5 In two MS. copies of the Heptameron in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, numbered respectively 1520 and 1524, after the words “not with men” there follows “in men there is some mercy, but in animals none.”—­L.

     6 Peyrechitte is evidently intended for Pierrefitte, a
     village on the left bank of the Gave, between Argelez and
     Cauterets.—­Ed.

Then the two ladies and the three gentlemen entered the room where these unhappy travellers were, and found them weeping.  They recognised them to be Nomerfide and Ennasuite, whereupon they all embraced and recounted what had befallen them.  At the exhortations of the good Abbot they began to take comfort in having found one another again, and in the morning they heard mass with much devotion, praising God for the perils from which they had escaped.

While they were all at mass there came into the church (7) a man clad only in a shirt, fleeing as though he were pursued, and crying out for aid.  Forthwith Hircan and the other gentlemen went to meet him to see what the affair might mean, and perceived two men behind him with drawn swords.

(7) This church is still in existence.  It is mainly in the Romanesque style and almost destitute of ornamentation.  There are, however, some antique paintings of St. Savin’s miracles; and the saint’s tomb, which is still preserved, is considered to be some twelve hundred years old.  The village is gathered about the church, and forms a wide street lined with houses of the fifteenth century, which Margaret and her friends must have gazed upon during their sojourn here.—­Ed.

These, on seeing so great a company, sought to fly, but they were hotly pursued by Hircan and his companions, and so lost their lives.  When Hircan came back, he found that the man in the shirt was one of his companions named Geburon, who related to them how while he was in bed at a farmhouse near Peyrechitte three men came upstairs, and how he, although he was in his shirt and had no other weapon but his sword, had stretched one of them on the ground mortally wounded.  While the other two were occupied in raising their companion, he, perceiving himself to be naked and the others armed, bethought him that he could not outdo them except it were by flight, as being the least encumbered with clothes.  And so he had escaped, and for this he praised God and those who had avenged him.

When they had heard mass and had dined they sent to see if it was possible to cross the river Gave, and on learning that it was not, they were in great dismay.  However, the Abbot urgently entreated them to stay with him until the water had abated, and they agreed to remain for that day.