pointed thereto this friar of the Servi, of whom they
tell such marvels--as if the Collegio, with all our learned chancellors,
were not enough!"

"Leave thou these matters to the Signoria, who, verily, know how to
rule--ay, and how to choose; for the man is like none other."

"What uses hath the Senate for this cloistered scholar, skilled in many
sciences and master of tongues," the Lady Laura persisted, "that it
should create an office--which since the _serrata_ it hath not been
known to do--and appoint a friar over the heads of our nobles who have
loyally served the Republic since our ancestors first sat in the
Consiglio? There are the halls of Padua for our scholars, where already
his friend, the master Galileo, holdeth high honors, by favor of the
Senate; and if Fra Paolo were named Rector Magnifico, and put at its
head----"

"Nay, nay, the Senate is wise," her husband interrupted, not ill pleased
at her vehemence and the patrician pride which prompted it. "And if the
Republic hath no present need of the Consultore's mastery of sciences,
the fame thereof hath made a hearing for any speech of his. But he hath
no mind to any social pleasures--how, then, my lady, hast seen him, or
knowest thou the quality of his learning?"

"Fra Francesco is never weary of telling of his wisdom; they have been
friends since boyhood in the Servi. The master Galileo, if one may
believe him, can do naught without consulting Fra Paolo, and together
they are building some strange tunnel that shall bring the stars nearer!
It is like a fable to listen to these marvels of his friend, who for his
discoveries might well hold all the chairs in Padua if Fra Francesco
might decree his deserts! But Fra Francesco is simple-minded. Tell me,
Giustinian, how doth the Consultore appear to thee?"

"To me and to all men like one who betrays no secret and speaks no idle
word."

"Once," pursued the lady meditatively, "I had sight of him, going with
Marco to the convent to see our Madonna of the Veronese, and Fra Paolo
ministered in the chapel of the Consolation; very quiet and simple he
seemed, like the other frati. I had not thought him great, nor a leader
of men. Are there no statesmen in Venice who might better fit the
dignity of so great an office?"

"Think not to teach subtlety to the Signoria, my Lady Laura! Is not
every noble a statesman trained, and every one at the service of the
Republic? But there is no greater theologian at the Court of P