extravagantly long. Such is your Neæra to-day, it is too true. But if
you love me, I shall once more become, by you and for you, what I was in
the golden days of Saturn, when my youth was in blossom amid the
blossoms of the young, flower-decked world. 'Tis love, oh! my young god,
that makes the beauty of things. To restore my beauty, all that is
needed is a little courage. Up, Mino, be bold and show your mettle!"

At these words, which were accompanied by appropriate gestures, Fra
Mino, shuddering with fear and horror, felt himself swoon away, and
slipped from his bed on to the pavement of his cell. As he fell, he
seemed to catch a glimpse, between his half-closed lids, of a nymph of
perfect shape and peerless beauty, whose naked body rolled over his like
waves of milk.

He woke in broad daylight, bruised and broken by his fall. The leaves of
the manuscript he had written the night before still littered the desk.
He read them through again, folded and sealed them with his seal, put
the roll inside his gown, and unheeding the menaces the witches had
twice over given him, started to carry his revelations to the Lord
Bishop, whose Palace lifted its battlements above the roofs in the
middle of the city. He found him donning his spurs in the Great Hall,
surrounded by his men-at-arms. For the Bishop was just then at war with
the Ghibellines of Florence. He asked the Monk to what he owed his
visit, and on being informed of the matter, invited him there and then
to read out his report. Fra Mino obeyed, and the Bishop heard out his
tale to the end. He had no special lights on the subject of apparitions;
but he was animated with an ardent zeal for the interests of the Faith.
Without a day's delay, and not suffering the cares of the War to
distract him from his purpose, he appointed twelve famous Doctors in
Theology and Canon Law to examine into the affair, urging them to give