The Duke promised not to urge him, and being quite satisfied with him,
treated him with more kindness than ever before. The Duchess perceived
this, and set herself with her wonted craft to find out the reason.
The Duke did not hide it from her; whereupon strong jealousy sprang up
beside her desire for vengeance, and she begged her husband to command
the gentleman to name his sweetheart. She assured him that the story was
a lie, and that the course she urged was the best means of testing
it. If the gentleman, said she, did not name her whom he deemed so
beautiful, and his master believed him on his mere word, he would indeed
be the most foolish Prince alive.
The poor Duke, whose wife directed his thoughts at her pleasure, went to
walk alone with the gentleman, and told him that he was in even greater
trouble than before; for he was greatly minded to believe that he had
been given an excuse to keep him from suspecting the truth. This was a
greater torment to him than ever; and he therefore begged the gentleman,
as earnestly as he was able, to name her whom he loved so dearly. The
poor gentleman entreated that he might not be made to commit so great
an offence against his mistress as to break the promise he had given her
and had kept so long, and thus lose in a day all that he had preserved
for seven years.
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