Page:The Way of a Virgin.djvu/232



A native of Florence, already old, espoused a young maid, whom the matrons had instructed to resist the first of her husband on the wedding night, and to yield herself as reluctanly as possible. She refused, therefore, point-blank, to accede to his desires.

The husband, 'decks cleared for action and with all sail furled,' was astonished by this refusal, and asked why she would not give way to his wishes. The virgin replied that she had a pain in her head; whereupon the husband 'disarmed,' lay down on his side, and slept till morn.

The young wife, when she perceived that her husband left her alone, felt remorse in that she had followed the counsels of the gossips; she aroused her husband, and told him that she no longer had a pain in the head.

"Ah!" quoth the husband. "I, now, have a