But when they tried to return,
rain set in with such severity that they thought the Deluge had come
again, and they found their roads, especially that to the French side,
almost entirely barred by the Gave de Bearn and other rivers. So they
scattered in different directions, most of them taking the Spanish
side, either along the mountains and across to Roussillon or straight to
Barcelona, and thence home by sea. But a certain widow, named Oisille,
made her way with much loss of men and horses to the Abbey of Notre Dame
de Serrance. Here she was joined by divers gentlemen and ladies, who
had had even worse experiences of travel than herself, with bears and
brigands, and other evil things, so that one of them, Longarine, had
lost her husband, murdered in an affray in one of the cut-throat inns
always dear to romance. Besides this disconsolate person and Oisille,
the company consisted of a married pair, Hircan and Parlamente; two
young cavaliers, Dagoucin and Saffredent; two young ladies, Nomerfide
and Ennasuite; Simontault, a cavalier-servant of Parlamente; and
Geburon, a knight older and discreeter than the rest of the company
except Oisille.
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