She was dressed in the Moorish fashion, with a profusion of necklaces of
linked sequins of uncut precious stones and of large turquoises, some of
them I could judge of great value, though clumsily set. These necklaces
depended from beneath her gaily striped head-cloth upon her forehead and
also covered her bosom. Her dark blue robe was girdled by a golden belt
of curious workmanship, and she wore bangles upon her ankles with
bracelets of cheap blue glass upon her arms. Her hair, braided in a
multitude of fine plaits, was jet black and heavily perfumed. She wore
but one ear-ring, a hoop of gold in which twinkled a great diamond.

I had a letter for her from the Duke, and as it has never been my
practice to deliver a missive of whose contents I am ignorant, lest I
might be deputed to give orders for my own execution, I had taken the
precaution to open it (having first made an impression of the seal so
that I could reseal it beyond possibility of detection), but all to no
avail for this letter was written in Arabic, of which language I have no
knowledge. I was in twenty minds to destroy it, professing that I had
lost it _en route_, but having calculated that honesty was the more
gainful part to play, I put my trust in my patron saint and boldly
presented it. By so doing I came into possession of an important secret,
for on reading the letter Monna Afra exclaimed: "My son informs me that
you are an unprincipled rogue whose life he holds in his hands, on
account of certain murders which you have committed, and that therefore
I need not fear to trust you with our private affairs."

The opening words of this ungracious speech caused my spirit to leap
within me, for Duke Alessandro far from confiding to me or to any one
else the secret that he was the child of a mulattress, and in all
probability the bastard of the Pope, had persistently maintained that he
was the legitimatised son and rightful heir of the last Duke of
Florence, and his mother a princess whose name would in time be
divulged, and this notwithstanding that his dark complexion proclaimed
him of Oriental race.

I dissimulated my exultation, swore loyalty to my patron's honoured
mother, and showed her the portrait of her son, with which she was
greatly pleased.

"You shall give this to the Duchess, later," she declared, taking the
casket from me, "but first I desire you to copy the medallion for me,
and to say nothing of this commission."

The wish to possess