Thereupon they ran to the abbot and told him of the
misdemeanour with which they charged me.
The abbot listened to their story with delight, rejoicing at having
found a chance to crush me, for the greater vileness of his life
made him fear me more even than the rest did. Accordingly he
summoned his council, and when the brethren had assembled he
violently threatened me, declaring that he would straightway send
me to the king, by him to be punished for having thus sullied his
crown and the glory of his royalty. And until he should hand me
over to the king, he ordered that I should be closely guarded. In
vain did I offer to submit to the customary discipline if I had in
any way been guilty. Then, horrified at their wickedness, which
seemed to crown the ill fortune I had so long endured, and in utter
despair at the apparent conspiracy of the whole world against me, I
fled secretly from the monastery by night, helped thereto by some
of the monks who took pity on me, and likewise aided by some of my
scholars.
I made my way to a region where I had formerly dwelt, hard by the
lands of Count Theobald (of Champagne). He himself had some slight
acquaintance with me, and had compassion on me by reason of my
persecutions, of which the story had reached him.
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