Tito Melema arrives in the Florence of the Medicis penniless and unknown, but the sale of some rare jewels in his possession soon brings him into the circle of the wealthy, learned men of the city, among them Bardo, a blind antiquarian. Bardo is a great scholar who continues his annotations of Greek and Roman books through the eyes of his beautiful daughter, Romola. Bardo’s only interests in life are his library and his museum, and he has reared his daughter in innocence of the outside world. Bardo accepts Tito eagerly, for he is always glad to meet a scholar who has traveled widely. He tells Tito of a son whom he had lost.
Tito’s fortune has at last come to him with the sale of all his jewels except a single ring. He recalls that the money properly belongs to Baldassare Calvo, the man who has been almost a father to him and who might now be a slave in the hands of the Turks. If Baldassare is alive, Tito tells himself, he will spend the money for the old man’s ransom, but he is not sure his foster father still lives.
Tito quickly entrenches himself in the learned society of Florence. While sitting at a window with a friend during the yearly festival of San Giovanni, patron saint of Florence, Tito fancies that a monk in the crowd below is looking at him with malice. Also glancing up at Tito from below is the beautiful Tessa, daughter of a milk vendor, whom Tito had met on the day of his arrival in Florence.
Later, as he walks through the crowded streets, Tito rescues Tessa from some jostling revelers. When he leaves her, he meets the strange monk he had seen gazing at him from the crowd earlier in the afternoon. The monk, Fra Luca, gives him a note that has been brought from a pilgrim in the Near East; Tito wonders why he finds the monk’s face so familiar. The note is from Baldassare, who pleads with Tito to rescue him from slavery. Unwilling to give up his happy life in Florence, Tito ignores his foster father’s plea.
Attracted to the lovely, grave Romola, Tito spends many hours reading and writing manuscripts with her blind father. One day, when Tito has the opportunity to be alone with Romola for a moment, he declares his love to her, and Romola shyly confesses her love for him. That same day, Monna Brigida pays a call on her cousin Bardo. When she accidentally mentions the name of a Dominican monk, Dino, Tito discovers that the lost son of Bardo is not dead; rather, he has been banished from his father’s house. Tito realizes that Fra Luca is Dino, and he fears exposure of his benefactor’s slavery. He feels the time is right for him to ask the old man for permission to marry Romola; he does so, and Bardo readily consents to the marriage.
Tito learns that Fra Luca is dangerously ill at Fiesole. One evening, Romola tells him that her dying brother has sent for her. Tito fears that Fra Luca will tell her about Baldassare’s plea for help—a story that Tito hopes will die with him. In despair, he wanders through the city and accidentally meets Tessa. The two take part in a ribald mock marriage ceremony that amuses a gaping crowd, and Tito allows Tessa to believe that he has really married her. Unwilling to undeceive her, he makes her promise to keep the marriage a secret. Meanwhile, Dino dies without revealing to Romola the story of Baldassare and the ungrateful Tito. Tito and Romola are married.
(The entire section is 1382 words.)