by demonstrating to him that she could
speak his language better than he could speak Italian, David. There is
no end to the arroganzia of these French."

David was still looking at Sophia. The midday light streaming through
the white panes of glass threw sharp shadows under his cheekbones,
giving him the gaunt look of a desert saint.

_God's breath, how I would like to paint his picture. At least I could
have that much of him._

"Do you think I wanted you to meet him so that you could teach him
better manners?" David demanded.

"Of course not," she said, "but you do not understand men."

David's laugh was as harsh as the planes of his face.

"Oh, yes," Sophia went on impatiently, "you have always lived with men,
and you lead men and fight against men. But you do not understand how
Christian men, especially Frenchmen and Italians, feel about women. You
know nothing, for example, of l'amour courtois."

"Yes," said Ugolini. "The head of every young French nobleman is full of
two things, honor and l'amour courtois."

David looked from Ugolini to Sophia and back again. "What is this
l'amour courtois?" he demanded. "I should know about it. Why have you
not told me?"

Ugolini lifted his shoulders in a gesture that reminded Sophia of a
shopkeeper on the Mese.

"My dear fellow, we cannot guess where the gaps are in your knowledge of
the Christian world. That is why it is so dangerous for you to go about
in public."

David held out his hands in appeal.

"You have seen me testify before the pope himself. How can you still be
afraid?" He curled his fingers in toward himself, inviting Ugolini to go
on. "Tell me about courtly love."

_How graceful his gestures are._

"It was begun many years ago by a number of noble ladies of France, and
especially Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who led an absolutely scandalous
life," Ugolini said. "She married the King of France, accompanied him on
crusade. Costumed as an Amazon, rode bare-breasted in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem! Divorced the King of France, married the King of England. Had
lovers uncounted besides."

_If I had been born into the nobility, I might have been a woman like
that_, Sophia thought wistfully.

David shook his head as if buzzing flies circled it. "But what has this
to do with Simon de Gobignon?"

"As His Excellency said, this Simon comes out of a world shaped by
courtly love," Sophia answered. "There are many strict rules about how
men and ladies should behave