captain; but as the doors
remained closed, he signed to his men to force them, and soon two
hundred and fifty archers were in the abbey, seeking its abbess. During
the whole day they sought in vain, and began to think that she was not
in the house at all; at length a soldier passing through a dormitory
noticed a slight movement in one of the beds, which proved to contain
the rebellious abbess. The man bade her get up at once, but she told
them that it was impossible, as she had hardly any clothes on. The
soldier, not knowing what to do, sent for his captain, who promptly bade
four archers take up mattress and abbess and all, and place them in the
carriage which stood before the gates.

In this manner, accompanied by one nun, madame d'Estrees entered the
convent of the Penitents.

* * * * *

It is very amusing to read about, but at the time the affair made a
great noise, and the other abbesses who were conscious of having
neglected their vows had long felt very uneasy and watched anxiously
what would happen next. Of course, Maubuisson could not be left without
a head, and as soon as the abbess was removed, the abbot summoned the
nuns before him and informed them that they might choose which of three
ladies should take the place of madame d'Estrees. One of the three was
madame de Port Royal.

The 'ladies of Maubuisson,' as they had always been called, trembled at
the thought of what they might have to undergo at the hands of
Angelique, yet they liked still less the other abbesses proposed. In the
end it was she who was appointed, and a fortnight later arrived at
Maubuisson with three of her own nuns, one being her young sister Marie.

Some of the Maubuisson nuns remembered their new abbess quite well, when
she had lived amongst them nearly seventeen years before. These she
treated with the utmost consideration, for she knew it was unreasonable
to expect them to give up all at once the habits of a lifetime, and she
thought it wiser to gain permission to add thirty young novices to the
community whom she might train herself. To these girls she taught the
duties performed by her own nuns, and herself took part in carrying wood
for the fires, keeping clean the chapel and other parts of the abbey,
washing the clothes, digging up the garden, and singing the chants, for
she had been shocked by the discordant and irreverent manner in which
the services were conducted. She even allowed her novic