There was a stir among the crowd; a few went out, having witnessed the
pageant; but there was a flutter of increased interest among those who
remained, as a venerable man, in the garb of the Frari, mounted the
pulpit on the right.

The Abbé Morelli sat in an attitude of breathless interest, and now a
look of intense anxiety crossed his face. "It is Fra Teodoro, the ablest
disputant of the Frari!" he exclaimed. "The trial is too great."

The lady with him drew closer, arranging the folds of the ample veil
which partially concealed her face, so that she might watch more
closely. But it was on Don Ambrogio Morelli that she fixed her gaze with
painful intensity, reading the success or failure of the orator in her
brother's countenance.

"Ambrogio!" she entreated, when the argument had been presented and
received with every sign of triumph that the sacredness of the place
made decorous, "thou knowest that I have no understanding of the
Latin--was it unanswerable?"

"Nay," her brother answered, uneasily; "it was fine, surely; but have no
fear, Fra Teodoro is not incontrovertible, and the Servi have better
methods."

"May one ask the name of the disputant who is to respond?" a stranger
questioned courteously of Don Ambrogio.

"It is a brother who hath but entered their order yesterday," Don
Ambrogio answered, with some hesitation, "by name Pierino--nay, Fra