We made him talkative by exhibiting an interest we never betrayed to guides.
"Who were these people ?" "We--up stairs--Monks of the Capuchin order--my brethren." "How many departed monks were required to upholster these six parlors ?" "These are the bones of four thousand." "It took a long time to get enough ?" "Many, many centuries." "Their different parts are well separated--skulls in one room, legs in another, ribs in another--there would be stirring times here for a while if the last trump should blow.

Some of the brethren might get hold of the wrong leg, in the confusion, and the wrong skull, and find themselves limping, and looking through eyes that were wider apart or closer together than they were used to.

You can not tell any of these parties apart, I suppose ?" "Oh, yes, I know many of them." He put his finger on a skull.

"This was Brother Anselmo--dead three hundred years--a good man." He touched another.

"This was Brother Alexander--dead two hundred and eighty years.