'Now,' quod she, 'what wenest thou of these thinges? How felest thou in thyn hert, by what governaunce that this cometh aboute?'
'Certes,' quod I, 'that wot I never; but-if it be that Fortune 50 hath graunt from above, to lede the ende of man as her lyketh.'
'Ah! now I see,' quod she, 'th'entent of thy mening! Lo, bycause thy worldly goodes ben fulliche dispent, thou beraft out of dignitè of office, in whiche thou madest the +gaderinge of thilke goodes, and yet diddest in that office by counsaile of wyse [before 55 that] any thing were ended; and true were unto hem whos profit thou shuldest loke; and seest now many that in thilke hervest made of thee mokel, and now, for glosing of other, deyneth thee nought to forther, but enhaunsen false shrewes by witnessinge of trouthe! These thinges greveth thyn herte, to sene thy-selfe thus 60 abated; and than, frayltè of mankynde ne setteth but litel by the lesers of suche richesse, have he never so moche vertue; and so thou wenest of thy jewel to renne in dispyt, and not ben accepted in-to grace. Al this shal thee nothing hinder. Now (quod she) first thou wost wel, thou lostest nothing that ever mightest thou 65 chalenge for thyn owne. Whan nature brought thee forth, come thou not naked out of thy +moders wombe? Thou haddest no richesse; and whan thou shalt entre in-to the ende of every flesshly body, what shalt thou have with thee than? So, every richesse thou hast in tyme of thy livinge, nis but lent; thou 70 might therin chalenge no propertee. And see now; every thing that is a mannes own, he may do therwith what him lyketh, to yeve or to kepe; bul richesse thou playnest from thee lost; if thy might had strecched so ferforth, fayn thou woldest have hem kept, multiplyed with mo other; and so, ayenst thy wil, ben they departed 75 from thee; wherfore they were never thyn. And if thou laudest and joyest any wight, for he is stuffed with suche maner richesse, thou art in that beleve begyled; for thou wenest thilke joye to be selinesse or els ese; and he that hath lost suche happes to ben unsely.' 80
'Wel,' quod she, 'than wol I prove that unsely in that wise is to preise; and so the tother is, the contrary, to be lacked.'
'For Unsely,' quod she, 'begyleth nat, but sheweth th'entent 85 of her working. _Et e contra_: Selinesse begyleth. For in prosperitè she maketh a jape in blyndnesse; that is, she wyndeth him to make sorowe whan she withdraweth. Wolt thou nat (quod she) preise him better that sheweth to thee his herte, tho[ugh] it be with bytande wordes and dispitous, than him that gloseth and 90 thinketh in +his absence to do thee many harmes?'