such haste that he nearly lost
his breath, and when he came to his father, he said,

"Alas, father! come quickly, in God's name!"

"What has happened?" asked his father. "Is your mother dead?"

"No, no," said the child, "but make haste upstairs, or you will have no
children left. Two men have come to see mother, and she is giving them
most of my brothers and sisters. If you do not make haste, she will give
them all away."

The good man could not understand what his son meant, so he hastened
upstairs, and found his wife very ill, and with her the nurse, two of
his neighbours, and his children.

He asked the meaning of the tale his son had told him about giving away
his children.

"You will know later on," she said; so he did not trouble himself
further, for he never doubted her in the least.

The neighbours went away, commending the dying woman to God, and
promising to do all she had requested, for which she thanked them.

When the hour of her death drew near, she begged her husband to pardon
her, and told him of the misdeeds she had committed during the years she
had lived with him, and how such and such of the children belonged to
a certain man, and such to another--that is to say those
before-mentioned--and that after her death they would take charge of
their own children.

He was much astonished to hear this news, nevertheless he pardoned her
for all her misdeeds, and then she died, and he sent the children to the
persons she had mentioned, who kept them.

And thus he was rid of his wife and his children, and felt much
less regret for the loss of his wife than he did for the loss of the
children.

*****

[Illustration: 52.jpg The three Reminders.]

STORY THE FIFTY-SECOND -- THE THREE REMINDERS. [52]

By Monseigneur De La Roche.

_Of three counsels that a father when on his deathbed gave his son, but
to which the son paid no heed. And how he renounced a young girl he had
married, because he saw her lying with the family chaplain the first
night after their wedding._

Once upon a time there was a nobleman who was wise, prudent, and
virtuous. When he was on his deathbed, he settled his affairs, eased
his conscience as best he could, and then called his only son to whom he
left his worldly wealth.

After asking his son to be sure and pray for the repose of his soul and
that of his mother, to help them out of purgatory, he gave him three
farewell counsels, saying; "My dear son, I advise