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BLOSS C.A.
Heroines of the Crusades
page 44
join our company, upon the hanks of the Rhine. He seemed well provided with purse and scrip, and often on days of fasting, purchased an indulgence from the bishop for himself and other vain persons, to regale themselves with meat and wine ; and yet he seemed not to be without a sense of sin, and a certain reverence for the commands of the church. He rose early, and performed his devotions with the most scrupulous regularity, and every night scourged his naked shoulders with a knotted lash ; and when I looked for a reformation in his life from this whole-some discipline, he told me he did not that for his own sins, but for the sins of another, who furnished him money for the expedition ; for, by reason of his poverty, he had en-gaged to work out a three years' penance, that had been imposed on his benefactor ; and he added, with a light laugh, ' I can better endure the smarting of my flesh by voluntary flagellation, than the loss of it by compulsory ab-stinence,' "
" By St.. Stephen," exclaimed Robert, laughing, " the cunning knave is the true scape-goat of Scripture. It were no bad thought thus to expiate our sins by the vicarious suf-fering of some poor wretch."
" Heaven forefend," said Stephen, " that we should be compelled to raise our own exchequer by such means."
"The indulgences and requisitions of the church," gravely continued Iugulfus, " are too often perverted. I thank our blessed lady, who rather than continue me in the society of this wicked one, laid me upon a bed of sickness. For many days, I had with difficulty continued my journey, but Hardrager, who seemed insensible to fatigue, supported me by his strong arm, till coming to the lands of a powerful Hungarian, whose flocks and herds covered the hill-side for many a league, we fell behind the other pilgrims, and my weariness increasing upon me, I sank exhausted and sense-less upon the ground. What was my surprise when my consciousness returned, to feel myself upborne in the arms of Hardrager, who was attempting to place me upon the back of a horse which he had stolen from the adjoining
ADELA.
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