nds are like country chateaus. Let
anything strange approach, and the doors and windows slam shut."

He took Simon's arm and steered him over the flagstones of the piazza
toward the cathedral. The many-columned facade of pink, white, and green
marble, sculptures, and mosaics filling the spaces between them took
Simon's breath away. There was an opulence to the five great domes that
seemed to Simon to speak of the storied wealth of the East. They were so
different from the pointed spires of the cathedrals newly built in
France.

"I am very grateful to you, Simon, for trying so hard to protect us
today," Friar Mathieu said. "The doge's discourtesy to you was the
worst kind of rudeness, the rudeness of one who thinks himself more
refined than all others."

Simon felt better, but he wondered if the friar was speaking so only out
of kindness to him.

"It is good of you to reassure me," he said, "but the doge seems to be
guarding the ambassadors well enough."

"All show," said Friar Mathieu. "The Venetians are not alert enough. The
doge has no idea that we are in any danger. Nor does he seem to care. I
believe he has not decided whether he has anything to gain from an
alliance between Christians and Tartars. After all, the Venetians trade
quite happily with the Muslims these days."

Simon was shocked. "Is that not a sin?"

"Against God, perhaps, but not against profit. And the common heading on
your Venetian merchant's account book is 'For God and Profit.' Young
Seigneur de Gobignon, you do not know how happy I am to talk to a
Frenchman again after so many years."

"How long have you been among the Tartars, Friar Mathieu?"

The old Franciscan sighed. "Long enough to learn the Eastern peoples'
way of counting the years in twelve-year cycles. They give each year the
name of a certain animal."

"A strange system."

"A sensible system. It is easier to remember beasts than numbers. Let me
see, this year, Anno Domini 1263, they call the Year of the Sheep, and
when I first entered the camp of Hulagu Khan the Tartars told me it was
the Year of the Dragon. From Dragon to Sheep there are"--he counted on
his fingers while muttering the names of beasts under his breath--"seven
animals. So, seven years since our good King Louis sent me to bear his
messages to the Tartars."

"Then you went in 1256?"

"Anno Domini 1256. That is right."

Simon wanted very much to know more about life among the Tartars. But he
and the old f