he allusion to Vange Abbey--"no!
I must beg you to hear me out. I state the case plainly, at your
own request. At the same time, I am bound to admit that the lapse of
centuries has, in the eye of the law, sanctioned the deliberate act of
robbery perpetrated by Henry the Eighth. You have lawfully inherited
Vange Abbey from your ancestors. The Church is not unreasonable enough
to assert a merely moral right against the law of the country. It
may feel the act of spoliation--but it submits." He unlocked the flat
mahogany box, and gently dropped his dignity: the man took the place of
the priest. "As the master of Vange," he said, "you may be interested in
looking at a little historical curiosity which we have preserved.
The title-deeds, dear Romayne, by which the monks held your present
property, in _their_ time. Take another glass of wine."

Romayne looked at the title-deeds, and laid them aside unread.

Father Benwell had roused his pride, his sense of justice, his wild
and lavish instincts of generosity. He, who had always despised
money--except when it assumed its only estimable character, as a means
for the attainment of merciful and noble ends--_he_ was in possession of
property to which he had no moral right: without even the poor excuse of
associations which attached him to the place.

"I hope I have not offended you?" said Father Benwell.

"You have made me ashamed of myself," Romayne answered, warmly. "On the
day when I became a Catholic, I ought to have remembered Vange. Better
late than never. I refuse to take shelter under the law--I respect the
moral right of the Church. I will at once restore the property which I
have usurped."

Father Benwell took both Romayne's hands in his, and pressed them
fervently.

"I am proud of you!" he said. "We shall all be proud of you, when I write
word to Rome of what has passed between us. But--no, Romayne!--this
must not be. I admire you, feel with you; and I refuse. On behalf of the
Church, I say it--I refuse the gift."

"Wait a little, Father Benwell! You don't know the state of my affairs.
I don't deserve the admiration which you feel for me. The loss of the
Vange property will be no pecuniary loss, in my case. I have inherited
a fortune from my aunt. My income from that source is far larger than my
income from the Yorkshire property."

"Romayne, it must not be!"

"Pardon me, it must be. I have more money than I can spend--without
Vange. And I have painful associa