[The Sea-captain talking to the Lady]
TALE XIII.
A sea-captain, being greatly in love with a lady, sent her a diamond; but she despatched it to his wife, whom he had long neglected, and in this wise so atoned for his conduct that his wife was reconciled to him in perfect affection. (1)
1 M. Le Roux de Lincy believes that this story has some
historical basis, and, Louise of Savoy being termed the
Regent, he assigns the earlier incidents to the year 1524.
But Louise was Regent, for the first time, in 1515, and we
incline to the belief that Queen Margaret alludes to this
earlier period. Note the reference to a Court journey to
Normandy (post, p. 136), which was probably the journey that
Francis I. and his mother are known to have made to Rouen
and Alençon in the autumn of 1517. See vol. i. p. xxviii.—
Ed. 2 119
In the household of the Lady-Regent, mother of King Francis, there was a very pious lady married to a gentleman of like mind with herself, and, albeit her husband was old and she was young and pretty, she served and loved him as though he had been the handsomest and youngest man in the world. So that she might give him no cause for sorrow, she set herself to live as though she were of the same age as himself, eschewing all such company, dress, dances, and amusements as young women are wont to love, and finding all her pleasure and recreation in the service of God; on which account her husband so loved and trusted her, that she ruled him and his household as she would.
One day it happened that the gentleman told his wife that from his youth up he had desired to make a journey to Jerusalem, and asked her what she thought of it. She, whose only wish was to please him, replied—