THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS. 609 



How Deusdona was " squared/' and what lie got for his not very 

 valuable complicity in these transactions, does not appear. But at 

 last the relics were sent off in charge of Lunison, the brother of 

 Deusdona, and the priest Hunus, as far as Pavia, while Katleig 

 stopped behind for a week to see if the robbery was discovered, 

 and, presumably, to act as a blind if any hue and cry were raised. 

 But, as everything remained quiet, the notary betook himself to 

 Pavia, where he found Lunison and Hunus awaiting his arrival. 

 The notary's opinion of the character of his worthy colleagues, 

 however, may be gathered from the fact that, having persuaded 

 them to set out in advance along a road which he told them he 

 was about to take, he immediately adopted another route, and, 

 traveling by way of St. Maurice and the Lake of Geneva, event- 

 ually reached Soleure. 



Eginhard tells all this story with the most naive air of uncon- 

 sciousness that there is anything remarkable about an abbot, and 

 a high officer of state to boot, being an accessory both before and 

 after the fact to a most gross and scandalous act of sacrilegious 

 and burglarious robbery. And an amusing sequel to the story 

 proves that, where relics were concerned, his friend Hildoin, an- 

 other high ecclesiastical dignitary, was even less scrupulous than 

 himself. 



On going to the palace early one morning, after the saints were 

 safely bestowed at Seligenstadt, he found Hildoin waiting for an 

 audience in the emperor's antechamber, and began to talk to him 

 about the miracle of the bloody exudation. In the course of con- 

 versation, Eginhard happened to allude to the remarkable fineness 

 of the garment of the blessed Marcellinus. Whereupon Abbot 

 Hildoin replied (to Eginhard's stupefaction) that his observation 

 was quite correct. Much astonished at this remark from a person 

 who was supposed not to have seen the relics, Eginhard asked 

 him how he knew that. Upon this, Hildoin saw that he had 

 better make a clean breast of it, and he told the following story, 

 which he had received from his priestly agent, Hunus: While 

 Hunus and Lunison were at Pavia, waiting for Eginhard's notary, 

 Hunus (according to his own account) had robbed the robbers. 

 The relics were placed in a church, and a number of laymen and 

 clerics, of whom Hunus was one, undertook to keep watch over 

 them. One night, however, all the watchers, save the wide-awake 

 Hunus, went to sleep; and then, according to the story which 

 this " sharp " ecclesiastic foisted upon his patron — 



it was borne in upon his mind that there must be some great reason why all the 

 people, except himself, had suddenly become somnolent; and, determining to 

 avail himself of the opportunity thus offered {dblata occasione utendum), he rose 

 and, having lighted a candle, silently approached the chests. Then, having burned 

 through the threads of the seals with the flame of the candle, he quickly opened 

 vol. xxxv. — 39 



