r to doe. Then sayd mayster
Gentil: "Mystresse, all your kin and al they of Bologna, doe
beleue for a trouth that you bee deade, wherefore there is none
that loketh for your recouery agayne: and the pleasure then
whych I demaund, is that you wyll vouchsafe secretlye to tarry
here wyth my mother, vntill I retourne from Modena, which shal
be with so great expedition as I can: and the cause why I desire
the same, is, for that I intend to make a fayre and acceptable
present of you vnto your husband in the presence of the
principal of this City." The gentlewoman knowing hir self to be
greatly bound to the knight, and that hys request was honest,
was content to doe what hee demaunded. Albeit shee desired
earnestly to reioyce hir frendes for hir recouered life, and so
promised vppon hir faith. And vnnethes had she ended hir talke,
but she felt the pain of chyldbirth: wherfore wyth the ayde of
the mother of maister Gentil, she tarried not long before she
was deliuered of a fayre Sonne, which greatly augmented the ioy
of maister Gentil and hir. Mayster Gentil commaunded that she
should haue al thyngs that were necessary to be ministred vnto
hir, and that she should be vsed as his owne Wyfe. Then he
pryuily returned to Modena, where when he had a while supplied
his office, he returned to Bologna, and prepared a great feast
at his house, the same morning that he arriued, for diuers
gentlemen of the city, amongs whom Nicholas Chasennemie was one.
When the company of the bidden guests wer com, (the gentlewoman
in so good health and lykyng as euer she was, and hir Child wel
and lusty), he sate down amongs them doing vnto them
incomparable myrth and pastime, and serued them bountifully wyth
dyuers sortes of meates. When dinner was almost done, hauing
before told the Gentlewoman what he ment to doe, and in what
manner she should behaue hir selfe, he began thus to say: "My
Maysters, I do remember that whilom I haue hearde tell that in
the Country of Persia, there was a goodly custom (as me seemeth)
that when som one was disposed to do great honour vnto his
friend, he bad hym home to his house, and there shewed him the
thing whych he loued best, were it wyfe, woman, or daughter, or
what so euer it were, affirming that like as he disdayned not to
shew the same, which outwardly he loued best, euen so he would
if it were possible, willingly discouer his owne heart: whych
custome I purpose to obserue in this City. Ye of your curtesie
haue