Bound to him as I was by friendship, I strove by the best arguments and the most forcible examples I could think of to restrain and dissuade him from such a course; but perceiving I produced no effect I resolved to make the Duke Ricardo, his father, acquainted with the matter; but Don Fernando, being sharp-witted and shrewd, foresaw and apprehended this, perceiving that by my duty as a good servant I was bound not to keep concealed a thing so much opposed to the honour of my lord the duke; and so, to mislead and deceive me, he told me he could find no better way of effacing from his mind the beauty that so enslaved him than by absenting himself for some months, and that he wished the absence to be effected by our going, both of us, to my father's house under the pretence, which he would make to the duke, of going to see and buy some fine horses that there were in my city, which produces the best in the world. When I heard him say so, even if his resolution had not been so good a one I should have hailed it as one of the happiest that could be imagined, prompted by my affection, seeing what a favourable chance and opportunity it offered me of returning to see my Luscinda.
Mas don Fernando, como astuto y discreto, se receló y temió desto, por parecerle que estaba yo obligado, en vez de buen criado, no tener encubierta cosa que tan en perjuicio de la honra de mi señor el duque venía; y así, por divertirme y engañarme, me dijo que no hallaba otro mejor remedio para poder apartar de la memoria la hermosura que tan sujeto le tenía, que el ausentarse por algunos meses; y que quería que el ausencia fuese que los dos nos viniésemos en casa de mi padre, con ocasión que darían al duque que venía a ver y a feriar unos muy buenos caballos que en mi ciudad había, que es madre de los mejores del mundo. »Apenas le oí yo decir esto, cuando, movido de mi afición, aunque su determinación no fuera tan buena, la aprobara yo por una de las más acertadas que se podían imaginar, por ver cuán buena ocasión y coyuntura se me ofrecía de volver a ver a mi Luscinda.