The third woman is a servant, Calista's waiting woman Clarinda. She is identified as "a lustful wench," and in modern terms could be called a sexually liberated woman; but the prevailing norms of her society, and her dependent social place, force her to conceal her active sexuality. Clarinda's subplot inverts and mocks the conventions of courtly love that the main-plot characters take seriously; she has a foolish suitor named Malfort that she manipulates — allowing him to kiss her foot, and later, her hand — while she enjoys a sexual relationship with Leon, her pretended cousin.