The Treasure of Westminster Abbey

By John Rae

Going through the cloisters one evening, Emily bumps into a stranger. In the gloom she cannot see who he is, but it seems that he wears a monk’s habit, and has only a stump where his hand should be.

Soon after this unnerving experience, Emily and her older sisters, Penelope and Alyce, are puzzled by the appearance in Westminster Abbey of a party of French monks, led by the enigmatic Father Pierre. Is their all-night vigil at the Abbey genuine, Penelope wonders, or is it in fact a cover-up for some illegal activity?

Alyce’s overwhelming interest in history leads to an exciting question. Was all the treasure once guarded in the Abbey actually discovered in Tudor times; or did some remain hidden – to tempt twentieth-century thieves?