Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/163

Rh perceived it, he would immediately refuse to continue the conversation. "There was a brief silence. A knock came at the door. We all expressed a fear, since the reply had come so promptly, that it could not be the master. But my star willed that Michael Angelo, who lived quite near, should at that very time be on his way in the direction of San Silvestro; he was proceeding along the Via Esquilina, towards the Thermtæ, philosophising as he went with his disciple Urbino. And as our envoy had met him and brought him along, he it was who stood upon the threshold. The Marchesa rose and long remained in conversation with him, standing and apart from the others, before she invited him to take a seat between Lattanzio and herself." Francis of Holland sat by his side. But Michael Angelo paid not the slightest attention to him. Whereupon the Spaniard was acutely nettled and said, with a vexed air: "Verily the surest means of not being seen by any one is to place oneself right in front of his eyes!"

Michael Angelo, astonished, looked at him and immediately apologised, with great courtesy. "Pardon me, Messer Francesco," he said. "In truth I did not notice you, for all my attention was centred on the Marchesa.

"Meanwhile Vittoria, after a slight pause, began, with an art which is deserving of the highest praise, to speak, adroitly and discreetly, of a thousand things, but without touching on the subject of painting. It was like one who lays siege, with difficulty and with art, to a fortified town. And Michael Angelo had the air of a besieged person who, vigilant and defiant, puts guards here,