“Then wherefore hath the Signoria created this office of Teologo Consultore, and appointed thereto this friar of the Servi, of whom they tell such marvels—­as if the Collegio, with all our learned chancellors, were not enough!”

“Leave thou these matters to the Signoria, who, verily, know how to rule—­ay, and how to choose; for the man is like none other.”

“What uses hath the Senate for this cloistered scholar, skilled in many sciences and master of tongues,” the Lady Laura persisted, “that it should create an office—­which since the serrata it hath not been known to do—­and appoint a friar over the heads of our nobles who have loyally served the Republic since our ancestors first sat in the Consiglio?  There are the halls of Padua for our scholars, where already his friend, the master Galileo, holdeth high honors, by favor of the Senate; and if Fra Paolo were named Rector Magnifico, and put at its head——­”

“Nay, nay, the Senate is wise,” her husband interrupted, not ill pleased at her vehemence and the patrician pride which prompted it.  “And if the Republic hath no present need of the Consultore’s mastery of sciences, the fame thereof hath made a hearing for any speech of his.  But he hath no mind to any social pleasures—­how, then, my lady, hast seen him, or knowest thou the quality of his learning?”

“Fra Francesco is never weary of telling of his wisdom; they have been friends since boyhood in the Servi.  The master Galileo, if one may believe him, can do naught without consulting Fra Paolo, and together they are building some strange tunnel that shall bring the stars nearer!  It is like a fable to listen to these marvels of his friend, who for his discoveries might well hold all the chairs in Padua if Fra Francesco might decree his deserts!  But Fra Francesco is simple-minded.  Tell me, Giustinian, how doth the Consultore appear to thee?”

“To me and to all men like one who betrays no secret and speaks no idle word.”

“Once,” pursued the lady meditatively, “I had sight of him, going with Marco to the convent to see our Madonna of the Veronese, and Fra Paolo ministered in the chapel of the Consolation; very quiet and simple he seemed, like the other frati.  I had not thought him great, nor a leader of men.  Are there no statesmen in Venice who might better fit the dignity of so great an office?”

“Think not to teach subtlety to the Signoria, my Lady Laura!  Is not every noble a statesman trained, and every one at the service of the Republic?  But there is no greater theologian at the Court of Paul V, nor any ecclesiastic among them all more familiar with the writings of their authorities; and he hath a memory so astounding that he beareth the meaning of all their codes on the end of his tongue wherewith to confute the fallacious arguments of Rome.”

“Giustinian!”

“It is like a woman to ask a thing and cry out if the answer be not smothered in sweets!” the old Senator retorted irritably, resenting her accent of reproof.  “It is small marvel if the Consultore seemeth not great to thee; the power of the man is in the clarity of his vision and the brevity of his speech.”