The first
picture I saw when my tears had dried up enough to let me see was a very
curious one indeed. It was a picture of two men carrying what looked
like another man covered with a blue quilt, on a sort of bier. But the
funny part about it was the dress of the men. They were wrapped up in
black cloaks, and had masks over their faces, and underneath the picture
was written, "_Fratelli della Misericordia_"--"Brothers of Pity."
I do not know whether the accident to Jeremy Taylor had made Godfather
Gilpin too anxious about his books to sleep, but I found that he was
keeping awake, and after a bit he said to me, "What are you staring so
hard and so quietly at, little Mouse?"
I looked at the back of the book, and it was called _Religious Orders_;
so I said, "It's called _Religious Orders_, but the picture I'm looking
at has got two men dressed in black, with their faces covered all but
their eyes, and they are carrying another man with something blue over
him."
"_Fratelli della Misericordia_," said Godfather Gilpin.
"Who are they, and what are they doing?" I asked. "And why are their
faces covered?"
"They belong to a body of men," was Godfather Gilpin's reply, "who bind
themselves to be ready in their turn to do certain offices of mercy,
pity, and compassion to the sick, the dying, and the dead.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25