at had passed, now he
was secure; and feeling able to try and propitiate her.

"Yes," she said, taking the paper, without looking at him, "I
understand."

"And you will forgive me, my Romola, when you have had time to reflect."
He just touched her brow with his lips, but she took no notice, and
seemed really unconscious of the act. She was aware that he unlocked
the door and went out. She moved her head and listened. The great door
of the court opened and shut again. She started up as if some sudden
freedom had come, and going to her father's chair where his picture was
propped, fell on her knees before it, and burst into sobs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note. Savonarola's Sermon, page 350. The sermon here given is not a
translation, but a free representation of Fra Girolamo's preaching in
its more impassioned moments.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

BALDASSARRE MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE.

When Baldassarre was wandering about Florence in search of a spare
outhouse where he might have the cheapest of sheltered beds, his steps
had been attracted towards that sole portion of ground within the walls
of the city which is not perfectly level, and where the spectator,
lifted above the roofs of the houses, can see beyond the city to the
protecting hills and far-stretching valley, otherwise shut out from his
view except along the welcome opening made by the course of the Arno.
Part of that ground has been already seen by us as the hill of Bogoli,
at that time a great stone-quarry; but the side towards which
Baldassarre directed his steps was the one that sloped down behind the
Via de' Bardi, and was most commonly called the hill of San Giorgio.
Bratti had told him that Tito's dwelling was in the Via de' Bardi; and,
after surveying that street, he turned up the slope of the hill which he
had observed as he was crossing the bridge. If he could find a
sheltering outhouse on that hill, he would be glad: he had now for some
years been accustomed to live with a broad sky about him; and, moreover,
the narrow passes of the streets, with their strip of sky above, and the
unknown labyrinth around them, seemed to intensify his sense of
loneliness and feeble memory.

The hill was sparsely inhabited, and covered chiefly by gardens; but in
one spot was a piece of rough ground jagged with great stones, which had
never been cultivated since a landslip had ruined