of people burst into the church and cry: "Let us drive him
out!" then the church begins to burn, and the knight finds himself in
the midst of flames, but still he moves not. At last, when the appointed
hour comes, he leaves the church and rides home to find that none of his
family had left the castle, but the various persons who had tried to
divert him from his penance were emissaries of the Devil. Then the
knight sees how great a sinner he was and declares that he will do
penance all the rest of his life.[27]

Bernoni in his _Leggende fantastiche_ gives nine legends, one of which
is the story of St. Peter's mother, mentioned above. Of the remaining
ones, several may be classed under ghost stories, and two illustrate the
great sanctity attached by the Italian to the spiritual relationship
contracted by godmothers and godfathers, and by groomsmen and the bride.
It is well known that in the Romish Church a godfather or godmother
contracts a spiritual relationship with the godson or goddaughter and
their parents which would prevent marriage between the parties. This
relationship the popular imagination has extended to the godfather and
godmother, and any improper intimacy between the two is regarded as the
most deadly sin. The first of Bernoni's legends is entitled:

LXVIII. OF A GODFATHER AND A GODMOTHER OF ST. JOHN WHO MADE LOVE.

Here in Venice, heaven knows how many centuries ago, there was a
gentleman and a lady, husband and wife, who were rich people. Well,
there frequented their house a _compare_ (godfather) of St. John; and it
came to pass that he and his _comare_ (godmother, _i. e._ the one who
had been godmother to the same child to which he had been godfather),
the lady of the house, made love to each other in secret. This lady had
a maid, and this maid knew everything. So one day this lady said to the
maid: "Hold your tongue, and you'll see that you will be satisfied with
me. When I come to die, you shall have an allowance of a dollar a day."
So this maid kept always on good terms with the lady. It happened that
the _compare_ fell very ill. The lady was so desperately sorry, that her
husband kept saying to her: "Come, will you make yourself ill too? It's
no use fretting, for it's what we must all come to." At last the
_compare_ died. And she took it so to heart, that she fell ill in
earnest. When her husband saw her giving way to such low spirits, he
began to suspect that there had been something between her