“Not at the time, nor for years afterwards.”
“I fancy,” said a youngster, “Cuthbert would still have preferred the name ‘Trevannion’ to ‘Redfyrne,’ even if he had known.”
“But what did they do with the treasure? Was the Abbey ever rebuilt?”
“No, for one of the conditions which the nobles, who held the Abbey lands, exacted when Mary restored the Papal Supremacy, was, that they should be left undisturbed in all their ill-gotten possessions: you may be sure that the gold was applied to such uses as the last Abbot himself would have approved.”
“But were old Giles and his wife alive then? did they ever see Cuthbert again?” enquired a chubby little fellow.
“He yet lived, but the dear old dame had gone to her rest. Cuthbert’s visit was the last gleam of joy in the good old yeoman’s well-spent life: his foster son closed his eyes, and laid him to rest by the side of his beloved wife.”
“And did Cuthbert ever get the lands of Redfyrne?”
“No, for he never claimed them, and they passed to the next of kin.”
“But did Cuthbert have plenty of money?” cried a little fellow, anxiously.
“Yes, the King of France, Henry the Second, bestowed a valuable estate upon him, close by the Abbey of Bec, with the rank of Baron, in reward for his extraordinary valour, displayed when he led the forlorn hope at the taking of Metz, in 1552; which city remained a French fortress until the late Franco-German war.”