"
"Who are these two men dressed in black, walking arm in arm?" asked the
stranger. "They appear to be clergymen."
"Yes, sir," replied his conductor, "so they are; two celebrated
polemical controversialists, who, when they were at large, created
by their attacks, each upon the religion of the other, more ill-will,
rancor and religious animosity, than either of their religions, with all
their virtues, could remove. It is impossible to describe the evil they
did. Ever since they came here, however, they are like brothers. They
were placed in the same room, each in a strong strait-waistcoat, for the
space of three months; but on being allowed to walk about, they became
sworn friends, and now amuse themselves more than any other two in the
establishment. They indulge in immoderate fits of laughter, look each
other knowingly in the face, wink, and run the forefinger up the nose,
after which their mirth bursts out afresh, and they laugh until the
tears come down their cheeks."
The stranger, who during all this time was on the lookout for poor
Fenton, as was old Corbet, could observe nobody who resembled him in the
least.
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