The Strolling Saint

hose importance is derived entirely from that which subsequently befell, for at the time it had no

one noontide into the outer courtyard of the castle two pilgrim fathers, o

I. It was Fra Gervasio who discharged the office of almoner on the Countess of Mondolfo's behalf. Occasionally the whines and snarls of the motley crowd that gathered there-for they were not infrequently quarrelsome-reached us in t

ng charity in the piteous. All were dishevelled, unkempt, ragged, dirty, and, doubtless, verminous. Most were greedy and wolfish as they thrust one another aside to reach Fra Gervasio, as if they feared that the supply of alms and food should be exhausted ere their turn arrived. Amongst them there was commonly a small sprinkling of

ding nearest to our almoner, held a great sack of broken bread; another presented a wooden, trough-like platter filled with slices of meat, an

io, and lastly came they back to him, to receive from his hand

and wondering vaguely what God could be about to inflict so much suffering upon certain of His creatures, to cause one to be born into purple an

th and the half of his face were covered by a thick brown beard, and athwart his countenance, from under the left eye across his nose and cheek, ran a great livid scar to lose itself in the beard towards the right jaw. His deep-set eyes regarded me so intently that I coloured uncomfortably

I chanced to mention th

d, and he looked at me with eyes of positive fear out of a face from which the last drop of blood had abruptly receded. I checked

hers are never a

was a big br

est of holy men," she repro

ver have remarked this friar but that he gazed upon me with

t me full and long-for once-and very searchingl

tell me?" quoth she,

adonnino of Anguissola! The matter was out of all proportion to the st

esought me. "You know not what it may import." And then she

hile confusion. But he was still pale,

rothers of St. Francis on their way, they

me are resting her

ve denied it had it lain within his

me," he answered

nnounced, and never in all my life had I

e explained. "They have retired, and their rule..." He left the se

in her lap and fell into meditation. The fain

ould not bear this friar's gaze. You remember, brother, how a pilgrim appeared near San Rufino to the nurse of Saint Franci

ust see this friar ere he departs again," she

last was something that might well be discovered upon inquiry to be an answer to her prayer. This capuchin who had stared at me from the cou

in, she was not early enough. In the courtyard whither she descended to make her way to

ously, filled already with

and trembling. "You are too la

s. "Oh, it was a sign indeed!" she exclaimed. "And you have come to realize it, too, I see." Next, in a bur

sorrows. "This but makes my burden heavier, my respo

t was never forgotten, and from time to time she would allude to it as the sign wh

e permitted to set foot; and although from time to time I heard rumours of doings in the town itself, of the affairs of the State whereof I was by right of birth the

e lives of saints, and Holy Writ itself, afford their student glimpses of the world. But this curiosity I came to look upon as a lure of the flesh, and to resist. Blessed are they wh

om the cradle, influences which had known no check save that brief one affor

of Paradise. Similarly did I take delight in the Life, written by Tommaso da Celano, of that blessed son of Pietro Bernardone, the merchant of Assisi, that Francis who became the Troubadour of the Lord and sang so sweetly the praises of His Creation. My heart would swell within me and I would weep hot and very bitter

him again his agonies of hope, I thrilled with some of the joy of his stupendous ecstasies, and I alm

stament, The Mirror of Perfection; but my greatest delight was

y of those lauds that charmed me spiritually, or an appeal to my senses made by

joyous, perfumed life of that other stigmatized saint, the blessed Catherine of Sien

fessions of St. Augustine, that mighty theologian after whom I had been named, and whose wor

de the doubts that earlier had tormented him lest I should be forced upon a life for which I had no vocation. He gre

ose nurtured as was I are seldom lusty. The mind feeding overmuch upon the growing body is apt to sap its strength and vigour, besides which there was the circums

lopment and so should have its place within these confessions. Nor did I judge it trivial at the time-nor were trivial the th

who was one of Nature's dunces out of which there is nothing useful to be made. He was strong-limbed, however, and he was given o

ve her prodigal, luxuriant way. It is true that the great boxwood hedges needed trimming, and that weeds were sprouting between the stones of the flights of steps that led from terrace to terrace; but the place was gay and fragrant with wild blossoms, and the great trees afforded generous shade, and the long rank

wall, and alternately I read from the De Civitate Dei which I had brought with me, alternately m

ght and fully two feet thick, entirel

less son; the other, a fresh young feminine voice, was entirely unknown to me; indeed it was the first girl's voice I c

ll, to listen to

Rinolfo, and Madonna the Co

ckling of twigs and

ich to tell Madonna's beatitude," th

s emitted. There came more snapping of twigs, a light scurrying sound followed by a heavier one, and lastly a p

ared there than a soft, lithe body hurtled against me so suddenly that my arms mechanically went round it

lingly into mine out of a frightene

he panted. "Prot

halted Rinolfo, his big face red with anger, s

at she belonged to the peasant class. She wore a spotless bodice of white linen, which but indifferently concealed the ripening swell of her young breast. Her petticoat, of dark red homespun, stopped short above her bare brown ankles, and her little feet were naked

Balducci-related by Messer Boccaccio in the merry tales of his Decamerone 1-who had come to years of adolescence without ever having beheld womanhood, s

oduction to t

if you will but so it is-I do not think that it had occurred to me that they existed, or else, if they did, that in youth they differed materially from what in age I fou

owed his eyes to rest upon a woman; nor could I see wherein lay the special merit attributed to this. And certain passa

of its dazzling pages. So that whether this brown peasant girl was beautiful or not, beautiful she seemed to me with the radiant beauty that is attributed t

with my protection, since I felt that protection must carry with it certa

ng herself, and by very instinct stroking with one hand her little brown head to soothe her fears,

fo?" I demanded. "Wh

he answered sullenly, "a

s? What bir

he shrilled. "And he wil

promised in a tone entirely new to me. And then t

, and daily took a great number of birds whose necks he wrung and had them cooked for him with rice by his silly mother; that it was a sin in any case to take little birds by such cowardly means, but that sinc

s snares, the little girl had given them their liberty and had set about breaking up the springes. At this occupation he had

prerogative that was mine by right of birth, and dispensing jus

my displeasure and its consequences. And as for this child, if you dare to molest her for what has happened now, or if you

with Luisina-as the child was called-in my arms. And Messer Giojoso, full of parental indignation at this gross treatment of his child, and outraged chastity at the notion of a young man

in some subtle, quite indefinable manner; and my sense of beauty, which, always strong, had hit

beside me. This she did after some demur about the honour of it and

t spread the garden away down the flight of terraces to end in the castle's grey, buttressed wall. But from where we sat we could look beyond this, our gla

was and how she came to Mondolfo. It was then that I learnt that her name was Luisina, that she was the daughter of one of the women

cullions, is grotesque and humiliating. At the time the thought never presented itself to me at all, and had it done so it would have troubled me no whit. She was

to draw her hand from mine. Unable to understand her fears, and seeking to reassure her, to convince her that in me she had a friend, one who would ever

nated thing that is robbed by fear of its power

arfully, and sighed. "Nay, you

ucci's must have protested in the story when he was told by his father

she added, which seemed to me a very

And what of t

e timid eyes of hers. "You shoul

smiled. "I am stud

es good priests," she announced, and puzzled me

s its bleat to a sheep or its cackle to a goose; and in this opinion I had been warmly confirmed by Fra Gervasio. Now here in Luisina I had imagined at first that I had discovered a phase of womanhood unsuspected and exceptional. She was driving

equence I imagined. The fault was in myself and in the profound ignorance of the ways of men

led over her words and sought to attach to them some intelligent meaning, there broke from be

ay she stood, a tall black figure against the grey background of the lichened w