They all enjoyed the short description Mr. Homer gave them of this picture, and then they went on through the small side chapels and downstairs to see the decorated walls of which Peter had spoken.
When Patty saw what the decorations were composed of, she could scarcely believe her eyes. Room after room they went through, and on each wall and ceiling were elaborate and intricate patterns, worked out in human bones.
The party was conducted by a Capuchin monk, who walked ahead and pointed out the curious details.
The monk wore a long brown robe with a cowl, and a rope about his waist.
Patty thought he looked sad, and she said so to Mr. Homer.
“Monks always look sad,” he replied, “it’s part of their costume.”
As the monk could speak no English, he told them about the bones in Italian, and Peter Homer translated for the benefit of the others.
“He says,” said Peter, “that all these decorations you see on walls and ceilings are the bones of four thousand monks, who have in the past belonged to this monastery. The designs are called mosaics, but, properly, they are appliquéd patterns.”
The Wonderers gazed in real wonder at the strange effects. Just such designs as would be used to adorn a painted or gilded salon were here carried out in bones. Long arm or leg bones, radiating from a centre, formed a conventional star; rosettes were made of rings of overlapping shoulder-blades; and delicate traceries were woven of ribs and smaller bones.
Or there would be a frieze of skulls, interspersed with geometrical figures made with hundreds of finger joints, and collar-bones.