your lordship that for a long time I lived in Newcastle; it
was in the time of Charles I., and when the king was given
up to Cromwell by the Scots."

"I know," said Monk, coldly.

"I had at that time a large sum in gold, and on the eve of
the battle, from a presentiment perhaps of the turn which
things would take on the morrow, I concealed it in the
principal vault of the convent of Newcastle, in the tower
whose summit you now see silvered by the moonbeams. My
treasure has then remained interred there, and I have come
to entreat your honor to permit me to withdraw it before,
perhaps, the battle turning that way, a mine or some other
war engine has destroyed the building and scattered my gold,
or rendered it so apparent that the soldiers will take
possession of it."

Monk was well acquainted with mankind, he saw in the
physiognomy of this gentleman all the energy, all the
reason, all the circumspection possible, he could therefore
only attribute to a magnanimous confidence the revelation
the Frenchman had made him, and he showed himself profoundly
touched by it.

"Monsieur," said he, "you have augured well of me. But is
the sum worth the trouble to which you expose yourself? Do
you even believe that it can be in the place where you left
it?"