صفحة 806 من 1118

There were not wanting inquisitive people, who enquired of

Bortolo why the young man had left him. The first time the

question was put to him, he simply replied, "He has disappeared."

To relieve himself, however, from the most persevering, he framed

the stories we have already related, at the same time offering

them as mere reports that he had heard; without, however, placing

much reliance on them.

But when enquiry came to be made by order of the cardinal, or

rather, by order of some great person, as his name was not

mentioned, Bortolo became more uneasy, and judged it prudent to

maintain his ordinary method of reply, with this addition, that

he gave to the stories he had fabricated an air of greater verity

and plausibility.