Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/156

cxxx "The emperor hearing this, he turned towards his brother, and said in this wise: What evil, sorrow, or other unhappy wretchedness is in thee? Seest thou not how that thou art a foul leper? therefore acknowledge thy sin truly, that thou mayest be whole, or else avoid my company for ever more.

"Ah my lord, quoth he, I may not tell my life openly, except I be sure of thy grace. What hast thou trespassed against me, said the emperor? Then answered his brother, and said: Mine offence against thee is grievous, and therefore I heartily ask thee forgiveness. The emperor thought not on the empress, forasmuch as he supposed she had been dead many years before: therefore he commanded his brother to tell forth wherein he had offended him, and he should be forgiven.

"When the emperor had thus forgiven his brother, he began to tell openly how he had desired the empress to commit adultery with him, and because she denied, he had hanged her by the hair, in the forrest, on such a day. "When the emperor heard this, he was almost beside himself, and in his rage he said thus: O thou wretched creature, the vengeance of God is fallen upon thee, and were it not that I have pardoned