It was a night as black as pitch when the moon above was shrouded by cloud. Nevertheless, it failed to deter Prior Vicenzo, who walked earnestly like a man who had spent the evening contending with Lucifer and who now believed he had him on the run. Accompanying him was a novice, Paulo, a ruddy-faced youth of seventeen who was prone to wilful streaks of disobedience.
‘Come boy quick,’ urged Prior Vicenzo. ‘We will have this plot foiled and the Devil wringing his tail before the night is out.’ Due to the many bulletins he was holding, Paulo was in no position to reply to his irate superior, for he could barely see the direction he was staggering in. Despite his tender years he had some sympathy with Leonardo’s cause. Had he not been born the second son of his family, and thus by a long tra
