There Abbe Leboulleux
declared himself opposed to cremation, for the reason that it rendered
the resurrection impossible, since God himself could not collect the
bones again when the body had been burnt. It was all so amiable that one
did not like to contradict him. At the same meal another was giving a
sketch of the youth of Martin Luther; he left the church--_on se
demande encore pourquoi_. In the innocence of his heart this abbe
regarded the rebellion of Luther less as an unpermissible than as an
inexplicable act.
XI.
The society of the Italian friends of my first visit gave me much
pleasure. My first call at the Pagellas' was a blank; at the next, I was
received like a son of the house and heaped with reproaches for not
having left my address; they had tried to find me at my former hotel,
and endeavoured in vain to learn where I was staying from Scandinavians
whom they knew by name; now I was to spend all the time I could with
them, as I used to do in the old days. They were delighted to see me
again, and when I wished to leave, drove me home in their carriage. I
resumed my former habit of spending the greater part of my spare time
with Southerners; once more I was transported to Southern Europe and
South America. The very first day I dined at their house I met a jovial
old Spaniard, a young Italian, who was settled in Egypt, and a very
coquettish young Brazilian girl.
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