_TALE XXXIII_.

_The hypocrisy of a priest who, under the cloak of sanctity,
had got his sister with child, was discovered by the wisdom
of the Count of Angoulême, by whose command they both were
visited with punishment by law_. (1)

Count Charles of Angoulême, father of King Francis, a pious Prince and
one that feared God, happened to be at Coignac when he was told that
in a village called Cherues, (2) not far away, there dwelt a maiden who
lived a marvellously austere life, and who, for all that, was now great
with child. She made no secret of the matter, but assured every one that
she had never known a man and that she could not tell how such a fortune
should have befallen her, unless indeed it were the work of the Holy
Ghost. This explanation the people readily received, and knowing as they
all did how virtuous she had been from her youth up, and how she had
never given a single token of worldliness, they believed and deemed her
a second Virgin Mary. She used to fast not only on the days commanded by
the Church, but, from natural devotion, several times a week also; and
she never stirred from the church whenever there was a service going on
there. For these reasons she was held in such great repute among all the
vulgar that every one came to see her as though she were a miracle, and
those who succeeded in touching her dress deemed themselves fortunate
indeed.

1 This tale is historical, the incidents must have occurred