You see, ladies, how the worthy dame, whilst thinking to do a fine deed of justice, made known to strange princes a matter of which the servants of the house had never heard.
I think I know, said Parlamente, in whose house it was, and who the prothonotary is; for he has governed many a ladys house, and when he cannot win the mistresss favour he never fails to have that of one of the maids. In other matters, however, he is an honourable and worthy man.
Why do you say in other matters? said Hircan. Tis for that very behaviour that I deem him so worthy a man.
I can see, said Parlamente, that you know the sickness and the sufferer, and that, if he needed excuse, you would not fail him as advocate. Yet I would not trust myself to a man who could not contrive his affairs without having them known to the serving-women.
And do you imagine, said Nomerfide, that men care whether such a matter be known if only they can compass their end? You may be sure that, even if none spoke of it but themselves, it would still of necessity be known.
They have no need, said Hircan angrily, to say all that they know.
Perhaps, she replied, blushing, they would not say it to their own advantage.
Judging from your words, said Simontault, it would seem that men delight in hearing evil spoken about women, and I am sure that you reckon me among men of that kind. I therefore greatly wish to speak well of one of your sex, in order that I may not be held a slanderer by all the rest.
I give you my place, said Ennasuite, praying you withal to control your natural disposition, so that you may acquit yourself worthily in our honour.
Tis no new thing, ladies, to hear of some virtuous act on your part which, methinks, should not be hidden but rather written in letters of gold, that it may serve women as an example, and give men cause for admiration at seeing in the weaker sex that from which weakness is prone to shrink. I am prompted, therefore, to relate something that I heard from Captain Robertval and divers of his company.
[Illustration: 155a. The Wife Reading to her Husband on the Desert Island]
[The Wife Reading to her Husband on the Desert Island]
_A poor woman risked her own life to save that of her husband, whom she forsook not until death_.