Odo was eager to hear more; but
Andreoni courteously declined to wait on him at his lodgings, on the
plea that it might harm them both to be seen together. They agreed,
however, to meet in San Zaccaria after low mass the next morning, and
here Andreoni gave Odo a fuller report of recent events in the duchy.
It appeared that in the incessant see-saw of party influences the Church
had once more gained on the liberals. Trescorre was out of favour, the
Dominican had begun to show his hand more openly, and the Duke, more
than ever apprehensive about his health, was seeking to conciliate
heaven by his renewed persecution of the reformers. In the general
upheaval even Crescenti had nearly lost his place; and it was rumoured
that he kept it only through the intervention of the Pope, who had
represented to the Duke that the persecution of a scholar already famous
throughout Europe would reflect little credit on the Church.
As for Gamba, Andreoni, though unwilling to admit a knowledge of his
exact whereabouts, assured Odo that he was well and had not lost
courage. At court matters remained much as usual. The Duchess,
surrounded by her familiars, had entered on a new phase of mad
expenditure, draining the exchequer to indulge her private whims,
filling her apartments with mountebanks and players, and borrowing from
courtiers and servants to keep her creditors from the door. Trescorre
was no longer able to check her extravagance, and his influence with the
Duke being on the wane, the court was once more the scene of unseemly
scandals and disorders.
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