'"What is to do?" said Hugh. "I have no keep at Dallington; and if we
buried it, whom could we trust?"

'"Me," said De Aquila. "Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who
is my dog, knows what is between them." He drew a curtain by the
shot-window and showed us the shaft of a well in the thickness of the
wall.

'"I made it for a drinking-well," he said, "but we found salt water, and
it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!" We heard the water whistle and
blow at the bottom. "Will it serve?" said he.

'"Needs must," said Hugh. "Our lives are in thy hands." So we lowered
all the gold down except one small chest of it by De Aquila's bed, which
we kept as much for his delight in its weight and colour as for any of
our needs.

'In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: "I do not say
farewell; because ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for
sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have a care," he said, laughing, "lest
I use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but return!"'

Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly.

'In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors--from the Manors which
had been ours.'

'And were the children quite well?' said Una.