draw anything from
him.

Report of this having been made to the Queen, some one in the company
bethought him that it would be well to look behind the door near which
the man had been taken. This was done, and they found what they sought,
namely the pieces of the letter. Then the King's confessor was sent for,
and he, having put the pieces together on a table, read the whole of the
letter, in which the truth of the marriage, that had been so carefully
concealed, was made manifest; for the Bastard called Rolandine nothing
but "wife." The Queen, who was in no mind, as she should have been, to
hide her neighbour's transgressions, made a great ado about the matter,
and commanded that all means should be employed to make the poor man
confess the truth of the letter. And indeed, when they showed it to him,
he could not deny it; but for all they could say or show, he would say
no more than at first. Those who had him in charge thereupon brought him
to the brink of the river, and put him into a sack, declaring that he
had lied to God and to the Queen, contrary to proven truth. But he was
minded to die rather than accuse his master, and asked for a confessor;
and when he had eased his conscience as well as might be, he said to
them--

"Good sirs, I pray you tell the Bastard, my master, that I commend the
lives of my wife and children to him, for right willingly do I yield up
my own in his service. You may do with me what you will, for never shall
you draw from me a word against my master."

Thereupon, all the more to affright him, they threw him in the sack into
the water, calling to him--

"If you will tell the truth, you shall be saved."

Finding, however, that he answered nothing, they drew him out again, and
made report of his constancy to the Queen, who on hearing of it declared
that neither the King nor herself were so fortunate in their followers
as was this gentleman the Bastard, though he lacked even the means to
requite them. She then did all that she could to draw the servant into
her own service, but he would by no means consent to forsake his master.
However, by the latter's leave, he at last entered the Queen's service,
in which he lived in happiness and contentment.

The Queen, having learnt the truth of the marriage from the Bastard's
letter, sent for Rolandine, whom with a wrathful countenance she several
times called "wretch" instead of "cousin," reproaching her with the
shame that she had brought both u