noon
He turned to make some impulsive answer ; but as he did so he caught sight of the towers of Pianura rising above the orchards and market-gardens of the suburbs . The sight started a new train of feeling , and Gamba , perceiving it , said quietly : `` But this is no time to speak of such things . '' A moment later the carriage had passed under the great battlemented gates , with their Etruscan bas-reliefs , and the motto of the house of Valsecca -- Humilitas -- surmounted by the ducal escutcheon . Though the hour was close on noon the streets were as animated as at the angelus , and the carriage could hardly proceed for the crowd obstructing its passage . So unusual at that period was such a sight in one of the lesser Italian cities that Odo turned to Gamba for an explanation . At the same moment a roar rose from the crowd ; and the coach turning into the Corso which led to the ducal palace and the centre of the town , Odo caught sight of a strange procession advancing from that direction . It was headed by a clerk or usher with a black cap and staff , behind whom marched two bare-foot friars escorting between them a middle-aged man in the dress of an abate , his hands bound behind him and his head surmounted by a paste-board mitre inscribed with the title : A Destroyer of Female Chastity .