Section 3 Summary

"Fianchetto"

The title of this section refers to a series of moves in chess that results in the empowering of the piece referred to as the bishop. Meanwhile, the quote heading this section is from a medieval pope, commenting on how the bishops under his control are taken advantage of because of their gullibility.

It is summer in 1791. Valentine and Mireille pose, barely clothed, for a painting being done by Valentine's godfather/guardian, Jacques-Louis David. Their carefully arranged pose is disturbed, however, when they react to the arrival of a very handsome man dressed in the purple robes of a bishop. As David tells the man how to put the draperies covering the girls' bodies back in place, narration describes how the man walks with a slight limp. The girls are shocked to learn the man is in fact the Bishop of Autun...