An Early Modern Ghost Story

In keeping with the Halloween spirit, here is a ghost story from Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron. Enjoy!

Marguerite uses the tale to illustrate how "[love] makes women lose all fear, and torments men to arrive at their ends." Some of the tale's listeners praise the servant girl for "liv[ing] for a long while to her heart's content, by means of her stratagem." Others condemn her, claiming "there is no perfect pleasure unless the conscience is at rest." What do you think?

In any case, stay clear of ghosts, lovelorn or not, tonight!

[Excerpt from The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, published by Gates & Co. in 1877. No translator given. Courtesy of Google Books.]