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Margaret, Queen of Navarre, 1492-1549

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


When they reached the house, they found the first door broken through,
and the two gentlemen with their servants defending themselves
valiantly. But inasmuch as they were outnumbered by the robbers, and
were also sorely wounded, they were beginning to fall back, having
already lost many of their servants. The two gentlemen, looking in at
the windows, perceived the ladies shrieking and sobbing so bitterly
that their hearts swelled with pity and love at the sight; and, like two
enraged bears coming down from the mountains, they fell upon the bandits
with such fury that many of them were slain, while the remainder,
unwilling to await their onset, fled to a hiding-place which was known
to them.
When the gentlemen had worsted these rogues and had slain the host
himself among the rest, they heard that the man's wife was even
worse than her husband; and they therefore sent her after him with a
sword-thrust. Then they entered a lower room, where they found one of
the married gentlemen on the point of death. The other had received no
hurt, save that his clothes were all pierced with thrusts and that his
sword was broken in two.


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