Abelard returned secretly and carried Heloise away to Palais, in Brittany, his native country.

Here, shortly afterward, she bore a son, who, from his rare beauty, was surnamed Astrolabe--William G.

The girl's flight enraged Fulbert, and he longed for vengeance, but feared to strike lest retaliation visit Heloise--for he still loved her tenderly.

At length Abelard offered to marry Heloise -- but on a shameful condition: that the marriage should be kept secret from the world, to the end that (while her good name remained a wreck, as before,) his priestly reputation might be kept untarnished.

It was like that miscreant.