Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/501

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Thus the Primate's enemies, whoever they were, sought to frighten him, and to get more money out of him for the King's use. But their schemes were disappointed. Anselm was presently surprised by a message to say that the King refused his gift—the gift which he had already cheerfully accepted. He then sought an audience, and asked the King whether such a message was really of his sending. Some tyrants might have seen in this question an escape from a difficulty. It would have been easy for Rufus to have denied his own act; but his pride was up, and direct lying was never in his vein. He avowed his message. Then Anselm prayed him not to refuse his gift; it was the first that he had offered; it should not be the last. It would be better for the King to receive a smaller sum from him as a friend, than to wring a larger sum from him as a slave. Of the alternative of increasing the amount of the gift he said not a word. One motive was that he could not raise a greater sum without doing wrong to his tenants—the wrong which he had declared Ælfheah to be a true martyr for refusing to do. The King was now in the mood for short and wrathful speeches. "Keep your money and your jaw to yourself; I have enough of my own. Get you gone." Anselm obeyed, remembering that at his enthronement the Gospel had been read which said that no man could serve two masters. He rejoiced that no one now could deem that he had been guilty of any corrupt bargain with