Of the two one married, yet did not on that account abate his friendship
for his fellow or cease to live with him as had been his wont. And
whenever they chanced to lodge where room was scanty, he failed not to
make him sleep with himself and his wife; (2) though he did, in truth,
himself lie in the middle. Their goods were all in common, so that
neither the marriage nor aught else that might betide could impair their
perfect friendship.
2 To do honour to a guest it was then a common practice to
invite him to share the same bed as one’s self and one’s
wife. In this wise, long after Queen Margaret s time, we
find Louis XIII. sharing the bed of the Duke and Duchess of
Luynes. Tale vii. of the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_
(imitated in Malespini’s _Ducento Novelle_ and the _Joyeuses
Adventures et nouvelles récréations_) relates what befell a
Paris goldsmith who took a carter to bed with him and his
spouse, and neglected to follow the usual custom of sleeping
in the middle. In Queen Margaret’s time, it may be added,
the so-called “beds of honour” in the abodes of noblemen and
gentlemen were large enough to accommodate four or five
persons.--B. J. and Ed.
But after some time, worldly happiness, which is ever changeful in its
nature, could no longer abide in this too happy household. The husband,
without cause, lost the confidence that he had in his friend and in his
wife, and, being unable to conceal the truth from the latter, spoke to
her with angry words. At this she was greatly amazed, for he had charged
her in all things save one to treat his friend as she did himself, and
now he forbade her to speak with him except it were before others. She
made the matter known to her husband’s friend, who did not believe her,
knowing as he well did that he had never purposed doing aught to grieve
his comrade. And as he was wont to hide nothing from him, he told him
what he had heard, begging him not to conceal the truth, for neither in
this nor in any other matter had he any desire to occasion the severance
of the friendship which had so long subsisted between them.
The married gentleman assured him that he had never thought of such a
thing, and that those who had spread such a rumour had foully lied.