Peter's itself!"
The officer perceived that he had to do with one of those unequivocal
hypocrites--if such a word can properly be applied to him who scarcely
thought deception necessary--who then made a traffic of expiations of this
nature; a pursuit that was common enough at the close of the seventeenth
and in the commencement of the eighteenth centuries, and which has not
even yet entirely disappeared from Europe. He threw the pass with
unconcealed aversion towards the profligate, who, recovering his document,
assumed unasked his station by the side of the three who had been
selected to decide on the fitness of those who were to be allowed to
embark.
"Go to!" cried the officer, as he permitted this ebullition of disgust to
escape him; "thou hast well said that we are followers of Calvin. Geneva
has little in common with her of the scarlet mantle, and thou wilt do well
to remember this, in thy next pilgrimage, lest the beadle make
acquaintance with thy back,--Hold! who art thou?"
"A heretic, hopelessly damned by anticipation, if that of yonder
travelling prayer-monger be the true faith;" answered one who was pressing
past, with a quiet assurance that had near carried its point without
incurring the risks of the usual investigation into his name and
character.
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