He determined to go to Friburg. The council of Geneva had indeed told him not to disquiet himself about the foolish stories of his enemies, and added: 'Let him come, if he pleases, and he will be treated well.'[826] This was not a very pressing invitation, and Besançon Hugues, the most influential man in the city, was against him. Hugues, a catholic and episcopalian, might very well have no great liking for the prior of a monastery who was coming round entirely to the new ideas. It seems, however, that these catholic prejudices were mixed up with some human weaknesses. 'Bonivard,' says a manuscript, 'often had disputes with Besançon Hugues, who hoped to obtain for his son the investiture of the priory of St. Victor.'[827] The prior was not ignorant of this hostile disposition. 'Alas!' he said, 'a councillor, and he not one of the least, is exciting the council and the people against me.' On the other hand, he could not make up his mind to turn thoroughly to the side of the Reformation; he still remained in the neutral ground of Erasmus, and indulged in jests against the huguenots, which indisposed them towards him. He belonged neither to one party nor to the other, and offended both. He was not anxious, therefore, to return to Geneva just now, fearing that his enemies would be stronger than his friends. The month of April being ended, he begged the duke to prolong his safe-conduct during the month of May, and it was granted. Bonivard now took leave of his aged mother, whom he left full of anguish about the fate of her son. She never saw him again. The Count of Chalans, president of the council of Savoy, and friend of the Bishop of Aosta, was, though a layman, as bigoted to Roman-catholicism as Gazzini was, as a priest. At that time he was holding a _journée_ or diet at Romont, between Lausanne and Friburg. The avoyer of Friburg, who was Bonivard's friend, happening to be at Romont, Bonivard repaired thither; and, related as he was to the nobility of Savoy, he presented his homage to the count, who received him kindly. Bonivard skilfully sounded De Chalans on what he might have to fear; for once already, and not far from that place, he had been seized and thrown into a ducal prison. The count pledged his honour, both verbally and in writing, that he would run no danger in the duke's territories during the month of May, and, he added, even during the month of June. Bonivard, thus set at ease, began to reflect on his position. It was a strange thing for a man, so enlightened as he was on the abuses of popery and monasticism, to be at the head of a monastic body. Moreover, in addition to the pope and the duke, he had a new adversary against him. 'I fear the duke on the one hand,' he said, 'and on the other the madness of the people of Geneva, to whom I dare not return without the strongest pledges.' [Sidenote: DETERMINES TO GIVE UP THE PRIORY.]