Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/446

 to another motive. It would not be for the soul's health of Anselm himself if he stayed away when his friend so deeply needed his help. To this argument Anselm yielded; for the sake of friendship and of his friend's spiritual welfare, he would go, let men say what they would about his motives for going.

But the invitation of Earl Hugh was not Anselm's only motive for his journey. Another cause was added which a little startles us. The business of the abbey in England, business to be done with the King, still called for the abbot's presence there. The monks sought to have the royal exactions on their English lands made less heavy. At this moment Anselm was not at Bec; he was spending some days at Boulogne with his friend and correspondent Countess Ida. While there, he received a message from Bec, bidding him, by virtue of the law of obedience, not to come back to the abbey till he had gone into England and looked after the matters about which he was needed there. Such a message as this from monks to their abbot sounds to