’Ebbene!’ said the other, ’I stand excellently corrected. (Your servant, Messer Tassino,’ he said, in parenthesis, to a pert and confident young exquisite, who held himself arrogantly forward of the group of spectators. The jay responded to the attention with a condescending nod. Ludovico readdressed himself to the secretary.) ’How neatly you put things! It is a degree or two, as you say—between the intoxication of the spirit and the intoxication of the senses. And is this pretty stranger sacramental wine, and hath Heaven vouchsafed us the Grael without the Quest? It is a sign of its high favour, Messer Slmonetta, of which I hope and trust we shall prove ourselves worthy.’ ’And I hope so, Highness,’ said the grave secretary. ’Hush!’ whispered Ludovico. ’The court opens.’ There was a little stir and buzz among the spectators who, thronging the hall, left a semi-circle of clear space about the dais; and into this, at the moment, a fellow in a ragged gabardine was haled by a guard of city officers. The Duke, seated above, stroked his chin with a glance at the prisoner of sinister relish, which, on the thought, he smoothed, with a little apologetic cough, into an expression of mild benignancy. Messer Lanti, planted near at hand amid a very parterre of nobles, envoys, ecclesiastics, bedizened _chères amies_ and great officers of the court who supported their lord on the dais, sniggered under his breath till his huge shoulders shook. The Jew was charged with a very heinous offence—sweating coins, no less. He was voluble and nasal over his innocence, until one of the officers flicked him bloodily on the mouth with his mailed hand. ’Nay,’ said Bembo, shrinking; ’that is to give the poor man a dumb advocate, methinks.’ The Duke applauded—eliciting some louder applause from Ludovico—and forbade the fellow sternly to strike again without orders. A sudden sigh and movement seemed to ripple the congregated faces and to subside. The prisoner, however, was convicted, on sound enough evidence, and stood sullen and desperate to hear his sentence. Galeazzo eyed him covetously a moment; then turning to a clerk of the court who knelt beside him with his tablets ready, bade that obsequious functionary proclaim the penalty which by statute obtained against all coiners or defacers of the ducal image. It was bad enough—breaking on the wheel—to pass without deadlier revision; yet to such, and to the high will or caprice of his lord, Master Scrivener humbly submitted it. Then, to the dumfoundering of all, did his Magnificence appeal, with a smile, to the little Parablist at his shoulder:— ’Mi’ amico; thou hearest? What say’st?’ ’Lord,’ answered Bernardo, in the soft, clear young voice that all might hear like a bird’s song in the stillness after rain, ’this wretch hath defaced thy graven image.’ ’It is true.’ ’What if, in a more impious mood, he had dared to raise his hand against thyself?’ ’Ha! He would be made to die—not pleasantly.’