xv. ), De la Monnoye
(vol. ii.), D'Ouville (_Contes_, vol. ii.), &c.--L. & B. J.
"By this tale, ladies, you may see how quick and crafty a woman is in
escaping from danger. And if her wit be quick to discover the means of
concealing a bad deed, it would, in my belief, be yet more subtle in
avoiding evil or in doing good; for I have always heard it said that wit
to do well is ever the stronger."
"You may talk of your cunning as much as you please," said Hircan, "but
my opinion is that had the same fortune befallen you, you could not have
concealed the truth."
"I had as lief you deemed me the most foolish woman on earth," she
replied.
"I do not say that," answered Hircan, "but I think you more likely to be
confounded by slander than to devise some cunning means to silence it."
"You think," said Nomerfide, "that every one is like you, who would use
one slander for the patching of another; but there is danger lest the
patch impair what it patches and the foundation be so overladen that
all be destroyed.
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