The duke admitted the validity of their excuses, but, availing himself
of occasions warranted by custom and courtesy, he found means to load
the two friends with rich gifts, which he sent from time to time to
their house in Bologna. Many of these were of such value, that although
they might have been refused for fear of seeming to receive a payment,
yet the appropriate manner in which they were presented, and the
particular periods at which Alfonso took care that they should arrive,
caused their acceptance to be easy, not to say inevitable; such, for
example, were those despatched by him at the moment of their departure
for their own country, and those which he gave them when they came to
Ferrara to take their leave of him.

At this period, the Spanish gentlemen found Cornelia the mother of two
little girls, and the duke more enamoured of his wife than ever. The
duchess gave the diamond cross to Don Juan, and the gold agnus to Don
Antonio, both of whom had now no choice but to accept them. They finally
arrived without accident in their native Spain, where they married rich,
noble, and beautiful ladies; and they never ceased to maintain a
friendly correspondence with the duke and duchess of Ferrara, and with
Lorenzo Bentivoglio, to the great satisfaction of all parties.

END OF THE LADY CORNELIA.




RINCONETE AND CORTADILLO:

_Or, Peter of the Corner and the Little Cutter._