Sentence:  HOSPITAL NUNS./ Louis XVI. wishing to improve the state of the hospitals in France, sent a member of the Academy of Sciences to England, to enquire into the manner in which such establishments were conducted there. The commissioner praised them; but remarked, that two things were wanting; the zeal of the French parochial clergy, and the charity of the hospital nuns. "We have found, by sorrowful experience," said M. Portalis, that <WSD>mercenaries</WSD>, without any motive of feeling to attach them constantly to their duty, can never supply the place of persons animated by a spirit of religion, 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One motivated by gain, especially monetary.