“It was not a common woman, but a lady of the court.”
“You saw her?”
“And verified her in both cases.”
“What do you mean by those words?” cried the king, who was bursting with laughter.
“I say, with all the respect due to your Majesty, that I have verified the over and the under.”
“You do not, then, know the physiognomies of your own wife, you old fool without memory! You deserve to be hanged.”
“I hold those features of my wife in too great respect to gaze upon them. Besides she is so modest that she would die rather than expose an atom of her body.”
“True,” said the king; “it was not made to be shown.”
“Old coquedouille! that was your wife,” said the constable.
“My lord constable, she is asleep, poor girl!”