roduced on you by beholding
the corpse, you used the words 'disgust' and 'horror.' This license
of expression in relation to what you have seen in the precincts of a
convent proves to me that you are out of the pale of the Holy Catholic
Church. You have no right, therefore, to expect any explanation; but
I will give you one, nevertheless, as a favor. The slain man died,
unabsolved, in the commission of mortal sin. We infer so much from the
paper which we found on his body; and we know, by the evidence of our
own eyes and ears, that he was killed on the territories of the Church,
and in the act of committing direct violation of those special laws
against the crime of dueling, the strict enforcement of which the holy
father himself has urged on the faithful throughout his dominions by
letters signed with his own hand. Inside this convent the ground is
consecrated, and we Catholics are not accustomed to bury the outlaws of
our religion, the enemies of our holy father, and the violators of our
most sacred laws in consecrated ground. Outside this convent we have no
rights and no power; and, if we had both, we should remember that we are
monks, not grave-diggers, and that the only burial with which _we_ can
have any concern is burial with the prayers of the Church. That is all
the explanation I think it necessary to give. Wait for me here, and you
shall see the paper." With those words the father superior left the room
as quietly as he had entered it.

I had hardly time to think over this bitter and ungracious explanation,
and to feel a little piqued by the language and manner of the person who
had given it to me, before the father superior returned with the
paper in his hand. He placed it before me on the dresser, and I read,
hurriedly traced in pencil, the following lines:

"This paper is attached to the body of the late Mr. Stephen Monkton, an
Englishman of distinction. He has been shot in a duel, conducted with
perfect gallantry and honor on both sides. His body is placed at the
door of this convent, to receive burial at the hands of its inmates, the
survivors of the encounter being obliged to separate and secure their
safety by immediate flight. I, the second of the slain man, and the
writer of this explanation, certify, on my word of honor as a gentleman
that the shot which killed my principal on the instant was fired fairly,
in the strictest accordance with the rules laid down beforehand for the
conduct of the duel.