astle where his
mistress lived, and God knows what good cheer she and her husband made
for him, for there had been a great friendship between them.

But you must know that whilst the master of the house was doing all
he could to honour his guest, the guest was conversing with his former
lady-love, and was willing to renew with her the intimacy that had
existed before she married. She asked for nothing better, but excused
herself on account of want of opportunity.

"It is not possible to find a chance."

"Ah, madam," he said, "by my oath, if you want to, you will make a
chance. When your husband is in bed and asleep, you can come to my
chamber, or, if you prefer it, I will come to you."

"It cannot be managed so," she replied; "the danger is too great; for
monseigneur is a very light sleeper, and he never wakes but what he
feels for me, and if he did not find me, you may guess what it would
be."

"And when he does find you," he said, "what does he do to you?"

"Nothing else," she replied; "he turns over on the other side."

"Faith!" said he, "he is a very bad bed-fellow; it is very lucky for you
that I came to your aid to perform for you what he cannot."

"So help me God," she said, "when he lies with me once a month it is the
best he can do. I may be difficult to please, but I could take a good
deal more than that.

"That is not to be wondered at," he said; "but let us consider what we
shall do."

"There is no way that I see," she replied, "that it can be managed."

"What?" he said; "have you no woman in the house to whom you can explain
the difficulty?"

"Yes, by God! I have one," she said, "in whom I have such confidence
that I would tell her anything in the world I wanted kept secret?
without fearing that she would ever repeat it."

"What more do we want then?" he said. "The rest concerns you and her."

The lady who was anxious to be with her lover, called the damsel, and
said,

"My dear, you must help me to-night to do something which is very dear
to my heart."

"Madam," said the damsel, "I am ready and glad, as I ought to be, to
serve you and obey you in any way possible; command me, and I will
perform your orders."

"I thank you, my dear," said madam, "and be sure that you will lose
nothing by it. This is what is the matter. The knight here is the man
whom I love best in all the world, and I would not that he left here
without my having a few words with him. Now he cannot tell me what is
in