vote."

"I give it," she said, "to Dagoucin, for I think he would not willingly
speak against the ladies."

"Would to God," said Dagoucin, "that they were as well disposed towards
me as I am towards them. To show you that I have striven to honour the
virtuous among them by recalling their good deeds, I will now tell you
the story of such a one. I will not deny, ladies, that the patience of
the gentleman at Pampeluna, and of the President at Grenoble was great,
but then it was equalled in magnitude by their vengeance. Moreover,
when we seek to praise a virtuous man, we ought not so to exalt a single
virtue as to make of it a cloak for the concealment of grievous vice;
for none are praiseworthy save such as do virtuous things from the love
of virtue alone, and this I hope to prove by telling you of the patient
virtue of a lady whose goodness had no other object save the honour of
God and the salvation of her husband."


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[Illustration: 073a.jpg The Lady of Loué bringing her Husband the Basin of Water]

[The Lady of Loué bringing her Husband the Basin of Water]

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