"We are perishing with curiosity," shouted, as with one voice, the debauched nobles and their feminine companions.
"In the name of pity, save our lives!" begged a girl nearest to Theodora's seat.
"Can you guess?" the Queen of the Groves repeated simply, as she gazed round the assembly.
All sorts of strange answers were hurled at the throne of the Queen of the Groves. She heeded them not. Perhaps she did not even hear them.
At last she raised her head.
Without commenting on the guesses of her guests, she said:
"I have seen in Rome to-day—a man!"
Benilo squirmed. The rest of the guests laughed harshly and Bembo, the Poet asked with a vapid grin:
"And is the sight so wondrous that the Queen of Love sits dreaming among her admirers like a Sphinx in the African desert?"
"Had he horns?" shouted the Lord of Bracciano.