La Chatelaine de Vergi - part 8
(By Ysabeau de Vergi as appeared in the May 1990 Bolt)

La Chatelaine de Vergi - part 8

The duke left her;
And she remained, uneasy.
Never a day would she live,
Nor an hour of contentment would she have,
Until she learned more
Of what the duke was keeping from her,
And of what she could not ask.
No warning could stay her,
Because in her heart she found a ruse
By which she might well know,
If she could wait until the night,
When she had the duke in her arms;
And she knew well that her attentions
Would earn that which she desired.
For this reason therefore she waited;
And when the duke came to bed,
To the side of the bed she retreated,
Showing the duke that she was hardly happy
That the duke wished to lie beside her.
She knew well that the way
To get the better of her husband
Was to make a show of anger towards him.
For this she acted in such a way
That she would best lead the duke
To believe that she was greatly angered.
And, as soon as the duke kissed her,
She said to him, "How false you are,
And treacherous and disloyal,
You who make a great show of love to me,
And never loved me even for a day!
And I was for a long time so silly
That I believed your work,
So often times you told me
That you loved me with a loyal heart!
But today I realized
That I was greatly deceived!"
And the duke said to her, "In what way?"
"You have already told me, by my faith,"
Said she who had ill will,
"To make no attempt
To ask you
Of what you well know."
"Of what, in God's name sister?"
"Of what he recounted to you,"
Said she, "lies and deceits
That he made you think and believe
But to know of it behooves me not,
Because I realize that it is of little worth
To love you with a loyal heart.
Because, if ever there was a good or bad,
My heart neither saw nor knew it
That you did not know of it also.
And now I see that you hide from me
Your thoughts.
So know henceforth, without a doubt,
That neither will I have such trust
In you, nor love you in the same manner
As I have done before."
Then the duchess began
To cry and to sigh,
And to make as much fuss as she could.

To be continued....

 Page last updated 12/28/99