The
latter came every evening to sup and lie with his wife, and
in the morning returned in the garb of a scholar to his
convent. But one day while he was chanting mass, his wife
perceived him and pointed him out to her mother; who,
however, could not believe that it was he until she had
pulled off his coif while he was in bed, and from his tonsure
learned the whole truth, and the deceit used by her father
confessor_.
A French lady, whilst sojourning at Padua, was informed that there was
a Grey Friar in the Bishop's prison there, and finding that every one
spoke jestingly about him, she inquired the reason. She was told that
this Grey Friar, who was an old man, had been confessor to a very
honourable and pious widow lady, mother of only one daughter, whom she
loved so dearly as to be at all pains to amass riches for her, and to
find her a good husband. Now, seeing that her daughter was grown up, she
was unceasingly anxious to find her a husband who might live with them
in peace and quiet, a man, that is, of a good conscience, such as she
deemed herself to possess. And since she had heard some foolish preacher
say that it were better to do evil by the counsel of theologians than
to do well through belief in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she
had recourse to her father confessor, a man already old, a doctor of
theology and one who was held to lead a holy life by the whole town,
for she felt sure that, with his counsel and good prayers, she could not
fail to find peace both for herself and for her daughter.
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