r who kept all thy laws. 'Tis not
right that I should die after so honourable a manner; but 'tis well that
I should die by mine own hand. I have washed your face, sweet, with my
tears, and with my tongue have craved your forgiveness; and now it only
remains for my hand to make my body like unto yours, and send my soul
whither yours will go, in the knowledge that a virtuous and honourable
love can never end, whether in this world or in the next."

Rising up from the body he then, like a frenzied man beside himself,
drew his dagger and with great violence stabbed himself to the heart.
Then he again took his sweetheart in his arms, kissing her with such
passion that it seemed as though he were seized rather with love than
with death.

The damsel, seeing him deal himself the blow, ran to the door and called
for help. The Duke, on hearing the outcry, suspected misfortune to those
he loved, and was the first to enter the closet, where he beheld the
piteous pair. He sought to separate them, and, if it were possible, to
save the gentleman; but the latter clasped his sweetheart so fast that
he could not be taken from her until he was dead. Nevertheless he heard
the Duke speaking to him and saying--"Alas! what is the cause of this?"
To which, with a glance of fury, he replied--"My tongue, my lord, and
yours." So saying, he died, with his face close pressed to that of his
mistress.

The Duke, wishing to know more of the matter, made the damsel tell him
what she had seen and heard; and this she did at full length, sparing
nothing. Then the Duke, finding that he was himself the cause of all
this woe, threw himself upon the two dead lovers, and, with great
lamentation and weeping, kissed both of them several times and asked
their forgiveness. And after that he rose up in fury, and drew the
dagger from the gentleman's body; and, just as a wild boar, wounded with
a spear, rushes headlong against him that has dealt the blow, so did the
Duke now seek out her who had wounded him to the bottom of his soul. He
found her dancing in the hall, and more merry than was her wont at
the thought of the excellent vengeance she had wreaked on the Lady du
Vergier.

The Duke came upon her in the midst of the dance, and said--

"You took the secret upon your life, and upon your life shall fall the
punishment."

So saying, he seized her by the head-dress and stabbed her with the
dagger in the breast. All the company were astonished, and it was
th