spectacle, he carried him off to the city, and begged him to think no
more of the affair, since the abbey would never yield so beautiful a
prize.

In fact, the chapter signified to the poor lover that, if he married
this girl, he must resolve to abandon his property and house to the
abbey, and to acknowledge himself a serf; and that then, by special
grace, the abbey would allow him to remain in his house, on condition of
his furnishing an inventory of his goods, of his paying a tribute every
year, and coming annually, for a fortnight, to lodge in a burg
appertaining to the domain, in order to make act of serfdom. The
goldsmith, to whom every one spoke of the obstinacy of the monks, saw
plainly that the abbey would adhere inflexibly to this sentence, and was
driven to the verge of despair. At one time he thought of setting fire
to the four corners of the monastery,--at another, he proposed to
inveigle the abbot into some place where he might torment him till he
signed the manumission papers of Tiennette,--in fine, he projected a
thousand schemes, which all evaporated into air. But, after many
lamentations, he thought he would carry off the girl to some secure
place, whence nothing could draw him, and made his preparations in
consequence, thinking that, once out of the kingdom, his friends or the
sovereign could manage the monks and bring them to reason. The good man
reckoned without his host, for, on going to the meadow, he missed
Tiennette, and learned that she was kept in the abbey so rigorously,
that, to gain possession of her, he would have to besiege the monastery.
Then master Anseau rent the air with complaints and lamentations, and,
throughout Paris, the citizens and housewives spoke of nothing but this
adventure, the noise of which was such, that the king, meeting the old
abbot at court, asked him why, in this juncture, he did not yield to the
great love of his goldsmith, and practise a little Christian charity.