cruel to him, and further to prevent the affair from becoming known, he
caused the relics of the aforesaid convent of Gif to be secretly stolen
at night, and accusing the confessor of the convent, a virtuous and
very aged man, of having stolen them, he cast him into prison at St.
Martin's.

Whilst he held him captive there, he stirred up two witnesses who in
ignorance signed what the Prior commanded them, which was a statement
that they had seen the confessor in a garden with Sister Marie, engaged
in a foul and wicked act; and this the Prior sought to make the old monk
confess. But he, who knew all the Prior's misdoings, entreated him to
bring him before the Chapter, saying that there, in presence of all the
monks, he would tell the truth of all that he knew. The Prior, fearing
that the confessor's justification would be his own condemnation, would
in no wise grant this request; and, finding him firm of purpose, he
treated him so ill in prison that some say he brought about his death,
and others that he forced him to lay aside his robe and betake himself
out of the kingdom of France. Be that as it may, the confessor was never
seen again.

The Prior, thinking that he had now a sure hold upon Sister Marie,
repaired to the convent, where the Abbess, chosen for this purpose,
gainsaid him in nothing. There he began to exercise his authority as
visitor, and caused all the nuns to come one after the other into a room
that he might hear them, as is the fashion at a visitation. When the
turn of Sister Marie, who had now lost her good aunt, had come, he began
speaking to her in this wise--

"Sister Marie, you know of what crime you are accused, and that your
pretence of chastity has availed you nothing, since you are well known