Ardabale,  and  presented  himself  to  him  as  a  scholar.  The  professor
regarded  the  boy  of  thirty-three  with  some  astonishment,  but
took  him  as  a  pupil  gratis,  and  Ignatius  now  sat  continually
during  two  long  years  in  the  Latin  school,  and  one  can  easily
imagine  the  diflScult  position  in  which  he  now  found  himself;
while  declining  and  conjugating,  how  strangely  he  must  have  felt
in  saying  amo,  amas,  amat ;  and  how  much  he  was  teazed  by  his
class-fellows,  twenty-five  years  his  juniors  ;  and  how  hard  it  was
for  him  to  contend  against  his  extreme  poverty  and  provide  for
his  daily  necessities.  He  often  at  this  time  entertained  the  idea
of  running  away,  and  this  would  certainly  have  occurred  had  it
not  been  for  two  female  friends  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made,
a  young  lady  of  the  name  of  Isabella  Roselli,  and  a  dame,  Agnes
Pasquali,  who  encouraged  him  to  persevere  in  his  efforts,  and  not
only  so,  but  also  assisted  him  with  money  and  good  advice.
Consequently,  he  did  persevere,  and  in  order  that  he  should  not
again  fall  behind  the  other  school-boys,  he  begged  the  teacher
to  be  sure  to  give  him  the  rod  as  much  as  in  their  case.  In
short,  he  studied  Latin  with  most  astonishing  zeal,  but,  at  the
same  time,  did  not  forget  to  exercise  himself  in  the  great  aim  of
his  existence,  i.e.  in  converting  wherever  conversion  was  required;
and  now  and  then  he  obtained  good  results,  as  he  possessed
extremely  fascinating  powers  of  persuasion,  and  felt  no  restraint
in  asserting  his  views  in  public  places,  or  even  in  beer-houses.
