From Monna Giuliana the young
painter heard the curious story of my having been vowed prenatally to the
cloister by my mother, learnt her name and mine, and the hope that was
entertained that I should walk in the ways of St. Augustine after whom I
had been christened.
It happened that he was about to paint a picture of St. Augustine, as a
fresco for the chapel of the Magi of the church I have named. And having
seen me and heard that story of mine, he conceived the curious notion of
using me as the model for the figure of the saint. I consented, and daily
for a week he came to us in the afternoons to paint; and all the time Monna
Giuliana would be with us, deeply interested in his work.
That picture he eventually transferred to his fresco, and there--O bitter
irony !--you may see me to this day, as the saint in whose ways it was
desired that I should follow.
Monna Giuliana and I would linger together in talk after the painter had
gone; and this would be at about the time that I had my first lessons of
Curial life from my Lord Gambara. You will remember that he mentioned
Boccaccio to me, and I chanced to ask her was there in the library a copy
of that author's tales.
"Has that wicked priest bidden you to read them?" she inquired, 'twixt
seriousness and mockery, her dark eyes upon me in one of those glances that
never left me easy.
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