He owned that my obstinate refusal of his company had angered him, stretched as he was by anxiety, to the point of laying violent hands upon me with his girdle.  “These cords,” he said, “which were meant to remind us of our humility, are too convenient ministers of our lust.  But the remedy for my great offence is easy.”  He again took off the girdle and put it in my hands.  He took off his habit and knelt before me in a woollen shirt.  “Smite, Don Francis,” said he, “and fear nothing.  Smite in token of forgiveness.  As you are generous, smite.”

I hope he found me generous enough, for I did smite him with all my force; whether he felt forgiven or no, this did me a power of good.  I had the satisfaction of cutting his shirt to ribbons and of drawing blood from him, a satisfaction which now seems to me wholly unlike my nature, and quite unworthy of my position.  He bore it with exemplary cheerfulness, singing sacred songs softly to himself, only pausing in these pious exercises to encourage me to hit him harder.  “Hey, but that was a shrewd one; that went home!  Nerve yourself, Don Francis, courage and resolve!  A little lower, my son, nearer to the buttock.  There! a proud patch there—­ho ho! but you’re into it!” and so on.  At the end, when I sank back exhausted, bathed in sweat, he sprang towards me, put his arms about me and kissed me.  “Dear Francis, beloved friend,” he said warmly, “how can old Palamone thank you enough for your noble work?  By devoted service?  It is yours.  By more than brotherly love?  You have it.  One thing at least is clear:  we can never be separated after this.”

Nothing could be clearer to me than that we must be separated immediately, but I did not think it wise to dash his hopes until I found out how far he had lied.  I wished to learn also what he wanted of my company.  I told him, therefore, that supposing his tale about me to be true in general, in particular it was most false.  So far from having injured Virginia, I said, I had saved her from destruction, and if the marchese did indeed claim her as his property, the very first thing I had to do was to defeat his purpose, since that was the root of my partnership with her.  I explained my position and hers to him as well as I could, and condescended, for her sake, to bargain with the old wretch.  “Since you, Palamone,” I said, “desire my company, though Heaven alone knows why you do desire it, I will agree to share my journey with you so far as Florence, whither I shall go immediately, but not on any account without Virginia.  I have charged my conscience with her honour, and am inflexible on that point.  If you won’t agree to this, you must follow your own devices, and may attempt whatever atrocity occurs to you.  That is my firm decision which no suffering can relax.”

Fra Palamone, all smiles, made no difficulties.  He would fetch Virginia that very night, and we would set off the next morning for Prato, where there was a great church ceremony which he must by all means attend.  Then we would go to Florence, full of friends of his (he assured me), who would make the weeks fly for my amusement.  “Trust me, my dear brother,” he said, “you will never repent having made the acquaintance of your old Palamone.”