The Marble Faun

Kenyon and Donatello leave the estate and wander on horseback through the countryside and villages of the surrounding region. They delight in the picturesque sights of the country people and their various occupations, finding in them a “remote, dreamlike, Arcadian charm” (214).

Donatello stops at the various roadside shrines to pray. Kenyon points out that a woman was kneeling at one of the shrines with her face hidden in her hands.

Donatello and Kenyon visit a Gothic church and admire the frescoes and stained-glass windows as a “true symbol of the glories of the better world” (223). Donatello dwells on thoughts of sin, remorse, and punishment.

The two friends arrive in Perugia in the morning. They walk the streets of the city and witness a country fair in the piazza. They come to the statue of Pope Julius and Kenyon tells Donatello that “the pope’s blessing, methinks, has fallen upon you” (230). Donatello is already exhibiting a “healthier spirit,” and he looks at the statue with “a serene and hopeful expression” (23). The clock strikes noon, the time Miriam is supposed to meet them.