le hands, I wonder, did I press that
night, with the tenderest protestations? How many kisses, I wonder, did
I venture to steal, or, rather, pretend to steal? for I swear the dainty
rogues met me half way in the matter of the robbery. Well, well, it was
all very merry and pleasant, and we feasted very gayly, and we danced
very nimbly, and we wandered in the green glooms of the garden, and then
we feasted anew, and after that we set to work to dancing in good
earnest. Save for a few, we all danced and danced and danced again, as
if we could dance the world back into its young-time.

XIV

MESSER SIMONE SPOILS SPORT

The dance was at the very top of its progress; all the youths and
maidens were bright and smiling; the musicians scraped and plucked like
mad, and the strings quivered with happy melody. All about against the
wall the elders ranged at gaze, recalling wistfully or cheerfully,
according to their temperaments, the days when they, too, tripped
lightly to music and made love in a measure, and some old toes ached for
a caper. While the mirth was at its blithest there suddenly came an
interruption to the gayety, and in a twink, one knew not how, the dance
that had been so jovial and harmonious seemed suddenly resolved into its
individual elements, so many youths and men, and so many maids and
matrons staring at the thing that had thus suddenly marred their
pleasure. I, that had been placed by chance at a post in the dance the
most removed from the main door of the apartment, was not at first aware
of what had caused the commotion among the dancers; I was only aware of
the commotion and the pause in the dancing and the knowledge that the
faces of those near to me showed surprise or fear or wonder, according
to their instinct. Meanwhile the musicians in their gallery, knowing
nothing of any reason why they should stop, were still twitching their
strings busily, though no one marked them and no one danced to their
music. But I, being resolved to argue, as it were, from the effect to
the cause, pushed my way through the men and women that were huddled
together in my neighborhood, and then I came to an open space of the
floor, and face to face, at a distance, with the cause of the
disturbance.

This cause was Messer Simone dei Bardi, who was standing in the centre
of the room with Messer Folco Portinari and other grave elders about
him, and he was talking in a loud voice, as it were, to them in
particular, bu