But these good terms were not of long duration.

The freedom of Beaumont was put in constant peril by the Chateau, and there were continual hostilities on the questions of tribute and of precedence.

One especially, the right of paying toll, which the nobles demanded for the navigation of the Ligneul, perpetuated the quarrels.

Then it was that the great prosperity of the lower town began, with its manufacturing of fine linen and lace, and from this epoch the fortune of Beaumont increased daily, while that of Hautecoeur diminished, until the time when the castle was dismantled and the church triumphed.

Louis XIV made of it a cathedral, a bishop's palace was built in the old enclosure of the monks, and, by a singular chain of circumstances, to-day a member of the family of Hautecoeur had returned as a bishop to command the clergy, who, always powerful, had conquered his ancestors, after a contest of four hundred years.
"But," said Angelique, "Monseigneur has been married, and has not he a son at least twenty years of age ?" Hubertine had taken up the shears to remodel one of the pieces of vellum.
"Yes," she replied, "the Abbot Cornille told me the whole story, and it is a very sad history.