Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/579

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such a time as God might be pleased to put an end to the present distress. The King was much troubled and perplexed. He wished of all things for Anselm to leave the kingdom; but he feared the greater scandal which would arise if he left the kingdom while still in possession of the archbishopric, while he saw no way of depriving him of it. He again took counsel; but this time he did not trouble the bishops for their advice. Of them he had had enough; it was their counsel which had brought him into his present strait. He once more turned to the lay lords. They advised yet another adjournment. The Archbishop should go back to his own quarters in the King's full peace, and should come again in the morning to hear the King's answer to his petition. Many of the King's immediate courtiers were troubled; they groaned at the thought of Anselm's leaving the land. But he himself went gladly and cheerfully to his lodgings, hoping to cross the sea and to cast off all his troubles and all the burthens of the world.

The fourth day of the meeting came, and the way in which its business opened marks how the tide was turning in Anselm's favour. A body of the nobles came straight from the King, asking the Primate to come