"And its light in her eyes," added Camilla.
"The lady is fair," acknowledged Messer Romano, "but too unapproachable for me!"
Startled, Francesco saw, or fancied he saw, a complacent smile flit across the countenance of Stefano Maconi.
"What thinks Messer Francesco of her beauty?" asked
Violetta. "I believe that each new age sees men and women fairer than the last."
"I think, that cannot be," said the Countess Petronella, naively. "Was never woman so fair as Madama Elena of Troy, and she lived before the coming of our Saviour."
"I agree with Madonna Violetta," said Francesco dreamily. "Gazing at Madonna Ilaria I think there is come into the world something strange and new, revealed to us to our joy and our undoing!"
The sun had set. The boatmen were singing together.
"Non senti mai Achillé,
Per Pulisena bella,
Le cocenti favillé
Quant' io senti per quella.