The Alchemist's Apprentice Read Online Free PDF Page B

tolling yesterday and was informed that a procurator had entered into grace.” Danielle the apothecary had told me.
    There are nine procurators of San Marco. They are state trustees, managing endowments, caring for widows and orphans, supervising trusts. The office is unpaid, but brings such honor and precedence that the procurators are recognized as the “grand old men” of the Republic, the only officials other than the doge who are elected for life and are permanent members of the Senate. When a doge dies, the electoral college will almost always choose one of the nine to succeed him. I had no idea why the death of one of them should imperil me.
    â€œBertucci Orseolo.”
    â€œI do recall the name, sire.” He was not one of the Maestro’s patients, but he had been a client. I could recall transcribing his horoscope a couple of years ago. I could also recall the trouble I had had extracting payment for it.
    Silence, except for the faint snip of scissors. Was it still my turn?
    â€œI have never heard a bad word said about him.” Apart from some I had uttered myself, that was.
    â€œI have!” The doge chuckled. “Many. But he was a great fighter in his youth. And a fine servant of the state, a credit to one of the oldest families in the Republic. Older than yours, even.”
    I was never sure whether Pietro Moro was shocked or amused that his doctor’s assistant was listed in the Golden Book.
    â€œI am proud of my descent from the forty-fifth doge, Your Serenity, but my branch blew off the family tree a long time ago.” I stand fourteen generations from Doge Renier Zeno. Although I do have rich relations, they were never close and they all became much more distant after the Turks stole Cyprus away from the Republic and ruined my grandparents.
    The doge said, “Hmm!” which needed no reply.
    Wealth is not the same as nobility. Most European aristocrats are descended from warrior barons, but the ancestors of our Venetian nobility were all merchant princes—sailors and traders, not fighters. Three hundred years ago the ruling families closed the Golden Book to newcomers, and since then many distinguished families have fallen into poverty, just as some outsider families have grown immensely rich. And yet, as long as a man is of legitimate birth and does not descend to manual labor, he can retain his designation of nobile homo and write NH before his name. The poor nobility are known as barnabotti , after the parish of San Barnabà, where most of them live, and they are numerous. In theory, when I reach the age of twenty-five, I will be eligible to take my seat in the Great Council and begin a career in politics, but a man without fortune or family cannot hope to be elected to office without endless kowtowing to his betters. The prospect held no appeal. One cranky master was better than twelve hundred of them.
    The doge said, “I am almost out of the unguent.” His back pains him, especially in damp weather.
    â€œI have a note on my calendar to mix more and deliver it to Your Serenity next week. Should I do so sooner?”
    â€œNo. You will have more important things to do. Your master has a copy of Apologeticus Archeteles, does he not?”
    â€œEr…” We were not alone. Either or both of the valets could be a spy for the Three or the Church. Pietro Moro shares the Maestro’s passion for old books, but no one except high church officials may read books by the notorious Protestant heretic Ulrich Zwingli. Was the old man trying to trap me? Or test me? If he was just playing games, juggling sabers would be safer. Yet only the wiliest politicians ever get to wear the corno . Gruff and overstuffed though he was, Doge Moro was as wily as they come, and he must have some reason for his dangerous question.
    Such problems are too complicated to analyze on an empty stomach.
    â€œI do not recall any book by that name, sire. I will look when I get