THE SHAME OF MOTLEY
Being the Memoir of Certain Transactions
in the Life of Lazzaro Biancomonte, of Biancomonte,
sometime Fool of the Court of Pesaro.
By Rafael Sabatini
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE CARDINAL OF VALENCIA
For three days I had been cooling my heels about the Vatican, vexed bysuspense. It fretted me that I should have been so lightly dealt with after Ihad discharged the mission that had brought me all the way from Pesaro, and Iwondered how long it might be ere his Most Illustrious Excellency the Cardinalof Valencia might see fit to offer me the honourable employment with whichMadonna Lucrezia had promised me that he would reward the service I hadrendered the House of Borgia by my journey.
Three days were sped, yet nought had happened to signify that things wouldshape the course by me so ardently desired; that the means would be afforded meof mending my miserable ways, and repairing the wreck my life had suffered onthe shoals of Fate. True, I had been housed and fed, and the comforts ofindolence had been mine; but, for the rest, I was still clothed in the liveryof folly which I had worn on my arrival, and, wherever I might roam, therefollowed ever at my heels a crowd of underlings, seeking to have their tediumlightened