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Margaret, Queen of Navarre, 1492-1549

"The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.)"


There were also among the French two gentlemen who had gone to the baths
rather that they might be in the company of the ladies whose lovers
they were, than because of any failure in their health. These gentlemen,
seeing that the company was departing and that the husbands of their
ladies were taking them away, resolved to follow them at a distance
without making their design known to any one. But one evening, while the
two married gentlemen and their wives were in the house of one who was
more of a robber than a peasant, the two lovers, who were lodged in a
farmhouse hard by, heard about midnight a great uproar. They got up,
together with their serving-men, and inquired what this tumult meant.
The poor man, in great fear, told them that it was caused by certain
evil-doers who were come to share the spoil which was in the house of
their fellow-bandit. Thereupon the gentlemen immediately took their
arms, and with their serving-men set forth to succour the ladies,
esteeming it a happier thing to die for them than to outlive them.


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