"That may be very likely," said the aged squire of the lady Ruperta, (for she and Croriano were now added to the party,) "not because she is going to be married, but because the journey is long. I hold it that no woman alive but is longing for the other half she wants,—a husband."
"I cannot tell about these philosophies," replied the traveller, "all I know is, that she looks very melancholy, and she probably knows why; and now I must say adieu, for my masters are much in advance," and so spurring on, he was shortly out of sight.
The French ladies had determined to give up going to Paris, and to travel straight to Rome with the pilgrims, who had decided to leave France by Dauphiny, and crossing Piedmont and the States of Milan, visit Florence, and proceed on to Rome.
For many days they travelled without meeting any adventure worth relating. They entered Milan, admired the grandeur of the town, its wealth, its gilding, its warlike forges, as if Vulcan himself had set up there. The infinite abundance of its fruits, the size of its churches, and lastly, the sharp wits of its inhabitants. They had heard from their host that the thing best worth seeing was the Academy of the Entronados,[S] which boasted of some of the most eminent academicians, whose subtle reasonings and arguments had gained renown for them throughout the whole world. They heard that this was a day when an argument would be held, and that it was to be, Whether love could exist without jealousy?
"It can," said Periander. "To decide this it is not necessary to lose much time."
"I," said Auristella, "do not know what is meant by love, although I know what it is to love well."
To which Bellarmina answered, "I cannot understand this mode of talking, nor the difference between love and loving well."
"It is," said Auristella, "that loving well may be without any very great or violent emotion, as one can love a faithful servant, or a statue, or a picture, which pleases one very much, and this does not cause jealousy, nor can give it; but the passion which is generally called love, and which is a violent emotion of the soul, even when it does not produce jealousy can cause such fears as go nigh to destroy life itself, and from this it seems to me that love cannot be free."