In the reign of Louis Quatorze some fellows were digging hard by the ruins.

Suddenly--tock!--the spade hit upon an obstacle.

Imagine the men fooling one to another; imagine how their hearts bounded, how their colour came and went.

It was a coffer, and in Franchard the place of buried treasure! They tore it open like famished beasts.

Alas! it was not the treasure; only some priestly robes, which, at the touch of the eating air, fell upon themselves and instantly wasted into dust.