"
On hearing these words of truth, the Duke began to be softened, and
said--
"I assure you, on my part, that I did not believe it. Do, therefore,
according to your wont, in the assurance that, if I find the truth to be
on your side, I will love you yet better than before. But if it be not
so, your life is in my hands."
The gentleman thanked him and offered to submit to any pain or penalty
if he were found guilty.
The Duchess, on seeing the gentleman again in waiting as had formerly
been his wont, could not endure it in patience, but said to her
husband--
"'Twould be no more than you deserve, my lord, if you were poisoned,
since you put more trust in your deadly enemies than in your friends."
"I pray you, sweetheart, do not torment yourself in this matter," said
the Duke. "If I find that you have told me true, I promise you he shall
not live four and twenty hours. But he has sworn to the contrary, and I
have myself never perceived any such fault, and so I cannot believe it
without complete proof."
"In good sooth, my lord," she replied, "your goodness renders his
wickedness the greater. What more complete proof would you have than
this, that no love affair has ever been imputed to him? Believe me, my
lord, were it not for the lofty purpose that he took into his head of
being my lover, he would not have continued so long without a mistress;
for never did a young man live solitary as he does in such good company,
unless he had fixed his heart so high as to be content merely with his
own vain hope.
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