The white substance which I had observed, was spread all over the
surface around it; and lay in such quantities on all sides, that it
seemed as if a great deal of it must have been thrown into the hole. It
immediately occurred to me that the white substance was lime, and that
this must be the place where the infants were buried, after being
murdered, as the Superior had informed me. I knew that lime is often
used by Roman Catholics in burying-places; and in this way I accounted
for its being scattered about the spot in such quantities.

This was a shocking thought to me; but I can hardly tell how it affected
me, as I had already been prepared to expect dreadful things in the
Convent, and had undergone trials which prevented me from feeling as I
should formerly have done in similar circumstances.

I passed the spot, therefore, with distressing thoughts, it is true,
about the little corpses, which might be in that secret burying-place,
but with recollections also of the declarations which I had heard, about
the favor done their souls by sending them straight to heaven, and the
necessary virtue accompanying all the actions of the priests.

Whether I noticed them or not, at the time, there is a window or two on
each, nearly against the hole, in at which are sometimes thrown articles
brought to them from without, for the use of the Convent. Through the
windows on my right, which opens into the yard, towards the cross
street, lime is received from carts; and I then saw a large heap of it
near the place.

Passing the hole, I came to a spot where was another projection on each
side, with three cells like those I first described.--Beyond them, in