(*) A play upon words, which is not easily translatable, in
allusion to the gallows.

*****

STORY THE TWENTY-SIXTH -- THE DAMSEL KNIGHT. [26]

By Monseigneur De Foquessoles.

_Of the loves of a young gentleman and a damsel, who tested the loyalty
of the gentleman in a marvellous and courteous manner, and slept three
nights with him without his knowing that it was not a man,--as you will
more fully hear hereafter._

In the duchy of Brabant--not so long ago but that the memory of it is
fresh in the present day--happened a strange thing, which is worthy of
being related, and is not unfit to furnish a story. And in order that it
should be publicly known and reported, here is the tale.

In the household of a great baron of the said country there lived and
resided a young, gracious, and kind gentleman, named Gerard, who was
greatly in love with a damsel of the said household, named Katherine.
And when he found opportunity, he ventured to tell her of his piteous
case. Most people will be able to guess the answer he received, and
therefore, to shorten matters, I omit it here.

In due time Gerard and Katherine loved each other so warmly that there
was but one heart and one will between them. This loyal and perfect love
endured no little time--indeed two years passed away. Love, who blinds
the eyes of his disciples, had so blinded these two that they did not
know that this affection, which they thought secret, was perceived by
every one; there was not a man or a woman in the chateau who was not
aware of it--in fact the matter was so noised abroad that all the talk
of the household was of the loves of Gerard and Katherine.

These two poor, deluded fools were so much occupied with their own
affairs that they did not suspect their love affairs were discussed by
others. Envious persons, or those whom it did not concern, brought
this love affair to the knowledge of the master and mistress of the
two lovers, and it also came to the ears of the father and mother of
Katherine.

Katherine was informed by a damsel belonging to the household, who was
one of her friends and companions, that her love for Gerard had been
discovered and revealed both to her father and mother, and also to the
master and mistress of the house.

"Alas, what is to be done, my dear sister and friend?" asked Katherine.
"I am lost, now that so many persons know, or guess at, my condition.
Advise me, or I am ruined, and the most unfo