Neither Signor Fortini nor the police Commissary had ever seen the old guardian of the Basilica; but they were sufficiently instructed in the details of Franciscan costume to perceive at once that the figure before them was not a priest, but only a lay-brother.

“Is there any place, frate, where I can put my horse and carriage under shelter for half an hour or so?” said the lawyer, as the old friar, having risen from his seat in the sunshine, came forward towards the carriage.

“There is place enough and to spare, Signori,” said the old man, pointing with a languid and wearylike gesture to the huge pile of half-dilapidated conventual buildings on the southern side of the church; “you can put horse and carriage as they stand into the old barn there, without undoing a buckle.  I will open the door for your lordships, if it will hang together so that it can be opened.”

The lawyer and the Commissary dismounted from the carriage, and the former proceeded to lead his horse into the huge barn of the convent; while the latter employed himself in observing every detail of the surrounding localities with those rapid all-seeing and all-remembering glances that the habits and education of his profession had rendered a part of his nature, preparatory to the investigations they had both come to make.

CHAPTER XI

In Father Fabiano’s Cell

“You can enter the Basilica at your pleasure, Signori; the gate is unlocked,” said the lay-brother, indicating the entrance to the church with a half-formed gesture of his hand, which fell to his side again when he had half raised it, as if the effort of extending his arm horizontally had been too much for him.  It was a matter of course to him that any human beings who came to St. Apollinare could have no business there but to see the old walls, which he, the friar, would have given so much never to see again.

“We will do so presently,” said Signor Logarini, in reply; “but, in the first place, we wish to speak with Father Fabiano—­he is the custode of the church, is he not?”

“Father Fabiano is ill a-bed, Signor; I am only out of my bed since yesterday, and it is as much as I can do to crawl.  There’s not many days in the year, I think, that we are both well; and if we should be both down together, God help us.  It is not just the healthiest place in the world, this.”

“What is the matter with the padre?  Has he been ill long?” asked the lawyer, with a glance at the Commissary.

“Since yesterday afternoon.  Why, I tell you I was in bed yesterday; he down, I must turn out.  Ah—­h—­h! it ’ll all be over one of these days.”

“But what ails the custode?” asked Signor Logarini again.

“Fever and ague, I suppose; that is what is always killing both of us more or less.  Pity it is so slow about it!” muttered the lay-brother, returning to his seat in the sunshine.