ui did not feel called upon to interfere
with the courtship of the fool-poet. He decided that as soon as possible
he would go away from that house. He had a dislike for houses with three
floors, and his next habitation should be carefully selected; if so much
as a preserved bug or a butterfly in a box should be found on the
premises, that symbol of evil should be burned and its ashes scattered
afar.

"Jaqui had every reason to hope. Florino literally threw himself at the
feet of the fair Donna Paltravi; and she was delighted with him. He was
somewhat younger than she was, but that had been the case with her first
lover, and she had not objected. The two young people got on famously
together, although there was now a duenna as well as a maid on the
second floor. Jaqui was greatly comforted. He spent a good deal of his
spare time going about Florence looking for a desirable house with two
floors. The courtship went on merrily, and there was talk of the
wedding; and, while Jaqui could not help pitying the poor old man in
Milan, he could not altogether blame the gay young woman in Florence,
who was now generally looked upon as a lady who had lost her husband.

"It was nearly three weeks after the lady had come out of her box when a
strange thing happened: four days elapsed without Florino coming to the
house! Jaqui was greatly disturbed and nervous. Suppose the young man
had found some other lady to love, or suppose his parents had shut him
up! Such suspicions were very disquieting, and Jaqui went to see
Florino. He found the fool-poet in a fit of the doleful dumps. At first
the young man refused to talk: but, when Jaqui pressed him, he admitted
that he had not quarrelled with the lady; that she did not know why he
was staying away; that he had received several notes from her, and that
he had not answered them. Then Jaqui grew very angry and half drew his
sword. This was a matter in which he was concerned. The lady's husband
had placed her in his charge, and he would not stand tamely by and see
her deserted by her lover, who had given everybody reason to believe
that he intended to make her his own.

"But Jaqui put back his sword, for the fool-poet showed no signs of
fight, and then he used argument. Just as earnestly as he had formerly
tried to keep these two apart did he now endeavor to bring them
together. But Florino would listen to no reason, and at last, when
driven to bay, he declared he would not marry an old woma