ront of the monastery, he and the woman! Was
Giovanni quite sure the monk was coming to the meeting? Yes, quite sure.
Don Clemente had obtained the abbot's permission while Giovanni was at
the convent, and had at once told him. He was coming, and would
bring with him, and introduce to them, the man who helped the
kitchen-gardener, of whom he had already spoken to Giovanni. Thus,
another time, the gardener could come alone, and would teach him to bank
up the potatoes in the little piece of ground he had hired behind the
villa, intending to cultivate it with his own hands. Manual labour,
to which he had recently taken, was a pet hobby of Giovanni's of which
Maria did not altogether approve, deeming it incompatible with his
habits and with his age. However, she respected his whim and held her
peace. At that moment the girl from Affile, who served them, came to
tell them that their guests were on their way upstairs, and that supper
would be ready shortly.

Three people, in fact, were ascending the narrow winding stair of the
little villa, Giovanni went down to meet them. First came his young
friend Leyni, who, on greeting Giovanni, begged to be excused for
preceding the two ecclesiastics who were his companions.

"I am master of ceremonies," he explained, and proceeded to introduce
them there on the stairs.

"The Abbe Marinier of Geneva. Don Paolo Fare of Varese, with whose name
you are already acquainted."

Selva was slightly perplexed; nevertheless he at once invited his guests
to follow him, and conducted them to the terrace, where some chairs had
been placed.

"And Dane?" said he anxiously to Leyni, taking his arm, "And Professor
Minucci, and Father Salvati."

"They have arrived," the young man replied, smiling. "They are at the
Aniene. I must tell you about it--but it is a long story! They will be
here presently."

Meanwhile the Abbe Marinier had gone out on the terrace, and now
exclaimed:

"_Oh, c'est admirable!_"

Don Paolo Fare, always loyal to his native Como, murmured, "Beautiful,
beautiful indeed!" as if he would have liked to add, "but if you could
only see my country!"

Maria joined them, and the introductions were repeated; then Leyni told
his story while Marinier let his little sparkling eyes wander over the
landscape, from the pyramid-shaped Subiaco, standing out with a dark
scenic effect against the bright background in the west, to the wild
hornbeams close by, which shut out the east.

Don