de 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; still less had his
agent, priest Hunus, established much claim to confidence; and it is
not surprising that Eginhard should have lost no time in summoning his
notary and Lunison to his presence, in order that he might hear what
they had to say about the business. They, however, at once protested
that priest Hunus's story was a parcel of lies, and that after the
relics left Rome no one had any opportunity of meddling with them.
Moreover, Lunison, throwing himself at Eginhard's feet, confessed with
many tears what actually took place. It will be remembered that after
the body of St. Marcellinus was abstracted from its tomb, Ratleig
deposited it in the house of Deusdona, in charge of the latter's
brother, Lunison. But Hunus, being very much disappointed that he
could not get hold of the body of St. Tiburtius, and afraid to go back
to his abbot empty-handed, bribed Lunison with four pieces of gold and
five of silver to give him access to the chest. This Lunison did, and
Hunus helped himself to as much as would fill a gallon measure (_vas
sextarii mensur