The Strolling Saint

The Strolling Saint is a novel by Rafael Sabatini published in 1913...Plot Summary : The Strolling Saint is a swashbuckling novel, set in Italy in the 15th Century, written by Rafael Sabatini and published in 1913 and revised in 1925. It revolves around Agostino d'Anguissola who's mother has brought him up to be a strict Catholic and who's father is a enemy of Papal authorities. It follows the young man's journey from naivity to finding himself as Lord of Modlfino. According to...
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The Strolling Saint is a novel by Rafael Sabatini published in 1913...Plot Summary : The Strolling Saint is a swashbuckling novel, set in Italy in the 15th Century, written by Rafael Sabatini and published in 1913 and revised in 1925. It revolves around Agostino d'Anguissola who's mother has brought him up to be a strict Catholic and who's father is a enemy of Papal authorities. It follows the young man's journey from naivity to finding himself as Lord of Modlfino. According to Wikipedia, "Rafael Sabatini (April 29, 1875 - February 13, 1950) was an Italian/British writer of novels of and adventure. Rafael Sabatini was born in Jesi Italy, to an English mother and Italian father. His parents were singers who became teachers....he was the master of five languages. He quickly added a sixth language - English - to his linguistic collection. He consciously chose to write in his adopted language, because, he said, "all the best stories are written in English." After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. It took Sabatini roughly a quarter of a century of hard work before he attained success with Scaramouche in 1921. The novel, a historical romantic set during the French Revolution, became an international best-seller. It was followed by the equally successful Captain Blood in 1922. All of his earlier books were rushed into reprints, the most popular...Author's Biography : Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) was an Italian/English writer of novels of romance and adventure. Rafael Sabatini was born in Iesi, Italy, to an English mother (Anna Trafford) and Italian father. His parents were opera singers who became teachers.At a young age, Rafael was exposed to many languages, living with his grandfather in England, attending school in Portugal, and, as a teenager, in Switzerland. By the time he was 17, when he returned to England to live permanently, he had become proficient in five languages. He quickly added a sixth language - English Extrait : Perhaps... perhaps some affair connected with Astorre..." she faltered.I sneered. "That would be natural seeing that he has sent Astorre to Parma.""If there was aught else, I am no party to it," she assured me.How could I do other than believe her? How could I gauge the turpitude of that beauty's mind--I, all unversed in the wiles that Satan teaches women? How could I have guessed that when she saw Fifanti speak to that lad at the gate that afternoon she had feared that he had set a spy upon the house, and that fearing this she had bidden the Cardinal begone? I knew it later. But not then."Will you swear that it is as you say?" I asked her, white with passion.As I have said, I was standing over her and very close. Her answer now was suddenly to rise. Like a snake came she gliding upwards into my arms until she lay against my breast, her face upturned, her eyes languidly veiled, her lips a-pout."Can you do me so great a wrong, thinking you love me, knowing that I love you?" she asked me.For an instant we swayed together in that sweetly hideous embrace. I was as a man sapped of all strength by some portentous struggle. I trembled from head to foot. I cried out once--a despairing prayer for help, I think it was--and then I seemed to plunge headlong down through an immensity of space until my lips found hers. The ecstasy, the living fire, the anguish, and the torture of it have left their indelible scars upon my memory. Even as I write the cruelly sweet poignancy of that moment is with me again--though very hateful now.Thus I, blindly and recklessly, under the sway and thrall of that terrific and overpowering temptation. And then there leapt in my mind a glimmer of returning consciousness: a glimmer...