very gentle ways, as you may have heard, Messer Buffoon. But see that
you forget at once my station and my name, or you may realise how little
they need buffoons in the Court of Heaven."

"My lord, forgive. I shall obey you," answered the hunchback, with a
stricken manner. And then through the glade came a voice--a woman's
voice, wondrous sweet and rich--calling: "Peppino! Peppino!"

"It is my mistress calling me," quoth the fool, leaping to his feet.

"So that you own a mistress, though Folly be your only master," laughed
the Count. "It would pleasure me to behold the lady whose property you
have the honour to be, Ser Peppino."

"You may behold her if you but turn your head," Peppino whispered.

Idly, with a smile upon his lips that was almost scornful, the Lord of
Aquila turned his eyes in the direction in which the fool was already
walking. And on the instant his whole expression changed. The amused
scorn was swept from his countenance, and in its place there sat now a
look of wonder that was almost awe.

Standing there, on the edge of the clearing, in which he lay, he beheld a
woman. He had a vague impression of a slender, shapely height, a
fleeting vision of a robe of white damask, a camorra of green velvet, and
a choicely wrought girdle of gold. But it was the glory of her peerless
face that caught and held his glance in such ecstatic awe; the miracle of
her eyes, which, riveted on his, returned his glance with one of mild
surprise. A child she almost seemed, despite her height and womanly
proportions, so fresh and youthful was her countenance.