and from such estrangement there springs up contempt for the faithless
one; and this contempt gradually lessens love, for a thing is loved in
proportion as it is esteemed."

"But there is a danger," said Ennasuite, "that the impatient wife may
meet with a passionate husband who, instead of patience, will bring her
pain."

"And what more," said Parlamente, "could a husband do than was done by
the husband in the story?"

"What more?" said Ennasuite. "Why, beat his wife soundly, and make her
lie in the smaller bed, and his sweetheart in the larger." (2)

2 At this period, and for some time afterwards, there were
usually two beds in the master's room, a large one for
himself and his wife, and a small one in which slept a
trusty servant, male or female. These little beds are shown
in some of the designs engraved by Abraham Bosse in the
seventeenth century.--L.

"It is my belief," said Parlamente, "that a true woman would be less
grieved by being beaten in anger than by being contemned for one of less
worth than herself. After enduring the severance of love, nothing that
her husband could do would be able to cause her any further pain. And in
this wise the story says that the trouble she took to regain him was for
the sake of her children--which I can well believe."

"And do you think that it showed great patience on her part," said
Nomerfide, "to kindle a fire beneath the bed on which her husband was