A secret receptacle was discovered in the body of the eagle, and the ancient title-deeds of the Abbey were found in it.
The monks had taken that method of concealing the legal proof of their rights and privileges, in the hope--a vain hope, I need hardly say--that a time might come when Justice would restore to them the property of which they had been robbed.

Only last summer, one of our bishops, administering a northern diocese, spoke of these circumstances to a devout Catholic friend, and said he thought it possible that the precaution taken by the monks at Newstead might also have been taken by the monks at Vange.

The friend, I should tell you, was an enthusiast.
Saying nothing to the bishop (whose position and responsibilities he was bound to respect), he took into his confidence persons whom he could trust.

One night--in the absence of the present proprietor, or, I should rather say, the present usurper, of the estate--the lake at Vange was privately dragged, with a result that proved the bishop's conjecture to be right.

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