in great wrath and anger, thinking within himself, if I may, I shall be revenged on thee.
"It befell upon a night within a short time after, that the earl's chamber door was forgotten, and left unshut, which the steward had anon perceived: and when they were all asleep, he went and espied by the light of the lamp where the empress and the young maiden lay together, and with that he drew out his knife, and cut the throat of the earl's daughter and put the knife into the empresses hand, she being asleep, and nothing knowing thereof, to the intent, that when the Earl awaked he should think that she had cut his daughter's throat, and so would she be put to a shameful death for his mischievous deed[1]. And when the damsel was thus slain, and the bloody knife in the empresses hand, the countess awaked out of her sleep, and saw by the light of the lamp the bloody knife in the empresses hand, wherefore she was almost out of her wits, and said to the earl, O my lord, behold in yonder lady's hand a wonderfull thing.
"The earl awaked, and looked toward the empresses bed; and saw the bloody knife, as the countess had said: wherefore he was greatly moved, and cried to her, and said, Awake, woman, out of thy sleep, what thing is this that I see in thy hand: Then the em-
- ↑ This incident will remind the reader of a similar one in Macbeth.
