GRACIOSA
Why, it was only three days ago you told me it would be a fortnight
before you came this way again.

GUIDO
Yes, but I did not then know that each day spent apart from you, Madonna
Graciosa, would be a century in passing.

GRACIOSA
Dear me, but your search must have been desperate!

GUIDO
(_Who speaks, as almost always hereinafter, with sober enjoyment of the
fact that he is stating the exact truth unintelligibly._) Yes, my search
is desperate.

GRACIOSA
Did you find gems worthy of your search?

GUIDO
Very certainly, since at my journey's end I find Madonna Graciosa, the
chief jewel of Tuscany.

GRACIOSA
Such compliments, Guido, make your speech less like a merchant's than a
courtier's.

GUIDO
Ah, well, to balance that, you will presently find courtiers in Florence
who will barter for you like merchants. May I descend?