"
"Well, it is for that reason I have made you my cashier," laughed
Ganganelli. "A prince will always be well advised when he chooses
a sensible and well-instructed servant for that which he does not
understand himself. To acknowledge his ignorance on the proper occasion
does honor to a prince, and procures him more respect than if he sought
to give himself the appearance of knowing and understanding everything.
Come, Lorenzo, let us go into the garden; you see that these fowls care
nothing for us now; as they are satiated, they despise our provender.
Come, let us go farther!"
"Yes, into the garden!" exclaimed Lorenzo, with a mysterious smile.
"Come, brother Clement, I have prepared a little surprise for you there!
Come and see it!"
And the two old men turned their steps toward the garden.
"Follow me," said Lorenzo, preceding the pope, and leading him to a more
solitary and better screened part of the garden. "Now stoop a little and
creep through here, and then we are at the place."
The pope carefully followed the directions of his leader, and worked his
way through the obstruction of the myrtle-bushes until he arrived at
a small circular place, in the centre of which, shaded by tall
olive-trees, was a turf-seat surrounded by tendrils of ivy, and before
which was a small table of wood, yet retaining its natural covering of
bark.
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