ola. He raised the flower and put it to his lips, acknowledging the
courtesy with a grave bow. But the perfume of the clove and the beauty
of Elena in that moment took possession of his heart together, and
straightway he forgot Dulcinea.

As yet he knew not who Elena was. Nor is this wonderful; for the
daughters of Venetian nobles were but rarely seen or spoken of. But the
thought of her haunted him awake and sleeping; and every feast-day, when
there was the chance of seeing her, he rowed his gondola beneath her
windows. And there she appeared to him in company with her four friends;
the five girls clustering together like sister roses beneath the pointed
windows of the Gothic balcony. Elena, on her side, had no thought of
love; for of love she had heard no one speak. But she took pleasure in
the game those friends had taught her, of leaning from the balcony to
watch Gerardo. He meanwhile grew love-sick and impatient, wondering how
he might declare his passion. Until one day it happened that, walking
through a lane or _calle_ which skirted Messer Pietro's palace, he
caught sight of Elena's nurse, who was knocking at the door, returning
from some shopping she had made. This nurse had been his own nurse in
childhood; therefore he remembered her, and cried aloud, "Nurse, Nurse!"
But the old woman did not hear him, and passed into the house and shut
the door behind her. Whereupon Gerardo, greatly moved, still called to
her, and when he reached the door, began to knock upon it violently. And
whether it was the agitation of finding himself at last so near the wish
of his heart, or whether the pains of waiting for his love had weakened
him, I know not; but, while he knocked, his senses left him, and he
fell fainting in the doorway. Then the nurse recognised the youth to
whom she had given suck, and brought him into the courtyard by the help
of handmaidens, and Elena came down and gazed upon him. The house was
now full of bustle, and Messer Pietro heard the noise, and seeing the
son of his neighbour in so piteous a plight, he caused Gerardo to be
laid upon a bed. But for all they could do with him, he recovered not
from his swoon. And after a while force was that they should place him
in a gondola and ferry him across to his father's house. The nurse went
with him, and informed Messer Paolo of what had happened. Doctors were
sent for, and the whole family gathered round Gerardo's bed. After a
while he revived a little; and think