We have a letter which was written by the abbot about this time to Heloise. I have already quoted the portion in which he consoles her with a picture of the edifying life and death of her husband. The first part of the letter is even more interesting in its testimony to the gifts and character of the abbess herself. Peter the Venerable was, it will be remembered, a noble of high origin, an abbot of great and honourable repute, a man of culture and sober judgment. ‘For in truth,’ he says, after an allusion to some gifts—probably altar-work—that she had sent him, ‘my affection for thee is not of recent growth, but of long standing. I had hardly passed the bounds of youth, hardly come to man’s estate, when the repute, if not yet of thy religious fervour, at least of thy becoming and praiseworthy studies, reached my ears. I remember hearing at that time of a woman who, though still involved in the toils of the world, devoted herself to letters and to the pursuit of wisdom, which is a rare occurrence.... In that pursuit thou hast not only excelled amongst women, but there are few men whom thou hast not surpassed.’ He passes to the consideration of her religious ‘vocation,’ in which, of course, he discovers a rich blessing. ‘These things, dearest sister in the Lord,’ he concludes, ‘I say by way of exhortation, not of flattery.’ Then, after much theological and spiritual discussion, he says: ‘It would be grateful to me to hold long converse with thee on these matters, because I not only take pleasure in thy renowned erudition, but I am even more attracted by that piety of which so many speak to me. Would that thou didst dwell at Cluny!’ This is the one woman (and wife, to boot) to whom Bernard could have referred in justification of his equivocal remark to a stranger that Abélard ‘busied himself with women.’ We have, however, little further record of the life of the unfortunate Heloise. Shortly after the body of her husband has been buried in the crypt of their convent-chapel, we find her applying to Peter of Cluny for a written copy of the absolution of Abélard. The abbot sent it; and for long years the ashes of the great master were guarded from profanation by this pitiful certificate of his orthodoxy. In the same letter Heloise thanks the abbot for a promise that the abbey of Cluny will chant the most solemn rites of the Church when her own death is announced to them; she also asks Peter’s favourable influence on behalf of Astrolabe, her son, who has entered the service of the Church.