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“I do not understand you, Guido.” Graciosa was all wonder.

“It is perhaps as well,” the merchant said, a trifle sadly. Then Guido shrugged. “To be brief, madonna, business annoys the Duke. He finds in this Eglamore an industrious person who affixes seals, draughts proclamations, makes treaties, musters armies, devises pageants, and collects revenues, upon the whole, quite as efficiently as Alessandro would be capable of doing these things. So Alessandro makes verses and amuses himself as his inclinations prompt, and Alessandro’s people are none the worse off on account of it.”

“Heigho, I foresee that I shall never fall in love with the Duke,” Graciosa declared. “It is unbefitting and it is a little cowardly for a prince to shirk the duties of his station. Now, if I were Duke I would grant my father a pension, and have Eglamore hanged, and purchase a new gown of silvery green, in which I would be ravishingly beautiful, and afterward– Why, what would you do if you were Duke, Messer Guido?”

“What would I do if I were Duke?” he echoed. “What would I do if I were a great lord instead of a tradesman? I think you know the answer, madonna.”

“Oh, you would make me your duchess, of course. That is quite understood,” said Graciosa, with the lightest of laughs. “But I was speaking seriously, Guido.”

Guido at that considered her intently for a half-minute. His countenance was of portentous gravity, but in his eyes she seemed to detect a lurking impishness.

“And it is not a serious matter that a peddler of crystals should have dared to love a nobleman’s daughter? You are perfectly right. That I worship you is an affair which does not concern any person save myself in any way whatsoever, although I think that knowledge of the fact would put your father to the trouble of sharpening his dagger. . . . Indeed, I am not certain that I worship you, for in order to adore wholeheartedly, the idolater must believe his idol to be perfect. Now, your nails are of an ugly shape, like that of little fans; your mouth is too large; and I have long ago perceived that you are a trifle lame in spite of your constant care to conceal the fact. I do not admire these faults, for faults they are undoubtedly. Then, too, I know you are vain and self-seeking, and look forward contentedly to the time when your father will transfer his ownership of such physical attractions as heaven gave you to that nobleman who offers the highest price for them. It is true you have no choice in the matter, but you will participate in a monstrous bargain, and I would prefer to have you exhibit distaste for it.” And with that he returned composedly to inspection of his pearls.

“And to what end, Guido?” It was the first time Graciosa had completely waived the reticence of a superior caste. You saw that the child’s parted lips were tremulous, and you divined her childish fits of dreading that glittering, inevitable court-life shared with an unimaginable husband.

But Guido only grumbled whimsically. “I am afraid that men do not always love according to the strict laws of logic. I desire your happiness above all things; yet to see you so abysmally untroubled by anything that troubles me is another matter.”

“But I am not untroubled, Guido—-” she began swiftly. Graciosa broke off in speech, shrugged, flashed a smile at him. “For I cannot fathom you, Ser Guido, and that troubles me. Yes, I am very fond of you, and yet I do not trust you. You tell me you love me greatly. It pleases me to have you say this. You perceive I am very candid this morning, Messer Guido. Yes, it pleases me, and I know that for the sake of seeing me you daily endanger your life, for if my father heard of our meetings he would have you killed. You would not incur such hare-brained risks unless you cared very greatly; and yet, somehow, I do not believe it is altogether for me you care.”