Shortridge said, "You need not fear a scarcity of objects of charity,
Lady Mabel, for poverty seems rife in Evora."
"Yet, from the number of churches and monasteries, there must be much
wealth," Lady Mabel answered. "Probably, most of the property is in
their possession, and we may expect to see in their shrines and altars
a gorgeous display of their riches."
"You will be disappointed in that," said L'Isle. "Evora has passed too
lately through the hands of the French, too systematic a people to do
things by halves. Their emperor is more systematic still. On taking
possession of Portugal, his first edict from Milan imposed a
war-contribution on the country of one hundred million of francs, as a
ransom for private property of every kind. This being somewhat more
than all the money in the country, allowed a sufficiently wide margin
for spoliation, without making private property a whit the safer for
it; the imperial coffers absorbed this public contribution, leaving
the French officers and soldiers to fill their pockets and make their
fortunes as they could."
"But what was there left to fill their pockets with?" Lady Mabel
asked.
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