kled brows. On they came; and their eyes were
circled with red, their lips drawn in upon the toothless gums. On they
came, carrying dead roses in their arms, which were black and writhen
as the old vine stocks the peasants of Chianti burn for firewood in the
winter nights. On they came, with shaking heads and palsied thighs,
tottering and trembling.

Arrived at the spot where Fra Mino stood rooted to the ground with
affright, they were no better than a crowd of horrid witches, bald and
bearded, nose and chin touching, and bosoms hanging loose and flabby.
They came crowding round him:

"Ah, ha! the pretty darling!" cried one. "He is as white as a sheet, and
his heart beats like a hare the dogs are snapping at. AEgle, sister mine,
say, what must be done with him?"

"Neaera mine!" AEgle replied, "why! we must open his breast, tear out his
heart and put a sponge in its place instead."

"Not so!" said Melib[oe]a. "That were making him pay too dear for his
curiosity and the pleasure he has had in surprising our frolic. Enough
for this time to inflict a light chastisement. Say, shall we give him a
good whipping?"

Straightway surrounding the Monk, the sisters dragged his gown above his
head and belaboured him with the handfuls of thorns they still held.

The blood was beginning to come, when Neaera signed to them to stop:

"Enough!" she cried! "he is my gallant, I tell you! I saw him just now
casting tender eyes at me; I would content his wishes, and grant him my
favours without more delay."

She smiled alluringly; and a long, black tooth projecting from her mouth
tickled his nostril. She murmured softly:

"Come, come, my Adonis!"

Then suddenly, wild with rage:

"Fie, fie! his senses are benumbed. His coldness offends my charms. He
scorns me; avenge me, comrades! Mnais, AEgle, Melib[oe]a, avenge your
sister!"

At this appeal, one and all, lifting their thorny whips, fell to
scourging him so savagely that Fra Mino's body was soon one wound from
head to toe. Now and again they would stop to cough and spit, only to
begin afresh, plying their whips more vigorously than ever. Only sheer
weariness induced them to leave off.

"I hope," Neaera then said, "next time he will not do me the undeserved
insult I still blush to remember. We will spare his life; but if he
betrays the secret of our sports and pleasures, we will surely kill him.
Good-bye to you, my pretty boy!"

So saying, the old woman suddenly squatted down