ought, and
the two soldiers, who show comic incredulity in every movement. The
captain tells Silvestro that during Mass he had a vision of the Passion.
Silvestro is not surprised.

"Ah!" he says musingly, "yes; that, I suppose, would be so."

The captain is so much impressed he is not at all sure he ought not to be
baptized. The soldiers, who are too hungry to pay any attention,
interrupt--

"What about that food?"

They had been standing with their backs to the full-blown turnips.
Silvestro turns them round and they are stupefied to see that the miracle
has been performed. They are all three converted and insist on being
baptized instantly. Silvestro performs the ceremony, somewhat
perfunctorily, and promises to cure the emperor. They shout, "Evviva
Silvestro!" and dance for joy as the curtain falls.

For the third act we returned to the palace in Rome. Costantino was
still in bed, his son Fiovo and his nephew Sanguineo were with him
attempting to comfort him; he was pointing out that it is little use
trying to comfort a man who is, and has been for twelve years, enduring
such extreme discomfort. They were interrupted by a messenger who
announced the return of the captain with Silvestro.

"Let them be brought in," said the emperor.

Accordingly they came, and the patient repeated to Silvestro all about
the twelve years' illness and the constant irritation. Silvestro
imitated the emperor's action to show he understood how unpleasant it
must be. The patient then recounted his vision and asked--

"Can you propose any remedy?"

"Become a Christian. The water of baptism will wash away your disease."

The emperor hesitated not a moment. Silvestro retired to have a cup
fixed into his right fist and filled with real water, while the sufferer
cleverly turned down the bedclothes and, with the assistance of Fiovo and
Sanguineo, got out of bed and stood upright, showing his body and arms
covered with the dreadful marks of the leprosy.

Silvestro returned and solemnly performed the sacrament of baptism,
pouring all the water over the kneeling emperor who shivered violently
with the cold, so violently that, while he rose, his leprosy fell from
him as it had been a garment and his flesh became as the flesh of
Samson--which in fact it was, for ordinary naked men are so seldom
required that by changing his head one marionette can double the parts.

Then Costantino danced for joy and embraced Silvestro, he embra