me have learned to do whatever they can accomplish, and no more
loyal man is known. But now will I put him to the test, and if I
can find loyalty in him, I will free him and all his heirs, and I
will not fail to tell him our plan, if he swears and vows to me
that he will aid me loyally therein and will never betray me in
this matter." She replies: "Now be it so."

By her leave Cliges came forth from the chamber and departed. And
she sends for Thessala, her nurse, whom she had brought from the
land where she was born. And Thessila came forthwith, for she
neither lingers nor delays: but she knows not why her mistress
sends for her. Fenice asks her in private conference what she
counsels and what seems good to her. She neither hides nor
conceals from Thessala even the smallest part of her thought.
"Nurse," says she, "I know well that never a thing that I tell
you will afterwards become known through you, for I have proved
you right well and have found you very wise. You have done so
much for me that I love you. Of all my evils I complain to you,
nor do I take counsel elsewhere. You know well why I lie awake
and what I think and what I wish. My eyes can see nothing to
please me, save one thing, but I shall have from it neither
enjoyment nor comfort, if I do not pay very dearly for it
beforehand. And yet I have found my mate; for if I desire him,
he, on his side, desires me too; if I grieve, he, on his side,
grieves with my sorrow and my anguish. Now I must confess to you
a thought and a parley, in which we two in solitude have resolved
and agreed." Then she has told and related to her that she
intends to feign herself ill, and says that she will complain so
much that finally she will appear dead, and Cliges will steal her
away in the night, and they will be always henceforth together.
In no other way, it seems to her, could she continue firm in her
resolve. But if she were assured that Thessala would help her in
it, the thing could be done according to her wish; "But too long
do joy and good fortune for me delay and tarry." Forthwith her
nurse assures her that she will lend all her aid to the
enterprise, let her now have neither fear nor dread in regard to
aught; and she says she will take so much pains about the matter,
as soon as she shall undertake it, that never will there be any
man who sees her who will not believe quite surely that her soul
is severed from the body, when Thessala shall have given her a
drink that