“I saw a shepherd on a hill fifty paces from me, accompanying a flock of ten to twelve sheep, and turned to him to find out the information that interested me. I asked him the name of this village and he replied that I was in Val de Piadene, which surprised me because of the length of the journey I had made. I asked the names of the owners of five or six houses that were visible nearby, and discovered that all those whom he named were familiar to me, but I could not go to them, so as not to bring trouble on them with my appearance. I saw the palace of the Grimani family, whose elder, who was then the State Inquisitor, was supposed to be there now, and I should not have shown myself to him. I asked the shepherd who owned the red house, which was visible at some distance, and my surprise was great when I learned that it was the house of a man called the Captain of the Province, who was the chief of the musters. I said goodbye to the peasant and mechanically went down the hill. It’s incomprehensible, but I headed towards this terrible house, from which, naturally and by all logic, I should have run away..."