It is by Rossi, the
Minister-General of the Franciscan order to which our monk belonged; the
official biography, it might be called - dedicated, by permission, to His
Holiness Pope Clemens XIII, and based on the documents which led to the
saint's beatification. Altogether, a remarkable volume - - "
And he paused awhile. Then continued:
"I possess a cheaper biography of him, also with a frontispiece, by
Montanari, which has the questionable advantage of being printed as
recently as 1853. And here is yet another one, by Antonio Basile - oh, he
has been much written about; a most celebrated taumaturgo,
(wonder-worker)! As to this Life of 1767, I could not, with a good
conscience, appraise it at less than five francs."
"I respect your feelings. But - five francs! I have certain scruples of
my own, you know, and it irks my sense of rectitude to pay five francs
for the flying monk unless you can supply me with six or seven
additional books to be included in that sum.
"Twelve soldi (sous) apiece - that strikes me as the proper price of
such literature, for foreigners, at least. Therefore I'll have the great
Egidio as well, and Montanari's life of the flying monk, and that other
one by Basile, and Giangiuseppe, and - - "
"By all means! Pray take your choice."
And so it came about that, relieved of a tenuous and very sticky
five-franc note, and loaded down with three biographies of the flying
monk, one of Egidio, two of Giangiuseppe - I had been hopelessly
swindled, but there!
