he came as the spring was retouching the hills with green
in 1333, and there he remained until late in the year 1341, when he was
forced to return to his home in the north. His stay in Naples had done
much for him, though perhaps less for him personally than for his
literary muse, as he plunged headlong into the mad whirlpool of social
pleasures and enjoyed to the utmost the life of this gay court, which
was enlivened and adorned by the wit of men and the beauty of women. Not
until the Easter eve before his departure, however, did he chance to see
the lady who was to influence to such a great degree his later career.
It was in the church of San Lorenzo that Boccaccio saw Maria of Sicily,
and it was a case of love at first sight, the _coup de foudre_ that
Mlle. de Scudery has talked about; and if the man's word may be worthy
of belief under such circumstances, the lady returned his passion with
an equal ardor. It was not until after much delay, however, that she was
willing to yield to the amorous demands of the poet, and then she did so
in spite of her honor and her duty as the wife of another. But this
delay but opened the way for an endless succession of gallant words and
acts, wherein the art of coquetry was called upon to play no unimportant
part. Between these two people there was no sincere friendship such as
existed later between Boccaccio and Joanna, and they were but playing
with the dangerous fire of passion, which they ever fanned to a greater
heat.

Philippa the Catanese, as she is called in history, stands for the
spirit of intrigue in this history; and well she may, as she has a most
wonderful and tragic history. The daughter of a humble fisherman of
Catania in Sicily, she had been employed by Queen Violante, the first
wife of Robert, in the care of her infant son, the Duke of Calabria. Of
wonderful intelligence for one in her station, gifted beyond her years,
and beautiful and ambitious, she won the favor of the queen to such a
degree that she soon became her chief attendant. Her foster-child, the
Duke of Calabria, who tenderly loved her, married her to the seneschal
of his palace and appointed her first lady in waiting to his wife; and
thus it happened that she was present at the birth of Joanna, and was
the first to receive her in her arms. Naturally enough, then, King
Robert made her the governess and custodian of the small duchess after
her father's death. This appointment of a woman of low origin to