e more merry than before, but, as soon as he whispered
to him, "Begone," to see that he was out of the town before three hours
were over. Having arranged matters in this way, he returned to the
court, none being any the wiser. And for a fortnight, contrary to his
wont, he entertained his friends and neighbours, and after the banquet
had the tabourers, so that the ladies might dance.

One day, seeing that his wife was not dancing, he commanded Nicholas to
lead her out. The clerk, thinking that the past had been forgotten, did
so gladly, but when the dance was over, the President, under pretence of
charging him with some household matter, whispered to him, "Begone,
and come back no more." And albeit Nicholas was grieved to leave his
mistress, yet was he no less glad that his life was spared.

When the President had convinced all his kinsfolk and friends and the
whole countryside of the deep love that he bore his wife, he went into
his garden one fine day in the month of May to gather a salad, of such
herbs that his wife did not live for twenty-four hours after eating of
them; whereupon he made such a great show of mourning that none could
have suspected him of causing her death; and in this way he avenged
himself upon his enemy, and saved the honour of his house. (2)

2 Whilst admitting the historical basis of this story, M.
Le Roux de Lincy conceives it to be the same as No. xlvii.
of the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, printed half-a-century
before the _Heptameron_ was written. Beyond the
circumstance, however, that in both cases a judge is shown
privily avenging himself on his wife for her infidelity,
there is no resemblance between the two tales. There is good
reason for believing that Queen Margaret's narrative is
based on absolute fact, and not on the story in the _Cent
Nouvelles_. Both tales have often been imitated. See for
instance Bonaventure Despericr's _Contes, Nouvelles, et
joyeux Devis_ (tale xcii., or, in some editions, xc. ); _Les
Heures de Recreation de Louis Guicciardini_, p. 28; G.
Giraldi Cinthio's _Hecatommithi, overro cento Novelle, &c_.
(dec. iii. nov. vi. ); Malespini's _Ducento Novelle _(part
ii. nov. xvi.); Verboquet's _Les Delices, &c_, 1623, p. 23;
and Shirley's _Love's Cruelly_. These tales also inspired
some of the Spanish dramatists, notably Calderon.--Ed. and
L.

"I do not mean by this, ladies,