l deem it no less grievous than
a monkish life. Moreover, being so greatly weakened by fasts and
abstinence, he feared to take upon him a burden of that kind which lasts
all through life."

"Methinks," said Hircan, "she wronged so feeble a man by tempting him
to marriage, for 'tis too much for the strongest man alive; but had she
spoken to him of love, free from any obligation but that of the will,
there is no friar's cord that would not have been untied. However, since
she sought to draw him out of purgatory by offering him hell, I think
that he was quite right to refuse her, and to let her feel the pain that
her own refusal had cost him."

"By my word," said Ennasuite, "there are many who, thinking to do better
than their fellows, do either worse or else the very opposite of what
they desire."

"Truly," said Geburon, "you remind me--though, indeed, the matter is
not greatly to the point--of a woman who did the opposite of what she
desired, and so caused a great uproar in the church of St. John of
Lyons."

"I pray you," said Parlamente, "take my place and tell us about it."

"My story," said Geburon, "will not be so long or so piteous as the one
we have heard from Parlamente."

[Illustration: 141.jpg Tailpiece]

[Illustration: 143a. The Old Woman startled by the Waking of the Soldier]

[The Old Woman startled by the Waking of the Soldier]

[Illustration: 143.jpg Page Image]

_TALE LXV_.

_Though the priests of St. John of Lyons would fain have
concealed it, the falsity of a miracle was brought to light
through an old woman's folly becoming known_. (1)

In the church of St. John of Lyons there is a very dark chapel, and
inside it a stone tomb with figures of great personages raised life-like
upon it, whilst several men-at-arms lie all around it.

1 We believe that the incident here narrated occurred early
in 1525, when Margaret is known to have been at Lyons. She
and her husband (on his return from Pavia) resided there at
the house of the Obediencier de St. Just, and it was in the
church of St. Just that the Duke of Alencon was buried.
Doubtless it was during his illness that the _novena_
alluded to in the final tale of the _Heptameron_ was
performed by Queen Margaret at the church of St. John of
Lyons, where the two most important chapels, according to
Quincarnon's _Antiquites et la fondation de la Metropole
des Gaules, &c.