In the morning the leading burgesses met in council, and finding none who could give them any information, the mayor and two of the councillors repaired to the convent, where they asked for an interview with the lady abbess.  Mightily indignant were they at hearing that Sir Rudolph had attempted to break into the convent, and to carry off a boarder residing there.  But the abbess herself could give them no further news.  She said that after she retired from the window, she heard great shouts and cries, and that almost immediately afterwards the whole of the party in front hastily retired.

That Sir Rudolph had been attacked by a party of archers was evident; but whence they had shot, or how they had come upon the spot at the time, or whither they had gone, were mysteries that could not be solved.  In the search which the authorities made, however, it was discovered that the house of the draper, Master Nicholas, was closed.  Finding that summonses to open were unanswered, the door was broken in, and the premises were found in confusion.  No goods of any kind were discovered there, but many bales filled with dried leaves, bark of trees, and other worthless matters.  Such goods as had been displayed in the window had clearly been carried away.  Searching the house, they found signs that a considerable number of men had been concealed there, and although not knowing whence the body of archers could have come, they concluded that those who defeated the attempt of Sir Rudolph must have been hidden in the draper’s house.  The singularity of this incident gave rise to great excitement; but the indignation against Sir Rudolph was in no way lessened by the fact that his attempt had been defeated, not by the townsmen themselves, but by some unknown force.

After much consultation on the part of the council, it was resolved that a deputation, consisting of the mayor and the five senior councillors, should resort to London, and there demand from the prince redress for the injury put upon their town by Sir Rudolph.  These worthy merchants betook themselves to London by easy stages, and upon their arrival there were kept for some days before they could obtain an interview with King John.  When they appeared before him and commenced telling their story, the prince fell into sudden rage.

“I have heard of this matter before,” he said, “and am mightily angry with the people of Worcester, inasmuch as they have dared to interfere to prevent the carrying out of my commands.  The Earl of Evesham has written to me, that thinking to scare the abbess of St. Anne’s into a compliance with the commands which I had laid upon her, and to secure the delivery of a contumacious ward of the crown, he had pretended to use force, having, however, no idea of carrying his threats into effect.  When, as he doubted not, the abbess was on the point of yielding up the ward, the good knight was suddenly set upon by the rascals of the town, who slew some