All the faithful required to come and confess at the place where the red cross was erected. The only exceptions were the sick, the aged, and pregnant women. If, however, there happened to be in the neighbourhood some noble in his castle, or some great personage in his palace, there was an exemption for him;[319] for he might not care to mingle with the crowd, and his money was worth the going for. [319] Instr. 9. If there happened to be a convent whose heads were opposed to the traffic of Tezel, and prohibited their monks from visiting the places where the indulgence had erected its throne, means were still found to remedy the evil by sending them confessors, who were commissioned to absolve them against the will of their order and the will of their heads.[320] There was not a vein in the mine, however small, which they did not find means of working. [320] Ibid., 69. At length they arrived at the object and end of the whole affair, the summing up of the cash. For greater security, the strong box had three keys--one in the hands of Tezel, the second in those of the treasurer, appointed by the firm of Fugger of Augsburg, who had been appointed agents in this vast enterprise, while the third was entrusted to the civil authority. When the moment arrived, the counters were opened in the presence of a notary-public, and the whole was duly counted and recorded. Must not Christ arise and drive these profane sellers from the temple? The mission being closed, the dealers relaxed from their labours. It is true the instructions of the commissary-general forbade them to frequent taverns and suspicious places;[321] but they cared little for this prohibition. Sin must have appeared a very trivial matter to people who had such an easy trade in it. "The mendicants," says a Roman Catholic historian, "led a bad life, expending in taverns, gaming-houses, and places of infamy, what the people retrenched from their necessities."[322] It is even averred, that in taverns they sometimes played at dice for the salvation of souls.[323] [321] Ibid., 4. [322] Sarpi, Conc. di Trent, p. 5. [323] Schröck. K. G. v, d. R., i, 116. CHAP. II. The Franciscan Confessor--The Soul in the Burying-Ground--The Shoemaker of Hagenau--The Students--Myconius--Conversation with Tezel--Stratagem by a Gentleman--Conversation of the Wise and of the People--A Miner of Schneeberg. But let us look at some of the scenes which then took place in Germany during this sale of the pardon of sins; for we here meet with anecdotes which, by themselves alone, give a picture of the times. As we proceed with our narrative we deem it best to let men speak for themselves.