loved, ardently served, lost for a season, searched for with blood-
shedding, and found with tears of thankfulness. O dearest brother, let
us kneel down and thank the Giver of all good, the only True Fount, for
this last and most signal instance of His provident bounty!" He did
kneel, and had the hardihood to drag me with him; I believe he would
have prayed over me like a bishop at a confirmation--but this
blasphemous farce was too much for me. I jumped up and away in a rage.

"Fra Palamone," I said, "I don't know whither this pretence of yours is
designed to lead you, but I know well whither it will lead myself--
namely, with this hoe of mine, to complete the work which I bungled in
Florence. And to the achievement of that I shall instantly proceed,
unless you get up from your polluted knees and tell me your real and
present business with me here."

He got up at once--one of those lightning alterations of his from the
discursive to the precise.

"Va bene," says he, "you shall be satisfied in a moment." He fumbled for
his pocket-book, and from that selected three papers, which he handed to
me in silence and in due order. They were:

1. A power of attorney to Fra Palamone by name from Sir John Macartney,
his Britannic Majesty's representative at the Grand Ducal Court,
authorising him to use all diligence and spare no expense in finding
Francis-Antony Strelley of Upcote Esquire, wherever he might be in
Italy; and with further authority to secure honour for his drafts upon
the banking-house of Peruzzi in Florence to the extent of five hundred
pounds sterling.