After a while
he seemed to have resolved on a compromise, but it was no longer
possible to obtain his place in advance of the crowd, where each one
waited his turn. He took a post, therefore, directly opposite the front
of the confessional, as near as he could get, but with half the width
of the nave between, and waited till the priest should be visible. The
moment came when the confessor, turning from one penitent to another,
was seen from the front. The man leaned eagerly forward, and throwing
out his right hand with three fingers extended, as if playing _morra_,
called out, "Quello del casotiello, volete farlo per tre?" ("You in the
confessional there, will you do it for three?") (These peasants call
the confessional _casotiello_.) Whether the bargain related to a number
of prayers to be said, a number of visits or of masses, does not
concern us.
The next afternoon we went down to Santa Maria degli Angeli in the
plain, the very penetralia of the Pardon. Those who have visited this
church know that the little chapel of the Porziuncola, which is
enclosed in its midst like the heart in a body, has two doors--one at
the lower end, the other at the upper right corner.
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