o in search of him, and, passing from room to room,
found him at last in a closet at the back of the house, lying asleep by
the side of the ugliest, vilest, and filthiest serving-woman they had.

Thereupon, thinking she would teach him to leave so excellent a wife for
so filthy and vile a woman, she took some straw and set it on fire in
the middle of the room; but on seeing that it would as soon kill her
husband as awaken him, she plucked him by the arm, crying out--

"Fire! fire!"

If the husband was ashamed and sorry at being found by so virtuous a
wife in company with such a slut, he certainly had good reason for it.
Then said his wife to him--

"For a year, sir, have I tried by gentle and patient means to draw you
from this wickedness, and to show you that whilst washing the outside
you should also cleanse that which is within. Finding that all I could
do was of no avail, I have sought assistance from that clement which
brings all things to an end, and I promise you, sir, that, if this
do not mend you, I know not whether I shall a second time be able to
deliver you from the danger as I have now done. I pray you remember that
the deepest despair is that caused by love, and that if I had not had
the fear of God before my eyes I could not have endured so much."

The husband, glad to get off so easily, promised that he would never
again cause her any pain on his account. This the lady was very willing
to believe, and with her husband's consent turned away the servant who
had so offended her. And from that time forth they lived most lovingly
together, so that even the errors of the past, by the good that had
resulted from them, served but to increase their happiness.

"Should God give you such husbands, ladies, I pray you despair not until
you have fully tried all means to win them back. There are twenty-four
hours in the day in which a man may change his mind, and a wife who
has gained her husband over by patience and longsuffering should deem
herself more fortunate than if fate and her kinsfolk had given her one
more perfect."

"It is an example," said Oisille, "that all married women ought to
follow."

"Follow it who will," said Parlamente; "for my own part, I should
find it impossible to be patient so long. Although in every condition
patience is a seemly virtue, yet I think that in wedded life it finally
produces ill-will. For, when suffering is caused you by your partner,
you are compelled to keep yourself