e you,) to use you
either here or elsewhere otherwise than as a dear sister; but this my
service that I have done you to-night meriteth some recompense;
wherefore I would have you deny me not a favour that I shall ask you.'

The lady very graciously replied that she was ready to do his desire,
so but she might and it were honourable. Then said he, 'Madam, your
kinsfolk and all the Bolognese believe and hold you for certain to be
dead, wherefore there is no one who looketh for you more at home, and
therefore I would have you of your favour be pleased to abide quietly
here with my mother till such time as I shall return from Modona,
which will be soon. And the reason for which I require you of this is
that I purpose to make a dear and solemn present of you to your
husband in the presence of the most notable citizens of this place.'
The lady, confessing herself beholden to the gentleman and that his
request was an honourable one, determined to do as he asked, how much
soever she desired to gladden her kinsfolk of her life,[449] and so
she promised it to him upon her faith. Hardly had she made an end of
her reply, when she felt the time of her delivery to be come and not
long after, being lovingly tended of Messer Gentile's mother, she gave
birth to a goodly male child, which manifold redoubled his gladness
and her own. Messer Gentile took order that all things needful should
be forthcoming and that she should be tended as she were his proper
wife and presently returned in secret to Modona. There, having served
the term of his office and being about to return to Bologna, he took
order for the holding of a great and goodly banquet at his house on
the morning he was to enter the city, and thereto he bade many
gentlemen of the place, amongst whom was Niccoluccio Caccianimico.
Accordingly, when he returned and dismounted, he found them all
awaiting him, as likewise the lady, fairer and sounder than ever, and
her little son in good case, and with inexpressible joy seating his
guests at table, he let serve them magnificently with various meats.

[Footnote 449: _i.e._ with news of her life.]

Whenas the repast was near its end, having first told the lady what he
meant to do and taken order with her of the course that she should
hold, he began to speak thus: 'Gentlemen, I remember to have heard
whiles that there is in Persia a custom and to my thinking a pleasant
one, to wit, that, whenas any is minded supremely to honour a frien