a place for three years, is somewhat irregular. What can you tell concerning this matter? Come, let us hear."
Don Clemente knew that some of his brother monks—and not the oldest, but precisely the youngest among them—did not approve of the hospitality the late Abbot had extended to Benedetto. Neither was the attachment existing between himself and Benedetto entirely to their taste. Don Clemente had already had trouble on this account. He now at once perceived that certain brothers had lost no time, but had already tried to influence the new Abbot. His fine face flushed hotly. He did not answer immediately, wishing first to quell the anger burning within him by an act of mental forgiveness. At last he assured the Abbot that it was both his duty and his wish to enlighten him.
"This young man," he began, "is a certain Piero Maironi of Brescia. You must surely have heard of the family. His father, Don Franco Maironi, married a woman without birth or money. His parents were already dead at the time, and he lived with his paternal grandmother, Marchesa Maironi, an imperious and proud woman."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Abbot, "I knew her! A perfect terror! I remember her well. In Brescia they called her the 'Marchesa Haynau'[1]
- ↑ In allusion to the terrible Austrian, General Haynau, who, on account of his cruelty to the Italian patriots, was surnamed the "Hyena of Brescia." Translator.
