She pressed him urgently to do this, until at last
the Duke went out of the room, saying--
"If you speak to me again after this fashion, we shall part one from the
other."
These words increased the sickness of the Duchess, and she pretended
that she felt her infant stirring, at which the Duke was so rejoiced
that he came and lay beside her. But, just when she saw him most loving
towards her, she turned away, and said--
"I pray you, my lord, since you have no love for either wife or child,
leave us to die together."
With these words she gave vent to many tears and lamentations, and the
Duke was in great fear lest she should lose her child. He therefore took
her in his arms and begged her to tell him what she would have, since he
possessed nothing that was not also hers.
"Ah, my lord," she replied, weeping, "what hope can I have that you
would do a hard thing for me, when you will not do the easiest and most
reasonable in the world, which is to name to me the mistress of the
wickedest servant you ever had? I thought that you and I had but one
heart, one soul, and one flesh. But now I see that you look upon me as
a stranger, seeing that your secrets, which should be known to me, are
hidden from me as though I were a stranger.
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