mounting from the seat to the top of the bench it is possible to scale
the wall. To the left a crimson pennant on a pole shows against the sky.
The period is 1533, and a few miles southward the Florentines, after three
years of formally recognizing Jesus Christ as the sole lord and king of
Florence, have lately altered matters as profoundly as was possible by
electing Alessandro de Medici to be their Duke._

_GRACIOSA is seated upon the bench, with a lute. The girl is, to our
modern taste, very quaintly dressed in gold-colored satin, with a short
tight bodice, cut square and low at the neck, and with long full skirts.
When she stands erect, her preposterous "flowing" sleeves, lined with
sky blue, reach to the ground. Her blonde hair, of which she has a great
deal, is braided, in the intricate early sixteenth fashion, under a
jeweled cap and a veil the exact color of this hair._

_There is a call. Smiling, GRACIOSA answers this call by striking her
lute. She pats straight her hair and gown, and puts aside the instrument.
GUIDO appears at the top of the wall. All you can see of the handsome
young fellow, in this posture, is that he wears a green skull-cap and a
dark blue smock, the slashed sleeves of which are lined with green._

GUIDO
Ah, madonna....

GRACIOSA
Welcome, Ser Guido. Your journey has been brief.

GUIDO
It has not seemed brief to me.