He then goes traveling but falls prey to highwaymen. Seeking refuge in a lair, he meets a hermit who persuades him to join the local cloister. After two weeks he escapes the cloister dressed in drag. He loses his right eye on his way home and starts wearing an eyepatch. At home he finds a letter from his love interest, finally returning his affection. Nightly he serenades her with a large but unspecified string instrument. They flee on his horse. But Vieux Bois is apprehended by monks and returned to prison. He throws himself out of a window in his fourth suicide attempt.