yond that, having been disturbed, no doubt, in her scuffle with
Rinolfo. Her little mouth was deeply red and it held strong young teeth
that were as white as milk.

I have since wondered whether she was as beautiful as I deemed her in
that moment. For it must be remembered that mine was the case of the son
of Filippo Balducci--related by Messer Boccaccio in the merry tales
of his Decamerone 1--who had come to years of adolescence without ever
having beheld womanhood, so that the first sight of it in the streets
of Florence affected him so oddly that he vexed his sire with foolish
questions and still more foolish prayers.

1 In the Introduction to the Fourth Day.

So was it now with me. In all my eighteen years I had by my mother's
careful contriving never set eyes upon a woman of an age inferior to her
own. And--consider me foolish if you will but so it is--I do not think
that it had occurred to me that they existed, or else, if they did, that
in youth they differed materially from what in age I found them. Thus I
had come to look upon women as just feeble, timid creatures, over-prone
to gossip, tears, and lamentations, and good for very little that I
could perceive.

I had been unable to understand for what reason it was that San Luigi of
Gonzaga had from years of discretion never allowed his eyes to rest upon
a woman; nor could I see wherein lay the special merit attributed to
this. And certain passages in the Confessions of St. Augustine and
in the early life of St. Francis of Assisi bewildered me and left me
puzzled.

But now, quite suddenly, it was as if revelation had come to me. It was
as if the Book of Life had at last been opened for me, and at a glance
I had read one of its dazzling pages. So that whether this brown peasant
girl was beautiful or not, beautiful she seemed to me with the radiant
beauty that is attributed to the angels of Paradise. Nor did I doubt
that she would be as holy, for to see in beauty a mark of divine favour
is not peculiar only to the ancient Greeks.

And because of the appeal of this beauty--real or supposed--I was very
ready with my protection, since I felt that protection must carry
with it certain rights of ownership which must be very sweet and were
certainly desired.

Holding her, therefore, within the shelter of my arms, where in her
heedless innocence she had flung herself, and by very instinct stroking
with one hand her little brown head to soothe her fears, I b