e shawl, for every woman's head is covered, but
of the men only the old lord wears his cap, which he devoutly lifts at
'Gloria Patri' and 'Verbum Caro,' and at 'Sanctus' and at the
consecration. It is soon over, and the day is begun, for the sun is
fully risen and streams through the open unglazed windows as the maids
sprinkle water on the brick floors, and sweep and strew fresh rushes,
and roll back the mattresses on the trestle beds, which are not made
again till evening. In the great courtyard, the men lead out the horses
and mount them bareback and ride out in a troop, each with his sword by
his side, to water them at the river, half a mile away, for not a single
public fountain is left in Rome; and the grooms clean out the stables,
while the peasants come in from the country, driving mules laden with
provisions for the great household, and far away, behind barred doors,
the women light the fires in the big kitchen.

Later again, the children of the noble house are taught to ride and
fence in the open court; splendid boys with flowing hair, bright as gold
or dark as night, dressed in rough hose and leathern jerkin,
bright-eyed, fearless, masterful already in their play as a lion's
whelps, watched from an upper window by their lady mother and their
little sisters, and not soon tired of saddle or sword--familiar with the
grooms and men by the great common instinct of fighting, but as far from
vulgar as Polonius bade Laertes learn to be.

So morning warms to broad noon, and hunger makes it dinner-time, and the
young kinsmen who have strolled abroad come home, one of them with his
hand bound up in a white rag that has drops of blood on it, for he has
picked a quarrel in the street and steel has been out, as usual, though
no one has been killed, because the 'bargello' and his men were in
sight, down there near the Orsini's theatre-fortress. And at dinner when
the priest has blessed the table, the young men laugh about the
scrimmage, while the Baron himself, who has killed a dozen men in
battle, with his own hand, rebukes his sons and nephews with all the
useless austerity which worn-out age wears in the face of unbroken
youth. The meal is long, and they eat much, for there will be nothing
more till night; they eat meat broth, thick with many vegetables and
broken bread and lumps of boiled meat, and there are roasted meats and
huge earthen bowls of salad, and there is cheese in great blocks, and
vast quantities of bread,