The Duchess, who had not the heart of a virtuous woman and Princess,
and was not content with the love that her husband bore her and the good
treatment that she had at his hands, often observed this gentleman,
and so much to her liking did she find him, that she loved him beyond
measure. This she strove unceasingly to make known to him, as well by
soft and piteous glances as by sighs and passionate looks.
But the gentleman, whose inclinations had ever been to virtue alone,
could not perceive wickedness in a lady who had so little excuse for it,
and so the glances and looks of the poor wanton bore no fruit save her
own frenzied despair. This at last drove her to extremes, and forgetting
that she was a woman fit to be entreated and yet to refuse, and a
Princess made to be worshipped by such lovers and yet to hold them in
scorn, she acted with the spirit of a man transported by passion, with a
view to rid herself of the fire which she could no longer endure.
Accordingly, one day when her husband was gone to the council, at which
the gentleman by reason of his youth was not present, she beckoned him
to come to her, which he did, thinking that she had some command to
give him.
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