astic 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
(_oblata occasione utendum_), he rose and, having lighted a candle,
silently approached the chests. Then, having burnt through the
threads of the seals with the flame of the candle, he quickly
opened the chests, which had no locks;[23] and, taking out portions
of each of the bodies which were thus exposed, he closed the chests
and connected the burnt ends of the threads with the seals again,
so that they appeared not to have been touched; and, no one having
seen him, he returned to his place. (Cap. iii. 23.)

Hildoin went on to tell Eginhard that Hunus at first declared to him
that these purloined relics belonged to St. Tiburtius but afterwards
confessed, as a great secret, how he had come by them, and he wound up
his discourse thus:

They have a place of honour beside St. Medardus, where they are
worshipped with great veneration by all the people; but whether we
may keep them or not is for your judgment. (Cap. iii. 23.)

Poor Eginhard was thrown into a state of great perturbation of mind by
this revelation. An acquaintance of his had recently told him of a
rumour that was spread about that Hunus had contrived to abstract _all_
the remains of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus while Eginhard's agents were
in a drunken sleep; and that, while the real relics were in Abbot
Hildoin's hands at St. Medardus, the Shrine at Seligenstadt contained
nothing but a little dust. Though greatly annoyed by this "execrable
rumour, spread everywhere by the subtlety of the devil," Eginhard had
doubtless comforted himself by his supposed knowledge of its falsity,
and he only now discovered how considerable a foundation there was for
the scandal. There was nothing for it but to insist upon the return of
the stolen treasures. One would have thought that the holy man, who had
admitted himself to be knowingly a receiver of stolen goods, would have
made instant restitution and begged only for absolution. But Eginhard
intimates that he had very great difficulty in getting his brother abbot
to see that even restitution was necessary.

Hildoin's proceedings were not of such a nature as to lead any one to
place implicit confidence in anything he might say;