The six sisters of the valleys : an historical romance - University Library

THE CHAMBER OF THE INQUISITION. 241
Have you been out foraging for converts ?
If so, he rebukes our negligence, holy
Fathers."
" I have found one lost sheep—an aged
woman, whom I have often seen and desired
to convert—and I determined at last to
bring her into the fold of the Church
before her declining years brought her to
the grave.'
'
" I honour your zeal," said the Arch-
bishop, "for it must be confessed," added
he to himself, "that our monks in general
don't care a ducat for the conversion of
the old and ugly, although they are very
assiduous when it's a young and good-look-
ing heretic."
" My Lord Archbishop," whispered De
la\Mena, drawing him aside into the upper
part of the room, " an idea has struck me
of which I hope you may approve. You
might suggest to the Marquis that it would
be a more honourable and more exculpa-
tory penance if our suspected officer were
VOL. II. E