"
"Kiss of Judas! Are women really trapped, then, by that gibberish?
Madonna, these miaowing troubadours have concocted a world that they
themselves will not live in. Have I not sat swigging in tents with
great nobles, and heard all the truth about it? Those fellows always
have, besides the lady that they pretend to worship as inviolate, a
dozen others with whom the harp-twanging stage is stale."
"All false, every word," Madonna Gemma answered.
"Because ladies choose to think so the game goes on. Well, Madonna,
remember this. From the moment when I first saw you I, at least, did
you no dishonour, but married you promptly, and sought your
satisfaction by the means that I possessed. I was not unaware that
few wives come to their husbands with affection. Certainly I did not
expect affection from you at the first, but hoped that it might ensue.
So even Lapo Cercamorte became a flabby fool, when he met one in
comparison with whom all other women seemed mawkish. Since it was
such a fit of drivelling, let us put an end to it. At sunrise the
horses will be ready. Good night."
Leaving her beside the dying embers, he went out upon the ramparts.
The fog was impenetrable; one could not even see the light in the
sorcerer's window.
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