His  name  was  Ercole;  and  that,  as  I  told  him,  was  as  it
should  be.  .But  I  added,  "Hercules  served  Eurystheus  for
twelve  years  for  one  clear  purpose,  which  was  that  he  might


138  THE   FOOL   ERRANT

achieve  immortality;  and  some  of  us  labour  for  the  same
end,  and  others  of  us  for  ends  which  seem  to  us  equally  good.
Will  you  tell  me,  Ercole,  why  you  have  undertaken  these
prodigious  exertions  of  yours?"

Ercole  shrugged.  "There  is  no  life  upon  our  mountains,"
he  said.  "Moreover,  Santa  Caterina  was  a  great  saint,
as  I  have  heard  your  master  say  just  now.  Nor  can  you
deny  it."

I  said,  "  I  do  not  deny  it.  But  the  saints  never  fail  us.
Wheresoever  one  may  dwell,  there  are  they;  and  by  the
merits  of  holy  baptism  and  the  benefits  of  the  Mass  we  may
be  in  communion  with  them  whether  we  Hve  on  mountain
or  plain."

"That  is  true,"  said  Ercole.  "Yet  that  was  a  good  pro-
cession. I  would  not  have  missed  it  for  two  gold  florins.
I  expect  that  in  your  country  you  have  no  finer  processions
of  priests  and  noble  ladies  of  religion.  I  am  myself  impas-
sioned for  rehgion."

"I  too,"  was  my  answer.  "But  in  my  poor  country  the
true  faith  is  enmeshed  in  cold  shrouds  of  unbelief.  We
dare  not  have  processions,  but  cry  unto  God  in  secret;  and
no  profession  is  more  discredited  with  us  than  that  of  virgin."

"That  is  a  terrible  thing  you  tell  me  there,"  says  he.
"What  else  is  a  girl  to  do  if  she  cannot  marry  the  man  of
her  heart?"

"We  have  our  compensations,"  I  replied;  "we  worship
in  the  dark,  hoping  to  be  rewarded  in  the  full  light  of  heaven.
