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He was well-born, cultured, of a fine and noble presence, and his wealth was colossal, comprising the archbishoprics of Valencia and Porto, the bishoprics of Majorca, Carthage, Agria, the abbeys of Subiaco, the Monastery of Our Lady of Bellefontaine, the deaconry of Sancta Maria in Via Lata, and his offices of Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Holy Church.
The man stood on the doorstep, with his umbrella hanging backward over his shoulder, and she could see his face distinctly, a typical Roman face with small aquiline features, keen dark eyes, a square jaw, and iron-grey hair. "Yes, Signora. Stefanone of Subiaco, wine merchant, to serve you. If you wish wine of Subiaco, ask for me at Piazza Montanara. Signora, it rains columns.
And there were lofts in which the rich autumn grapes were hung up to dry on strings, and where chestnuts lay in heaps, and figs were spread in symmetrical order on great sheets of the coarse grey paper made in Subiaco. There were apples, too, though poor ones, and there were bins of maize and wheat, waiting to be picked over before being ground in the primeval household mill.
One day, in the spring, he met Griggs when the latter was going out alone. "A word, Signore, if you permit," he said politely. "Twenty," replied Griggs, giving the common Roman answer. "Signore, Subiaco is a beautiful place," said the peasant. "In spring it is an enchantment. In summer, I tell you nothing. It is as fresh as Paradise. There is water, water, as much as you please.
If we varied the entertainment with something stronger, we should get on faster, though." "No," said Griggs. "I refuse to mix things. This may be the longer way, but it is the safer." And he drank again. "He was a man from Tivoli, or Subiaco," he remarked presently. "He spoke with that accent."
This morning he rose very early, and what should he do but take it into his head to wash down the stairs! Yesterday Maria scolded the old servant because the stairs were not clean. When the old woman, who sleeps at Subiaco, arrived at seven o'clock, she found Maironi had done the work for her.
There was nothing very surprising in the fact that the head of the house of Braccio should have obliged one of his daughters to take the veil in the Convent of Carmelite nuns, just within the gate of Subiaco, as his sister had taken it many years earlier.
Finding little that was congenial to his tastes or his talents in the arts or the society of the place, he would sometimes seek to abridge the tedium and length of his stay at Rome, by episodes of lark-shooting at Subiaco, or by looking after wild-boars at Ostia; and some, to whom hunting was indispensable, would hire dogs and make them chase each other, while they harked on the ragged pack, on the best hacks they could procure for the purpose.
Such a bill of fare was irresistible, even had there not been added to it the desire to escape from the close muggy climate of Rome into the fresh mountain-air, a desire whose intensity nothing but a long residence here can enable one to appreciate. Subiaco is some forty odd miles from Rome, and amongst the petty towns of the Papal States is a place of some small importance.
And besides," he added, smiling, "after all the habit would have been missing." A slight movement of Don Clemente's lips revealed to him that he had brought the habit with him from Subiaco. Benedetto experienced a great wave of intense inward emotion.
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