"To-morrow," answered the bishop, "Louis the Lusty will be here at the head of a goodly number of knights and men-at-arms,—all resolved to crush those miserable bourgeois if they dare defend their Commune. It is all settled between us."
"I can hardly believe what you say, seigneur bishop," replied the archdeacon. "The King, who confirmed and swore to the charter for the enfranchisement of the bourgeois of Laon, and who received the price agreed upon, he surely will not be ready to perjure himself and commit such an infamy."
"The King begins to listen to the voice of the Church. He understands that, though it be good politics and profitable withal, to sell charters of emancipation to the cities that are subject to lay seigniories, his rivals and ours, it is to seriously compromise his own power if he were to favor emancipation from the ecclesiastical seigniories. The King is determined to restore to the episcopal authority all the ecclesiastical cities that have been enfranchised, and to exterminate their inhabitants if they dare oppose his pleasure. To-morrow, perhaps this very day, the King will be in the city at the head of armed men. The nobles of the city have been apprised, like myself, of the pending arrival of the King. We shall notify our will to the people."
"My presentiments did not deceive me when I urged the communiers to redouble their self-control and prudence!"
"You were on the right road. It is, therefore, that, aware of your influence with those clowns, I sent for you, to commission you to induce them to renounce their hellish Commune of their own free will, if they would escape a terrible punishment. We demand absolute submission."
"Bishop of Laon," Anselm answered solemnly and with a tremulous voice, "I decline the mission that you charge me with. I do not wish to see the blood of my brothers flow in this city. If your projects were but suspected, an uprising would break out on the spot among the people, and yourself, the clergy and the knights in the city would be the first victims of the rage of the communiers. Your houses would be burned down over your heads."
"There is no insurrection to be feared," put in the bishop laughing loudly. "John, my negro, will take by the nose the wildest of those clowns and will bring him on his knees to my feet, begging for mercy, trembling and penitent. I need but to say the word."
"If you dare touch the rights of the Commune, then you, the priests and the nobles will all be exterminated by the people in arms. Oh, may heaven's curse fall upon me before I shall by a single word help to unchain such a storm!"
"So, then, you, Anselm, a subordinate to my authority, you refuse the commission that I charge you with?"
"I swear to you upon the salvation of my soul, you are staking your life at a terrible game! May I not have to dispute your bleeding remains from the popular fury in order to give them Christian burial!"