"Then you will allow madame to cover herself and arrange only to show you sufficient to convince you," said the lover, knowing that the lady had a mark or two easy to recognise. "Turn your back a moment, so that my dear lady may satisfy propriety."
The wife smiled at her lover, kissed him for his dexterity, arranging herself cunningly; and the husband seeing in full that which the jade had never let him see before, was quite convinced that no English person could be thus fashioned without being a charming Englishwoman.
"Yes, my lord," he whispered in the ear of his lieutenant, "this is certainly a lady of the court, because the towns-women are neither so well formed nor so charming."
Then the house being thoroughly searched, and no Englishman found, the provost returned, as the constable had told him, to the king's residence.
"Is he slain?" said the constable.
"Who?"
"He who grafted horns upon your forehead."
"I only saw a lady in his couch, who seemed to be greatly enjoying herself with him."
"You, with your own eyes, saw this woman, cursed cuckold, and you did not kill your rival?"
"It was not a common woman, but a lady of the court."