"True," said some among the crowd; "why should they not work as well as we, or why do they not go among the Ursulines and make themselves useful?"
And thus were the sympathies of the people withdrawn from the unhappy nuns. They, meanwhile, went their way, chanting as they walked:
"Cujus animam gementem, contristanten et dolentem pertransivit gladius."
While the Clarisserines were passing from sight, the people, always swayed by the controlling influence of the moment, returned quietly to their homes.
Three men with hats drawn over their brows, pressed through the crowd, and followed the procession at some distance.
"You see," said one of the three, "how a few words were sufficient to turn the tide of the people's sympathies, and to confound that fanatic priest in his attempt to create disturbance."
"Which he would have succeeded in doing but for your majesty—"
"Hush, Lacy, hush! We are laboring men, nothing more."
"Yes," growled Lacy, "and you put us to hard labor, too, when you embarked in this dangerous business. It was a very bold thing to come among this excited multitude."
"I was determined to watch the people, and counteract, if possible, the effect of the sly blackcoats upon my subjects. Was it not well that I was there to rescue them from the miseries of revolt?"