“We will go where we may find the cheapest and the best.  Still,” he added, “for the sake of his friendship with my departed father, I am willing that we should visit him first.”

Matters being thus contrived, the mother and son went one morning to see Master Peter, who made them welcome; for traders, as you know, are never backward in this respect.  They caused great quantities of all kinds of silk to be displayed before them, and chose what they required; but they could not agree upon the price, for James haggled on purpose, because his sweetheart’s mother did not come in.  So at last they went away without buying anything, in order to see what could be done elsewhere.  But James could find nothing so handsome as in his sweetheart’s house, and thither after a while they returned.

The mercer’s wife was now there and gave them the best reception imaginable, and after such bargaining as is common in shops of the kind, during which Peter’s wife proved even harder than her husband, James said to her—­

“In sooth, madam, you are very hard to deal with.  I can see how it is; we have lost my father, and our friends recognise us no longer.”

So saying, he pretended to weep and wipe his eyes at thought of his departed father; but ’twas done in order to further his design.

The good widow, his mother, took the matter in perfect faith, and on her part said—­

“We are as little visited since his death as if we had never been known.  Such is the regard in which poor widows are held!”

Upon this the two women exchanged fresh declarations of affection, and promised to see each other oftener than ever.  While they were thus discoursing, there came in other traders, whom the master himself led into the back shop.  Then the young man perceived his opportunity, and said to his mother—­

“I have often on feast days seen this good lady going to visit the holy places in our neighbourhood, and especially the convents.  Now if, when passing, she would sometimes condescend to take wine with us, she would do us at once pleasure and honour.”

The mercer’s wife, who suspected no harm, replied that for more than a fortnight past she had intended to go thither, that, if it were fair, she would probably do so on the following Sunday, and that she would then certainly visit the lady at her house.  This affair being concluded, the bargain for the silk quickly followed, since, for the sake of a little money, ’twould have been foolish to let slip so excellent an opportunity.

When matters had been thus contrived, and the merchandise taken away, James, knowing that he could not alone achieve so difficult an enterprise, was constrained to make it known to a faithful friend named Oliver, and they took such good counsel together that nothing now remained but to put their plan into execution.

Accordingly, when Sunday was come, the mercer’s wife and her daughter, on returning from worship, failed not to visit the widow, whom they found talking with a neighbour in a gallery that looked upon the garden, while her daughter was walking in the pathways with James and Oliver.