He guessed that she knew who he was—he was sure he did not know her name.
He lingered an instant at the church-door, crossed himself foolishly with holy water, then passed out into the early morning bustle of the streets.
The cool air fanned his face, and the gentle breeze caressed his hair. He put his hand to his brow.
He had left his hat—left it in the church. He turned to go back after it, but it came over him that another glance from those eyes would melt him though he were bronze. He would melt as if he had met God face to face, a thing even Moses dare not do and hope to live.
He stood in the church-door as if he were dazed. The verger came forward. "My hat, good Stephano, I left it just back of the fair lady." He handed the man a piece of silver and the verger disappeared. Petrarch was sure he could not find the lady—she was only a vision, a vision seen by him alone. He would see.
The verger came back with the hat.
"And the lady—you—you know her name?"
"Oh, she, the lovely lady with the golden hair? That is Laura, the wife of Hugh de Sade."
"Of course, of course!" said Petrarch, and reaching into a leather pocket that was suspended from his belt under his cloak he took out a handful of silver and gave it to the astonished verger, and passed out and down the street, walking nowhere, needlessly fast.
The verger followed Petrarch to the door and watching the tall retreating form muttered to himself, "He does not look like a man who cuts into the grape to excess—and so early in the morning, too!"