The king, however, .adroitly avoided giving the kiss of peace, a circumstance which the primate observed, and made the subject of the most gloomy presage. Having waited in vain for the money which Henry had promised him, Becket borrowed a sum sufficient to defray the ex-penses of the journey, and contrary to the advice of his friends, returned to his diocese. He despatched a letter to the king at Rouen, which closed thus :— " It was my wish to have waited on yon once more, but necessity compels me, in the lowly state to which I am re-duced, to revisit my afflicted church. I go, sir, with your permission, perhaps to perish for its security, unless you protect me ; but whether I live or die, yours I am, and yours I shall ever be in the Lord. "Whatever may befall me or mine, may the blessing of God rest on you and your children." Before the meeting between Becket and the king, the pope had issued letters of suspension against those who had assisted at the coronation of the young prince, and Becket returned to England with those letters upon his person, and immediately proceeded upon the work of excommunication. These tidings were conveyed to Henry by the first ship that sailed for Normandy, and the outraged monarch exclaimed in a fury of passion, " Of the cowards who eat my bread is there not one to rid me of this turbulent priest?" Four knights, at the head of whom was Reginald Fitzurse, im-mediately set out for England, and proceeding straight to Canterbury, entered the house of the archbishop, and re-quired him, in the king's name, to absolve the excommuni-cated prelates. Becket refused, and repaired to the church with the utmost tranquillity to evening vespers. The sol-emn tones of the organ had ceased, and the archbishop had opened the book and commenced the lesson of the martyr-dom of St. Stephen, " Princes sat and spake against me," when the knights, with twelve companions, all in complete armor, burst into the church. ""Where is the traitor? "Where is the archbishop ?" inquired Fitzurse. " Here am ELEANOR. 163