"
Forthwith Simontault began--
"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: 154.jpg Tailpiece]
[Illustration: 155a. The Wife Reading to her Husband on the Desert Island]
[The Wife Reading to her Husband on the Desert Island]
[Illustration: 155.jpg Page Image]
_TALE LXVII_.
_A poor woman risked her own life to save that of her
husband, whom she forsook not until death_.
The Captain Robertval aforesaid once made a voyage across the seas
to the island of Canadas, (1) himself being chief in command by the
appointment of the King, his master. And there, if the air of the
country were good, he had resolved to dwell and to build towns and
castles. With this work he made such a beginning as is known to all;
and to people the country with Christians he took with him all kinds of
artificers, among whom was a most wicked man, who betrayed his master
and put him in danger of being captured by the natives.
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