He lived all his life a peasant in a
neighboring village."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Lady Mabel.
"Almost every one," said L'Isle, as they turned to ride on their way,
"here and throughout the Peninsula, is buried in a religious
habit--the men in the uniform of friars, the women dressed like
pilgrims, and the girls like nuns. They are loaded with a freight of
rosaries, _agni dei_, and other saintly jewelry, fastened to the neck,
hands and feet, and stuffed into the clothes. Convents have often a
warehouse appropriated to this posthumous wardrobe, in the sale of
which they drive a profitable trade. It was a most natural mistake
made by a stranger, who, after being a few weeks at Madrid, and seeing
so many Franciscans interred, expressed his astonishment at the
prodigious number of them in the city, and asked if their order was
not entirely carried off by this violent epidemic."
"I suppose," said Lady Mabel, "the custom originated in the propensity
so strong in us all, to live sinners and die saints."
"Exactly so," L'Isle answered; "it is a fraudulent custom, old as the
fifth century, and common in popish countries. It is nothing less than
an attempt to cheat St.
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