Madam Isabella’s escape from discovery is a tale of adultery, coercion, and rapid improvisation: when her husband unexpectedly returns to the country house where she is with two men, she makes the threatening Messer Lambertuccio appear to be pursuing her lover, Leonetto. The husband believes the story, escorts Leonetto safely home, and never learns that his wife has deceived him. Pampinea presents the episode as evidence that love need not deprive people of their senses; in the moment of danger, Isabella’s presence of mind turns an apparent catastrophe into a convincing rescue.

Story and Setting

Pampinea introduces Isabella’s story while arguing that lovers do not necessarily lose their judgment. Isabella is a well-born, beautiful woman married to a worthy gentleman. Her husband does not altogether satisfy her, and she falls in love with Leonetto, a well-mannered and agreeable young man of lesser social standing. Their mutual desire soon becomes an affair.

A second man, Messer Lambertuccio, also desires Isabella. Unlike Leonetto, he is not welcome to her: repeated messages do not persuade her, and he threatens to dishonor her because of his standing and influence. Afraid of what he may do, Isabella submits to him. The story thus places her apparent choice under pressure before it tests her ingenuity. Her later encounter with Lambertuccio is not simply another meeting between willing lovers; it follows the threat that has already made refusal dangerous.

The Unexpected Return

The central predicament unfolds at Isabella’s country estate during summer. Her husband has ridden away to spend several days elsewhere, so Isabella summons Leonetto to join her. Lambertuccio hears that the husband is gone, rides over alone, and arrives while Isabella and Leonetto are together. Isabella’s waiting-woman alerts her to his presence. Fearing Lambertuccio, Isabella asks Leonetto to hide behind the curtains of her bed until the visitor leaves.

Lambertuccio is admitted, ties his palfrey in the courtyard, and goes upstairs. Isabella greets him as cheerfully as she can. He embraces and kisses her, then takes her into a bedchamber, where they shut themselves in. The crisis sharpens when the waiting-woman sees Isabella’s husband returning. His arrival makes the horse in the courtyard an immediate danger: Lambertuccio cannot simply be hidden, and Isabella has both him and Leonetto under her roof.

A Reversal of the Pursuit

Isabella acts without delay. She tells Lambertuccio to draw his hanger, descend with an angry appearance, and leave as if he had been chasing a man who escaped him. If her husband questions him, he is to repeat only that he will find the man elsewhere and not linger. Lambertuccio follows these instructions. His drawn weapon and furious manner supply the visible evidence for the story Isabella is about to tell.

The husband, already dismounted in the courtyard, sees Lambertuccio’s palfrey and then encounters the armed man coming downstairs. Lambertuccio gives him no explanation beyond his threat to find the fugitive elsewhere, mounts, and rides away. The scene has been arranged so that what might have exposed Isabella instead appears to confirm that her household sheltered a stranger in danger.

Isabella meets her husband at the stairhead, disordered and fearful. She claims that an unknown young man fled into the house with Lambertuccio pursuing him, and that she prevented Lambertuccio from entering the chamber where the fugitive had taken refuge. Her account turns her own lover into a helpless stranger and casts her as the person who protected him. The husband accepts her explanation, judging that it would have been a reproach to the household if a man had been killed there and that Lambertuccio had behaved discourteously by pursuing someone who sought shelter.

The Deception Holds

When the husband asks where the young man is, Isabella says she does not know where he has hidden. He calls for the supposed fugitive to come out safely. Leonetto emerges from behind the bed curtains, trembling from the genuine fright of the encounter. He sustains Isabella’s account by saying that Lambertuccio attacked him on the road without explanation and that he ran to the house for refuge. Their separate performances reinforce one another: Isabella supplies a reason for the armed man’s departure, while Leonetto supplies a reason for being concealed in the house.

The husband not only believes them but takes Leonetto home on horseback after supper, promising to see him safely back. That act completes the reversal. Instead of being exposed as the lover hidden in his wife’s bedroom, Leonetto is escorted away by the husband as the victim of an unprovoked threat. Later that evening, acting on Isabella’s instruction, Leonetto speaks privately with Lambertuccio and makes arrangements with him. Although the affair becomes a subject of much talk, Isabella’s husband never discovers the deception.

Narrative Significance

The tale’s suspense depends on practical details rather than an elaborate disguise: a horse visible in the courtyard, a blade in Lambertuccio’s hand, curtains behind which Leonetto can hide, and a husband arriving at exactly the wrong moment. Isabella reads the room quickly and gives each man a role that matches what the husband can see. Her explanation is credible because the danger is partly real: Lambertuccio has threatened her, and Leonetto is genuinely frightened of him.

Pampinea’s framing emphasizes intelligence under pressure, but the episode also distinguishes the two men’s positions. Lambertuccio’s social power makes his threat consequential; Isabella submits because she fears his capacity to dishonor her. When discovery threatens, however, she directs the encounter and uses that same man’s visible aggression to protect Leonetto and herself. The story ends not with confession or punishment but with the husband’s continued ignorance, leaving Isabella’s successful management of the scene as its decisive reversal.