Madalena Secures Ninetta’s Release by Yielding to the Duke

Maddalena secures Ninetta’s release through a bargain with the Duke of Crete, turning her own long refusal of his advances into the means of saving her sister from execution. The rescue depends on secrecy and deception: the Duke stages Ninetta’s supposed death, but the bargain’s discovery brings a new and fatal violence, and Maddalena pays for the reprieve with her life.

Arrest and Bargain

After an old Greek woman who had prepared poison for Ninetta was tortured for another crime, she confessed that Ninetta had used the poison to kill Restagnone. The Duke of Crete then surprised Folco’s palace at night, seized Ninetta without noise or resistance, and obtained her confession without torturing her. Folco and Ughetto learned privately from the Duke why Ninetta had been taken. They and their companions feared she would be condemned to the stake, and every effort to save her seemed fruitless while the Duke remained determined to administer justice.

Maddalena, Ninetta’s beautiful younger sister, had long been courted by the Duke but had never consented to grant him what he wanted. She offered to yield to him on two conditions: that Ninetta be returned safe and sound, and that the arrangement remain secret. The Duke debated whether to accept, then agreed. His decision made Maddalena’s private sacrifice the price of Ninetta’s release, while secrecy became essential to the plan’s success.

The Staged Release

To create an opportunity for the exchange, the Duke had Folco and Ughetto detained on the pretext that he wished to question them. He then went secretly to Maddalena. Before taking Ninetta to her sister, he pretended to put her in a sack and intended to sink her in the sea that night. The threat made the release appear to be an execution, concealing the Duke’s bargain from those who might otherwise have understood what had happened.

The next morning, the Duke delivered Ninetta to Maddalena and treated her return as payment for the night he had spent with her. He asked Maddalena to let their relationship continue, and warned her to send Ninetta away lest the Duke be blamed and forced to pursue the case against her again. Once released, Folco and Ughetto returned home believing that Ninetta had been put in a sack and killed. Their belief turned the rescue into a fresh source of grief: they went back to comfort their mistresses for what they thought was their sister’s death.

Discovery and Aftermath

Maddalena tried to hide Ninetta, but Folco soon discovered that she was in the palace. Knowing of the Duke’s passion for Maddalena, he grew suspicious and demanded an explanation. Maddalena had prepared a story to account for Ninetta’s presence, but Folco did not believe it and pressed her until she confessed the bargain. His discovery destroyed the secrecy on which the sisters’ rescue depended. Overcome with rage, he drew his sword and killed Maddalena as she pleaded for mercy.

Folco then concealed the killing from Ninetta. He told her, with a feigned air of cheerfulness, that they should leave for the place Maddalena had supposedly arranged, so that Ninetta would not fall into the Duke’s hands again. Ninetta believed him and, fearful of being recaptured, left without taking leave of her sister. Folco and Ninetta took what little money he could find, went to the shore, and boarded a ship; their destination was never learned. The release therefore saves Ninetta from the Duke’s justice but ends in Maddalena’s death and the sisters’ final separation.