"I cannot tell about these philosophies," replied the traveller, "all I know is, that she looks very melancholy, and she probably knows why; and now I must say adieu, for my masters are much in advance," and so spurring on, he was shortly out of sight. The French ladies had determined to give up going to Paris, and to travel straight to Rome with the pilgrims, who had decided to leave France by Dauphiny, and crossing Piedmont and the States of Milan, visit Florence, and proceed on to Rome. For many days they travelled without meeting any adventure worth relating. They entered Milan, admired the grandeur of the town, its wealth, its gilding, its warlike forges, as if Vulcan himself had set up there. The infinite abundance of its fruits, the size of its churches, and lastly, the sharp wits of its inhabitants. They had heard from their host that the thing best worth seeing was the Academy of the Entronados,[S] which boasted of some of the most eminent academicians, whose subtle reasonings and arguments had gained renown for them throughout the whole world. They heard that this was a day when an argument would be held, and that it was to be, Whether love could exist without jealousy? "It can," said Periander. "To decide this it is not necessary to lose much time." "I," said Auristella, "do not know what is meant by love, although I know what it is to love well." To which Bellarmina answered, "I cannot understand this mode of talking, nor the difference between love and loving well." "It is," said Auristella, "that loving well may be without any very great or violent emotion, as one can love a faithful servant, or a statue, or a picture, which pleases one very much, and this does not cause jealousy, nor can give it; but the passion which is generally called love, and which is a violent emotion of the soul, even when it does not produce jealousy can cause such fears as go nigh to destroy life itself, and from this it seems to me that love cannot be free." "You say well, lady," observed Periander, "for when did there ever exist a lover, who, possessing the beloved one, does not tremble lest he should lose it? There is no happiness so secure that it may not be overturned;--no nail so strong as to stop the wheel of fortune;--and if it were not that we are anxious not to delay our journey, perhaps I might prove to-day in the academy, that love _can_ exist without jealousy, but not without fear." Thus ended the conversation. They stayed in Milan four days, during which they saw a great part of its grandeur, but not all, as that would have taken them four years. From thence they went to Lucca, a small town, but beautiful and free, which, under the wings of the empire and of Spain, looks loftily down upon the cities of the surrounding princes, who long to possess her. Here Spaniards are better received and regarded than in any other place; and here our travellers met with one of the strangest adventures that had yet befallen them.