TOO MUCH FAITH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 282, 29 November 1938, Page 4

TOO MUCH FAITH.

FARMERS , FORTUNE. ENTRUSTED IT TO STRANGERS MONEY HAD TO BE "PURIFIED* (Special.—By Air Mail.) LiONDOX. November & The brothers (iabriel are well-known farmers in the Halites Alpes department of Fiance. Their father, a hard-working farmer, had left them about £1700 in snld coins. The brother?, in the years since liis death increased their hoard to about £20(10. Their future \ras assured until they met two women— ''pilgrims on their way to the Basilica of St. Therwu at LUie.ux in Xormandy." The women Mated that ther had been ''in (■iimiimnicatiun with the soul' , of fiabriel pere, who wanted his gold purified and blessed in the basilica.

The brothers agreed to allow about £200 of the treasure to be "blessed." The women went ofF with the money, but returned ;i few days later. '"The soul of your father i- not satisfied," they said. "All the fortune must be purified." So the brother* agreed, keeping only a small sum back. Their treasure was on the way to purification—or so they thought.

A week later a '"police inspector , turned uj> at the farm and told them that the women, gipsies, had been arrested. They had the money. Fifty pounds would get them bail and they would return with the. gold. The brothers d'abriel. whose faith \va« without limit, paid up. Xow the real police are looking for the women, the money and the bogus inspector.