THE FOOL ERRANT - World eBook Library - World Public Library
THE FOOL ERRANT - World eBook Library - World Public Library
THE FOOL ERRANT - World eBook Library - World Public Library
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won't find them any more to your liking."<br />
"I shall leave Florence," I told her, "so soon as I am assured of Aurelia's escape from it." I heard her sniff of scorn, but did not<br />
care to reprove her.<br />
It was not so easy to leave it as to reach it, I found out. I had not been two hours in my chosen lodging—a decent place enough<br />
—before I had a visit from the Holy Office. The terrified landlord ushered three clerics into my room: two of them Dominicans<br />
with forms as big as flags to be filled up from my papers! The reader knows that I had no papers. The only passport I had ever<br />
had was destroyed; I had no calling but that of pilgrim, with which, as I could not but see, Virginia's presence consorted oddly;<br />
and the objects of my pilgrimage, as I had learned by painful experience, were not such as would commend themselves to the<br />
Inquisition. But while I hesitated, Virginia jumped headlong into the breach.<br />
A flush of seraphic mildness suffused her cheeks, her eyes sparkled like diamonds upon a Madonna's crown, she crossed her<br />
arms over her bosom and bowed her head. "Most reverend sirs," she said, "you see before you two innocents whose only faults<br />
are youth and ardent imagination. Attracted by the splendour of these shrines—pilgrims to the holy places— travellers hopeful<br />
of Heaven's gate—-"<br />
The elder of the two Dominicans, a pock-marked, long-faced, bitter man, at once said that he saw before him nothing of the<br />
kind. "We see," he continued, "a young man of foreign aspect, obviously confused, and you, my girl, who are too glib by half. If<br />
you can prove your innocence to our satisfaction we shall be agreeably surprised."<br />
Virginia, thus rudely checked in what would no doubt have proved a generous career of falsehood, shuddered and bit her lip.<br />
Her crossed arms relaxed, but her fists clenched themselves. She frowned and looked dangerous. My temper none of the best,<br />
I took a step forward and addressed the company.<br />
"Sirs," I said plainly, "my passport is lost, and as it was a false one it would have availed me nothing. I shall tell you the truth—<br />
that I am by birth an Englishman of your own religion, and was until lately a student of Padua. While there I had the fortunate<br />
misfortune to be subjugated by the charms of my tutor's lovely wife—fortunate in that she raised my soul to the heights, horribly<br />
unfortunate in that I (presumptuous wretch!) dared to draw her down into peril. You may spare your reproaches, for I assure<br />
you they cannot sharpen mine. She suffered undeservedly, and I am vowed to her satisfaction. I have entered your master's<br />
dominions, without objection, in pursuit of a pious intention, that, namely, of making amends to a virtuous and innocent lady. I<br />
have brought this young woman with me—a Tuscan, who needs no passport, I believe—under the influence of another pious<br />
intention. She has been in danger of ruin, and I believe I have saved her from it. I do not disguise from you, as you see, that I<br />
have sinned very grievously; but I ask you to accept my assurance that I am on the road to repentance. If you choose to apply<br />
to the accredited Minister of my country you will no doubt receive satisfactory evidence of my standing in the world.<br />
Whatsoever I may deserve from her against whom I have trespassed, I have done no harm to you or your master. I am not<br />
accustomed to have my word doubted, and shall take no steps at all to support it from outside. I wish you very well, and beg<br />
you to excuse me. I am but newly come to Florence, and confess to fatigue."<br />
I ended here, because I saw that further discussion would be fruitless. The officers, it is true, had listened to me gravely, without<br />
any kind of expression; their eyes had been fixed upon the floor, or the wall; they might have been statues. But at the close of<br />
my periods, one of them, a stout, breathless and foolish-looking priest, asked me, as if I had said nothing at all, "But where are<br />
your papers?"<br />
Virginia gave a sharp cry, and I was certainly taken aback. "Reverend sir," I said, as calmly as I was able, "I had hoped to have<br />
explained—- "<br />
The pock-marked Dominican took up the tale. "It is true, you have explained; but you have not produced your papers.<br />
Explanations apart from papers are of little or no value."<br />
"Explanations," said I, "of the absence of papers are surely more valuable than the absence of papers and explanations alike. I<br />
repeat that my own passport is lost, and that my companion needs none."<br />
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