ON THE PLOT, THE FABLE, AND CONSTRUCTION OF ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. In the ninth novel of the third day of the Decamerone of Boccacio, Bertrand the only son of the count of Rousillon, is beloved by Giletta, daughter of Gerard de Narbonne, whom the count kept continually in his house as his domestic physician. At the death of his father, Bertrand goes to Paris to the king his guardian, who some time after is afflicted with a fistula which none of his physicians can cure. Giletta, the ardor of whose love had increased by absence, flies to Paris to undertake the recovery of the king, in hopes thereby to gain Bertrand for a husband. In both of these expectations her desires are fulfilled; she cures the monarch, who rewards her with the hand of the young count of Rousillon. Bertrand, however, is highly incensed at the inequality of the match; he instantly quits his wife and travels into Tuscany to help the Florentines against the republic of Sienna: from Florence he sends her a message that he will never live with her as a wife, till |