"My friend," said the mysterious companion of Christian to the butcher, "those Lutherans must be very great criminals, are they not? I ask you because I am a stranger here—"
A score of voices charitably hastened to answer the unknown man, who, together with Christian was so completely hemmed in by the crowd that they had no choice but patiently to wait for their turn at the turnstile.
"Poor man, where do you come from?" said some, addressing the unknown. "What! You ask whether the Lutherans are criminals? Why, they are infamous brigands!"
And thereupon they vied with one another in citing the felonies that the reformers were guilty of:
"They read the Bible in French!"
"They do not confess!"
"They do not sing mass!"
"They believe neither in the Pope, nor the saints, nor in the virginity of Mary, nor in holy relics!"
"Nor in the blood of our Savior!—nor in the drop of milk of his holy mother!—nor in the miraculous tooth of St. Loup!"
"And what do those demons substitute for the holy mass? Abominable incantations and orgies!"