"
"It would need more than one to conquer this fair citadel, my lord,
though you are a bold and successful captain, not used to encountering
any serious resistance, and sweeping everything before you; and,
moreover, it is guarded by the vigilant sentinel of a pure and devoted
love."
"Oh ho! she has a lover then, this modest Isabelle!" cried the young
duke, in a tone at once triumphant and annoyed, for though on the one
side he had no faith in the steadfast virtue of any woman, on the other
he was vexed to learn that he had a successful rival.
"I said love, not lover," continued the landlord with respectful
persistency, "which is by no means the same thing. Your lordship is too
well versed in such matters not to appreciate the difference. A woman
that has one lover may have two, as the old song says; but a woman who
loves, with a pure love, and has that love returned in every sense,
it is impossible, or at least very difficult, to win away from it. She
possesses already everything that you, my lord, or any one, could offer
for her acceptance."
"You talk as if you had been studying the subject of love
diligently--and Petrarch's sonnets as well; but notwithstanding all
that, Maitre Bilot, I don't believe you thoroughly understand anything
outside of your own wines and sauces, which, I am bound to admit, are
always excellent.
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