'That is true,' said Biagio, shaking his head solemnly; 'and yet I swear I never saw anything more clearly.'
And the poor boy, for many a long day, was afraid to trust his own eyes, since they had so basely deceived him.
But the next thing that happened at the studio did not seem like a joke to the master, for a weaver of cloth came to live close by, and his looms made such a noise and such a shaking that Sandro was deafened, and the house shook so greatly that it was impossible to paint.
But though Botticelli went to the weaver and explained all this most courteously, the man answered roughly, 'Can I not do what I like with my own house?' So Sandro was angry, and went away and immediately ordered a great square of stone to be brought, so big that it filled a waggon. This he had placed on the top of his wall nearest to the weaver's house, in such a way that the least shake would bring it crashing down into the enemy's workshop.
When the weaver saw this he was terrified, and came round at once to the studio.
'Take down that great stone at once,' he shouted. 'Do you not see that it would crush me and my workshop if it fell?'
'Not at all,' said Botticelli. 'Why should I take it down? Can I not do as I like with my own house?'
And this taught the weaver a lesson, so that he made less noise and shaking, and Sandro had the best of the joke after all.
There were no idle days of dreaming now for Sandro. As soon as one picture was finished another was wanted. Money flowed in, and his purse was always full of gold, though he emptied it almost as fast as it was filled. His work for the Pope at Rome alone was so well paid that the money should have lasted him for many a long day, but in his usual careless way he spent it all before he returned to Florence.
Perhaps it was the gay life at Lorenzo's splendid court that had taught him to spend money so carelessly, and to have no thought but to eat, drink, and be merry. But very soon a change began to steal over his life.