his house the needs of the body
were as closely cared for as the needs of the mind.

"For an empty belly," he ended with his odious, sycophantic geniality,
"makes an empty heart and an empty head."

We passed through a hall that was prettily paved in mosaics, into a
chamber of good proportions, which seemed gay to me after the gloom by
which I had been surrounded.

The ceiling was painted blue and flecked with golden stars, whilst the
walls were hung with deep blue tapestries on which was figured in grey
and brownish red a scene which, I was subsequently to learn, represented
the metamorphosis of Actaeon. At the moment I did not look too closely.
The figures of Diana in her bath with her plump attendant nymphs caused
me quickly to withdraw my bashful eyes.

A good-sized table stood in the middle of the floor, bearing, upon a
broad strip of embroidered white napery, sparkling crystal and silver,
vessels of wine and platters of early fruits. About it sat a very noble
company of some half-dozen men and two very resplendent women. One of
these was slight and little, very dark and vivacious with eyes full of
a malicious humour. The other, of very noble proportions, of a fine,
willowy height, with coiled ropes of hair of a colour such as I had
never dreamed could be found upon human being. It was ruddy and glowed
like metal. Her face and neck--and of the latter there was a very
considerable display--were of the warm pale tint of old ivory. She had
large, low-lidd