Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/148

136 the gate, and I will receive you yet, as my beloved wife." But she made no answer, and turned away. The knight complained to the judge, and alleged the services he had rendered her. He displayed the wounds taken in her behalf, and claimed her in recompence as his wife. The judge, therefore, sent for the seducer, and said, "Hast thou withheld the woman whom the knight's bravery freed from uncourteous usage?"

"I have, my lord."

"And, according to law, she voluntarily became his wife? How then darest thou affect the wife of another? First, you entered his castle during his absence; next, you violated his bed: what have you to answer?"

He was silent; and the judge, turning to the woman, said, "Girl! by the law of the land, you are doubly the wife of this knight. First, because he freed you from a violator; and secondly, because you contracted yourself to him. Why hast thou denied thy husband admittance into his own castle?" She, also, was unable to answer, and the judge condemned both to be