to the open space in front of the church, the
open space that now lay so vacant under the noontide sun. There Messer
Dante flung himself from his horse and made to run at full speed toward
the church door, and we, too, dismounting hurriedly, made after him, for
we feared greatly what he might do or say in his anger, even within the
precincts of the sacred place. Messer Guido, though I fear he had no
great regard for the sanctity of such shrines and temples, made haste to
restrain him, for he knew very well how it would hurt his friend in the
eyes of devout Florentines if he were to cause any scandal in a church.

But before Dante could reach the blessed house its great doors yawned
open, and many of those that were inside came tumbling out and down the
steps to form a hedge on either side, and through the human lane thus
made the wedding party came out into the fierce sunlight. They stood for
a moment on the threshold, very plain for all to see. Messer Simone
showed very large and gorgeous, shining in some golden stuff like the
gilded image of a giant, his great face flushed with triumph. Hard by
him stood Messer Folco, looking very anxious and haughty and stern,
grimly conscious, I suppose, that he had played the Roman father very
properly, and yet, as I take it, not without some tragic aches and
pinches at his heart for the consequences of his deed. Between him and
Simone stood his doomed daughter, Beatrice, resting a little on the arm
of her physician, Messer Tommaso Severo, and pale with such a paleness
as I never yet saw upon the face of a woman, living or dead. It was, as
who should say, a kind of frozen paleness, the pallor of a marble
statue, the outward sign of a sorrow so great that time could never
soften its sting. Behind these three stood the friends and kinsfolk of
Simone and the friends and kinsfolk of Messer Folco, and made a brave
background for the tragedy. So, for a moment, the three stood looking
straight into the square before them, and then it was plain that they
suddenly became conscious of untoward events, and Messer Simone forgot
his triumph, and Messer Folco his pride, and Madonna Beatrice her
misery, when they saw Dante standing all armored in front of them, and
behind him the triumphant faces of the Company of Death. Then Madonna
Beatrice gave a great cry and ran quickly forward to Dante, and Dante
caught her in his arms.

"They told me you were dead," she sobbed, and then lay very quiet in