t is in the ground, the more it grows. _Terra non avvilisce
oro_--earth does not spoil gold, but even virtue, like friendship, may
grow into a great vice when it grows too much.

"As it happened in this case. Well, the four friends were invited to a
great _festa_ in that fatal palace of the Cavolaia, and they all went.
And they danced and diverted themselves with great and beautiful ladies
in splendour and luxury. As the four were all singularly handsome and
greatly admired, the ladies came _con grandi tueletti_--in their best
array, _sfarzose per essere corteggiate_--making themselves magnificent
to be courted by these gentlemen, and so they looked at one another with
jealous eyes, and indeed many a girl there would have gladly been wife to
them all, or wished that the four were one, while the married dames
wished that they could _fare i sposamenti_--be loved by one or all.
People were wicked in those days!

"But what was their surprise--and a fearful surprise it was--when, after
all their gaiety, they heard at three o'clock in the morning the sound of
a bell which they had never heard before, and then divine music and
singing, and there entered a lady of such superhuman beauty as held them
enchanted and speechless. Now it was known that, by the strict rules of
that palace, the _festa_ must soon close, and there was only time for one
more dance, and it was sworn among these friends that every lady who
danced with one of them, must dance with all in succession. Truly they
now repented of their oath, for she was so beautiful.

"But the lady advancing, pointed out one of the four, and said, 'I will
dance with him alone.'

"The young signore would have refused, but he felt himself obliged,
despite himself, to obey her, and when they had danced, she suddenly
disappeared, leaving all amazed.

"And when they had recovered from the spell which had been upon them,
they said that as she had come in with the dawn and vanished with the
day, it must have been the Beautiful Alba, the enchanting queen of the
fairies.

"The _festa_ lasted for three days, and every night at the same hour the
beautiful Alba reappeared, enchanting all so wonderfully, that even the
ladies forgot their jealousy, and were as much fascinated by her as were
the men.

"Now of the four friends, three sternly reproached the other for breaking
his oath, they being themselves madly in love; but he replied, and truly,
that he had been compelled by some