s that it should be my business to seek out
my Dante and bring him to her thinking. And then we passed from that
matter to talk of love-poems, and from love-poems to lovers, and from
lovers to the art of love. I would not for all the world seem
indiscreet, so I will say no more than that it was a very pleasant
afternoon which I passed in that fair lady's society, the memory of
which I treasure very preciously in the jewel-casket of my tenderest
recollections.

But when the time came for me to bid her farewell she renewed again and
very insistently her warning that Simone of the Bardi meant mischief to
Dante of the Alighieri, and her counsel that young Dante should be
persuaded, for his dear lady's sake, to fob off suspicion by feigning an
affection which indeed had no place in his bosom. To this, as before, I
agreed very heartily, and so took my leave of a very winsome and
delicious creature, and went my ways wishing with all my heart that it
might be my privilege to woo such a lady daily, either for my own safety
or the safety of another. Which shows that the fates are very
fantastical in their favors, for this exquisite occasion of felicity was
offered, not to me who would have appreciated it at its right value, but
to Messer Dante, who would not value it at the worth of a single
pomegranate seed.

But, however that may be, I did as the lady bade me, and I sought out
Messer Dante and found him, and gave him the sum of Madonna Vittoria's
discourse, urging him to do as she counselled. In doing this I spoke not
at all of the danger there might be to my friend from the rage of
Messer Simone, but solely of the need for every true and humble lover to
keep his love and service secret enough to avoid either care or offence
to his lady. To all of which wisdom Messer Dante agreed very readily,
being, indeed, over-willing to reproach himself for heedlessness in the
matter of his verses, though, indeed, he named no name in them and kept
himself as close and invisible as a cuckoo. And I promised and vowed to
tell no man nor no woman the secret of the authorship of the verses that
Florence was beginning to love so well.

I kept my word as to this promise, and the time was not yet before other
than Monna Vittoria and myself and Messer Simone knew the secret. Dante
kept his word to me and followed Madonna Vittoria's advice, and showed
himself attentive in her company time and again, and was seen on
occasion going to or coming from