“’When in this chest the money rings,
  The soul straight up to heaven springs.’”

Yet the boldness and audacity of his general language was quite in accordance:  ‘Indulgences,’ said he, ’are the most precious of God’s gifts.  I would not exchange my privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven; for I have saved more souls with my indulgences than he with all his sermons.  There is no sin so great that the indulgence will not remit it.  Even repentance is not necessary.  Indulgences save the dead; for the very moment the money chinks against the bottom of this chest, the soul escapes from purgatory, and flies to heaven,’

“Yet this inquisitor was high in favor with Pope Leo X. You will say, Florry, that the abuse of a doctrine should be no test of its soundness; and I admit that had he received the punishment he so richly merited it would not; yet this is only one instance among many.  We have conversed on the doctrines of the Romish faith merely as theories, should we not now look at the practise?  We need not go very far.  When Aunt Fanny expressed surprise on seeing our Mexican shepherd eat meat last Friday, did he not reply in extenuation, ’I have paid the priest and can eat meat’?  Now if it was necessary for him to abstain previously, could the small sum paid to the Padre exempt him from the duty?  Again we see the working of the system:  was not Herrara scrupulously exact on the same point? yet he rose from the table and told a most positive lie.  With regard to indulgences, there is not a Papist who will admit that they are a license to sin.  The voice of history declares that ‘a regular scale for absolution was graded,’ and the fact is authenticated by a recent traveler, who asserts that in the chancel of Santa Croce, at Rome, is hung a catalogue of the indulgences granted to all who worship in that church.  Yet your priests will tell you they are the remission of sins already committed.  Did not Herrara say, ’I have paid the Padre and can eat meat’?  Now I ask you if this is not a license to commit what would otherwise be considered a heinous offense by all devout Papists?”

“Relying implicitly on what the Padre asserted, Mary, I have never investigated these subjects as I should have done, before giving my credence and support; but of the doctrine in question I can henceforth entertain but one opinion—­a detestable and infamous method of filling the papal coffers; for since you have led me to think on this subject, I clearly remember that a large portion of the enormous expense incurred by the building, ornamenting, and repairing of St. Peter’s, was defrayed by money obtained through the sale of indulgences.  Oh, Mary, how could I have been so deluded—­allowed myself to be so deceived!” She took from her pocket the rosary and crucifix which had been given to her father, and threw them impatiently into the river gurgling at her feet.