So:—­“Where art thou?” quoth the knight.  “Fear not to shew thyself.”  Then forth of his hiding-place, all of a tremble, for in truth he had been thoroughly terrified, crept Leonetto, who had heard all that had passed.  To whom:—­“What hast thou to do with Messer Lambertuccio?” quoth the knight.  “Nothing in the world,” replied the young man:  “wherefore, I doubt he must either be out of his mind, or have mistaken me for another; for no sooner had he sight of me in the street hard by the palace, than he laid his hand on his sword, and exclaimed:—­’Traitor, thou art a dead man.’  Whereupon I sought not to know why, but fled with all speed, and got me here, and so, thanks to God and this gentlewoman, I escaped his hands.”  “Now away with thy fears,” quoth the knight; “I will see thee home safe and sound; and then ’twill be for thee to determine how thou shalt deal with him.”  And so, when they had supped, he set him on horseback, and escorted him to Florence, and left him not until he was safe in his own house.  And the very same evening, following the lady’s instructions, Leonetto spoke privily with Messer Lambertuccio, and so composed the affair with him, that, though it occasioned not a little talk, the knight never wist how he had been tricked by his wife.

NOVEL VII.

—­ Lodovico discovers to Madonna Beatrice the love that he bears her:  she sends Egano, her husband, into a garden disguised as herself, and lies with Lodovico; who thereafter, being risen, hies him to the garden and cudgels Egano. —­

This device of Madonna Isabella, thus recounted by Pampinea, was held nothing short of marvellous by all the company.  But, being bidden by the king to tell the next story, thus spake Filomena:—­Loving ladies, if I mistake not, the device, of which you shall presently hear from me, will prove to be no less excellent than the last.

You are to know, then, that there dwelt aforetime at Paris a Florentine gentleman, who, being by reason of poverty turned merchant, had prospered so well in his affairs that he was become very wealthy; and having by his lady an only son, Lodovico by name, whose nobility disrelished trade, he would not put him in any shop; but that he might be with other gentlemen, he caused him to enter the service of the King of France, whereby he acquired very fine manners and other accomplishments.  Being in this service, Lodovico was one day with some other young gallants that talked of the fair ladies of France, and England, and other parts of the world, when they were joined by certain knights that were returned from the Holy Sepulchre; and hearing their discourse, one of the knights fell a saying, that of a surety in the whole world, so far as he had explored it, there was not any lady, of all that he had ever seen, that might compare for beauty with Madonna Beatrice, the wife of Egano de’ Galluzzi, of Bologna:  wherein all his companions, who in common with him