“There is none among us,” said Parlamente, “but will confess, on reading
that Epistle, that outward sin is but the fruit of infelicity dwelling
within, which, the more it is hidden by virtue and marvels, is the more
difficult to pluck out.”
“We men,” said Hircan, “are nearer to salvation than you are, for we do
not conceal our fruits, and so the root is readily known; whereas you,
who dare not display the fruit, and who do so many seemingly fair deeds,
are hardly aware of the root of pride that is growing beneath so brave a
surface.”
“I acknowledge,” said Longarine, “that if the Word of God does not show
us by faith the leprosy of unbelief that lurks in the heart, yet God
is very merciful to us when He allows us to fall into some visible
wrongdoing whereby the hidden plague may be made manifest. Happy are
they whom faith has so humbled that they have no need to test their
sinful nature by outward acts.”
“But just look where we are now,” said Simontault. “We started from a
foolish tale, and we are now fallen into philosophy and theology. Let
us leave these disputes to such as are more fitted for such speculation,
and ask Nomerfide to whom she will give her vote.”
“I give it,” she said, “to Hircan, but I commend to him the honour of
the ladies.”
“You could not have commended it in a better place,” said Hircan, “for
the story that I have ready is just such a one as will please you. It
will, nevertheless, teach you to acknowledge that the nature of men and
women is of itself prone to vice if it be not preserved by Him to whom
the honour of every victory is due. And to abate the pride that you
display when a story is told to your honour, I will tell you one of a
different kind that is strictly true.”
[Illustration: 047.jpg Tailpiece]
[Illustration: 049a.jpg The Lady embracing the Supposed Friar]
[The Lady embracing the Supposed Friar]
[Illustration: 049.jpg Page Image]
_TALE XXXV_.
_The affection of a lady of Pampeluna--who, thinking that
there was no danger in spiritual love, had striven to
insinuate herself into the good graces of a Grey Friar--was
subdued by her husband’s prudence in such wise that, without
telling her that he knew aught of the matter, he brought her
mortally to hate that which she had most dearly loved, and
wholly to devote herself to him_.
In the town of Pampeluna there lived a lady who was accounted beautiful
and virtuous, as well as the chastest and most pious in the land. She
loved her husband, and was so obedient to him that he had entire trust
in her. This lady was constantly present at Divine service and at
sermons, and she used to persuade her husband and children to be hearers
with her. She had reached the age of thirty years, at which women are
wont to claim discretion rather than beauty, when on the first day of
Lent she went to the church to receive the emblem of death. (1) Here she
found that the sermon was beginning, the preacher being a Grey Friar,
a man esteemed holy by all the people on account of his great austerity
and goodness of life, which made him thin and pale, yet not to such a
point as to prevent him from being one of the handsomest men imaginable.
The lady listened piously to his sermon, her eyes being fixed on this
reverend person, and her ears and mind ready to hearken to what he said.
And so it happened that the sweetness of his words passed through the
lady’s ears even to her heart, while the comeliness and grace of his
countenance passed through her eyes and so smote her soul that she was
as one entranced. When the sermon was over, she looked carefully to
see where the Friar would celebrate mass, (2) and there she presented
herself to take the ashes from his hand. The latter was as fair and
white as any lady’s, and this pious lady paid more attention to it than
to the ashes which it gave her.