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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12a1fc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67369 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67369) diff --git a/old/67369-0.txt b/old/67369-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7d28620..0000000 --- a/old/67369-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14200 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hadrian the Seventh, by Frederick -Rolfe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Hadrian the Seventh - -Author: Frederick Rolfe - -Release Date: February 10, 2022 [eBook #67369] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HADRIAN THE SEVENTH *** - - - - - - -HADRIAN THE SEVENTH - - - - - HADRIAN THE SEVENTH - - A ROMANCE - - BY - FR. ROLFE - - [Illustration] - - LONDON - CHATTO & WINDUS - 1904 - - - - -TO MOTHER - - - - -_In Obedience to the Decree of URBAN P.M. VIII, I declare that I have -no Intention of attributing any other than a purely human Authority to -the Miracles, Revelations, Favours, & particular Cases, recorded in -this Book; & the same as regards the Titles of Saints & Blessed applied -to Servants of GOD not yet canonized: except in those Cases which have -been confirmed by the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman See, of which I -declare myself to be an obedient Son; & therefore I submit myself & all -which I have written to her Judgment._ - - _Fr. Rolfe._ - - _xxij Jul., 1904._ - - - - -HADRIAN THE SEVENTH - - -PROOIMION - -In mind he was tired, worn out, by years of hope deferred, of -loneliness, of unrewarded toil. In body he was almost prostrate by -the pain of an arm on the tenth day of vaccination. Bodily pain stung -him like a personal affront. "Some one will have to be made miserable -for this," he once said during the throes of a toothache. He was no -stranger to mental fatigue: but, when to that was added corporeal -anguish, he came near collapse. His capacity for work was constricted: -the mere sight of his writing materials filled him with disgust. But, -because he had a horror of being discovered in a state of inaction, -after breakfast he sat down as usual and tried to write. Dazed in a -torrent of ideas, he painfully halted for words: stumbling in a maze -of words, he frequently lost the thread of his argument: now and then, -in sheer exhaustion, his pen remained immobile. He sat in a small low -armchair which was covered with shabby brocade, dull-red and green. An -old drawing-board, of the large size denominated Antiquarian, rested on -his knees. The lower edge frayed the brocade on the arms of the chair. -His little yellow cat Flavio lay asleep on the tilted board, nestling -in the bend of his left elbow. That was the only living creature to -whom he ever spoke with affection as well as with politeness. His left -hand steadied his ms., the sheets of which were clipped together -at the top by a metal clip. At the upper edge of the board a couple -of Publishers' Dummies reposed, having the outward similitude of -six-shilling novels: but he had filled their pages with his archaic -handwriting. The first contained thoughts--not great thoughts, nor -thoughts selected on any particular principle, but phrases and opinions -such as Sophokles' denunciation, - - Ὡ μιαρον ἡθοϛ και γυναικοϛ ὑστερον, - -or Gabriele d'Annunzio's sentence - - "Old legitimate monarchies are everywhere declining, and Demos stands - ready to swallow them down its miry throat." - -The second was his private dictionary which, (as an artificer in verbal -expression,) he had compiled, taking Greek words from Liddell-and-Scott -and Latin words from Andrews, enlarging his English vocabulary with -such simple but pregnant formations as the adjective "hybrist" from -ὑβριστηϛ, or the noun "gingilism" from _gingilismus_. - -He was looking askance at his ms. In two hours, he had written no more -than fourteen lines; and these were deformed by erasures of words and -sentences, by substitutions and additions. He struck an upward line -from left to right across the sheet: laid down his pen: lifted board, -cat, books, and ms., from his knees; and laid them by. He could not -work. - -He poked the little fire burning in the corner of a fire-clayed grate. -He was shivering: for, though March was going out like nine lions, -he was very lightly clad in a blue linen suit such as is worn over -all by engineers. He had an impish predilection for that garb since a -cantankerous red-nosed prelate, anxious to sneer at unhaloed poverty, -inanely had said that he looked like a Neapolitan. He brushed the -accumulation of cigarette-ash from the front of his jacket and seized -a pair of spring-dumb-bells: but at once returned them, warned by -the pain of his left arm-pit. He took up the newspaper which he had -brought with him after breakfast, and read again the news from Rome -and the news of Russia. The former, he could see, was merely the kind -of subterfuge which farthing journalists are wont to use when they are -excluded from a view of facts. It said much, and signified nothing. -"Our Special Correspondent" was being hoodwinked; and knew it: but did -not like to confess it; and so indulged his imagination. Something -was occurring in Rome: something mysterious was occurring in Rome. -That could be deduced from the dispatch: but nothing more. The news of -Russia was a tale of unparalleled ghastliness. It emanated from Berlin: -no direct communication with Russia having taken place for a fortnight. - -"How exquisitely horrible it is," he said to Flavio; "and I believe -it's perfectly true. The Tzar,--well, that was to be expected. But -the Tsaritza,--though, if ever a woman bore her fate in her face, she -did, poor creature. Those dreadful haunted eyes of hers! That hard old -young soft face! The innocent babies! How abominably cynically cruel! -Yet there have been omens and portents of just such a tragedy as this -any time these last few years. They must have known it was coming. Or -is this another example of the onlookers seeing most of the game?" He -fetched a book of newspaper cuttings, and turned the pages. "Here you -are, Flavio," he said to the sleeping cat; "and here--and here. If -these are not forewarnings--well!" - -He sat down again, and studied certain paragraphs attentively. - - -EDUCATION BY THE KNOUT. - -PETERSBURG.--All Russia is in a state of unrest and seething with -discontent. The very air is alive with the rumours of tumults on the -one hand and of _coups d'état_ on the other. The strangest stories are -being bandied about as to what is taking place at Kiev, Sula, and -all parts of the Empire, in fact, but especially in Moscow. There, -it seems, while students and members of the higher classes are being -thrown into prison by the hundred--not a few of them being packed off -to Siberia--the workers are being treated with quite extraordinary -consideration. They are even allowed to say their say and hold public -meetings without let or hindrance, a thing unheard of in Russia. In -Petersburg itself an ominous state of things prevails, and the city is -completely in the hands of the police and the military. The streets are -thronged with gensdarmes; even private houses are packed with soldiers; -and never a week passes without some disorder arising or some public -demonstration being made. In February a terrible scene occurred in the -house of Nicholas II., a sort of People's Palace. In the course of a -theatrical performance there some students threw down from the gallery -into the body of the hall leaflets in which they demanded redress of -their grievances. The place was crowded with law-abiding people for -the most part; nevertheless the gensdarmerie who are always within -hail, rushed in and simply trampled under foot all who came in their -way. One great fellow was seen to deliberately stamp on the face of a -poor lad who had fallen, cracking it like a nut. How many were injured -is unknown and probably will remain so. On Sunday the state of things -was even worse. During the previous week the students had sent to the -leading journals, and even to the police, a formal announcement that -they intended to hold a demonstration in the Newsky Prospect to demand -in constitutional fashion the redress of their grievances. It was taken -for granted that measures would be taken to prevent the meeting, and -the Newsky was crowded for the occasion with the usual loungers and -pleasure-seekers. But so far as everyone was aware the police seemed -to have done nothing in the matter, and it was known only to a few -that the courtyards of the great houses of the neighbourhood were -filled with gensdarmes and soldiers. Up to twelve o'clock all went -well; then quite suddenly not only students but working men began to -stream into the Newsky from every side-street; and within a very few -minutes the place was one vast crowd. In the square before the Kasan -Cathedral alone there were 3,000 at least. Suddenly seditious cries -were raised, red flags were waved, stones were thrown, and in the midst -of it all the gensdarmes began a mad gallop through the crowd. It was -a ghastly sight, for they slashed right and left with their swords, -even at the bystanders bent only on escaping. Many were wounded, some -were killed--how many no two accounts agree--and in the course of -the following week hundreds of arrests were made. Since then other -demonstrations of the same kind have been held, and will continue to be -held, let the cost be what it may, the students declare, until a clean -sweep has been made of the police regime under which Russia is groaning. - - -THE GATHERING OF THE STORM. - -M. Baltaicheff's murder has drawn the world's attention to the present -state of things in Russia--which is much worse than most people -imagine. The present movement is not confined to the students alone, -though it is that class which makes most noise. The revolutionary -fever has gained a hold of the lower classes--Brains and Brawn as -we said yesterday have combined, and the combination is formidable. -More significant, however, than anything else, if it be true, is the -statement of the _Neue Freie Presse_ that during the demonstrations in -the Kasan Square in Petersburg a detachment of infantry was called upon -to fire upon the crowd, the men thrice refused to obey, were marched -back to barracks, no enquiry being subsequently held, and that similar -incidents have occurred elsewhere. With universal service the Army is -only the people in uniform. Any popular feeling must sooner or later -touch the Army, and if the soldiers cannot be depended upon to shoot, -the game of absolutism is up. The great cataclysm may be nearer at hand -than is generally supposed. - - -SIGNS OF SMOULDERING REVOLT. - -PETERSBURG.--In two of the districts of the Poltava Government -workmans' riots have occurred in consequence of the systematic -repression of "Little Russia" by "Greater Russia." The journal -_Pridjeprowski Krai_ gave the first intimation of the state of affairs, -and was promptly suspended for eight months. - -PETERSBURG.--The murder of the Procurator of the Holy Synod is regarded -in a measure as the symptom of the general situation in Russia. It is -reported that the chateau of the Duke of Mecklenburgh in S.E. Russia -has been pillaged and destroyed by rioters. - -BERLIN.--On the arrival of the express train from Berlin at Wirballen -on the Russian frontier to-day, a passenger was arrested, and -Nihilist documents were discovered in his trunks. This is the third -Nihilist arrest within the fortnight. The Berlin police have received -information from Petersburg of numerous revolutionists having recently -left France. They are now maintaining from Berlin a vigorous agitation -against the Tsar's Government. From London, too, the whereabouts -of several suspects have been reported. In most cases the Berlin -authorities are powerless to effect arrests, but they always supply -full information to Russia, so that suspicious characters are always -detained in passing the frontier. - - -ANARCHY ADVANCING. - -The _Kreuzzeitung_, which is unusually well-informed in Russian -affairs, expresses the opinion that one of the immediate consequences -of the triumph of Japan will be a general rising of the Russian -peasants against their landlords, and of the army against the -aristocracy. The same paper declares that revolutionary agents of -Social Democratic tendencies have long been systematically poisoning -the minds of the people. - -He turned back to THE GATHERING OF THE STORM, and read the ominous -paragraph again. "Warning enough, in all conscience," he said: "first, -the Public Prosecutor assassinated at Odessa, then the Chief of Secret -Police of Petersburg, then the Procurator of the Holy Synod; and now a -hekatombe, sovereign, royalty, aristocracy, government, bureaucracy, -all annihilated, and Anarchy in excelsis. France will take fire at -any minute now, that's absolutely certain. Oh, how horrible! But we're -all Christians, Flavio; and this is only one of the many funny ways in -which we love one another." - -He rose and went to the window. The yellow cat deliberately stretched -himself, yawned, and followed; and proceeded to carry out a wonderful -scheme of feints and ambuscades in regard to a ping-pong ball which -was kept for his proper diversion. The man looked on almost lovingly. -Flavio at length captured the ball, took it between his fore-paws, -and posed with all the majesty of a lion of Trafalgar Square. Anon he -uttered a little low gurgle of endearment, fixing the great eloquent -mystery of amber and black velvet eyes, tardy, grave, upon his human -friend. No notice was vouchsafed. Flavio got up; and gently rubbed his -head against the nearest hand. - -"My boy!" the man murmured; and he lifted the little cat on to his -shoulder. He went downstairs. He could not work; and he was going -to take an easy; and he wanted a novel, he said to his landlady. He -feared that he had read all the books in the house. Yes, and those -in the drawing-room too. After a quarter of an hour, application to -a neighbour produced three miserable derelicts, a nameless sixpenny -shudder, a Braddon, and an Edna Lyall. Not to seem ungracious, he took -them upstairs; and pitched them into a corner, to be returned upon -occasion. That salient trait of his character, the desire not to be -ungracious, the readiness to be unselfish and self-sacrificing, had -done him incalculable injury. This world is infested by innumerable -packs of half-licked cubs and quarter-cultivated mediocrities who -seem to have nothing better to do than to buzz about harassing and -interfering with their betters. Out of courtesy, out of kindness, he -was used to give way; but all the same he tenaciously knew and clung -to his original purpose. He knew that delay was his enemy: yet he -invariably would stand aside and let himself be delayed. And now -towards the end of his youth, he was poor, lonely, a misanthropic -altruist. - -He returned to his armchair, breathing a long sigh of irritation and -exhaustion: broke up three cigarette dottels for a (tobacco famine was -afflicting him), rolled them in a fresh paper, and applied a match. -Flavio, with an indulgent protestant mew, bounded from his knee to a -bedroom chair; and coiled himself up to sleep. - -The armchair was placed directly in front of the fireplace, the -ordinary garret-coloured iron fireplace and mantel of a suburban -lodging-house attic. To the grey wall above the mantel a large sheet -of brown packing-paper was tacked. On this background were pinned -photographs of the Hermes of Herculaneum, the terra-cotta Sebastian -of South Kensington, Donatello's liparose David and the vivid David -of Verrocchio, the wax model of Cellini's Perseys, an unknown Rugger -XV. prized for a single example of the rare feline-human type, and -the O.U.D.S. Sebastian of _Twelfth Night_ of 1900. Tucked into the -edges of these were Italian picture post-cards presenting Andrea del -Sarto's young St. John, Alessandro Filipepi's Primavera, a page from -an old Salon catalogue showing Friant's Wrestlers, another from an -old Harper's Magazine shewing Boucher's Runners, a cheap and lovely -chromo of an olive-skinned black-haired cornflower-crowned Pancratius -in white on a gold ground, the visiting-cards of five literary agents, -and a post-card tersely inscribed _Verro precipitevolissimevolmente_. -The mantel-shelf contained stone bottles of ink, pipes, a miniature -in a closed morocco case, a cast of Cardinal Andrea della Valle's -seal from Oxford, two pairs of silver spectacles in shagreen cases, -four tiny ingots of pure copper, a sponge gum bottle, and an open -book with painted covers showing Eros at the knees of Psyche and a -mysterious group of divers in the clear of the moon. The door was at -a yard to the left of the fireplace, at a right-angle. Uncared-for -clothes, black serge and blue linen, hung upon it. A small wooden -wash-stand stood between the door and the armchair, convenient to the -writer's hand. A straw-board covered the hole in its top; and supported -ink-bottles, pens, pen-knife, scissors, a lamp, a biscuit-tin of -cigarette-dottels, sixteen exquisite Greek intaglj. On the lower shelf -stood a row of books-of-reference. Between the wash-stand and the fire -was the chair whereon Flavio slumbered, (if one may use so indelicate -a word of so delicate a cat). About four feet of wall extended on -the right of the fireplace. Pinned there were a pencil design for -a _Diamastigosis_, a black and white panel of young Sophokles as -Choregos after Salamis done on the back of an Admiralty chart, a water -colour of Tarquinio Santacroce and Alexander VI., a pair of foils and -fencing masks, and a curious Greco-Italian seal shewing St. George -as a wing-footed Perseys wearing what looked like the Garter Mantle -and labelled φυλαξ ἁρχηϛ. Substitutes for shelves stood against the -lower part of the wall. A rush-basket, closed and full of letters, -set up on end, supported files of the _American Saturday Review_, the -_Author_, the _Outlook_, the _Salpinx_, _Reynards's_, and the _Pall -Mall Gazette_, and a feather broom for dusting books and papers or -for correcting Flavio when obstreperous. Another rush-basket, placed -lengthwise on a bedroom chair, held a row of books, ms. note-books, -duodecimo classics of Plantin, Estienne, Maittaire, with English and -American editions of the writer's own works. The third wall was pierced -by two small windows, wide open to the full always. A chest of drawers -protruded endways into the room. Its top was used as a standing desk. -The drawers opened towards the fourth wall. Sheaves of letters in metal -clips hung at the end. Between it and the armchair, more shelves were -contrived of rush-baskets placed beneath and upon a small wooden table. -Books-of-reference, lexicons, and a box of blank paper, congregated -here convenient to the writer's hand. The little table drawer -contained note-paper, envelopes, sealing-wax, and stamps. The whole was -arranged so that, when once ensconced in the armchair before the fire -with his writing-board on his knees, the digladiator could reach all -his weapons by a simple extension of his arms. The attic was eleven -feet square, low-pitched, and with half the ceiling slanting to the -fourth foot from the floor on the fourth wall. Here was a camp-bed, a -small mirror, and a towel-rail, three pairs of two- six- and ten-pound -dumb-bells, a pair of boots on trees, a bottle of eucalyptus and a -spray-producer. - -His eyes, as they wandered round the room, met these things. He took -a towel, and went downstairs to the bath-room to wash his hands. On -returning he enticed Flavio with a bit of string. The cat was unwilling -to play: gazed at him with innocent imperscrutable round eyes: -elaborately yawned and requested permission to retire. The odour of the -kitchen-dinner was perceptible. The door was opened; and shut. - -He put the butt of his cigarette in an earthenware jar on his left -for future use. The maid appeared with his lunch, a basinful of bread -and milk. Following some subconscious train of thought, he stretched -himself, took the little mirror from the wall and went to the window. - -"It's one of your bad days, my friend," he commented, regarding his -own image. "You look all your age, and twelve years more. Draw down -those feathered brows, man. Never mind the upright furrow which makes -you look stern. Draw them down; and open your eyes; and look alert. Do -something to counteract the tender thin line of that mouth. You mustn't -let yourself relax like this. It brings out your wrinkles, and shews -the sparseness of your hair. If you had an inch more thigh, and say a -couple of inches more shin, you might look people down a little more: -but with that meek subservient aspect--how Luckock used to chaff about -it!--no wonder everyone takes advantage of you. What's the good of -having your fastidious mind clearly written on that fastidious mouth if -you don't insist on behaving fastidiously. Cultivate the art of looking -as though you were about to say No. You always can say Yes after No. -But, if you begin with Yes, as you always do, you prevent yourself from -ever saying No. That's why everyone can swindle you. You're far too -anxious to give way. Buck up a bit, you ugly little thing! Ugly as you -are, you're neither vulgar nor common-place. Straighten your back, and -open your eyes wide, and pull yourself together." - -He put the mirror in its place; and again cast a glance round the room, -seeking something to read, something, anything, that was not too recent -in his mind. He picked up at random one of the rejected novels. It was -called _Donovan_. He remembered having seen (in an ex-tea-pedlar's -magazine) a print of the writer thereof. He also remembered that he -had found her self-conscious pose and labial conformation intensely -antipathetic. His sense of beauty was a great deal more than acute. Let -his predilection (which was for reticent expert virtue in the male and -for innate delicate modesty in the female) once be satisfied, and the -door to his favour lay open. - -"However," he argued with himself, "she sells her books by tens of -thousands while we don't sell ours by tens of hundreds. We'll have a -look at her work, and see how she does it." - -He ate his bread and milk; and seriously and deliberately set himself -to dissect and analyse the book. - -The manner of the portrayal of a youth, of an abnormal type of youth, -the Sentient-Modest type, at once disgusted him by its inadequacy -and superficiality. The male human animal is omnipresent: it is -not difficult for an observant and careful writer to describe the -γνωριμωτερον φυσει, things as they appear. But the author's sex -had prevented her from knowing, and therefore, from describing the -γνωριμωτερον ἡμιν, things as they are. It is doubtful whether Man -ever mentally knew Woman. It is certain that Woman never knew Man: -except in cases of occession--the author of _The Gadfly_ for example. -He found the image of Donovan fairly convincing: not so the real. -Donovan, in his eponymous history, obviously was the creation of a good -sweet-minded woman, who created him in her own image. - -The student several times was at the point of closing the book from -sheer annoyance. Only the knowledge that he had nothing else to do, -and the desire to gain instruction, caused him to persevere. His -temper only was logical in so far as it endowed him with the faculty -of pursuance. He began many things: he followed them: oftentimes -the influence of Luna on his environment obliged him to pause: but -invariably he returned to them--even after long years he returned to -them--; and then, slowly, surely, he concluded what he had begun. He -had tenacity--the feline pertinacity of vigorous untainted English -blood. Cigarette after cigarette he rolled, and smoked. He frequently -turned back and read a chapter over again. Flavio mewed for admittance. -He took him on his knee: and continued reading, stroking the little -cat meanwhile, tickling his larynx till he purred content. So the dull -March afternoon passed. At five, the maid brought a tray containing -black coffee and dripping toast. At half-past six, he took a bath and -attended to his appearance, execrating the pain of his swollen arm and -the difficulty of keeping it out of the water. He dined at half-past -seven on some soup, and haricot-beans with butter, and a baked apple. -Meanwhile he counted the split infinitives in the day's _Pall Mall -Gazette_. When he was adolescent, an Oxford tutor had said of him that -he possessed a critical faculty of no mean order. At the time, he had -not understood the saying perfectly: but he cultivated the faculty. -He taught himself in a very bitter school, the arts of selection and -discrimination, and the art of annihilating rubbish. To this perhaps -was due his complete psychical detachment from other men. He trod upon -so many worms. And few things are more exasperating than a man of whom -it truly may be said "A chiel's amang ye takin' notes." After dinner, -he returned to his attic with his cup and the coffee-pot: and resumed -his task. In time, he forgot the pain of his arm: he even forgot the -usual terrified anticipation of the late postman's knock, such was his -faculty for concentration. He smoked cigarettes and sipped black coffee -now and then, oblivious of Flavio who returned from a walk about eleven -and promptly went to sleep on the foot of the bed. A little after -midnight, he reached the end of the book: turned back and examined the -last chapter again; and put it down. - -"Yes," he said, "she's a dear good woman. Her book--well--her book is -cheap, awkward, vulgar,--but it's good. It's unpalteringly ugly and -simple and good. Evidently it's best to be good. It pays.... Anyhow -it's bound to pay in the long run." - -He pushed Flavio's chair to the wall near the door: by its side he -placed the wash-stand from the left of his armchair. He disposed -the armchair also against the wall, leaving a cleared space of -garret-coloured drugget between the dead fire and the bed. This was his -gymnasium. - -"If a book like that pays," he reflected, "it must be that there's a -lot of people who care for books about the Good. Why not do one of that -sort instead of casting folk-lore and history before publishers who -turn and rend you? The pity is that the Good should be so dreadfully -dowdy. Evidently το καλονk and το ἁγαφον are just as distinct as they -were in the days of the Broad-browed One. Sophisms again! Why can't -you be honest and simple instead of subtile and complex? You're just -like your own cat ambuscading a ping-pong ball as strategically and -as scrupulously as though it were a mouse. For goodness' sake don't -try to deceive yourself. It's all very well to pose before the world: -but there's no one here to see you now. Strip, man, strip stark. -You perfectly know that the Good always is admirable, whether it be -dowdy or chic; and that what you call the Beautiful is no more than a -matter of opinion, worth,--well, generally speaking, not worth six and -eight-pence." - -He threw all his clothes on the armchair: picked his trousers out of -the heap and folded them lengthwise over the towel-rail: powdered his -arm with borax and bound cotton-wool over it: looked at his dumb-bells -while he brushed his hair: sprayed the room with eucalyptus; and got -into bed. Extreme fatigue and pain rendered him almost hysterical. -His thoughts expressed themselves in ejaculations when he had tied a -handkerchief over his eyes, straightened his legs, and laid his right -cheek on the pillow. - -"Yes! It pays to be good--just simple goodness pays. I know, oh I know. -I always knew it. - -God, if ever You loved me, hear me, hear me. De profundis ad Te, ad -Te clamavi. Don't I want to be good and clean and happy? What desire -have I cherished since my boyhood save to serve in the number of Your -mystics? What but that have I asked of You Who made me? - -Not a chance do You give me--ever--ever----. - -Listen! How can I serve You? How be happy, clean, or good, while You -keep me so sequestered? - -Oh I know of that psalm where it is written that You set apart for -Yourself the godly. Am I godly? Ah no: nor even goodly. I'm Your -prisoner writhing in my fetters, fettered, impotent, utterly unhappy. - -Only he, who is good and clean, is happy. I am clean, God, but neither -good nor happy. Not alone can a man be good or happy. Force, which -generates no one thing, is not force. All intelligence must be active, -potent. I'm intelligent. So, O God, You made me. Therefore I must be -active. Of my nature I must act. For the chance to act, I languish. I -am impotent and inactive always. He, who wishes to be good, strives -to do good. Deeds must be done to others by the doer. Therefore I, in -my loneliness, am futile. Friends? And which of them have You left me -faithful these twelve years of my solitude, God? Not one. Andrews, -faithless; and Aubrey, faithless; Brander, faithless; Lancaster, -faithless; Strages, faithless and perfidious; Scuttle also; Fareham, -Roole, and Nicholas, faithless; Tatham, faithless; that detestable and -deceitful Blackcote who came fawning upon me crying 'Courage! You shall -suffer no more as you have suffered!' and then robbed me of months and -years of labour. Ah! and Lawrence, my little Lawrence, faithless. - -Women? What do I know of women. Nothing. - -Fiat justitia--well, there's Caerleon. But a bishop is very far above -me; and his friendship is only condescension,--honest, genial, kind, -but--condescension. Still, he wishes me well. I truly think it. But if -only he would believe me, trust me, shew faith in me, and absolutely -trust me,--I might do what the mouse did for the lion. - -Strong? But why do I name my splendid master. Strong of nature and -Strong of name and station, Strong of body and Strong of mind, -immensely my superior altogether, knowing all my weakness and all my -imperfection: who, to me, is as much like You as any man can be! It is -only grand indulgence and urbanity on his part which make him know me; -and, when the sun lacks splendour, only then will Megaloprepes need me, -only then Kalos Kagathos perchance may need me. - -Why, O God, have You made me strange, uncommon, such a mystery to my -fellow-creatures, not a 'man among men' like other people? - -Do I want to appear like other people? No, no, certainly not: but--Lord -God, am I such a ruffian as to merit exile? - -Oh of course I'm a sinner, vile and shameful. But, God, look at the -wreck which You have let them make of me and my life. You have some -purpose in it all. Oh you must have, if You are, God; and I know that -You are. O God, I thank You. - -But look,--haven't I tried and toiled and suffered? Yet You never allow -me any satisfaction, any gain or reward for all my trouble. No: but You -always let some shameless brigand rob me, snatching the fair fruit of -my labours. - -Yes: I know how I dream of certain pleasures, certain luxuries, -cleanness, whiteness, freshness, and simplicity, and the life of quiet -healthful vigorous and serene well-doing, all in secret, and all -unostentatious, which, when once I achieve success, I will have. I know -all about that. But You know also I that never should use success in -that way, if You gave it to me. Now did I ever use success for myself -and not for others? No: I couldn't endure the eternal silent wistful -vision of Your Maiden-Mother. - -You know why I want freedom, power, and money--just to make a few -people happy, just to put things right a bit, just to make things easy, -just to straighten out tangled lives whose tangles make me rage because -I myself am helpless. Is that wrong? No--I swear my aim is single and -unselfish. I don't want credit even. You well know that You made me -all-denuded of the power of loving anybody, of the power of being loved -by any. Self-contained, You have made me. I shall always be detached -and apart from others. - -Murmur? No. I never have murmured--nor will murmur. - -Truly, though, I should like to love, to be loved: but, so long I have -been alone and lonely, I suppose I must go on like that always till -the end. They are frightened of me, even when they come to the very -verge of loving. They are frightened because of certain labels which I -frequently use to put on others: frightened lest I should fit them also -some day with a label. Oh, often they have told me that they wouldn't -like me to be against them. - -I will stop that, O God, if You desire it. But, instead of it, what? I -think You mean me not to waste the one talent You have given. Then, I -beg of You, give me scope. I must act. - -No: I am not doing well at present--not my best. Oh, I know it, and I -loathe it. All my life is a pose. Somehow or other I have taken the -pose, or stolid stupids force me into the pose, of strange recondite -haughty genius, very subtile, very learned, inaccessible,--everything -that's foolish. God, You know what a sham I am: how silly this is: how -very little I know really. Don't I know it too? Don't I always tell -them? Then they say that I'm modest--me--ha!--modest! - -Here's the truth, by my One Hope of Salvation. I am frightened of all -men, known and unknown; and of women I go in violent terror: though I -always do say superb and hard things to the one, and all pretty gentle -soft things to the other, while writing pitilessly of them both:--for -I'm frightened of them, frightened; and I want to avoid them; and to -keep them off me. Therefore I pose. And, therefore also, I provide -an image which they can worship, like, or loathe, as it pleases, or -displeases, or strikes awe--and they generally loathe it. All the time, -while they manifest their feelings, I look on like a child at Punch and -Judy. - -Oh, it's wrong, very wrong, wrong altogether. But what can I do? God, -tell me, clearly unmistakeably and distinctly tell me, tell me what I -must do--and make me do it." - -He got out of bed: took his rosary from his trousers' pocket; and -returned. During the fifth meditation on the Finding of The Lord in the -Temple, he fell asleep. - - * * * * * - -"Dr. Courtleigh and Dr. Talacryn?" he repeated as a query, in the tone -of one to whom Beelzebub and the Archangel Periel have been announced -at eleven o'clock on the morning of a working day. - -"Yes," the maid replied. "Clergymen. One is that bishop who came -before." - -"The bishop who came before! And----What's the other like?" - -"Oh, quite old and feeble--rather stoutish--but he's been a fine -handsome man in his day. He wears a red necktie under his collar." - -"Well--I--am!... Thanks. I'll be down in a minute." - -George put his writing-board away and brushed the front of his blue -linen jacket, mentally and corporeally pulling himself together. - -"Flavio, I should just like to know the meaning of this. I rather wish -that I had Iulo here to back me up. If they are meditating mischief, -an athletic and quarrelsome youngster, with an eye like a basilisk and -a mouth full of torrential English, would be an excellent trump to -play. Mischief? What nonsense! Don't you give way to your nerves, man. -Respectable epistatai do not habitually engage in mischief, as you are -well aware. You have nothing to fear: so put on a mask--the superior -one with a tinge of disdain in it--and brace yourself up to resist the -devil; and go downstairs at once to see him flee." - -The two visitors were in the dining-room, a confined drab and aniline -room rather over-filled with indistinct but useful furniture. When -George entered, they stood up--grave important men, of over forty and -seventy years respectively, dark-haired and robust, white-haired and of -picturesque and supercilious mien. George went straight to the younger -prelate: kneeled; and kissed the episcopal ring. - -"Your Eminency will understand that I do not wish to be disrespectful," -he said to the senior, with as much quiet antipathy as could be crowded -into one man's voice: "but the Bishop of Caerleon calls himself my -friend; and I am at a loss to know to what I may attribute the honour -of Your Eminency's presence, or the manner in which you will allow me -to receive you." - -"I hope, Mr. Rose, that you will accept my blessing as well as Dr. -Talacryn's," the Cardinal-Archbishop replied in a voice where hauteur -strangely struggled with timidity. He extended his hand. George -instantly took it; and respectfully kneeled again, noting that this -ring contained a cameo instead of the cardinalitial sapphire. Then he -caused his guests to become seated. The atmosphere seemed to him laden -with the invigorating aroma of possibilities. - -"Zmnts[1] wishes to ask you a few questions," the young bishop began; -"and he thought you would not take it amiss if I were present as your -friend." - -George shot a glance of would-be affectionate gratitude at the speaker; -and turned, saying "I have been imagining Your Eminency in Rome--in the -Conclave." - -"I was there until a fortnight ago; and then,--well, you are said to -be an expert in the annals of conclaves, Mr. Rose, so it will interest -you to know that we stand adjourned." - -"For the removal of the Conclave from Rome?" - -"Oh dear no! There is no need for removal. The Piedmontese usurpers -treat us with profound respect, I'm bound to say. No. We simply stand -adjourned." - -"But this is extremely interesting!" George exclaimed. "Surely it's -unique? And may I ask,--no, I would not venture to inquire the cause: -but, is this generally known? I have seen nothing of it in the papers; -and I am not on speaking terms with any Roman Catholics except the----" - -"No. It is not generally known; and it is not intended to make an -official announcement, for reasons which you will understand, and -which, I believe, you will respect." - -"I am much honoured by Your Eminency's confidence," George purred. - -"Certain affairs required my personal presence in England;" the -cardinal continued. He was a feeble aged man, almost senile sometimes. -He hesitated. He stumbled. But he maintained the progression of the -conversation on its hands and knees, as it were, with "These are very -pregnant times, Mr. Rose." - -George went to the door: admitted his cat who was mewing outside; and -resumed his seat. Flavio brushed by cardinalitial and episcopal gaiters -turn by turn: bounded to his friend's knee: couched; and became still, -save for twinkling ears. The prelates exchanged glances. - -"But perhaps you will let me say no more on that subject, and come -directly to the point I wished to consult you upon." The cardinal now -seemed to have cleared the obstacles; and he archiepiscopally pranced -along. "It has recently been brought very forcibly to my remembrance -that you were at one time a candidate for Holy Orders, Mr. Rose. I am -cognizant of all the unpleasantness which attended that portion of your -career: but it is only lately that I have realised the fact that you -yourself have never accepted, acquiesced in, the adverse verdict of -your superiors." - -"I never have accepted it. I never have acquiesced in it. I never will -accept it. I never will acquiesce in it." - -"Would you mind telling me your reasons?" - -"I should have to say very disagreeable things, Eminency." - -"Never mind. Tell me all the truth. Try to feel that you are confiding -in your spiritual father, whose only desire is to do justice--I may -even say to do justice at the eleventh hour." - -"I am inclined indeed to believe that, because you yourself have -condescended to come to me. I wish, in fact, to believe that. But--is -it advisable to rake up old grievances? Is it desirable to scarify -half-healed wounds? And, how did Your Eminency find me after all these -years?" The feline temper of him produced dalliance. - -"It certainly was a difficult matter at first. You had completely -disappeared----" - -"I object to that," George interrupted. He suddenly saw that this was -the one chance of his life of saying the right thing to the right -person; and he determined to fight every step of the way with this -cardinal before death claimed him. "I object to that," he repeated. "I -neither disappeared nor hid myself in any way. There was no question of -concealment whatever. I found myself most perfidiously deserted; and -I went on my way alone, neither altering my habits, nor changing my -appearance----" - -"There was no implication of that kind, Mr. Rose." - -"I am very glad to hear Your Eminency say so. But such things are said. -They are the formulæ which spite or indolence or foolishness uses of a -man whom it has not seen for a month. Sometimes they are detrimental. -To me they are offensive; and I am not in a mood to tolerate them." - -The cardinal swallowed the cachet; and proceeded, "I first wrote to you -at your publishers; and my letters were returned unopened, and marked -_Refused_." - -"That was in accordance with my own explicit directions. A few years -ago, the opportunity was given me of drawing a sharp line across my -life----" - -"You mean----" - -"I allude to a series of libels which were directed against me in -the newspapers, especially in Catholic newspapers--dirty Keltic -wood-pulp----" - -"Precisely. But why was that an occasion for drawing what you call a -sharp line across your life?" - -"Eminency," said George, calming down and setting out to be concise and -categorical, "scores of people who had known me all my life must have -seen that those attacks were libellous, and false. You yourself must -have seen that." He stretched out a hand and opened and shut it, as -though claws protruded from velvet and retired. "Yet only a single one -out of all those scores came forward to assure me of friendship in that -dreadful moment. All the rest spewed their bile or licked their lips in -unctuous silence. I was left to bear the brunt alone, except for that -one; and he was not a Catholic. Except from him, I had no sympathy and -no comfort whatever. I don't know any case in all my reading, to say -nothing of my experience, where a man had a better or a clearer or a -more convincing test of the trueness and the falseness of his friends. -Not to do any man an injustice, and that no one might call me rash -or precipitate in my decision, I waited two years--two whole years. -The Bishop of Caerleon came to me in this period of isolation; and one -other Catholic, a man of my own trade. Later, that one betrayed me -again, so I will say no more of him. Women, of course, I neglect. And -the rest unanimously held aloof. Then I published a book; and I told my -publishers to refuse all letters which might be addressed to them for -me. The sharp line was drawn. I wanted no more fair-weather friends, -afraid to stand by me in storms. If, after those two awful years, I -had received overtures from my former acquaintances, I really think I -should have fulminated at them St. Matthew xxv. 41-43----" - -"What is that?" - -"'I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat' down to 'Depart from me, -ye cursed, into æonial fire.' Yes, the sharp line was drawn across my -life. I had one true friend, a protestant. As for the Faith, I found it -comfortable. As for the Faithful, I found them intolerable. The Bishop -of Caerleon at present is the exception which proves the rule, because -he came to me in the teeth of calumny." - -"You are hard, Mr. Rose, very hard." - -"I am what you and your Catholics have made me." - -"Poor child--poor child," the cardinal adjected. - -"I request that Your Eminency will not speak to me in that tone. I -disdain your pity at this date. The catastrophe is complete. I nourish -no grudge, and seek no revenge, no, nor even justice. I am content to -live my own life, avoiding all my brother-Catholics, or treating them -with severe forbearance when circumstances throw them in my path. I -don't squash cockroaches." - -"The effect on your own soul?" - -"The effect on my own soul is perfectly ghastly. I positively loathe -and distrust all Catholics, known and unknown, with one exception. I -have become a rudderless derelict. I have lost all faith in man, and I -have lost the power of loving." - -"How terrible!" the cardinal sighed. "And are there none of us for -whom you have a kindly feeling? At times, I mean? You cannot always be -in a state of white-hot rage, you know. There must be intervals when -the tension of your anger is relaxed, perhaps from sheer fatigue: for -anger is deliberate, the effect of exertion. And, in those intervals, -have you never caught yourself thinking kindly of any of your former -friends?" - -"Yes, Eminency, there are very many, clerks and laics both, with whom, -strange to say, when my anger is not dynamic, I sometimes wish to be -reconciled. However, I myself never will approach them; and they afford -me no opportunity. They do not come to me, as you have come." His voice -softened a little; and his smile was an alluring illumination. - -"But you would meet them with vituperation; and naturally they don't -want to expose themselves to affronts?" - -"Oh, of course if their sense of duty (to say nothing of decency) does -not teach them to risk affronts----But I will not say before hand how -I should meet them beyond this: it would depend on their demeanour to -me. I should do as I am done by. For example," he turned to the ruddy -bishop, "did I heave chairs or china-ware at Your Lordship?" - -"Indeed you did not, although I thoroughly deserved both. Yrmnts,"[2] -the young prelate continued, "I believe I understand Mr. Rose's frame -of mind. He has been hit very hard; and he's badly bruised. He is a -burnt child; and he dreads the fire. It's only natural. I'm firmly -convinced that he has been more sinned against than sinning; and, -though I'm sorry to see him practically keeping us at arms' length, -I really don't know what else we can expect until we treat him as we -ourselves would like to be treated." - -"True, true," the cardinal conceded. - -"But it's a pity all the same," the bishop concluded. - -The cardinal audibly thought, "You have perhaps not many very kindly -feelings towards me personally, Mr. Rose." - -"I have no kindly feelings at all toward Your Eminency; and I believe -you to be aware of my reasons. I trust that I never should be found -wanting in reverence to your Sacred Purple: but apart from that--" -indignant recollection stiffened and inflamed the speaker--"indeed -I only am speaking civilly to you now because you are the successor -of Augustine and Theodore and Dunstan and Anselm and Chichele and -Chichester, and because my friend the Bishop of Caerleon has made you -my guest for the nonce. My Lord Cardinal, I do not know what you want -of me, nor why you have come to me: but let me tell you that you shall -not entangle me again in my talk. You are going the Catholic way to -work with me; and that is the wrong way. Frankness and open honesty is -the only way to win me--if you want me." - -"Well, well! You were going to give me your own view of your Vocation." - -"Your Eminency first was about to tell me how you found me after your -letters to my publishers had been returned." - -"I applied to several Catholics who, formerly, had been your friends; -and, when they could tell me nothing, I had a letter sent to all the -bishops of my province directing inquisition to be made among the -clergy. Your personality, if not your name, was certain to be known to -at least one of these if you still remained Catholic, you know." - -"If I still remained Catholic!" George growled with contemptuous ire. - -"People in your position, Mr. Rose, have been known to commit apostasy." - -"And it is precisely because people in my position habitually commit -apostasy that I decline to do what is expected of me. No. I'll follow -my cat's example of exclusive singularity. It would be too obliging and -too silly to give you Catholics that weapon to use against me. No, no, -Eminency, rest assured that I rather will be a nuisance and poor, as I -am, than an apostate and rich, as I might be." - -The cardinal raised his eyebrows. "I trust you have a worthier motive -than that!" - -"I mentioned that I was not in revolt against the Faith, but against -the Faithful." - -"And the Grace of God?" - -"Oh, of course the Grace of God," George hastened in common courtesy -conventionally to adjoin. - -The fine dark brows came down again, and the cardinal continued, "As -soon as I had issued the mandate to my suffragans, Dr. Talacryn at once -furnished the desired information." - -"I see," said George. Then, "Where would Your Eminency like me to -begin?" - -"Tell me your own tale in your own way, dear child." - -George softly and swiftly stroked his little cat. He compelled himself -to think intensely, to marshal salient facts on which he had brooded -day and night unceasingly for years, and to try to eliminate traces of -the acerbity, of the devouring fury, with which they still inspired him. - -"Perhaps I'd better tell Mr. Rose, Yrmnts, that we've already gone very -deeply into his case," the bishop said. "It will make it easier for him -to speak when he knows that it is not information we're seeking, but -his personal point of view." - -"Indeed it will," said George; "and I sincerely thank Your Lordship. -If you already know the facts, you will be able to check my narrative; -and all I have to do is to state the said facts to the best of my -knowledge and belief. I will begin with my career at Maryvale, where -I was during a scholastic year of eight months as an ecclesiastical -subject of the Bishop of Claughton, and where I received the Tonsure. -At the end of those eight months, my diocesan wrote that he was unable -to make any further plans for me, because there was not (I quote his -words) an unanimous verdict of the superiors in favour of my Vocation. -This was like a bolt from the blue: for the four superiors verbally -had testified the exact contrary to me. Instantly I wrote, inviting -them to explain the discrepancy. It was the Long Vacation. In reply, -the President averred inability to understand my diocesan's statement: -advised me to change my diocese; and volunteered an introduction -to the Bishop of Lambeth, in which he declared that my talents and -energy (I am quoting again) would make me a very valuable priest. The -Vice-president declined to add anything to what he already had told -me. A dark man, he was, who hid inability under a guise of austerity. -The Professor of Dogmatic Theology said that he never had been asked -for, and never had volunteered, an opinion. The Professor of Moral -Theology, who was my confessor, said the same; and, further, he -superintended my subsequent correspondence with my bishop. You will -mark the intentions of that act of his. However, all came to nothing. -The Bishop of Claughton refused to explain, to recede, to afford me -satisfaction. The Bishop of Lambeth refused to look at me, because the -Bishop of Claughton had rejected me. It was my first introduction to -the inexorability of the Roman Machine, inexorable in iniquity as in -righteousness." - -"Did you form any opinion at this juncture?" the cardinal inquired, -waving a white hand. - -"I formed the opinion that someone carelessly had lied: that someone -clumsily had blundered; and that all concerned were determined not -to own themselves, or anyone else but me, to be in the wrong. A -mistake had been made; and, by quibbles, by evasions, by threats, -by every hole-and-corner means conceivable, the mistake was going -to be perpetuated. Had the case been one of the ordinary type of -ecclesiastical student, (the hebete and half-licked Keltic class I -mean,) either I furiously should have apostatized, or I mildly should -have acquiesced, and should have started-in as a pork-butcher or a -cheesemonger. But those intellectually myopic authorities were unable -to discriminate; and they quite gaily wrecked a life. Oh yes: I formed -an opinion; and I very freely stated it." - -"I mean did you form any opinion of your own concerning your Vocation?" - -"No. My opinion concerning my Vocation, such as it was and is, had been -formed when I was a boy of fifteen. I was very fervent about that time. -I frankly admit that I played the fool from seventeen to twenty, sowed -my wild oats if you like. But I never relinquished my Divine Gift. I -just neglected it, and said 'Domani' like any Roman. And at twenty-four -I became extremely earnest about it. Yes, my opinion was as now, -unchanged, unchangeable." - -"Continue," the cardinal said. - -"A year after I left Maryvale, the Archbishop of Agneda was instigated -by one of his priests, a Varsity man who knew me well, to invite me to -volunteer for his archdiocese. I was only too glad. His Grace sent me -to St. Andrew's College in Rome. The priest who recommended me, and -Canon Dugdale, assured me that, in return for my services, my expenses -would be borne by the archbishop. They never were. I was more than one -hundred and twenty pounds out of pocket. After four months in College -I was expelled suddenly and brutally. No reason ever has been given -to me; and I never have been aware of a reason which could justify -so atrocious an outrage. My archbishop maintained absolute silence. -I did hear it said that I had no Vocation. That was the gossip of my -fellow-students, immature cubs mostly, hybrid larrikins given to false -quantities and nasal cacophonies. I took, and take, no account of such -gossip. If my legitimate superiors had had grounds for their action, -grounds which they durst expose to day-light; and, if they frankly -had stated the same to me, I believe I should have given very little -trouble. As it is, I am of course a thorn, or a pest, or a fire-brand, -or a rodent and purulent ulcer--vous en faites votre choix. The case -is a mystery to me, inexplicable, except by an hypothesis connected -with the character of the rector of St. Andrew's College. I remember -the Marquess of Mountstuart reading a leading article about him out -of _The Scotsman_ to me in 1886, and remarking that he was 'an awful -little liar.' But perhaps the right reverend gentleman is known to Your -Eminency?" - -"Well known, Mr. Rose, well known. And now tell me of your subsequent -proceedings." - -"I made haste to offer my services to other bishops. When I found -every door shut against me, I firmly deliberated never to recede from -my grade of tonsured clerk under any circumstances whatever; and -I determined to occupy my energies with some pursuit for which my -nature fitted me, until the Divine Giver of my Vocation should deign -to manifest it to others as well as to myself. I chose the trade of a -painter. I was just beginning to make headway when the defalcations of -a Catholic ruined me. All that I ever possessed was swallowed up. Even -my tools of trade illegally were seized. I began life again with no -more than the clothes on my back, a Book of Hours, and eight shillings -in my pocket. I obtained, from a certain prelate, whose name I need -not mention, a commission for a series of pictures to illustrate a -scheme which he had conceived for the confounding of Anglicans. He saw -specimens of my handicraft, was satisfied with my ability, provided -me with materials for a beginning and a disused skittle-alley for a -studio; and, a few weeks later, (I quote his secretary) he altered his -mind and determined to put his money in the building of a cathedral. I -think that I need not trouble Your Eminency with further details." - -"Quite unnecessary," Mr. Rose. - -"I don't know how I kept alive until I got my next commission. I only -remember that I endured that frightful winter of 1894-5 in light summer -clothes unchanged. But I did not die; and, by odds and ends of work, I -managed to recover a great deal of my lost ground. Then a hare-brained -and degenerate priest asked me to undertake another series of pictures. -I worked two years for him: and he valued my productions at fifteen -hundred pounds: in fact he sold them at that rate. Well, he never paid -me. Again I lost all my apparatus, all my work; and was reduced to the -last extreme of penury. Then I began to write, simply because of the -imperious necessity of expressing myself. And I had much to say. Note -please that I asked nothing better than to be a humble chantry-priest, -saying Mass for the dead. It was denied me. I turned to express -beautiful and holy ideals on canvas. Again I was prevented. I must and -will have scope, an outlet for what the President of Maryvale called my -'talent and energy.' Literature is the only outlet which you Catholics -have left me. Blame yourselves: not me. Oh yes, I have very much to -say." - -He paused. The cardinal evaded his glance; and intently gazed at the -under-side of well-manicured pink-onyx finger-nails. - -"And about your Vocation, Mr. Rose. What is your present opinion?" - -George wrenched himself from retrospection. "My opinion, Eminency, as -I already have had the honour of telling you, is the same as it always -has been." - -"That is to say?" - -"That I have a Divine Vocation to the Priesthood." - -"You persist?" - -"Eminency, I am not one of your low Erse or pseudo Gaels, -flippertigibbets of frothy flighty fervour, whom you can blow hither -and thither with a sixpence for a fan. Thank The Lord I'm English, born -under Cancer, tenacious, slow and sure. Naturally I persist." - -Cardinalitial eyebrows re-ascended. "The man, to whom Divine Providence -vouchsafes a Vocation, is bound to prosecute it." - -"I am prosecuting it. I never for one moment have ceased from -prosecuting it." - -"But now you have attained a position as an author." - -"Yes; in the teeth of you all; and no thanks to anyone but myself. -However that is only the means to an end." - -"In what way?" - -"In this way. When I shall have earned enough to pay certain debts, -which I incurred on the strength of my faith in the honour of a parcel -of archiepiscopal and episcopal and clerical sharpers, and also a sum -sufficient to produce a small and certain annuity, then I shall go -straight to Rome and square the rector of St. Andrew's College." - -"Sh-h!" the bishop sibilated. The cardinal threw up delicate hands. - -"Yrmnts mustn't be offended by Mr. Rose's satirical way of putting -it," the bishop hastily put in. "He's a regular phrase-maker. It's his -trade, you know. But at the bottom of his good heart I'm sure he means -nothing but what is right and proper. And, George, you're not the man -to smite the fallen. Monsignor Cateran was deposed seven years ago and -more." - -"I beg Your Eminency's pardon if I have spoken inurbanely; and I -thank Your Lordship for interpreting me so generously. I didn't know -that Cateran had come to his Cannae. Really I'm sorry: but, I've been -stabbed and stung so many years that, now I am able to retaliate, I am -as touchy as a hornet with a brand-new sting. I can't help it. I seem -to take an impish delight in making my brother-Catholics, especially -clerks, smart and wince and squirm as I myself have squirmed and winced -and smarted. I'm sorry. I simply meant to say that, when I have made -myself free and independent, then I will try again to give you evidence -of my Vocation." - -"Have you approached your diocesan recently?" the cardinal inquired. - -"His Grace died soon after my expulsion from St. Andrew's College. I -approached his successor, who refused to hear me; and is dead. I never -have approached the present archbishop, beyond giving him notice of my -existence and persistence; for I certainly will not come before him -with chains on my hands." - -"Chains?" - -"Debts." - -"Have you any special reason for belonging to the archdiocese of -Agneda?" - -"There is a certain fascination in the idea of administering to a -horde of unspeakable barbarians, 'the horrible and ultimate Britons, -ferocious to strangers.' Otherwise I have no special reason. I had no -choice. I happen to have been made an ecclesiastical subject of Agneda -at the instance of Mr. George Semphill and at the invitation of the -late Archbishop Smithson. That is all." - -"Would you be inclined to offer your services to another bishop now?" - -"Eminency, 'it is not I who have lost the Athenians: it is the -Athenians who have lost me.' I would say that in Greek if I thought -you would understand me. When the Athenians want me, they will not -have much difficulty in finding me. But to tell you the truth, I find -these bishop-johnnies excessively tiresome. As I said just now, when -Agneda silently relieved himself of his obligations to me, I offered my -services to half-a-dozen of them, more or less, plainly telling them -my history and my circumstances. What a fool they must have thought -me,--or what a brazen and dangerous scoundrel! Yes, I do believe they -thought me that. I was astonishingly unsophisticate then. I didn't -know a tithe of what I know now; and I solemnly assever that I believe -those owl-like hierarchs to have been completely flabbergasted because -I neither whimpered penitence, nor whined for mercy, but actually had -the effrontery to tell them the blind and naked truth about myself. -Truth nude and unadorned, is such a rare commodity among Catholics, -as you know, and especially among the clergy; and I suppose, as long -as we continue to draw the majority of our spiritual pastors from the -hooligan class, from the scum of the gutter, that the man who tells the -truth in his own despite always emphatically will be condemned as mad, -or bad, or both." - -"Really, Mr. Rose!" the cardinal interjected. - -"Yes, Eminency: we teach little children that there are three kinds of -lies; and that the Officiose Lie, which is told to excuse oneself or -another--the meanest lie of the lot, I say--is only a Venial Sin. It's -in the catechism. Well, naturally enough the miserable little wretches, -who can't possibly grasp the subtilty of a _distinguo_, put undue -importance on that abominable world 'only'; and they grow up as the -most despicable of all liars. Ouf! I learned all this from a thin thing -named Danielson, just after my return to the faith of my forefathers. -He lied to me. In my innocence I took his word. Then I found him out; -and preached on the enormity of his crime. 'Well, sir,' says he as bold -as brass, 'it's only a Venial Sin!'" - -"George, you're beside the point," the bishop said. - -"His Eminency will indulge me. What was I saying? Oh,--that I had had -enough of being rebuffed by bishops. I came to that conclusion when His -Lordship of Chadsee blandly told me that I never would get a bishop to -accept my services as long as I continued to tell the truth about my -experiences. I stopped competing for rebuffs then. I do not propose to -begin again until I am the possessor of a cheque-book." - -The cardinal was gazing through the leaves of an india-rubber plant out -of the window; his magnificent eyes were drained of all expression. -When the nervose deliberately-hardened and pathetic voice of the -speaker ceased, he brought the argument to a focus with these words, -"George Arthur Rose, I summon you to offer yourself to me." - -"I am not ready to offer myself to Your Eminency." - -"Not ready?" - -"I hoped that I had made it clear to you that, in regard to my -Vocation, I am 'marking time,' until I shall have earned enough to pay -my debts incurred on the strength of my faith in the honour of a parcel -of archiepiscopal and episcopal and clerical sharpers, and also a sum -sufficient to produce me a small and certain annuity----" - -"You keep harping upon that string," the cardinal complained. - -"It is the only string which you have left unbroken on my lute." - -"I see you are a very sensitive subject, Mr. Rose. I think that -long brooding over your wrongs has fixed in you some such pagan and -erroneous idea as that which Juvenal expresses in the verse where he -says that poverty makes a man ridiculous." - -"Nothing of the kind," George retorted with all his claws out. "On the -contrary, it is I--the creature of you, my Lord Cardinal, and your -Catholics--who make Holy Poverty look ridiculous!" - -"A clever paradox!" The cardinal let a tinge of his normal sneer affect -his voice. - -"Not even a paradox. A poor thing: but mine own," George flung in, -glaring through his great-great-grandfather's silver spectacles which -he used indoors. - -"Well, well: the money-question need not trouble you," said the -cardinal, turning again to the window. Indifference was his pose. - -"But it does trouble me. It vitally troubles me. And your amazing -summons troubles me as well--now. Why do you come to me after all these -years?" - -"Precisely, Mr. Rose, after all these years, as you say. It has -been suggested to me, and I am bound to say that I agree with the -suggestion, that we ought to take your singular persistency during all -these years--how many years?" - -"Say twenty." - -"That we must take your singular persistency during twenty years as a -proof of the genuineness of your Vocation." - -George turned his face to the little yellow cat, who had climbed to and -was nestling on his shoulder. - -"And therefore," the cardinal continued, "I am here to-day to summon -you to accept Holy Order with no delay beyond the canonical intervals." - -"I will respond to that summons within two years." - -"Within two years? Life is uncertain, Mr. Rose. We who are here to-day -may be in our graves by then." I myself am an old man. - -"I know. Your Eminency is an old man. I, by the grace of God, the -virtue of my ancestors, and my own attention to my physique, am still a -young man; and younger by far than my years. I have not been preserved -in the vigour and freshness of youth by miracle after miracle during -twenty years for nothing. And, when I shall have published three more -books, I will respond to your summons. Not till then." - -"I told you that the money-question need not hinder you." - -"Yes, Eminency; and my late diocesan said the same thing several years -ago." - -"You are suspicious, Mr. Rose." - -"I have reason to be suspicacious, Eminency." - -The cardinal threw up his hands. The gesture wedded irritation to -despair. "You doubt me?" he all but gasped. - -"I trusted Your Eminency in 1894; and----" - -The bishop intervened: for cardinalitial human nature burst out in -vermilion flames. - -"George," he said, "I am witness of Zmnts's words." - -"What's the good of that? Suppose that I take His Eminency's -word! Suppose that in a couple of months he alters his mind, -determines to mistake the large for the great and to perpetrate -another pea-soup-and-streaky-bacon-coloured caricature of an -electric-light-station! What then would be my remedy? Where would be -my contract again? And could I hale a prince of the church before a -secular tribunal? Would I? Could I subpœna Your Lordship to testify -against your Metropolitan and Provincial? Would I? Would you? My Lord -Cardinal, I must speak, and you must hear me, as man to man. You are -offering me Holy Orders on good grounds, on right and legitimate -grounds, on grounds which I knew would be conceded sooner or later. I -thank God for conceding them now.... You also are offering something in -the shape of money." In his agitation, he suddenly rose, to Flavio's -supreme discomfiture; and began to roll a cigarette from dottels in a -tray on the mantel-piece. - -"If I correctly interpret you, you are offering to me, who will be no -man's pensioner, who will accept no man's gifts, a gift, a pension----" - -"No," the cardinal very mildly interjected: "but restitution." - -"Oh!" George ejaculated, suddenly sitting down, and staring like the -martyr who, while yet the pagan pincers were at work upon his tenderest -internals, beheld the angel-bearers of his amaranthine coronal. - -"Amends and restitution," the cardinal repeated. - -"What am I to say?" George addressed his cat and the bishop. - -"You are simply to say in what form you will accept this act of justice -from us," the cardinal responded, taking the question to himself. - -"Oh, I must have time to think. You must afford me time to think." - -"No, George," said the bishop: "take no time at all. Speak your mind -now. Do make an effort to believe that we are sincerely in earnest; and -that in this matter we are in your hands. I may say that, Yrmnts?" he -inquired. - -"Certainly: we place ourselves in Mr. Rose's hands--unreservedly--ha!" -the cardinal affirmed, and gasped with the exertion. - -George concentrated his faculties; and recited, rather than spoke, -demurely and deliberately and dynamically. "I must have a written -expression of regret for the wrongs which have been done to me both by -Your Eminency and by others who have followed your advice, command, or -example." - -"It is here," the cardinal said, taking a folded paper from the -fascicule of his breviary. "We knew that you would want that. I -may point out that I have written in my own name, and also as the -mouthpiece of the Catholic body." - -George took the paper and carefully read it two or three times, -with some flickering of his thin fastidious lips. It certainly -was very handsome. Then he said, "I thank Your Eminency and my -brother-Catholics," and put the document in the fire, where in a moment -it was burned to ash. - -"Man alive!" cried the bishop. - -"I do not care to preserve a record of my superiors' humiliation," said -George, again in his didactic recitative. - -"I see that Mr. Rose knows how to behave nobly, as you said, Frank," -the cardinal commented. - -"Only now and then, Eminency. One cannot be always posing. But I -long ago had arranged to do that, if you ever should give me the -opportunity. And now," he paused--and continued, "you concede my facts?" - -"We may not deny them, Mr. Rose." - -"Then, now that I in my turn have placed myself in your hands" (again -he was reciting), "I must have a sum of money"--(that paradoxical -"must" was quite in his best manner)--"I must have a sum of money equal -to the value of all the work which I have done since 1892, and of which -I have been--for which I have not been paid. I must have five thousand -pounds." - -"And the amount of your debts, and a solatium for the sufferings----" - -"You no more can solace me for my sufferings than you can revest me -with ability to love my neighbour. The paltry amount of my debts -concerns me and my creditors, and no one else. If I had been paid for -my work I should have had no debts. When I am paid, I shall pay." - -"The five thousand pounds are yours, Mr. Rose." - -"But who is being robbed----" - -"My dear child!" from the cardinal; and "George!" from the bishop. - -"Robbed, Eminency. Don't we all know the Catholic manner of robbing -Peter to pay Paul? I repeat, who is being robbed that I may be paid? -For I refuse to touch a farthing diverted from religious funds, or -extracted from the innocuous devout." - -"You need not be alarmed on that score. Your history is well-known -to many of us, as you know: latterly it has deeply concerned some -of us, as perhaps you do not know. And one who used to call himself -your friend, who--ha--promised never to let you sink--and let you -sink,--one who acquiesced when others wronged you, has now been moved -to place ten thousand pounds at my disposal, in retribution, as a -sort of sin-offering. I intend to use it for your rehabilitation, Mr. -Rose,--well then for your enfranchisement. Now that we understand -each other, I shall open an account--have you a banking account -though?--very good: I will open an account in your name at Coutts's on -my way back to Pimlico." - -"I must know the name of that penitent sinner: for quite a score have -said as much as Your Eminency has quoted." - -"Edward Lancaster." - -"I might have guessed it. Well, he never will miss it--it's just a drop -of his ocean--I think I can do as much with it as he can.--Eminency, -give him my love and say that I will take five thousand pounds: not -more. The rest--oh, I know: I hand it to Your Eminency to give to -converted clergymen who are harassed with wives, or to a sensible -secular home for working boys, or to the Bishop of Caerleon for his -dreadful diocese. Yes, divide it between them." - -The prelates stood up to go. George kneeled; and received benedictions. - -"We shall see you at Archbishop's House, Mr. Rose," said the cardinal -on the doorstep. - -"If Your Eminency will telegraph to Agneda at once, you will be able to -get my dimissorials to your archdiocese by to-morrow morning's post. -I will be at Archbishop's House at half-past seven to confess to the -Bishop of Caerleon. Your Eminency says Mass at eight, and will admit me -to Holy Communion. At half-past eight the post will be in; and you will -give me the four minor orders. Then--well, _then_, Eminency" (with a -dear smile.) "You see I am not anxious for delay now. And, meanwhile, -I will go and have a Turkish Bath, and buy a Roman collar, and think -myself back into my new--no--my old life." - - * * * * * - -"What does Yrmnts make of him?" the bishop inquired as the shabby -brougham moved away. - -"God knows! God only knows!" the cardinal responded. "I hope---- -Well we've done what we set out to do: haven't we? What a most -extraordinary, what a most incomprehensible creature to be sure! I -don't of course like his paganism, nor his flippancy, nor his slang, -nor his readiness to dictate; and he is certainly sadly lacking in -humility. He treated both of us with scant respect, you must admit, -Frank. What was it he called us--ha--'bishop-johnnies'--now you can't -defend that. And 'owl-like hierarchs' too!" - -"Indeed no. I believe he hasn't a scrap of reverence for any of us. -After all I don't exactly see that we can expect it. But it may come in -time." - -"Do you really think so?" said the cardinal; and the four eyes in the -carriage turned together, met, and struck the spark of a recondite and -mutual smile. - -"For my part," the younger prelate continued, "I'm going to try to -make amends for the immense wrong I did him by neglecting him. I can't -get over the feeling of distrust I have of him yet. But I confess I'm -strangely drawn to him. It is such a treat to come across a man who's -not above treating a bishop as his equal." - -"Did it strike you that he was acting a part?" - -"Indeed yes: I think he was acting a part nearly all the time. But I'm -sure he wasn't conscious of it. He's as transparent and guileless as a -child, whatever." - -"It seemed to me that he had all these pungent little speeches cut and -dried. He said them like a lesson." - -"Well, poor fellow, he's thought of nothing else for years; and I -find, Yrmnts, that mental concentration, carried to anything like that -extreme, gives a sort of power of prevision. I really believe that he -had foreseen something, and was quite prepared for us." - -"Strange," said the cardinal, whose supercilious oblique regard -indicated dearth of interest in ideas that were out of his depth. - -"He behaved very well about the money though?" - -"Very well indeed. But, what a fool! Well, Frank, we can only pray -that he may turn out well. I think he will. I really think he will. -I hope and trust that we shall find the material of sanctity there. -An unpleasant kind of sanctity perhaps. He will be difficult. That -singular character, and the force which all those self-concentrated -years have given him:--oh, he'll never submit to management, depend -upon it. Frank, I've seen just that type of face among academic -anarchists. It will be our business to watch him, for he will go his -own way; and his way will have to be our way. It won't be the wrong -way: but--oh yes, he will be very difficult. Well:--God only knows! -Will you be on the look-out for a telegraph office, Frank, while I get -through my Little Hours? Perhaps we had better----" - -The cardinal opened his breviary at Sext; and made the sign of the -cross. - - * * * * * - -George returned to the dining-room; and sat down in the cane -folding-chair which the cardinal had vacated. He lighted the cigarette -rolled during conversation. Flavio had taken possession of the seat -lately occupied by the bishop, a deep-cushioned wickerwork armchair; -and was very majestically posed, haunches broad and high and yellow as -a cocoon, the beautiful brush displayed at length, fore-paws daintily -tucked inward under the paler breast, the grand head guardant. - -A shameless female began to shriek scales and roulades in an opposite -house. George made plans for blasting her with a mammoth gramaphone -which should bray nothing but trumpet-choruses out of his open windows. -He smoked his cigarette to the butt, eyeing the cat. Then he said, - -"Boy, where are we?" - -Flavio winked and turned away his head, as who should say - -"Obviously here." - -George accepted the hint. He went upstairs, and changed into black -serge: borrowed a few sovereigns from his landlord: ate his lunch of -bread and milk; and took the L. and N.W. Rail to Highbury. Walking away -from the station amid the blatant and vivacious inurbanity of Islington -Upper Street, he kept his mental processes inactive--the higher mental -processes of induction and deduction, the faculties of criticism and -judgment. His method was Aristotelean, in that he drew his universals -from a consideration of numerous particulars. He had plenty of material -for thought; and he stored it till the time for thinking came. Now, -he was out of doors for the sake of physical exercise. Also, he was -getting the morning's events into perspective. At present his mind -resembled warm wax on a tablet, wherein externals inscribed but -transient impressions--an obese magenta Jewess with new boots which -had a white line round their idiotic high heels--a baby with neglected -nostrils festooned over the side of a mail-cart--a neat boy's leg, -long and singularly well-turned, extended in the act of mounting a -bicycle--an Anglican sister-of-mercy displaying side-spring prunellos -and one eye in a haberdasher's violent window--a venerable shy drudge -of a piano-tuner whose left arm was dragged down by the weight of the -unmistakable little bag of tools--the weary anxious excruciating asking -look in the eyes of all. He made his way south-westward, walking till -he was tired for an hour and a half. - -Anon, he was lying face downward in the calidarium of the bath, a slim -white form, evenly muscular, boyishly fine and smooth. His forehead -rested on his crossed arms, veiling his eyes. He came here, because -here he was unknown: the place, with its attendants and frequenters, -was quite strange to him: he would not be bored by the banalities of -familiar tractators; and an encounter with any of his acquaintance -was out of the question. From time to time he refreshed himself in -the shower: but, while his procumbent body was at rest in the hot -oxygenated air, he let his mind work easily and quickly. After two -hours, he concluded his bath with a long cold plunge; and retired -rosily tingling to the unctuarium to smoke. Here he made the following -entries in his pocket-book: - -"Have I been fair to them? Yes: but unmerciful. N.B. _For an act to be -really good and meritorious, it must be performed noluntarily and with -self-compulsion._ - -What have I gained? A verbal promise of priesthood, and a verbal -promise of five thousand pounds. M-ym-ym-ym-ym-ym-ym. - -What has he gained? If he's honest, the evacuation of a purulent -abscess, the allegiance of a man who wants to be faithful, and -perhaps the merit of saving a soul. N.B. _There was unwillingness and -self-compulsion in him._ - -Why was he so timid? - -A great part of what I said was gratuitously exasperating. Why did he -stand it? - -What does he know that I don't know? - -What do I know that he doesn't know? - -What salient things have I, in my usual manner, left unsaid? - -Did I say more than enough? - -Have I given myself away again? - -Is he honest? - -What was his real motive? - -Oh why did he humiliate himself so? - -Don't know. Don't know. Don't know. - -Now what shall I do? Advance one pace. 'Do ye nexte thynge.'" - -As he was powdering his vaccinated arm with borax before dressing, he -said to himself, "Go into Berners Street, and buy a gun-metal stock and -two dozen Roman collars (with a seam down the middle if you can get -them); and then go to Scott's and buy a flat hat. The black serge will -have to do as it is. If they don't like a jacket, let them dislike it. -And then go home and examine your conscience." - - * * * * * - -The bishop locked the parlour-door: took the crucifix from the mantel -and stood it on the table: kissed the cross embroidered on the little -violet stole which he had brought with him, and put it over his -shoulders. He sat down rectangularly to the end of the table, his left -cheek toward the crucifix, his back to the penitent. George kneeled on -the floor by the side of the table, in face of the crucifix: made the -sign of the cross; and began, - -"Bless me, O father, for I have sinned." - -"May The Lord be in thine heart and on thy lips, that thou with truth -and with humility mayest confess thy sins, ✠ in the Name of the -Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." - -"I confess to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, to Blessed -Michael Archangel, to Blessed John Baptist, to the Holy Apostles Peter -and Paul, to all Saints, and to thee, O Father, that I excessively have -sinned in thought, in word, and in deed, through my fault, through my -fault, through my very great fault. I last confessed five days ago: -received absolution: performed my penance. Since then I broke the first -commandment, once, by being superstitiously silly enough to come -downstairs in socks because I accidentally put on my left shoe before -my right: twice, by speaking scornfully of and to God's ministers. I -broke the third commandment, once, by omitting to hear mass on Sunday: -twice, by permitting my mind to be distracted by the brogue of the -priest who said mass on Saturday. I broke the fourth commandment, once, -by being pertly pertinacious to my superior: twice, by saying things to -grieve him----" - -"Was that wilful?" - -"Partly. But I was annoyed by his manner to me." - -"What had you to complain of in his manner?" - -"Side. He had used me rather badly: he came to make amends: I took -umbrage at what I considered to be the arrogance of his manner. I was -wrong. I confess an ebullition of my own critical intolerant impatient -temper, which I ought to have curbed." - -"Is there anything more on your conscience, my son?" - -"Lots. I confess that I have broken the sixth commandment, once, by -continuing to read an epigram in the Anthology after I had found out -that it was obscene. I have broken the eighth commandment, once, by -telling a story defamatory of a royal personage now dead: I don't -know whether it was true or false: it was a common story, which I had -heard; and I ought not to have repeated it. I have broken the third -commandment of the Church, once, by eating dripping-toast at tea on -Friday: I was hungry: it was very nice: I made a good meal of it and -couldn't eat any dinner: this was thoughtless at first, then wilful." - -"Are you bound to fast this Lent?" - -"Yes, Father.... Those are all the sins of which I am conscious -since my last confession. I should like to make a general confession -of the chief sins of my life as well. I am guilty of inattention -and half-heartedness in my spiritual exercises. Sometimes I can -concentrate upon them: sometimes I allow the most paltry things to -distract me. My mind has a twist towards frivolity, towards perversity. -I know the sane; and I love and admire it: but I don't control myself -as I ought to do. I say my prayers at irregular hours. Sometimes I -forget them altogether." - -"How many times a week on an average?" - -"Not so often as that: not more than once a month, I think. The same -with my Office." - -"What Office? You haven't that obligation?" - -"Well no: not in a way. But several years ago, when I received the -tonsure, I immediately began to say the Divine Office----" - -"Did you make any vow?" - -"No, Father: it was one of my private fads. I was awfully anxious -to get on to the priesthood as quickly as possible; and, as soon as -I was admitted to the clerical estate, I busied myself in acquiring -ecclesiastical habits. I wrote the necessary parts of the Liturgy on -large sheets of paper, and pinned them on my bedroom walls; and I used -to learn them by heart while I was dressing. The Office was another -thing. I said it fairly regularly for about three years. Sometimes -a bit of nasty vulgar Latin, for which someone merited a swishing, -shocked me; and I stopped in the middle of a lection--it generally -was a lection:--but I never relinquished the practice for more than -a day. Circumstances deprived me of my breviary: but I kept a little -book-of-hours; and I went on, saying all but mattins and lauds. It -wasn't satisfactory; and I had no _Ordo_; and, after a month or two -I gave it up. Then I began to say the _Little Office_; and that is -of obligation, because I have made my profession in the Third Order -of St. Francis. I added to it the _Office for the Dead_ to make up a -decent quantity. But I have not been regular. The same with my duties. -Generally, I go to confession and communion once a week: but sometimes -I don't go on the proper days. Sometimes I miss mass on holidays for -absurd reasons. Yes, often. I generally hear mass every day; and, when -I fail, it always is on a holiday----" - -"Explain, my son." - -"I live between two churches: the one is half an hour away: the other, -a quarter----" - -"Have you been obliged to live where you do?" - -"Yes: as far as one is obliged to do a detestable inconvenient thing. -I did not choose the place. A false friend enticed me there, absconded -with some papers of mine and obliged me to stay there, and rot -there----" - -"Continue, my son." - -"When I am well disposed, I go to the distant church. When I am -lazy, I don't go at all--this only refers to holidays:--because at -the near one I should have to encounter the scowls of a purse-proud -family who knew me when I was well-off, and who glare at me now as -though I committed some impertinence in using a church which they -have decorated with a chromolithograph. Also I detest kneeling in a -pew like a protestant, with somebody's breath oozing down the back -of my collar. I can hear Mass with devotion as well as with æsthetic -pleasure in a church which has dark corners and no pews. I've never -seen one in this country where I can be unconscious of the hideous -persons and outrageous costumes of the congregation, the appalling -substitute for ecclesiastical music, the tawdry insolence of the place, -the pretentious demeanour of the ministers. Things like these distract -me; and sometimes keep me away altogether. I like to worship my Maker, -alone, from a distance, unseen of all save Him. You see, among the -laity, I am as a fish out of water: because I am a clerk, whose place -is not without but within the _cancelli_. However, I confess that I -habitually more or less am guilty of neglect of duty, on grounds which -I know to be fantastic and sensuous and indefensible. I confess that -I have used irreverent expletives, such as _O my God_ and _Damn_. Not -very often.... I confess that I am imperfectly resigned to the Will -of God. I very often think that I do not know and cannot know what is -God's Will. I generally follow my instincts: not, of course, when I -know them to be sinful. I generally resist those. But, in planning my -life, in trial, when I really want to know God's Will, I have no test -which I can apply to the operations of my intellect. I am not alluding -to dogma. I implicitly take that from the Church. I mean life's little -quandaries. Years ago, I used to consult my confessor. I never got -an apt or an illuminating or even an intelligent response. Time was -short: there were a lot of people waiting outside the confessional: -or His Reverence had been interrupted in the middle of his Office. An -inapplicable platitude was pitched at me; and of course I went away -in a rage. Later, I grew to think that a man ought not to shirk his -personal responsibility: that he ought to be prepared to decide for -himself and face the consequence. I gave up consulting the clergy, -except upon technical points. I do my best, by myself; and I pray God -to be merciful to my mistakes. I earnestly desire to do His Will in all -things: but I often fail. For example, I can't stand pain. It makes me -savage, literally. I don't bear chastisement submissively. I confess -all my failures. I was lacking in filial respect towards my parents. -I have been irreverent and disobedient to my superiors. I have argued -with them, instead of meekly submitting my will to theirs. I have given -them nicknames, labels that stick, that annoy them by revealing mental -and corporeal characteristics of which they are not proud. For example, -I said that the violet legs of my college-rector were formed like -little Jacobean communion-rails; and I nicknamed a certain domestic -prelate the Greek for _Muddy-Mind_, βορβοροθυμοϛ. I haven't done -these things out of really vicious wanton cruelty: but out of pride -in my own powers of penetration and perception, or out of culpable -frivolity. I confess that I have been wanting in love, patience, -sincerity, justice, towards my neighbour. Selfishness, self-will, and -a fatuous desire to be distinct from other people, have caused these -breaches of God's law. That desire nearly always is unconscious or -subconscious: seldom deliberate. I am unkind with my bitter tongue -and pen: for example, I made a jibe of the scrofula of a publisher. I -am impatient with mental or natural weakness: for example I brought -tears into a schoolboy's eyes by my remarks when he recorded Edward -III.'s words to Philippa in reference to the six burgesses of Calais -as 'Dam, I can deny you nothing, but I wish you had been otherwhere.' -I am insincere, sinfully not criminally. I mean that I delight in -bewildering others by posing as a monument of complex erudition, when I -really am a very silly simpleton. I am unjust, in my readiness to judge -on insufficient evidence: by my habit of believing all I hear,--that's -a tremendously salient fault of mine:--and by telling or repeating -detrimental stories. I confess the sin of detraction. I have told -improper stories: not of the ordinary revolting kind, but those which -are exquisite or witty or recondite. The koprolalian kind, those which -are common in colleges and among the clergy, I have had the injustice -to label _Roman Catholic Stories_. If it were necessary to designate -them with particularity, the classic epithet _Milesian_ would serve: -but it is never necessary. I have not often offended in this way: but -now and then, according to the company in which I have happened to -be. I confess that I have sinned against myself--for example, I have -not avoided ease and luxury. I have only been too glad to enjoy them -when they came in my way. I have been fastidious in my person, my -tastes, my dress, affecting delicate habits, likes, and dislikes. I -hate getting up early in the morning; and do it with a bad grace. I -am dainty in my diet. I never have conquered my natural antipathy to -flesh-meat, especially to entrails such as sweet-breads and kidneys. -I abhor fish-meat on account of its abominable stench. Formerly, I -never would sit at a table where fish-meat was served. I can do that -now, with an effort of will: but I could not eat fish without physical -nausea. I never will eat it. Once I made a man sick by the filthy -comparison which I used in regard to some oysters which he was about -to eat.... I have not avoided dangerous occasions of sin: I have not -been prompt to resist temptation. For example, my desire to improve my -knowledge leads me to minute appreciation and analysis of everything -which interests me. In regard to the fine arts, I study the nude, -human anatomy, generally with no emotion beyond passionate admiration -for beauty. I never have been able to find beauty shameful: ugliness, -yes. In regard to literature, I have read prohibited books and -magazines--the _Nineteenth Century_, and books ancient and modern which -are of a certain kind. My motive always has been to inform myself. I -perfectly have known into what areas of temptation I was straying. As -a rule, no effect has been produced on me, save the feeling of disgust -at writers who write grossly for the sake of writing grossly, like -Stratōn, or Pontano. I confess that two or three times in my life I -have delighted in impure thoughts inspired by some lines in Cicero's -Oration for M. Coelius: and, perhaps half a dozen times by a verse of -John Addington Symonds in the _Artist_. I confess that I have dallied -with these thoughts for an instant before dismissing them. There is one -thing which I never have mentioned in confession to my satisfaction. -I mean that I have mentioned it in vague terms only. I have not felt -quite sure about it. I know that I cannot think of it and of the -stainless purity of the Mother-Maid at the same time. Hence I conclude -that I am guilty----" - -"Relieve your mind, my son." - -"About fourteen years ago, I dined with a woman whose husband was -a great friend of mine. Her two children dined with us--a girl of -fifteen, a boy of thirteen. Her husband was away on business for a -few months. Soon after dinner, she sent the children to bed. A few -minutes later she went to say good-night to them: she was an excellent -mother. I remained in the drawing-room. When she returned, I was -standing to take my departure. As she entered, she closed the door -and switched off the electric light. I instinctively struck a match. -She laughed, apologising for being absent-minded. I said the usual -polite idioms and went away. A fortnight later, I dined there again -by invitation. All went on as before: but this time, when she came -back from saying good-night to the children she was wearing a violet -flannel dressing-gown. I said nothing at all; and instantly left her. -Afterwards, I gave her the cut direct in the street. I never have -spoken to her since. Her husband was a good man, a martyr, and I -immensely admired him. He died a few years later. I have no feeling -for her except detestation. She was wickedly ugly. Vague thoughts -ensued from these incidents; thoughts not connected with her but -with some sensuous idea, some phasma of my imagination. They never -were more than thoughts. I think that I must have delighted in them, -because they returned to me perhaps twelve or fourteen times in as many -years. I confess these sins of thought. Also, I think that I ought -to confess myself lacking in alacrity after the first switching off -of the electric light; and that I never ought to have remained alone -with that woman again. I was ridiculously dense: for, only after the -second event, did I see what the first had portended. I confess that -I have not kept my senses in proper custody. I place no restraint -whatever upon sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, except in so far -as my natural sympathies or antipathies direct me. I cultivate them -and refine them and sharpen them: but never mortify them. I hardly -ever practise self-denial. Even when I do, I catch myself extracting -elements of æsthetic enjoyment from it. For example, I was present at -the amputation of a leg. Under anæsthetics, directly the saw touched -the marrow of the thigh bone, the other leg began to kick. I was next -to it; and the surgeon told me to hold it still. It was ghastly: but -I did. And then I actually caught myself admiring the exquisite silky -texture of human skin.... Father, I am my Master's most unfaithful -servant. I am a very sorry Christian. I confess all these sins, all the -sins which I cannot remember, all the sins of my life. I implore pardon -of God; and from thee, O Father, penance and absolution. Therefore I -beseech blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, blessed Michael Archangel, Blessed -John Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all Saints, and thee, O -Father, to pray for me to The Lord our God." - -"My son, do you love God?" - -From silence, tardily the response emerged, "I don't know. I really -don't know. He is Δημιουῥγοϛ, Maker of the World to me. He is Το Ἁγαθον -to me, Truth and Righteousness and Beauty. He is Πανταναξ, Lord of All -to me. He is First. He is Last. He is Perfect. He is Supreme. I believe -in God, the Father Almighty; I believe in God the Son, Redeemer of -the World; I believe in God the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the Lifegiver; -One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. I absolutely believe in Him. -There isn't in my mind the slightest shade of a question about Him. I -unconditionally trust Him. I am not afraid of Him, because I can't -think of Him as anything but righteous and merciful. To think otherwise -would be both absurd and unfair to myself. And I'm quite sure that I'm -ready and willing and delighted to make any kind of sacrifice for Him. -I don't know why. So far, I clearly see. Then, in my mind, there comes -a great gap,--filled with fog." - -"Do you love your neighbour?" - -"No, I frankly detest him, and her. Let me explain. Most people are -repulsive to me, because they are ugly in person: more, because they -are ugly in manner: many, because they are ugly in mind. Not that I -never met people different to these. I have. People have occurred to me -with whom I should like to be in sympathy. But I have been unable to -get near enough to them. I seem to be a thing apart. I can't understand -my neighbour. What satisfies him does not satisfy me. Once I induced -a young lover to let me read his love-letters. He brought them every -day for a week. His love had appeared to be a perfect idyll, pure and -lovely as a flower. Well--I never read such rot in my life: simply -categories of features and infantile gibberish done in the style of a -housemaid's novelette. It made me sick. This kind of thing annoys me, -terrifies me. You see, I want to understand my neighbour in order to -love him. But I don't think I know what love is. But I want to--badly." - -"Do you love yourself?" - -"Father, do you mean the essence of me, or the form?" - -"Yourself?" - -"Well, of course I look after my body, and cultivate my mind: I'm -afraid I don't pay enough attention to my soul. I certainly don't -admire my person. That's all wrong. I can pick out a hundred deviations -from the canon of proportion in it. Lysippos would have had a fit. -And the tint is not quite pure. I make the best of it: but I don't -think it matters much. As for my mind, I suppose I'm clever in a way, -compared with other people: but I'm not half as clever as I'm supposed -to be, or as I should like to be. In fact I'm rather more of a stupid -ignoramus than otherwise. Naturally I stick up for myself, when I -care to, against others: but, to myself, I despise myself. Oh I'm not -interesting. On the whole, I think that I despise myself, body, mind, -and soul. If I thought that they would be any good to anyone else, -I'd throw them away to-morrow--if I could do it neatly and tidily and -completely and with no one there to make remarks. They're no particular -pleasure to me----" - -"My son, tell me what would give you pleasure." - -"Nothing. Father, I'm tired. Really nothing--except to flee away and be -at rest." - -"My son, that is actually the longing of your soul for God whatever. -Cultivate that longing, oh cultivate it with all your powers. It -will lead you to love Him; and then your longing will be satisfied, -for God is love, as St. John tells us. Thank Him with all your heart -for this great gift of longing: besiege Him day and night for an -increase of it. At the same time, remember the words of Christ our -Saviour, how He said, _If ye love Me, keep My Commandments_. Remember -that He definitely commands you to love your neighbour, _This is My -Commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you_. Mortify -those keen senses of that vile body, which by God's grace you are -already moved to despise. In the words of St. Paul, keep it under -and bring it into subjection. And do try to love your neighbour. Lay -yourself out to be his servant: for Love is Service. Serve the servants -of God; and you will learn to love God; and His servants for His sake. -You have tasted the pleasures of the world, and they are as ashes in -your mouth. You say that there is nothing to give you pleasure. That -is a good sign. Cultivate that detachment from the world which is -but for a moment and then passeth away. In the tremendous dignity to -which you are about to be called--the dignity of the priesthood--be -ever mindful of the vanity of worldly things. As a priest, you will be -subject to fiercer temptations than those which assault you now. Brace -up the great natural strength of your will to resist them. Continue -to despise yourself. Begin to love your neighbour. Continue--yes, -continue--unconsciously, but soon consciously, to love God. My son, -the key to all your difficulties, present and to come, is Love.... -For your penance you will say--well, the penance for minor orders is -rather long--for your penance you will say the Divine Praises with the -celebrant after mass. Now renew your sorrow for all your past sins, and -say after me, _O my God--because by my sins I have deserved hell--and -have lost my claim to heaven--I am truly sorry that I have offended -Thee--and I firmly resolve--by Thy Grace--to avoid sin for the time to -come.--O my God--because Thou art infinitely Good--and Most Worthy of -all love--I grieve from my heart for having sinned against Thee--and -I purpose--by Thy Grace--never more to offend Thee for the time to -come_.... ego te absolvo ✠ in Nomine Patris et Filj et Spiritus -Sancti. Amen. Go in peace and pray for me." - - * * * * * - -When, a couple of hours later, George actually found himself -door-keeper, reader, exorcist, and acolyth, he noted also with some -exasperation that he was in his usual nasty morning temper. He sat -down to breakfast with the cardinal and the bishop in anything but -a cheerful frame of mind. They had said a few civil kind-like words -to him after the ceremonies: _ad multos annos_ and a sixpenny rosary -emanated from his new ordinary: but, in the refectory, they left him -to himself while they ate their eggs-and-bacon discussing the news of -the day. He chose a cup of coffee, and soaked some fingers of toast -in it. His idea was to bring himself into harmony with his novel -environment. Environment meant so much to him. Now, he no longer was -an irresponsible vagrant atom, floating in the void at his own will, -or driven into the wilderness by some irresistible human cyclone: -but an officer of a potent corporation, subject to rule, a man under -authority. His pose was to be as simple and innocuous as possible, -alertly to wait for orders; and, at the present moment, to win a merit -from a contemplation of the honour which was his in being received as -a guest at the cardinalitial table. He turned his head to the left, -wondering whether mere accident had placed him at His Eminency's right -hand where the light from the window fell full upon him. He studied the -singularly distinct features of his diocesan, who was reading from the -_Times_ of the outbreak of revolution in France, where General Andrè's -army-reforms of 1902, the blatant scandalous venality of Combes and -Pelletan, and the influence of that frightful society of school-boys -called _Les Frères de la Côte_, had thrown the military power into the -hands of Jaurès and his anarchists, revived the Commune, and broken off -diplomatic relations with the Powers. Dreadful! His Eminency feared -that he would be obliged to return to Rome by the sea-route, unless, -perhaps, he could go comfortably through Germany. Oh, very dreadful! - -George listened, regretting that he had not the paper and a cigarette -all to himself: but the coffee was not bad; and the ponderous -irritation of his matutinal headache was disappearing. He took another -cup. He remembered how he had laughed at an Occ. Note in the _Pall -Mall Gazette_ some few months before, to the effect that the old -tradition of antipathy between the two peoples separated by the Channel -was as dead as Georgian England and the era of the Bien-Aimé, and -suggesting that the two leading democracies of the world--(England a -democracy indeed!)--ought to live on terms of good understanding and -neighbourliness, or some such tomfoolery. How could two walk together -unless they were agreed? And on what single permanent and vital -essential were England and France agreed? George could think of none, -any more than Nelson could. Commerce? Yes, perhaps some fools thought -so, forgetful that commerce fluctuates from day to day, and that it is -the spawning-bed of individual and international rivalry. No. He had no -confidence in France. She openly had been accumulating combustibility -these five years; and here was the conflagration. This seemed to -be a thoroughly French revolution, sudden, sanguinary, flamboyant, -engendered by self-esteem on instability, and produced with élan and -theatrical effect. Brisk and prompt to war, soft and not in the least -able to resist calamity, fickle in catching at schemes, and always -striving after novelties--French characteristics remained unaltered -twenty centuries after Julius Cæsar made a note of them for all time. - -George detected himself in the very act of affixing a label to a -nation. He brought down his will with a thud on his critical faculty. -The bishop looked at the cardinal, suggesting that Mr. Rose was -accustomed to smoke over his meals. - -"Don't you find it bad for the digestion?" the cardinal inquired in the -tone of an archbishop to an acolyth. An access of genial gentlehood, -and something else, to which George at the moment was unable to put a -name, suddenly infused his manner when he had spoken. - -"I don't think I have a digestion. At least it never manifests itself -to me." - -"Happy man!" the cardinal exclaimed to no one in particular: adding, -"Well perhaps we might go upstairs; and Mr. Rose can have his cigarette -and listen to me at the same time." - -The room to which they went was a private cabinet, a very vermilion and -gold room, large, airy, princely. The cardinal took a long envelope -from the bureau. "I think you will find that correct, Mr. Rose," he -said. "You had better open it before we go any further." - -The contents were a blank cheque-book, and a bank-book containing -Messrs. Coutts's acknowledgment of the credit of ten thousand pounds to -the current account of the Reverend George Arthur Rose. - -Notwithstanding his natural hypersensibility, that peculiar individual -did not become the plaything of his emotions until some time after -the event which brought them into action. At the moment when blows -or blessings fell upon him, he rarely was conscious of more than a -crab is conscious of when its shell is struck or stroked. Later, when -he deliberately set himself to analyse consequences, all his senses -throbbed and tingled. But, at first, he was wont to act, on the impulse -certainly:--but to act. Having acquainted himself with the contents of -the envelope, he took out his beloved Waterman, saying "I'm sure Your -Eminency will let me have the pleasure of writing my first cheque here." - -He handed to the cardinal a draft for five thousand pounds, payable to -bearer. It afterwards occurred to him that he could have taken no more -cynical way of testing the reality of this fortune. He felt ashamed -of himself, for he hated cynicism. The act itself merely was the act -of a man awakening from a vivid dream and automatically doing what he -had resolved, before falling asleep, to do. In effect, it was by way -of being a pinch of a kind to himself. There was no doubt whatever -but that it was a pinch of another kind to the cardinal. Followed -alternately disclaimers, stolidity, embarrassment, humility, unction: -the cheque went into the bureau, the cheque-book and the bank-book into -the pocket of George's jacket. - -And now, what was the extent of his theological studies? His general -knowledge of course was unexceptional: but special--knowledge theology? -Well, in Dogma he had done the treatises _On Grace_--"a very difficult -treatise, Mr. Rose"--and _On the Church_--"a very important treatise, -Mr. Rose;"--and in Moral Theology he had read Lehmkuhl, especially _On -the Eucharist_ and _On Penance_,--"nothing could be better, Mr. Rose." -These had been the subjects of the professorial lectures at Maryvale. -During the years which had elapsed since then, he had read them again -and again, until he thought he had them at his fingers' ends. As for -Cardinal Franzelin's _De Ecclesia_ (that was the Maryvale text-book), -he found it one of the most fascinating books in the world. In fact, -it was a regular bedside book of his: and by this time he knew it by -heart. Being a man of letters, of course he would like to enlarge -it a little, to put a gloss upon it here and there, perhaps even to -expand the thesis at certain points. St. Augustine's _Encheiridion_ was -another favourite book. And St. Anselm's _Cur Deus Homo_ was another. -His reading was extensive and curious: but, sad to say, desultory -and unsystematic, because undirected. He had read the standard works -as a matter of duty: but he had made a far more exhaustive study of -obscure writers. The occult, white magic _bien entendue_, was intensely -interesting, the book on _Demoniality_ by Fr. Sinistrari of Ameno, for -example. Perhaps it would be desirable for him to tabulate the sum -of his studies, that His Eminency might decide whether to have him -examined in those or to submit him to a fresh course. - -"Quite unnecessary, Mr. Rose. And now touching the matter of -ceremonial." - -He had made a point of mastering Martinucci, practice as well as -theory. It was astonishing what a lot could be done with a guide-book, -a few household-implements, and imagination. He was aware that he had -practised under difficulties: but a few rehearsals beneath the eye of -an expert---- - -"And Canon Law?" - -"Nothing at all." - -"Well, well, just those few treatises in Dogmatic and Moral Theology in -particular, and a large amount of random reading in general. Of course -the Grace of God can supply all our deficiencies. I myself---- Things -which are hidden from the wise and prudent oft-times are revealed -unto--oh yes! Well, Mr. Rose, it is not a large, or, humanly speaking, -an adequate equipment for--for the priesthood, certainly. But we must -consider the years which you have waited. Yes. Well, perhaps we had -better waste no more time now. Go home and pack your bag: and come and -stay with me for a little till we can settle on your future. I shall -give you the subdiaconate to-morrow morning; and you can arrange to say -your first Mass on Sunday in the cathedral." - -"My first Mass must be a black mass, Eminency." - -The cardinalitial eyebrows would go up. - -"It is a long-planned intention, Eminency: it is all I can do." - -"I quite understand, Mr. Rose. You would wish to say your first mass -quietly and alone. You shall say it in the private chapel. The Bishop -of Caerleon would like to be your assistant; and--ha--I shall be very -glad if you will allow me to serve you." - -George looked from the cardinal to the bishop; and back again. After -storm, this was calm and peace, with a vengeance. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 1: This onomatopoiia presents the English Catholic -pronunciation of "His Eminency."] - -[Footnote 2: This onomatopoiia presents the English Catholic -pronunciation of "Your Eminency."] - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -What was causing the special correspondents in Rome to exude the -subterfuges, with which (as a pis-aller) they are accustomed to gain -their daily bread, was no such recondite matter after all. - -Just as Jews are less commercial, and Jesuits less cunning, so -journalists are less capable than they are supposed to be. As a matter -of fact, they are quite unscientific persons, in that they go about -their business in a fortuitous manner trusting to the human element -called "smartness" for producing their effects. They have not yet -realized the instability of all human elements. The superhuman is a -sealed book to them. They mean oh so well: but they have no knowledge -of first principles. They invariably commit the unpardonable error -of confounding universals with particulars: because the influence -of fragile or unworthy authority, custom, the imperfection of -undisciplined senses, and concealment of ignorance by ostentation of -seeming wisdom, are as stumbling-blocks which obstruct their path to -Truth. Add to this a lack of sympathetic intuition and of an historical -knowledge of their subject. They take no end of pains to acquire a -fluid style of writing; and it may be admitted that, within their -limitations, they can describe the superficies of almost anything -which may be shoved under their noses. But, as for giving a scientific -description (under such heads, for example, as the Material, Formal, -Efficient, and Final Causes,) so that one can derive a satisfactory -understanding of the thing described,--that is beyond their power. -And, as for proceeding in a scientific manner, whether by means of -the liberal or the so-called occult arts, to what on the whole is the -essence of their business, viz. the collection of news, why Sir Notyet -Apeer's young men, or Sir Uriah Tepeddle's criminal-investigators, -or the "yearnest" exoletes who fill the _Daily Anagraph_ with food -for literary lionlets and Roman Catholic clergy and nonconforming -philanthropists, have no such adequate ideal of their branch of -literature. Their aim is to please editors or proprietors; and, so, to -earn an as-near-as-may-be-legally honest living. No more. - -Consequently, when (during March and April) a score or so of these good -gentlemen found themselves in Rome, with the doors of the Conclave -bricked-up in their faces, the windows boarded and canvas-covered, and -even the chimneys (with one exception) capped, they knew no better -than to curse quite quietly all to themselves, to say that nothing was -happening because they could not see what was happening, and to write -dicaculous descriptions of the crowd, and the seven puffs of smoke -(which on seven separate occasions distracted the said crowd), in the -square of St. Peter's. - -For, if there be one place in all this orb of earth, where a secret is -a Secret, that place is a Roman Conclave. It is due to the superlative -incompetency of the spies. Ignorant of their subject, they cannot -seize its saliencies: they cannot move a hair's breadth out of their -conventional groove, notwithstanding that common sense should teach -them the imperative necessity for applying unconventional methods to -unconventional cases. When once we have emerged from the banal blinding -stifling paralysing obfuscation of the nineteenth century, (and that -should be in about ten years' time,) it will be obligatory for "Our -Special Correspondent" to add two things to his professional apparatus. -The first is the power of mind-projection, as well as that other power -of will-projection which, already, up-to-date practical common-sense -men-of-the-world like the Jesuits use to such advantage. The second -is a round matter, of about two-pounds-ten-ounces' avoirdupois -weight including its black-velvet wrapper, which costs forty-two -pounds-sterling at the mineralogists' in Regent Street. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -Well: this is what was happening in the Roman Conclave. - -Cursors had shouted "Extra omnes": fifty-seven cardinals and -three-hundred-and-eleven conclavists had been immured in three -galleries of the Vatican. All the ceremonies ordained in 1274 at the -Council of Lyons by the Bull of Gregory X. had been observed. - -The Sacred College was divided into factions. There were five -candidates for the paparchy:--Orezzo, Serafino-Vagellaio, -cardinal-bishops: Ragna, Gentilotto, Fiamma, cardinal-presbyters. -Then came groups representing divers nationalities. The French -were Desbiens, Coucheur, Lanifère, Goëland, Perron, Mâteur, Légat, -Labeur, cardinal-presbyters; and Vaghemestre, cardinal-deacon. The -Germans were Rugscha, Zarvasy, Popk, Niazk, cardinal-presbyters. The -Spaniards were Nascha, Sañasca, Harrera, cardinal-presbyters. The -Erse were O'Dromgoole, O'Tuohy, cardinal-presbyters. The Italians -were Moccolo, Agnello, Vincenzo-Vagellaio, cardinal-bishops: Sarda, -Ferraio, Saviolli, Manco, Ferita, Creta, Anziano, Cassia, Portolano, -Respiro, Riciso, Zafferano, Mantenuti, Gennaio, Bosso, Conella, del -Drudo, di Petra, di Bonti, cardinal-presbyters: Macca, Sega, Pietratta, -Pepato, della Volta, cardinal-deacons. The English and American -cardinal-presbyters Courtleigh and Grace agreed to vote together: so -did the Benedictine cardinal-presbyter Cacciatore, and the Capuchin -and Jesuit cardinal-deacons Vivole and Berstein. The Portuguese -cardinal-prior-presbyter Mundo, and the Bohemian cardinal-presbyter -Nefski (who was carried in a litter) posed as independent voters. -Cardinal-presbyter Capacitato was absent through the infirmities -of age; and, as common report (to say nothing of common knowledge) -credited him with the possession of the Evil Eye, Their Eminencies -were thankful to think that the fingers, which they would need for -inscribing their suffrages, need not be employed in making perpetual -horns. - -Once walled-up, and the conclavists having been satisfied about their -comical constitutional privileges, the cardinals spent the evening in -visiting one another in their cells, in discussing the prospects of the -five candidates, in canvassing for and promising suffrages. The five -themselves were divided into two parties which Ferraio, who was a bit -of a wag, denominated in an abstruse jest the Snarlers and the Mewers. -A Roman tradition alleges that the letter R (the _litera canina_) -exercises an indefinable influence over an election, in that it occurs -in the family names of alternate pontiffs. Others declared this -tradition to be grounded upon no more sure warranty than old wives' -fables (anicularum lucubrationes), Serafino-Vagellaio, Gentilotto, -Fiamma, gave expression to that theory. Circumlocution aside, there was -little to choose between the five. Luigi Orezzo was Cardinal-Bishop, -Dean of the Sacred College, Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church. -Mariano Ragna was Secretary of State. Serafino-Vagellaio had been the -favourite of a pontiff who had had all the world from which to choose. -Hieronimo Gentilotto, nicknamed "The Red Pope" because he was Prefect -of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, only -had the Successor of the Fisherman as his superior. Domenico Fiamma, -Archbishop of Bologna, was in the prime of vigorous life and famous for -his brilliant intellect and noble mind. - -A cardinal is prohibited from voting for himself. Orezzo promised his -suffrage to Ragna: Ragna, his to Orezzo: Snarlers should snarl at each -other. Serafino-Vagellaio also promised his suffrage to Ragna, having -the idea that an official is worthy of observance. But Gentilotto -supported Fiamma: and Fiamma, Gentilotto. - -Morning saw mass and communion in the Pauline Chapel, and Their -Eminencies proceeding to their thrones in the Xystine Chapel. A long -silence came to pass. Fat wax tapers glimmered on the altar, on the -screen, on the desk before each throne. So the cardinals waited, -smoothing violet robes and the white uncovered rochets which indicated -that supreme spiritual authority was devolved into their hands. No one -was moved to speak. Election was not to be accomplished by the Way of -Inspiration. - -Masters-of-ceremonies placed, on the table before the altar, two silver -basons containing little paper billets. The names of the fifty-seven -cardinals were written each on a little snip of parchment. The snips, -rolled up, were tucked in holes in fifty-seven lead balls. The balls -were dropped into a huge violet burse, one by one, counted by the -electors. The burse was well-shaken; and Vaghemestre drew out three. -The first bore the name Moccolo: the second, Popk: the third Harrera. -Thus were elected the Cardinal-Scrutators. - -In turn, each cardinal provided himself with a blank billet from -the silver basons: retired to his desk: and set about recording his -suffrage. At the top of the billet, he wrote "I, Cardinal" and his -name: folded it over: sealed it at each side. At the bottom he wrote -his motto: folded it over: sealed it at each side. In the middle, he -wrote "elect to the Supreme Pontificate the Most Reverend Lord my Lord -Cardinal" and the name of the candidate to whom he gave his suffrage. -Scratching of quills, splashing of scattered pounce, punctuated -momentous silence. In obedience to the Bull of Gregory X., some made -efforts to disguise their script. The results were hideous. Last, all -folded their billets to about the breadth of an inch; and, in turn, -each cardinal approached the altar, alone, holding his suffrage at -arms' length between the index and middle fingers of his right hand: -bent his knee: rising, swore "I attest, before Christ, Who is to be my -judge, that I choose him whom I think fittest to be chosen if it be -according to God's will." A great gold chalice covered by a paten stood -on the altar. Each cardinal laid his suffrage on the paten: tipped -it until the suffrage slid into the chalice: replaced the paten; and -returned to his throne. - -Cardinal-Scrutator Moccolo took the chalice by the foot: placed one -hand on the paten: and shook, thoroughly to mix the suffrages. The -Cardinal-Dean, the Cardinal-Prior-Priest, and the Cardinal-Archdeacon -brought down the chalice to the table from which the billet-basons -now had been removed. A ciborium stood there. The three Scrutators -sat at one side of the table in face of the Sacred College. Harrera -counted the suffrages, one by one, from the chalice into the ciborium. -There were fifty-seven. A grateful sigh went up. A hitch would have -invalidated the scrutiny, giving Their Eminencies the pains of voting -and sealing and swearing over again. Moccolo drew out one suffrage: -unfolded it without violating the sealed ends: discovered the name of -the candidate to whom the vote was given; and passed it to Popk, who -also looked at the name; and passed it to Harrera, who read the name -aloud. - -Each cardinal had on his desk a printed list of the Sacred College. -The names ran down the middle of the sheets. To right and left were -horizontal lines on which a tally of the votes was kept. As Harrera -published the names, he filed each billet, piercing the word "elect" -with a needle through which a skein of violet silk was threaded. When -all were filed, he tied a knot in the silk; and laid the bunch of -suffrages on the altar. - -The Way of Scrutiny at first produced the usual result. The fifty-seven -suffrages were so evenly distributed among the five candidates that -no one was elected. Orezzo had eight, viz. Ragna, Moccolo, Agnello, -Manco, Sarda, Macca, Pepato, di Petra. Ragna had thirteen, viz. Orezzo, -Serafino-Vagellaio, Cacciatore, Vivole, Berstein, Nascha, Sañasca, -Harrera, Ferita, Pietratta, Bosso, Sega, Conella. Serafino-Vagellaio -had eleven, viz. his brother Vincenzo, Rugscha, Zarvasy, Popk, Niazk, -Gennaio, Cassia, Anziano, Portolano, Creta, di Bonti. Gentilotto had -twelve, viz. Fiamma, Desbiens, Coucheur, Lanifère, Goëland, Mâteur, -Légat, Perron, Labeur, Vaghemestre, Zafferano, Mantenuti. Fiamma had -thirteen, viz. Gentilotto, Courtleigh, Grace, O'Dromgoole, O'Tuohy, -Saviolli, della Volta, del Drudo, Respiro, Riciso, Nefski, Ferraio, -Mundo. The Way of Access shewed that all still were of the same -opinion; and that each expected the others to change theirs. A bundle -of straw in the stove, the files of pierced suffrages laid thereon, and -fire applied, produced the puff of smoke from the chimney in the Square -of St. Peter's which announced that the Lord God had sent no Pope to -Rome that morning. - -The cardinals went to dine in their separate cells. After siesta and -before prayers those who could walk took exercise in the galleries: -others read the _Daily Office_ with their chaplains. There was -conversation, canvassing. In the evening, they sang _Veni Creator_ -and went to work again. Orezzo gained Anziano and Portolano, raising -his total to ten. The nine French and the two Erse, with Ferita, -Bosso, Pietratta, Sega, Conella, acceded to Ragna, raising his total -to twenty-four. Serafino-Vagellaio kept but five supporters, viz. his -brother and the four Germans. Gentilotto lost the nine French: but -gained Gennaio, di Bonti, Cassia, Creta, bringing his total to seven. -The defection of the two Erse reduced Fiamma's adherents to eleven. And -once more the puff of smoke emptied the Square of St. Peter's. - -Private conferences occupied time: candles burned late into the night. -Violet silk robes sussurated between violet serge curtains everywhere. -There were colloquies, hints, exhortations, arguments, promises, -promises dictated, suggested, given. Ragna took the opinion of his -friends concerning a commodious pontifical name. Vivole offered him -"Formosus the Second" and a pinch of Capuchin snuff out of the pages -of his breviary: but Berstein preferred "Aloysius the First." The -Secretary of State would bear both in mind. Cohesion in clots began. -The French, Germans, Spaniards, and Erse, already were united in four -groups. What the leader of each group would do, the nine, the four, the -three, and the two would do. By demonstrating that cardinal-deacons -occasionally were raised to Titles, or Suburban sees, by Popes Whom -they had elected, Cardinal-Archdeacon Macca collected a little diaconal -fraction of four, himself, Pietratti, Sega, and Pepato. Ten Italians, -viz. Conella, Manco, di Petra, Ferita, Creta, Cassia, Gennaio, di -Bonti, Sarda, Bosso, agreed to vote together. Mundo refused to join -the Spaniards; and Nefski, the Germans, on account of sundry events in -Poland. Ferraio, Archbishop of Milan, would stick to Fiamma under all -circumstances, because they both had been raised to the cardinalature -together. Saviolli threw in his lot with the Keltic and American -cardinals. Della Volta was in sympathy with Saviolli and his friends. -Del Drudo delivered himself of the cryptic sentence that one who had -been a major-domo ought to know a fresh egg from a stale one. And -Cardinal-Vicar Respiro, and Riciso, Archbishop of Turin, agreed with -del Drudo. - -So in the morning the third capitular assembly revealed an -extraordinary state of affairs. Orezzo lost all his supporters but -four, viz. Moccolo, Agnello, Anziano, Portolano. Serafino-Vagellaio -lost all votes except his brother's. Gentilotto lost all but three, -viz. Fiamma, Zafferano, Mantenuti. Fiamma retained his loyal eleven. -And Ragna began to score. First, he kept Orezzo and Serafino-Vagellaio, -the Benedictine, the Capuchin, the Jesuit, and the three Spaniards. -The nine French (for a wonder) remained constant to him for two -consecutive days. So did the two Erse: indeed O'Tuohy, who as a student -had vowed that he never would look a woman in the face, (and kept -his vow,) was as persistent as he had been when Leo XIII. had tried -to force him into the primacy of Eblana in the teeth of electors who -rejected him. The four Germans, the four deacons, and the decade of -Italians also joined Ragna, whose tally went in jumps (so to speak) -from two, to five, and eight, and seventeen, and nineteen, and -twenty-three, and twenty-seven, and thirty-seven---- - -According to the Constitution of Alexander III., made at the Council -of Lateran in the year of the Fructiferous Incarnation of the Son of -God MCLXXX., and confirmed by subsequent Bulls of Gregory XV. and -Urban VIII., the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals present at the -Scrutiny are required for the election of a Pope. Not one of Their -Eminencies was ignorant of the fact that two-thirds of fifty-seven is -thirty-eight. Wherefore, when the tallies shewed thirty-seven votes -for Ragna, and the Junior Scrutator stood up with just one more billet -in his hand, some began stertorously to breathe through their noses: -some went mauve and some magenta: while those of a phlegmatic habit of -body reached for the cords of the canopies above their thrones, which -descend at the manifestation of Christ's Vicar. - -Harrera read the name "Ragna." - -What happened next happened very quickly. The Scrutators broke the -seals of the billets one by one; and Harrera read aloud the names of -the electors as well as the name of the elected. At the thirteenth, he -read, _I, Cardinal Mariano Ragna, elect to the Supreme Pontificate the -Most Reverend Lord my Lord Cardinal Mariano Ragna_. - -This was a horrid example of the clever strong man, who loses control -of his directive faculty, in the moment of excitement. No one could -have done such a thing out of wilful wickedness: for the stringency -of conclavial regulations effectually denies success to nefarious -practices. Everyone knows that. The Secretary of State, by voting for -himself just when he was on the verge of achieving the most tremendous -of all ambitions, forfeited his own suffrage; and his election was -nulled by defect of a single vote. What passions dilacerated his -breast, God only knows. He shut-up himself in his cell during the -rest of the day, horribly snarling. Orezzo, who injudiciously went to -sympathize, suddenly came-away mouthing and tottering. - -The fourth Scrutiny began to shew how unpardonable a mistake is. -Ragna's ten Italians and four Germans fled to the faction of Fiamma. -Ragna himself voted for Serafino-Vagellaio. The tally gave Orezzo -four: Ragna, twenty-three: Serafino-Vagellaio, two: Gentilotto, three: -Fiamma, twenty-five. - -In the fifth Scrutiny, desertions from Ragna continued. The French nine -voted for Orezzo: the three Spaniards for Gentilotto. The tally gave -Orezzo thirteen: Ragna eleven: Serafino-Vagellaio, two: Gentilotto, -six: Fiamma, twenty-five. - -And now the French began to be flighty. In the sixth Scrutiny, they -were seen to have dashed from Orezzo to Gentilotto, making the tally -of Orezzo four: of Ragna, eleven: of Serafino-Vagellaio, two: of -Gentilotto, fifteen: of Fiamma, twenty-five. - -Little suburban boys formerly used to satiate their emotions with -a phrenetic and turbulent pastime called General Post. The seventh -Scrutiny indicated a conclavial propensity for a verisimilar species -of energetic dissipation. The four cardinal-deacons, evidently -despairing of Ragna, left him. So did the two Erse cardinal-presbyters. -The diaconate went over to Gentilotto, who lost the French to -Serafino-Vagellaio. The Erse voted for the Cardinal-Chamberlain. The -seventh puff of smoke from the chimney in the Square of St. Peter's was -caused by the burning of fifty-seven suffrages allotted thus: Orezzo -6: Ragna 5: Serafino-Vagellaio 11: Gentilotto 10: Fiamma 25. - -Confabulations, to say naught of protocols, became the order of the -day and night. No new candidate was forthcoming. The five candidates -flatly refused to retire, or to alter the disposition of their -suffrages. Moccolo, Agnello, Anziano, Portolano, refused to desert -Orezzo. Zafferano and Mantenuti refused to abandon Gentilotto. -Vincenzo-Vagellaio refused to be false to his brother. The Benedictine, -the Capuchin, and the Jesuit, refused to forsake Ragna. Fiamma's -stalwart twenty-five excited disgust. Ringed and middle fingers were -protruded at it. Although there was not a single clean-bred Englishman -in its ranks, it was said to be getting "quite English"; and that is -a very bitter taunt in the Vatican when the Quirinale is notoriously -Anglophile. As for the Portugal Mundo, its leader--well, everyone -knows that Portugal has been in the King of England's pocket since the -Lisbon extravaganza, said Sañasca. As for the Germans,--well, everybody -knows that Prussians are just as bestially cynical as Jonbulls, said -Coucheur. The Franco-Hispano-Erse faction was quite ready to go -anywhere and vote for anybody who was not "English." The deacons, on -the contrary, remembered that England was very much the fashion; and -began to have respect unto the twenty-five. But the Way of Scrutiny -failed, and the Way of Access also failed, to produce a pontiff. -Fiamma's tally rose to twenty-nine by the accession of the diaconate. -The Franco-Hispano-Erse alliance attached itself by fits and starts -to Orezzo, to Ragna, to Serafino-Vagellaio, to Gentilotto: but the -indispensable two-thirds of fifty-seven never was attained. And, after -a week of errancy, Their Eminencies thought that the whole affair was -rather tiresome. - -Ragna's massive prognathous jaw, the colour of porphyry, bulged in -emitting a suggestion. As the College seemed unlikely to come to any -agreement, why not elect an old man, who, in the course of nature, -only could live a year or two, and whose demise would necessitate -another Conclave at an early date? He unselfishly would designate -Orezzo. There, for example, was a cardinal to whom the paparchy was -by way of being owed since 1878, when he actually had lost it to Leo. -Let Orezzo now be elected; and, during his brief pontificature, let -the Most Eminent Lords devote their energies towards arrangements for -giving him a generous glorious and enlightened successor, who, in this -reactionary age, was experienced in all the devious subtilties of -secular diplomacy, and who was under sixty-five years old. - -The Sacred College rejected the bare idea. What! Elect a Pope who, out -of sheer personal antipathy, would make it his business to annul the -policy of Leo? What! elect a Pope who had spent more than a quarter -of a century in composing and reciting litanies of complaints against -Leo's management of the Church? What! Elect a Pope who had proved -himself to be purely barbarian by the ferocity of his ritual tapping on -the forehead of the dead Leo? Di meliora!! - -Ragna adroitly disclaimed a personal predilection for Orezzo. That idea -was dismissed. - -"Then what?" was the general question. - -"The Way of Compromise," cooed Vincenzo-Vagellaio. - -There was another capitular session in the Xystine Chapel. By means of -the snips of parchment, the lead balls, the huge violet burse, nine -cardinals were chosen by lot and appointed as Cardinal-Compromissaries. -Singularly enough they were Courtleigh, Mundo, Fiamma, Grace, Ferraio, -Saviolli, Nefski, Gentilotto, and della Volta. The College executed a -compromise in writing, no one contradicting or opposing it, whereby -these nine were invested with absolute power and faculty to make -provision of a pastor for the Holy Roman Church. - -The Compromissaries conferred. To begin with, they mutually protested -that they would not be understood to give their consent by all sorts -of words or expressions which might fall from them in the heat of -debate, unless they expressly set the same down in writing. Then, they -looked whole inquisitions one at another, saying nothing. And, after -half-an-hour they adjourned till the morrow: gathered up their trains; -and swept each to his separate cell. Stupid conclavists tried to read -their expressions. As well try to find out his thoughts from the sole -of his unworn shoe as from the face of a cardinal. The cardinalitial -mask is as superior (in impenetrable pachydermatosity) to that of the -proverbial public-schoolboy, as is the cuticle of a crocodile to that -of _pulex irritans_. - -The task of the Compromissaries was too onerous to be begun until a -chaos of ideas had been set in order. Gentilotto and Fiamma paced up -and down the galleries together. Acceptance of their present office had -nullified their chances of the triple crown. Either would have worn -that gladly and well: neither was inclined to struggle for it. The -Scrutinies dreadfully had annoyed their dignity, the pure and gentle -dignity of Gentilotto, the radiant opulent dignity of Fiamma. To have -escaped from the sweaty turmoil of competition satisfied them. Ferraio -joined them in their perambulation: joined his ideas and sympathies to -theirs. Mundo paid a visit to Courtleigh, and heard his confession: -the Cardinal of Pimlico had no use for the conclavial confessor, who -was a Jesuit. Nefski, pallid and wan, tried a little walk by the aid -of the arm of della Volta: and afterwards, those two said mattins and -lauds together. Saviolli sat-out the evening in Grace's cell, chatting -about the Munroe Doctrine. Courtleigh sat alone in his cell: his hands -were on the arms of his chair: his gaze was fixed on the flame of the -candle. His thoughts whirled: eddyed: and were still. He fell asleep. -His brother, who was his chaplain, peered through the violet curtains, -inquiring his needs. He needed nothing--perhaps he would do a little -writing before saying his night-prayers. Monsignor John placed a -dispatch-box on the table, a couple of new candles on the prickets; -and retired. Anon, His Eminency opened the box with a miniature gold -key hinged to the under-side of the bezel of his cameo ring; and -meditatively turned over and over his archiepiscopal correspondence. -One packet of letters seemed to fascinate him. He held it in his hands -for a long time, fixedly regarding it. He untied the vermilion ribbon; -and began to read. He had read these letters before, just before he -entered the Conclave. He would read them again now: reading helps -thought: it is as a strong arm supporting feeble steps: it is as the -pinions upon which thought can fly: or it is inspiration. Cardinal -Courtleigh read a dozen pages or so. Then he sat with his chin in his -hand, gazing again at the candle-flame. His thoughts were flying. They -were quite personal, quite unconnected with his present situation or -his present office. Orezzo, Ragna, and Serafino-Vagellaio, engaged the -Compromissaries in conversations wherever they met them, in doorways, -on promenades: quite often they called to make perfectly certain that -they lacked no conveniences in their cells. - -Morning and evening conferences were occupied by long discussions -on the merits of the three remaining candidates, and of the other -five-and-forty cardinals. The predilections of the Powers were passed -in review. The ambassador of the Emperor had notified that Austria -would look favourably upon Rugscha. But to think of that old man--born -in 1818--nearly ninety years old--oh, quite impossible. The Siege of -Peter needed no more senility, but rather juvence. Old men were so -obstinate, much more obstinate than headstrong youth. The ambassador -of the Catholic King had urged the claims of the Archbishop of -Compostella. True, that one was not so old--but, three-score years and -ten--is it not the Psalmist's limit? - -And did any of Their Eminencies desire to assist at another Conclave, -(say) within the next five years? Their Eminencies had had enough -of Conclaves to last them for the span of their mortal lives. The -French ambassador had made no recommendation, seeing that the Commune -had recalled him, torn him out of the train at Modane on the French -frontier and sliced him in pieces. Portugal had plumped for Mundo, who -declared himself unwilling to accept, and as Compromissary incapable of -accepting, the paparchy. - -Italy--m-ym-ym-ym-ym--well, Italy? A geographical expression: no more. -Now then the others. The German Emperor? His Majesty had nominated -Courtleigh. Now why? The Cardinal of Pimlico, smiling, really did not -know. He was much obliged, he was sure. Perhaps the young man thought -that, by nominating one of his own uncle's subjects (and a very -unworthy one) he would induce his said uncle to return the compliment -and nominate a German. And would the uncle so oblige? Courtleigh -thought not. The aforesaid uncle was quite as self-willed as, and -infinitely more tactful than, and the last person in the world to let -his leg be pulled by, his imperial nephew. Well then what was the King -of England's attitude? Courtleigh did not know: but he believed--indeed -he had had it from Mr. Chamberlain----Yes, and the Lord Chamberlain -said?--Not the Lord Chamberlain:-- Mister Chamberlain--the Prime -Minister--had said that His Majesty was not by way of meddling with -matters which did not concern him. The Compromissaries pronounced the -King of England's conduct to be most observable. And the Cardinal of -Pimlico added that in any case he (as a Compromissary) was ineligible: -while the Cardinal of Baltimore calculated that America also would -stand out of this deal. - -A definite decision evaded capture. Satisfaction seemed to be such a -very long way up in the air. Not one of the nine was sensible of an -overwhelming irresistible impulse to select any particular individual -as Pope. That is such an invidious undertaking: the spirit faints at -its immensity. But the Compromissaries subconsciously were drawing near -and nearer to each other, and away from the rest, who, in their turn -cohered in curiosity. The fourth conference was an unusually futile -one. Mundo frankly and abruptly stated his conviction that the Lord -God was not intending Himself to take a Vicegerent out of the Sacred -College: whereat Their Eminencies laughed; and adjourned, conversing of -other and secular affairs. - -Courtleigh went out on della Volta's arm. "Eminency," he said, "I have -known you now for nearly twenty years: and, whenever I see you, I -always fancy that I have met you somewhere in other circumstances. You -have never been in London? I thought not. And I suppose you haven't -what they call a Double? I don't mean that your type is common. Far -from it. But, at times, I seem---- You remind me of---- And yet I do -not know of whom----" - -And another night enshrouded the palace on the Vatican Hill. - -As Cardinal Courtleigh was trying to shave himself next morning, the -phantom of his friend della Volta invaded his mental vision: suddenly, -resemblance and remembrance clashed together striking a spark. By the -light of it, he saw and knew--something. He laughed shortly: and grew -grave. He was deeply engrossed with his dispatch-box until the hour of -conference. The matters which he laid before the other Compromissaries -caused several precedents to be set aside and some to be created. -And, at 9 p.m., forty-two cardinals, wearing the habits of ordinary -priests, drove away in cabs towards the railway-station: while the -Cardinal-Chamberlain unlocked the inside of the door of the Conclave. -Hereditary-marshal Ghici, summoned from his watching chamber to unlock -the outside, was flabbergasted by an invitation to declare whether the -Vatican was a prison for cardinals as well as for popes? He did hate -being mocked by a boiled lobster! - -Fifteen comparatively speechless Eminencies spent a few weeks there in -quiet leisure, reading in the library, admiring the pictures and the -sculptures, sometimes strolling in the gardens. One of them seriously -began to study botany; and the Cardinal-Dean, with a view to a future -Bull, composed a very scathing indictment of that hypocritical anomaly -called Christian Socialism. And all the time the pontifical army -guarded the inside of every entrance, fraternizing through the gratings -with the national army outside. But special correspondents of the -London newspapers in Rome munched vacuity and excreted fibs, after -their kind. - -By twos and threes, plain (but very dignified) priests arrived: were -admitted; and changed black for violet. One did not change. He was only -Cardinal Courtleigh's new chaplain. The door of the Conclave was locked -on both sides and bricked-up again. - -Ensued another session of the Compromissaries, when their authentic -act was put into prescribed form by apostolic prothonotaries. Ensued -a final capitular assembly, in which the Act of the Compromise was -published. Ensued a tempest of tongues and manners, dissolving (as -storms do) in muttered thunders, less and less convulsive upheavals, a -parcel of broken boughs and chimney-pots, stillness, peace, relief, and -sun-bright April smiles. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -When their lords had entered the Xystine Chapel for this last exercise, -the conclavists went away about their own affairs; and the door was -shut. The Reverend George Arthur Rose departed with the Bishop of -Caerleon who was acting-chaplain to Cardinal Mundo. They walked in the -royal gallery between the Xystine and the Pauline Chapels. George was -in a mood of silence. His mind (as usual) was receiving impressions: -the historic scene being enacted under his notice: the magnificent -masks veiling the humanity of the actors: the mysterious gloom of -the stage, its smallness, its air of cavernous confinement: the sour -oppressive septic odour of architectural and waxen and human antiquity. -He had been told that he would have to say mass before noon; and his -head ached from fasting in that indescribably stifling effluvia. He -remembered that, in former days necessity frequently had forced him -to abstain from all food for a hundred hours at a time. Often, during -four days in the week, he had eaten nothing: but that was in the open -air, on the shore of a northern sea, or among the heather on moors -and mountains, where the wind and the spray gave life. Here, the -fast of less than twenty hours made him sick and sulky. However, it -had to be tolerated. Semphill once had told him that a course in an -ecclesiastical college, and the first few years of clerical life, were -as disgusting as ten years' penal servitude. He took it at that with -his eyes open. It was part of the business. He determined to go through -with it. Still, he was in a better position now than he ever had -been before. He no longer was alone. Dr. Talacryn had seemed anxious -for his company since that day in London; and George was inclined to -value kindness. The Bishop of Caerleon appeared to be precisely what -the new-fledged priest knew himself to need--a sympathetic expert -subintelligent walking-stick, honest and sturdy as oak. Oh, for the -certainty of fidelity! Presently George took out his cherished edition -of Theokritos by Estienne. In spare moments, he was introducing his -companion to the melody of Greek; and together they read and analyzed -the twelfth idyll. - -An hour later, the bishop suggested that they should go into the -Pauline Chapel and say some prayers. George followed him. Prayer is -a mind-cleanser--the best: anyhow it is an effort always due. They -looked for a clean four-feet-of-floor: kneeled side by side; and got -into communication with the Unseen. George's method was intellectual -rather than formal. To him, with his keen and carefully cultivated -sense of the ridiculous, the absurdity of a human individual composing -complacent criticisms of Divine decrees, hashing up scriptural and -liturgical tags with a proper and essentially sensuous pleasure in -patchwork, seemed like gratuitous impertinence. "Dear Jesus, be not to -me a Judge, but a Saviour," was all the form of words which he used. It -included everything, as far as he could see. He repeated it over and -over again and again like a wonderful incantation; and anon it had its -psychic effect. He became in direct communication with the Invisible -Omniscient, to Whom all hearts are open, from Whom no secrets are hid. -It was just his own method, compiled from bitter-sweet experience. -In time, he began to finger his moonstone rosary, concentrating his -meditation on the Mystery of the Annunciation: his mind strenuously -went to work on that: his lips swiftly enunciated the prayers. After -five decades he said _Salve Regina_: and examined his conscience. Was -there any difference in him? He felt more clear: he felt that he -had effected some kind of a difference. That was relief. But was it -worth anything? Wasn't it stained? Was he really strengthened by the -exercise? For example, was he now filled and inflamed with pure Love? -No. Was he any nearer to pure Love, fit to be thought of, even harshly, -by pure Love? No. Well: he had done his best: it would come some day. -God be merciful to us all poor sinners. - -He looked at the bishop, two weeks his junior in years, two centuries -his senior in worth of every kind. The cheerful satisfied stolidity -of that one, turning from his prayers and meeting George's gaze with -a homely smile, was something astounding. How different men are! Here -was one envying the other his stolidity, and the other half afraid of -the agility of the one. George realized that this bishop never had had -embarrassments of any kind: nor could have. He saw the great gulph -which is fixed between the simple and the complex. - -There was a stir at the door of the chapel. "I think perhaps we'd -better be getting back," said Dr. Talacryn. - -Two masters-of-ceremonies appeared in attendance upon -Cardinal-Archdeacon Macca and Cardinal-Deacon Berstein. As George and -his companion approached them, they turned and retraced their steps. -George wished them anywhere but there, impeding him when he ought to -be running-off to the service of his diocesan. They completely blocked -the path as they went before him with superb unconcern. "How stiff, how -antipathetic the elder one looks!" he whispered with acerbity. - -"Sh-h-h!" the bishop sibilated. - -The door of the Xystine Chapel was open. Conclavists from all quarters -hurried towards it. George and his friend found themselves impelled -through the portals. Beyond the delicate marble screen, gleamed the six -steady flamelets of the candles on the altar. The protentous figures in -the Doom appeared to writhe. - -Inside the screen Macca and Berstein went; and paused; and faced the -crowd which followed them. - -George was looking about him, vehemently alert. He had felt like -this three times in his life before, at the exsequies of the Queen -of England, at the incoronation of the King of England, at the foot -of the first grave which had opened in his path through life. It -was the feeling of the cognoscente who is permitted, during sixty -seconds, to do his own pleasure in a treasure-chest filled to the -brim with inestimable intagliate gems. It was the feeling of absolute -acquisitiveness. Here was history in the making; and he was in the -front rank of the spectators. There was no time to think of effects. -This was a case of causes; and every detail must be seized and stored. -Selection could come later: appreciation afterwards: but now he -must collect. First, his glance flashed upward to the little square -canopies: they all were in position. Then, to the occupants of the five -and fifty thrones: they were sitting as still as the conscript-fathers -sat in their curule chairs, turned-to and watching the crowd which -oozed through the screen-gates. Unconsciously, George was urged further -and further in. His demeanour was abstrusely unemotional: he continued -violently absorbent of the spectacle. Presently, he whispered to the -bishop, "What is it? What is happening?" - -"I think God has given us a Pope." - -"Oh! Whom?" - -"Wait. We shall know in a minute." - -The silence, the stillness, the dim light, where motionless forms of -cardinals curved like the frozen crests of waves carven in white jade -and old ivory on a sea of amethyst, were more than marvellous. - -A voice came out of the gloom, an intense voice, reciting some formula. - -George did not take the Latin easily from an Italian tongue: he found -himself translating, _Reverend Lord, the Sacred College has elected -thee to be the Successor of St. Peter. Wilt thou accept pontificality?_ - -"Reverend?" he thought. Why not "Most Eminent"? He instantly turned -to the bishop, with another question on his tongue. The bishop was -kneeling behind him. The crowd also was kneeling. Why in the world did -not he kneel too? Why should he hesitate for a moment? He faced round -once more, a single black figure with an alert weary white face, alone -and erect in the splendour of violet. He glanced again at the canopies. - -It was on him, on him, that all eyes were. Why did he not kneel? - -Again the voice of the Cardinal-Archdeacon intoned, "Reverend Lord, the -Sacred College has elected thee to be the Successor of St. Peter. Wilt -thou accept pontificality?" - -There was no mistake. The awful tremendous question was addressed to -him. - -A murmur from the bishop prompted him, "The response is _Volo_--or -_Nolo_." - -The surging in his temples, the booming in his ears, miraculously -ceased. He took one long slow breath: crossed right hand over left upon -his breast: became like a piece of a pageant; and responded "I will." - -Two hands clapped, and the canopies came down rustling and flapping. -The Sacred College struggled to its feet, as God's Vicegerent passed to -the rear of the high altar. - -They offered Him three suits of pontifical white, large, medium, and -small. The large was too large: the small, too small: but the medium -would serve for the present. He began to undress, among the throng of -assistants, with the noncurance of one accustomed to swim in Sandford -Lasher. He forbade all help, refusing to be touched. When He had -assumed the white hosen, cassock, sash, rochet, cape, and cap, the -crimson shoes and stole, the great new gold Ring of The Fisherman, -He went through His former pockets leaving nothing behind: tucked -His handkerchief into His left sleeve; and asked for the Bishop of -Caerleon. While masters-of-ceremonies and the Augustinian sacristan -hurried to prepare altars for the episcopal consecration of the Pope, -Dr. Talacryn was admitted to the Apostolic presence. He made obeisance: -the moment was too enormous for words, but eyes spoke. - -"A glass of water," then the Pontiff said. - -"The fast, Holy Father----" - -"Will not be broken. Remain always close at hand, please." He felt -as though the whole world suddenly had left Him. Not that He Himself -had moved, or changed: but the world, the past, was entirely gone and -blotted out: the future was obscure: the present was all strange. His -unrelated idea was to steady Himself by this one link with the past. -Water was brought. He dipped half His handkerchief: wrang it out: -pressed it on His hot dry eyes. - -All through the long ceremony of consecration, He carried Himself with -enigmatical equanimity. Though His eyes saw nothing but the matters -of each moment, and though His bearing seemed to indicate an aloof -indifference, yet, within, His sensibilities were at their tensest. -Nothing escaped Him. And He was mobilizing His forces: planning His -campaign. He was looking-down, He was surveying, the opening vista. Two -or three moves on the apostolic chess-board He already could foresee. - -At the conferring of the episcopal ring, He drew-back His hand; and -demanded an amethyst instead of the proffered emerald. The ceremony -halted till the canonical stone came. Cardinals noted the first -manifestation of pontifical will, with much concern, and with some -annoyance. Ragna muttered of ignoble upstarts: Vivole, of boyish -arrogance: Berstein, of beggars on horseback. "He, who is born of -a hen, always scratches the ground," asserted the Benedictine -Cacciatore: and "He, who was a frog, is now a king," Labeur quoted from -the _Satyricon_ of Petronius Arbiter. - -They brought Him before the altar; and set Him in a crimson-velvet -chair, asking what pontifical name He would choose. - -"Hadrian the Seventh:" the response came unhesitatingly, -undemonstratively. - -"Your Holiness would perhaps prefer to be called Leo, or Pius, or -Gregory, as is the modern manner?" the Cardinal-Dean inquired with -imperious suavity. - -"The previous English pontiff was Hadrian the Fourth: the present -English pontiff is Hadrian the Seventh. It pleases Us; and so, by Our -Own impulse, We command." - -Then there was no more to be said. The election of Hadrian the Seventh -was proclaimed in the Conclave. They came to the ceremony of adoration. -One by one, Their Eminencies kissed the Supreme Pontiff's foot and -hand and cheek. Contact with senile humanity made His juvenile soul -shudder. All the time he was saying in His mind "Not unto Us, O Lord, -not unto Us...." Yet that seemed such a silly inadequate thing to say. -It was not humility, it was physical loathing which nauseated Him all -secretly. Some had the breaths of bustards, and all but one were hot. -He would have liked to tear off His Own cheek with clawed tongs. By -a peculiar mental gymnastic, He vaulted to the verse, "Who sweeps an -house as in Thy Sight makes that and th' action fine." He clutched the -thought and clung to it. "Greatest and Best, or by what other Name Thou -wishest to be called, I am only Thy means. This horrible osculation is -no more than a chance for them to benefit themselves by honouring Thee -through me. Let them. I will be the means--Thy means to all men. Ouf! -How it hurts!" His external serenity was unflinchingly feline. He just -tolerated attention. The arrows of cardinalitial eyes impinged upon -Him; and glanced off the ice of His mail. He withdrew His sensibilities -from the surface; and concentrated them in the inmost recesses of his -soul, foreseeing, forescheming. "One step's enough for me" was another -tag, which became detached from the bundles of His memory to float in -the ocean of His counsels. He made sure of the one step: fearlessly -strode and stood; and prepared for the next. He never looked behind. -The amethyst, the pontifical name, and now----? Yes! "Begin as you mean -to go on," He advised Himself. - -When the huge princes of the church bourgeoned in ermine and vermilion, -Hadrian, mitred and coped in silver and gold, followed Macca who bore -the triple cross. Tumultuous sumptuous splendour proceeded through the -Conclave into the gallery of benediction over the porch of St. Peter's. -Masons were removing brickwork from a blocked window leading to a -balcony on the right hand, half-way down the long gallery. The Supreme -Pontiff beckoned Orezzo. - -"Lord Cardinal, this balcony looks-into the church?" - -"Into the church, Holiness." - -"Which window looks-out over the City?" - -"The window on the left." - -"Let the window on the left be opened." - -The Sacred College swung together as to a scrum. - -Pressure never had influenced George Arthur Rose. He used to say that -you might squash him to death, if you could: but you never should make -him do what you were too lazy, or too proud, or too silly, to persuade -him to do. He would wait a century for his own way; and, unless you -actually and literally had removed him from the face of the earth by -the usual methods of assassination, you would find him still implacably -persistent at the end of the said century. He had learned the trick -from Flavio: observing that, if he would not open the door when the -cat mewed to go out, the creature remained in the room, but would not -come and sit on his friend's neck, nor agree to anything except the -opening of the door. And Hadrian the Seventh was quite prepared to be -hustled and hullabaloed-at, as Leo the Thirteenth had been hullabaloed -at and hustled in 1878: but no earthly power should extort Apostolic -Benediction from His hand and lips, except at a place and a time of -His Own choosing. They might push this Pope on to the inner balcony; -and they might lead a horse to the water: but not even the College of -Cardinals arrayed in all its glory could make the one drink, the other -bless. - -"Holiness, that window was bricked-up in 1870; and has not been opened -since." - -"Let it now be opened." - -Ragna snarled and burst out of the phalanx. There was a tinge of -truculence about him. "Holiness, Pope Leo wished to have had it opened -on the day of His Own election; but it was impossible. Impossible! -Capisce? The rust of the stanchions, the solidity of the cement----" - -"All that We know. The gentleness of Pope Leo was persuaded. We are not -gentle; and We are not to be persuaded by violence." - -Orezzo, though secretly inchanted that anyone should act differently -to his one antipathy, Pope Leo, was rather shocked at the notion -of blessing the City and the World while (what he held to be) the -Piedmontese Usurper was occupying Peter's so-called Patrimony and -Intangible Rome. It is an ingrained idea with his school that peoples -should excruciate for the petty spites of potentates. But he tried -urbanity. "Holy Father have pity upon us; and deliver us as soon as -possible from the miseries which afflict us in this Conclave. Deign -blessings to the faithful in the church to-day; and we will see what -can be done about the other affair to-morrow." - -Hadrian looked a little amused. The Bishop of Caerleon thought that he -never had seen more cruelly dispassionate inflexibility. At a sign -from the Pope, the master-mason came forward and fell on his knees. -Hadrian stooped. - -"Son, open that window." - -Through and through vermilion billows the masons dived and thrust -across the breadth of the gallery, conveying ladders, crowbars, -hammers. Conclavial porters threw down rolls of carpet which they were -about to spread, and sat upon them. Berstein squawked and expectorated. -Hadrian winced: and marked the man. At the clang of hammers, masonry -began to fall: a white dust hovered in the air: the vermilion college -swept away with the white Pope. Some went to the end of the gallery, -where loud voices became protestant: midway, the Germans halted with -most of the Italians: they conversed more moderately. A few paces -beyond the range of operations, the Pope remained quite still: by His -side, He detained Macca with His cross: behind Him, congregated the -Bishop of Caerleon and the nine Cardinal-Compromissaries. - -In a break of the clang of the hammers, Hadrian intoned "Kyrie -eleēson." Mundo gave prompt response. The assemblage at first failed -to catch the idea: but, by degrees, voice acceded to voice; and the -_Litanies of the Saints_ magniloquently reverberated through the -gallery. - -Outside, in the Square of St. Peter's, only a few hundreds of people -were collected. Interest in the proceedings of the Conclave was -nearly dead; and several special correspondents were beginning to -think seriously of the superior excitements of a murder-trial at New -Bailey. But many old-fashioned Romans wished to be able to tell their -grand-children that they themselves had been in the square when the -Pope was proclaimed in the church; and, again, on the morning of St -George's Day, no smoke had been vomited from the Xystine chimney. The -affair was very mysterious! What combinations behind those white walls! - -Inside the basilica, there were thousands of expectant people, -officials of the Vatican, cardinalitial familiars, prelates, -penitentiaries, beneficiaries, who had not been immured in the -Conclave. Also there were lords and ladies of eminent quality -belonging to the Black (or clerical) Party, who had been admitted with -meticulous secrecy (in broad day-light and in face of all Rome) by a -privy door. Every day for weeks, they had come and waited, hoping to -be among the first to salute the Pope. To go to St. Peter's in the -morning before dinner, and in the evening before supper, had become -the mode in a society which has few and futile dissipations of its -own and to which the comity of the Quirinale and White Society is -forbidden fruit. Some, who were near the great doorway, thought they -heard faint tappings in the gallery over-head. Rumour protruded her -tongue: certainly there were tappings, more ponderous, more insistent. -Certainly the balcony was being opened. Then the crashing ceased. -In the hush, surmises were born; and stifled: or nurtured. A loose -Benedictine with a face of a flesher, who was leaning against one of -the great piers, suddenly asseverated that the tapping had begun again: -but in another place--further away, he said. An honorary decurial -chamberlain-of-the-cloak-and-sword sniffed long-nosedly, picking a -vandyke beardlet; and stuttered, "They're n-n-never o-opening the outer -b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-balcony." That notion resembled the spark between -negative and positive poles. It vibrated and glittered; and fell upon a -heap of human combustibles. - -"Then what are we waiting here for?" shouted Prince Clenalotti; and he -made a dash at the door by which he had entered. Naturally he led a -stampede. - -The crowd in the Square stood obliquely to the church, with all its -eyes directed to the Vatican: when, round from Via della Sagrestia -poured a stream of half-wild creatures, shooting instant glances at -the vacant balcony, and bringing amazing news. The two crowds flew -together, thronging the wide stone steps and the open space beneath. -The military rigesced to attention. The special correspondents (as -one man) made for the obelisk in the centre, or the basins of the -fountains, and set-up portable pairs of steps. And, of course, -motor-cars and cabs, and Caio and Tizio and also Sempronio, not to -mention Maria and Elena and Yolanda and also Margherita, began to issue -from every Borgo avenue. - -There was nothing to be seen, except the empty balcony over the porch. -It was neither canopied nor decorated: but someone said that there was -movement behind the window. That was concisely true. More. The window -itself was moving. The sun-flashed panes of glass turned dull, as it -swung on its hinges, inward. The Italian army presented arms. Rome -kneeled on the stones. The special correspondents ascended their pairs -of steps: directed phonographic and kinematographic machines: pressed -buttons and revolved wheels. - -A tiny figure splashed a web of cloth-of-gold over the balcony; and -a tiny ermine and vermilion figure ascended, placing a tiny triple -cross. Came in a stentorian megaphonic roar a proclamation by the -Cardinal-Archdeacon, - -"I announce to you great joy. We have for a Pope the Lord George of the -Roses of England, Who has imposed upon Himself the name of Hadrian the -Seventh." - -He gave place to another tiny figure, silver and gold, irradiant in the -sun. A clear thin thread of a voice sang, "Our help is in the Name of -the Lord." - -Phonographs recorded the sonorous response, "Who hath made heaven and -earth." - -Hadrian the Seventh raised His hand and sang again, "May Almighty God, -✠ ✠ ✠ Father, ✠ ✠ ✠ Son, ✠ ✠ ✠ and Holy Ghost, bless you." - -It was the Apostolic Benediction of the City and the World. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -Now things went briskly. There was a brain which schemed and a -will to be obeyed. The hands began to realize that they would have -to act manually. Dear deliberate Rome simply gasped at a Pontiff -Who said "To-morrow" and meant it. The Sacred College found that -it had no option. Naturally it looked as black as night. But the -Cardinal-Archdeacon could not refuse point-blank to crown; and, -when Hadrian announced that His incoronation would take place in -the morning on the steps of St. Peter's, futile effort suggested -difficulty preventing possibility. That was the only course open to the -opposition. Three cardinals in turn alleged that there would not be -time to give notice of the ceremony, to arrange the church, to issue -tickets of admission. Hadrian swept these ideas aside, as rubbish. -Another courted catastrophe saying that there was no time to summon the -proper officials. He heard that there were sixteen hours in which to -summon those who actually were indispensable. A fifth said that, owing -to the antichristian tendencies of the times, no representatives of the -King of France, of the Holy Roman Emperor, of the First Conservator -of the Roman people, were forthcoming; and he politely inquired how -the quadruplex lavation could be performed in their absence? The -Pope responded that He was capable of washing His hands four times -without any assistance, in the absence of legitimate assistants: but -the General of the Church was not to seek: the modern Syndic of Rome -was the equivalent of the ancient First Conservator: the Austrian -Ambassador could represent the Empire: while, as for wretched kingless -unkingly France--let someone instantly go out into the streets of Rome -and catch the first Christian Frenchman there encountered. Anyhow, the -quadruplex lavation was accidental. The essential was that the Supreme -Pontiff should sing a pontifical mass at the high altar of St. Peter's, -and should receive the triple crown. These things would be done at -eight o'clock on the following morning. All the doors of the basilica -were to be fixed open at midnight; and so remain. No official notice -need be published. And that was all. Then the Pope shut-up Himself in -His predecessor's gorgeous rooms, inspecting them till they gave him a -pain in His eyes. Luckily He had secured his pouchfull of tobacco and -a book of cigarette-papers: He smoked, and thought, looking out of the -windows over Rome. - -After sunset, He ate some cutlets and a salad: placed two chairs face -to face near the right-hand window; and sent for the Bishop of Caerleon -and a large jug of milk. His interior arrangements were as disreputably -healthy as those of a school-boy. - -Dr. Talacryn came, and observed the forms. Hadrian sent him to clear -the antechambers and to close the doors. He returned and remained -standing. The Pope was sitting in one of the splendidly uncomfortable -red chairs. - -"We have sent for Your Lordship because We have occasion for your -special services." - -"I am at all times very ready and willing to serve Your Holiness." - -Hadrian was attracted to this bishop. Lots of his acts He loathed: but -He liked the man, and believed him honest. The bishop was attracted -to the Pope. He liked Him: but he could not understand Him, and was a -little frightened of Him: but still--it was as well to know all that -could be known and that might be useful. - -"We placed this chair for Your Lordship," said Hadrian. - -Dr. Talacryn was astonished: but not more than much. His trained placid -nature stood him in good stead at a mark of favour which would have -abashed many, and rendered others presumptuous. - -"I thank Your Holiness," he simply said. It appeared that the ship was -cleared for action. - -The Pope continued in His usual concise monotone. He spoke in the key -of E♭ minor, very quickly indeed, slurring the letter r, clipping -some words and every final g, enunciating others with emphasis, in a -manner curiously suggestive of fur and india-rubber and talons. As for -His matter, He seemed to be arguing with Himself by the way in which He -arrayed His ideas, disclosing His process of thought. - -"We have very much to do, and We are confronted by the physical -impossibility of carrying out Our schemes. We find Ourself surprizingly -placed at the head of affairs. We believe that We should not have been -placed there unless the service, which We are able to do, had been -deemed desirable. Therefore We feel bound to act. But, though We know -(or shall know) what to do, yet We cannot do it with this one pair -of hands. We must have assistants with whom we can be intimate, and -who themselves can be sympathetic. First of all, We wish to have Your -Lordship." - -The bishop was quite honest enough to get a little rosier with pleasure. - -"Very pleased, whatever," he said. - -"Next, We need information. Do you know the circumstances which led to -Our election?" - -"In the main they are known to me, Holiness. Indeed, I may say that -they are generally known--except to the Supreme Pontiff Himself," the -bishop added, with an episcopally roguish smile. - -Hadrian enjoyed the point. "Please bear this dogma carefully and -continually in mind:--the Pope well-informed is wiser than the Pope -ill-informed. Remember also that Hadrian at all times desires to know -everything. At present He wishes to know what you know about His -election. Briefly: the details can be given later." - -"Briefly, the Conclave found no Pope by the ordinary means; and -committed the task to certain Cardinal-Compromissaries. These chose -Your Holiness." - -"But why?" - -"Cardinal Courtleigh----" - -"Was he a Compromissary? How many were there?" - -"He was one of nine. The others were----" - -"Never mind their names for the moment. Now We take it that these nine -cardinals are well-disposed toward Us?" - -"Most assuredly, Holy Father." - -"Good! Nine! The names please?" - -"Courtleigh, Grace----" - -"Archbishop of Baltimore. Yes?" - -"Saviolli----" - -"What is he? He formerly was nuncio or something in America, was he -not? Please give the status of each." - -"He was Archbishop of Lepanto and Pontifical Ablegate to the United -States of America. Now he is one of the curia. Then came della Volta, -formerly Major-domo, also of the curia: he, by the bye, is Your -Holiness's Double, according to Cardinal Courtfield." - -"How delicious!" Hadrian vivaciously put in. - -"Mundo, who led the Compromissaries, is Patriarch of Lisbon. Nefski is -Archbishop of Prague, poor fellow----" - -"Why 'poor fellow'?" - -"Oh he was nearly killed by the anarchists.--Well then, Ferraio is -Archbishop of Milan: Gentilotto is Prefect-General of the Society for -the Propagation of the Faith, and Fiamma is Archbishop of Bologna. The -two last were candidates at first, but gave it up by consenting to -become Compromissaries." - -"These, you say, are well-disposed to Us?" - -"Yes, Holy Father." - -"A Kelt: an American: a Portugal: five Italians: and a Pole." - -"No, a Bohemian, Holiness." - -"Oh?" Hadrian directed the bishop to a writing-table. "Now, whether -this be in accordance with regulations or not, We neither know -nor care. Please write"--He sipped a glass of milk; and began -to dictate--"'Hadrian VII.--Bishop,--Servant of the servants of -God,--wills that you immediately shall come--to Him--in the Vatican -Palace--at Rome. Nothing--except the gravest physical inability--or -your duty to your family--if such there be--is to impede you. -All Catholics--are to afford you--the comfort--conveyance--and -assistance--of which you may stand in need.' Please sign it with your -own name and make five copies of it." - -The bishop, sighing for his typewriter, diligently wrote in an -angular oblique almost illegible hand. Electric lights sprang up in -the City. The Pope lighted candles, closed the curtains, and rolled -a cigarette. Then He came and sat by the table, looking at the -manuscripts--considering the huge ring on His Own index-finger. Smiling -to Himself, He took a taper and a stick of sealing-wax; and produced -the _Little-Peter-in-a-Boat_ at the foot of the six sheets. - -"Address them," He continued, "to the Reverend George Semphill, -St. Gowff's, North Britain:--Reverend James Sterling, Oakheath, -Stafford:--Reverend George Leighton, Shorham, Sussex:--Reverend Gerald -Whitehead, Wilton, Warwick:--Reverend Robert Carvale, Duntellin, -Ayrshire:--and--yes, do you know that eighteen years ago he had the -most exquisitely beautiful face and the most exquisitely beautiful -soul and the most exquisitely horrible voice of any boy in the -college,--address the sixth to Percy Van Kristen, 2023 Madison Avenue, -New York." - -While Dr. Talacryn was closing the envelopes, the Pope Himself wrote on -a sheet of paper which, also, He sealed: - -_Hadrianus P.M. VII. dilectissimo filio Francisco Talacryni Caerleonis -Episcopo._ - -_Te in cardinalem Designamus et Approbamus: quod tamen sub silentio -tenebis donec tempus idoneum aderit._ - -_Datum Romae. Sub annulo Piscatoris. Anno pontificatus Nostri I., a.d. -viiii Kal. Mai._ - -"Now please come and kneel here," He said. - -The bishop looked an inquiry: but he came round the table, and kneeled -before the Pope, Who addressed him in these words:-- - -"Well-beloved son, Francis Talacryn, Bishop of Caerleon, We appoint -thee to, and confirm thee in, the cardinalature. But thou shalt not -disclose the fact until the proper time." - -So saying, He lightly pinched-together the bishop's lips, putting the -breve into his hand. - -"Silence," the Pontiff continued. "Now will you yourself go to San -Silvestro,--not to the post-office here,--and stamp and post those -letters. One thing more. There will be no hitch to-morrow? Right. -Then, after leaving San Silvestro, will you find Prince Pilastro and -Prince Orso, and tell them----We certainly shall have the support -of these nine? Good.--Well, quite informally let those princes (as -Princes-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne) know of Our insuing -incoronation. When you have named that to Prince Pilastro, say, also -informally, that the Supreme Pontiff wishes the Syndic of Rome to know -that, when He has received the crowns, He intends to go to Lateran to -take possession of His episcopal see. No. There is to be no fuss. We -will go as simply as possible and on foot. Will you always be quite -near? We name you train-bearer; and will make your office a sinecure. -God bless you. Da b'och a dibechod." - -Hadrian remained standing at the antechamber-door, watching the -bishop's big figure disappear along the corridor. He thought it a pity -that a tendency to corpulency was not checked by healthy physical -exercise. A detachment of the Swiss Guard stood armed and motionless -at regular intervals. "For me," was His plebeian thought. A small -man appeared, bowing. He had a servile air. Hadrian's second glance -recognised him. "Is there an apartment on the top storey above this?" -He inquired. - -"But yes, Holiness, a large apartment of smaller rooms not having the -altitude of these." - -"You will cause them to be emptied by noon to-morrow. Now you can go -to bed. Please take care that no one comes inside this door until the -morning." - -The Pope closed the door: and returned through the antechambers and -the throne-room to the table where He had been working. He sat on the -edge of the table for about an hour, swinging a leg, thinking, and -sipping milk. Then He took a candle, and went into a dressing-room with -huge oak clothes-presses. Opening their doors, He looked for a cloak -among piles and festoons of new clothes. There were several of crimson -velvet. After vainly searching for something plain, He put on one of -these and proceeded to the outer door, taking a breviary from the table -on the way. Out in the corridor, He signed to the nearest guard. The -black-red-yellow-and-steel figure came and kneeled. - -"Do you know the way into St. Peter's?" the Pope said. - -"But yes, Most Holy Father." - -"Procure what keys are necessary and conduct Us thither, son." - -"But securely, Most Holy Father." - -The Swiss went on before. Hadrian followed, feeling annoyed by the -salutes with which He was received along the way. He had been so long -unnoted that notice irritated and abashed Him. Life would be unbearable -if trumpets and quaint halberds greeted every movement. He had not the -stolidity of born personages. Presently, He threw back His cloak and -kept head and hand raised in a gesture which petrified. They passed -through innumerable passages and descended stairs, emerging in a chapel -where lights burned about a tabernacle of gilded bronze and lapis -lazuli. Here He paused, while His escort unlocked the gates of the -screen. Once through that, He sent-back the guard to his station: but -He Himself went-on into the vast obscurity of the basilica. He walked -very slowly: it was as though His eyes were wrapped in clear black -velvet, so intense and so immense was the darkness. Then, very far away -to the right, He saw as it were a coronal of dim stars glimmering,--on -the floor, they seemed to be. He was in the mighty nave; and the stars -were the ever-burning lamps surrounding the Confession. He slowly -approached them. As He passed within them, He took one from its golden -branch and descended the marble steps. Here, He spread the cloak on the -floor; placed the lamp beside it: and fell to prayer. Outside, in the -City and the World, men played, or worked, or sinned, or slept. Inside -at the very tomb of the Apostle the Apostle prayed. - -At midnight, bolts of great doors clanged, and fell. A cool air crept -in. Subsacristans set-up iron candlesticks, huge, antique, here and -there upon the marmoreal pavement. The burning torch of each made a -little oasis of light in the immeasurable gloom. From far away, a -slim white form which carried a crimson cloak swiftly came, shedding -benedictions on the startled beholders; and disappeared in the chapel -of the Sacrament. - -On returning to His apartment, Hadrian went straight to bed, invoking -the souls in purgatory to awaken Him at six o'clock. He slept instantly -and well. - -At seven o'clock He had paid His debt with the _De Profundis_; and -was dressed and waiting in the throne-room. Entered to Him a dozen -cardinals, two by two. Opening their ranks, they disclosed the -Cardinal-Prior-Priest solemnly ostending the image of a cock in -silver-gilt. Hadrian stood on the steps of the throne, still, erect, -vivid. He seemed so brimming over with restrained energy that He -resembled a white flame. Not a sound was uttered. In silence they came; -and they went away in silence. When the Pontiff was alone again, He -strode and stopped in the middle of the floor. - -"No, Lord, I never will deny Thee--never!" He exclaimed with tremendous -emphasis. "But keep me and teach me and govern me, that I may govern -and teach and keep Thy Flock, O Thou Shepherd of the people." - -When the Bishop of Caerleon conveyed the extraordinary news to the -Syndic of Rome, Prince Pilastro at once inquired what arrangements were -made. - -"No arrangements are made." - -"But look here," said Marcantonio, who affected English brusqueness, -"of course we are very happy that the Holy Father should come among -us: but, you know, we are bound by our own guarantees to give Him -all the honours of a sovereign-regnant. We shall be shamed in the -eyes of Europe if we omit those. What I mean by that is this is a -state-progress; and we shall have to turn out the troops, and stop the -traffic and line the streets----" - -"I don't think His Holiness expects you to do all that, Prince. I'm not -speaking officially; and I'm not bringing you an official request for -anything of the kind which you name. The Holy Father says He is going -quite simply--on foot, in fact." - -"Now I should just like to know what the devil (if Your Splendour will -excuse the French) that means." - -"Perhaps His Holiness thinks that the movement of the sedia gestatoria, -or of a litter, will make Him sick. It did with Leo, you know." - -"What's the matter with a white mule?" - -"I happen to know that He cannot ride." - -"Peuh! No sportsman, then! And yet He's English?" - -"Yes: but not the kind of sportsman you mean, Prince." - -"Well: what does He want me to do?" - -"Let's say that I am sent to warn you of His intention, in order that -you may arrest Him for disturbing the traffic, if you choose." - -"Of course we shan't do that." - -"No: of course you won't. That's only my way of putting it. I think He -really means to advise you beforehand, so that it can never be said -that He played you a trick, took you unawares, stole a march on you, so -to speak." - -"I see. Well, this is one of the amazing things which you English do -as a matter of course. It's either frantic madness, or---- Will His -Holiness go in any sort of state?" - -"I think not. You see time is short; and (between ourselves) I'm not at -all sure that we're all of one mind over there." - -"By rights, you know, I ought to walk with Orso, just before the -ambassadors. Does Orso know about this walking business?" - -"No. Only of the incoronation." - -"That means that there will be no formal procession. It is well. You -see, as Pilastro, I walk with Orso in the Pope's progress: while, as -Syndic of Rome, I ought to walk at the head of the pontifical pages who -precede His Blessedness. I can't do both, can I? Well, I request Your -Splendour to convey my respects to our Holy Father; and to say that -Prince Pilastro will assist at the throne during the incoronation, and -the Syndic of Rome will go before the Pope to Lateran." - -"You will not take the chance of coming to blows with Prince Orso on -the question of precedence then?" joked the bishop. - -"But no. During the incoronation I shall secure the right hand; and -the Pope will be between us. Afterward, no question of precedence will -arise, because Orso may or may not join in this promenade to Lateran; -and in each case the Syndic will have the more honourable position. I -may not be the rose: but at least I shall be near the Rose--a great -deal nearer than Orso," punned the versatile Marcantonio. - -At eight in the morning, Hadrian descended to St. Peter's. -Miscellaneous multitudes paved the spaces with tumultuous eyes. He came -down in ruddy vesture, gleaming with rubies and garnets and carbuncles -like a fire borne high above the crowd, slowly, deliberately, dropping -benedictions. His English phlegm was much admired. They roared at -Him, _Long live the Pope-King_. Instantly He stopped His bearers; -and the very air of Him struck sudden silence. People stared, and -forgot to shout: the wave of acclamation ebbed in the great nave and -transepts. He moved onward, sitting erect, god-like, with a frozen mien -prohibiting personal homage. Mitred and enthroned, He was the servant -of those who would serve Him: that was the import of His demeanour. A -child acolyth of the lowest rank held up before him a salver containing -flax: set it on fire; and shrilled, - -"Behold most Holy Father, how that the glory of this world passeth -away." - -His features shewed no emotion. He well knew all about that. He -was accepting, even insisting on, the observance of all rites to -consolidate Him in the Supreme Pontificature: not that He cared for -them, but that He might be free to act. It was not the glory of the -world which He craved: but the combat, the combat--because one rests so -much more sweetly after strife. - -Slowly, and with all the unspeakable solemnity accumulated during -centuries, the mass was sung. The Apostle elevated the Host to the four -quarters of the globe. Cardinals ruffled like huge flamingoes round -Him. He always was white and still. At the end, the Cardinal-Archpriest -of St. Peter's brought Him a damask purse containing twenty-five gold -coins, honorarium for a mass well-sung. He bestowed it on della Volta -and Sega, who had intoned the Gospel in Greek and Latin; and they -passed it to their train-bearers. Down the nave, He went again toward -the great porch. Out of the crowd a voice cried "Christus regnat." As -He sat enthroned amid the surging peoples, Macca crowned Him, saying, - -"Receive this tiara adorned with three crowns, and know Thyself to be -the Ruler of the World, the Father of Princes and Kings, the earthly -Vicar of Jesus Christ our Saviour." - -Hadrian understood the formula in no metaphorical, but in the plain and -literal, sense of the words. He neither minimised nor magnified their -significance. He had an opportunity which was entirely grateful to Him. -He was Ruler, Father, Vicar. And He was altogether unafraid. He stood -up, and blessed the City and the World. - -In the Xystine Chapel, they relieved Him of the pontifical regalia, and -the voluminous far-flowing petticoat of white taffetas, which is so -sumptuous to the eye of the beholden and so ridiculously cumbersome to -the legs of the wearer; and He ate some apples while Orezzo, on behalf -of the Sacred College, recited time-honoured compliments. - -"Lord Cardinals," said Hadrian, "We thank you for your service: and We -invite those of you who are able and willing to attend Us, now, when We -go to take possession of Our episcopal see." - -He moved towards the door. The short train of His cassock trailed -behind Him, and the Bishop of Caerleon stooped to it. - -Ragna had something to howl. - -"Holiness, this is suicide for You and murder for us. The City is full -of Jews and Freemasons; and we shall most assuredly be stabbed, or -shot, or shattered to pieces with bombs, or drenched with vitrol----" - -"The Church wants a martyr badly. Your Eminency is invited, not -commanded." - -Berstein muttered to Vivole, in a scandalized tone, that the Pope was -courting popularity. Pepato, with a note of admiration, commented on -the mad English. Word of the invitation rushed on ahead. Of the crowd -of officials, many began to arrange themselves in a certain order: -others had pressing calls elsewhere. Masters-of-ceremonies, wracking -their brains for long forgotten details, flew hither and thither with -instructions and pushes. Poor old Grani sat down in a recess; and wept -to think that there was no time to get out the white gennets annually -presented by the King of Spain. Hadrian came on slowly, chatting with -Caerleon, giving people a chance of making up their minds. When He -emerged from the colonnade in the Square of St. Peter's, the Syndic -of Rome fell into the ranks just before the Pope; and a royal escort -of the Prætorian Guard surrounded Him. Hadrian stopped; and beckoned -Prince Pilastro. - -"Sir Syndic, are We free?" He mewed. - -"But free, Holy Father." - -"Let your soldiers precede and not surround Us; and let no one come -within ten paces of Us. We go by Via Giulia and Monte Celio." - -The squadron moved to the head of the line. The Pope took His train -from the Bishop: threw it over His left arm: and came-on alone. Acting -as though the ideal were real, He made it real. If Jews and Freemasons -would slay Him, well and good: it was part of the day's work, no doubt. -He was by no means anxious to be martyred; and He sincerely hoped that, -if it should come to Him, it would not be very painful or distorting. -But, as it was His Own affair, a piece of the part He was fulfilling, -He displayed Himself alone. Ten paces before Him went Prince Pilastro, -looking back from time to time. Ten paces behind Him came the bishop, -ruddy and strong in white and purple, wondering. The vermilion nine -followed in a compact phalanx, very venerable and grand; and, after a -great deal of bustle and noise, seventeen other cardinals added their -magnificence. A motley of patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prelates, -and pontifical guards closed the rear. - -A tremendous shout greeted Hadrian's first appearance in the square. -It was quite incoherent: for the real significance of the pageant was -not immediately realized. No Pope had set His foot in Rome since 1870: -but here undoubtedly was the Pope, with a gentle inflexible face,--a -lonely white figure Whose left hand lay on the little cross on His -breast, Whose right hand gravely scattered the same sign. This crowd -was not the even human parallels which authority is wont to describe -on streets when the Great go by. It was a concurrence from side-ways -coalescing with loafers and ordinary passers-by, suddenly dipping its -knees, gazing, panting, and emitting howls of delirious onomatopes. -Cabs and carts swept to the side of the road; and the drivers kneeled -on the boxes. Here and there, some dowdy alien said "What mockery" -and patronizingly explained that the Salvation Army did these things -much more properly. Here and there, some sour sorry incapable stood -spitting in praise of secret societies. Here and there some godless -worldling scoffed in an undertone. But Hadrian went-on, walking at that -deceptive pace of His, which seemed so leisurely and was so swift. His -movements resembled the running of a perfectly-geared machine: they -had the smooth and forceful grace of the athlete whose muscles are -supple and strong: even the occasional impulse had no jerkiness. It was -the manner with which He disguised His natural timidity. He sometimes -glanced from side to side. Once He smiled at a bare-legged rascalt of -brown boys who kneeled by one of Bernini's angels on the parapet of the -bridge. He adored children, although He was so desperately afraid of -them. Going up the hill by the Church of Sts. John and Paul, a little -girl dabbed an indescribable rag on her head: rushed into the road, -dashing primroses; and remained transfixed by her own audacity. He led -her by the hand to her mother; and blessed them both. All His life long -He had yearned to be giving. Now, under any circumstances, He always -had something to give, ten words and a gesture; and people seemed so -thankful for it. He was glad. - -In the porch of the Mother and Mistress of All Churches in the City -and the World, He sat on the low throne while canons made shift to -intone, _He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy -out of the dung-hill; that He may set Him with the Princes, even with -the princes of His people_. They gave Him gold and silver keys. They -attended Him to the throne of precious marbles in the centre of the -apse. They intoned _Te Deum_. Ascending to the lodge of benediction, He -blessed the mobile vulgar in the Square of St. John; and anon returned -in the way by which He came, Bishop of Rome in act and deed, and -Supreme Pontiff. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -Being physically tired with the exertion of withstanding the -concentrated gaze of Rome, He rested all the afternoon. The palace was -a scene of commotion. Cardinals and their familiars cackled and cooed -and squeaked and growled in corners: or arranged for return to their -distant sees. Workmen cleared-away the structure of the Conclave. -Hadrian made an attempt to get-into the gardens with a book: but, -obsequious black velvet chamberlains with their heads in frills like -saucers made themselves so extremely necessary, and Auditors of the -Ruota scudded along bye-paths with such obvious secrecy and bounded -out of box-hedges before Him by carefully calculated accident so very -frequently, that at last He took refuge in the pontifical apartment. He -rang the gong and sent for Caerleon. - -"We have a more or less distinct remembrance of a place on the Lake of -Albano, called Castel something." - -"Castel Gandolfo, Holiness." - -"Yes. And it used to be a pontifical villa?" - -"It is a pontifical villa now: but since 1870 an order of religious -women have used part of it as a convent." - -"Which part?" - -"They, I believe, keep the pontifical suite in statu quo, hoping for -the day when the Holy Father shall come to His Own again." - -"Good. Now will you at once telegraph to those nuns that the Pope -is coming to His Own to-morrow for the inside of a week. And please -arrange everything on a plain and private scale. That is the first -thing." - -"Perhaps I'd better do that at once whatever." - -"Yes, but don't be long." - -When the bishop returned, Hadrian invited him to take a tour of -observation round the rooms. They were accentedly antipathetic, too -red, too ormolu, too floridly renascent, too distractingly rococo. He -could not work in them. Yes, work,--nothing was going to interfere -with that. How, in the name of heaven, could anyone work under these -painted ceilings, among all these violently ineffectual curves? Now -that He was able, He must have what He wanted. He was going to move on -to the top-floor, where people could not stamp on His head, and where -there was a better view from the windows. He would have clean bare -spaces and simplicity without frippery. Then His mind could move. By -the clothes-presses, He damned red velvet. That should go. The feeling -of it made Him squirm. The sight of it on His person reminded Him of -the barking of malodorous dogs and the braying of assertive donkeys. -White was all right, if it fitted properly. He would stick to white, -soft flannelly white, not this shiny cloth: with a decent surplice -(which did not resemble the garments of David's servants after the -attentions of the children of Ammon)--a surplice and the pallium, and -the pontifical red stole in public: but no lace--that should be left -to ladies. How delicious to have plenty of white clothes to wear! How -delicious to wear white in the sun! Well, He was going to work to earn -all these amenities. And now, talking of work, something would have -to be done to the rooms upstairs: and certain things would have to be -settled regarding the domestic arrangements. To what official ought -directions to be given? - -"The Major-domo is the head of the household; and the Master of the -Chamber has immediate charge of Your Holiness's person." - -"That set man? Look now, he shall continue to be Master of the -Chamber. We will not repeat the mistake of Pius IX., or interfere with -any of their offices. But he must not come near Us. We should feel -bound to assist his decrepitude; and Our idea is to be so free from -secular cares that We can concentrate undivided attention upon Our -Apostolature. There is the root of the matter. That man is a stranger: -his age makes it certain that he has got into a groove: he is full -of prior experiences and opinions which he cannot, and ought not to -be expected to, change for a newcomer. But, if he remains here, it -will be Ourself Who will have to obey him. That would distract Us. -Therefore, We must interpose someone whom We know--someone who is young -enough to suit himself to Us. There are two young ruffians of about -twenty-five years old, who, like most of his other acquaintances, -formerly loved and hated George Arthur Rose. Their circumstances are -disagreeable: they never had a chance: they are hot-headed passionate -people, always in love with some woman or other, because they have -no means of amusing themselves innocently, being tied and bound with -the chains of respectable poverty. They really have no opportunity of -leading godly righteous and sober lives. They're insane, unhealthy, -because civilization gives them no opportunity to live sane healthy -lives unless they crush all the most salient and most admirable -characteristics of their individuality. Please send for them--John -Devine, 107, Arkwright Street, Preston--Iulo Carrino, 95, Bloomsbury -Square, London,--and let Us give them some service and much freedom, -and a little wholesome neglect to strengthen and develop their -characters and to give play to their individual natures, as good old -Jowett says. We believe in making it, not difficult but, easy to be -good---- Look, Frank, tell Iulo Carrino to bring with him that yellow -cat which you may remember. By the bye, both these men cannot move -without money. Take this cheque for George Arthur Rose's balance at -Coutts's: use what is generous--generous, mind you,--and account to Us -later. And now, about the other things, We had better see Centrina and -the Major-domo upstairs." - -The Pope and the bishop inspected a series of empty rooms on the -top-floor. They occupied the N.E. and the S.E. sides of the palace. -Hadrian chose the large room in the angle with windows on two sides, -for the secret chamber. It was approached from the N.E. corridor by -way of fifteen antechambers and a large room suitable for private -receptions. Beyond the antechambers there was another series of -apartments which He also took. The private room in the angle, -sitting-room, or workshop (as He called it), led into some smaller -rooms on the S.E. face of the palace. Here he fixed upon a bedroom, -bath-room, dressing-room, oratory, and sundry store-rooms, accessible -by a single door in the last room which led into the corridor -over-looking the court of St. Damasus. - -The Major-domo and the Master-of-the-Chamber attended. The latter was -quaking about his situation. Hadrian rapidly reassured him and came -to the point. "You are confirmed in your benefice until such time -as you choose to retire. The emoluments and the pension are at your -disposal. In a few days, two gentlemen will arrive from England. You -will prepare a parlour and a bedroom for each, adjoining the first -antechamber. Fix a bell in each parlour communicating with this room. -(They were standing in the room which had been selected as a workshop.) -You will provide two servants for them. They will take their meals in -their parlours. After their arrival, Our commandments will come to you -through them." (He turned and addressed Himself to the Major-domo.) -"These two gentlemen must be given some official status." - -"If I understand aright, Your Holiness is appointing two -Gentlemen-in-Waiting-in-the-Apostolic-Chamber." - -"That will do. When they arrive, see that they have diplomas of -appointment as Gentlemen of the Apostolic Chamber. The Bishop of -Caerleon will arrange with you about their emoluments. Now, let Us -furnish these rooms." - -They went out into the corridor; and re-entered the apartment by the -first antechamber. - -"Cover all the walls and ceilings with brown-packing paper--yes, -brown-packing paper--carta straccia," the Pope repeated. "Stain all -the woodwork with a darker shade of brown. The gilding of the cornices -can remain as it is. No carpets. These small greenish-blue tiles are -clean; and they soothe the eye. Curtains? You may hang very voluminous -linen curtains on the doors and windows, greenish-blue linen to -match the tiles, and without borders. Furnish all those antechambers -with rush chairs and oaken tables. Remember that everything is to -be plain, without ornament.--In this room you may place the usual -throne and canopy: and that crucifix from downstairs--(how exquisite -the mother-of-pearl Figure is!)--and the stools, and twelve large -candlesticks--iron or brass.--Now this room is to be a workshop. Let Us -have a couch and three armchairs, all large and low and well-cushioned, -covered with undyed leather. Get some of those large plain wooden -tables which are used in kitchens, about three yards long and -one-and-a-half wide. Put writing-materials on one of them, there, on -the right of the window. Leave the middle of the room empty. Put three -small book-cases against that wall and a cupboard here.--Make a bedroom -of this room. Let the bed be narrow and long, with a husk mattress; -and let the back of the head be toward the window. Put one of the large -wooden tables here and a dozen rush-chairs.--(He spoke to the bishop.) -Do you know that there is no water here at all, except in little jugs? -(He continued to the Major-domo.) Line the walls of this room with -greenish-blue tiles, like those on the floor. Put several pegs on both -doors. In this corner put a drain-pipe covered with a grating; and, six -feet above it, let a waterpipe and tap project rectangularly two feet -from the wall. Yes. Six feet from the floor, two feet from the wall; -and let there be a constant and copious supply of water--rain-water, if -possible. Do you understand?" - -The Major-domo understood. The Master-of-the-Chamber shivered. - -"And lamps. Get two plain oil-lamps for each room, with copper shades: -large lamps, to give a very strong light. Paint over both doors of -the bedroom, on the outside of each, _Intrantes excommunicantur -ipso facto_. When We have finished here," (He addressed the -Master-of-the-Chamber again), - -"you will parade your staff; and We will select one person and provide -him with a dispensation from that rule as long as he behaves himself -well. He will have charge of the bedroom and the sole right to enter -it." (The Pope passed into the next room: paused, and whispered -explicit directions to the Major-domo; and moved on to the farther -room.) - -"The clothes-presses from downstairs can be moved into this room. They -will serve. And you had better make a door here, so that it can be -entered from the corridor." (He went on again.) "This room is to be the -vestry;--and this the oratory. Let Us have a plain stone altar and the -stations, and the bare necessaries for mass, all of the simplest. Let -everything, walls, floor, ceiling, everything, be white--natural white, -not painted; and make a door here, also leading into the corridor, -a large double-door convenient for the faithful who assist at the -pontifical mass. The rooms beyond--you will take order about them at a -convenient occasion." - -Hadrian and the bishop returned to the pontifical apartments downstairs. - -"Your Holiness will excuse me----" - -"Yes?" - -"--but have You ever contemplated the present situation?" - -"No. Why?" - -"Well, Your Holiness seems to have everything cut and dried." - -The Pope laughed. "You shall know that George Arthur Rose has had -plenty of time for thinking and scheming. His schemes never came to -anything, except once; and he certainly never schemed for this. But you -understand perhaps that the last twenty years have rendered Hadrian -conscious both of His abilities and His limitations, as well as of His -requirements; and hence He is able at a glance to describe in detail -what He wants. When He wants something, without knowing what He wants, -He asks questions. For example, what is that hinged arrangement under -Cardinal Courtleigh's ring?" - -"A master-key, Holiness; I have just got one too." The bishop shewed -his own ring. - -"What is that?" - -"I have several places which I have to keep locked, safes, cupboards, -and that sort of thing; and the keys, which are all different, have to -be entrusted to my various chaplains, and so on. Well, each of these -can only open the lock of the thing which concerns him: but, with that -master-key, I can unlock everything and no one else in the world can do -that." - -"Capital! Where do you get these things made?" - -"At a place in Band Street--Brahma I think the name is." - -"Tell them to----" The voice sank, for some scarlet gentleman began -to bring in tables with the sealed dishes of the pontifical supper. -Hadrian's eyes lingered on the intruders for a moment. They were so -slim, so robust, so deft, so grave, so Roman. He drew the bishop into -the embrasure of a window. - -"Aren't they lovely?" He said. "Isn't the world full of lovely things, -lovely live things? It's the dead and the stagnant that are ugly." - -This was so rapid a change of mood that Talacryn could not follow it. -As soon as the servants were gone, Hadrian continued, returning the -episcopal ring "Tell your Brahma people to fit all the doors upstairs -with locks which have separate keys, and to send another score of locks -also with separate keys; and also to send a man here who is capable of -making an episcopal ring for Us which shall contain a master-key to all -those locks." - -"Very well, Holy Father." - -"Don't go. Supper can wait a minute Look here: We desire to be in -direct communication with the Sacred College. We chiefly are curious -to know the nine compromissaries: but distinctions sometimes are -invidious. At all events, We must have a long and secret conference -with Cardinal Courtleigh. So will you please make it known to Their -Eminencies that We will receive them after supper. Ask Pimlico to -remain after the others. And--who manages the finances here?" - -"The Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria Nuova is Apostolic Treasurer; and -the Major-domo is responsible for the household expenses." - -"Ask the Treasurer particularly to come? Don't come yourself. -Good-night: God bless you." - -Caerleon firmly had believed that he knew George Arthur Rose to be -charming--perhaps somewhat incomprehensible, and therefore perhaps -somewhat dangerous. But as for Hadrian--Caerleon felt about him as M. -and Mme. Curie felt when they first put a penny on a piece of radium -and observed the penetrative energy incessantly thrown off from a -source which was both concrete and inexhaustible. - -The Pope's evening party was well attended. Some of the older members -of the Sacred College, who really had suffered from the discomforts -of the Conclave, had left the Vatican. Most of the French absented -themselves, as they had every right to do in view of the informality -of the invitation. The Secretary of State stayed away on a plea of -business. But a mixed motive, in which inquisitiveness was the dominant -ingredient, impelled thirty-two vermilion princes into the Pontiff's -throne-room. The Cardinal-Dean, notwithstanding his age and infirmity, -came with glee. Next to succeeding to the paparchy himself, nothing -suited him better than to have a perfect stranger for a Pope, Who -evidently was about to subvert every single act of Leo's. He said -almost as much to Hadrian, bustling up to the throne and using a stool. - -"We take it very kindly that Your Eminency should come to Us; and -We let you know that We summon Our first consistory to meet on the -thirtieth day of April," said the Pope, in a tone which was a skilful -blend of the World's Ruler's with that of youth to age, of a newcomer -to an old stager. - -Orezzo was pleased. He took the ball of conversation and set it -rolling. "It is a fortunate event, Holiness," he said, "that the Divine -Leo--may His soul rest in a cool place--never carried out His intention -of nominating His successors." - -"Ah!" the Pope responded. "We remember reading about that in an English -newspaper, the _Pall Mall Gazette_, a few years back. Perhaps Your -Eminency can tell Us what truth there was in the report?" - -"The facts, Holy Father, were these. Leo so firmly believed that the -policy, which He had seen fit to pursue during His long reign, was -essential to the welfare of the Church, that He wished to be assured of -its continuance; and He would have had each of us to promise Him that, -upon election, we would not depart from His example. Some of us--I name -no names--were unwilling to bind ourselves; and, being unable to secure -unanimous assurance, Leo declared that He would use the plenitude of -the apostolic power and nominate His successors." - -The other cardinals, attracted by these words, drew nearer to the -throne. Some sat on stools: others remained standing: all intently -listened to Orezzo: all intently gazed at Hadrian. The aspect of the -Pontiff did not give satisfaction. It was not listless: it was not -inattentive, for, as a matter of fact, it indicated very vivid ardent -studiose concern, a perfect perception of being "among the Doctors": -but Hadrian seemed to be treating the matter too impersonally, too much -from the view-point of the outsider. He gave no sign whatever that He -was conscious how very nearly this thing touched Himself. - -"He reminds one of a surgeon probing for a bullet in a body which is -not his," said Mundo to Fiamma. - -"And He will find that bullet," the Archbishop of Bologna replied. - -Hadrian (Who could see as far through a brick wall as most men, and a -great deal further than some), was not by any means unconscious of the -situation, and was avidly curious after information. He pursued the -inquiry. Many thought it would have been more delicate to drop it. - -"Yes. That was the gist of the statement in the paper," He continued to -Orezzo. "We remember it well: because We wondered whether or not such a -privilege was included in that 'plenitude of apostolic power.' We could -not find a precedent; and none of the authorities whom We consulted -could provide one. Advise Us, Lord Cardinal." - -If Orezzo had not been Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Dean of -the Sacred College, and Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, he would -have grinned. He found the moment unmitigatedly delectable. - -"Holiness, there is a pious opinion, represented (I believe) by the -Cardinal-Penitentiary"--(Serafino-Vagellaio violently flushed)--"to the -effect that the Divine Leo was not in error. Also, there is another -pious opinion, represented (I happen to know) by the rest of the -College, that on this point the said Divine Leo erred as infallibly as -possible." - -This was thin ice indeed. - -"Your Eminency's exposition hath been most sound. The matter is one -for the theologians," said Hadrian, ceasing to lean forward. "But why, -Lord Cardinal, do you call it fortunate that the nomination was not -effected?" - -"Because if it had been effected, we might not have experienced the -pleasure of saluting a Pontiff Who, according to the Cardinal of -Pimlico, is an academic anarchist." - -Hadrian candidly and simply laughed, with a friendly look at -Courtleigh, who did not at all like being the second victim of Orezzo's -caustic tongue. - -"His Eminency has taken that bad habit of labelling people from Us," -He said. "But, although We give due weight to the epithet 'academic,' -We abhor from and cannot away with the term 'anarchist.' Aristocrat -We are not: the mere word Democrat fills Us with repugnance. Such as -it is, Our philosophy is individualistic altruism. But, Eminencies, -is not the labelling of matter which is in a state of flux, humanity -for example, somewhat futile? Even supposing the labelled matter to be -static, do not the very words on the label change their meaning with -the course of time? But deeds remain; and the motive of a deed is that -by which it must, and will, be judged. Give Us then the benefit of your -holy prayers, Lord Cardinals, that Our motives may be pure, and Our -acts acceptable to Him Who has deigned to Our unworthy hands the awful -office of His Vicegerent here on earth." - -He leaned back in His chair for the moment after this little -out-burst. The sense of His enormous responsibility was upon Him. In -an indefinite shadowy sort of way, it had been in His mind to utter -some such allocution to the cardinals by way of explaining to them His -Own conception of His task: but He had intended to make it more of a -deliberate formal pronouncement. The instant when the words had passed -His lips, however, He perceived that in one sentence He had said all. -He also perceived that the gaiety of the beginning, and the solemnity -of the conclusion, sufficed to give His utterance distinction. He said -no more. There was no doubt but that He had created an impression: -an impression which differed, it is true, according to the temper -of the impressed--but still He had created an impression. Those -Eminencies, who were more formal than vital, assumed that professional -abstraction of demeanour which marks a conference of clergy while one -of their number is "talking shop." Those two or three, who were devout -enthusiasts, blessed themselves and exhibited the white cornea beneath -the iris of their eyes. The majority, (who combined the qualities of -the dignified fine-gentleman-of-the-old-school, with those of the -scholar, the teacher, and the practical Christian) beamed instant -approbation. Their verdict was that the utterance was very correct and -proper. Nothing could be more true. - -The assemblage split-up into groups; and separate conversations were -begun. The Pope sat, still and grave. Orezzo gracefully pleaded his age -and the hour of night: kissed the Apostle's knee; and retired. - -Hadrian beckoned the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria Nuova; and -addressed him in a confidential manner. - -"We understand that the expenses of Our household pass through the -hands of the Major-domo. Are they paid from some fund particularly -allotted to the purpose?" - -"Yes, Most Holy Lord; from----" - -"The details are unimportant. And the expenses of the paparchy in -general?" - -"There are numerous funds, Most Holy Lord, which are administered by -numerous departments under my supervision." - -"And those funds---- Some suffice; and some do not suffice. They vary, -no doubt?" - -"Most Holy Lord, they vary." - -"Is there any particular fund over which We have exclusive control?" - -"The whole revenue, Most Holy Lord, is subject to Your pleasure: but -Peter's Pence belong to the pontiff-regnant personally. They are His -private property--salary--honorarium, I should say." - -"In eight days, Your Eminency will be good enough to let Us know the -annual average of that income, say for the last twenty years." - -"It shall be done, Most Holy Lord." - -"Meanwhile, what money is at Our disposal at this moment?" - -"There has been accumulated a large reserve, the exact amount of which -is known only to the bankers. It is Yours, Most Holy Lord." - -"What approximately is the sum?" - -"In round numbers, Most Holy Lord, it cannot be less than five -millions." - -"Lire?" - -"Pounds sterling, Most Holy Lord." - -Hadrian's eyes sparkled. "Where is it?" - -"The bulk is in the Bank of England, Most Holy Lord: but there is much -gold in the safe." - -"Which safe?" - -"The safe in the bedroom wall, Most Holy Lord." - -"Where is the key?" - -"The Cardinal-Chamberlain holds all keys, Most Holy Lord." - -"To-morrow Your Eminency will be good enough to cause the safe in the -bedroom-wall to be removed to a similar position in the bedroom which -We have instructed the Major-domo to prepare on the upper storey. And -now please follow the Cardinal-Chamberlain: obtain the key of the safe; -and bring it to Us." - -The Apostolic Treasurer rose; and went out. Hadrian also stood up. The -company, understanding that the reception was ended, made obeisance and -began to move away. The Pope detained Courtleigh. - -"Eminency," He said, "We have many things to say to you: but We will -not detain you now. To-morrow We go to Castel Gandolfo. Come with Us. -A few tired priests are sure of a hospitable welcome there. Yes, come -with Us. Who is that young cardinal by the door?" - -"That is Monsignor Nefski, Holiness,--the Archbishop of Prague." - -"He is marked by some fearful sorrow?" - -"A most fearful sorrow indeed." - -"Once, in a man's rooms at Oxford, a young undergraduate happened to -enter. He had just that deadly pallor, that dense black hair, that -rigidity of feature, that bleached bleak fixity of gaze. When he was -gone, We remarked on his appearance. Our host said that he had been -seeing his best friend drowned. They were on a cliff, somewhere in Your -Eminency's native-land, taking photographs of breakers in the height -of a storm. The friend was on the very verge. Suddenly the cliff gave -way; and he fell into the raging sea. He was a magnificent swimmer. -He struggled with the billows for more than half an hour. There was -no help within five miles; and, finally, the breath was battered out -of him. The other perforce had to stand by, and watch it all. It -indelibly marked him. Cardinal Nefski, you say, is marked by a fearful -experience. Lately? Was it as fearful as that?" - -"Ten weeks ago, Holiness; and a much more fearful experience." - -"Eminency, bring him also to Castel Gandolfo. Some of you must attend -the Pope. Let Us have those to whom We can be useful." - -When he was alone, Hadrian examined the safe in the bedroom wall. It -added to His consciousness of His immense potentiality. What a number -of long-planned things He could do now! With its contents, He would -open a current account at the Bank of Italy. With that, and another -at the Bank of England----He acquainted Himself with the tools of -His new trade. Truly, Caerleon did not altogether err in calling Him -an incomprehensible creature. On the one hand, with His principle of -giving He could not even grasp a problem which involved taking: while, -on the other hand, He utterly failed to realize that most people are -averse from giving. As for Himself, He took freely; and, as freely, He -was going to give. As for the Bishop of Caerleon's opinion--it is so -easy and so satisfactory to call a man "an incomprehensible creature," -when one is mentally incapable of comprehending, or unwilling to try to -comprehend, the "creature." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -He spent the first day at Castel Gandolfo in the garden, writing, -enjoying the loveliness of late spring. He produced a score of sheets -of swiftly-scribbled manuscript bristling with emendations. The second -day He summoned Cardinal Courtleigh directly after breakfast; and -addressed him with some formality. - -"We desire to establish relations with Your Eminency, chiefly because -You hold so responsible a position in England, a country dear above -all countries to Us which We design to treat with singular favour. In -pursuance of Our intention, and of Our desire, certain matters must be -defined. If Our words are unpleasing, Your Eminency must take them in -the light of Our said intention and desire." - -The cardinal put on his cardinalitial mask. He was to hear and to note -this rash young man. If anything needed to be said, he was there to say -it. - -"It is Our wish to make England 'a people prepared for The Lord.' -We will attempt it of the whole world; and for this reason We begin -with the race which dominates the world. We find Ourself impeded at -the outset by the present habitude and conduct of English Catholics, -especially of the aboriginal English Catholics." - -At this unexpected fulguration, this feline scratch, the cardinalitial -eyebrows shot upward with a jerk and horizontally came down again. His -Eminency slightly bowed, and attended. The Pope fingered a volume of -cuts from English newspapers: selected a cut; and continued, - -"Kindly let Us have your opinion of this statement:--_A remarkable -petition has been prepared for presentation to Parliament. The -petitioners are the Roman Catholic laity resident in England; and they -pray Parliament to set up some control over Roman Catholic moneys and -interests. It is pointed out that the total capital invested in the -Roman Catholic clergy in the United Kingdom must amount to nearly -£50,000,000. It is alleged that no account is afforded by the Roman -Catholic bishops of the management or disbursements of such property -and moneys. And the petitioners also call attention to gross injustices -which are of daily occurrence._" - -"That emanated from a priest of my archdiocese, Holiness. It was -a terrible scandal: but we were successful in preventing it from -spreading." - -"Then there was such a petition? At first, We were prepared to ascribe -it to the imagination of one of Sir Notyet Apeer's young men. And -really were there many supporters of the petition?" - -"Unfortunately, yes." - -"Then you have rebellion within the camp. And was there any ground for -these statements?" - -"There was no ground whatever for the insinuation that we habitually -misuse our trusteeship. The man had a grievance. His agitation was -merely a means to compel us to solace him. He trusted, by making -himself unpleasant to us, to make us pleasant to him. So he attacked -our financial arrangements. It was a wicked stroke: for, you know, Holy -Father, that we cannot be expected to account to any Tom-Dick-and-Harry -for bequests and endowments which we administer." - -"Your accounts are properly audited, no doubt?" - -"To a great extent, yes." - -"But not invariably? You trust much to the honesty and the financial -ability of individual clerks? We do not presume for a moment that there -is any systematic malversation of trust. You have had a lesson on that -subject." - -"Lesson?" - -"Yes: in 1886: after the notorious Carvale Case, when the infatuated -imbecility of the Gaelic and Pictish bishops was shewn to render -them undesirable as trustees, the clergy simply dare not stray into -illegal paths. Oh no. But are the clergy actually capable of financial -administration?" - -"As capable, I suppose, as other men." - -"Priests are not 'as other men.' However, We take it that you all -believe yourselves to have acted conscientiously. We also take it -that, in view of the power and influence which the position of trustee -affords, your clergy eagerly become trustees and are unwilling to -submit to supervision or to criticism. That is quite human. We entirely -disapprove of it." - -"But what would your Holiness have?" - -"We cannot say it in one sentence. You must collect Our mind from -Our conduct as well as from our words. We entirely disapprove of the -clergy competing for or using any secular power or dominance whatever, -especially such power as inheres in the command of money. The clergy -are ministers--ministers--not masters. And as to the other charge--'the -gross injustices which are of daily occurrence'?" - -"That, of course, is simply the scream of an opponent. It is spite." - -"Does Your Eminency mean that there are no injustices? Don't you know -of gross injustices?" - -"'It needs must that offences come.'" - -"'But woe to him by whom the offence cometh.' Eminency, why not -frankly face the predicament? The clergy are more than less human; -and they certainly are not even the pick of humanity. Now, don't they -attempt too much in the first instance; and, in the second, don't they -invariably refuse to admit or amend their blunders? Listen to this. -The _Pall Mall Gazette_ states, on the authority of the _Missiones -Catholicae_ that, in Australia, during the last five years, we have -increased our numbers from 3,008,399 to 4,507,980. But the government -census taken last year gives the total population of Australia at -4,555,803. That leaves only 47,823 for the other religious and -irreligious bodies. As a matter of fact, the latest Roman Catholic -record is 916,880. Therefore an overstatement of 3,591,100 has been -made. Which is absurd. And perpetuated. Which is damnable." - -"I do not precisely see Your Holiness's point." - -"No? Well, let us go to another." The Pope produced a small green -ticket on which was printed, _Church of the Sacred Heart_--_Quest -Road_--_Admit Bearer to_--_Midnight Service_--_New Year's Eve -1900_--_Middle Seat 6d._ "This comes from Your Eminency's archdiocese," -he said. - -The cardinal looked at the thing, as one looks at the grass of the -field. There it is. One has seen it all before. - -"We disapprove of that," said the Pope. - -"What would Your Holiness suggest then to prevent improper persons from -attending these services?" - -"Improper persons should be encouraged to attend. No obstacle should be -placed in their way." - -The cardinal was irritated. "Then we should have scenes of disorder, to -say nothing of profanation." - -"That is where Your Eminency and all the aboriginals err. Your -opinion is formed upon the apprehensive sentimentality of pious -old-ladies-of-both-sexes whose ideal of Right is the Not-obviously -Wrong. When a thing is unpleasant, they go up a turning: wipe their -mouths; and mistake evasion for annihilation. They don't annihilate the -evil: they avoid it. Now, we are here to seek and to save that which -was lost: and our churches must be more free to the lost than to the -saved--if any be saved. Experience proves that your pious fears have no -sure warranty. Wesleyan schismatics have performed Watch-night services -for more than a century. Anglican schismatics have done the same: and, -in later years, they have celebrated their mysteries at midnight on -Christmas Eve. We Ourself have assisted at these functions. The temples -were open and free: and We never saw or heard a sign of the profanation -of which you speak. Sots and harlots undoubtedly were present: but -they were not disorderly: they were cowed, they were sleepy, they were -curious, but they made no noise. Even though they had shouted, it only -would have been in protest against some human ordinance; and a human -ordinance must give way the moment it becomes a barrier between one -soul and that soul's Creator. Supposing means of grace to be obtainable -in a church, who durst deny them to those who chiefly need them? The -position which you clergy take up is an essentially false one. We are -not here to establish conventions, or to enforce conformity. We are -here to serve--only to serve. We especially disapprove of any system -which bars access to the church, or which makes it difficult;--this -admission-fee, for example." - -"Holy Father, the clergy must live." - -"You lead Us to infer that they cannot live without these sixpences?" - -"We are so poor: we have no endowments: the fee is no more than a -pew-rent for a single service----" - -"Lord Cardinal, be accurate. You have endowments: not equal to those -of which you are thinking, the 'stolen property' enjoyed by the -Church-of-England-as-by-Law-Established: but you have endowments. You -mean that they are meagre. But pew-rents are abominable: so are pews, -for that matter. Abolish them both." - -"I am bound to obey Your Holiness: but I must say that this quixotic -impossible idealism will be the ruin of the Church----" - -"That is impossible: because Her Founder promised to be with Her always -even unto the end of the world." - -"God helps those who help themselves----" - -"But not those who help themselves out of other people's pockets." - -"The workman is worthy of his hire----" - -"Perfectly. But he accepts the wage: he does not dictate it. The -builder of London's new concert-hall in Denambrose Avenue did not let -his masons domineer. He offered work at a certain wage. They took -it, or left it. You confuse the functions of the buyer with those of -the seller, as the clergy always do. Besides, as you seem fond of -Scripture, 'provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,' -and 'take no thought for the morrow----'" - -"This is simply Tolstoy!" - -"No. We never have read a line of Tolstoy. We studiously avoid doing -so. We give you the commands of Christ Himself as reported by St. -Matthew. Lord Cardinal, you are all wrong----" - -"Your Holiness speaks as though You were not one of us." - -"Oh no! The head looks down at the hands; and says 'Your knuckles and -your nails are dirty.'" - -The cardinal really was angry. Hadrian paused: fixed him with a -taming look: and continued "Is it right or even desirable that the -clergy should engage in trade--actually engage in trade? Look at -your _Catholic Directory_; and see the advertisement of a priest -who, with archiepiscopal sanction, is prepared to pay bank interest -on investments, in plain words to borrow money upon usury in direct -contravention of St. Luke's statement of The Lord's words on this -subject. Look at the _Catholic Hour_; and see the advertisement of a -priest who actually trades as a tobacconist. Look in the precincts of -your churches; and see the tables of the Fenian-literature-sellers and -the seats of them that sell tickets for stage-plays and bazaars where -palmistry is practiced----" - -"I merely interrupt to remind Your Holiness that Your august -predecessor traded as a fisherman." - -"Very neat," the Pope applauded, enjoying the retort: "but not neat -enough. A fisherman's trade is an open-air trade, and a healthy trade, -by the way: but--did Our predecessor St. Peter trade as a fisherman -after He had entered upon the work of the apostolature? We think not. -No, Lord Cardinal, the clergy attempt too much. They might be excellent -priests. As tradesmen, variety-entertainers, entrepreneurs, they are -failures. As a combination, they are catastrophes. These two things -must be kept apart, the clerical and the secular, God and Mammon. -The difference must be emphasized. By attempts at compromise, the -clergy fail in both. As priests, they are mocked: and as for their -penny-farthing peddling----" - -"But Holy Father, do think for one minute. What are the clergy to live -on?" - -"The free-will offerings of the faithful; and one must keep the other." - -"But suppose the faithful do not give free-will offerings?" - -"Then starve and go to Heaven, as Ruskin says. That is what We are -going to do, if possible." - -"How are we to build our churches?" - -"Don't build them, unless you have the means freely given. Avoid -beggary. That way you sicken the faithful--you prevent generosity----" - -"How shall we keep up those we have? For example, the cathedral----" - -"Yes, the cathedral,--a futile monument of one vain man's desire for -notoriety. How many lives has it ruined? One, at least, We know. How -many evil passions has it inspired?--the passion for advertisement -by means of the farthing journalist, the critical passion which is -destroying our creative faculty, the passions of envy and covetousness, -the passion of competition, the passion of derision,--for you know -that the world is mocking the ugly veneered pretentious monstrosity -now. Better that it never had been. As it is, and in regard to the -churches which exist, you must do what you can. If the faithful freely -give you enough, then let them stand. If not, you must let them go. -England never will lack altars. In any case, encumber yourselves -with no more unpaid-for buildings. Accept what is given: but ask for -nothing and suggest nothing. Lord Cardinal, the clergy do not act as -though they trusted the Divine Disposer of Events. They mean well: but -their whole aim and object seems to be to serve God by conciliating -Mammon. There is nothing more criminally futile. Instead of winning -England's admiration, you secure Her scornful toleration. Instead of -consolidating the faithful, multitudes have become disaffected, and -multitudes leave you day by day. Instead of improving the clerical -character, (and, by consequence, the character of all who look to -the clergy for example,) the clergy ever more and more assimilate -themselves to the laity. The clergy should cultivate the virtues, not -the vices, of humanity. Not one of us can tell which of our actions -is important or unimportant. By a thoughtless word or deed, we may -lead-astray a brother for whom Christ died. That is what is to be -feared from your worldly clergy. Teach them that _magna ars_ which St. -Thomas of Aquino says _est conversari Jesu_. Teach them to rise above -the world." - -"Surely, Holy Father, they do." - -"Some members of the clergy do, no doubt. We never met them. The tone -of the clergy is distinctly worldly. Here is an illustration from your -own newspaper. The very first thing which _The Slab_ thinks worthy -of note is _How Monsignor Cateran signally vindicated his honour and -suitably punished his traducer, the proprietor of 'The Fatherland.' The -terms of the apology which Sir Frederick Smithers has had to publish in -his own journal are set forth as a warning to evil-doers._ It is on p. -397. You know the particulars?" - -"I have read them." - -"You cannot approve of the savage triumph of the letter on p. 416, in -which Monsignor Cateran describes his victory: you cannot approve of -the sneer at his enemy who _could not be punished by damages--he has no -means to pay_, or the gibe at the freemasonry of the libeller, or the -vicious malignant spite of the whole disgraceful document----" - -"But, Holiness, the libel was a dreadful one and grossly unjust." - -"But, Eminency, the accused was bound by his Christianity to suffer -revilings and persecutions and the saying of all manner of evil -falsely. He forgot that. In vindicating himself, he behaved, not as -a minister of God but, as a common human animal. However, besides -the so-called triumphant vindication of Monsignor Cateran, which -_The Slab_ glorifies in three separate columns, this same number -bristles with improprieties. On p. 415, you have Dominican and Jesuit -controversialists calling each other liars, and otherwise politely -hating and abusing one another----" - -"Oh, Jesuits and Dominicans!" - -The Pope put down the paper, and looked. The cardinal collected himself -for a sally in force. - -"Your Holiness will permit me to say that all this is extremely -unusual. I myself was consecrated bishop in 1872, fourteen years before -You were a Christian; and it seems to me that You should give Your -seniors credit for having consciences at least----" - -"Dear Lord Cardinal, if We had seen a sign of the said consciences----" - -The cardinal tottered: but made one more thrust. - -"I am not the only member of the Sacred College who thinks -that Your Holiness's attitude partakes of--shall I say -singularity--and--ha--arrogance." - -"Singularity? Oh, We sincerely hope so. But arrogance--We cannot call -it arrogance to assume that We know more of a particular subject, which -We eagerly have studied from Our childhood, than those do who never -have studied it at all. Eminency, We began by saying that We desired to -establish relations with you. Now, have We shewn you something of Our -frame of mind?" - -"Certainly, Holy Father: You wish me to----" - -"We wish you to act upon the sum of Our words and conduct, in order -that England may have a good and not a bad example from English -Catholics. No more than that. We may call Ourselves Christendom till -We are black in the face: but the true character of a Christendom -is wanting to Us because the great promises of prophecy still lack -fulfilment. The Barque of Peter has been trying to reach harbour. -Muting within, storms without, have driven Her hither and thither. Is -She as far-off from port to-day as ever? Who knows? But the new captain -is trying to set the course again from the old chart. His look is no -longer backward but onward. Lord Cardinal, can the captain count on the -loyal support of his lieutenant?" - -"Holy Father, I assure You that You may count on me." It was an immense -effort: but, when it came to so fine a point, the nature and the pride -of the man gave way to the grace of his Divine Vocation. - -"Well now, only one more blow from the flail, and then We will take up -the crook. Do stop your Catholics from toadying the German Emperor. -Read that. It's perfectly absurd for them to tell him that _the whole -Catholic world would be delighted if the protection of Catholics in -the Orient were confided to him_. He's an admirable person: but We -are not going to confide the protection of Catholics in the Orient to -him. England is the only power which can manage Orientals. And what -right have these Erse and Gaelic Catholics to speak for 'the whole -Catholic world'? Do neither England nor Italy count? Do make these -pious fat-wits mind their own business--make them understand that -when they tell the Kaiser that _they will exert themselves to remove -all misunderstandings between Germany and England_--England last, you -note--they would be comical if they were not impertinent and entirely -stupid,--and of course disloyal as usual." - -Hadrian collected His documents and the book of newspaper-cuts: swept -them all into a portfolio; and abruptly changed the subject. - -"Will Your Eminency be good enough to tell Us the circumstances which -led to Our extraordinary election?" - -Barely recovered from his commotion of mind, and posed point-blank like -this, Cardinal Courtfield hesitated and said something about the Acts -of the Conclave. His aboriginally tardy temperament was incapable of -keeping pace with the feline agility of the Pontiff. Hadrian perceived -his difficulty, and intently pursued the inquiry from another footing. - -"We know all about the Acts of the Conclave, which We shall read at -Our leisure. But We want the more human light which Your Eminency -can throw upon the subject. Perhaps it will be simpler if We use the -Sokratic method. By what means did Our name, did the mere fact of Our -existence become known to the Sacred College?" - -"By my means, Holiness." - -"We understand that Your Eminency actually proposed us to the Conclave?" - -"That is so." - -"And We infer that you also recommended Us: or at least described Us in -such a way that the cardinals knew whom they were electing?" - -"Yes, Holy Father." - -"Why did Your Eminency propose Us?" the Pope purred. - -The cardinal seemed to be at a loss again. He appeared to have a -difficulty in expression, not a lack of material for expression. -Hadrian made a dash for the rudiments. - -"There were other names before the College? Why were none of their -owners chosen?" - -"It was impossible to agree about their merits, Holiness." - -"Several attempts, no doubt, were made?" - -"The Ways of Scrutiny and Access were tried seven times." - -"And then?" - -"And then came a deadlock. None of the candidates obtained a -sufficiency of suffrages: and none of the electors were willing to -change their opinion." - -"And then?" - -"The Way of Compromise was tried." - -"And, through Your Eminency's means, the compromissaries were induced -to impose Us on the Sacred College?" - -"Yes, Holiness." - -"Eminency, at the time when the Conclave first was immured, We hardly -can have been in Your mind. It is improbable that you could have -thought of Us then in this connection. At what point did We come into -your calculations?" - -"I ought perhaps to say that Your name had been brought before me some -weeks before the demise of Holiness's predecessor." - -"That would be in connection with the matter of which we treated in -London." - -"Yes." - -"Precisely in what way was Our name brought before Your Eminency?" - -"It was brought before me in a letter from Edward Lancaster--a -perfectly frantic letter accusing himself of all sorts of crimes. Your -Holiness perhaps is aware what a queer person he is, rather inclined to -be scrupulous, and most impulsive." - -"Yes, We know him. We Ourself would have said 'unscrupulous': Your -Eminency uses the word 'scrupulous' in the Catholic sense, whereas We -prefer frank English." - -"I mean that he is given to tormenting himself about fancied sins----" - -"And We mean that as a rule, he does nothing of the kind: but, like a -good many others, is singularly successful in lulling his conscience. -At least, for fifteen years he contrived to do so in this case. -However, he now has made amends; and there is nothing more to be said. -Let us continue. You received a self-accusing letter from Edward -Lancaster. And then?" - -"Not one letter, Holiness: a dozen at least. The injustice, of which -You had been the victim, was on his nerves. He wrote me several -letters; and came to see me several times. He is, as you know, a -person of some importance and a great benefactor to the Church; and so -I was obliged to take the matter up. I promised to investigate the case -myself." - -"Yes. And you did." - -"I instituted an inquisitorial process among some of the persons who -had had to do with Your Holiness; and I am bound to say that their -replies gave me grounds for thought." - -"Why?" - -"They differed materially as to the details of Your history; and yet -their opinion of You seemed to be fairly unanimous." - -"It was not a desirable opinion." - -"No, Holiness." - -"It would not be. We never were able to arrange to be loved. To be -disagreeable was a sort of habit of Ours. But is Your Eminency able, -from memory, to give Us an idea of these differences in regard to -facts? Opinions do not matter." - -The cardinal pondered for a minute. "Yes, Holiness, I can give you -three examples from Oxford. Fr. Benedict Bart said that he had met You -twice personally: but that he had heard much of You from his friends, -priests as well as laymen. He stated that all that could be done for -You had been done; and that You were--ha--Your Holiness will pardon -me--a very incapable and ungrateful person." - -The Pope gave the little leaden weight of His pallium a swing: and -beamed with delight. The cardinal went on. - -"Fr. Perkins who received You into the Church said 'I'm afraid he's a -genius, poor fellow!'" - -"What rank blasphemy!" - -"Blasphemy, Holiness?" - -"Yes: blasphemy. Almighty God happens to make something a little out of -the common; and, instead of praising Him for the privilege of tending -a singular work of His, Fr. Perkins actually bewails the fact! But -continue." - -"I confess I never thought of it in that light before----" - -"No: nor did Fr. Perkins. Continue." - -"I also took the opinion of a certain Dr. Strong who appears to be one -of the superiors of the university." - -"He was senior Public Examiner in Honour Greats, if you know what that -means." - -"Quite so. Well: he said that You had been his intimate and valued -friend for more than twenty years, that You had had no influential -friends to encourage You, and that Your abilities were no less -distinguished than Your moral character." - -The Pope laughed again. "Dr. Strong is an experienced writer of -testimonials." - -"But I should hardly think that a man in his position----" - -"Certainly not. Dr. Strong is one of the two honest men known to -Us. Well: and how did the discrepancy between his statement and Fr. -Benedict's strike you?" - -"It struck me in this way. How did so many worthy priests arrive at -practically the same opinion, (for what Fr. Benedict said, others -said also,) when their knowledge of facts seemed to be so superficial -and so doubtful. I mean, Fr. Benedict and the rest spoke from an -exceedingly casual acquaintance: but Dr. Strong from more than twenty -years' intimacy. However, just when I was pondering these contradictory -statements, Your Holiness's predecessor died; and I was obliged to come -to Rome." - -"Did Your Eminency ever note that very few clergymen are -capable--capable--of forming an unprejudiced proper original -opinion--of judging on the evidence before them and on nothing else." - -"I have excellent reason to believe that what Your Holiness says is -correct." - -"It is so much easier to echo than to discriminate. Now, if you please, -we will go back to the Compromise. What brought Us again to Your -Eminency's remembrance in the Conclave?" - -"Holy Father, that was most strange. We compromissaries were quite as -unable to agree as the Sacred College had been. And then, at the end -of one of our sessions, I was struck by the extraordinary likeness of -Cardinal della Volta to someone whom I remembered having seen, but -whose name I had forgotten. It was the merest accident: but I came away -wracking my brains about it. Another curious thing happened the same -night. Having some papers to sign, I happened to go to my dispatch-box; -and, quite by accident, I came across Edward Lancaster's letters about -Your Holiness----" - -"We do not call these things 'accidents.'" - -"Nor do I, Holy Father, now. Well: for want of something better to do, -I suppose, I looked over half-a-dozen of the letters: and I determined -to go further into the matter on my return to England. But, early the -very next morning, it suddenly flashed across my mind that I myself had -seen Your Holiness----" - -"In 1894." - -"Ah yes, in 1894; and that Cardinal della Volta was Your Holiness's -Double. This sent me back to the letters again; and I became more and -more convinced that an immense and almost irreparable wrong had been -done. I cannot tell You how strongly I felt that, Holy Father." - -"But what made you--well, practically impose Us on the compromissaries?" - -"That I cannot say: although in my own mind there is very little doubt -but that----However, these are the facts. I was so full of the case, -that I narrated it at our morning conference as an instance of the -fallibility of what--I think it was Your Holiness Who gave it the -name--yes, it was,--as an instance of the fallibility of the Machine. I -shall never forget the effect of my words upon Cardinal Mundo. It was -most extraordinary. He said--I shall remember what he said as long as -I live--he said 'My Lord Cardinal, you owe it to that man to propose -him for the paparchy; yes you owe it!' He rather upset me. I replied -that Your Holiness was not even in sacred orders. He answered 'Whose -fault is that?' I may say that the point was a very keen one. No one -could fail to perceive its relevancy. To use a vulgar expression, it -touched the thing with a needle. The others did not help me at all; and -I considered the matter for a few minutes. Mundo went on, 'If that man -had a real Vocation, he will have persevered: if he has persevered, the -twenty years or more of waiting will have purified----'" - -"Pray do not quote Cardinal Mundo." - -"Well, in short, I was irresistibly moved to propose Your Holiness----" - -"And then, because no other candidate was forthcoming: because--We -understand. You came to Us, found Us persistent----" - -"Yes, Holiness." - -"Well: shall we take a little stroll in the garden, and say some -Office?" - -Cardinal Courtleigh jumped. "I'm sure--if Your Holiness doesn't mind -walking by the side of my bath-chair----" - -"Oh, but We do. It is Our invariable custom to walk behind bath-chairs -and push them." - -"Indeed I could not for one moment permit----" - -"No: but for an hour you will submit. Nonsense man, do you suppose that -one never has pushed a bath-chair before! Now sit-down quietly and open -your breviary and read the Office; and We will look over your shoulder -and make the responses. It's awfully good exercise, you know." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -After his morning's exertions in the way of taming and domesticating -a prince of the church, Hadrian was conscious that He required a -change of emotions. His thoughts went to the next thing on His -list--the matter of Cardinal Nefski. That would be an exceedingly -interesting experience. He did not want to intrude upon grief: but -He was attracted by all singular phenomena; and the pathos of the -pale young prelate seemed to be quite exemplary. Once in His secular -life, George Arthur Rose had been taken by a doctor to see a man who -had severed his throat in an unusual manner, using a broken pen-knife -and cutting a jagged triangle, of which the apex missed the larynx, -and the base the sterno-kleido-mastoid, avoiding by a hair's breadth -carotid and jugular. The doctor wanted a diagram of the wound made for -the enlightenment of the jury which was to pronounce upon attempted -suicide; and George had made the sketch from the staring speechless -life, noted the furniture of the room and the aspect of his model, -quite untouched by the man's sensations or the horror of the event. -Hadrian approached Cardinal Nefski with similar feelings. He was -curious, He was psychically apart: but, at the same time, something of -subconscious sympathy in His manner elicited the desired revelation. -It was a ghastly one. Nefski, Cardinal Archbishop, had rushed to a -little city in Russian Poland, occupied by anarchists, for the purpose -of pleading with them. He arrived at sunset. There was a college there -where a hundred and twenty lads of noble birth were being educated: -among them, his own youngest brother, just seventeen years old. The -cardinal was seized and crucified with ropes to the fountain in the -market-square. Anarchists burst into the college: stripped its inmates -naked; and flung them into the street before his eyes. He absolved -each one dashed from the lofty windows. Some instantly were smashed -and killed: others, who fell on others, were broken and shattered, but -not killed outright. All night long, Nefski remained crucified. The -anarchists must have forgotten him: for they left him; and at dawn -some one, whom he did not know, came and cut him down. He remembered -nothing more, until he found himself paralyzed, in a waggon with two -priests, en route for Prague. Then he came on to Rome, hoping to lose -the phantasm which continually occupied his sight and hearing--the -heap in the dark night, the growing groaning heap on red stones of -white young bodies and writhing limbs like maggots in cheese, the pale -forms strained and curved, the flying hair, the fixed eyes, continually -falling, the cut-off shrieks, the thudding bounding ooze of that -falling, the interminable white writhing. It was a ghastly tale, quite -unimpassionately told. The young man still was in that stupor which -benignant Nature sends by the side of extreme pain. His paralysis was -passing away. He could walk easily now--only he saw and heard. He spoke -affectionately of his murdered brother: but he did not mourn for him. - -Hadrian was moved. He put all the human kindness which he had, and it -was not much, into His voice and manner. He really tried to comfort the -cardinal. He quoted the splendid verses of the herald in the _Seven -against Thebes_, - - "being pure in respect to the sacred rites of his country, - blameless hath he fallen, where 'tis glorious for the young to fall." - -Nefski seemed grateful. The Pontiff offered to remove him from Prague; -and to attach him to the Court of Rome: but he preferred to return -to his archbishopric for the present, at least, he said, until this -tyranny be overpast. And, anon, he asked permission to retire. The -sunlight dazzled him. - -During the rest of the time at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope seldom was -seen. A boatman rowed Him out on Lake Albano for an hour or two in -the afternoon, while He occupied Himself in pencilling corrections on -manuscript. But the white figure, set in the blaze of the sunny blue -water, did not escape the notice of passers-by on the high road near -the Riformati; and, finding Himself under observation, He returned to -the seclusion of the garden. His memory flew back to the time when -people used to jeer at Him for His habit of writing letters, letters -which explained a great deal too much, to blind men who could not see, -to deaf adders who would not hear. He chuckled at the thought that -those same people would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, every -word and every dotted _i_ of His letters now--letters which were not -going to be painfully voluminously conscientiously persuasive any more: -but dictatorial. He wrote sheet after sheet; and emended them: He -returned to His room and burned all the rejected preliminaries; and He -took a fair copy with Him to Rome on the night of the twenty-eighth of -April. - -Early on the morning of the thirtieth, at a secret audience in the new -throne-room, Caerleon introduced five rather startled very dishevelled -and travel-stained priests, five priests who had undergone a mental -shock. Mr. Semphill, with a white close-cropped head and the face of -a clean pink school-boy, contrived to remind himself that he was in -the presence of the most amusing man he ever had met. He bucked-up; -and made his obeisance with an aplomb which was a combination of -the Service, Teddy Hall, an Anglican curacy and a Pictish rectory. -Mr. Sterling, a stalwart brown schoolmaster, very handsome except -for a mole on his nose, hid his feelings in calm inscrutability. -Mr. Whitehead, a level-headed common-sense Saxon, golden-hearted, -who never had had any wild oats for sowing, observed reticence in -a matter which was beyond his comprehension. Mr. Leighton, plump, -clean, curly-haired, blinked genially and waited. Mr. Carvale, a lithe -intense little Gael, with the black hair and rose-white skin and the -delicate lips and self-contained mien of a dreamer, looked upon his -old college-acquaintance with clear eyes of burning blue. Some of the -five had the remembrance of sins of omission at the back of their -minds. None remembered sins of commission. All were wondering what was -required of them,--what the devil it all meant, as Semphill secularly -put it. If any of them expected allusion to the past, they must have -been disappointed. Hadrian gave them no sign of recognition. It was the -Supreme Pontiff Who very apostolically received them and addressed them. - -"Reverend Sirs, Our will is to have such assistance in the work of Our -Apostolature as the organs of sense can render to the mind, or as the -experimentalist can render to the theorist. For reasons known unto -Ourself, We have selected you. Believing you to be single-hearted in -this one thing, namely the service of God, We call upon you to devote -yourselves actually to the service of His Vicegerent. To this end, We -would attach you to Our Person in a singular and intimate connection, -by raising you to the cardinal-diaconate. Those of you who believe -yourselves unable to do God-service better in this than in your present -capacity, can depart without forfeiting Our good-will. The conscience -of each man is his own sole true light. Far be it from Us to interfere -with any man's prerogative as his own director in so grave a matter." - -The five remained standing, saying nothing. Semphill was -sincerely delighted: the literary quality, the tops-i'-th'-turfy -straightforwardness of the allocution gave him the keenest joy. The -others felt obedience to be their plain duty: for George Arthur Rose -never had been wantonly fantastic, there always had been a fundamental -element of reason about his eccentricities, he never had revolved at -random but always round some deliberately fixed point. And, to plain -priests, the voice of the Successor of St. Peter was a call, to be -answered, and obeyed. - -The Pope addressed Semphill. "Your Reverency quite legitimately hoped -to end your days at St. Gowff's?" - -"True--(hum!)--Holiness: but I may be translated elsewhere by a -telegraph's notice from my diocesan." - -"You are not yet a missionary-rector?" - -"Merely a poor master-of-arts of Oxford." - -"But you have been at St. Gowff's as long as We can remember." - -Mr. Semphill choked a chuckle. "Having a little patrimony, Holiness, I -made my will in favour of the archdiocese of St. Gowff's and Agneda; -and I did not omit to mention the fact to my archbishop. I happened -also to say that, in the event of my being moved from St. Gowff's, -I should be compelled to make another will: but of course I did not -contemplate being moved as far as Rome." - -Hadrian turned to Mr. Sterling. "The last words, which We said to Your -Reverency, were that you had cause to be ashamed of yourself." - -"One had cause, Holy Father." - -"To you, Our invitation is a means of repairing a single small defect -in a praiseworthy career." - -"It shall be repaired, Holy Father." - -To the others the Pope said nothing: for He saw their clean souls. - -In the Sacred Consistory, the Supreme Pontiff dictated to consistorial -advocates a pontifical act, denouncing the Lord Francis Talacryn, -Bishop of Caerleon, as Cardinal-presbyter of the Title of the Four -Holy Crowned Ones:--the Lord George Semphill as Cardinal-deacon of -St. Mary-in-Broad Street:--the Lord James Sterling as Cardinal-deacon -of St. Nicholas-in-the-Jail-of-Tully:--the Lord George Leighton as -Cardinal-deacon of The Holy Angel-in-the-Fish-Market:--the Lord Gerald -Whitehead as Cardinal-deacon of St. George-of-the-Golden-Sail:--the -Lord Robert Carvale as Cardinal-deacon of St. Cosmas and St. Damian. -Then the six were brought in, and sworn of the College: their heads -were hatted, their fingers ringed with sapphires, their mouths were -closed and opened by the Pope; and they retired in ermine and vermilion. - -What their emotions were, need not be inquired. Indeed, they had little -time for emotion, seeing that during the rest of the day they sat in -the secret chamber, writing writing writing from Hadrian's dictation. -In the evening, Whitehead and Carvale put on their old cassocks and -posted a carriage-full of letters at San Silvestro. These all were -sealed with the Fisherman's Ring; and, as they were addressed to kings, -emperors, prime-ministers, editors of newspapers, and heads of various -religious denominations, it was considered undesirable to trouble -Prince Minimo, the pontifical post-master, with material for gossip. -Meanwhile Hadrian and Cardinal Semphill sat in the Vatican marconigraph -office alone with the operators; and the Pope dictated, while the -experts' fingers expressed His words in dots and dashes in London and -New York. By consequence, what His Holiness called 'the five decent -newspapers' came out on the first of May with an apostolic epistle, a -pontifical bull, and editorial leaders thereupon. - -The world found the _Epistle to All Christians_ very piquant, not on -account of novelty, but because of the nude vivid candour with which -old and trite truths were enunciated dogmatically. Christianity, the -Pope proclaimed, was a great deal more than a mere ritual service. -It extended to every part of human life; and its rules must regulate -Christians in all matters of principle and practice. He laid great -stress on the assertion of the principle of the Personal Responsibility -of the Individual. It was quite unavoidable, quite incapable of being -shifted on to societies or servants. Each soul would have to render -its own account to its Creator. In connection with the last doctrine, -He denounced as damnable nonsense the fashionable heresy which is -crystallized in the Quatrains of Edward Fitzgerald, - - _"O Thou, Who didst with pitfall and with gin - "Beset the road I was to wander in, - "Thou wilt not, with predestined evil, round - "Enmesh; and then impute my fall to sin. - "O Thou, Who man of baser earth didst make; - "And, e'en with paradise, devise the snake;-- - "For all the sin, wherewith the face of man - "Is blackened, man's forgiveness give,--and take!"_ - -He described those lines as the whine of a whimpering coward: -pertinently inquiring whether a human father would be blameable, who, -having taught his boy to swim, should fling him into the sea that he -might have the merit of fighting his own way to shore where the rope -was ready at hand? He condemned all attempts at uniformity as unnatural -crimes, because they insulted the Divine intelligence Which had deigned -to differentiate His creatures. He declared that God's servants were to -be known by their broad minds, generous hearts, and staunch wills. - -"The Church of God is not narrow, nor 'Liberal,' but Catholic with room -for all: for 'there are diversities of gifts.'" - -It was the individual soul which must be saved; and it was that which -was addressed in the Evangel. He considered the immense strength of the -single verse, - -"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Hence He would -have no barrier erected between Christians of the Roman Obedience and -Christians of other denominations. The following passage, containing -His Own idea of His relation to other men, attracted much attention:-- - -"It is in no man's power to believe what he list. No man is to be -blamed for reasoning in support of his own religion: for he only is -accountable. 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold'; and -these deserve more care and love, but not cheap pity, nor insulting -patronage, nor irritated persecution: for if, as has been said, a man -shall follow Christ's Law, and shall believe His Words according to his -conscientious sense of their meaning, he will be a member of Christ's -Flock although he be not within the Fold. And, though We know that -he understands Christ's Words amiss, yet that is no reason for Our -claiming any kind of superiority over an honest man, the purpose of -whose heart and mind is to obey and to be guided by Christ. Such an one -is a Christian and Our good brother, a servant of God; and, if he will -have Us, We, by virtue of Our Apostolature, are his servant also." - -The conclusion of the _Epistle_ contained a very striking admonition -addressed to members of His Own communion, to the effect that the -being Christian did not confer any title to physical or external -dominion, but rather the contrary. Perhaps the peroration is worthy of -quotation:-- - -"Persuade, if ye can persuade, and if the world will permit you to -persuade: but seek not to persuade. Better to live so that men will -convince themselves through the contemplation of your ensample. That -way only satisfaction lies. Accept, but claim not, obedience. Seek -not suffering, nor avoid it: but, when it is deigned to you, most -stringently conceal it and tolerate it with jubilation, remembering -the words of Plato where it is written 'Help cometh through pain and -suffering, nor can we be freed from our iniquity by any other means!' -Scorn not the trite. Scorn no brother-man. Scorn no thing. Yet, if ye -(being men) must scorn, then scorn the enemies of God and the King, -which be the Devil and Dishonour and Death." - -An even greater sensation, than that caused by the _Epistle to All -Christians_, attended the simultaneous publication of the Bull _Regnum -Meum_. It personally was addressed to the very last person in all the -world by whom, under ordinary circumstances, a communication from the -Vatican might have been expected. Hadrian VII., Bishop, Servant of -the servants of God, sent Greeting and Apostolic Benediction to His -Well-beloved Son--the Majesty of Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy. -"My Kingdom is not of this world" was the text of the Bull, which -the Pope began with an unwavering defence of the Divine Revelation, -the Church, Peter, and the Power of the Keys. So far, He spoke as -a theologian. Then, with lightning swiftness, He assumed the rôle -of the historian. His theme was the Forged Decretals or Donation -of Constantine, which first were promulgated in a breve which His -Holiness's predecessor, Hadrian I., addressed to His Majesty's -predecessor (in a certain sense), the Emperor Charlemagne. He recited -the well-known facts that these Decretals, though undoubtedly forged, -had been forged merely as the intellectual pastime of an exiled -archbishop's idle hours, and with no nefarious intent whatever. -He shewed how that, during four centuries, no doubt as to their -authenticity had been entertained; and how that three more centuries -had elapsed before evidence had been collected sufficing to justify -their being thrown overboard from the Barque of Peter to lighten the -ship. Then, He continued, the Pope was the sovereign of a patrimony -of which He held no title-deeds. A right more inexpugnable than -prescriptive right was deemed desirable; and Alexander VI. and Julius -II. bound the Patrimony to Peter by military conquest. So it remained -until the unification of Italy under the House of Savoy, when those -territories, formerly known as the States of the Church, were absorbed -by the new kingdom. Thus far Hadrian pursued the argument; and then -turned to a disquisition on the worldly rights of Christians, the -purport of which perhaps most luminously is expressed in the following -sentences:-- - -"We use worldly things till they are wanted by the world: then we will -relinquish them without even so much as a backward thought. For we all -are clearly marked to get that which we give. Nothing is irrevocable on -this orb of earth. Nothing is final: for, after this world is the world -to come. Therefore, let us move, let us gladly move, move with the -times, really move. God always is merciful." - -Hence, as Supreme Pontiff, Hadrian would practise the principle of -renunciation. He would renounce everything which another would take, -because "My Kingdom is not of this world." And, first of all, in order -to remove a bone of contention, He made a formal and unconditional -renunciation of the claim to temporal sovereignty and of the civil-list -provided by the Law of Guarantees. At the same time, He would not be -understood as casting any slight upon His predecessors Who had followed -other counsels:-- - -"They were responsible to God: They knew it: He and They were the -judges of Their acts. We, on Our part, in Our turn, act as We deem -best. We know Our responsibility and shrink not. We are God's -Vicegerent; and this is Our will. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's by the -Vatican, on this ninth day of Our Supreme Pontificate." - -The formal publication of the _Epistle_ and the _Bull_ occurred in the -second consistory which met at the abnormal hour of 6 a.m. on May-day. -Hadrian read the two documents in that distinct minor monotone of -His which was so intensely and yet so impersonally magisterial. By -itself the tone was aggravating. The matter also was exasperating; and -the pontifical manner added exacerbation. He seemed to be expecting -opposition. That came from Ragna. If the Pope no longer was a -sovereign, where did the Secretary of State come in? Was he dismissed? -Oh dear no, he certainly was not dismissed: only, instead of playing at -statesmanship in regard to states over which he had no control at all, -and which were really rather commodiously managed by the secular power, -he was requested to turn his attention to the increase of business -which inevitably now would come into his department. - -"The world is sick for the Church," said Hadrian; "but She never would -confess it as long as the Church posed as Her rival." - -Nevertheless the thing was a blow, a blow that was heavy and strong. -Half the College put on an indifferent non-committal air: the other -half roared anathemas and execrations. And Ragna howled, - -"Judas, Judas, this shall not be!" - -In a lull, Hadrian coldly mewed "It is; and it shall be." - -He flung down the steps of the throne a bundle of advance-copies of the -Roman morning journals. Vermilion faces stooped to them. There were -the _Epistle_ and the _Bull_ in the vernacular. Serafino-Vagellaio -pounced-upon an announcement in _Il Popolo Romano_ to the effect that -enabled to present to our readers these authentic and momentous acts -simultaneously with the _Times_, the _Morning Post_, the _Globe_, the -_St. James's Gazette_, and the _New York Times_, the splendid journals -of the magnanimous English, to which race (the sempiternal friend of -Italy) we owe so grand and so enlightened a pontiff. - -Undoubtedly the thing was done: for the world knew it; and, knowing it, -would not let it be undone. There was no cardinal, however infuriated, -who was not sufficiently serpentine to recognise the columbine as -the attitude most appropriate to the circumstances. The first mad -idea which had seized the rebellious ones, the idea of suppressing -the pontifical decrees by physical force, was laid aside. There no -doubt were other means of nullifying them later. And Their Eminencies -dispersed to say their masses with an air which made the Pope feel like -a very naughty tiresome little boy indeed, said Hadrian to Cardinal -Leighton. - -The question of Edward Lancaster worried Hadrian considerably: for -the simple reason that, while He did not want to tire Himself by a -renewal of relations with this individual, decency demanded something. -He discussed the position with Courtfield and Talacryn, neither of -whom were able to appreciate His difficulty. Thrown back upon His Own -resources, He made a cigarette very carefully, a long fat one with the -tobacco tucked into the paper cylinder with a pencil, and with neatly -twisted ends, resembling a small white sausage; and smoked it through. -Then He wrote a letter, telling Lancaster that his offering had been -accepted and applied, assuring him of the pontifical good-will and of -a pleasant reception in case he should feel bound to present himself -in Rome, and conferring Apostolic Benediction and a plenary indulgence -at the hour of death. This, He enclosed in a gold snuff-box with a -device of diamonds on the lid, which the recipient might put upon his -mantel-piece with other curious monstrosities. - -Orezzo and Ragna appeared to have exchanged ethics: for, whereas the -latter had been a pontifical right hand while Orezzo had shut-up -himself in the Chancery, now it was Orezzo who watched the Pope -while Ragna kept aloof in vermilion sulks. It was not that his -occupation was gone: but he wished to emphasize (by withdrawing it) -his indispensability. As for the others, they wonderfully retired -into their shells. Hadrian kept his new creatures in fairly close -attendance; and the nine Compromissaries always were ready to make -themselves agreeable when they were in Rome. The Pope wished and tried -to be on friendly terms with them; and failed, as He always failed. He -could not shew Himself friendly. - -Crowds of English visitors appeared; and would have been distracting. -They dotted themselves about the Ducal Hall and Hadrian walked among -them. At one of these receptions, the pontifical glance lighted, on -entering, on a dark gaunt Titan seamed with concealed pain, who was -accompanied by a quiet fastidious English lady (wife and mother), and -three children, two glorious girls and a proud shy English boy. They -were a typical group, typical of all that is best,--trial, culture, -moderate success, and English quality. Hadrian at once shook hands with -them. - -"Please wait till the others are gone," He said; and passed on to -a cocky little gentleman with a pink eye, and a plump bare-faced -party who tried to stand easily in the cross-legged pose of the male -photograph of 1864. These sank to their knees, but stood up again at a -word. - -"Well, Holy Father, who would have thought," etcetera, from the first; -and "Oh, I'm sure I shall never dare to call Your Holiness 'Boffin' -again" from the second. - -"Yes you do," replied Hadrian; and gave them a blessing, to which the -plump one nervously responded, - -"Quite so, I'm sure, as it were!" - -Another couple kneeled, a weird brief-bodied man in a pince-nez and a -small suppressed woman with beautiful short-sighted eyes. They were -raised; and the man would chatter like a hail-storm, wittily and with -Gallic gesticulation, and quite insincerely. They were blessed; and the -Pontiff went-on (with some elevation of gait) to the others. - -When the audience was over a slim gentleman in scarlet, with the -delicate pensive beauty of a St. John the Divine by Gian Bellini, -conducted the English family to the apostolic antechamber. Here Hadrian -offered them some fruit and wine; and shewed them the view from the -windows. - -"Now perhaps Mrs. Strong would like to see the garden," He presently -said. - -It was a very happy thought. His Holiness carried His little yellow -cat, and they all went down together; and strolled about the woods -and the box-alleys and the vineyards. They picked the flowers; and -the children picked the fruit. They admired the peacocks: and rested -on white marble hemicycles in the sun-flecked shade of cypresses; and -they talked of this, that, and the other, as well as these and those. A -chamberlain came through the trees, and delivered a small veiled salver -to the gentleman who followed the pontifical party at fifty paces. At -the moment of departure he came near. The salver contained five little -crosses of gold and chrysoberyls set in diamonds. Three were elaborate -and two severely plain. Hadrian presented them to His guests. - -"You will accept a memorial of this happy day; and of course" (with -that rare dear smile of His) "you will not expect the Pope to give you -anything but popery. Good-bye, dear friends, good-bye." - -"How He has improved!" said the dark girl, as they went out. - -"O mother, and did you see the buckles on His shoes!" said the fair one. - -"I call Him a topper," said the boy. - -"He isn't a bit changed," said the wife to the silent husband. - -"I think that He has found His proper niche at last," the great man -answered. - -Percy Van Kristen arrived; and was brought into the secret chamber. -Though only a little over thirty, he looked as old as Hadrian. The -glowing freshness of his olive-skin had faded: but his superb eyes were -as brightly expectant and his small round head as cleanly black as -ever. He looked tired, but wholesome; and he was immaculately groomed. -The Pope said a few words of greeting and of remembrance; and asked -him to speak of himself. Van Kristen was shy: but not unwilling. -Leading questions elicited that he was one of that pitiable class of -men for whom the gods have provided everything but a career. Majority -had brought him three-quarters of a million sterling. There was no -necessity for him to go into commerce. Politics were impossible for -respectable persons. He was too old for the services. The fact was, -he had not the natural energy which would have hewn out a career--a -career in the worldly sense--for himself; and by consequence, the -world had shoved him aside on to the shelf of objects whose functions -are purely decorative. His mode of life was that of a man of fashion, -simple, exquisite. Perhaps he read a great deal; and, of course, his -home took up most of his time--but that was a secret. Hadrian deftly -extracted from him that he had founded and was maintaining a home for -a hundred boys of his city, where he provided a complete training in -electrical engineering and a fair start in life. His splendid eyes -glittered as he spoke of this. It seemed that he had kept his own -world in entire ignorance of his ardent effort to be useful; and one -naturally enjoys talking of one's own affairs when the proper listener -at last is encountered. No: he never had felt inclined to marry and -rear a family of his own. He did not think that that sort of thing was -much in his line. Yes: after leaving Oxford, he had had some thoughts -of the priesthood. But Archbishop Corrie had laughed him out of that. -He was not clever enough for the priesthood. That was the real truth, -in his private opinion. Oh yes, he would like it very well,--as much -as anything: but really he hardly felt himself equal to it. He didn't -want to seem to push himself forward in any way. Yes: the Dynam House -could get on quite well without him. They were fortunate in having a -capable manager whom every one liked; and his own share didn't amount -to much more than playing fives with the boys, and paying the bills, -and finding out and getting all the latest dodges. If he could run over -and look round the place, say twice a year, say two months in the -year, he was quite willing to take up his abode with Hadrian, if His -Holiness really wanted him. As a cardinal-deacon? Oh, that would be a -daisy! But--sorry: he never did understand chaff. Hadrian was serious. -Van Kristen's grand virginal eyes attentively considered the Pontiff. -Then, with that strangely courtly gracious manner which was his natural -gift, (and due to the perfect proportion of his skeleton), contrasting -so weirdly with the normal nasality of his speech, he said, - -"Wal: I expect I won't be much good to You: but You're the master; and, -if You really want me, I guess I'll have a try." - -And he went straight into retreat at the Passionists' on the Celian -Hill. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -"The key to all your difficulties, present and to come, is Love." -Hadrian was at His old self-analytical games again; and the aphorism, -which He had gleaned in the most memorable confession of His lifetime, -suddenly came back to Him. He went over a lot of things once more. He -was convinced that, so far, He did not even know what Love was. People -seemed to like Him. Up to a point there were certain people whom He -liked. But, Love---- He admitted to Himself that men mostly were quite -unknown to Him. Perhaps that was His fault. Perhaps He could not get -near enough to them to love them simply because He did not admit them -to sufficient intimacy--did not study them closely enough. That was a -fault which could be mended. He summoned His fifteen cardinals to spend -an hour with Him in the Vineyard of Leo. The day was a glorious Roman -day of opening summer. The Pope desired to use Their Eminencies for -the discussion of affairs, to sharpen His wits against theirs, to pick -their brains in order to assist in the formation of His Own opinions. - -Gentilotto gently remarked that, if His Holiness would state a case, -they would do their best to help Him. He designated the renunciation of -the temporal power; and struck them dumb. Of course, in most of their -own minds, they disapproved of it. It had shocked them. One and all of -them had been brought up in the fatuous notion that the success of the -Church was to be gauged by the extent of Her temporalities. An idea of -that species, especially when it is inherited, is not dug-up by the -roots and tossed-out in a moment, even by a Pontifical Bull. Hadrian -understood that His supporters (as well as His opponents) disliked that -audacity of His. - -"Holiness, we don't presume to condemn it: but we don't praise it. Yet -You must have had reasons?" Fiamma at length said. - -The Pope had not His reasons ready on the surface: they were -fundamental. And the temper of Him used to lead Him to disguise the -sacrosanct with a veil of frivolity: that is to say, when His arcana -seemed likely to be violated, He was wont to divert attention by some -gay paradox or witticism. A little roguish glimmer lit His thin lips; -and a suspicion of a merry little twinkle came in the corners of His -half-shut eyes. - -"Once upon a time We used to know a certain writer of amatory novels. -The sentimental balderdash, which he put into the mouths of his -marionettes (he only had one set of them), influenced Us greatly. He -had a living to get. He thought He could get it by recommending the -Temporal Power. He was a very clever worldly Catholic indeed: but the -arguments, which he produced in so vital a matter as the earning of -his living, were so sterile and so curatical, that We summed up the -Temporal Power as negligible. Then there was the disgracefully spiteful -tone of the Catholic newspapers--gloating over the misfortunes of -hard-working well-meaning people, prophesying revolution and national -bankruptcy for this dear Italy, and so on. Well: Our sympathy naturally -went, not to the malignant but, to the maligned. Oh yes, We had -reasons." - -"That is enough. One's hands obey one's head," said Sterling. - -"For my part, I think that if the temporal Power is worth having it -is worth fighting-for. Lord Ralph Kerrison, who's a British general, -once told me that, if the Pope cares to call-upon Catholics throughout -the world and order military operations, he is quite ready to throw-up -his commission to-morrow and enlist in the pontifical army," Semphill -asserted. - -"No?" Mundo with big eyes inquired. - -"Fact: I assure you," Semphill asservated. - -"But is it worth fighting-for?" - -"Of course, Holy Father, the possession would confer a certain status," -put in Saviolli. - -The Pope smiled. "'Certain'--and 'status'? Oh really!" - -Talacryn was annoyed. He considered the query too sarcastic. - -"His Holiness perhaps leans upon the theory that the Church never was -more powerful than She is now," della Volta ventured. - -"I calculate that's fact, not theory!" exclaimed Grace. - -"Well then?" - -"I see. In these thirty-odd years without the Temporal Power, the -Church has increased in power. It might be argued on that that Temporal -Power is not essential." - -"Prosecute that argument, and----" - -"Has anyone a theory as to what precisely is the chief obstacle in Our -way here in Italy?" the Pope interpolated. - -"The secret societies." - -"Atheism." - -"Poverty." - -"Socialism." - -"Corrupt politicians." - -"What do we new comers know of Italy?" asked Whitehead of Leighton, who -had made the last remark. - -"The newspapers say----" - -"The newspapers!" Carvale ejaculated. "Don't we know how the newspapers -are written? Has no one of us ever contributed a paragraph? Well -then----" - -"Please view the question from this stand-point. On the one side, you -have the Paparchy and the Kingdom, Church and State, Soul and Body. On -the other, you have the enemies of those. What is necessary?" - -"The destruction of the enemies." - -"Or the conversion of them into friends. But how?" - -"How shall two walk together unless they be agreed?" the Pope inquired. - -"The Paparchy and the Kingdom are not agreed," said Courtleigh. - -"Your Holiness means that they should be agreed: that they should unite -forces?" Ferraio asked. - -"It is Our will and Our hope to be reconciled with the King of Italy." - -"But is His Majesty willing?" - -"We know not: but We have shewn that We will not block the way." - -"Certainly the Pope and the King together would have almost unbounded -influence for good," Ferraio reflected. - -"Then Your Holiness does not think the Temporal Power to be worth -fighting-for?" Sterling concluded. - -Hadrian's eyes no longer were half-shut. "No," He answered. "Try, -Venerable Fathers, to believe that the time has come for stripping. -We have added and added; and yet we have not converted the world. Ask -yourselves whether we really are as successful as we ought to be: -or whether, on the whole, we really are not abject and lamentable -failures. If we are the latter, then let us try the other road, the -road of simplicity, of apostolic simplicity. At least let us try. It's -an idea; and for Our Own part We are glad to have a chance of realizing -it, the idea of simplicity, going to the root of the matter." - -"Your Holiness is not afraid of going too far?" inquired Talacryn. - -"William Blake says that truth lies in extremes. To the humdrum -champion of the so-called golden mean, (which generally is a great deal -more mean than golden), that maxim is nothing less than scandalous. All -the same, it is as sound as a bell, Eminency, and nowhere does it ring -more soundly than in the principle of the union of Church with State." - -As they were going in to dinner, Mundo whispered to Fiamma "Have we a -saint or a madman for a Pope?" - -"Two-thirds of the one and one-third of the other," replied the radiant -Archbishop of Bologna. - -After one of the receptions of English pilgrims, Hadrian privately -received an unusual visitor in the last antechamber. She was brought -in by a gentleman, who remained outside one of the doors during the -interview, while his fellow guarded the outside of the other. It was -as secret an audience as ever has been deigned to a sovereign; and it -was accorded to a woman of the lower-middle class, about sixty years -old, who looked like an excessively worthy cook. She flopped on her -knees when the Pontiff came to her: mentioned her joints when assisted -to rise; and made bones about using the chair which He placed for her. -Hadrian's manner was absolutely divested of pontificality. No one -would have taken him for anything but a plain Englishman, perhaps of -a slightly superior type, and perhaps rather oddly attired. He spoke -kindly and easily; and gradually brought His guest from a glaring -twitching state of terror and obsequious joy to her honest ordinary -self. - -"Ee-e-h," she burbled, "but I can never tell Your 'oly Majesty what -I felt when I knew that You was going to let me come and see You. Oh -thank You and God bless You, Sir. And I always knew You'ld come to -it. And, O 'oly Father, ain't You very 'appy to think of all the good -You're doing? Just fancy that ever I should say that to Your 'igh -'oliness and me sitting on one of your own chairs. God bless You Mr. -Rose, Sir, as if You was my own boy. Well now, I knew in a minute who -it was that sent it me. Why 'oly Father? Why because Your 'oly 'ighness -named that very amount years ago as what You'ld give me if You was -paid properly. Yes 'oly Father: I've done what You wished me. I got -it cheaper than we thought because it's been empty so long. Thirteen -'undred pound cash on the nail for the 'ouse: a 'undred for doing it -up: four 'undred and two for furniture and things: and please 'oly -Father I've brought the change." - -She lugged out a great bank-bag containing one hundred and ninety-eight -English sovereigns. - -"Oh but, you dear good soul, you shouldn't have done that. It was all -yours." - -"All mine, 'oly Father? But I tell You I got it cheaper than we -thought." - -"Well then you see you're a hundred and ninety-eight pounds to the -good. You have the house and the furniture; and, if you can get the -lodgers, you're safe for life." - -"If I can get lodgers, 'oly Father? Why I'm filled up, and turning them -away." - -"Good! Well, put that in the bank for the winter." - -"But then I shall have oceans of money I've made in the summer, 'oly -Father." - -"Look here, Mrs. Dixon. Do you remember cooking two dinners one -Christmas Day? One, we ate. The other, you carried under your apron to -some carpenter who was out of work. Don't you remember who caught you -pretending that you weren't spilling the gravy on your frock?" - -"Oh, Mr. Rose, Sir, how You do recollect things!" - -"Well now, you stinted yourself then, didn't you?" - -"Well perhaps a little." - -"Now don't stint yourself any more; and give away as many dinners as -you like. See?" - -The tears were streaming from her glaring eyes and running down her -kitchen-scorched cheeks. She certainly was looking frowsy. - -"See? I should think I did. Mr. Rose Sir, if I say it to Your face, -saint was what I always said of You. Dear! Dear! To think of me -giving way like this. Well, well, You're too good for this world, -Your Majesty. Oh and I've taken the liberty of bringing you a jar of -pickled samphire like what You used to fancy. I've picked it and did it -up myself with my own 'ands;--and I thought perhaps You wouldn't mind -'aving this antimacassar which I've worked for You, 'oly Father. I knew -all Your 'oly chairs'ld be red, because I've seen pictures of them; and -I thought that the grey and the orange would brighten up a dark corner -for You." - -Hadrian thanked her kindly; and took her little offerings as though He -prized them more than His tiara; and made her infinitely happy. - -"Well now I won't detain Your Majesty, because I know there must be no -end of grand people waiting about to see You, and me occupying Your -time like this, 'oly Father. So I'll just ask You to pray for me and -give me a blessing; and thank You Sir for all You've done for me, and -I'll say a prayer for You every day as long as I'm spared." - -She got on her knees: and the Pontiff blessed her. Then He said, - -"When do you go back, Mrs. Dixon?" - -"Well, Your 'oly Majesty, I was thinking of looking about a bit while -I'm 'ere, so as to have plenty to say to the lodgers: but I can't stay -more than a week longer." - -Hadrian wrote on a card, _The bearer, Mrs. Agnes Dixon, is Our guest. -Receive and assist her._ He signed it; and gave it to her, saying, "You -know this place is full of lovely things, pictures and so on. And there -are heaps of sacred relics in the churches. Well now, that card will -admit you to see everything." - -"Will they let me see the fans?" - -"Which fans?" - -"Them they fan You with when You're glorified?" - -"Oh yes. Shew that card to the gentleman who is going to take you down -stairs and tell him what you want to see." - -"Will they want me to give the card up at the door?" - -"No. Not if you want to keep it." - -"Ah well, I'll see everything; and I'll keep the card till I'm laid -out, 'oly Father. Oh what ever can I say! You'll excuse me Sir, and I'm -an honest woman: but I must kiss Your 'oly Majesty's anointed 'and. Oh -bless You, my dear, bless You!" - -Hadrian paced through and through the apartment as soon as He was -alone. "Dear good ugly righteous creature," He commented. Passing -the safe in the bedroom, He let-out with His left and punched the -iron door. "That's what use you are," He said; and put glycerine on -His bleeding knuckles. Catching a glimpse of His face in the mirror, -"Beastly hypocrite" He sneered at Himself. - -Very disagreeable talk went on in Ragna's circle. The pontifical -acts of Hadrian were vile enough, but His private ones were simply -criminal. A Pope who asked you the hour and the date and the place -of your birth, drew diagrams on paper, and then told you your secret -vices and virtues, was a practisant of arts unholy. Doubtless that -frightful yellow cat, which He took into the gardens every morning, was -His familiar spirit. It had cursed Cacciatore in a corridor, almost -articulately. Balbo, the chamberlain, was prepared to swear two things, -which he had gathered from the gentlemen of the secret chamber. First, -that His Holiness stood under a tap in His bedroom every morning and -evening, and sometimes during the day as well. Undoubtedly that was -to allay the fervence of the demon who possessed Him. Secondly, that -His Holiness sat up half the night writing or reading, and yet the -pontifical waste-paper basket always was empty. Not even a torn shred -of paper remained. But then, the ashes in the fireplace. Ah! The -disposition was to refer to lunacy, or stupidity, or knavishness, or -vileness, whatsoever was novel to the understanding. The Pontiff's -aggressive personality, His ostentatious inconsistency, His peculiarly -ideal conception of His apostolic character, His moral earnestness, His -practical and uncomfortable embodiment of His views in His conduct, -caused Him to be as loathed by Ragna's set as He was loved by the nine -and the six. He was accused of an anarchistical kind of enthusiasm. -When He heard that, He said, - -"We are conservative in all Our instincts, and only contrive to become -otherwise by an effort of reason or principle, as We contrive to -overcome all Our other vicious propensities." - -That was considered an additional indecorum. His quaintly correct -and archaic diction exasperated men who had no means of expressing -their thoughts except in the fluid allusive clipped verbosity of the -day. Objections were made to His hendecasyllabical allocutions, -by mediocrities who could not away with a man who discoursed in -ithyphallics. His autocratic dogmatism, which really was due to His -entire occession by His office, shocked the opportunist, irritated -the worldly-prudent. Outside in the world too, He was by no means a -complete success. People, who were not of His Communion, thought it -rather a liberty that a Pope should have the Authorized Version at His -fingers' ends. At first, a lot of fantastic instabilities prepared -to hail Him as a Reformer: but He gave dire offence to them, and to -all pious fat-wits, by flatly refusing His countenance to any kind of -Scheme or Society. "The Church suffices for this life," He said; and -His sentence "Cultivate, and help to cultivate individuality, at your -own expense if possible, but never at the expense of your brother," -was highly disapproved of. Where did the Rights of Man come in? But -then Hadrian was quite certain that Christians actually had no worldly -"rights" at all. Arraigned on the question of superstition by the -stolidly common-sense Talacryn, He said "Extra-belief, superstition, -that which we hope or augur or imagine, is the poetry of life;" and His -utterance was regarded as almost heretical. His utter lack of personal -swagger or even dignity, His habit of rolling and smoking continual -cigarettes, His natural and patently unprofessional manner, offended -many outsiders who only could think of the Pope as partaking of the -dual character of an Immeasurably Ambitious Clergyman and a Scarlet -Impossible Person. He had enemies at home and abroad. And He remained -quite alone, psychically detached: to a very great extent unconscious -of, certainly uninterested in, the impression which He personally was -creating; and altogether uninfluenced by any other mind or any other -creature. - -A parcel of curial malcontents waited-on the Pope; and poured forth -flocculent interrogations and sophomoric criticisms to their hearts' -content. Hadrian sat perfectly motionless except for an occasional -twinkle of His ears--a muscular trick which He had forced Himself -to learn for the disconcerting of more than usually oxymorose -fools. He was mute: He was grave. He looked, with large omniscient -imperscrutable eyes, with the countenance open, with the thoughts -restrained. Cavillers recited grievances--His refusal to wear the -pontifical pectoral-cross of great diamonds, or any gems except His -episcopal amethyst, was one;--and appended sentences beginning "Now -surely----," or "And the scandal----," or "Ought we not rather----" He -was mute: He was grave: He was attentive. His intelligent silence had -its calculated effect of causing errancy from points which primarily -had been deemed important. Anon, only one objection remained: an -objection to the new form of pontifical stole. No one complained of -its colour. Red was canonically correct. But the silk should have been -satin. Also, the pattern of the gold embroidery was uncommon. A rich -design, of conventional foliage and grotesques enclosing armorials -and keys, was what custom demanded. (Hadrian had no armorials. Years -before, while discussing heraldic blazons with an aged clergyman, -he had burst out with "My shield is white." "Keep it so," the other -replied. And Hadrian's shield was Argent.) But this narrow strip, -no wider than a ribbon, severely adorned with little fylfot crosses -("a Buddhist emblem" Berstein sneered) in little rectangular panels, -with no expansive ends, and a scanty fringe, was hardly at all the -kind of stole to inspire either the admiration or the homage of the -faithful. Still Hadrian sat immobile, great-eyed, all-absorbent; and -let them furiously rage, and imagine very vain things. And at the end -of three-quarters of an hour, He merely murmured "Your Eminencies have -permission to retire;" and stalked into the secret chamber. - -It was felt that something ought to be done. Ragna put a case to Vivole -and Cacciatore. The Oecumenical Council of the Vatican stood adjourned -since 1870: but, if the Sacred College should demand---- They found the -notion excellent: communicated it to Berstein, and the French: plumed -themselves; and went about mysteriously with their noses in the air. -And there were intrigues in holes and corners. - -Hadrian went up to the Church on the Celian Hill; and conferred -diaconate on Percy Van Kristen. The Passionists liked that one for his -stately shyness which did not wear away. It was the mark of a soul -verisimilar to his patron's own, of a soul knit to no other: but, -whereas the soul of Hadrian had been torn out of seclusion and bitterly -buffeted by the world, the soul of Percy Van Kristen preserved its -pristine tenderness. The Pope perforce went armed. His deacon remained -by the altar. - -The consistory was summoned for the twenty-fourth of May. That morning -Hadrian woke just on these words of a dream, Oecumenical Council, -Pseudopontiff, Heretic. A man with an active brain like His naturally -suffers much unconscious cerebration. Very often it happened to -Him vividly to dream some scrap or other of something apparently -unconnected with the present. He used to wonder at it: mentally -note it: generally forget it. Now and then, an event (of which it -was the tip) immediately followed; and He scored. Hadrian named to -the consistory the Lord Percy of New York as Cardinal-deacon of St. -Kyriak-at-the-Baths-of-Diocletian. His Eminency became resplendent in -vermilion, tall, refined, reticent, with dark wide dewy eyes. He was -admired in silence. The Pope by some accident turned His gaze to Ragna: -he had such an aspect as caused His Holiness to look more intently. -Ragna's great strong jaw moved as though to munch; and his glance -defiantly shifted. - -"Your Eminency is free to address Us," the Supreme Pontiff said to Him. - -"I wish rather to address the Sacred College," Ragna answered, rising. - -Hadrian had an intuition: His face became austere, His voice deliberate. - -"On the subject of an Oecumenical Council where you may denounce Us as -pseudopontiff and heretic?" - -Ragna hurriedly sat down twitching. Berstein and Vivole muttered of -divination and necromancy. - -"That generally is done," the Pope continued in the tone of one -merely selecting fringe for footstools,--"That generally is done by -oblique-eyed cardinals" (He meant 'envious' but He used the Latin -of Horace) "who cannot accustom themselves to new pontiffs. Rovere -ululated for an Oecumenical Council when he found Our predecessor -Alexander antipathetic; and there be other examples. But Lord -Cardinals, if such an idea should present itself or should be presented -to you, be ye mindful that none but the Supreme Pontiff can convoke -an Oecumenical Council, and also that the decrees of an Oecumenical -Council are ineffective unless they be promulgated with the express -sanction of the Supreme Pontiff. Who would sanction decrees ordaining -his own deposition? Who could? If We pronounce Ourself to be a -pseudopontiff, what would be the value of such pronunciation? Ye were -Our electors. We did not force you to elect Us. If We be Pontiff, We -will not, and, if We be pseudopontiff, We cannot, depose Ourself. We -are conscious of your love and of your loathing for Our person and -Our acts. We value the one; and regret the other. But ye voluntarily -have sworn obedience to Us; and We claim it. 'Subordination,' so the -adage runs" (He was citing the Greek to every Latin's disgust) "'is -the mother of saving counsel.' Nothing must and nothing shall obstruct -Us. Let that be known. And We should welcome co-operation. Wherefore, -Most Eminent Lords and Venerable Fathers, let not the sheep of Christ's -Flock be neglected in order that the shepherds may exchange anathemas." - -Mundo and Fiamma rose by impulse: went to the throne; and renewed -their allegiance. The new cardinals mixed with the others and began to -talk, while the rest of the Compromissaries approached the Pontiff. -Orezzo moved that way with eight Italians. Then the seven brought each -a companion. When, at last, the Benedictine struggled to his feet, -opposition died. Ragna toed the line. - -"His Holiness has averted a schism," said Orezzo to Moccolo. - -"One has to admire even where one hardly approves." - -"And to hobble-after even when one cannot keep-up-with the pace." - -"Saint or madman?" Mundo repeated to Fiamma. - -"One-third saint, one-sixth madman, one-sixth genius, one-sixth -dreamer, one-sixth diplomatist----" - -"No. All George Arthur Rose plus Peter," Talacryn put in. "He said as -much Himself to me once, whatever!" - -Hadrian went out to take the air. Under His cloak He carried a pickle -bottle, the label of which He had washed off and destroyed. As He went -along, He picked up a trowel left by some gardener in a flower-bed. He -found a solitary corner filled with rose-acacias and lavender-bushes -behind the Leonine Villa. He looked up at the cupola of St. Peter's -and saw no Americans levelling binoculars. Then He dug a little hole; -and buried pickles; and hid the bottle a few yards away beneath the -bee-hives by the lavender-bushes, mauve-bloomed, very sweet to smell. -The solemn odour stimulated his brain; and He returned to chat with His -gentlemen. They were engaged in physical exercises in a parlour. The -Italian, who was one of nature's athletes, with so tremendous a power -of chest-inflation that his ribs seemed unconnected with his sternum, -interminably floated down and up and down to the floor on one leg, with -the other leg and both arms extended rectangularly before him. The -Englishman, a student, graceful and slim but not muscular, watched him -and would imitate. His sinews had not the elastic force rhythmically -to lower and raise him. He could get down but not up. He often lost -balance, and rolled over in frantic failure. "You must have thighs made -of whipcord and steel to do it," he was saying. Then they saw their -visitor and attended. Hadrian asked what the exercise was and whence it -came. - -"Santità, from the bersaglieri," Iulo responded. "That they do, during -an hour of each day for the fortification of their legs. From which -they run." - -"It is beautiful. And are you going to emulate the bersaglieri?" - -"My comrade goes to educate my mind. I go to discipline the physic of -him," the gymnast said. - -"Oh, I'm going to help him rub up his classics as far as my poor -knowledge lets me, Holiness: that's all:" the student added. - -"Very good indeed," Hadrian pronounced. "Well now, something is going -to happen to you. Go and escort the Secretary of State to the secret -chamber." - -Ragna and the young men appeared within the quarter-hour. The Pope was -seated; and a couple of Noble Guards stood behind His chair. - -"Eminency," He said, "it is Our will to give these gentlemen the rank -of Cavaliere--in English 'knight'----" - -"Nai-tah," Ragna repeated. - -"Your Eminency will cause letters patent to be prepared----" - -"But this is the act of a sovereign!" - -"And We, having no temporal sovereignty, exercise Our prerogative as -Father of princes and kings." He beckoned the gentlemen to kneel, took -a sword from the guard on His left, and struck them on the shoulder in -turn, saying "To the honour of God, of His Maiden Mother, and of St. -George, We make thee knight. Be faithful. Rise, Sir John. To the honour -of God, of His Maiden Mother, and of St. Maurice, We make thee knight. -Rise, Sir Iulo." - -The cardinal retired mumbling. In the first antechamber, Sir Iulo cut -a caper. "Oh but that I should come to know such a one as this!" he -chortled. Sir John went to his own room: opened an interlinear crib of -Horace; and could not see one letter. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -Hadrian knew that He was becoming confirmed in His pose of director. -Not that He was inflated by His exaltation to the apostolature. He -was conscious that people, except a few enthusiasts, were become -indifferent to religion. He knew the danger of indifference to be so -great that it was no time to strain at gnats. He could not trouble -about rats in the ship's hold while the torpedo was approaching. He -was thought to share the abominable heresy of Tolstoy, whose works -He never would touch with tongs. He saw that most men lived in mist; -and preferred it: that most men durst not see clearly, because their -business and their social interest would not stand it. He was not -absolutely certain that He Himself could see the remedy: but He was -certain that blindness was no remedy. So He put forth the evangelic -counsels for obedience. "Strip; and obey those" appeared to be -sufficient for the present; and He would not fiddle-faddle with human -doctrines or empirical experiments. He had the big vision, the seeing -eye, the hearing ear, wit, perverseness, daring, and the lonely heart, -and the contempt of the world. The effect of His entire freedom of -action was to inspire Him physically and mentally with the thrilling -vigour of a pentathlete. He had the violent energy of the minute -electron in the enormous atom. He felt Himself strong. He knew that -His forces were tensely strung; and in their melody He was very glad. -Sometimes He caught Himself wondering how long He could maintain the -pitch: but from that thought He turned away. It was enough that He was -able. He would not spare Himself. The night cometh when no man can work. - -"Let it come," he said to Cardinal Sterling: "but, while day lasts, We -work." - -A splendid sentence of Mommsen's bit into his brain. _Cæsar ruled as -King of Rome for five years and a half ...; in the intervals of seven -great campaigns, which allowed him to stay not more than fifteen months -altogether in the capital of the empire, he regulated the destinies -of the world for the present and the future.... Precisely because -the building was an endless one, the master, as long as he lived, -restlessly added stone to stone, with always the same dexterity and -always the same elasticity busy at his work, without ever overturning -or postponing, just as though there were for him merely to-day and no -to-morrow. Thus he worked and created as never did any mortal before or -after him; and, as a worker and creator, he still, after two thousand -years, lives in the memory of the nations--the first, and withal -unique, Imperator Cæsar._--And Julius, also, had been Pontifex Maximus. -Hadrian took a white umbrella for a walk as far as the black-lava fort -on the Appian Way. - -He considered the horrible condition of France and Russia. It was -a menace to the world. Of Russia, He could learn nothing new. -Thews and Thought together had abolished authority and gone mad in -butchery. The information, which He had obtained from the French -Cardinals, was not of a rather useful nature. Elements of emotional -sentiment and archaic conventionalism rendered their opinions well -nigh worthless. They were tolutiloquent in expressing horror at the -impiety of mob-rule which had deprived them of the right to military -salutes ordained by the Concordat. They made the blood boil by their -heart-rending descriptions of holocausts of priests and nuns--earnest -heroic enthusiasts absolutely incapable of doing anything really -practical in the way of eradicating that demoniality of which they -became the victims. Nothing would please Their Eminencies better than -to hasten to their distracted native-land, to offer up themselves -as martyrs to the devils of their dioceses. They were no cowards--if -desire to rush on death be bravery:--but they were picturesque, and -dithyrambic,--mainly picturesque, with their long hair and their rabats -edged with white beads. That would not do as an essential. Out of -the mellay of matter laid before Him, the Pontiff extracted certain -points. France, quâ France, no longer was Christian. The Devil was in -power. Christians who were able to cross frontiers, did so. Spain, -Italy, Switzerland, Germany, received them. England, America, Japan, -blockaded Toulon, Brest, Cherbourg. Their liners tapped the coasts; -and carried thousands into freedom. Poverty afflicted the emigrants: -those left behind were butchers, or subject to butchery. Dom Jaime de -Bourbon having perished, the Pope sent for the Duke of Orleans;--and -dismissed him with austere disgust. He subsequently withered away. His -Holiness gave audience to a score of the French nobility; and spent -some days picking the brains of emigrants fortuitously collected. Then, -He again convened the French cardinals, and declared the pontifical -will. They all were deposed from their episcopal sees, and nominated -Apostolic Missionaries. Their charge was the cure, first of the bodies, -second of the souls, of Frenchmen everywhere. The Cardinal-Missionary -of Paris would go to London with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Pimlico, -having powers to draw one million sterling from the pontifical treasure -in the Bank of England: which sum, in halves, was to be the nucleus -of two funds, an English and a German, for French Christians in their -need. Each cardinal-missionary also received a breve authorizing him, -and persons delegated by him, to collect money in every Christian -country for the said funds. It was not to be a clerical charity. The -Lord Mayor of London and the German Emperor were willing to administer -it, each independently. Further Their Eminencies were to use their own -discretion about adventuring themselves in the diabolical dominion. If -they best could serve God there, then in God's Name, and with God's -Vicegerent's benediction, let them go: but they most straitly were -bidden to keep one only object before them, viz. the service of God -through the relief and comfort of His servants. Nothing was to prevent -them in that. - -The world began to concentrate the corner of its eye on Hadrian. -Holland and Belgium fell into the arms of anarchical France. The -vigorous bold brilliant young Sultan Ismail, having failed to win -Morocco to his Pan-Islamic scheme, was intriguing for an alliance with -the other great Muhammedan power, England. His Majesty's murdered -predecessor, by the aid of Germany, had formed an army of a million and -a half, full of fanatical valour and the wonderful natural adaptability -of the Turk, the rawest recruit of which had a greater fighting-value -than was possessed by the conscripts of any other nation. This force -was available for active service at fifteen minutes' notice. The -Turkish alliance was worth anyone's while; and was coveted. Germany had -trained the Ottoman squadrons: but was not to profit thereby. Teutonic -stolidity had been outwitted by the wily Oriental. Islam could only and -only would mate with Islam--as might have been foreseen. The rest of -the continent of Europe ringed frontiers under arms. Each nation feared -the other; and all feared France and Russia. - -Hadrian watched the diplomatic processes with interest. He knew that -England was quite capable of taking care of Herself, with or without -the Mussulman. He grasped the theory that Muhammedanism, arising six -hundred years after Christ, justified the Wisdom of God in Judaism, -proving that the Oriental mind could bear nothing more perfect; and -He conceived a sort of sympathy with Islam. His conversations with -ambassadors became known in courts, (the King of Prussia's legate -wrote amazing things to the German Emperor:) from courts, descriptions -of opinions, tastes, habits, descended until they were discussed in -clubs and miscellaneous congeries. Hadrian's custom of walking about -unattended, looking-at the excavations in the Forum, visiting the sick -in hospitals, sensuously delighting Himself with the glories of sunset -seen from the Pincian Hill, were the themes of common conversation. -And when, one evening, He got-in a left hander (from the shoulder) -on a socialist, who spat at Him in Borgo Nuovo; and then, (on the -filthy beast's bursting into tears and collapsing with the effects of -the blow upon semi-starvation), pressing upon him His pectoral cross -and chain, His gold spectacles, and all the coins left in His pocket -after a couple of hours in Rome,--then the English race began to find -the Pope observable; and English newspapers started columns called -_Rome Day by Day_. How the special correspondents spread themselves! -She of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ got the usual exclusive information of -the Borgo Nuovo affair; and split nine infinitives in describing the -myopic Pontiff narrowing His eyes to slits, groping His way along the -colonnades with His fainting assailant; His passionate denunciation -of the farce of organized charity, which had let a man become so -degraded; His agitation until Cardinal Carvale came running with His -spare pair of spectacles; His strangely pathetic thankfulness for the -gift of sight which they afforded; His anguish at the defilement of His -garment; and His tender invitation to the starving socialist to be His -guest in Vatican. All this suited the English temper to a T,--being -English. But there was created a profound and perdurable impression. -The King of Prussia's legate wrote more amazing things to the German -Emperor. Hadrian became regarded in cabinets and chancelleries as -one who cared or strove neither for loss nor gain, neither for life -nor death--as the one Potentate who rightly or wrongly knew his own -mind--as a Power with whom a reckoning might have to be made. After -all, it merely was the effect of simplicity upon complexity, of -felinity upon caninity. - -He was sitting alone, thinking, and carefully unravelling a woollen -antimacassar. It had been crocheted in five bossy strips, three of -orange hue and two of grey, alternately arranged. He had unravelled -two orange and two grey strips; and had the wool neatly rolled in four -balls beside Him. The next time He should go into the City, some little -girl would be made happy with two nice balls of grey wool and a lira -to buy knitting needles; and, the time after that, another little girl -would have three balls of orange wool and a lira also; and pontifical -eyes would not be scorched by ghastly antimacassars any more, nor -would the kind heart of anyone be wounded. He finished the job; and -went to talk to his socialist. That one turned out to be a goldsmith, -with the ideals and the brains and the fingers of Cellini, but not the -acquisitiveness. Hence straits, socialism, sophistries, starvation. -They walked about the sculpture-galleries for coolness; and spoke of -Beautiful Things. Hadrian revelled. His guest was a man of taste; and -talked-on-a-trot with wonderful gestures, making and moulding ideal -images which the mind's eye could see. They came to the Apoxyomenos: -stood: raved; and became dumb, feasting on the lithe majesty of perfect -proportion. The artificer first spoke. - -"Holiness," he said, "can You see that body and those limbs crucified?" - -Hadrian's mind caught the idea. The splendid forms of the marble seemed -to re-arrange themselves in the new pose. His eyes came slowly round to -His questioner. - -"Yes," He answered: "but soaring and triumphing, 'reigning from the -tree,' not drooping and dying--and not the head and bust." He took the -goldsmith's arm and hurried him to the Antinous of the Belvedere; and -began to speak very quickly. - -"Sir," He said, "you will be pleased to stay here; and, with the -materials which will be provided, you will make a new cross for Us. The -cross will be of the kind called Potent, elongate: the Figure will -combine the body and limbs of the Apoxyomenos with the head and bust of -the Antinous, but posed as We have described. On the completion of this -master-piece, you will be offered an appointment as goldsmith in the -pontifical household----" - -"Ah, Padrone." - -Hadrian returned to the secret chamber, happy in anticipation of an -emblem which would not offend His taste. True, He was glad (in a way) -that a tangled life so easily could be made straight: but it was the -visionary ideal of Beauty which really inspired joy. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -That aggregation of intellectually purblind and covetous dullards, -who formed the socialistic sect of the King of England's subjects, -presently began in their rough rude way to perpend the Pope of Rome. -It had been a moot point with these discontented sentimentalists -whether it would or would not be profitable to unite with French -and Russian anarchy, and attain their ends that way: but one Julia, -in the _Salpinx_ screamed such excruciating tales about slaughtered -French babies, that that was "off." Also, it was remembered that a -certain Comrade Dymoke, the only capable fighting man ever possessed -by socialism, had been spunged upon for fifteen years by socialistic -cadgers, sucked dry, ruined, and cast out, a victim of socialistic -jealousy and treachery. In the plans laid for a Social Revolution, -towards the end of the nineteenth century, that man had been named -commander-in-chief. Now he was not available; and his place was vacant: -for a military expert rarely errs into the purlieus of socialism. - -But one thing had been done. The Social Democratic Federation had -been induced, at the National "Liberal" Club, to coalesce with the -Independent "Labour" Party. The coalition called itself the "Liblab -Fellowship": the _Salpinx_ and _Reynards's_ were its organs; and -a parcel of Bobs and Bens and Bills and Bounders its prophets. It -concluded that it would score by toadying the Supreme Pontiff. The -brainless monster of socialism always was hunting for a brain to -direct its forces. By some perverted process, it arrived at the -feeling that a Pope, Who could indite the _Epistle to All Christians_, -would be likely to lend Himself to the furtherance of its crude designs -on other people's property. A week later, Cardinal Whitehead called -Hadrian's attention to the current issue of the afore-named journals, -which contained an _Open Letter to the Pope_ praising the "enlightened -humanitarianism" of His Holiness's recent utterance, inviting Him to -have courage of His opinions, and to bring His _Epistle_ to (what was -called) "a logical conclusion" by a formal authoritative declaration -of the doctrine of Equality. Popes, as a rule, do not notice _Open -Letters_. Hadrian, however, had learned from the _Pall Mall Gazette_ -that the fashion was for copious artists in words to lecture the Roman -Pontiff. He anticipated the being told by that elegant journal that He -knew as much about the true inwardness of Catholicism as a cow knows of -a clean shirt. But He privately was of opinion that more harm may be -done by leaving some things unsaid. But, Love----! Was it possible that -He could love, could like (even), hyenas who screeched such ditties as -this on the same page: - - _"They will tax the baked potatoes, - "They will tax our blessed swipes, - "They will tax our blooming hot pea-soup, - "The leather, and the tripes, - "They will tax the coster's donkey, - "They will tax the Derby 'orse - "And they're going to tax the devil - "When he lives at Charing Crorse."_ - -Ouf! No. It was quite impossible. Yet----: there were people whom He -could like, if not love: people in His Own environment. These He would -make easy, happy. To these He could set an example. They, in turn, -would do as much for the rank below them: and so on, and so on. Thus, -perhaps, by Nature's own method, might Love be brought down among men. -So with a stern and trenchant rebuff He rebuked presumption. On the -following Sunday, a Pontifical Breve was read from every Catholic -pulpit in the Kingdom of England at home and beyond the seas. It -proclaimed the dogma of Equality as scientifically, historically, and -obviously false and impracticable: as a diabolical delusion for the -ruin of souls. Hadrian did not soar away in metaphysical intricacies, -but confined His argument to the broad highway whereon the ordinary -man might walk at ease. Infinite difference, He said, was the note of -the Divine Creator's scheme. Not equality, but diversity, of physique, -of intellect, of condition, was man's birthright. One man was not as -good as another: he generally was a great deal better,--as every man -well knew. The claim to equality was so indecently unjust that it only -could emanate from inferiors who hoped to gain by degrading their -superiors. Socialists, who claimed equality, solely were actuated by -the lust of improving their own condition at the expense of their -brother. That was selfishness, and unchristian, and (by consequence) -damnable heresy. The servants of God were bidden to avoid it. The -Vicar of Christ repeated Christ's commands "Love one another--Love -your enemies." Only by Love could be attained the happiness which all -desired. That the classes did care for the masses, futile and indolent -though their method might be, was undeniable: but the attitude of the -masses to the classes was unmitigated hatred. The accident of birth to -poverty or wealth was not a fault, for it was inevitable. The principle -of Aristos "The Best" was to be upheld. The strength of Aristos was -incalculable because it acted through the relations of private life, -which were permanent: whereas the political excitement of socialism -was essentially ephemeral. Rights, inherited, meritorious, conferred -by legitimate authority, were sacred. Only the holders of such rights -of their own free will could depose themselves or abdicate their -rights; and, as Christians, they were expected to behave themselves -Christianly: but to deprive them of such rights, at the will of those -who did not confer them, would be an outrage. The socialistic idea, -which suggested such iniquity, was essentially selfish and venal. -Hadrian severely denounced the newspapers in which the _Open Letter to -the Pope_ appeared. He said that the thoughtful reading of a newspaper -was one of the most solemn and painful studies in the world, for it -was little more than a category of sin and suffering, of incitements -to sin, of efforts to acquire filthy lucre honestly and dishonestly. -He copiously quoted the advertisements, the Cyclorama page, the Motor -Notes page, the Stageland, the Woman's Letter, and the Leaders, of -the one, in order to show that the socialistic outcry by no means -was the bitter groan of oppressed poverty, but rather the grumbling -vituperation of envious discontented mediocrity anxious to affect an -appearance, which was sham and not its own, and to wallow in luxurious -conditions which it had not earned. Especially He noted the Socialistic -Programme, "_We suggest that the nation should own ALL the ships ALL -the railways ALL the factories ALL the buildings ALL the land and ALL -the requisites of national life and defence_," as a plain declaration -that robbery of private property created by individual industry -and genius--robbery, pure and unadulterated, was the basis of the -socialistic scheme. He denounced the paper as being written for amateur -agnostics by dilettante atheists. He pungently derided attempts made, -by pseudoscientists of the obsolete school of Haeckel, to popularize -among mistaken but serious secularists the science of yesterday and the -destructive criticism of the day before that. As for the other paper, -He likened it to a _cloaca_ wherein filth of all kinds is committed and -collected. The news of the day was reported only in so far as it was -susceptible of filthy presentation. Pages were devoted to diffusing -refuse from police-courts; and, (under the head of Secret History) to -calumnious inventions or distortions of fact connected with any and -every man or woman who was not of the dregs of humanity. As a method of -earning a living by journalism, this pandering to the basest passions -was disgraceful, and damnable in the full sense of the word. Not by -such means were the bodies and souls of men to be improved or profited. -Not by such means could happiness, here or hereafter, be attained. -"Let men raise themselves if they will; and let each man help himself -by helping his brother to the utmost: there shall be no limit to your -resurrection, well-beloved sons, if ye rise, not on other men but, upon -your own dead selves," the Pope concluded. - -In accordance with instructions, the Cardinal-Prefect of the -Congregation of Sacred Rites presented to the Pontiff certain completed -processes and petitions for the beatification of the Venerable Servants -of God, Alfred the Great, King and Confessor,--Henry VI. of Lancaster, -King and Confessor,--Mary Stewart of England, France, and Scotland, -Queen and Martyr. Assent was deigned to these petitions; and pictures, -each with a golden nimbus, were unveiled in the Vatican Basilica. The -bull of beatification decreed the addition of the following words to -the Roman Martyrology, the official roll of sanctity:-- - - This day, in England, is kept the festival of the Blessed Alfred, - King and Confessor, who by the acclamation of his own people is - named Great: memorable as a father of his fatherland, a lover of his - brother, a true servant of God. - - This day, in England, is kept the festival of the Blessed Henry - VI. of Lancaster, King and Confessor: memorable for meekness, for - suffering, for purity of heart, for the gift of prayer. - - This day, in Scotland, is kept the festival of the Blessed Mary - Stewart, Queen and Martyr: memorable for womanly fragility, for - nineteen years' atonement in prison, for choosing death rather than - infidelity. - -Semphill and Carvale had urged Hadrian to impose the Proper Office and -Mass of the last upon England as well as Scotland. His Holiness would -know why? - -"Because Her Majesty was the rightful Queen of England as well as of -Scotland;" Semphill responded with the air of one who has invented a -new sauce. - -"Display your premisses, Lord Cardinal;" said the Pope. - -"They are simply historical facts, known to everyone." - -"But the conclusions which may be drawn from historical facts, mainly -depend upon the sequence or method of arrangement of the said facts. -Display yours, Lord Cardinal." - -"The Blessed Mary Stewart was heiress of James V., who was heir of -Margaret Tudor wife of James IV. of Scotland and daughter of Henry VII. -of England. Henry VII.'s heir was his son Henry VIII., who married -Katherine of Aragona and had issue Mary Tudor. Subsequently, failing -to obtain annulment of this marriage from Your Holiness's predecessor -Clement VII., Henry VIII. lived in sin with Anne Bullen and Jane -Seymour by whom he had issue Elizabeth and Edward. Canonically this -prince and princess were illegitimate and incapable of succession. -Therefore, on the death of Henry VIII. the crown of England demised to -his sole legitimate issue, Mary Tudor----" - -"But Parliament had passed an Act, 28 Hen. VIII. c. 7, giving the -English Sovereign power to limit the crown by letters-patent or by his -last will to such person or persons as he should judge expedient." - -"Surely, Holiness, that ought not to count. However, on the death of -Mary Tudor without issue, I argue that the crown of England demised _de -jure_ though not _de facto_ to the next legitimate Tudor who was Mary -Stewart, heiress of Margaret Tudor." - -Hadrian turned to Carvale. - -"Of course, Most Holy Lord, I feel with Cardinal Semphill. I -think"--his beautiful blue eyes blazed with the fire of his dreams--"I -think that the time has come for doing justice to the memory of 'that -predestined victim of uncounted treasons, of unnumbered wrongs, wrongs -which warped and maddened and bewildered her noble nature, but never -quenched her courage, never deadened her gratitude to a servant, never -shook her loyalty to a friend, never made her false to her faith.' O -think, Holiness, of all that the Stewarts have suffered!" - -Hadrian Himself had a very tender and romantic feeling of attachment -towards the Stewarts: but He responded, "Our office is not to stir up -strife. We Englishmen happen to have made an ideal of Elizabeth. With -that delightful capability for making our own ideals and maintaining -them in the teeth of realities, we have chosen to forget the fact that -no sovereign of ordinary intelligence could have helped being gilded -by the really abnormal galaxy of talent which illumined the age of -Elizabeth. It was those gigantic geniuses who made the glory of England -then. England happened to be personified by Elizabeth. Therefore, -in English eyes, Elizabeth was great and glorious and all the rest. -No one" (he turned to Semphill) "can quarrel with your statement of -blind and naked fact; and no one, who is right-minded, will. But, We -desire to reconcile, not to exasperate, though We never will refuse -to exasperate upon an apt occasion. Therefore We will not assert now -that which need not be asserted. Be content that We raise your lovely -martyred queen to the honours of the altars of your country. Ask -Almighty God to look upon your land with favour for His Son's sake, and -for the sake of her who in the Strength of that Son was faithful unto -death. Call upon Mary in Heaven to add her prayers to those which ye -offer to God on earth. Precious in the sight of The Lord.--If it be His -Will to confirm with signs and wonders these your invocations----" - -Their Eminencies gazed at the Pope with ecstasy. That He, whom they -had known before, not always agreeably, that He--"Oh, really," said -Semphill to Carvale as they left the Presence, "I don't know whether -I'm sleeping or waking." And Hadrian, alone, rolled a cigarette, saying -to Another than Himself, "Is that what You wish me to do in this case?" - -Simultaneously with the beatificatory bull _Laudemus insignes_, was -issued the _Epistle to the English_. The Pope affirmed that the -English Race naturally was fitted to give an example to humanity. -In particular, He categorically distinguished its solid worth, its -dignified good sense, its deliberate tenacity, its imperturbable habit, -its superb impassiveness in reverses, its stoical firmness under the -most cruel deceptions, its unshaken determination to conquer under any -circumstances. In general, He noted its faculties of self-restraint, -of construction, of administration, and (among the upper and middle -classes) of altruism. He indulged no vain regrets: but dealt entirely -with the present and the future. He addressed the Race, as the Race -would wish to be addressed, with perfect sincerity. In spite, He said, -of the scum which floats, and is called "Smart": in spite of the dregs -which goes a-mafficking, and is called "Hooligan" the English people -at heart were as sound as ever. Millions, rich and not rich, gentle -and simple, in town and country, led clean and wholesome lives. No -newspaper paragraphs proclaimed that these good souls were bringing-up -their children to be ladies and gentlemen, were solicitous for the -welfare of their inferiors, had respect unto themselves. No flaming -headlines screeched, announcing that they were paying their way, -marrying and giving in marriage, rejoicing and sorrowing, like the -brave honest common-place people that they were. No Society Gossip told -of Robert and William and Nicholas and James and Frederick and Herbert -and Percy and Alfred, day-labourers for a too scanty wage, who never -drank nor fought nor swindled nor yelled for their rights, but who led -decent noble lives under circumstances often cruelly unjust and always -rigorously hard. Of such as these, said Hadrian, was the English Race -composed. He reminded England that she had received more from the Latin -Church than any other nation: that her gains had been direct before -1534: indirect after that date, when her natural enemies were dragged -down by the corruptions of Rome. (He thought they would enjoy that -point.) He assumed nothing, not even a prejudice. He advised without -commanding: He directed without trespassing. The latter half of the -_Epistle_ concerned those who owed Him spiritual allegiance: to these -He spoke with all authority. He blamed their phrenetic anxiety to enter -into worldly competition. He pointed out that the Penal Laws, which -from 1534 to 1829 had deprived them of "that culture which contact with -a wider world alone can give," had rendered the Catholic aborigines -corporeally effete and intellectually inferior to the rest of the -nation. He did not blame noluntary defects: but facts were facts, and -only fools would refuse to face them. These defects would find their -remedy in the influx of new and vigorous blood and unexhausted brains. -He quoted the words of a great critic who said that the religious -movement of our day would be almost droll if it were not, from the -tempers and actions which it excited, so extremely irreligious. It had -taken four centuries to produce the present position of Catholics in -England; and, as no man has a right to expect miracles, it might take -four centuries more to restore them to a corporeal and intellectual -equality with the average of their fellow-countrymen. To this end, He -bade them to welcome and to comfort accessions to their number, not -(as was the present custom) with slavering sentimentality giving place -to slights, snubs, slanders, and sneers: but with brotherly love, -putting in practice the Faith which they professed; and _letting_ their -light shine, instead of advertising comparatively paltry efforts at -illumination. He reminded them that, - -"God made man right, but he had sought out many abstruse reasonings -and, for a society of Christians to pretend to be "the world" or "of -the world" was an incongruous monstrosity. He warned them that the kind -of conscience which they cultivated, the conscience which descends -from its high personal plane, which consents to haggle and discuss how -far resistance to temptation must be carried, which deigns to consider -consequences, to weigh possibilities, and to guard against disaster, -was the proximate occasion for the well-founded charges of hypocrisy -and humbug brought against all religion by lewd fellows of the baser -sort. As for those of the clergy, whose comportment elicited from -outsiders testimonials to the effect that they were "thorough men of -the world having nothing clerical about them except their collars" or -"thoroughly good chaps who take their glass and enjoy a smutty story -like ordinary beings,"--His Holiness assured Their Right Reverencies, -Their Very Reverencies, and Their Reverencies, that they completely -misconceived their sacred character. - -"Our citizenship is in heaven (ἡ πολιτεια ἡμων ἑν οὑῥανωι.) If then in -very truth, ye look for a city which is an heavenly, ye must esteem -yourselves as being 'in the world' as strangers (ξενοι), or resident -aliens (μετοικοι); and so ye ought not to be 'curiosi in aliena -republica.'" - -He ordained that married Anglican clergy (whose wives were alive and -who possessed the grace of a Divine Vocation) on resuming allegiance -to the See of Peter, should be admitted to the priesthood and serve -secular churches: but faculties for hearing confessions were not to be -disposed to married priests; and each such priest, having charge of -a mission, must nominate and maintain at least one Regular as curate -whose sole duty should be the administration of the sacrament of -penance. Finally, the Supreme Pontiff commanded the sacrifice of that -phantom uniformity which had been the curse of Catholicism for four -centuries, and the retention and cultivation of national and local -rites and uses. And He commended England to St. George, Protector of -the Kingdom. - -The Archsocialists were bitterly chagrined by the pontifical -denunciation of their _Open Letter_; but the _Epistle to the English_ -made them gnash their teeth. In print, they gibbered at first, and -vomited after their manner. In congress, each one suspected his -neighbour of being a "traitor to the Cause" whose treachery had taken -the form of urging his comrades corporately to attract the pontifical -fulmination. There was a dreadful scene at West Ham and a free fight -at Battersea. Comrade Pete Quillet threatened to 'ave Comrade Bill -Meggin's blighted ear; and had as much of the left one as twenty-seven -unclean gorgonzola-coloured fangs could tear off, before he succumbed -to six boots, a bottle, and a harness-buckle. At head quarters, the -demagogues did behave with outward decency: not disguising their -disappointment, but casting about for a new lead. The curious thing was -that not one of them now but was more than ever anxious for alliance -with the Power which disdained and damned them. It was the Power -which they coveted--and admired, in the first intention of the word. -Their attitude to the Pope was that of those who lick the hand that -lashes them. The Pope was not a Penrhyn, against whose liberty they -could invoke the laws at which otherwise they girded: He was to them -something immense, intangible, potent, detestable--and most desirable. - -While they were debating as to the precise posture in which they next -should cringe, Comrade Jerry Sant communicated startling news. He -was a delegate from the north: by profession, first a haberdasher's -bagman, secondly a socialist; Socialism appearing to him an easy way of -self-aggrandisement. As a rule, he did not push forward, working in the -background, anonymously writing for the papers, watching for a chance -to snatch. He whispered a word to his neighbour at the table. - -"Rot!" said the latter. - -"Rot yersel'!" Jerry retorted. - -The other Fellowshipper guffawed. "Here, I say, Mr. Chairman, this -Comrade says he used to know that old Pope!" - -Jerry Sant became observed. He had the haggard florid aspect, the -red-lidded prominent eyes, the pendulous lip of a sorry sort of -man. He stood up and began to speak, sometimes dragging a sandy -rag of moustache or fingering shiny conical temples, but generally -holding on by the lapels of a short-skirted broad-cloth frock-coat, -protruding black-nailed thumbs through the button-holes in a manner -acquired during a week in Paris. His style was geological, so to -speak, consisting of various strata deposited at various periods. -The surface stratum, representing the Kainozoic Time, consisted of -the platitudinous bombast characteristic of the common or oratorical -demagogue. Below that, corresponding to the Mesozoic Time, came the -ridiculous obsequious slang of the bagman of commerce. Below that -again, corresponding to the Paleozoic Time, appeared the gelded English -which muscleless feckless unfit-for-handicraft little sciolists -acquire in school-board spawning-beds. And these rested on stratum of -the Azoic Time, to wit the native Pictish Presbyterian jargon of Mr. -Sant's sententious pettifogging spiteful self. These different strata -occurred as irregularly as natural strata. They ran one into the other -like veins in a fissure, causing displacements resembling those which -technically are called Faults; and the tracing and stripping of the -same is a task for the ingenious geophilologist. - -"It's a gospel-truth, comrades. I had used to fhat ye might call know -the Pope a few years ago fhen he was just George Arthur Rose and not -a pound-note in his purse. I was running the _Social Standard_ oot o' -my own pocket, and many's the bit o' work I've let him have. He was -trying his hand at journalism then, and gey glad to get it. I may take -this opportunity of saying that he owes his footing to me; and most -ungrateful he has treated me, comrades, as is the nature of him, proud -aristocrat as he is. Not that I look for gratitude in such: but I've -often thought when I've heard of him getting on--I mean before as he -was fhat he is now--as perhaps he might like to remember him as gave -him his first leg up. But no, not a bit of it though. I advised him of -as much, once; and he rounds on me and cheeks me cruel. And I'm not the -only one neither: I can tell you something else about him. There's a -lady-friend of mine----" - -"Here stop a bit," the chairman interrupted. "You're getting on a bit -too fast. What did you let him write for the _Social Standard_ for? -Was he a comrade, I.L.P., or S.D.F., or Fabian p'raps? He seems to be -rather a high sort from what you say." - -"A comrade! Tits, man! ma pairsonal opeenion is that he was nothing bit -a ... Tory spy. I always thought he was a Jesuit in disguise and now of -course I know it. Fhen I knew him first he was pals with the traitor -Dymoke----" - -"Dymoke!!!" Teeth gritted; and the social equivalent for the Roman -"Anathema sit" was snarled. - -"Comrades, it wasn't me that was to blame there you know. Wait a minute -before we meaninglessly divide oursels. I have some most important -developments to lay before the meeting as you'll all cordially endorse. -Don't someone remember I was the one that stopped the traitor's letters -and give information of his treachery? If it hadna have been for me -he would have bought the bally show with his Tory gold. It was me as -put my spoke in his wheel and got him expelled in time. Well, as I -was remarking, fhen I knew Rose he was gey thick with Dymoke. Fhat -for did I let him write for us? Wy, because he could write the verra -blusterous epithets which'ld make the enemy wince. Of course I went -over all that he wrote though, just to see that he was economically -correct. If I hadna have done that I might just as well have shut -up shop. But I was going to say, comrades, there's a lady-friend of -mine he's treated shameful--made love to her while her man was alive, -borrowed twenty-pound notes of her, had to be forbid the hoose, and -then fhen she was left a widdy-wumman with a family he cuts her dead -at a picture-gallery. That's fhat I mean by ungrateful, the swine, -fit to make a man retch with his mumping cant. What I was about to -observe--no, she's not a Fellowshipper yet. I met her in the way of -business if you know what I mean: but I expect she'll join before long. -I know she will if I can only bring off fhat I'm talking about. She's -got a pension, and she takes paying guests, quite high-toned and all. -That's how I got to know her. I've put up there fhen I've come down -to London these five year. Well, the moment I first come ben her best -parlour I spots his photo on the cheffonier. 'Hech,' says I, 'I know -that chap.' 'Then you know a very mauvy soojy,' says she, for she knows -the French fine, and a' thing as genteel as you can think. So we had -a bit crack; and fhat with fhat she told me and fhat I knew aboot him -before, I may inform you that if we want to get anything out of him now -I'm the man that can secure his entire acquiescence to any proposal we -like to submit to him. Here's my plan, comrades, and if anyone's got a -better let him out with it or else for ever after hold his peace and -stand out of the way of them that has. Comrades, the hour has struck -when tyranny will be no more for I've got the tyrant between ma legs -and A'm going to squeeze him off my own bat, supposing as I'm properly -supported. Cautious though, very cautious we must be: for Rose fhen I -knew him was fine and slippery. Artful? E-e-e-e-e-eh! Dinna ye talk -about his artfulness! Aye and proud too! He was the most haughty don't -care sort of chap ye can think. I mind his eyes were like lowin' coals -somewhens. - -You shouldn't nail him anyhow. Insolence I call it; and I'd have pulled -his nose for him many times only he wasn't worth it. Starving I've -known him: yet if you'll believe me he'd give himsel' a wash and a -brush up and go out of an afternoon looking as smart as you please in -his old clothes and with a fag always in his mouth like the masher he -is. That fag! I'll let ye know it was aye the same fag. He hadna used -to light it ever. He lit it once and put it out directly after; and -then he used to stick it in his face every afternoon and shew himself -as usual, so that no one should know he hadna had a bit fhite fish, -na naething to ca' a moothfu' o' flesher's meat wi' his piece the -week past. He felled it me himsel' when I got to know him. And now, -comrades, there's that feller sitting on the seven hills of Rome with -three gold crowns on his head, as has been put in the papers, damning -us for all he's worth. Comrades, fhat I wish to call the attention of -this meeting to this evening is--I'll just speir if ye think that Rose -should like to have his past life gave away by me and my lady-friend? -Mrs. Crowe, her name is." - -Jerry paused for a reply; and realized that he had possession of the -meeting's ear: He mopped the lumps on his forehead: helped himself -out of the chairman's whiskey-bottle: gulped a dram; and continued. -His assumption of the rhetorical manner was consciously enormous now. -"Comrades, as in the east when the golden light of dawn shews that -sunrise is about to come, so this poor feeble voice of mine shews that -the tyrant's thrones are tottering to their overthrow. But, comrades, -we maun beware. Snares beset our path. Once we have let oursel's be -caught by his infernal Jesuitical machinations and he has scornfully -crrrushed us to the earth. This is how Labor is treated, and thus shall -Labor be treated as long as we go cap in hand and ask for our rights -instead of demanding them and taking them as Comrade Matchwood says -in the _Salpinx_. Comrades, this time we maun conquer or expire. If -we want the former, we must fight our enemy with his own tools. Fhat -are his tools? Comrades, his tools are Jesuitical Tory tools. His -emissaries are everywhere, his spies beset our path on every hand I -should say infest our road. Even in this hall to-night, a Tory eye may -be upon us, a Jesuitical ear may be protruded to catch these whispers -falling from this feeble tongue and pass them on to that arch-pariah -in Rome who is drunk with the blood of working-men and battened on -unearned increment. Comrades, we maun take a leaf out of his book: -we maun hoist him up on his own Jesuitical petard. We oursels maun -become Jesuitical for the sake of the Cause. Comrades, there in Rome -sits the Abominable Desolation and I'll let ye know ye'll find him -fhat ye may call a fikey customer. Day by day his satellites prostrate -their forms before his so-called holy toe, and let him know a' things -which they've found out by base and underhand sneaking means. That is -whit way he is so powerful. His slaves tell him so much that he knows -everything. Look fhat with an entire lack of consistency he said about -the _Salpinx_. Could he have said that if he hadna been informed? No, -I repeat, a thousand times no. Comrades we maun do the same. He knows -our secrets and uses them against us most unfair. We maun worm his -out too, and use them to bend his proud knee to the people's will. -Comrades, I, me, know his secrets. I am the man and Mrs. Crowe is the -woman fhat shall shame him before all his silken harems and cardinals -and potentates--upset his apple-cart if I may use a colloquious -impression. We only have got to show the despot our two faces, and -I'll let ye know he'll quail as sure's death. We shan't need say a -word. At the mere sight of me and my lady-friend the monster'll howl -for mercy. Then we will be able to have our revenge for his recent -most insulting remarks. We will dictate fhat he shall have to do to -win our favour. All the starch and haughtiness shall go out of him -like steam out of a toddy-jug when he sees us two; and he shall pay -any price to gain our smile. And then I'll let you know what my plans -are. Comrades, we're agreed aren't we that the only way in which the -Cause can triumph over Capital is by having a Labor majority in the -House of Commons. Fhat I mean by that is this. At that magnificent -demonstration of Labor's irresistible electoral might, in the words -of the _Salpinx_, we can make the Tories and our friends the Liberals -pass our bills to pay us our proper salaries; and we will wrestle from -the reluctant rich the mines and the railways and the mills and all -the paying industries, and we shall even nationalize the land itself -which our bloated aristocracy have robbed us of and mafficked in and -wallowed in our gore. Comrades, I shall not detain you much longer for -I see the hour is getting on. Fhat I mean to say is this is the point. -There are, in this Great Britain and Ireland of ours the night, no less -than 8,452,637 deluded papists with parliamentary votes. I obtained -those figures carefully from statistics. You have to be careful about -details like this if you mean to do yersel' any good at a'. Now, -Comrades, all those 8,452,637 papists shall gladly drop their 8,452,637 -votes into candidates' ballot boxes which will be put forward by the -Liblab Fellowship. They shall do it at one word from their Pope, at one -penstroke of his, such is the besotted state of slavery in which they -exist. Refuse they dare not, or they should languish in the horrors -of the Spanish Inquisition or light the Fires of Smithfield and the -Massacres of the so-called Saint Bartholomew. Comrades, it is that one -word and penstroke which the sight of me and Mrs. Crowe shall squeeze -out of their haughty Pope. We'd better have a proper deputation to go -to wait on him with us for safety's sake; and happen we'd better have -a sort of address to present, explaining how matters stand, just to -make things look pleasant and polite, as it were. That's only a matter -of form though. The main thing'll be to see him fall back toes over tip -on his judgment-seat like him as was struck with worms when he sees -who's in the deputation. Laugh? I won't ever have laughed like I will -laugh at him then! Well now, comrades, I've said my say and I say no -more leaving the matter to your esteemed consideration. Comrades, think -of all the insults which he and his myrmidons has made us groan under -so long. Revenge is now at your disposal. This weak hand of mine has -pointed out whit way. Seize it, oh seize it in the name of Freedom is -all I ask. For myself I ask nothing, not a penny if you was to offer -it me. Comrades, I'm fighting for the Cause. For the Cause I'd give my -life as far as in me lies. That's my aim: that's my game, as the poet -remarks. Comrades I shall not detain you longer I shall now sit down." -And the raucous gentleman panted into the next Fellowshipper's chair. - - - - -CHAPTER X - - - "Dear Mrs. Crowe, - - _Secret and Confidential._ - - _Please burn it when you have concluded reading._ - - Referring to our numerous enjoyable conversations on the subject - of Socialism in which you have evinced entire acquiescence, I am - directed by the Council of the Liblab Fellowship to call your - attention to the advantages obtainable from comradeship as per - enclosed. The entrance fee is two and six and the subscription five - shillings per ann. payable in June and Dec. I may add that those - are special terms which I have exerted my influence to obtain in - your favour and I trust I shall meet with your esteemed approval. - Would you decide to join, kindly notify me of the same per wire for - wh. I enclose six stamps. Yes or No will answer all purposes, but - personally I feel sure that it shall be yes. On receipt of your - anticipated favour will at once propose and have you seconded at - our evening meeting to take place on the night of the same day when - you get this letter. Should your reply be in the affirmative I am - to let you know that you shall at once be nominated as a member of - a deputation, which I have the honour to be a member of as well, - which is about to proceed to Rome for the purpose of diplomatically - interviewing our mutual friend the Pope. The expenses of the trip - will be borne by the Liblab funds so there is no need to worry - on that score. You are aware that travel especially to such a - famous town as Rome is considered advantageous in every respect. - The Italian sky the numerous old ancient edifices and the Romans - themselves in their native monasteries cannot fail to amuse the - eye of the beholder. The excursion is entirely gratis and so that - difficulty is removed. But in addition to what I have said there is - also the prospect of renewing our acquaintance with his so-called - 'Holiness!!!!! And I may say for certain of having private interviews - with him in the innermost recesses of his haunts. More I shall not - now add. The mission of the deputation is strictly diplomatic and - connected with political affairs, and I am of course not at liberty - to divulge the details to anyone but fellow-shippers, it would be - hardly prudent. Ah would that you dear Mrs. Crowe was one. But I - may without any breach of confidence inform you _in the strictest - confidence_ that Rose alias Hadrian _is in our power_ and therefore - putting politics out of the question it shall go hard if you and me - cannot do a little private business with him on our own account. - Hoping to hear from you soon as per enclosed blank form and thanking - you in anticipation - - I remain - Yours truly in the Cause (I hope) - Jeremiah Sant. - - P.S. Now burn this without fail." - -Sant's lady-friend sat at the breakfast table, pondering this letter -while her kidney grew cold. The four lodgers were gone to business; -and she was alone except for the presence of her son. He was one of -those beautiful speechless cow-eyed youths who seem born to serve as -butts. Most people exercise some influence, assert some personal note. -Alaric Crowe did neither. A course of female rule had produced him -with about as much individuality as a cushion. He ate his breakfast in -delicate silence. His mother was wrapt in thought. She found Sant's -letter delectable. The consuming passion of her whole life was for -George Arthur Rose. Next to him, she desired fame, notoriety, as a -leader in suburban literary and artistic "circles." By perseverance, an -undeniable amount of clever organizing power, a certain stock of third -or fourth class talent, and any quantity of "push," she had established -a sort of salon where little lions hebdomadally roared. But she never -had won the faintest regard from the man for whom she burned. The -violence of her passion had caused her to make an irremediable mistake -with him. She had not realized the feline temper which had caused him -to repel advances as obvious as abrupt and as shameless as a dog's. -He had ceased to be aware of her existence. Then she had blundered -further. Still ignorant of his peculiarity, she had treated him as the -female animal treats the male of her desire. Finding him unapproachable -by blandishments, she had turned to persecution. She would make him -come to her and beg. Here, she also failed. In vain did she defame him -to her followers: in vain did she libel him to the publishers from -whom he earned his scanty subsistence: in vain did she force herself -upon his few friends with stories of his evil deeds. He let those who -listened to her leave him. He tolerated the ill-will or stupidity of -Bar-abbas. He never said a word in his own defence. And he kept her -severely and entirely at a distance, giving no sign that he even knew -of her manœuvres. It was galling to the last degree. Of course he was -egregiously wrong. "Neither in woes nor in welcome prosperity, may I -be associated with women: for, when they prevail, one cannot tolerate -their audacity; and, when they are frightened, they are a still greater -mischief to their house and their city." His feeling to women was that -of Eteokles in the _Seven against Thebes_. It caused him to make the -tremendous mistake of his life. A woman of this colour never can be -neglected: she must be taken--or smashed. That, he knew: but he would -not take her, ever; and, a certain chivalrous delicacy, mingled with -a certain mercifulness of heart, and a certain fastidious shrinking -from a loathsome object, prevented him from prosecuting her with the -rigour of the law. "Wrong must thou do, or wrong must suffer. Then, -grant, O blind dumb gods, that we, rather the sufferers than the doers -be," expressed his attitude. It annoyed himself: it made her fierce -and furibund: and it was absolutely futile.--And now, he had leaped -at a bound from impotent lonely penury to the terrible altitude of -Peter's Throne. He was famous, mighty, rich, and the idol of her -adoration, despite the great gulph fixed between her insignificance and -His Supremacy. Oh, what would she not give--for a curse, for a blow -from Him. The emotion thrilled and dazzled her. Not one hour during -twelve years had she been without the thought of Him. It was a case of -complete obcession. - -Her daughter flowed into the room in a pink wrapper, finishing a florid -cadenza. A touch on the tea-pot and a glance under the dish-cover -revealed astringent and coagulate tepidity. She rang the bell. - -"Mother, why aren't you eating any breakfast?" - -"I am eating it. I only just stopped a minute to read my letters." - -"A pretty long minute, I should think. Everything's stone-cold. Why -you've only got one letter! Who's it from?" - -"Mr. Sant. He wants me to go to Rome with him." - -"Oh mother, you can't you know." - -"I'm sure I don't know anything of the kind. In fact I think I will go. -There'll be a party of us." - -"Well, if it's a party---- But what's going to become of the house?" - -"I'm sure Big Ann is capable of looking after the house, Amelia. If -I can't have a fortnight's holiday now and then I might just as well -go and drown myself. I'm sick to death of Oriel Street. I want to go -about a bit. Yes, I will go. And the house must get on the best way it -can. Anybody would think you were all a pack of machines that wouldn't -work if I'm not here to wind you up." - -"Oh, all right, mother, go and have a fling by all means if you like. -But what about the cost? I'm sure I can't help you as long as I only -get these three-guinea engagements. And I simply can't wear that -eau-de-nil again. The bodice is quite gone under the arms." - -"You're not asked to help. Mr. Sant pays all expenses. And, Amelia, if -I can do what I'm going to try to do, you shall have as many new frocks -as you can wear. We're going to see the Pope." - -"Going to see the Pope?" - -"Yes, you silly girl--the Pope,--Rose!" - -"What do you mean?" - -"Just what I say." - -"But you can't." - -"Nonsense. Of course I can." - -"Well I mean of course you can see Him the same as other people do: but -you'll be in the crowd, and He---- I can't understand you at all this -morning. Let's look at Sant's letter---- How vilely the man writes! -Like a---- You don't mean to say you'll join these people? M-ym-ym. -Yes, I see the game.--Yes.--But d'you think you really could?--Well: -if you like the idea still, it's worth trying anyhow.--Silly little -mother! Why I believe you're in love with Rose even now. Ah, you're -blushing. Mother, you look a dear like that!" - -"Amelia, don't be stupid. Mind your own business." - -"Oh I'm not going to interfere. You needn't be jealous of me. I'm sure -I never saw anything particular in Him myself." - -They spoke as though they were alone. Alaric went quite unnoted. He -folded his napkin and rose from the table. - -"A--and, mother," he mooed, slowly, with a slight hesitation, in a -virginal baritone voice, resonant and low; "if you go to Rome, don't be -nasty to Mr. Rose?" - -Both the women whirled round toward him. They hardly could have been -astounded if the kidneys had commented on their complexions. - -"Alaric! how dare you sir!" - -"A-and I only say if you go to Rome I hope you won't be nasty to Mr. -Rose." - -"Did you ever hear such nonsense, Amelia? Why not, I should like to -know?" - -"A-and he taught me to swim." - -"So he did me. At least he tried to. And what of that?" snapped the -girl. - -"A-and I don't think it's fair. I liked him. A-and father liked him." - -"Yes indeed, he's just the sort of man your father would have liked, -unfortunately. He liked that sonnet-man, too. A pretty kind of person! -All I can say is, Alaric, if I were to let you see the letters I've got -of his and the albums full----: but there, you don't know as much as I -do about your father!" - -The boy bellowed. "A-and don't you dare say anything against father! -I won't stand it. Amelia knows I won't stand it from her; and I won't -from anyone, not even from you, mother. I won't, I tell you! I'll go -right away if I have another word. Mother, I'm sorry: but you oughtn't. -A-and I don't want you to be nasty to Mr. Rose, because I liked him, -a-and father liked him," concluded Alaric departing. - -Mother and daughter looked at each other. "Who'd have expected Alaric -to burst out like that? I'm sure it's very hard, after all I've gone -through, to have my own children turning against me." - -"I am not turning against you, mother. I think--well of course I can't -see why you care for Rose: but if you do you'd be a fool to miss a -chance like this. What does Mr. Sant mean about having him in his -power?" - -"I don't quite know. I suppose Georgie must have got himself entangled -with these people somehow; and they think he wouldn't like it to come -out. That's very possible. He's been mixed up with several shady -characters in his time. However, we shall see. Amelia, do you know what -I've been thinking? That mauve frock of my aunt Sarah's--now I believe -I could make that up for myself for evenings and save a new one, you -know. It's lovely silk. You can't get anything as good as that anywhere -now-a-days." - -"What the one with the fringe?" - -"Well, isn't fringe coming in again now? I think I know how to use -every bit of it. The only difficulty 'll be with the sleeves. I wish -someone would invent a sleeve that only covers the lower part of one's -arms. You see the best part of mine's about the shoulders." - -"Why don't you simply carry the fringe over the shoulders like straps; -and wear long gloves?" - -"Yes, of course I might do that. And Amelia, I really must have a new -transformation; all things considered I think I will go to Du Schob and -Hamingill's for it this time. I'm afraid they're rather dear: but when -you look what a chance this is and how much depends ... Then there's -another reason why I should go. People are beginning to neglect our -Wednesdays. Well now, if I go to Rome with these whats-his-names it's -sure to be in the papers; and then when I come back all our old friends -are sure to want to know." - -So this precious pair of would-be blackmailers accompanied the -deputation from the Liblab Fellowship to God's Vicegerent. Much of the -formality prescribed for pontifical audiences had fallen into abeyance. -Hadrian received ambassadors or personages with various degrees of -ceremony: but, almost every day, He was to be found pacing to and fro -in the portico of St. Peter's; and then He was accessible to all the -world. When, however, the Socialists applied for an audience, it was -intimated that the Supreme Pontiff would deign to receive them at -ten o'clock on the following morning; and the Vatican officials were -instructed that the reception would be carried out with full state. It -was George Arthur Rose's birthday. For twenty years no one had cared -to remember it. Now there were scores who cared; and none who dared. -Hadrian was more remote than George Arthur Rose had been. - -A nervous little group of twenty obvious plebeians, male and female, -awaited Him in the Ducal Hall. Superb chamberlains shewed them the door -by which the Pope would enter, and instructed them to approach the -throne when He should have taken His seat. The great red curtains at -the end of the Hall were drawn-back; and cardinals, prelates, guards -and chamberlains, flowed-in like a wave whose white crest was Hadrian. -As the procession passed, Sant growled to Mrs. Crowe, - -"Does Himself well, don't He?" - -"Oh isn't He just splendid!" she yapped. - -Then chamberlains manœuvred the Liblabs into position at the foot of -the throne steps. Jerry by common consent had been chosen spokesman; -and the united intellect of the Fellowship had drawn up the address -which he, with ostentatious calmness, began to read. The Pope's ringed -hand lay on His knee: His left elbow rested on the crimson chair -and the hand supported the keen unfathomable face. He had prepared -His plans: but He alertly was listening, lest unforeseen necessity -for alteration should arise. He was watching with half-shut eyes and -wide-open mind for an opportunity. None came. His prevision had been -singularly accurate. The Liblab Fellowship really had nothing to say -to Him, beyond turgid sesquipedalian verbosity expressive of its -own disinterestedness, and fulsome adulation calculated (according -to the Fellowshippers' lights) to tickle the conceit of any average -man. It would have been funny, if it had not been terribly tiresome: -impertinent, if it had not been pitiable. Sant's tongue clacked on his -drying palate. To himself, his voice sounded quite strange in that -atmosphere of splendid colour and fragrant odour. Mrs. Crowe quivered; -and wondered. The others were in a torpor. No one listened to the -reader, except the Pope. The curia rustled and whispered, exchanging -jewelled snuff-boxes. The guards resembled tinted statues tipped with -steel. - -"We have the honour to remain, in the cause of humanity," concluded -Jerry Sant, reciting the common-place names of the signatories, "On -behalf of the Liblab Fellowship." He refolded the foolscap sheets, -and drew them through his fingers, looking as though he were about -to hand them with a flourish to the Pope. A frilled black-velvet -flunkey took them from him, gave them to a purple prelate, who passed -them to a vermilion cardinal, who kneeled and presented them. The -stately Cardinal Van Kristen moved from the side presenting a second -manuscript. Hadrian unfolded it and began to read His reply. It was -courteous and concise, distant and independent, simply an allocution -on the distinction necessary to be drawn between Demagogues and Demos, -the worthiness of the latter, the doubtfulness of the former. At the -end there was a silence. Chamberlains discreetly made it known to the -Fellowshippers that homage might be rendered by any who desired to -render it; and gave instructions as to the customary manner. Twelve -of the demagogues preferred a non-committal pose, having fear of the -snorts of the _Salpinx_; and, of these, two found it convenient to -glare uncompromisingly, letting it be seen that they regarded their -host as the Man of Sin. But eight approached the throne. Five of them -bowed, as over the counter: one kneeled on one knee and read his -maker's name in his hat: Sant held his own elbows and looked along his -nose; and Mrs. Crowe laid her lips on the cross gold-embroidered on the -Pontiff's crimson shoe. That was all. These people were bewildered, -almost inebriated by the magnificence of the scene, by the more than -regal ceremonial, by the immense psychical distance which divided them -from the clean white exquisitely simple figure under the lofty canopy, -by the quiet fastidious voice purring unknown words from an unimagined -world, by the delphic splendour of Apostolic Benediction waved from the -_sedia gestatoria_ retiring in a pageant of flabellifers. On leaving -the Vatican, they were thoroughly dazed: they knew not whether their -diplomacy had been successful or unsuccessful. Jerry Sant had an -indistinct notion that he might expect to be summoned after night-fall; -and surreptitiously introduced to some pontifical hole or corner in -order to be bribed. Mrs. Crowe exulted in a new emotion. She actually -had touched Him: and she thrilled: and she was sure that this was only -a beginning. - -When Hadrian was about to descend alone into St. Peter's to say His -night prayers, He observed one of His gentlemen practising a new and -curious gymnastic in the first antechamber. Sir Iulo was in solitude; -and he did not hear the feline footfall which came near. He had a -longish knife in his right hand, held behind his back. Then, with his -teeth clenched, and his eyes firmly fixed on an imaginary pair of eyes -in front of him, and every sinew of him at its tensest, he suddenly -whipped hand and knife face-high to the front hilt-upward, down to -arms' length and forward-up again point-upward, all with frightful -force and rapidity. Hadrian watched him during five performances. -Then Sir Iulo became aware of the Presence; and relaxed into upright -stillness, grinning and glittering. - -"What is this game?" the Pope enquired. - -"Not game: but for the protection of You." - -"Protection? Protection from what?" - -"From those most horrible peoples who have been to-day here pursuing -some vendettaccia." - -"Do you mean those Liblabs?" - -"But yes, those Libberlabberersser: especially a Libberlabber who has -read, and a she-Libberlabber who goes with him. It is I who have seen -of them both the eye. From which I vibrate a knife most commodious for -the bellies of those. His Holiness can rest secure." - -"Do you mean that you are going to rip them up?" - -"But yes, in the manner which I have learned of the chef from Naples. -Now I watch them. When I shall have seen them make a movement, behold -the tripes of them sliced precipitatissimamente!" - -"Iulo. No. Understand? No." - -"There is not of dishonour! First like this, I demonstrate the -knife--they view the mode of their deaths. There is in it nothing of -sly---- Next, I give them the death which they have merit. That is not -the deed of a dishonourable." - -"You are commanded not to give death--not to think of giving death. -It is prohibited. O Viniti, quo vadis? Understand? Bury the knife in -the garden. Sotterratelo nel giardino, Vinizio mio. Capisce? Break it -first. Then bury it in the garden---- If you wish to be protector of -Hadrian, learn to fight with fists--pugni. Understand? - -Tell John to buy a punching-bag--punching-bag--and practise on that." - -"Bai a punnertchingerbagger," repeated the devout murderer-in-posse -with disappointment, as the Pope left him limp. - -A sign drew Cardinal Van Kristen to walk by Hadrian's side on the -return from San Pietro and Vincula on Lammas Day. From time to time, -his shy grand eyes turned to the Pope as they rhythmically paced along. -From time to time, a blessing fluttered from the Apostle's hand to some -stranger by the road-side. - -"Holiness," at length he said, "do you remember the saint You used to -worship on this day at Maryvale?" - -Hadrian detached Himself from a reverie. "Little Saint Hugh? Fancy your -remembering that!" And He again dived into silence. - -"One would hardly fail to remember anything You said or did in those -days, Holy Father." - -The Pope said nothing. He was thinking of something else. - -"I put the picture you painted of Little Saint Hugh up in our refectory -at Dynam House." - -No answer came. The cardinal's long eyelashes lifted a little as -he looked at his companion. He was not sure that his attempt at -conversation was welcome. - -"Your Holiness does not care to be reminded perhaps. I did not mean to -intrude. Sorry." - -Hadrian put out a hand. "No, Percy, you don't intrude. We were -wondering how long this King is going to be." - -"Which King?" - -"Italy." - -"Oh. Yes?" - -"Things are at a standstill." - -"For example?" - -"Everything--at least in Italy--as long as something better than sulky -peace is lacking. We want friendship, collaboration. See whether you -can follow this. The personal influence of His Majesty is enormous. -Although his acts are quite constitutional, yet, such is his magnetic -force of character that he actually rules. No matter which party is in -power, the King's Majesty rules. Practically he is an autocrat; and he, -so far, has not made a single mistake, nor done a single unjust or even -ungenerous deed. Now We also have some power, some personal influence. -These people seem to like Us. They're charmingly polite. They run about -after Us. We do not doubt but that they would obey if We commanded--if -We ordained that no woman should cover her hair with a terrible -handkerchief when she goes into a church--if We substituted silver -sand for those abominably insane sponges in the holy-water fonts, for -example--but how many of them would obey Us if We ordered them to cease -from drying their linen at their windows, or to stop spitting? Do you -follow?" - -"No, Holiness." - -"Our influence is over particulars, is sentimental, is ideal. The -influence of the King's Majesty is over universals, is practical, is -real----" - -"Yes, I see that." - -"Well, then----" - -"You mean that Your influence and the King's----" - -"Could do a great deal more for this dear delightful country than----" - -"Do you think that this King knows of Your desire for reconciliation?" - -"Victor Emanuel is one of the four cleverest men in the world. It -is impossible that he should not have understood the _Regnum Meum_. -Besides, We addressed him by name. He owes Us the civility of a -response." - -"Holiness, let me have that news conveyed to him. Guido Attendolo----" - -"No. We Ourself have not yet seen clearly the next move. We believe -that His Majesty of his own initiative ought to have approached -Us--the son to the Father--before now. We have given him a token of -Our good-will. There the matter rests. He cannot have a doubt as to -what Our purpose is. But--His Majesty must do as he pleases. We think -that We have done Our part so far. At present, We are not moved to -proceed further. When We are moved--and that is what occupies Us now. -An idea seems to be forming in Our mind: but as yet,---- Percy, do ask -Our friends to tea in the Garden of the Pine-Cone at half-past sixteen -o'clock to-day." - -The same afternoon after siesta, Hadrian sat at one end of the great -white-marble arc-shaped seat. A yard away sixteen cardinals spread -their vermilion along the same seat. Little tables stood before them -with tea, goat's milk, triscuits and raisins. The Pope preferred to sit -here where the pavement was of marble: because lizards avoided it, and -their creepy-crawly jerks on grass or gravel shocked his nerves. He was -sure that reptiles were diabolical and unclean; and His taste was for -the angelic and the clean. He smoked a cigarette; and flung a subject -to His Court, as one flings corn to chickens. - -"Was not the question of requiems for Non-Catholics settled two or -three years ago?" replied Courtleigh. - -"Yes:" said Talacryn. "It was declared impossible, profane, -inconsistent." - -"Why?" Hadrian's predilection was for the inconsistent, rather than for -that undevelopable fossil which goes by the name of consistency. - -"It would be inconsistent, Holiness, for the Church to proclaim, by the -most solemn act of Her ministry, as a child submissive to Her, one who -always refused; or certainly never consented, to recognise Her as a -mother--one who, while alive, would have rejected any such recognition -as a grave insult and an irreparable misfortune;" Talacryn responded. - -"I don't follow Your Eminency," said Whitehead: "it's eloquent--but -it's only eloquence." - -"Isn't Cardinal Talacryn rather begging the question, Holiness?" -Leighton enquired. "Who spoke of proclaiming as a submissive child one -who never was submissive?" - -"Holy Mass is the public and solemn testimony of visible communion; -the _tessera communionis_, if I may use the term; and, therefore, the -Church can only offer publicly for those who have departed this life as -members of that visible communion:" Talacryn persisted. - -"Holy Mass is a great deal more than that!" interjected Carvale. - -"Yes?" - -"Holiness, it is not for me to tell Cardinal Talacryn that Holy -Mass is not only a sacrament for the sanctification of souls, but -a sacrifice--the Real Sacrifice of Calvary, offered by our Divine -Redeemer and pleaded in His Name by us His vicars. It is not another -sacrifice, but the Sacrifice of the Cross applied. It is the Clean -Oblation, offered to God for all Christians quick and dead, for all for -whom Christ died." - -"Would not the bonafides of the Non-Catholic in question come in?" said -Semphill. "Take for instance the Divine Victoria----" - -"'Divine'?" queried della Volta. - -"Yes, 'Divine.' You say 'Divus Julius' and 'Divus Calixtus,' meaning -'the late Julius' and 'the late Calixtus.' Very well, then I say 'the -Divine Victoria' for a more thoroughly, worthy woman----" - -"Well, but that would mean that on the death of such and such a -Non-Catholic, we should have to institute a process of inquisition, and -adjudicate on his or her life and career:" Ferraio ventured. - -Hadrian threw His cigarette-end at a lizard on the gravel, and laughed -shortly. "'Pippety-pew, me mammy me slew, me daddy me ate, me sister -Kate gathered a' me baines----'" He quoted with deliciously feline -inconsequence. "How you theological people do split straws, to be sure! -Go on, though. You're intensely interesting." - -The Patriarch of Lisbon slapped his knee. - -"Holiness, there are several decrees which are supposed to bear on the -subject," Gentilotto gently put in. - -"Can Your Eminency remember them?" - -"Innocent III. ruled that communion might not be held with those -deceased, with whom it had not been held when they were alive." - -"I concede it. But it doesn't touch the point. I distinguish. Holy Mass -is more than mere communion. Besides, we don't communicate with, but on -behalf of, the deceased. It's not a concession to the deceased. It's -our duty to God and to our neighbour," Carvale persisted. - -"Then there was the case of Gregory XVI. and Queen Caroline of -Bavaria," Gentilotto continued. "The argument is the same: but perhaps -it has been expanded a little. It definitely prohibits persons, who -have died in the eternal and notorious profession of heresy, from being -honoured with Catholic rites." - -"Another point occurs to me," Talacryn went on. "Supposing that we sing -requiems for Non-Catholics, we should imply that one religion is as -good as another." - -"I guess I deny the consequence," Grace retorted. "Of course people -would infer all sorts of things which ought not to be inferred: but I -can't see that that need concern us." - -"One might imperil the salient and sacred aloofness which marks off -God's Work from man's work, the Church's unmistakeable contrast to the -whole world," said the Cardinal of St. Nicholas-in-the-Jail-of-Tully. - -"And her complete discordance from the world by all the difference -which separates the Divine Institution from the human, the Church of -God from the churches of men," Saviolli appended. - -"All the same I think I go with the Cardinal of St. Cosmas and St. -Damian," said Mundo. - -"There would not be any real ground," Sterling continued, "for -suspecting one of disloyalty to the Church, if one were to recognize -the Invincibly Ignorant as the 'other sheep' which His Holiness -mentioned in His first Epistle. One is not going to take part in their -worship, or frequent their services: because one knows better. And one -is not going to accept the principle of a conglomerate Church of the -'common-christianity' type any more than one is going to accept an -Olympos of gods for a Divinity. But one confesses that one can see no -reason why one should not pray for outsiders, offer Mass for outsiders, -recognize them in short, as His Holiness seems to ordain. They don't -know us; and, naturally, they invent a caricature of us, as things are. -Yes, on the whole, perhaps one ought to support Carvale." - -"Well: if we're taking sides, I'll follow you," said Semphill. - -Their Eminencies rose and surrounded Cardinal Carvale. Talacryn was -left alone at the other end of the seat; and Percy moved a few inches -nearer to the Pope. - -"Now Percy?" said Talacryn with invitation. The youngest cardinal shook -his grand head in the negative. - -"And will not you yourself join the majority?" Hadrian inquired of the -single minority. - -"I shall follow your Holiness," Talacryn answered. The others looked -their interest. - -The Pope smiled. "Note please, that We are not uttering infallible -dogma, but the fallible opinion of a private clergyman, weak-kneed -perhaps, or worldly. We know no more than this,--that Christ died for -all men." Rising He began to throw on his white cloak, for it was the -hour before sunset and the air was cooler. "Eminencies," He continued, -"We learn much from you. This discussion was an accident, due to Our -negligence. The case which We intended to submit to you was not the -case of an outsider: but, while you have been talking, We have reached -the solution of Our problem by another road. We request you immediately -to publish the news that to-morrow at ten o'clock the Supreme Pontiff -will sing a requiem in St. Peter's for the repose of the soul of -Umberto the Fearless King of Italy." - -An English Catholic painter came to paint the Pope's portrait. Hadrian -knew him for a vulgar and officious liar: detested him; and, at the -first application, had refused to sit to him. His Holiness was not at -all in love with His Own aspect. It annoyed Him because it just missed -the ideal which He admired; and He did not want to be perpetuated. -Also, He loathed the cad's Herkomeresque-cum-Camera esque technique and -his quite earthy imagination: from that palette, the spiritual, the -intellectual, the noble, could not come. But, He thought of the man's -pinched asking face, of his dreadful nagging wife, of his children--of -the rejection of all his pictures by the Academy this year, of the fact -that he was being supplanted by younger grander minds. Ousted from -livelihood! Horrible! Love your enemies! Ouf! The Pontiff would give -six sittings of one hour each, on condition that He might read all the -time. - -The privilege alone was an inestimable advertisement. Alfred Elms -looked upon himself as likely to become the fashion. Hadrian sat in the -garden for six siestas; and He read in Plato's Phaidōn, which is the -perfection of human language, until His lineaments were composed in -an expression of keen gentle fastidious rapture. Elms's professional -efforts at conversation were annulled quietly and incisively. The Pope -blessed him and handfuls of rosaries at the end of every sitting. -Sometimes His Holiness was so elated with the beauty of the Greek of -His book, that He even was able with a little self-compulsion to utter -a few kindly and intelligent criticisms of the painter's work. That -was startlingly real, mirror-like. The varied whiteness of marble and -flannel and vellum and the healthy pallor of flesh, gained purity from -the notes of the reddish-brown hair and the translucent violet of the -amethyst. The clean light of the thing was admirably rendered. The -painter could delineate, and tint with his hand, that which his eyes -beheld, with blameless accuracy. What his eyes did not see, the soul, -the mind, the habit of his model, he as accurately omitted. Hadrian -made him glad with a compliment on the perfection of the connection -between his directive brain and his executive fingers. At the end of -the last sitting also He gave him two hundred pounds, and the picture, -and a written indulgence in the hour of death. The painter went away -quite happy, and with his fortune made. He never knew how vehemently -his work was detested, how profoundly he himself was scorned. - -August was deliciously warm. The Pope moved the Court for a few weeks -to the palace on the Nemorensian lake which the Prince of Cinthyanum -lent. It was a vast barrack of a palace. Although three sides of it -actually were in the little city, and a public thoroughfare pierced its -central archway, yet it suited Hadrian admirably. Approached through -numerous antechambers and picture-galleries, there was a huge room -frescoed in simulation of a princely tent. Here they placed a throne -for receptions. There was a great balcony high above the porch, facing -a two-mile avenue of elms. When the faithful congregated (as they often -did) the Pope could shew Himself. There were innumerable chambers of -state and private suites, where the curial cardinals took up their -abode. But high on the fourth side of the palace, with no access except -by several little private stairs, Hadrian found an apartment of five -small rooms which was quite secluded. From its windows, (the palace -stood on the crest of the cliff) a stone might be dropped into the -fathomless lake three hundred feet below; and, beyond the lake, the eye -soared to Diana's Forest of oaks and the spurs of the Alban Mount. A -private stair and passage led to the incomparable (and almost unknown) -gardens, which crowned the rocks with verdure and descended by winding -paths to the mirrored waters of the lake. Here the Pontiff established -Himself, with the noise of the world of men and its limitations on the -one side; and, on the other, quiet and illimitable space wherein the -soul might spread wings and explore the empyrean. - -Half-way down the cliff, a little ruined shrine stood in the garden. -The broken grey-brown tracery of the window framed an exquisite -panorama of water and distant hills, brilliantly blue and green. -The nook stood away from the main path; and was quite enclosed by -sun-kissed foliage, and canopied with vines and ivy. Hadrian was -spending a morning here, alone with cigarettes and the _Epinikia_ of -Pindaros and His thoughts. The air was fragrant with the perfume of -southernwood and the generous sun. He rested in a low cane-chair, -soaking Himself in light and peace. His eyes were turned to the far -distant shore where the great grove of ilex cast deep tralucid shadows -in the water. A tiny slip of pink shot from sunlight to shade: another -followed: two tiny splashes of silver spray arose, and vanished: -two blue-black dots appeared in the rippled mirror. Hadrian envied -the young swimmers. He remembered all the wild unfettered boundless -sensuous joy of only a little while ago. Was the fisherman still down -there with his boat and the brown boy who rowed it? He wondered what -the world would say if the Pope were to swim in sunlit Nemi--or in -moonlit. Ah, the mild tepidity of moonlit water, the clean cold caress -of moonlit air! Not that He cared jot or tittle for what the world -might say--personally. No. But---- No. If He were to ask for the use -of the boat, tongues would clack. And He could not go alone with the -deliberate intention. Still--didn't Peter swim in Galilee. Weren't -the Attendolo gardens private? Some night He might stroll down to the -shore: the water was fathomless at once: there need be no wading with -the ripples horribly creeping up one's flesh--Yaff! But the toads on -the path, and the lizards and the serpents in the grass--oh no. Then, -thus it must be: the Pope must not go to seek His pleasure: if God -should deign to afford His Vicegerent the recreation of swimming, an -opportunity would be provided. Otherwise---- - -Little footsteps pattered down the glade. His retreat was about to be -invaded. - -Three children burst through the shrubs--and stood transfixed. -They were a couple of black-eyed black-haired girls, and a very -pale-coloured very delicately-articulated slim and stalwart baby-boy -with dark-star-like eyes and brows superbly drawn. All Hadrian's -fearful terror of children paralyzed Him. These limpid glances made -Him feel such a hackneyed old sinner. But He shewed no outward tremor, -looking gently and genially at His visitors, and wondering what (in -the name of all the gods) He ought to say or do. Three nurses and an -athletic tailor-made lady added their presence. - -"A thousand pardons, sir," a nurse exclaimed;--"O Santissimo -Padre!"--Six knees flopped on the ground. - -"Missy," the boy announced, "I have found a white father. Why have I -seen a white father before never?" His utterance was very deliberate, -and his English quite devoid of accented syllables. - -The tailor-made lady rose to the occasion with an intuition which only -could be feminine and a self-possession which only could be English. -She bowed to the Pope, saying "Your Holiness will pardon the intrusion. -The children escaped us at the fork in the path----" - -"But it is a pleasure," Hadrian hypocritically put in: "it is a -pleasure," He repeated, seeing that she was about to withdraw her -charges; "and it would be a greater pleasure to know the names of these -little ones." - -"The Prince Filiberto, the Princess Yolanda, and the Princess Mafalda," -the lady replied: "the Queen is giving a children's picnic in Lady -Demochede's woods; and we took the liberty of trespassing here in -search of wild-flowers. Of course we had no idea----" - -"Missy," said the boy again, "I wish to speak to this white father." He -was standing with his exquisite fair little legs wide-apart, his little -body splendidly poised; and his glance was the glance of a young lion. - -"Is it permitted?" Hadrian inquired of the governess. - -"Oh surely;" she assented with perfection of manner. - -"I wish to ask this white father whether he can speak English words -like me;" the youngster proclaimed, keeping at a distance until he had -reconnoitred the position. - -"Don't be silly 'Berto, of course he can. This is Papa Inglese, I -think;" said the Princess Yolanda with the daintiest air of regality. -She was a very stately little person, and quite aware of herself; and -her great black eyes were wonderful. Her younger sister sucked a silent -thumb. - -"Then I wish to know whether I may kiss that ring--the big one. I -always kiss rings when fathers wear them," her brother continued. He -quite ingenuously offered his little token of regard, giving reasons -for the same in the manner of one who is too noble to take advantage of -ignorance or even of blind good-nature. Hadrian had not the faintest -notion of what to say. He never in His life had spoken to a Royal -Highness; and the childhood of the child had tied His tongue. He would -not have hesitated for one moment to converse with an angel: indeed He -would have been rather more than garrulous. But with a human baby boy! -He extended His right hand. - -The princelet took it: looked at it: looked from the great gold -Little-Peter-in-a-Boat to the great amethyst; and pondered them. -"I think I will kiss them both;" he said at length. The full soft -rose-leaf of his lips flitted from the pontifical to the episcopal -ring. He lifted his bright head; and boldly looked into the Pope's -eyes, with a smile disclosing the most wonderful little teeth--with a -gaze which told of a pact of friendship sealed. - -"God bless you, little boy;" said the Apostle. - -"Oh, He can speak my English words!" the youngster shouted with -delight. "Yolanda, come and kiss these rings, and hear Him say 'God -bless you, little boy' again--no,--girl I mean, Missy dear;" with a -side-look at the governess. - -The princess came forward like a lady; and paid her respects. Her -brother intently watched. - -"God bless you, Princess," said the Apostle. - -"Oh but listen," the Prince of Naples shrieked, jumping up and down; -"He knows all the words ezattually, just like my own father. He said -to me 'boy,' and to Yolanda 'princess.' Now go you too, Mafalda, and I -will listen again." - -The tiny maid went. "God bless you, little Princess;" the Apostle said. - -"That is right," the boy cried: "he said 'little princess' because----" -There he stopped a moment. Then, "White Father, why for have -You--no,--why did not You say 'prince' to me? I am Prince Filiberto, -aged five, Quirinale, Rome. Do You know that, White Father?" - -"Yes, Prince. But you are a boy." - -"Well, I think so. Also I am a sailor, like Uncle Luigi. Cannot You see -that, White Father? Do You know what thing is a sailor?" He stood by -the chair, leaning against Hadrian's knee, deliciously rosily maritime -in white flannel. - -"Oh yes: We know many sailors:" the Pope responded. - -"Are they English?" The question possessed importance. His Royal -Highness evidently was by way of verifying certain information. - -"Most of them are English." - -"My father says that all good sailors are English, or like English." - -"And are you a good sailor?" The Pope switched the argument away from -the Majesty of Italy, for reasons. - -"But yes, I am very good this morning. But I always am a sailor--even -when I am--not quite good;" the candid baby said with a little -hesitation. - -"Do you like being 'not quite good'?" - -"Oh but yes--I should say, sometimes. I think I like it then: but not -now. No--I do not like being 'not quite good.'" He settled the matter -like that; and nobly lifted himself upon it. - -"Won't you try to be a good sailor?" (Hadrian hated Himself for -preaching. But such a chance! To make a white mark on the heir to a -throne!) - -"But of course I always try,--except----" and there seemed to be the -difficulty. The child drooped a little. - -"You always do try to be a good sailor--and to give no trouble----" - -"Give no trouble? What not to father?" the prince inquired, as though -the very notion clashed with his preconceived idea of the uses of -fathers. - -"No: not to your father." - -"Nor to Missy?" The round face became a little longer. - -"No: never to ladies on any account." - -"To whom then may I give trouble, if I may not give it to father nor to -Missy?" He felt that he had put a poser. - -"Don't give it." - -"What not to anybody?" This was a matter, a dreadful matter, which -anyhow must be pursued to the bitter end. - -"Not to anybody." - -The child's great brave eyes considered the Apostle attentively: then -they wandered to his sisters, to the governess, to the nurses; and came -back again. Hadrian returned his gaze, very gently, quite inflexibly. -The boy must learn his lesson now. Prince Filiberto pondered the novel -doctrine from all his little points of view; and at last he grasped the -consequence like a man. - -"Ah well, then I suppose I had better keep it myself. I am sorry that I -gave it to you, Missy, yesterday." - -Hadrian experienced the strangest-possible rigour of the throat. -Another moment and something in Him would have spoiled all. He rose: -blessed His visitors; and passed swiftly away through the trees to the -left. - -"Missy, I am liking that white father. When shall I see Him again?" -came after Him in the incomparable voice of innocence. - -He quickly went up the winding path, along the private passage, up -the stairs to the terrace. He dragged a chair out there and sat down. -"God!" He exclaimed aloud, with tremendous expiration, to the wide -expanse of water and earth and sky which yawned before Him. Tears -welled in His eyes: and the constriction of His throat was relaxed. He -took His handkerchief from His sleeve. Thank heaven He was alone! And -He became calm and analytical and infinitely happy. Verses of Melagros -of Gadara streamed through his mind: - - _"Our Lady of desire brought me to thee, Theokles, - "me to thee; - "and delicate-sandalled Love hath stripped and strewed me - "at thy feet:_ - - _"a lightning-flash of his sweet beauty! - "flames from his eyes he darteth! - "Hath Love revealed a Child who fighteth with thunderbolts?_ - - _"the splendour of twin fires did scorch me through and through: - "one flame indeed was from the sun, and one was love - "from a child's eyes."_ - -His ecstasy was admiration of the lovely little person and the noble -little soul. The clean and vivid candour, the delicate proportion, -the pure tint, aroused in Him a desire to own. The frank self-hood, -the unerring truth, the courageous tranquillity of self-renunciation, -aroused in Him a sense of emulation. He, the Supreme Pontiff, was -prostrate before the seraphic majesty of the Child. And, as though a -curtain had been lifted, He had a peep into the human heart. Now, He -thought that He could see and understand one cause, perhaps the chief -cause, of human society--the ability to say "This is mine, mine: for I -did it." He began to understand that the human mind must have external -as well as internal operation--and much beside. As for Himself, He -was making experiment of the first personal emotion of undiluted -enjoyment of human society which He could remember. "Then I can love, -after all;" He reflected. Though He mixed freely and absolutely -independently with all men, yet, in the tender inner soul of Him, He -shrank more shudderingly than ever from the contact. Every single act -of urbanity, of courtesy, was a violent effort to Him. His feeling for -His fellow-creatures was repugnance pure and simple. But, in the case -of this yellow-haired mannikin, there was a difference. He would like -to own such a radiant little piece of the Divine-Human as that fair -Prince Filiberto. He would appreciate the honour and the joy of tending -such a treasure. But He could not seek; and it never had been offered. -Perhaps He would shrink if it were offered. That was His peculiar -nature. Had He ever wished to exert for intimate relations with anyone? -No: plainly no. He was a thing apart. More, He was a thing to be -avoided. He remembered how many times he aimlessly had strolled through -London, watching His species gambolling in Piccadilly, or at the -Marble Arch on a Sunday where the fierce lanky spiky sallow Anarchist -raved, and the coy Catholic barrister cracked correct jests out of a -shiny black exercise-book, and the bright-eyed clean Church-Army youth -spoke with genuine conviction. He had moved through partner-seeking -mobs everywhere, lazily, vigilantly, studiously: yet no one ever had -addressed him. He was seen. He was avoided. Yes, He was a thing apart. -That was His trouble. And--what did the boy say?--"I had better keep -it myself." The content of that saying was to Hadrian just like a -thunderbolt. It was Love--yes, that was quintessential Love, from the -clear eyes and the stainless lips of childhood,--to keep one's troubles -oneself. For in that way one relieved others. And the Servant of the -servants of God must---- He continued to sit in the sunlight in a sort -of rapture. The lake and the hills and the turquoise sky faded from -His vision. He was alone with His thoughts, His ideals, His soul.... -After the noon-angelus, He went in to His solitary meal. Later in the -afternoon, when He had slept and washed, and put on fresh garments, He -descended to chat with His court. His demeanour was observed to be more -warm, more human. His eyes had an unusual and more usual glow. He did -not seem to be so very very far away. - -"I guess the air of this village suits you, Holy Father," said young -Cardinal Percy. "You look like twenty cents this evening." - -"Yes, the air is delicious enough: but it is not the air." Hadrian -narrated the incident of the morning, ending, "and We have recognised -in Ourself a new and unknown power, a perfectly strange capability. We -have made experience of a feeling which--well, which We suppose--at any -rate will pass for--Love." - -He plunged again into business. He had noted three men for a -purpose. Archbishop Ilario della Valla was a young and exquisitely -polished prelate, son of an ambassador, thoroughly expert in the -English language and habit. Signor Gargouille Grice was one of those -nondescripts devoid of Divine Vocation, who fondly are believed to -occupy an important place at the pontifical court, (equivalent at least -to the English office of Lord Chamberlain) but, which in reality is -that of a flunkey. Prince Guido Attendolo was a young Italian of very -generous birth, who, as younger son of a younger son not over-burdened -with wealth, led an inconspicuous impotent uninteresting life. With -the idea of giving these three a chance, the Pope dispatched them to -America with the red hat for the American Archbishop Erin, whom He -named Cardinal-presbyter of the Title of St. Mary-of-the-People. It -was merely an incident, intended to keep them from stagnation, to give -them that scope which human nature must have if it is to do itself -justice, if it is not to become a public nuisance. At the same time, He -was satisfied that the sympathy of the prelate, the antiquity of the -decurial chamberlain, and the urbanity (to say nothing of the perfect -Greek profile) of the prince, would recommend them as ambassadors -from the oldest power to the newest nation. On the arrival of the -Apostolic Ablegate in New York, Hadrian published the _Epistle to the -Americans_. He praised their exuberant vigour and individualistic -unconventionality, while He warned them of their obligations to their -race and of the evils of oligarchical tyranny. He begged them not to -live in the desperate hurry which was instanced in their carelessness -in details. He advised them not to be too proud to learn from the -history of other nations, dwelling on the principle of the intermittent -tendency of human nature. He pointed out that, as effect is due to -cause, and as the scope and quantity of human ideas is very far from -being illimitable, so, as human types recur, human ideas and the -situations produced by them are bound to recur. "Yet," He continued, -"human nature itself, when inspired by Divine Grace, being so very -fine and so very potent a force, is capable of immense development. -It has Will, Free-will, which, rightly directed can rule itself, can -control natural laws, can dispose events." Wherefore, He admonished the -Americans to divest themselves of juvenile arrogance and selfishness, -in order that (having learned the causes which produce effects) they -might know the rules and play the game. He spoke to them, not only with -the authority of His apostolature, but with the affection of a comrade -who wished to serve them from the experience (inherited and acquired) -of a member of the older nations. He concluded with delicious slyness, -"The young ones think the old are fools: the old ones know the young -ones are." - -America was openly delighted, not only by the consideration which the -Pope shewed in addressing Her next to England but, by the pungent vivid -validity of His remarks. She said that He had a dead cinch on things, -that He was on to His job, that as a skypilot He suited Her to a gnat's -bristle; and She began to regard Him with close attention. - -The death of Francis Joseph, Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary, -in September, had its not unexpected consequences. The confusion of -Europe was worse confounded by conflict between Hungarian national -sentiment and the Pan-germanic League. Francis Joseph's successor did -not inspire his multilingual subjects with the same respectful devotion -as that which had been paid to the old Emperor on account of the triple -prestige of his dignity, his long reign, his many sorrows. Hungary -cried for a Magyar king. Bohemia cried for a Czech king. Russian Poland -also cried aloud for a Polish king; and German Poland would have -cried with her, had she dared. As it was, she opened longing eyes and -waited. The Germans of Austria appealed to the German Emperor to come -to their aid and take them into his mailed fist. The Habsburgh dynasty -was tottering. Servia was a small hell. Turkey and Roumania viewed the -prospect of Germany's expansion with favour: Turkey, because she found -it easy to outwit the Teuton: Roumania, because the power by whose -favour she existed was possessed by devils. Albania, Montenegro, and -Greece, strongly disapproved: they prized their individual national -existence, and the idea of being reduced to dependency upon the Gothic -Michael did not suit them. The distracted state of Austria, and her -inability to keep her obligations to Germany and Italy, caused the -lapse of the Triple Alliance. Yet Italy made no sign and Germany made -no sign. There was an interval of intense and silent vigilance. - -Hadrian read in the _Times_ that Signor Panciera, Italian Ambassador -at the Court of St. James's, was leaving town for Rome for a few -weeks. Cardinal Fiamma sought-out His Excellency; and brought him -privately and unofficially to the Pope's apartment. His Holiness was -very happy to renew acquaintances with so genial and so solid and so -trusty a man. (It was comparatively easy to love such an one.) The -ambassador bowed; and wondered what was expected. The Pope put it -patently. He was profoundly interested in affairs: He pried into no -secrets: He did desire to collect facts and opinions from experts -and secular statesmen: the six ambassadors left to the Vatican were -sterile: if Signor Panciera could see his way to converse of current -events, without betraying his sovereign's confidence, but simply as -between two men whose motives were pure and patriotic, he would confer -a favour upon, (or, if he preferred it the other way, he would render -a service to) the Pope. His Excellency bowed in reciprocation of the -honour. Privately noting that His Holiness was concealing nothing, -and (in fact) was unable to conceal, he thought that there would be -no difficulty. This was not a matter of diplomacy or state-craft. The -crystalline candour of the Pope made Him negligible as a statesman: -as a mere man He was charming, perfectly transparent: He wanted, not -state-secrets but, the opinion of a man-of-affairs upon affairs. -Signor Panciera was quite delighted. The state of Europe as revealed -in the newspapers was passed under review. His Excellency thought that -Germany was looking east and west rather than elsewhere. What could be -expected? Naturally she would look that way where were her two natural -enemies. As for Austria--peuh!--a secondary matter. Austria would not -be touched by Germany as long as danger threatened from France and -Russia. Italy? Well, Italy now was independent. No longer bound to -Germany and Austria, Italy's attitude was that of the lion on guard (in -the words of the immortal Dante). - -"Naturally," Hadrian interpolated, "Italy would watch events and direct -her policy in accordance with her interest." - -"But securely," the ambassador responded. - -The Pontiff spoke of Spain. Signor Panciera chopped his right wrist -with his left hand. Spain was finished. Portugal? Portugal was English. -England? England was England. The Pope and the ambassador produced -a smile a-piece: the one meant triumphant pride of race: the other, -boundless and intelligent admiration. Hadrian swooped eastwards: the -Balkan States? His Excellency began to discriminate: that little group -of separate sovereignties was very difficult. He seemed to hesitate, -to pick his words:--of course the subject interested him very greatly. -The Pope was quite singularly still. Now and again, as His massive -dark guest passed Him in pacing, He plumped in a question. The Balkan -States? Signor Panciera strode on toward the window, as though seeking -the response there: came back: began a reply: returned to the window: -came back again with a fresh half-dozen of unilluminating words. -Hadrian went to one of his cupboards: took out two little brown -bagatelle-balls; and placed them in the royal ambassador's hands. -"Your Excellency's aid to conversation," He purred with a recondite -smile. "Don't be discomposed. All men have some trick of this kind. -Ours is to play with Our rings or to push up Our glasses. Your friend -Fiamma plaits the fringe of his sash. The Cardinal-Dean strokes the -mother-of-pearl disk which stands on his wig for the tonsure. The -Secretary of State munches his new teeth. And you like to click a pair -of bagatelle-balls, if We rightly remember. You were saying that that -little group of separate sovereignties was very difficult. Because of -their present autonomy?" - -Click-click-click went the balls on the brown palm: and the ambassador -tralated their clicking. "Yes Holiness, for that reason: but also, I -think, because they are racially distinct from the nations with which -they expect to be incorporated." - -"Russia, Germany, Austria, Turkey, for example?" - -(Click) "I think we may neglect Russia." - -"Yes? In the case of Roumania?" - -"I think that Roumanian sentiment has veered round toward Germany." - -"Well now, let us ignore opinions; and go to these racial differences -of which you speak." - -"I am of opinion that the Roumanian people find themselves in sympathy -with the German peoples," Signor Panciera persisted. - -"Bulgaria then?" - -Signor Panciera took two or three journeys to the window and back, -vigorously clicking the balls. "Holiness, You do not ask for my -opinion; and I only can give You the speculations of an amateur -ethnologist." (Click-click) "I have----" (Click) "I can tell You what -my studies have taught me--no more." - -"But that is most interesting, Signore. We are all students. Some are -anxious to learn: some are not: but both are better off than the man -who knows that he has nothing more to learn. Tell Us what your studies -have taught you." - -"I really believe that the principalities south of the Danube contain -the descendants of those Byzantines who were pushed northward by the -incursion of Turks in the fifteenth century." - -"Why?" - -(Click) "First from physiognomy:" (Click) "second from the structure of -their languages." - -"Wonderful! And you have noted points of similarity?" - -"I will go further than that, Holiness. I ought to say that my -attention was attracted to this subject by my Lord the King, who, you -know, deigned to marry a Montenegrin Princess. His Majesty used to -speak much at one time on this point to me and also to the Minister of -Public Instruction----" - -"That is Signor Cabelli?" - -"Surely. We examined the matter for His Majesty; and our investigations -all seemed to point to the fact that the Turks, in coming from -Asia, swept across the Byzantine Empire in a westerly and northerly -direction. Then, examining the outlets and the fringes, we found -Byzantine characteristics all along the northern boundary of Turkey, -that is to say not in Bulgaria which is Slav, but in Albania, -Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Montenegro; and, more, we found them along -the Adriatic coast of Italy. Your Holiness will see that these places -are of a contiguity which would render them likely refuges for the -Christians who fled before, or were expelled by, the Muslim." - -"Yes." - -"There is one thing more. We found traces of an earlier migration than -the Byzantine. We believe that in Eastern Italy from Taranto to Ortona, -and also in Southern Albania, may be seen the lineal descendants of the -Athenians of Perikles' day." - -"But Greece, Excellency?" - -"Holiness, the Greeks of to-day are degenerate from the dirty-knuckled -Laconians crossed with the Ottoman Infidel, their conquistators." - -"That is splendid, Signore. And it marches with an opinion which We -formed some dozen years ago, at least in regard to your Italian Greeks. -We have seen those with Our Own eyes. In Apulia, for instance, the -Elgin Marbles have their living counterfeits: the charcoal-burners -and the fishermen look as though they had stepped out of the Frieze -of the Parthenon. Once We heard a fisherman summon his boy by the -word 'Páddy'--to give it an English form. An Italian would have cried -'Putto.' But 'Páddy,'--what vocative is that but 'Παιδε,' pronounced -as Alkibiades would have pronounced it? Oh, We see your point. And is -your Lord the King still interested in the subject?" - -"I believe that His Majesty is intensely interested. I hope I may -venture to repeat the corroboration which Your Holiness has given me. I -am sure that His Majesty----" - -"By all means. Of course you merely will repeat the conversation. -You will not intrude Us before the King's Majesty in Our apostolic -character: but merely----" - -"Your Holiness's wish shall be respected." - -"But to resume:--We agree to identify those states south of the Danube -with the Byzantines in general; and Montenegro and South Albania with -the Greeks in particular. What about North Albania?" - -(Click) "That is Turkish." - -"All Albania is Turkish." - -"But South Albania is Christian. And all Albania, Christian and Muslim, -reverences Madonna--'Panagia,' Παναγια, 'Lady of All,' they call her." - -"How very extraordinary! Well now let us take their present situation. -Suppose, Signore Panciera, that we reverse our positions. Instead of -hearing your opinion, We will state Ours; and you shall comment on it. -Is that fair? Is that agreeable?" - -"Most fair: most agreeable. I always learn from Englishmen and I shall -learn from Your Holiness." - -"Good. We believe that Montenegro is happy and contented under the -paternal rule of Prince Nicholas." - -(Click-click-click) "That is so, Holiness." - -"We hear that Albania is shaping well under Prince Ghin Kastriotis." - -(Click: a walk to the window and back; and more clicks) "Since the -murder of Abdul Hamid, and the erection of Albania into a principality, -progress has been astounding. The beautiful country, (click) the -splendid people, are a prize to any ruler. Sultan Ismail is the only -cloud in the sky. He does not approve of the loss of that slice of his -empire. But Albania will take care of herself." - -"Servia, and her yearning for the restoration of the Servian Empire?" - -"Impossible. A nation which murders two kings in four years cannot be -an Empire." - -"Quite impossible. Bulgaria, a country of heretics of the most -notorious and dreadful kind, atrocious brigands to a man, ruled (or -rather not ruled) by a foreigner who is a contemptible cur." - -"Your Holiness would propose----" - -"The deposition of Prince Ferdinand--an easy task now that Russia -has her hands full,--and the annexation of Bulgaria and Servia by -Montenegro under the protection of Italy." - -(Click-click-click) "There, Holiness, we come to the ground of high -politics." (Click-click-click-click) "One must walk very warily." - -"Yes," Hadrian mewed: "until Italy and Germany have made up their -minds." - -The ambassador bowed. - -"Please leave the bagatelle-balls, Excellency; and accept Our thanks -for your very agreeable conversation," said the Pope. - -In giving an account of this interview to the king, the ambassador -concluded "and, Sire, His Holiness spoke like an Englishman." - -"Oh did He," said Victor Emanuel. "In what way?" - -"Majesty, he was profound and limpid, He was large and particular, He -was bold and careful." - -"Basta! Go again as often as you please; and let me hear more of this -Englishman." - -"With the favour of Your Majesty." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -The Liblab deputation had returned to England: but Jerry Sant and Mrs. -Crowe hung on at a decent little hotel in Two Shambles Street, which -was convenient to the English quarter. Their idea was to wait for an -opportunity to push their scheme of blackmail. Most of each day, Mrs. -Crowe was in the Square of St. Peter's, looking up at the Vatican, -hoping for the apparition of Hadrian at His window. In the evenings, -she saw Him walking to and fro on the steps of the basilica. There -always was something of a crowd there. The poorest of the poor, by the -common consent of the most courteous of nations, were placed in front; -and she used to see the Pope giving words and gold to persons whom she -deemed disreputable. She would have sacrificed her new wig for one of -those coins. Once, she pushed into the front row and kneeled with the -riff-raff. She heard a blind boy tell his miserable tale: she heard the -Apostle's gentle words and saw the munificent careless gift. It was her -turn. She felt the distant inflexible eyes on her bent head: "God bless -you, daughter; go in peace" dropped on her; and Hadrian passed on. The -poor girl on her left bitterly wept--the police-doctor had refused -her certificate--her occupation was gone.--Hadrian's kind of charity -did not appeal to Mrs. Crowe: she called it "disgusting" and "highly -improper" to the table d'hôte. There were several quaint visitors -at the Hotel Nike. They chiefly were English; and they listened in -silence, with shy strange eyes, when she vented her views. Afterwards, -though, she used to find herself the recipient of the confidence of -weird old-maids and worn-out matrons, who drew her into corners of the -garden away from the cabin where Sant smoked, and nervously whispered, -"My dear, I'm sure you'll excuse me addressing you, but I feel bound -to say I think I'm right in saying that I owe everything to Him Whom -you're speaking about. I hope you don't mind me saying this but I feel -sure you wouldn't wish to do anyone an injustice. You see I used to -know Him years ago and, I hardly know how to put it, but a certain -sum was named between us which would make me safe for life; and just -now, since last April you see, that very sum, a regular income all my -days, my dear, has come to me through the Bank of England; and I feel -sure it's Him, for there isn't another soul in the world able to do -such a thing: and, my dear, although of course I can't approve of the -indiscriminate charity you've named, I thought I'd just mention this to -you because the fact is I've come here to try and see Him and let him -know how thankful I am." - -Tired wan clean men, with corns on their right-middle-fingers and -jackets bulging along their lower edges, addressed her as "Madam" -and mentioned similar experiences; and, when two straight-limbed -straight-eyed boys of sixteen, twins, orphans, were fierce with the -same story, she began to feel uncomfortable, envious. That He should do -these things for these scarecrows and nothing for her! People avoided -her; and she was lonely. Sant, and the cosmopolitan bagmen with whom -he fraternized, were no companions for her. She expected something a -little more select in the way of society. She conceived the notion that -she would stand a better chance of coming into contact with the Pope by -means of some of the English in Rome. And,--would it not be as well if -she became a Catholic? The hotel-people told her that very few English -were in Rome: they began to come in October and to go away in June: -July, August, September, saw no English except at the colleges and a -few residents. She found her way to St. Andrea delle Fratte, where -she had heard of some Englishwoman's tomb; and saw no one who looked -like an Englishman. She had the same experience at the church by the -G.P.O. Then she discerned a little English affair in Little Sebastian -Street, a convent of sorts; and she made herself conspicuous to the -sisters. Those good creatures were only too happy to discover a chatty -Englishwoman; and, when Mrs. Crowe quite accidentally let out that she -had known George Arthur Rose, they precipitately produced candied fruit -and orangeade. Mrs. Crowe gossiped with discretion. She won hearts by -listening attentively to monasterial rhapsodies. When she was permitted -to slip in a word edgeways, she took care that it was a telling word. -In all their lives the sisters never had heard anything so edifying -as her description of the Holy Father's former predilection for white -flannel shirts, white knitted socks and night-caps. They thought it -heavenly of Him to have refused to wear any colours but white or black -while He was living in the world; and the details of a black corduroy -shooting-suit filled them with ecstatic rapture. In the course of -these improving conversations it came out that Mrs. Crowe herself -was an agnostic--an unwilling agnostic, she whined,--oh, if only she -could believe what her audience believed, it would be such a comfort -to her! Naturally the sisters gladly would help her to that kind of -comfort. They gave her an aluminium medal; and promised prayers. She -turned-up regularly at mass and benediction; and they had great hopes -of her. She thanked them so much. Now, wouldn't she just like to have -a little talk with Father Dawkins--such a holy man? She would like -nothing better. She had a little talk with Father Dawkins: that is to -say that (frequently during the next few weeks) His Reverency exhorted -for three-quarters of an hour on end in the convent parlour; and she -punctuated his discourses with "Ah yes," "How true," "Why did I never -hear this before," etc. The sisters lent her "Thresholds," and other -violently cerulean books. She pronounced them quite convincing. And -then she asked to be received into the Church. - -She became seen at parties at the English pensions; and duly was -slavered. She met cardinals and prelates at receptions. She was the -excitement of the moment. Her pose of the interesting widow, fond -mother of the dearest little girl and boy, clever writer of vers de -société in _The Maid, and Matron_, was much commended: but it was as -the woman whose dear departed had been the Holy Father's most intimate -friend that she chiefly scored. For His Holiness she always had had -the highest admiration. He had been a peculiar man, certainly, but -never anything but most distinguished. She remembered Him in poverty, -going in the shabbiest of garbs: but His gait and carriage always had -been the gait and carriage of nobility of soul. At all times, she -herself had predicted some extraordinary fate for Him. She told the -most adorable little stories of His wit, His humour, His pathos, and -His dumb-bells. She dilated on a boil which had afflicted the back of -His neck. She had heard that He slept in glycerined gloves for the -softening of His chapped hands. Yes, He had been quite a friend of -theirs. He was so earnest, so brilliant, so learned, that she never had -been able to understand why a man of His ability should be a Catholic. -Of course that was when she herself had been in outer darkness. Now -that she was in the inner light, she perfectly could see why. Mrs. -Crowe was voted to be a very charming person; and became a great -success. - -Sant approved of her procedure. Neither he nor she could see their way -to another direct approach to Hadrian. They must bide a wee. Meanwhile, -no harm was done and much good might be done by cultivating the English -quarter. And, perhaps it would be as well to keep socialism in the -background for the present. Jerry would stay where he was; and she -had better set-up for herself elsewhere: they occasionally could meet -to compare notes; and, if anything particular happed, why they could -write. So Mrs. Crowe took a little flat on Baboon Street, and displayed -herself at the Spain Square tea-shop and the English sisterhood. - -At the back of her brain there was a well-defined desire. She kept it -there to gloat over in private and at intervals: for she was far too -clever a woman to let her passion master her at this stage. It was the -mainspring of her acts, the goal of her thoughts, the ultimate of her -existence: but she kept it well concealed and controlled. Now and then, -in the lonely depth of night, it surged to her oppression: but dawn and -the respectability of her temper, brought it within bounds. She played -a careful game, adding to her counters as opportunity occurred. She had -the Liblabs and their four pounds a week to support her: she had (what -she called) the secret history of the Pope in her possession: she was -capturing the pious English. And then, one evening she acquired quite a -priceless item of scandal which, sooner or later, she would use for the -procuration of her Georgie. - -She had been wandering about alone in some of those new streets on the -Viminal Hill, which Modern Rome built in imitation of the suburban -residences of British merchants: streets where comfortable red-brick -detached mansions stand each in a railed garden. As she was passing -one of these fine but homely residences, the electric light sprang up -in the drawing-room; and she was aware of three figures seated in the -bay-window. An afternoon-tea-table was between them. They were two -gorgeous white women with fair hair, evidently mother and daughter. -Those she did not know: but the third was George Arthur Rose. She -peered between the gilded bronze bars of the gate. It was dusk. No one -but herself was in the street. And there, not twenty yards away, behind -a pane of glass, was the man she worshipped. She gave up herself -to her emotions during one minute. Then he and the women retired to -the back of the room; and a decorous black-coated lacquey closed the -curtains. For a moment, she felt like battering at the gate. Her heart -violently palpitated. The connotation of the experience suddenly -struck her. What was the Pope doing here? She knew that He went about -everywhere: but they said that He never ate or drank in company; and -she had seen Him finish a cup of tea. How dainty the elevation of that -left little finger was! Ah! Why was He not dressed in white as usual? -Disguised--taking tea in a private house--with two nameless women! -Ah, why indeed! She focussed her fury. The number on the gate--yes. -She ran to the end of the street and read "Via Morino." She crossed -the road and returned; and found a niche where she could hide in the -shadow of a pillared wall. Here, she watched and waited as a terrier -waits on and watches a kitten demure in a tree--yapping and yelping -almost inaudibly, well-nigh bursting with suppressed impulse to pounce. -Perhaps she waited half-an-hour. Then a couple of lacqueys came-down -to the gate: opened it; and obsequiously bowed to an ecclesiastic who -passed out into the street flinging the right fold of his cloak over -his left shoulder. He swiftly walked towards Via Nationale; and she -followed him. As he came into the more brilliant light, he drew the -fold of his cloak closer across his mouth. That act decided her. She -knew that her Georgie abhorred from every kind of muffling. That he -should muffle now was natural enough. He did not wish to be recognised. -He was incognito, for an evil purpose. That he should have chosen -openly to walk through the biggest street in Rome, when he might have -sneaked down bye-ways, or might have taken a cab, only added to the -evidence. Her Georgie was the most frantically daring of men, she knew. -Precaution on the one hand, nullified by extreme audacity on the other, -she had noted in him before. She nearly lost him as he made his way by -the Austrian Embassy and the Gesù into Corso Vittorio Emanuele. At the -Oratory he crossed and went by the little Piazza into Banchi, where he -left a card with the porter of the Palazzo Attendolo. Again, he muffled -his face and went on, crossing the temporary bridge, and going by Borgo -Vecchio straight to the gate of the Vatican. Here, he was admitted; and -Mrs. Crowe was left alone in agony and in hilarity. She turned-out of -the Colonnade into the square cursing herself for not speaking to him, -writhing because she had caught her loved one secretly visiting another -woman. Then she laughed at the thought that she had found His Holiness -the Pope engaged in vulgar intrigue. The barb of the one emotion -lacerated her. The barb of the other she would save to dilacerate Him. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -On the night of the second of October, the German Emperor sat in the -Imperial box at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. They were playing _Wilhelm -Tell_. William II. looked-on at the mummer pourtraying the audacious -genius who, by skill and courage, delivered a people from tyranny. -He looked on the presented incident with a humorous sense of its -coincidence with his present intention: for, in the imperial mind--that -agile predominant mind at which inferior minds (led by the _Pall Mall -Gazette_) were used to mock--was stored certain knowledge of another -scene yet to be enacted in which he himself would play the part of the -deliverer. An aide-de-camp entered during the interval, while the house -gave itself up to conversation, apples, nuts, pfefferkuchen. He handed -a locked portfolio to the Kaiser. - -"The papers are all here?" - -"Yes, Sire." - -"The manager attends?" - -"He is at the door, Sire." - -"He has received my commands?" - -"Your Majesty's commands have been executed." - -"Good. I will follow him. Go now to the newspaper-offices; and bring -the specials to me after supper. Mahlzeit!" - -The curtain went up for the last act. The audience was stricken with -sudden paralyzed amazement. On the stage, actors, scene-shifters, the -whole theatre staff, were grouped in an immense semicircle. In the -chord of the semicircle, one figure stood alone, grimly dominant. At -first, it was taken for a daringly realistic caricature of the Emperor; -and fear of the penalties of lèse-majesté dawned in the minds of the -beholders. But the figure spoke, and doubt fled. It _was_ the Emperor. -Everyone knew that vigorous vocative "Germans!" The said Germans were -used to manifestations of their ruler's omniscience and omnipresence; -and they automatically stood to listen. He quoted the assertion of Herr -Bebmarck in the Reichstag, that every speech by the Kaiser against -Socialists meant a socialist gain of 100,000 votes at the elections. -Then he flung out a challenge. He said that the insuing elections -meant war to the knife, not between him and his people but, between -him and the handful of venal demagogues unworthy to bear the sacred -name of Germans who led his people astray. He opened his portfolio. -Socialism, he said, commanded four million votes. One-third of the -German Army was Socialist. Socialism was the largest political party -in the Empire; and increased each year at the expense of every other -party. It was a vast and important body. A body needed a brain to -direct its functions. Who, after all, was the head? The demagogues, -or the Kaiser? At a moment like the present, when the Fatherland was -menaced on both sides by anarchy and hereditary enemies, the glorious -German nation must not be harassed by intestine feuds. Hitherto, a -great part of his people had been taught to obstruct his schemes for -German welfare. Thereby they had hurt themselves. They had had the -pleasure of opposing him: but they had delayed their own betterment: -for his alone was the will which should rule Germany. Yet, he would -not blame his people. They had been betrayed by liars, deceived by -treacherous pseudophilanthropists. He would not blame the tempted, -but the tempters. The names of the tempters, the human Satans, were -August Bebmarck, turner: Grillerbergen, locksmith: Raue, Bulermolken, -Reistem, saddlers: Varmol, ex-post-official: Steinbern, lawyer: -Volkenberg, territorial-magnate: Singenmann, capitalist. He arraigned -these men on a charge of having deluded the good heart of four million -German people by professions of disinterestedness, of benevolence, -by promises of universal betterment. He denounced their professions -and their promises as false, and their practices as corrupt enough to -have obtained the attention of the police. The socialist demagogues -were traitors to the very cause which they professed to serve. Their -object was not the improvement of the social conditions of the people: -it was personal aggrandisement. He brought proofs from his portfolio. -Bebmarck, Grillenberger, Varmol had accepted bribes of M. 100,000, -M. 45,000, M. 40,000 respectively from the communist government of -France. Raue, Bulermolken, Reistem had accepted the post of saddlery -contractors to the French army. Each of the foregoing had given a -written promise to influence the Socialist vote. The Kaiser read and -exhibited the promises; and continued. Steinbern had sold the minute -books of various Socialist committees in Hanover for M. 300,000. (The -books were produced by an imperial aide.) Volkenberg had scouted the -proposal to municipalize his own vast possessions: Singenmann was -proved to have derived his riches from ill-paid sweated labour. - -"These be thy gods, O Socialism," the Emperor cried: "the mere -possession of important private property, of what is called a stake -in the country, has revealed their brazen faces and feet of clay. The -mere offer of the price of blood has revealed the Iscariots of the -Fatherland." - -He commanded his hearers to remember that in 1890 he himself had -abrogated the laws against socialism and had dismissed the persecutor -Bismarck, saying _Die Social Democratie überlassen sie mir; mit der -werdeich gang alleine fertig_. He said that his method had been to -leave them free to work out their own salvation: but in vain. A bad -tree does not bring forth good fruit. It had not been socialism, -nor parliamentary majorities and resolutions, which had welded -together the German Empire: but the army and he, the Emperor, the -representative of that power in the state which, not only created -German unity in the teeth of those who pretended to represent the -people but, thereby carried into every German home the sense of -national power. Finally, he demanded, did the innocent industrious -great-hearted dupes of the socialist demagogues intend in this crisis -of German history to follow and obey the behests of low-born traitors, -never-sufficiently-to-be-damned-and-despised sweaters, infamous -Rabagases: or would they give loyal allegiance to him, their divinely -appointed and legitimate Kaiser, the heir of Friedrich the Noble and of -Wilhelm the Good and of Friedrich the Great,--to him, the Father of the -fatherland, whose whole life and energy was devoted and consecrated to -"Deutschland Deutschland über alles." - -With that, he left the stage and the theatre. The audience, a typically -middle-class one, the very class of all others to which such an -oration would appeal, was stirred down to the depths of its phlegmatic -Teutonic soul. As the Kaiser departed, not a "Hoch" was uttered: but -multitudes of stem-faced converts poured out, silently saluting him -with the fire of loyalty lighted in their eyes. Germans are logical -by nature. Display indefeasible premisses; and it is not a German who -will err from the just conclusion. All night long, all the newspapers -except the _Vorwaerts_ issued special editions containing the Emperor's -speech. During the next few days William II. himself repeated it in -the great cities of his empire. At Essen and Breslau his reception -partook of the nature of an ovation. Everywhere the press spread his -epoch-making words to all who actually did not hear them. German good -sense preferred honesty, vigorous masterly honesty, even hare-brained -honesty, to the base treachery which is actuated by no motive except -personal gain. German good sense could see that the Kaiser himself -was the hardest-working man in the Empire: that his simply amazing -diligence and toil were absolutely unselfish, absolutely impersonal: -that he gained no tangible reward whatever: that his life, which quite -easily might have been one of irresponsible pleasure and ease, was an -incessant round of mental and physical exertion for the good of others. -German honour admired and German generosity repaid. The fascinating -personality of William II. at last was recognized as the chief element -of the nation's power. His splendid and unique confidence in himself -and his imperial vocation inspired his subjects with confidence in him. -The device of the secret ballot, and the now-unfettered ability of -every German to vote according to his conscience, had the calculated -effect. The elections shewed that the enormous prestige of the Emperor -had won the Socialist vote, and the Catholic vote, and the votes of the -Right and the Left, in support of his paramount authority. The English -newspapers ceased from jeering; and the _Pall Mall Gazette_ split -subjunctives as well as infinitives in applause of success. - -The lay-Major-domo of the Apostolic Palace found occasion to invite -Cardinals Talacryn and Semphill to inspect certain accounts. "I feel it -my duty to call Your Eminencies' attention to the fact," said he, "that -our Most Holy Lord consumes about seven and sixpence worth, of food and -drink a week upon the average. It is shocking. Also it is ridiculous. -Kindly cast your eyes over these documents. They are the accounts -covering the past six months. Note how many times His dinner consists -of three raw carrots and two poached eggs. Meat, you see, He eats not -more than twice a week. Fish, He refuses. I understand that He will -take the lean of beef, the fat of pork, the breast of a bird, and chew -them for an hour." - -"That accounts for His magnificent digestion," said Talacryn; "and I -know that He eats raw carrots for the sake of His white skin. But fat -pork! Semphill, could you digest fat pork when you were His age? I -can't even now." - -"Condescend to consider the wine," Count Piccino added. "His Holiness -quite fails to appreciate fine wine----" - -"All I can say is I can remember seeing Him thoroughly enjoy a -teaspoonful of my peach-brandy sometimes after dinner. That was twenty -years ago though," said Semphill. - -"He used to enjoy peach-brandy! Eminency, a thousand thanks. He shall -have a bottle. I never thought of it. Until now, He has taken what we -give Him: but He has no palate whatever for superior brands. He's quite -content with a plain red wine from Citta Lavinia or Cinthyanum; and He -drinks about as much of it in a week as another man would drink at a -meal. But cream, and goat's milk,--I believe He bathes in those." - -"No, no," said Semphill; "He drinks them day and night, that's all. -He's got the digestion of a baby for milk. Shall I ever forget seeing -Him drink a pint of thick cream--a whole pint--at a farm-house once -when we were out walking? I thought He'd die there. I begged Him to -take some of my pills. I offered to make Him free of my collection. No. -He laughed at me; and goes on rejoicing." - -"But, Eminencies, do you think His Holiness can live on this meagre -diet?" - -"Chi lo sa? I couldn't. He may." - -"He's a most incomprehensible creature whatever:" Talacryn concluded. - - * * * * * - -Armed with the allegiance of an united empire, the Kaiser scoured -away across the continent to Rome. He travelled incognito as the -Duke of Königsberg and put up at the Palazzo Caffarelli. The world -looked on and wondered. No news of his intentions were vouchsafed; -and, as a rule, journalists had the decency to refrain themselves -from suppositions. The exception to the rule was French, of course. -"Religion is the great preoccupation of William II. Beneath the -spangled uniform of this Emperor there is the soul of a clergyman, or -rather the visionary soul of an initiate of even vaguer mysteries. The -Kaiser only waits for an opportunity to achieve in Rome what he has -already achieved in the east, that is to say, to oust France," shrieked -M. Jean de Bonnefon in the Paris _Éclair_. _La Patrie_ instantly -yelled in comment, "Let Germany take the Holy See. It will be the end -of Germany and the beginning of revenge for Sedan. The Paparchy is an -acid which will dissolve the badly cemented parts of an empire which is -still too new." - -But it was not precisely religion which dictated the Kaiser's movement. -He had the sense to know that religion is personal; and, though he -never lost an opportunity of asserting his personal religious opinions, -the idea of making them the rule for all men never entered his -eminently practical mind. No: he had other plans; and he was seeking -material wherewith to build. He conferred long and secretly with the -King of Italy, a man after his own heart, a born ruler, a natural -autocrat, who himself had been a slave. They discussed needs. William -II. wanted room for a population which had increased by twenty millions -in thirty years. Victor Emanuel III. wanted money and time--money to -make easier the life of his people--time to mature improvements--give -him those and he could laugh at Italy's enemies, the secret societies, -and the clergy---- - -"Clergy?" the Kaiser demurred. "Now are you really sure that the clergy -are your enemies?" - -"Yes, in their heart of hearts. Don't you understand that we robbed -them? Don't you know that this very palace of the Quirinale, in which -I am receiving Your Imperial Majesty, is stolen property?" - -"Yes, yes. But this Englishman? Surely He makes a difference?" - -"To some extent. But He cannot extirpate in a moment the hatred and -envy with which my House and I are regarded by the clergy whom we -dispossessed. For nearly forty years, to hate us has been part of the -clerical education. A weed of that kind cannot be rooted up at once. It -is ingrained. Perhaps in another generation--Basta!" - -"Meanwhile?" - -"Meanwhile what?" - -"Well, hasn't the Pope made things easier for you?" - -"Yes, in a way. But what is His object? What concession, for -example----" - -"He doesn't seem to have left Himself any opening for extorting -concessions." - -"But did Your Imperial Majesty ever hear of a priest who gave something -for nothing?" - -"One of my cardinals tells me that this is a madman, whose pose is to -be primitive, apostolic." - -"Ha! For a primitive apostle He has a singularly dictatorial method. -Have you read His _Epistles_, and His denunciations of the socialists, -for example?" - -"I have. I entirely approve of them. They have assisted me greatly in -dealing with some rebels of my own." - -"Oh no one could find fault with His sentiments--so far. But they -are so unusual, so extra-pontifical, that one wonders what they are -concealing." - -"Is Your Majesty sure that they conceal something?" - -"No, I'm not. Of course I have no means of arriving at certainty. That -could only be obtained from the Pope Himself; and only from Him if He -were willing to give it." - -"Has Your Majesty asked Him?" - -"Certainly not. We continue to misunderstand one another. Your Imperial -Majesty knows that there is no means of communication between my -government and the Vatican. All we get is hearsay; and all they get is -gossip." - -"Why do you not request Hadrian to receive you--you yourself? I imagine -that He would not refuse." - -"Perhaps not. I believe that He has been preparing for me some such -trap as that. But I distrust the Greeks even when they bear gifts. They -say He says His prayers in Greek, by the bye." - -"I am about to request His Holiness to receive me." - -"Your Imperial Majesty's case is different. You are not likely to have -fresh insults and fresh humiliations offered to you." - -"What do you mean?" - -"I mean that I cherish the memory of all ecclesiastical pin-pricks -which formerly were administered to my father and grandfather." - -"Pin-pricks? What do you call pin-pricks?" - -"For example, in 1878, Pio Nono, from His Own deathbed, sent to -reconcile my excommunicated grandfather, who was enabled to die in the -Embrace of The Lord. A little later, died also Pio Nono. My father -voluntarily returned the courtesy, sending his adjutant to offer -condolence to the Conclave. Leone, who then was Chamberlain, ordered -the Swiss Guard to refuse entrance to the royal envoy at the bronze -gates--to refuse the message even." - -"Very clerical!" the Emperor said; and pondered a moment. Then "Will -Your Majesty go to the Vatican with me?" - -"No, Sire: I never will go to the Vatican," the King replied. - -A telegram signed "Wilhelm I.R." addressed to the Prince-Bishop of -Breslau brought Cardinal Popk to his sovereign at the German Embassy -in Rome. On hearing the Kaiser's intention, he did his very best to -persuade him away from it; and curtly was required to explain himself. - -"Majesty," said His Eminency, "no good can come of such a meeting, and -much harm may. Our Most Holy Father is English; and, being English, -He has the English quality of cynicism. With Him it is 'Et Petro et -Nobis' in the highest degree. He is a man of strong likes and dislikes, -fervently patriotic and therefore fervently anti-German----" - -"Your Eminency knows that?" - -"I have no explicit information: but, seeing the estimation in which -those islanders hold us, I judge so. Sire, I beseech you to pause. I -beseech you, I beseech you on behalf of your loyal Catholic subjects, -that you will not expose your imperial person to the risk of an -affront." - -"An affront, indeed!" - -"Majesty, remember what happened when you first visited Pope Leo." - -William II. laughed. "Cardinal, you are a very good German, and -a--well, queer Roman." - -"Sire, I distinguish. I implicitly obey Hadrian as Vicar of Christ: I -dislike Him as a cynical Englishman. I am anxious that Your Majesty -may not have occasion to dislike this Englishman who is the spiritual -director of your loyal Catholic subjects." - -"Your Eminency's solicitude is most creditable. But I have met -Englishmen whom I immensely admire for certain qualities which they -possess and which we Germans lack. What you have said piques my -curiosity. I wish to meet this particular Englishman; and I wish -Your Eminency to arrange it. I promise you that, whether He affronts -me or not, I will not afflict my Catholic subjects with another -Kulturkampf--if that is what you fear. However, if you still hesitate -to oblige your Kaiser, I will apply through my legation: or, better, -I will apply through the Cardinal-bishop of Albano who used to be at -Munich." - -The Cardinal-Prince-Bishop of Breslau went to the Vatican without any -more ado; and the Supreme Pontiff consented to receive. - -Hadrian endured an hour of terror. The task of dealing with an -emperor--He was inclined to put it from Him as being too great a thing -for Him. But He felt inquisitive to know what the Kaiser wanted. He Who -sits upon the throne of Peter looks at all the world, knowing that He -will see either enemies--or suitors. Hadrian also was inquisitive to -see the person and the mind of the man whom He invariably had defended -as being the only sovereign in Europe whose conduct indicated belief -in his own divine right to sovereignty, and as being one of the few -delightful persons in the world who can contemplate their own minds and -behold they are very good. Hadrian was interested in William II. as -an extremely fine specimen of the absolute type. Yet--He hesitated to -come to close relations with him, because--well, for one thing, because -He disliked being domineered over, and this military Michael from the -high Hohenzollem hill-top was certain to smack of the barracks. All the -same, popes had received emperors before now; and it had not always -been the emperors who had domineered. But could He love him? Well, at -any rate, He could try to save him trouble. Then what was the Kaiser's -object? He knew that something or other was wanted of Him; and He -feared--feared lest He should say, as usual, more than He meant to say, -and give, as usual, more than He need give. That, though, could be -prevented. He would make this rule for the occasion:--Listen little, -inquire less, affirm least, and concede nothing now. Good! It should -be done. He had a couple of easy chairs placed in the throne-room, -and a small table with cigarettes, cigarette-papers and tobacco, the -Crab Mixture which George Arthur Rose had invented. He sat-down in one -of the chairs by the window: took out the little gold pyx from His -bosom; and held it in His hands while He awaited the Emperor's arrival. -His eyes became still and grave. His lips moved swiftly. A singular -serenity inspired Him.... The introducer-of-sovereigns announced, - -"The Duke of Königsberg." - -"Your Majesty's visit gives Us great pleasure," was the Apostle's -greeting to the Kaiser, uttered in that clear young minor voice -which was so well known in Rome. The two potentates took each the -other's measure in a glance. The Emperor, smartly groomed in plain -evening-dress with riband, cross, and star, had that slightly conical -head which marks the thinker and the single-minded obstinate man. -The Pope, a year his junior, gave an impression of clean simplicity -with His white habit and His keen white face. There was a distance, a -reticence, in His gaze. He had remembered William's Teutonic osculation -of His indignant predecessor; and, as the Kaiser approached Him, He -took the imperial hand and shook it in the glad-to-see-you-but-keep-off -English fashion. Spring-dumb-bells had given the Pope a grip like a -vice and an arm like a steel piston-rod. The Emperor blinked once. - -"I am grateful to Your Holiness for receiving me in this informal -manner." - -The Pope inclined His head: motioned His guest to a chair; and offered -cigarettes. He Himself rolled one: lighted it; and sat down. - -"I have the pleasure of personally congratulating Your Holiness on Your -election; and I trust that God will grant You many years in which to -rule Your section of His people wisely and well." - -"It is Our sincere hope that Our endeavour to feed Christ's flock may -be acceptable." - -"I have many Catholics in my empire; and I may say that their virtues -merit my fullest approbation." - -The Pope again inclined His head. - -"I understand that Your Holiness has never been in Germany?" - -"No. Our life hitherto has been an unimportant one. We are almost -ignorant of the world and of men, except perhaps from the view-point of -the outside observer and student." - -"My sainted mother used to quote an English proverb which says that -Onlookers see most of the game." - -"All English proverbs, which are positive, have their correspondent -negative--'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'--'Out of sight out of -mind.'--Your Majesty's proverb is contradicted by 'Only the toad under -the harrow has counted the spikes.' We mean that We have learned much -of what is done, but very little of the details of the doing." - -"Ah, that of course comes by heredity or by practice----" - -"Or by occession." - -"I fear that I do not quite follow." - -The Pope suddenly was afraid that He had been guilty of a sort of -appeal for this mighty emperor's pity and consideration toward His -plebeian origin and inexperience. Was this keeping His troubles to -Himself? He hastened to divert the conversation from Himself. - -"Our predecessor St. Peter was an illiterate plebeian of no importance: -but, by the occession of Divine Grace, His Holiness was enabled to -wield the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and to win the unfading palm -down there by the obelisk." - -"Ah yes. And I trust that Your Holiness may be similarly enabled. I -have very little doubt but that You will be. The favour of the Almighty -seems to be with men of our nation in a pre-eminent degree." - -"Our nation?" - -"Yes. Surely Your Holiness remembers that, by birth, I am half-English?" - -"Oh indeed yes. But, Majesty, in England you are thought of as being -wholly German." - -"I am much misunderstood in England." Again the head inclined in -silence led the Emperor on. "And also I have been much misunderstood in -Germany. The English suspect me of plotting mischief against England; -and my empire has been suspecting me of such leanings toward England -as to interfere with my proper duty of attending to the interests of -Germany!" - -"And both suspicions are equally gratuitous." - -"Both. As a matter of duty, I think first of the interests of Germany: -but, for the sake of those very interests, I am anxious to cultivate -the friendship of England. Personally I have a great appreciation of -many English qualities, as my many English friends know. And of course, -although she was a somewhat terrible person, I had an immense and -genuine admiration for my never-sufficiently-to-be-lauded grandmother, -your great Queen Victoria. Now there was a Woman, a Queen----" - -"In that matter Your Majesty's behaviour was magnificent. We Ourself -saw you at her exsequies: We noted the signs of your countenance and -your comportment; and We honoured your splendid piety. There only was -one feeling in England toward Your Majesty then." - -The Kaiser was moved: his left arm twitched once or twice. "Your -Holiness's words"--he shook his ferocious eyes--"are very grateful to -me. But what have I done since--to lose----" - -"Majesty, in the English mind, you are incarnate Germany." - -"I am Germany." - -"It is not Your Majesty whom England distrusts, but the Germans." - -"But why, but why?" - -"Englishmen say 'It is all very well to dissemble your love but why -did you kick me downstairs?' They don't believe in Your Majesty's -friendliness because they commit the common error of confounding the -particular with the universal. Your Majesty is the scape-goat. They lay -upon you the sins of execrable taste on the part of your journalists -and of shady diplomacy on the part of your statesmen; and they drive -you out into the wilderness." - -"Is Your Holiness cognizant of the difficulties which I have to contend -with?" - -"We are perfectly astounded at the inertia, the stolidity, the -volatility, the inconstancy of the material which rulers have to -direct, to curb, to shape. We entirely sympathize with Your Majesty in -the matter of the difficulties which fill your life. Also, to descend -to particulars, We know and approve of your masterly method of dealing -with demagogues." - -"I am very glad to hear this. I am pleased to know that there is one -point on which I can agree with Your Holiness." - -"We trust that there are many points on which We cannot agree with Your -Majesty." - -The Kaiser was taken aback. "I do not understand," he said. - -"Complete agreement signifies complete stagnation. Disagreement at -least postulates activity; and only by activity is The Best made -manifest and approved." - -"Holiness, I beg Your pardon. I see the point. That is a very grand and -at-all-times-to-be-remembered doctrine. I must try to remember Your -beautiful words: for it is The Best which I am seeking for Germany." - -"And Germany never will find it in the socialism which aims at that -ridiculous impossibility called Equality, meaning the acquisition -by lazy B of that which active A has won. All history shews that -Aristos only emerges from conflict. That is a truth which must be -insisted-on. At the same time, We rejoice to see that Your Majesty has -been inspired to distinguish between the charlatans and their dupes. -Much unrighteousness is done to suffering humanity by those who will -not take the trouble to remember that, when the natural man is hurt, -he howls and seizes the salve which is nearest. The wise ruler works -to benefit his subjects by going directly to the root of the matter, -removing the cause of injury. But We are not to preach to Your Majesty. -You, no doubt, had some definite object in coming to Us." - -"Yes: I certainly had a definite object: but I had no idea that I was -to discuss it with a Pontiff Who had so complete an intuition of my own -imperial sentiments." - -"Our office is to become in sympathy with all who strive for The Best." - -"The kindness with which Your Holiness has received me, and the -never-to-be-forgotten truths which You so nobly have enunciated make -my task much easier. I desired to consult Your Holiness, to obtain -knowledge of Your feelings, in certain matters. At the present moment, -You are aware, my eastern frontier is menaced by Russia, my western -frontier by France; and, on my southern frontier there is a third and a -more miscellaneous difficulty. The Germans of Austria have petitioned -for admission to the Germanic Empire." - -"Can you admit--annex--them? Will it be well for you to do that?" - -"Holiness, I must:--as German Emperor, I must protect Germans. While -Francis Joseph lived, his German subjects were content to live in -Austria as Austrians. Now that Bohemia and Hungary are separating -themselves from Austria, they no longer are content. Austria is no -more. The fragments which composed her are for ever disunited; and----" - -"Poland?" - -"Holiness, in my empire there is no Poland." - -"No? Your Majesty believes that the German Austrians would be happier -under your rule. Are you likely to meet with opposition if you annex -them?" - -"With tremendous opposition. France and Russia instantly will declare -war." - -"With what chance of success?" - -"With no chance of success. My glorious German navy and army will -conquer France and Russia." - -"Majesty! Majesty! And yet--you have endeared yourself to hundreds of -thousands of French refugees." - -"Thanks to Your Holiness's gracious initiative, You may take it that -all Christian France is willing to become German--or English--out of -sheer gratitude." - -"But Russia--Russia is immense--immensely powerful." - -"Pardon me, Holiness, but do You read the English newspapers?" - -"Nineteen, studiously: thirty-seven, from which cuts are selected for -Our perusal." - -"The English newspapers are well-informed, trustworthy?" - -"Penny and threepenny dailies, threepenny weeklies, shilling and -half-crown monthlies, generally are well-informed, generally are -trustworthy." - -"So. Then I shall tell Your Holiness, from an English penny daily, -that Russia is not powerful in a military sense. The large majority of -her officers are abjectly incapable. The ranks are recruited entirely -from the peasantry; and are, on the admission of their own generals, -entirely unreliable. They have neither intelligence nor initiative; -and they no more know how to obey than their officers know how to -command. Russia's defeat by Japan taught her nothing. Also there has -been for years among patriotic Russians, north, south, east, and west, -a singular yearning for an overwhelming defeat by an European power. -That way only, they say, can they be delivered from the crushing -anarchic tyranny under which the whole country labours. Even supposing -Russia to be united--which she is not--I say that she has no chance -of ultimate success against the German navy and army. I say that her -numbers have inspired a wholly unfounded and exaggerated apprehension -of her military power. I say that bounce--Bounce, if Your Holiness will -permit me to say it--bounce alone has served her purpose well. She will -continue to use bounce until she is opposed by a resolute determination -which there is no possibility of mistaking. Fear of Russia resembles -the fear of a child at an ugly mask. If Russia were to cross my -frontiers, she would march to her final overthrow. And, best of all, -the Russians know that as well as I do." - -"Your Majesty appears to have made out a case. Well: you will conquer -France and Russia. And then?" - -"I shall annex them to my empire." - -"Are you likely to meet with any opposition then?" - -"I do not know. I am about to proceed to discuss the point with my -uncle. Meanwhile my ambassadors are consulting Mr. Chamberlain and -Mr. Roosevelt; and I myself am consulting my royal cousin the King of -Italy." - -"Ah--the King of Italy!--And what does Your Majesty desire from Us?" - -"I should be glad to know the attitude which Your Holiness will -prescribe for the Catholics of my empire, as well as for other -Catholics, in the event of my engaging in these schemes." - -"Why?" - -"Because at present my Catholic subjects are loyal. I should not permit -any of my subjects to be disloyal. I wish to give them all freedom -in religious matters: but I should not tolerate opposition to my -state-policy." - -"Touching the matter of Poland----" - -"There is no Poland." - -The Pope put His hand on the table--pontifically. "Will Your Majesty, -for the purposes of argument, consent to imagine a place called Poland, -partly Russian, partly German, inhabited by a race which is neither -German nor Russian, a race very tenacious of its traditions. In the -event of your annexation of France, and Russia, for example,--and -Austria which is composed of sixteen distinct races speaking thirty-two -distinct languages, the various Slavonic nationalities of Parthians, -Medes, and Elamites----" - -"Parthians, Medes, and Elamites?" - -"Well: Croats, Slovenes, Dalmatians, and the dwellers in Bosnia and -Herzegovina, to say nothing of the Czechs and the Magyars,--in the -event of your annexation of all these, you would be obliged to have -regard unto the racial characteristics of your new subjects. Now, at -the same time, would you not be well advised to regard the racial -characteristics of Poland?" - -"In what way?" - -"For example, would you concede to Poland, the Polish language, and a -Polish king and constitution under your imperial suzerainty?" - -"Your Holiness means something of the nature of federation, such as -Your Own country so successfully has adopted?" - -"Concisely." - -"I had not thought of it. It merits my profound consideration." - -"And what would happen to the other fragments of Austria, and to the -Balkan States?" - -"I do not know. The Sultan would have something to say." - -"And what will he say?" - -"I must tell Your Holiness that I am much disappointed in Turkey. -I looked upon it as the military power, whose ability to hold back -Russia, and to prevent the political strangulation of Germany in Europe -by keeping-open the gates of the East, must be strengthened at all -costs. Hence I practically re-armed the Sultan's forces; and passed -numbers of young Turkish officers through my military schools. You may -say that I made the Turkish Army. All to no purpose. The new Sultan has -played me false. I am afraid now that Turkey will be more influenced by -England and by Italy than by me." - -"Is that king blind?" - -"My uncle?" - -"No. Italy." - -"Not that I am aware of. Why does Your Holiness ask?" - - The Supreme Pontiff stood up. "We thank Your Majesty for the - sincerity of Your conversation; and assure you of Our good-will. We - will ponder the matters which you have laid before Us." - -"I hoped to have had----" But there was no mistaking the sealed face. -And William II. was one of the cleverest men in the world; and he also -was half an Englishman. "I should be greatly obliged if Your Holiness -would write down that doctrine of Aristos. I should prize it greatly." - -The Pope went to a writing table and produced a couple of lines in His -wonderful fifteenth-century script. - -"I will make this one of the heirlooms of Hohenzollern" said the Kaiser. - -"May God guide you, well-beloved son." - -Hadrian walked that afternoon with Cardinal Semphill on Nomentana, as -far as St. Agnes beyond-the-Walls. It was one of those deliberately -lovely Roman autumn afternoons, when walking is a climax of crisp joy -with the thought of a cup of tea as the fine finial. They talked of -books, especially of novels; and His Eminency asserted that the novels -of Anthony Trollope gave him on the whole the keenest satisfaction. -There was a great deal more in them than generally was supposed, he -said. The Pope agreed that they were very pleasant easy reading, -deliciously anodynic. His Own preference was for Thackeray's Esmond. -He, however, would not commit Himself to approval of all the works -of any one writer, simply because no man was capable of being always -at his best. As they passed through Porta Pia into Venti Settembre, -Hadrian pointed to the palace on the left of the gate, saying, "Have -you ever been there?" - -"No, Holiness. At least, not since I've been wearing this." He -indicated his vermilion ferraiuola. - -"Don't you think if we asked them very nicely they would give us a cup -of tea?" - -The cardinal mischievously chuckled. "I am of opinion that the English -Ambassador would be very pleased to make Your Holiness's acquaintance -over a cup of tea." - -Hadrian rang the bell. "Semphill," He said as they waited at the gate, -"if there be any ladies about, will you kindly talk to them and leave -the Ambassador to Us." - -Sir Francis was at home. And much honoured. So were two secretaries. -And no ladies. And there was tea. Cardinal Semphill devoted himself -to the secretaries; and told them funny stories about clergymen. -They laughed hugely at the tales, (which were witty), and at the -wittier clergyman who told them. The Pope mentioned to the Ambassador -that He had had a call from the Duke of Königsberg that morning; -and drifted-off into an inquiry as to where reliable maps were to -be procured. Sir Francis named Stanford of Longacre; and was much -interested. Was there any map in particular which His Holiness desired -to consult. They were fairly well-off for maps at the embassy. Perhaps -the Holy Father would condescend---- - -"No thank you, Sir Francis. They would ask questions about you in -parliament if We were to borrow your maps. Why, Lady Wimborne will have -a fit as it is, when she hears that you have entertained the Ten-horned -Beast with tea." - -"I am not afraid of that, Holiness." - -"No, of course not. But Stanford will give Us all the information which -We need,--unless you will tell Us" (the interest concentrated) "what -England is going to do in the present crisis?" - -"I can tell Your Holiness one thing which She has done; and which will -appear in to-morrow morning's _Times_. England and Turkey, the two -great Muhammedan Powers, have entered into an offensive and defensive -alliance to-day." - -"Which means that England's interests lie in Asia and Africa; and not -in Europe." - -The Ambassador slightly started. "May I know why Your Holiness thinks -that?" - -Hadrian rose and shook hands. "Because of England's previous alliance -with Japan: because of Her conscious sympathy with the barbaric. Read -'success' for 'sympathy' in the last sentence, if you prefer it. And -please remember that this is not an infallible utterance." - -"It's an astonishingly smart one, all the same," said the Ambassador -with a genial grin. - -"Thank you very much for your tea. Stanford, you said? Good-bye. And, -Sir Francis--there are no closed doors in the Vatican." - -Hadrian chattered at large during the remainder of the evening; and -industriously dreamed all night, first of certain portents connected -with emperors' knuckles: then of tremendous maps on which one crawled: -and finally His usual and favourite dream of being invisible and -stark-naked and fitted with great white feathery wings, flying with the -movement of swimming among and above men, seeing and seeing and seeing, -easily and enormously swooping. In the morning reaction supervened. He -was listless: He wanted to be alone. They left Him alone; and during -several days He was inaccessible, writing, and burning much writing. -The palace, with its fifty separate buildings, its eleven thousand -rooms, its fourteen courtyards hummed with the life of a population -of a small town. Up in the series of small chambers under the eaves, -in the large and lovely pleasaunce on the slopes of the Vatican hill, -He found quiet and peace. He thought for hours at a stretch, smoking -cigarette after cigarette, gazing out of the window or across autumnal -lawns. Sometimes He remained rapt in contemplation of the perfect -beauty of His new cross, gently stroking it with delicate finger. A -portfolio of vast maps arrived from London. He pinned them on His blank -brown walls and pored over them. In the night He often would rise and -stand before them till His breast ached and His arms were stiff with -the weight of the lamp. He sent a holograph letter to the King of -Spain; and received a reply which lightened His brow. He concentrated -His mind on the future. He began to form His plans. - -At the beginning of November, He signed the decree of canonization of -Madame Jehane de Lys, commonly called Joan of Arc; and simultaneously -issued the _Epistle to the Germans_. Very few perceived the true -inwardness of the paradox. Those Frenchmen who remained Christian -were so overjoyed, at the honour accorded to their national heroine, -that they failed to appreciate the significance of the _Epistle_. The -Germans were so occupied with the contents of the _Epistle_, that the -glorification of a Frenchwoman passed unnoted. In England, it was -thought that the Pontiff was feeling his way. The _Worldly Christian_ -asked what you would expect of a Jesuit; and the _Daily Anagraph_ -compared Him to Machiavelli. Certainly The _Epistle to the Germans_ -was remarkable not so much for its matter as for its suggestion. It -was a master-piece of what Walt Whitman calls revelation by faint -indirections. The Kaiser did not know whether to be satisfied or -dissatisfied with it. Hadrian praised the Teutonic race for its poetic -(in the Greek sense of "creative") and diligent habits. He dwelled -with admiration upon the many benefits which civilization owes to the -German constructive faculty. But He indicated the want of the "open air -and fresh water" element in all departments, physical and intellectual, -of German life. "Scope is what ye need, free movement of mind and body. -Stagnation breeds purulence, rancorous, suffocating, sour. Brooding -never can bring satisfaction, nor can iron, nor can blood: but only -the gold of Love. Wherefore, well-beloved sons, seek your salvation in -Love. Love one another first: be patient, knowing that Love is manifest -in obedience, and hath exceeding great reward." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - -Jerry Sant saw Mrs. Crowe driving in victorias with people who wore -smartish bonnets. Professional experience enables him to recognize -real ospreys. Three or four times he met her in her mauve, going to an -evening party. From this he deduced that she was enjoying herself; and, -it being quite contrary to the principles of socialism that any one -should enjoy themselves except under socialist supervision, he put on -a red necktie and paid her a visit. It was a wet day: she had nothing -particular to do; and she was not unwilling to chat about herself. -Looking at his florid sweaty vulgarity, it soothed her vanity to tell -this plebeian of the patricians whom she had captured, the Honble. Mrs. -This, the Baroness von That, and Lady Whatshemame of the Other. They -were so kind. Their kettledrums and bridge-routs were so shick. You met -such thoroughly Nice people you know. And the American millionairesses -were so amusing. They had such shocking manners. Mrs. Crowe actually -had seen one drinking soup out of a plate. Jerry had been getting more -and more morose while she chattered; and now he burst out: - -"I know better than to sup my soup out of the plate. I sup them with a -spoon." - -"Of course you do, Mr. Sant. But these American women have no manners -whatever." - -"Ah weel now, we've had enough of that. Look ye now, I've been letting -ye go your own way a bit; and I think the time's come when ye might -introduce me to some of your gran' friens. A'm none too gey at the -hotel; and besides that, it's me due." - -She found the man a sudden and accented nuisance: but she couldn't -possibly quarrel with the keeper of the purse. "I'm sure, if you think -it advisable, I don't want to keep you back. I don't quite see though -how I can take you with me, as you say. You see you don't know any of -these people." - -"Well and fhat of that?" - -"Why you silly man of course you've got to be introduced." - -"How did you get introduced yersel'?" - -"Oh, why, I was converted, you see." - -"Imphm! Well, I'll let ye know I'm not for being converted, as ye call -it." - -"No, I suppose not. I think it rather a pity, you know; because I'm -sure you'd have no difficulty afterwards." - -"A willna!" - -"Perhaps if I were to hint that you were thinking about it----" - -"Ah weel, ye might do that now. Look here ma wumman. Why can't ye -introduce me yersel'?" - -"Oh I couldn't. People would want to know what you were to me----" - -"I'm your paymaster." - -"Oh how can you say such things!" - -"Because I am." - -"Yes I know you are: but you needn't say it out so bluntly. I'll tell -you what I might do. You be at the tea-place in Piazzer Dispaggner -every afternoon from four to five. I'm sure to come in to-morrow or the -next day with a few friends; and, if you were to bow to me, I might -recognize you and ask you to our table." - -"Wumman A'll dae't. Who pays for the tea, though?" - -"Sometimes I do; and sometimes whoever I come with." - -"Well then I'm coming. And I'll let you know to have a good blow out, -plenty o' scones and bit-cakeys an' a' that. I'll pay; and I don't mind -if it costs me three shilling, so long as ye introduce me to some of -these mashers." - -"Very well. But remember, you're thinking about becoming Catholic." - -"A'm not." - -"Dear me, Mr. Sant, but you must be. Then they'll take an interest in -you and ask you to their parties." "Ah weel then, I am." - -"Who _is_ this Mr. Sant?" said a Pict to an Erse (who called himself -"The" before his surname). The italicized question was asked at a -reception in Mrs. O'Jade's flat on Palazzo Campello, about a fortnight -after the previous confabulation. - -"I really don't quite know, beyond that he's a friend of that Mrs. -Crowe who was converted the other day." - -"Is he a convert too?" - -"No, not yet: but they say he's likely to be. They're both Liblabs, you -know." - -"Oh, yes of course, I read about them in the papers. What a score it -will be for the Church! Well, what do you make of him?" - -"Oh he seems earnest enough: but he's hardly got a word to say for -himself. And I don't think he's quite a gentleman, you know." - -Hadrian sat at the end of one of His long bare tables. On both sides -of Him were two great numbered baskets. At the other end of the -table was a huge leathern sack containing the pontifical mail. At -the sides of the table stood the two Gentlemen of the Apostolic -Chamber with stilettos. The Pope unlocked the sack; and Sir John and -Sir Iulo in turn drew out a handful of letters and displayed them -before Him. He scanned the handwriting of each; and named a numbered -basket into which the designated missive was cast. When the sack was -empty, the contents of the baskets were dealt with. All the letters -in the first were addressed "To His Holiness the Pope, Prefect of -the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition." Hadrian took the stiletto -from Sir Iulo; and slit open each envelope which Sir John presented. -Thus they were returned to the basket, and sent to be perused by the -Cardinal-Secretary-of-State. The two gentlemen seated themselves at the -table: cut-open the envelopes of the second basketful; and pushed them -within the Pope's reach. These were addressed in known hand-writings. -Hadrian read the letters, and sorted them in separate heaps before Him: -each heap was weighted by a miniature ingot of pure copper, the colour -of which He immensely admired. Two letters were placed face downwards -by themselves. The envelopes from the third basket were opened, and -the letters extracted by the gentlemen: Hadrian only looked-at and -arranged them. The fourth basket contained newspapers, which Sir John -opened and examined for marked paragraphs. If any such were found, Sir -Iulo folded the paper open and placed it: otherwise the paper was torn -and returned to the basket. Meanwhile the Pope more closely inspected -the letters which He had retained. The gentlemen placed a couple of -phonographs on the table: inserted new cylinders; and retired. Hadrian -got up and locked the doors. He took the little heaps of letters from -under the ingots; and spoke into the machine formal acknowledgments of -receipt and a short blessing, or definite instructions for detailed -responses, until all had received attention except the two letters -which lay by themselves, and three others. He unlocked the door. The -gentlemen entered; and carried the instruments with the articulate -cylinders to Cardinals Sterling, Whitehead, Leighton, della Volta, and -Fiamma, who acted as pontifical secretaries in the ninth antechamber. -Hadrian Himself wrote to His well-beloved son William, to His beloved -son Edmund Earl Marshal of England, and to His beloved son A. Panciera. -These being enclosed and addressed, He was left alone. He took the two -remaining letters to the easy-chair by the window; rolled and lighted a -cigarette; and considered them. - - "Reverend and Dear Sir, - - Since our late esteemed interview when I had the pleasure of - addressing your lordship on the subject of Socialism I have been - anxiously awaiting the favour of an acknowledgment of same. In case - the subject has slipped your memory I should remind you that I - informed you previously on behalf of the Liblab Fellowship that we - were not averse to give our careful consideration to any proposal - that you may see fit to make, with a view to co-operation with us - against the horde of cosmopolitan gold-pigs who monopolise the means - of existence production distribution and exchange in order to procure - a complete change in the entire social organism. I am quite at a - loss to understand on what grounds you have not favored me with a - direct reply unless there is anything on which you would like farther - explanations, in that case I will be most happy to call on you per - previous appointment for which I am now waiting at the above address - neglecting my business at considerable expense and inconvenience - to myself which a man in my humble position compared with yours - (!) cannot be expected to incur and common courtesy demands should - be made good. I therefore trust that in view of the not altogether - pleasant facts that are in my possession your lordship shall see fit - to send me a private interview at your earliest convenience. Hopeing - that I will not have occasion to feel myself compelled to proceed - farther in this matter if you leave me no option but to do so, and - assuring your lordship that your valued instructions as to time and - place of meeting will have my fullest and promptest attention. - - I remain Sir, - - Yours truly, - - Comrade Jeremiah Sant. L.F. - - P.S. Perhaps I may mention by way of hint that we might be able to - come to some arrangement for our mutual advantage not altogether on - the above lines, and I beg to advise your most reverent lordship that - I would be willing to meet your wishes if the terms are suitable. - Asking to hear from you soon and hoping that any misunderstandings - may presently be cleared up. - - J.S." - - "Dearest dearest Georgie - - For although you have no more the old sweet name my heart is ever - faithfull and will not let me call you by any other. Does it not - remind you of that day of long ago when the floods were out in the - meadows and you and I and Joseph were coming home from the Bellamys, - and you lifted me in your strong arms and carried me through the - water that covered the path. How Joseph laughed. He never thought - it worth his while to take care of me as you did. But I knew that - it was because you loved me and my heart went out to you then and - never has been my own since. If only you knew how deeply I regret - the unpleasantness which arose since then I think you would pity me - a little. Georgie do forgive me. It is my love which made me mad. I - hate myself for what I did and would give the world to undo it. I was - a mad fool then. I did not know what I was doing or how you would - take it so seriously. Georgie you were always good and I was wicked. - But haven't you punished me enough. Think of what I have suffered all - these years apart from you. Every time you have refused to notice me - has been like a stab in my heart. Georgie take pity on me. Do you - know that I watch your window every day and watch you walk about the - town. Several times you have brushed against me in the street without - knowing it for I will do nothing to damage you any more, dearest - Georgie. I know very well that ladies are not admitted to your palace - for I have had myself made a Catholic in order to get a little nearer - you, but all priests have housekeepers. Georgie do let me come and be - your housekeeper. I promise on my word of honour that I will serve - you faithfully in any and every way. We might be so happy. Nothing - would give me greater joy than to work my fingers to the bone for - you. Georgie do believe me when you see how I am willing to humiliate - myself so for you. Of course I never speak of our former relations - except that I say I knew you slightly when Joe was alive. But as for - love I never mention it for it was nipped in the bud by my wickedness - and never has been anything but a trial to me, and I should not wish - my love to do you any harm. Don't think that last sentence means - anything spiteful, it is not so indeed but I know you distrust me. I - only mean that it would be better for both of us if you would not go - on being so cruel heartless dreadful and neglectful of - - Your devoted and distracted - - N. - - P.S. I have a suspicion that the man who is with me is no friend of - yours. Georgie, be wise and let me see you at least and tell you what - I suspect. It is only your welfare I have at heart, don't refuse me - Georgie don't." - -Hadrian read these letters through two or three times, noting the -yapping and the yowling of the one, the panting and the whining of -the other, the barking of both. He turned to the window and looked at -nothing until He had finished His cigarette. His thin lips stiffened -in scorn and drew downward into the straight inflexible line. His -impulse was to make an end of the male animal in a tank of aquafortis, -if such a convenience only had formed part of the pontifical -paraphernalia: as for the female, he remembered George Meredith's -sentence, and would have liked to squeeze all the acid out of her at -one grip and toss her to the divinities who collect exhausted lemons. -The next minute, "The dogs, the dirty abject obscene dogs." He spat -suddenly; and carried the letters to the safe in the bedroom where He -locked them up. He prohibited Himself from taking further note of them. -He was conscious that this course was quite wrong. But there it was. He -had a busy afternoon before Him; and He diligently read in His breviary -to prepare for Himself a convenient frame of mind. Pursuing His policy -of emphasizing the difference between the Church and the World, He -had summoned the generals of religious orders. To each of these He -wished to say some words of admonition, words which would remain in the -memory, and be passed from mind to mind, from mystic to thyrsos-bearer, -from general to postulant. He rather enjoyed the sticking of labels on -people and things now, because He could do it to some purpose. On the -other hand, He had a feeling that He only was touching surfaces. Still, -here and there the surface might be soft and capable of receiving -impression: or here and there might be a crevice or a gap which He -could fill with a cartridge. Somehow, anyhow, His words and acts must -be made to penetrate to the roots of things, to influence fundamentals. - -At fifteen o'clock He mounted the small throne. One by one the -generals passed into the Presence: heard apostolic words; and passed -out again--Servites, Premonstratensians, Augustinians, Cistercians, -Carthusians, Oblates, Marists, Passionists, Carmelites, Dominicans. -To the General of Trinitarians, He commended Africa; and ordained -that twenty friars should preach as of old in the market-places -of England, Canada, and Australasia, for African missions. To the -General of the Order of Charity, He would not say anything at present -concerning the condemned Forty Propositions: but He would say Love your -enemies the Jesuits, and "turn not away thine eye from the needy and -give none occasion to curse thee." To the General of Benedictines, He -gave command to keep his monks in their monasteries, and to prohibit -them from appearing in the correspondence-columns of newspapers, -either under their religious names or their renounced secular -styles. He reminded the Minister-General of Capuchins of the second -minister-general, the apostate Ochino, who had preferred worldly things -and had preached polygamy; and also of the fact that playing fast and -loose with worldly things continued to produce apostate Capuchins. To -the Minister-General of Franciscans, He commended Asia; and ordained -that fifty friars should preach as of old in the market-places of -England, Canada, and Australasia, for Asiatic missions. Then He shewed -the grey scapular and cord which He was wearing next to His skin; -and asked that the brotherhood should name Him to Blessed Brother -Francis as a little brother who was not gay but sad, not lively but -weary, and who had but little love. Hadrian, as Brother Serafino of -the Third Order, kissed the Minister-General's naked feet, and begged -a blessing. Returning to the throne, the Supreme Pontiff imparted -apostolic benediction. And Brother Peter Baptist went out into the -noisy antechambers with his clean bright face all-glorious, and light -in his serene blue eyes. The Prepositor-general of Jesuits entered -with ostentation of the knowledge that, if Hadrian the Seventh was the -English White Pope, he himself was the English Black Pope. He had that -benevolently truculent manner which women deem adorable. As he made his -obeisance, Hadrian noted a little lacquered snuff-box in his hand and a -frightful bandanna oozing from the pocket of his cassock. His Holiness -instantly carried war into the camp, by reminding Father St. Albans of -the bulls of Urban VIII. and Innocent X. which prohibit snuff-taking on -pain of excommunication. - -"No doubt those bulls are obsolete: but Your Reverency will have the -goodness to abstain from practising the filthy habit in Our Presence." - -The sallow General pocketed his snuff-box; and produced the stony -mild smile which is used upon eccentricity. The Pope remarked that -the Company of Jesus appeared to be in a verisimilar position to the -Wesleyans, in that they had departed a very long way from the will -and spirit of their founder. He used His slowly biting monotone, -because He wished to save this General the trouble of misunderstanding -Him. He said that, with the word "Borgia" and the word "Nero," the -word "Jesuit" perhaps was the eponym for all that was vilest in the -world. That was very undesirable. Not that the good opinion of the -world was desirable. Far from that. But Christians ought not to enjoy -anything, not even an evil reputation, under false pretences. He -wished to do something to rectify the erroneous opinion which the -world had formed about the Company of Jesus, to straighten-out the -tangle, correcting and directing; and, as men were wont to judge more -by actions than by words, He did not propose to beat the air with vain -expostulations, explanations, expositions of virtue, and so forth. -It had been done a thousand times before. Historic calumnies had -been refuted from pulpits and in pamphlets with unanswerable logic: -but still the man-in-the-street said "Jesuit" when he meant "a foxy -wolf." The Pontiff was not going to try to persuade the world away -from its nonsense. He wished the Company of Jesus to give the world a -proximate occasion of persuading itself. Therefore, He proposed to the -General, in private, a return to the observance of the good old rule -and a cultivation of the saintly spirit of St. Iñigo Lopez de Recalde. -He wished the Jesuits to reconsider their position, as it were: to -surcease from the--not always mortally sinful--not always tangibly -illegal--but perhaps--generally shady transactions---- - -The General interrupted. He was prepared to bully. - -Hadrian froze him with a glance of blazing supremacy. "Make no -mistake," the Pope said: "We are not intending Ourself to punish your -Company, nor to degrade your Companions who so diligently degrade -themselves, nor to confer fictitious and unmerited importance upon -you by decrees of dissolution or suppression. We do not forget the -badness of the agents in the goodness of the cause nor the goodness of -the cause in the badness of the agents." He was looking through His -all-observant half-shut eyes straight at the bridge of the General's -fine nose. That is the most exacerbating form of regard: for, while -it holds the hearer rigid and intense, it effectually prevents -retaliation. Much may be done with the eye in wordy warfare. You may -challenge: you may intimidate: you may quell: but you may do none of -these things while your opponent refuses to lend his eye to yours. So -this sleek General found. The Pontiff held him with an eye which gazed -so nearly into his, that he perforce was obliged to lie in wait for the -flicker when his own could seize it. Hadrian knew the dodge. He had not -watched and dichotomized men and Jesuits from the observatory and in -the dissecting-room of His loneliness during twenty years for nothing. -At the end of His sentence, His gaze swept right away. He rose and went -to the window. Looking out over the roofs of Golden and Immortal Rome, -He continued in a milder tone, "We have cited Your Reverency only to -hear Our paternal chiding of your naughty ways, to the end that ye may -amend the same, returning of your own free will to the observance of -the spirit as well as of the letter of those rules of life and conduct -which your Father, St. Ignatius, made for you." - -He paused. The General, who would have preferred wheeling manure in a -barrow at the behest of a novice (A.M.D.G. of course) to listening to -this rodent exhortation, took it that the audience was ended; and made -shift to get on to his knees. - -But the Pope went on. "For, it is of the nature of all human things -to deteriorate; and ye have made yourselves a scorn and hissing among -men. The _Nouvelle Revue_ states that ye are in great decadence. The -statement may be one of your own devices for distracting the attention -of the world from your nefarious machinations. Or it may be a fact. In -both cases it is damnable and damnatory." He paused again. - -"Jube, Domine, benedicere," the General intoned, with a determination -to force the apostolic benediction, and to get back to the Via del -Seminario as soon as possible. He felt that he had some very important -things to say to his socii. - -But the pitiless voice probed him again: "Wherefore We admonish you -that ye set your house in order while ye have time." - -The General's oval jaw took an extra lateral crease. His hands twitched -and pattered down and up and down in a talpine manner. Suddenly the -inflexible fathomless eyes flashed on him. Axioms like sleet tersely -lashed him. - -"Remember that ye only exist on sufferance. Dismiss delusions; and see -yourselves as ye really are. Strip, man, strip. Search out your own -weaknesses: lest, not the Father but, the Enemy discover the sores, and -the diamonds, which ye are hiding. For ye do not merit the reputation, -which is associated with your name, on the strength of which ye trade." - -The glossy black priest jerked to his feet: genuflected; and was -backing from the white Presence. The Pontiff, whose mood had become -quite pythian, stepped up to him, laying a firm hand on the bow of the -ribbons of his ferraiuola. "Wince not, dear son. Three-fourths of you -trade upon the reputation of your Company for cunning and learning. -One-fourth of you is the Christians of the world. At least be frank -with yourselves. Let us have more of the flower of your Christianity. -Let us have less of your false pretences. Your erudition is showy -enough. Oh yes. But it is so superficial. Your machinations are sly -enough. Oh yes. But they are so silly. Ye are not geniuses. Ye are not -monsters either of vice or of virtue: but only ridiculous mediocrities, -always pitifully burrowing, burrowing like assiduous moles, always -seeing your pains mis-spent, your elaborate schemes wrecked, except -sometimes, when--to complete the metaphor--quite by accident, ye chance -to kill a king. This is not to the Greater Glory of God. Then stop. -Stop, here and now." - -They were by the door. The Black Pope had one hand under the blue-linen -curtain, and was fumbling for the handle. The White Pope quickly -clinched His admonition. "Don't pretend to be Superior Persons. Don't -give yourselves such airs. Don't gad about in hansom cabs quite so -much. Don't play billiards in public-houses. Don't nurture jackals. Try -to be honest. Don't oppress the poor. Don't adore the rich. Don't cheat -either. Tell the truth: or try to. Love all men, and learn to serve. -And don't be vulgar." - -Father St. Albans had got the door open. He looked like a flat female -with chlorosis. He was green and quite speechless. But he bowed -profoundly as the decurial chamberlains came forward to escort him -through the antechambers. - -"Benedicat te Omnipotens Deus.... Go in peace and pray for Us," purred -the Supreme Pontiff, rubbing His left hand with His pocket handkerchief -and returning to the window. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - -Hadrian was mooning about in the Treasury one morning, wondering why -people will persist in using diamonds by themselves instead of as a -setting for coloured gems: grieving at the excessive ugliness of most -modern goldsmiths' monstrous work: turning with disgust from huge -brazenly vulgar masses of bullion shaped like bad dreams of chalices, -pyxes, staves, croziers, mitres, tiaras, dishes, jugs, (not beds), -and basons. He bathed in the beauty of sea-blue beryls, corundrums, -catseyes, and chalcedonyx. A vast rose-alexandrolith mysteriously -changed from myrtle-green to purple as He turned it from sunlight to -candle-light. He moved to a great round table-moonstone, transparent -as water one way: brilliantly clouded with the ethereal blue of a -summer-morning sky, the other. These two stones had not the blatant -ostentation, the inevitable noisy obviousness of rubies, emeralds, -diamonds and pearls. They were apart, chaste, recondite, serene, and -permanent. He enjoyed them. His glance again passed over the flaring -cupboards. A plan began to crawl out of one of his brain-cells. He -took the alexandrolith and the moonstone in His two hands; and sat -down profoundly meditating, gazing into the lovely silent mystery in -the stones. So He sat for half-an-hour, while His plan unfolded its -convolutions. To Him entered Cardinal Semphill, rather ruddier than a -cherry, carrying the day-before-yesterday's _Times_. "Holiness," he -said with some animation, "I hope I don't interrupt You. Thank God -we've got a King of England at last!" He read from the paper, "'The -King's Majesty has been graciously pleased to send autograph letters -to all the European sovereigns and prime ministers inviting them to -assemble with the President of the United States and the Japanese -Emperor at Windsor Castle, in order to concert measures for terminating -the present lamentable condition of affairs.'" - -"That explains the length of the Japanese Emperor's visit to England, -and Roosevelt's arrival last week. Yes, it's very king-like. -Statesmanship is all very well up to a point. Then, its force seems to -fade; and kingship's chance comes. Lucky England to have a real King!" - -"I thought Your Holiness would be pleased. And now what will be the -outcome?" - -"Who knows?" Hadrian thought for a minute; and then mounted an -imaginary pulpit, and preached like a purposeful literary man. "First, -they'll quarrel terribly for certain: because five of them are distinct -entities, and the others (the nonentities) out of sheer terror will -make themselves a nuisance. Secondly, when the nonentities have been -reassured, or squashed, the five entities will have to reach a common -ground. If they do that, We shall be very much surprised. Thirdly, -supposing an agreement to have been reached, Their Majesties and the -President will have to get it constitutionally confirmed. Autocracy is -supposed to be dead; and the usual constitutional farce will have to be -performed." - -"Why do You say 'autocracy is supposed to be dead,' Holy Father?" - -"Oh because the euphuism 'constitutional monarchy' has taken its place. -The twentieth century doesn't like the word Autocrat; and pretends that -the thing does not exist. But it does: not in the old hereditary form: -but Aristos, the Strong Man, invariably dominates. It's in the order -of nature. And Demos likes him for it, only the silly thing won't say -so. That's all. Semphill, you might send a marconigraph to the Earl -Marshal. We require news of this Congress of Windsor at least once a -day." - -The Pope returned the gems to the beneficiato in attendance: took the -_Times_ with Him and went across the basilica into the gardens. A -tramontana bit Him to the bone; and He tightly wrapped His cloak round -Him, facing the wind and the blinding glare of the sun. He briskly -walked a couple of miles, until blood-warmth stung his mind into -activity. By Leo IV.'s ruined wall, He met Cardinal Carvale engaged -in a similar exercise, his delicate cheeks fervid and flushed, and -his grave eyes blazing. Good priests generally retain their bloom -through the full five-and-forty years of youth. Hadrian invited his -companionship and conversation for the return to Vatican. They were -a pair, these two medium-sized slim athletic men, the one in white -and the other in vermilion, both very brilliant in the sunlight, with -vivid aspect and vivid gait. They looked like men who really were -alive. Their discourse was just the vigorous rather epigrammatic talk -of wholesome well-bred men. As they turned into the court of the -Belvedere, His Eminency said "Oh, by the bye, Holy Father, perhaps I -ought to tell you that they cannot understand at St. Andrew's College -why You never have been to see them." - -"But you understand:" Hadrian promptly put in. - -"Well--yes:" the cardinal responded. In his candid gaze there was -intuition, sympathy--and something else. - -The Pontiff read it. "When did they tell you that?" - -"Yesterday." - -"Oh. Do you often go there?" - -"About once a fortnight, Holiness." - -"Carvale, do you like going there?" - -"--Yes, on the whole I do. The youngsters are glad to see me; and the -older men" (a radiant smile disclosed his exquisite teeth as he spread -an arm)--"they like vermilion to take note of them. And I think it does -my soul good" (he spoke gravely) "to visit the old place. I put it -off as long as I could: I would have been glad to forget the horrors. -Strange to say, I forgot them after I had been there a few times." - -Hadrian's heart informed Him. He understood it all quite well. "Carvale -let us go to St. Andrew's now. We can get there in time for dinner." - -The cardinal instantly looked happy; and the two continued to walk -swiftly through the City, going by Tordinona, Orso, Piazza Colonna and -the Trevi Fountain. As they passed the crucifix at the corner of an -alley, Hadrian bowed. His Eminency did not. "Why don't you salute our -Divine Redeemer?" the Pope inquired. - -"Well of course I always raise my hat to The Lord in the tabernacle -when I pass a church----" - -"And you bow to Us, and even to Our handwriting: but---- Listen, -Carvale: 'It is idolatry to talk about Holy Church and Holy Father, to -bow to fallible sinful man, if you do not bend knee and lip and heart -to every thought and image of God manifest as Man----' Is that explicit -enough? Well; it was a protestant parson who wrote it--one Arnold of -Rugby." - -"He was right, Holiness;" said the cardinal turning back and bowing. - -They walked on in silence. The Pope was doing a thing which He could -not away with. It might be thought that He, a former student, was -come to the college (which had expelled Him) to swagger. Of course it -would be thought. Let it be thought. Then the hateful memory of every -nook and corner, in which, as a student, He had been so fearfully -unhappy, surged in His mind: the gaudy chapel where He had received -this snub, the ugly refectory where He received that, the corridor -where the rector had made coarse jests about His mundity to obsequious -grinners, the library where He had found impossible dust-begrimed -books, the stairs up which He had staggered in lonely weakness, the -dreadful gaunt room which had been His homeless home, the altogether -pestilent pretentious bestial insanity of the place--He knew and winced -at every stone of it; and wrenched Himself from retrospection. They -were going up the narrow Avigonesi. Fifty yards in front, a double file -of students in violet cassocks and black sopranos preceded them. A -little group of ragamuffins shouted cattivi verbi at the file; and one -caught hold of the conventional sleeve of a student's soprano which was -streaming in the wind. Cheap cloth rent at a tug. The ragamuffin rushed -off with his spoils. But the bereft one furiously followed: retrieved -his streamer; and clouted a head which howled, resuming his place in -the camerata all unconscious that his act had been observed. - -"History repeats itself:" the Pope said, and laughed. - -Carvale smiled in reply. "Fancy remembering that." - -"We forget no one thing of those days," said Hadrian: "also, the rape -of Your Eminency's streamer was effected on one of the only two days -when We were permitted to accompany the others to the University. -Naturally We remember that. Besides, Carvale, you were in such a blind -and naked rage; and We had deemed you such a virtuous little mouse." - -"Was I?" the cardinal said. "One had to lie low, as a rule: but -sometimes the old Adam----" - -"We owe Our one moment of mirth in St. Andrew's College to that old -Adam." - -"I had to keep in coll. for a week though, afterwards. The boy's father -was waiting for me with a knife." - -"Yes. Italy had not got over her taste for steel." - -"Will she ever get over it, Holiness?" - -"Of course She will--when She has killed you--or Us. Nothing but a -tragedy will break a habit of centuries:" the Pope said, as He rang the -bell at the door of the college. - -The old porter Aurelio opened, gasped, dropped on his knees. Hadrian -and Cardinal Carvale entered. A long corridor extended right and left. -In front, on the right, a wide stone stair ascended: on the left, -another stair descended a little way to a glass door leading to a -shabby shrubbery. Some students were on the stairs: others were in the -shrubbery: two or three lingered in the corridor. At the Pontiff's -entrance they all inquisitively turned, gasped, and flopped. It was -awfully funny. They resembled violet hares on their forms, rigid, -goggle-eyed, ready-to-bound. At the turn of the landing, a sturdy -black-a-vised Gael fled upstairs to summon the superiors. The Apostle -blessed the others with a shy smile which would be kind, and a wave of -the hand which emptied space,--except for an obese little spectacled -sharpnosed creature like a violet sparrow who hopped about pertly -obsequious. Down came flying the superiors as a bell began to ring and -intonations sounded in the upper corridors. The rector was annoyed at -being taken unawares: but he presented his vice-rector, a mild anemic -of thirty with the face of a good young woman. - -"We are come to accept your hospitality, Monsignore, without any -ceremony," said Hadrian. They passed into the refectory to the high -table. Twenty-nine students followed: and arranged themselves in two -lines down the sides of the centre, and in a third line across the end. -The dean-of-students intoned the Grace: the rest responded. The Pope -placed Himself on the rector's right, with the vice-rector on His Own -right: Carvale supported the rector on the left. Soup, boiled meat, -vegetables, baked-meat, cheese, apples, appeared and disappeared. -The rector conceded to Hadrian the right of signalling to the reader -in the pulpit: the Pope kept him reading, because He did not want to -talk platitudes, and because He did want to look at the men. He ate -little. The food was abundant in quantity: indelicate in quality. -They offered Him the best black wine from the college-vineyards: but -He preferred a student's little cruet of red, a coarse wine with some -body and no bouquet whatever--an unsophisticate wine such as Fabrizio -Colonna might have used at the end of the fifteenth century. Most of -the diners assiduously and emphatically dined, with one eye on the -high table, a nose in their own plate, and the other eye in their -neighbour's. Hadrian noted all their physiognomies; and began to -select those with whom He would have a word. He passed the weak young -thin-nosed dean at the top of the right table, the tall quiet man in -black who looked already sacerdotal, the old bald amiability with an -air of conventionality who might have been a parson,--yes He would -speak to him of the others,--the blubber-lipped gorger who mopped -up gravy with a crumb-wedge and gulched the sop--no: the fastidious -person who ate bread and drank water and looked so hungry--yes: the -florid giant with the fiery wiry mop--no: the dark man with the cruel -face of a Redemptorist--no: the sallow lath who had the manners of an -attaché--no. On the left, colourless mediocrities--no. Across the end, -youngsters:--His Holiness distinguished a black-haired white-skinned -one with wet black eyes, certainly an Erse: a crisp-brown-haired -muscular hobbledehoy with shining grey eyes and a tanned skin, who -would look well in a farm-yard: a big bloom of boyhood yellow-haired, -blue-eyed, scarlet and moist-lipped, ardent and modest. The Pope tapped -on the table. The reader, to whom no one had listened, ceased; and came -down to his dinner. A low murmur of conversation arose. Everybody began -to think furiously of what he would do or demand if he had a chance. - -"This is a great day for the college, Holy Father," the rector said. -The Pope slightly bowed. "Had we known that You intended to honour us, -Holy Father, a proper reception----" - -"Unnecessary," Hadrian quietly interrupted. "We do not wish to disturb. -Our children expect to see Us; and We are here to be seen. They all -shall be able to say that they have seen and heard and handled Us, if -they please." He spoke lowly, and (the rector perceived) unwillingly, -but very officially. They were eating wind-fallen apples. The rector -offered an enormous silver snuff-box. Hadrian passed it to the -vice-rector, who took a pinch with blushing alacrity. It went the round -of the tables; and returned on the rector's left. Hadrian carefully -noted the takers. Some took snuff perfunctorily, some customarily, -others horribly. The fiery wiry giant stood up and ostentatiously -absorbed it with a cringe to the high table. Those to whom the Pope was -resolved to speak took none: the fastidious person disdained it. The -meal was finished. The students ranked for Grace; and all proceeded -to the chapel to visit The Lord in the Sacrament. After five minutes' -silent prayer, they emerged on the first corridor. There seemed to be -uncertainty: the men congregated on the descent expecting directions. -In the ordinary course of things, some would be going to Propaganda for -lectures; others, to their own rooms for study or siesta: but, for the -next few moments, perhaps a dozen would enjoy horse-play in the shabby -shrubbery. A group of the last collected at the stair-head, by the -reception-room (with the red-velvet settees and the sham Venetian glass -chandeliers), into which the rector was endeavouring to entice the -Pope. But Hadrian was looking at the students, mischievously smiling -at them. "It is to be hoped that you are not going into the garden to -murder a cat:" He said. - -Everybody instantly became as red as a scalding-hot capsicum, some -with shame, one with disgust, others from sheer fear. Church-students -easily are frightened, because there generally is less grace than -nature in them; and you only have to disclose a knowledge of the latter -for them to desire (as phrenetically as possible) the predominance of -the former. This makes for uneasiness, often for hypocrisy--in both -cases, for mental and corporeal effort and a sudden flux of blood to -the extremities. - -"To murder a cat, Holy Father?" the vice-rector ejaculated. He was -responsible for discipline. - -"Yes. They used to murder stray cats here, just to pass the time. We -have seen it. The one thing, which We remember in connection with -your shrubbery, is a rush of ramping infuriated boys with spades and -pitchforks, chasing and smashing a poor stray cat. We can see the -horror now, with its broken back, and one eye hanging out on its -whiskers. We can hear its dreadful heart-rending yells. Boys, don't do -such things--to cats of all creatures!" - -He spoke with fervence. Some savages wondered what the blazes He was -driving at. There was a little silence. No one seemed to know how to -break it. Then the sparrow-like student appeared with a red chair -which he had taken the liberty of extracting from the reception-room; -and dragged it behind the Pontiff at the stair-head. It was a welcome -interruption. Hadrian sat down; and dismissed Cardinal Car vale -with the superiors. He was going to have the college to Himself for -half-an-hour. The improvised throne stood alone in the bare corridor: -the students clustered up the stairs below it. Hadrian perceived the -inevitable odour of hot boy. He produced a sentence wherewith to -address them. - -"Dear children," he said, feeling as old as Methuselah for the moment, -"do learn to love: don't be hard, don't be cruel to any living -creature." And that was all. - -He beckoned the dean who came and kneeled before Him: laid His hand -on the young man's head; and blessed him. The others followed in -rotation. In a secret voice, He invited each one to ask a favour. Most -asked Him to pray for them and held up their beads for a blessing: some -asked for the apostolic benediction in the hour of death for themselves -and their relations: the fastidious person asked for nothing. - -"Nothing?" the Pope whispered. - -"Nothing." - -"Nothing?" (very tenderly) - -"Everything, O Sanctity:" the stoic responded with a sob and a stony -glare. Hadrian inquired for the number of his room; and put a similar -question to the other four whom He had noted. When He had blessed all, -He sent them away, and sat alone for a minute or two. Then He went to -visit the big boy: who looked at Him bravely, with tearful innocent -eyes. To Hadrian, it was wonderful to see this great virile virgin -of nineteen. He elicited a not unusual and simple tale: a little -Gaelic farm, always Catholic through all persecutions, the third of -eight sons, the Vocation at twelve years of age, the mother wanted to -confess to her own son. It was idyllic. It would come exquisitely in -the objective bucolic manner of Theokritos. The long shapely limbs -trembled before Him; the grand shoulders bowed. He gave the boy His -Own white sash as a present for his mother: bade him be a good priest; -and left him wallowing in happiness. Hadrian stopped in the corridor, -disappointed because the lad came from a farm: He had placed him beside -the sea, and had conceived a mental image of him, bare-legged, in a -blue guernsey, at the rudder of a fishing-smack. But the next, the -muscular hobbledehoy, really did come from a farm: his skin had the -unmistakable tan of the sun on a wheat-field: and his front was bovine. -So was his manner. He was so frightened by the importance of his -visitor that he spoke with surliness, and in the voice of a child of -thirteen. Hadrian was astonished at the discrepancy between the voice -and the speaker: He made him less uncomfortable by substituting an -official manner for His friendly one (which the hobbledehoy could not -understand) asking his name and ordinary questions about his status and -addressing him as Mr. Macleod. It was a magnificent animal, incapable -of the finer sentimental emotions, likely to conceal fat in a cassock -(or in corduroy, if on a farm) before the age of thirty. Privately the -Pope wondered what in the world was the sign of this one's Vocation. -He Himself could perceive none: but then He was inexperienced; and the -youth was secretive. Hadrian tried to draw him out. Was he happy? Oh -yes. Did he want anything? Oh no. To what diocese did he belong? To -Devana. When did he expect the priesthood? A look of wild terror came -into the grey eyes. Hadrian perceived a clue; and pressed on, repeating -his inquiry. "I never will be," the creature shrilled. - -"Why not?" - -No answer: but a rush to the bedside and a face hidden. Hadrian took -him by the shoulders, and made an act of will. "Why not?" - -"I cannot:" and then the fountains of the great deep were discovered. -His veneer of English peeled off: he spoke with the sibilate dental, -the clipped deliberation of the Gael. No one ever had told him. He -did not know till a month ago. No one knew. He had not mentioned it -to his confessor, because it was not a sin. He read of it in Lehmkuhl -and Togni. He would be obliged to go back and work on his uncle's farm -where he had been brought up. They belonged to the Free Kirk there. He -was an orphan. It was his uncle by marriage. Hadrian looked steadily -into his eyes: - -"Is this the truth, as though you were speaking before kings?" - -"It wass the truth ass though she wass speaking pefore kings," the -response came in the strongest form of asseveration known to a Gael, -deliberately selected and offered by Him Who knew so little, and so -much of so many little things. Hadrian comforted him; and bade him pack -his bag. His secret was safe. Vatican was the place for him, until some -sort of useful happy life could be planned for him. - -The Pope very slowly went-up the last two flights of stairs to the top -corridor. No man can come into a human tragedy without some vibrance of -sentiment; and Hadrian's senses, keen by nature, were intensified by -art. He entered the room of the black-haired Erse, who most certainly -had kissed the blarney-stone. Och! Blessins on the Howly Forther's -blessid head and might the howly saints receive Him into glory. The -Pope wrote a blessing in a garish birthday book; and got out of the -room as quickly as possible. That such a lovely bit of colour and -litheness should be so abject on the floor! His Holiness shut-down the -lid on memory; and knocked at another door. - -"Come." - -He entered a large bare square room with a window which displayed the -City from the Quirinal to St. Peter's. He noted the bed, the chest of -drawers whose top was arranged as a dressing-table, the writing table, -book case, and two chairs. A bath stood under the bed; and there were -two large tin cans of water against the wall. The fastidious inmate -offered a chair; and remained standing in the Presence. Hadrian signed -to him to be seated also. - -"Dear son, you are one of the unhappy ones. Will you tell Us your -grief?" - -"Sanctity, I have not complained." - -"No. But, complain." - -"I will not complain." The Pope liked him for that; and for an air of -distinction which was not breeding. Dialectic should be tried. - -"How old are you?" - -"Twenty-nine." - -"In which month were you born?" - -"In July." - -"In England?" - -"In England." A rapid horoscopical calculation let Hadrian know the -lines on which to proceed. - -"You find your environment disagreeable?" - -"All environments are more or less disagreeable to me." - -"All which you have tried up to the present, perhaps. Perhaps the -future may be more propitious." - -"Sanctity, I earnestly hope so: but I do not expect it." - -"Why not?" - -"I do not know." - -"Don't you find that your circumstances influence your conduct? Don't -you find that they prevent you from doing yourself justice?" - -"Always." - -"In this college, you have found no kindred spirit?" - -"That may be my fault." - -"More likely your misfortune--and misfortunes are not faults, no -matter what fools say. Note that. Note also that misfortunes may be -overcome.--But, they do not understand you here?" - -"No." - -"They mock you?---- They do. Why did they mock you to-day?" - -"They did not mock me to-day." - -"Yesterday?" - -"Because I carry those two cans full of water up two-hundred-and-two -steps every day." - -"Do you mean to say that there are no baths in this college yet?" - -"We may have footbaths once a week, if we apply to the infirmarian. -There is nothing else. And I like to tub decently." - -"No doubt they say that you must be a very unclean person to need so -much washing?" - -"Sanctity, You are quoting the rector." - -The Pope abruptly laughed. "Have they ever put a snake--a snake--in -your water-cans?" - -"No they have not done that." - -"They did in Ours." - -The distance between the two now became considerably lessened. The -fastidious person began to feel more at ease. His fastidy evidently was -only a chevaux de frise for the discomfiture of intruders; and this -delicate tender inquisitor was no intruder, but a very welcome--Apostle. - -The Pope continued. "Isn't it very absurd?" - -"It is very absurd. Also, it is very disconcerting." - -"Of course you try not to let it disconcert you?" - -"I try: but I fail. My heart always is on my sleeve; and the daws peck -it. At present, I am trying to contain myself and to use myself in -isolation." - -"That they call 'sulkiness'?" - -"Yes." - -"How much longer must you remain here?" - -"Perhaps one year: perhaps two." - -"Can you persecute, can you hold out so long?" - -"Oh, I will hold out. Nothing shall deter me. Sanctity, it is not that -which makes me afraid." - -"Dear son, what makes you afraid?" - -"The afterwards. These people are to be my superiors or -equals--colleagues for life. I am not afraid of poverty or wickedness -among the people to whom I am to minister: but, my brother-priests--I -shall be at the orders of some of these people, my rectors, my -diocesans even. That makes me afraid." - -"Did you not know what kind of people----" - -"Yes, I did know: but I did not realize it till I came here." - -"Yet you choose to persevere?" - -"Sanctity, I must. I am called." - -"You are sure of that?" - -"It is the only thing in all the world of which I am sure." - -"Do you always live on bread and water?" - -"Yes." - -"Why?" - -"I think the food beastly. I have been into the kitchen; and I have -seen--things. I am afraid to eat anything except boiled eggs. They -cannot deposit--sputum inside the shells of boiled eggs. But the -servants complained of the extra trouble in boiling eggs especially for -me. The bread is not made in the college. In order not to be singular, -I eat and drink what I can eat and drink of that which is set before -me; and I am deemed more singular than ever." - -"Have you said this to the rector?" - -"Yes." - -"Do you like bread and water?" - -"I think them both exceedingly nasty." - -"Does it affect your health?" - -"Not in the least. It makes my head ache. But I am as strong as a -panther." - -"Why 'panther'?" - -"I really don't know. It seemed to be the just word." - -"And you believe that you are able to go on?" - -"I intend to go on." - -"You know that this college is not the place for you?" - -"I suppose not: but my diocesan sent me here; and I intend to serve my -sentence." - -"Dear son, what is your ambition?" - -"Priesthood." - -"With a small patrimony, you would be on a more satisfactory footing -here; and afterward you need not take the mission oath. The mere -fact of the possession of a patrimony would purchase courtesy and -consideration for you during your college-life: and would give you an -opportunity of cultivating your individuality independently when you -reach the priesthood." - -"Oh, yes. But I am a church-student." - -"So were We." - -"And Your Sanctity persevered?" - -"Yes." - -"So will I." - -"What is your name?" - -"William Jameson." - -Hadrian took a sheet of paper and wrote the apostolic benediction to -William Jameson. "You will like to have this? Persevere, dear son; and -pray for Us as for your brother-in-the-Lord. And--do you know Cardinal -Sterling? Well: come to Vatican whenever you please and make his -acquaintance. He will expect you. Good-bye. God bless you." - -The Pope went down to the bald old amiability, who was correct and -mild enough in expressing a profound sense of the honour. Hadrian -spoke to him of himself; and found that a public-school, university, -and Anglican parsonage, had dulled what capability of emotion he ever -had had, or had taught him the rare art of self-concealment. He was -a capital specimen of the ordinary man, stinted, limited: one whose -instinct prevented him from asserting an individuality. But he was a -gentleman; and a Christian of a kind, actuated by the best intentions, -paralysed by the worst conventions. - -"We wish to speak to you of Jameson:" at length the Apostle said. - -"Ah, poor fellow!" - -"Now why do you say that, Mr. Guthrie?" - -"Well, Holiness, I'm afraid he's in a most uncomfortable position. I'm -sure this is not the place for him. You see he doesn't get on with the -men." - -"Does he quarrel with them?" - -"Oh, dear me no! But he avoids them." - -"Perhaps he has his reasons." - -"Well, I'm afraid he has. But then it doesn't do to shew them. I often -tell him so--try to chaff him into a more come-at-able frame of mind, -you know, Holy Father." - -"That hardly would be the way." - -"No I'm afraid it wasn't. He's so very sensitive, you see. Why he -actually got quite angry with me." - -"What did he say?" - -"Well, he said that he really did think I ought to have known better." - -"And what did you say then?" - -"Oh I called him a----but I couldn't possibly tell You what I called -him, Holy Father." - -"Why not?" - -"Well really it was too dreadful. I've been regretting it ever since." - -"What did you call him?" - -"Oh it's quite impossible that I should repeat it to You, Holy Father. -I should never be able to hold up my head again." - -"Nonsense, Mr. Guthrie. We desire to know it." - -"I'm sure I don't know what You'll think of me, Holy Father: but the -fact is I went so far as to call him a--no, really I cannot--well--I'm -sure I can't think what possessed me to use such an opprobrious term -but I was excessively annoyed You see at the moment and the word -slipped out before I was quite conscious of what I was saying----" - -"What did you call him?" - -"Well really if You must have it, Holy Father, I called him a Goose!" - -"Oh.... And what did he do to you?" - -"Burst into a roar of laughter and shut his door in my face." - -"Did you feel pained?" - -"Well perhaps just a little at the time: but not when I came to think -it over. You see I really can't help feeling sorry for him." - -"Why?" - -"Well because really he must be very unhappy, You know, Holy Father." - -"In your opinion, Mr. Guthrie, he himself is the cause of his own -unhappiness?" - -"Quite so, Holy Father. You see he doesn't seem to be able to rub along -with the other men. He can't come down to their level so to speak. He -keeps himself too much to himself: won't or can't conciliate the least -little bit. Of course they all think it's pride on his part; and they -pay him out with practical jokes of a rather doubtful kind I'm afraid. -He's good and kind and clever and all that sort of thing: but he hasn't -the slightest idea of making himself popular as a church-student -should be among church-students. You see, he's what I may call (if I -may be quite frank about him) such a Beastly Fool. The rector doesn't -like it I'm sure." - -"Then perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the fault is not so -much in the man as in his environment?" - -"That's what I've always said, Holy Father. His present environment -is quite unsuitable for a man of that kind. He must find it extremely -unpleasant." - -"Mr. Guthrie, won't you try to make it more pleasant for him? Bear -with him: defend him: don't seem to form a party with him against the -others: but don't give the others the idea that you approve of their -attitude to him. Will you do as much as that?" - -"I'm sure I'll do anything in my power, Holy Father." - -"That at least is in your power.--God bless you." - -The Pope went on to the reception room to fetch Cardinal Carvale. Not -to neglect the superiors, (although He was very tired) He allowed them -to show Him rather dubious and very ugly treasures; and tolerated -half-an-hour of vapid conversation. They thought Him so nice. He was -bored to death. After conferring the usual favours, He obtained a whole -playday for the college: notified the rector that He was carrying off a -student: arranged for Mr. Jameson to visit Cardinal Sterling; and took -His departure. He put His acquisition into a victoria, and bade him -drive to the obelisk in St. Peter's Square. - -"Dreadful place!" Hadrian ejaculated to Carvale as they turned down -Tritone. "Do you think you could make it decent if you were rector?" - -"I would try, Holiness." - -"Well: We do not see how We can make you rector, because of Monsignor -What's-his-name. But you might do something as protector----" - -"Gentilotto is protector, Holiness. St. Andrew's is subject to the -Cardinal-Prefect of Propaganda." - -"Only for the present, Carvale. You will find that dear old Gentilotto -is quite willing. And you yourself are a Kelt. Yes, that's right! -A Keltic college should have a Keltic protector. Carvale, you are -Protector of St. Andrew's College from this moment, and you shall have -your breve directly We get back to Vatican. Now, first of all, go to -Oxford and ask Dr. Strong to put you up for a week in coll.: and keep -your eyes open. Do that with your first spare fortnight. Then come back -and turn your rivers Peneios and Alpheios through that Aygeian stable. -Give them baths and sanity, for goodness' sake; and try to get them -into cleanly habits. You might make that shrubbery into a gymnasium -and swimming bath with a lovely terrace on the top. And, O Carvale, do -make friends with them, and see what you can do to take that horrible -secretive suppressed look out of their young eyes. Understand?" - -"I think so, Holiness." - -"We give you a year. If We live as long as this day twelvemonth, We -will go again to mark your progress. Remember, you have a free hand. -Now here's something else. Tell Sterling that a--but no--We Ourself -will tell him." - -At the obelisk they picked up Hamish Macleod. Hadrian marched him -straight up to the quarters of the gentlemen of the secret chamber. Sir -John and Sir Iulo, stripped to the buff were punching a bag. - -"John," said the Pope, "Mr. Macleod will be your guest for the present. -Get him a room near your own and make him comfortable." He drew the -young man outside while Sir Iulo was lavishing his lovely English on -the visitor. "And John, reorganize his wardrobe on the scale of your -own; and teach him your business." - -To Cardinal Sterling, who came to the secret chamber, Hadrian explained -the case of William Jameson. - -"You have your opportunity," He said to His Eminency. - -"And one will not repeat one's previous mistake, Holiness," was the -remarkable and thankful reply. - -"No, for mercy's sake, don't. And now listen. The Treasurer will pay -you on this order the sum of £10,500. You will invest it in the Bank of -England on these terms. The transaction is to be secret. The interest -on £10,000 is to be paid quarterly to William Jameson as long as he -lives. On his death the capital is to revert to the Treasurer for the -time being of the Apostolic See. Instruct the bank instantly to send -£500 and the vouchers to Jameson, with a statement that it is his -patrimony; and to give him no further information." - -Then Hadrian shut-up Himself and rested, smoking and reading the -_Reviews of Unwritten Books_ in some old numbers of the _Monthly -Review_. One of them caused Him to think. It was called _Thucydides' -Report of Pericles' Oration at the Incoronation of King Edward the -Seventh_. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - -Jerry Sant gnawed his rag of a moustache for a fortnight or so, till -it was dripping and jagged. He began to have a notion that Mrs. Crowe -would like to have him elsewhere. That did not disturb him: for he -knew that he always could compel her services, when he wanted them, by -means of a pull on the purse-strings. The mildly elegant exiguity of -the circle in which she moved, had no attraction for him. There were -not many saxpences there; and he felt out of his depth in a company -which he could not lead by the nose. "In the kingdom of the blind, the -one-eyed man is king." He knew himself to be "a one-eyed man"; and, in -the kingdom of the Liblabs, he naturally had been one of the kings. -Here, among the English and Keltic Catholics in Rome, he was no more -than tolerated--and awfully worried by people who offered him tracts, -of which, for the life of him, he could make neither head nor tail. -Further he really seriously was annoyed that the Pope had not accepted -his handsome offer--had not even answered his letter. He thought it -most rude. It is a fatal and futile thing to leave letters unanswered, -especially impertinent letters. Silence does not "choke off": in -ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it breeds bile which is bound to be -spurted sooner or later. It is a poor kind of a man who cannot indite -a letter which is a guillotine, a closure about which there can be no -possible mistake. By this means, uncertainty and its vile consequences -are prevented. Hadrian perfectly knew how to deliver Himself. His -faculty for finding-out other people's thumb-screws had provided -Him with blasting powder, if He had desired to be dynamic; and He -possessed Bishop Bagshawe's celebrated three-line formula, which never -has been known to fail of throttling an importunate correspondent. But -He no more could have touched Sant, even with a letter, than He could -have touched tripe with tongs. His feeling for the man was ultimate -antipathy, which led Him to commit the common error of ignoring what -ought to have been annihilated. Hence Sant's sense of spleen. Finally -Jerry had the Liblabs to keep quiet. Those extraordinary persons -were asking for something definite in the shape of news; and he had -no news at all to give them. That was the worst of it. Soon, some -treachery or other would be hatched against him behind his back, in -the most approved Liblab manner: he would be asked for explanations, -for a statement of accounts: he would be hauled over the coals, and -so on:--oh he obviously could not let it come to that. He must make -a fresh effort. The time had come for playing his next card. And for -three days he sat at the Hotel Nike, writing press-copy. - -It was the Cardinal-Secretary-of-State who did himself the pleasure of -acquainting the Holy Father with the result of Jerry Sant's manœuvre. -His Eminency, on the whole, never had had a more congenial duty to -perform in all his life. He swirled into the Presence one evening at -dusk when Hadrian was waiting for the lamps, sitting by the undraped -window watching the dark figures passing over the grey square and the -specks of yellow light springing in the houses of the Borgo. Ragna -brought a newspaper which he thrust into the Pope's hands. - -"See what a scoundrel you are!" he truculently snarled. "Fly! All is -discovered! The _Catholic Hour_ is exposing you finely!" - -"Oh," said Hadrian, unimpassionately turning from the window, and -speaking with extreme frigidity. - -"Light some candles, please." He took the paper: put up His left -hand to shade His eyes; and looked at the sheet. As He read His -pontifical name and His secular name, His blood began to tingle: for -He still loathed publicity. As He read on, His blood began to boil. -It was a frightful tale which He was reading--frightful, because He -saw at a glance that it was quite unanswerable. It was unanswerable -because there are some things of which the merest whisper suffices -to destroy--whose effect does not depend on truthfulness. It was -unanswerable because it was anonymous. It was unanswerable because He -never could bring Himself to condescend.... Who could have attacked -Him with such malignant ingenuity? The names of half a dozen filthy -hounds occurred to Him in as many seconds: but He was not able to -recognise any particular paw. He read on. He was conscious that His -face was a-flame with indignation: but it was in shadow. Coming to -a clear chronological error, He chuckled. That taught Him that His -voice was under control; and He remembered that the invidious eyes -of Ragna were upon Him. From time to time thereafter, He produced a -short contemptuous word or laugh by way of commentary as He came to -excessive absurdities; and, so, gradually He possessed Himself again. -Thus, He skimmed the article. At the end He looked up at the cardinal. -"Yes," He said, "We appear to be a very disreputable character. Now -We will go through the thing again, and note the actual errors of -fact." He returned to the top of the first column: and began to read -more analytically. In progress, He counted aloud "One, two,"--up to -"thirty-three absolute and deliberate lies, exclusive of gratuitous or -ignorant mispresentations of fact, in a column and three-quarters of -print.--Well?" He inquired, with a full straight gaze at the attendant -cardinal. - -"What are You going to do now?" - -"We will ponder the matter which Your Eminency has submitted to Us; and -at a convenient time We will declare Our pleasure. The paper may be -left with Us. Your Eminency has permission to retire." Ragna strode -towards the door. At the threshold, he turned and bayed, "Abdicate!" - -"No: We will not abdicate," said Hadrian. - -The Secretary-of-State rushed away. As he went swishing, snarling at -all and sundry, through the antechamber where the gentlemen were in -waiting, Sir Iulo suddenly shot-out his arms straight and rectangularly -level with his shoulders, swung-up a stiff right leg in a verisimilar -fashion, rigidly sank on his left toes till he sat on his left heel, -recovered his first position with a jerk, changed legs and repeated -the performance with the right. It was done in a second of time; and -his white teeth glittered in a grin as his muscles relaxed. There are -few more nerve-shattering spectacles than this of a lithe and graceful -young gentleman in scarlet behaving, without any warning whatever, -exactly like a monkey on a stick, manifesting the same startling -descendent and ascendent angularity, the same imperturbable inevitable -intolerable agility. Cardinal Ragna denounced him as a devil where he -stood; and swirled away in a vermilion billow of watered-silk. - -As soon as He was left alone, Hadrian made the very firmest possible -act of will determining neither to bend nor to break. This done, He ate -His supper with careful deliberation; sent-away the tray; and ordered -a large pot-full of black coffee. Then He locked all doors and allowed -Himself a period of disintegration preparatory to redintegration, a -period of slackness preparatory to intensification. Now He severely -suffered. He read the article on the _Strange Career of the Pope_ again -and again, till His head swam with the horror of it. This was the -worst thing which ever had happened to Him. His previous experience -of newspaper libels was as nothing in comparison. All through the -bitter bitter years of His struggle for life, He had known Himself for -a fighter. As a fighter, He had expected blows in return for those -which He gave. And, when all was said and done, his fighting had not -been to Him a source of unmitigated pain. For one thing, He had had -pleasure in knowing that He scrupulously fought unscrupulous foes, that -He fought a losing battle, that he fought a million times His weight, -that He fought bare-handed against armed champions all the time. That -knowledge it was--the knowledge that He had contended (not as a hero -but) as heroes have contended--which alone had upheld him. And now---- -But this---- It depicted Him as simply contemptible. Inspection of -the image of Himself, which the _Catholic Hour_ with such ferocious -flocculence delineated, brought Him to the verge of physical nausea. -But it was not true, real. It was not Himself. No, no. It was an -atrocious caricature. Oh yes, it was an atrocious caricature. Everybody -would know it for that---- Would they? How many had known the previous -libels for libels? How many had dared to proclaim the previous libels -for libels? One--out of hundreds.---- Oh how beastly, how beastly! He -read the thing again;--and dashed the paper to the ground. If it only -had made Him look wicked--or even ridiculous! But no. He categorically -was damned, as despicable, low, vulgar, abject, mean, everything which -merited contempt. Only a strenuous effort kept Him from shrieking in -hysteria. "God, God, am I really like that?" He moaned aloud, with -His palms stretched upward and outward and His eyes intent in agony. -He lost faith in Himself. Perhaps He was such an one. Perhaps His -imagination after all had been deluding Him, and He really was an -indefensible creature. It was possible. "Oh, have I ever been such a -dirty--beast. Have I?" He moaned again. And then all the being of Him -suffused--and whirled--and outraged Nature took Him in hand. The blow -to His self-respect, the shattering onslaught on His sensibilities, -were more than even His valid virile body could bear. He lay back in -His low chair; and swooned into oblivion. - -After the lapse of an hour, He began to revive. It would appear that He -instantly knew what had happened: for He staggered to the open window -that the cold night air might reinvigorate him. Full consciousness by -slow degrees returned; and, with it, some measure of serenity. He took -up the argument at the point where He had left it. - -No: He was not like that. Before Jesus in the pyx on His breast, He was -not like that. So He gradually calmed Himself. He had done desperate -deeds and foolish deeds: but never ignoble deeds:--stay:--once:--that -had nothing whatever to do with the present matter: nor was that one -ignoble deed ignoble in the esteem of anyone except Himself: it was -"smart" or "clever" in mundane phraseology: no one had been injured -by it: it had been atoned-for: but, according to the ideal code which -He had made for His Own guidance, it was ignoble. However it was not -known, except to Himself, and God, and His angel-guardian: it was not -even known to His confessor, for it was not even a venial sin. Well -then---- No. No. He had not merited the gibbet of the world's contempt. - -Who had gibbeted Him? - -He very carefully read the paper again. Who in the world could have -collected such a mass of apparently convincing evidence? He was -beginning to study the question from His usual stand-point of personal -unconcern. His own written words were cited in proof of the allegations -here made against Him. He knew them for His own written words. Who in -the world so ingeniously could have distorted their signification: -so skilfully could have mispresented Him? At some time in His life, -He (perhaps inadvertently) must have trodden upon some human worm; -and the worm now had turned and stung Him. He sought for a sign, a -trace;--and found it---- Of course;--and the motive simultaneously -leaped to light. It was payment of a grudge, owed to Him by a detected -letter-thief, a professional infidel, whom He had scathed with barbed -sarcasms about ten years ago. There was something more than that. -Again He studied the paper for corroboration. How came the _Catholic -Hour_, of all papers, to publish a denunciation of Him? He noted that -the _Catholic Hour_ pretended its denunciation as being copied from -the _Devana Radical_. And the letter-thief resided at Devana; and -engaged in job-journalism: also, he had access to more than much of -the information here misused. Not to all of it though. Here and there -in the article, Hadrian's literary faculty enabled Him to perceive a -change of touch. Here and there were technical opinions and technical -modes of expression which could not have emanated from that one. Who -was responsible for these? The Pope, of all men on God's fair earth, -was qualified to recognize "the fine Roman hand"--the fine Roman hand -at least of one of His Own contemporaries at St. Andrew's College, -whom He had afflicted with a ridiculous label, a harmless jibe simply -composed of the man's own initial and surname joined together:--the -fine Roman hand of a pseudonymous editor with whom He had refused to -have dealings. Yes, and there too was the obscene touch of the female. -"Spretae injuri formae" over again! - -At last, He summed up:-- - - Material Cause. Information, possessed (the gods knew by what means) - by the detected letter-thief and the female. Opinions, collected from - (perhaps proffered by) Spite desirous of stabbing Scorn in the back. - - Formal Cause. Calumny, that is to say Slander which is False. - - Efficient Cause. The pontifical treatment of the representatives of - the Liblab Fellowship now in the City. - - Final Cause. (_a_) Intimidation. (_b_) Revenge. - -It was as clear as day-light. - -Hadrian sat back in his chair; and blamed--Himself. His mind went -straight to the root of the matter. It was His Own fault. He had -not loved His neighbour. He had been hard, unkind, austere. He had -cultivated His natural faculty for rubbing salt upon His neighbour's -rawest and most secret sore,--salt in the shape of biting words, -satire, sarcasm, corrosive irony, labels which adhered. But, He had -done this when fighting, stark-naked and alone, against long odds! -No matter. It was part of the struggle for life! No matter. But He -would have been killed--not metaphorically but--literally killed, long -ago---- How did He know that?--Like all men, He had been trusting in -Himself, not in the Maker of the Stars. As a matter of fact, He did not -and could not know.--In His Own eyes, as His Own judge, each point of -His defence failed. He pleaded guilty. He had not loved His neighbour. - -His soul fled up to the divinities who severely sit upon the awful -bench: but there was no solace to be obtained from them. He took the -beautiful crucifix from His neck: the pyx from His breast: laid them on -the table; and kneeled before the Sovereign of the seraphim. He made -an act of contrition. He acknowledged His sin: acknowledged that He -had merited condign punishment. He very humbly thanked God for giving -Him His punishment in this world. "O that my lot might lead me in the -path of holy innocence of thought and deed, the path which august laws -ordain, laws which had their birth in the highest heaven, neither did -the race of mortal man beget them, nor shall oblivion ever put them -to sleep: for the Power of God is mighty in them," He prayed, in the -verses of Sophokles. - -He sent for His confessor. - -It had been a dreadful experience. He was conscious of having been -shaken seriously. He felt quite old. His youth and strength, His -nerve, seemed to have been torn-out of Him. The world seemed to have -slipped-away from under Him. Yes--the world---- How should He meet the -world?--With equanimity and fortitude. What should He say and do? -Nothing.... Nothing.... - -His confessor arrived; and He confessed that, since His last confession -on the previous day, He had been guilty of the sin of anger. Also, He -renewed His sorrow for a sin of His past life. He had not loved His -neighbour. The bare-footed friar absolved Him; and commanded Him to -say, for His penance, one mass for the present and eternal welfare of -all whom He had offended. - -Hadrian laid-open the _Catholic Hour_ on a table where it was not -concealed and whence it would not be removed: tried to turn away His -thought and to leave the incident behind Him. That the effect of it -would become manifest, that the memory of it would recur, He knew: but -neither memory nor effect ever should delay His progress. He spent the -rest of the evening in meditation on the future. At bed-time He did -not go down to St. Peter's: but said His prayers by His bedside with -child-like simplicity and feebleness. And care-dispersing sleep lit on -His eyelids, unwakeful, very pleasant, the nearest like death. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - -In the morning, Hadrian summoned Gentilotto, Sterling, Whitehead, -Carvale, della Volta, Semphill, Van Kristen. He fancied that the -gentlemen-of-the-chamber curiously eyed Him. That was so. He guessed -in a moment that now He always would have to stand the fire of curious -eyes, to overhear the ostentatious whispers of people who wished to be -known for nasty thinkers--of people who wished to see the Roman Pontiff -wriggling on a white-hot gridiron. Very well. He would stand fire: -perhaps, up to a certain point, He would answer questions of general -(but not of particular) interest. But there should be no merely human -contortuplications. - -Their Eminencies came into the throne-room, where the Pope was sitting -rather rigidly in a hieratic attitude, His hands on the arms of the -chair, His feet and knees closed, His back straight and His head erect. -He was a shade more pallid than usual. They each paid their respects in -a different manner. Gentilotto's mild pure visage expressed compassion -mingled with a sense of personal injury. The assailants of the Pope -also had wounded him. Sterling's dark face was locked-up with the look -of one who is determined to be righteous under all circumstances, -while willing to forward to the proper quarter a recommendation to -mercy on behalf of the prisoner at the bar. The Cardinal of St. -George-of-the-Golden-Sail contained himself in personal innocence -which precluded him from prancing to believe in the guilt of others. -Della Volta's pose indicated ordinary but sympathetic curiosity. -Carvale was white, and Semphill was red, with impatient indignation. -Like Gentilotto, they both were hurt by the attack on their superior: -but they were up in arms. Van Kristen was very very sad. His great -melancholy eyes swam in a mist of commiseration; and Hadrian noted -that his lips rested just an instant longer than usual on the cold -pontifical hand. - -Chamberlains placed stools for the cardinals and retired. The Pope -began to speak in His usual swift and concise tone. By way of -emphasizing the essential difference between the Church (a purely -missionary association) and the World, He had determined to disperse -the Vatican treasures. This was not at all what Their Eminences had -expected to hear; and they were rather taken aback. Hadrian gave them a -moment; and then went-on. - -"Does anyone know whether dear old Cabelli is Minister of Public -instruction now?" - -Della Volta gave a negative. - -"So much the better, because he will be at leisure to do Us a favour. -And now" (His Holiness directly addressed the last speaker) "We -place this matter in Your Eminency's hands. You shall have a breve -of commission; and this is what you will do. First, you will collect -Cabelli and Longhi and Manciani as your board of advisers. Secondly, -with their assistance, you will procure the services of the chief -experts of the world--say five. Thirdly, you will cause these five -experts to estimate the maximum and minimum values of each separate -piece in the treasury. This list of values you will submit to Us. -Fourthly, you will have the pieces arranged, (and the arrangement -must be indicated on the list of values,) in three divisions, the -historic, the artistic, and the merely valuable on account of weight or -character. Fifthly, you instantly will publish everywhere a note to the -effect that the sale at fixed prices of these things will take place -here from the first to the sixth of January following." - -He paused: for He saw that people wanted to speak. He conceded the word -to Gentilotto. - -"Has Your Holiness considered," said the Red Pope, "that most of the -treasures are consecrated to the service of the Church?" - -"Yes. We also have considered that the Church exists for the service of -God in His creatures: that She does not serve either by keeping pretty -and costly things shut-up in cupboards: that the Church which set these -things apart by consecration, also can restore them to usefulness by -desecration. Technically things consecrate can become desecrate by -tapping them with intent to desecrate: We soon will descend to the -treasury; and will tap all the sacred things into gems and bullion." - -"That can be done;" the Cardinal-Prefect of Propaganda said. His heart -pulled him one way: heredity and ecclesiastical prejudice, the other. - -"There is one thing which I think it right to mention," put in della -Volta: "the present officials of the treasury, and the buildings:--what -will become of them?" - -"The officials will continue to enjoy the stipends of their benefices. -They will have other and more useful occupation than the furbishing of -plate provided for them. As for the building--when the cupboards are -empty they will be removed; and, the treasury being no longer there, -the building will remain the sacristy." - -"I should like to get a word in edgeways if I may;" said Semphill. -"Doesn't Your Holiness think that the Italian Government will -interfere? Isn't there some law which prevents works-of-art from going -out of Italy?" - -"We should like to see the Italian Government interfere with Us:" -Hadrian responded with a strong and illuminating smile. "The Italian -Government is neither a Fenian nor a fool." - -"No, but----" the cardinal pursued. - -"Your Eminency need fear no opposition from that quarter." - -"Is nothing to be exempted from this sale?" Sterling thoughtfully asked. - -"There will be some exemptions." The Pope turned to Cardinal della -Volta. "You will reserve one silver-gilt chalice and paten for every -priest in the palace: one silver-gilt pyx for every tabernacle; and one -plain set of pontifical regalia which We will indicate to you. Nothing -more. Hereafter, the court can use ornaments which are the private -possessions of individuals." - -"I must say that I think the pontifical regalia deserves a better fate -than conversion into bullion and gems," said Gentilotto. - -"Nonsense," the Pope sharply retorted. "The pontifical regalia is not -sacrosanct like the Carthaginian zaïmph." The frayed edges of His -nerves shewed themselves. - -"I concede it," the cardinal admitted. - -Hadrian rose. "We have summoned the Sacred Consistory for to-morrow -morning, when We will issue Our decrees in this matter." - -Semphill no longer could contain himself. He exploded with "Of course -Your Holiness has seen the _Catholic Hour_?" - -Hadrian thought that He particularly liked this cardinal to-day for -some reason. Yes of course, His Eminency looked better during Advent. -The ordinary vermilion made his chubby rubicundity appear too blue. -That was the reason. - -"Oh, yes:" the Pontiff replied. - -"Well really I never read anything more abominable in my life!" - -"Nor did We." - -All the cardinalitial eyes were directed toward the Pope. He remained -standing on the step of the throne; and seemed to be changing into -alabaster. Semphill lashing himself to fury, continued "I should like -to think that something will be done about it." - -"So should We." - -Semphill prolapsed and stared. "But surely Your Holiness will do -something?" - -"No." - -"What? Not answer them?" - -"No." - -"One would have thought that there would be some canonical means of -bringing the _Catholic Hour_ to book for aspersions against the Pope:" -Sterling said. - -"There is the bull _Exsecrabilis_ of Pius II. But it is not the Pope -Who is aspersed. It is George Arthur Rose:" imperturbably said Hadrian. - -"That's drawing it rather fine:" Whitehead said, looking up for the -first time. - -"Fine enough:" Carvale put in, with appreciation of the distinction. - -"Excommunicate the editor, printer, and publisher, by name, I say!" -ejaculated Semphill. - -Sterling went on, "One finds it difficult to understand what can have -persuaded the _Catholic Hour_ to insert----" - -Hadrian interrupted, "Just ask yourself this. Is it likely that an Erse -periodical,--and, when We say an Erse periodical, We mean a clerical -periodical, (for, according to McCarthy, the Erse clergy hold the -Catholic press in the hollow of their hand,)--is it likely that an Erse -periodical, which has the infernal cheek to dub itself the 'Organ of -Catholic Opinion,' and which once called Cardinal Semphill a--what was -it, Eminency?--ah yes, 'a scented masher,'--could be expected to forego -an opportunity of increasing its circulation at the expense of the -Vicar of Christ?" - -"Oh very good indeed!" exclaimed Semphill, with a hearty reminiscent -shout of laughter. - -"But, Holiness," Sterling gravely continued, "one knows that the -statements are not true. One knows that the article mispresents You -entirely." - -"They are not wholly true; and the article entirely mispresents Us." - -"One would recommend that that should be made known." - -"It is known. Hundreds know it. They are not prevented from saying what -they know.--If they dare." Hadrian came down from the throne. A grey -shadow hardened the sharpness of the face. The brows and the eyes were -drawn into parallels, the latter half-shut; and the thin lips were -straight and cruel. Their Eminencies mindfully retired. Van Kristen -lingered till the others were gone. "Holy Father," he said, "I guess -that You're feeling it about as bad as the next man?" - -Hadrian pressed the slim brown hand, on which the cardinalitial -sapphire looked so absolutely lovely, - -"Perhaps, Percy:" He said. - -"I think I won't go back to Dynam House this fall," the cardinal -continued. "They can do without me, Holiness. If I'm any good to You -here, I'm no quitter so long as my eyes remain black." - -"You always are good and useful to Us, Venerable Father," the Pope very -stiffly said, as He quickly passed through the curtains of the secret -antechamber. - -Now the world had something to talk about beside the chances of -universal war, and the inferiority of the present Pope. When the -dispersal of the treasures of the Vatican was announced in the Sacred -Consistory, five cardinals walked straight out to swear, four burst -into tears, eight spoke their minds quite freely and (in the case -of two) at the top of their voices, and the rest were dumb. Ragna, -Berstein, Cacciatore, and Vivole came to the conclusion that Hadrian's -new move was a pontifical red-herring intended to divert the scent from -the newspaper-calumnies against George Arthur Rose. They went about -trying to make people see the thing from their point of view. Kelts -and Catholics throughout the world set up howls; and compared Hadrian -to Honorius to the advantage of the latter. "From a Catholic point of -view," wrote one clerical gentleman (who in youth, as an attaché in -Paris, had been known as La Belle Anthropophage), "it is impossible to -blame Hadrian too severely." He was ruined, they said with unctuous -rectitude; and He was going to sell the Vatican Treasures in order to -provide an iniquitous provision for a disreputable and private old age. -Naturally they judged by their own standard. All Catholics do. - -The Liblab Fellowship congratulated itself on the possession of such -a Fellowshipper as Sant. His diplomacy was thought cute. Socialists -hourly expected to hear that the Scarlet Unutterable, in sheer despair, -had asked to be allowed to seek a refuge in their ranks. Jerry Sant -sat-up all night at the Hotel Nike, in case the Pope should be moved to -escape from a throne which had been made too hot for Him. In the event -of such an escape, of course "His Most Reverent Lordship" would come -and try and make peace with them as He had put to so much unnecessary -trouble and expense. So the Liblab cut and dried his plans. He would -administer the oaths to God's Vicegerent: take His entrance-fee and -annual subscription in advance; and admit Him as a Fellowshipper. -Then, as His senior comrade, He would order Him back to Vatican to -use His popery for carrying out the schemes of Labor against Capital. -Incidentally he would take the opportunity of transferring some of the -pontifical capital from a man as didn't to a man as did deserve it. -However, Jerry gave himself two sleepless nights for nothing. He would -have been better, though perhaps not quite so comely, in bed. And then, -on the third day, Mrs. Crowe rushed in, displaying a tantrum which was -a blend of joy and hate and fear. - -"I suppose this is your work, Mr. Sant?" she said, bringing a cutting -from the _Catholic Hour_ out of her chain-bag. - -"Imphm," Jerry grinned like an oblong gargoyle. - -"Oh how could you say such things about Him! I do think it shocking of -you!" - -"Wumman, hae ye nat telled me maist o' they things yersel'?" - -"Yes of course. But I never thought you'd put it all in the papers." - -"A havena pit them a'. There's a plenty more--if He hasna had His paiks -yet." - -"O but I'm sure He has, I expect you've simply stunned Him." - -"Maybe I have." - -"Haven't you heard from Him yet?" - -"A havena. A'm expecting to hear the now." - -"Mr. Sant if you've killed my George I'll--I don't know what I'll do: -but I'll never forgive you." - -"Hech wumman, that won't kill Him: but it may make Him a bit sore and -I'll let you know that He'll come here for His plaster." - -"I don't mind Him being sore. He deserves it after the way He's behaved -to me. But----" - -"Now just you tak' yersel' away. I can't have you messing about here -when Rose comes. When I'm through with Him I'll forward Him to you. So -you be off with you." - -"Clumsy beast!" said Mrs. Crowe to herself when she stood in Two -Shambles Street again. "You'd much better have left it to me to -arrange. I shouldn't be surprised if Georgie did something desperate -now. It 'ld be just like Him. And I believe I could have coaxed -Him----" She hailed a victoria; and drove to St. Peter's Square to have -another look at the window. - -The Pope gave the holy order of priesthood to Cardinal Van Kristen on -Innocents' Day. His Holiness felt that the sacerdotal prayer of so -innocent a one would benefit all. The English and American invasion of -Rome beat the record for the winter season. At a carp-and-punch supper -at Palazzo Caffarelli on Christmas Eve, it was remarked that the City -just then contained all the world's multimillionaires. If war had been -carried on in the antique manner, _i.e._ for ransoms and spoils, and if -any power had possessed a sufficient military equipment, a new sack of -Rome would have been an exceedingly lucrative undertaking. However, as -it was, Rome sacked the multimillionaires. Despite the fact that the -coming spring was likely to see the dawn of Armageddon, an astonishing -number of people was unable to resist the temptation to purchase the -treasures of the Vatican. The list of prices assigned by the experts -had been submitted to Hadrian, Who struck the mean between maximum and -minimum, greatly to the disgust of curialists who (when once the idea -was grasped) were anxious to drive good bargains. They suggested an -auction, which the Pope incontinently refused, saying that He was going -to compete neither with tradesmen nor with brigands. He made it easy -for museums to acquire historic specimens: the merely artistic chiefly -went to private collectors; and the world acquired the valuables. The -collection of lace alone fetched £785,000; and the total takings, -amounting to four-and-thirty millions sterling, were deposited in the -Bank of Italy. - -Signor Panciera made it a great deal more than convenient to accept -another invitation to the Vatican. This time, it was a short visit -which he paid, and a fairly momentous one. The Pope did all the -talking. His Holiness spoke dryly and concisely from a sheet of -manuscript which He afterwards handed to the ambassador, and seemed -to be consumed by some internal fire, the signs of which appeared in -His white pain-drawn face. He said that He had noted with approbation -the scheme of Signor Gigliotti, by which innoculated convicts were -employed in the reclamation of malarious Apulia and Calabria. He wished -Italy to establish and endow farm-colonies in eucalyptus groves on the -Roman Campagna, where a wholesome and industrious life could be found -for inoculated boys and girls. He wished Italy to establish and endow -almshouses for old people, and free schools where handicrafts would be -taught to children. He wished Italy to establish and endow scholarships -for the study of Italian archæology, the idea being to foster a spirit -of enthusiastic patriotism, by excavating and studying and preserving -the buried cities and monuments and treasures of antiquity with which -the sacred and glorious and inviolate soil of Italy simply teems. -Lastly, He wished Italy to give rewards, say of a thousand lire in -cash to every man and woman between twenty and thirty years of age, -who had served one master or secular firm since Lady-day 1899, and who -cared to claim such a reward. To give effect to His four wishes, He -handed to Signor Panciera an order on the Bank of Italy payable to the -Prime Minister of Italy for the time being. The value of the order was -thirty-three millions sterling. It was an offering in honour of the -thirty-three years during which God as Man had laboured for the Love -of men. It was to be the nucleus of a national fund which was to be -called "The Household of Christ." This fund was to be administered, on -the lines stated, by one male member of the Royal Family of Italy, the -Prime Minister, and the Minister of the Interior for the time being, -and by nine trustees drawn in rotation from the list of nobles in the -Golden Book. The first of these twelve was to hold his trusteeship -for life, and was to be nominated by the King's Majesty within one -year from the present date. The second and third were to be ex-officio -trusteeships. Of the nine nobles three would retire each year; and -the next three on the roll would succeed them. No ecclesiastics were -to be concerned with the fund in any way, unless they were nobles -eligible for trusteeship, or unless they were paid servants appointed -as chaplains by the Trustees. Hadrian's particular desire was that the -"Household of Christ" should become in every sense a department of the -government of Italy. - -Signor Panciera came out reeling; and furiously drove in the direction -of Monte Citorio. Here, he picked up Signor Zanatello; and the two -carried their little basketful of news to the Queen-Regent in the -Quirinale. Eleven minutes in Her Majesty's music-room sufficed to -send the three quickly through the Hall of Birds, and upstairs to the -marconigraph office, by which means they announced the scheme to Victor -Emanuel at Windsor Castle. The Sovereign's reply was characteristically -Italian, and (therefore) splendid. - -"I add a million: the Queen adds a million: the Prince of Naples adds a -million: all sterling." - -The Prime Minister sent the nation's thanks and asked His Majesty to -nominate himself as trustee. He got this gorgeous answer. - -"The Trustees will be nicknamed the Pope's Twelve Apostles. The _Voce -della Verità_ and the _Osservatore Romano_ instantly would assign to me -the rôle of Judas." - -Signor Panciera sent this message "Sire, there was a thirteenth -apostle." - -The King retorted "But he was an after-thought." That made Queen Elena -laugh. The King continued. "Zanatello, take this money; give a receipt -in the name of Italy. The Queen-Regent will issue a royal decree -constituting the Household of Christ as a government department: I -nominate the Duke of Aosta as the royal trustee: this scheme is just -what Italy wants at this moment: give it effect at once." - -Zanatello implored His Majesty to become trustee. "No," came the final -response. "I will assist most strenuously in an unofficial capacity: -when there is room for a thirteenth apostle, I will perpend: meanwhile -I engage to double the fund within one year. The King of England will -assist." - -Hadrian first read about the acceptance of the gift to Italy in the -next day's _Populo Romano_--one of the most respectable papers in the -world, He used to say. He felt that He had achieved another step; -and instantly proceeded to the next. He summoned the Syndic of Rome, -and made over to him, as a free gift to the City, all the moveable -sculpture, paintings, tapestry, and archæological specimens then -present in the Vatican. Simultaneously, He canonized Dom Bosco and -Dante Alighieri and published the _Epistle to the Italians_. This -document was mainly hortatory, and directed against disbelief and -secret societies. He bade Italy to consider Herself as the temple of -art in Europe; and to set Herself, by the contemplation of masterpieces -of human workmanship already in her possession, or to be added to Her -possession by future discovery, to produce Herself as a country and a -people prepared for The Lord Who is Altogether Lovely. He spoke of the -"Mafia" with admiration and with horror. It was a brotherhood rather -than a society, He said. It was a brotherhood of individualists each -devoted to the service of his brother. Its essential virtues were -honesty, mutual help, self-restraint. Nothing could be better. But -the Devil had distorted the operation of so excellent a scheme. His -Iniquity tempted the "Mafiosi" not only to help each other in good -deeds, but in evil--chiefly in evil deeds. They murdered and screened -murderers; and forgot "Thou shalt do no murder." They robbed and -screened robbers; and forgot "Thou shalt not steal." They alleged that -Mazzini had welded them into a corporate body for political purposes; -and had given them for a motto "Mazzini Autorizza Furti Incendi -Avvelenamenti," from the initials of which phrase they drew their -corporate name. In place of that wicked and abominable sentence, He -gave them "Madonnina Applaude Fraternità Individualita Amore." Let the -Mafia flourish with that motto for its ruling principle. - -Italy was seeing the burden of poverty removed from Her children, -was seeing Her youth enabled to cultivate talents, was seeing the -honest labour of Her manhood and womanhood rewarded, was seeing refuge -and provision prepared for old age. Rome set herself nobly to work -at housing the treasures of art which Hadrian had given. Immense -and splendid palaces were planned for them and began to rise on the -Esquiline and Celian Hills; and the gracious forms of the old gods were -to stand beneath arcades of marble, white and pure as lilies without, -mosaic of bright gold within, amid the groves upon Janiculum. Honest -men came by their own. There were no unemployed. Consequently, no -hearts were soured while hands were used; and anarchy began to fade -away into the obscurity of bad old rubbish rejected. The _Epistle -to the Italians_ too! They were in the mood to listen to anything -and everything from that dear little piece of omniscient omnipotent -omnipresent aloofness whom they called "Papa Inglese." To the strong -and simple Italian temper, His words carried conviction by reason of -their own essential simplicity and strength. - -"He speaks like one's own conscience!" said Caio and Tizio and also -Sempronio. - -"Hearken and obey Him, then," invected Maria and Elena and also -Margherita. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - -Italy was not first in the heart of Hadrian. She was third. He served -Her, because He saw Her instant need. The second of His loved lands -did not know Herself to be in need of Him: hence, He offered Her no -more than courtesy. He did not want America to tell Him not to monkey -with the buzz-saw. And England was first. And what could He do for -England? The thought, that He might do something, alone sustained Him -now. Life among the millions of articulately-speaking men had become -an ever-present horror to Him. He frequently wondered what prevented -Him from hurling Himself from the windows on to the stones of Rome. He -actually sent for a case of safety-razors, and banished knives from the -pontifical apartments. "O for the wings, for the wings of a dove: then -far away, far away, would I fly." There was a boy named Roebuck who -sang that, in New College Chapel in Commemoration week five and twenty -years before. The golden voice, the incomparable young voice came back -to Him in Golden Rome where He was longing to be at rest. - -A scarlet arm held back the blue-linen curtain of the door, and -Cardinal Leighton entered. "I think we missed this, Holy Father," he -said, and offered a more-than-a-month-old copy of the _Catholic Hour_. - -Hadrian in a moment dragged Himself erect physically and psychically: -He took the paper and read: - -"We have received a long letter from 'D.J.' taking us to task for -exposing George Arthur Rose in a way which he calls 'savagely cruel.' -He says, - -'I thank God that I cannot appreciate the humour which speaks gaily -of a man enduring eighteen months of semi-starvation, and at the same -time struggling hard to earn a livelihood by his pen--for the honesty -of his strugglings I can vouch. Whatever his past may have been--and -I believe that your article is in the main erroneous--surely it is -better to leave it as past. As a convert, he had to endure for the -faith that is in him. Once before in his chequered career, at a moment -when he had a means of living by his own hands within his grasp, a -gratuitous newspaper attack snatched from him the support which he -had made himself to lean on. At the present time he is leading an -existence which is bitter enough to himself and quite harmless (not to -say beneficial) to others; and I feel compelled to tell you that I look -upon your onslaught as both criminal and disgraceful.' - -Another correspondent writes, 'I was much grieved at your article -called _Strange Career_ etc. in your issue of Nov. 18th because I am a -great admirer of some books which George Arthur Rose published before -he was made Pope. Those books did more to convert me to Catholicism -than any others and I am very sorry to read the account that you have -printed of their author.' - -Yet another correspondent writes, 'It may be well to inform your -readers that the Austin White who wrote the very offensive letters -headed _Rhypokondylose Religion_ in the _Jecorian Courier_ some few -years back is the George Arthur Rose alias the Pope of Rome about whom -your readers were so amply enlightened in the columns of your issue of -18th November.' - -In reply to 'D.J.' we may say that we hold in our hand a letter which -Rose addressed to an excellent priest in 1898. It concludes 'I regret -for your sake the exposure which inevitably must take place when her -brother-in-law, the bishop, becomes cognizant of the undue influence -which you use in order to embezzle these sums from Lady Mostingham. I -beg you to make amends and to withdraw from such degrading transactions -before it is too late.' If our correspondent 'D.J.' still thinks it was -not advisable for us to savagely and cruelly denounce the author of -that last letter, we can only say we differ from him." - -Hadrian read the screed with indignant scorn. It was the beastly -English of the vulgar thing, more than the vile sentiments expressed, -which put Him into such a violent rictus of contempt. He looked out of -the window at nothing for a moment, to conceal His disgust. Finding -that Cardinal Leighton waited, He controlled Himself; and turned round -with a gaze of frigid inquiry. - -"Yes?" He said. - -"'Would to Heaven that You would grant me a trifling favour,'" His -Eminency quoted in Greek. - -It was a most artful and invariably successful dodge to approach the -Pontiff in His favourite tongue. He recognized the quotation; and -capped it with the succeeding verse. - -"'Tell me as quickly as you can; and I at once shall know.'" - -"May I ask a question? Did You write that letter, Holy Father?" - -"Which? The last? Yes." - -"What did you know?" - -"Everything." - -"May I say that the amount of knowledge of men which You seem always to -possess is quite extraordinary:" said the cardinal, blinking. - -"No it is not. 'To those who indeed suffer, Righteousness bringeth -knowledge.'" the Pontiff quoted from Aischylos again. "'The greater -the detachment from the world, over worldly things the greater power -is gained,' some true poet sings. We never were 'a man among men.' We -had five senses and We used them. And all the men whom We ever met -habitually and voluntarily came and told Us their secrets. We never -sought them. They were laid bare before Us. And Our senses perceived -them. That is all." - -The pontifical voice was hard and cruel: the face was harder and more -cruel and also more terrible. The very Presence was like a candent -flame. Good honest innocent Leighton looked at Him as at something -inhuman: but he persevered. - -"Holiness, I want to go on. Do You know who wrote the other letters?" - -"Oh yes. D.J. was another 'excellent priest.' He was in philosophy when -We were in theology at Maryvale. Why you know him too, Leighton,--he -took his B.A. with Ambrose." - -"What, 'Gionde'? Yes, of course I knew him." - -"That's the man. We have not heard from him for years: but he evidently -thought it right to defend Us. Poor chap! A snub rewards him. The -_Catholic Hour_ 'differs from him.' ... A tipsy publican wrote the -second; and the third was written by a Jesuit jackal, in return for the -custom of, and most likely at the dictation of, the very detestable -scoundrel to whom We wrote the last." - -"What became of him? The bad priest I mean?" - -"He ruined himself, as We predicted. He persisted in his career -of crime till his bishop found him out. Then he was broken, and -disappeared--Maison de santé or something of that sort for a time. He's -in one of the colonies now; and he might have been---- Lord Cardinal, -We have said too much. It is not Our Will and pleasure to move in this -matter." - -"But the advantage I derive from hearing Your Holiness--if it is -not impertinent--Holiness, I venture to assure you of my eternal -fidelity----" Leighton stammered with emotion. - -Hadrian shewed him no face: turned to the window which displayed the -panorama of Intangible Rome; and presently was alone. - -"God! God!" He exclaimed, shaking the paper with -terrific violence. "Do you see this brutal cynical -unrighteousness--prejudged,--condemned,--the mere suggestion of defence -derided and fleered-at----in England, fair-minded England--England the -land of the free----" - -No: it was not England, but just a handful of the vicious vermin which -infest her. England--the word summoned Him to His apostolature again. -What was the mind of England now? That question occupied Him. He wished -that England would declare Her mind to Him through ambassadors, the -mind of the statesmen of England. He had no official acquaintance with -any one of them. He could not ask for England's confidence: for, being -English, He knew that asking slams the door. Humanly speaking, He had -nothing to guide Him in the cosmic crisis of the present, the crisis in -which He was certain to be consulted--as a last resort--but certain to -be consulted. Of that, He was convinced. A short calculation displayed -Jupiter passing through Aries, which signified immense benefit to -England. Oh, very good. Then what should be His course of action? -He got up and went round the room, looking at the maps and noting -them, until it seemed that His mental horizon expanded and enlarged, -and He had the whole of the orb of the earth within His vision. What -should He say, or do, for England, when she was too shy, too proud, -to give Him a sign as to what She wanted Him to say, or do? England, -England!--"Land of hope and glory,--how shall We extol thee Who are -born of thee?--wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set: God, Who -made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!" - -He would say and do that which was given to Him to say or do. As an -Englishman, He had His intuitions. And He required no confidences. -England, the shy, the proud, should be served by Her shy proud son, -the Servant of the servants of God. The divine afflatus of patriotism -inspired Him, brightening His eyes, erecting His head. He sat down -again: took His writing-board on His knees; and wrote. Anon, He rang -the bell and gave some orders. Also, He sent some written slips of -cyphers to the operators in the Vatican marconigraph office. - -On the twenty-second of January, the Supreme Pontiff descended to -the basilica of St. Peter-by-the-Vatican; and sang mass for the -repose of the soul of Queen Victoria, the Great, the Good. The same -day, the English newspapers announced that His Holiness had sent a -cardinal-ablegate to place the Golden Rose, the pontifical tribute to -virtuose queens, on Her Majesty's tomb in the mausoleum at Frogmore. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -The Italian Socialists having been won for Italy, and the German -Socialists by the German Emperor, the British Socialists began to -wonder where they themselves came in. The predilection for forming -societies which is to be met-with among all the degenerate and -hysterical, may assume different forms. Criminals unite in bands, -as Lombroso expressly establishes. Hence the British Socialists (in -their quandary) held fatuous meetings hoping to generate a policy in -an atmosphere of hot envious man. They really did want to know their -exact position: for, in some indefinable way, they were beginning -to feel that they were by no means as necessary to the universe as -they had imagined themselves to be. It seemed as though this planet -(for one) were moving quite easily without them, and (what was more -annoying) on a path which was quite strange to them, a comfortable -path and a desirable. They felt that they were being left out in the -cold; and, as their nature was, they looked about for some safe person -on whom to void their spleen. They began with the Roman Pontiff. That -an archaic potentate of His calibre, should prove to be fresh and -actual and vigorous, struck them as something of a nuisance. They had -deemed Him hardly worth consideration, a decayed relic of antiquity, -useful perhaps as a monument of the bad old days when the world was -drowned in damnable idolatry: but nothing more. That any man whose -reputation so publicly had been besmirched as His had been, should -dare to hold up his head, to live and move and have his being, to -dispose of millions of money and of the minds of nations, struck them -as simply atrocious. He had refused the honour of their alliance, -had scorned their overtures with contemptuous silence. They would -return Him scorn for scorn: they would shew Him what He had lost. If -He flattered Himself that His so called _Epistles_ to this that and -the other would have any influence, the sooner He was undeceived the -better. The Liblab Fellowship soon would let 'an unhappy old drawler -of platitudinous flapdoodle like Hadrian' know His place, quoth the -blameless Comrade Bob Matchwood. All the same, amid all the rhapsodic -rhodomontade of sound and fury signifying nothing, there remained -among the fellow-shippers just enough intellect to perceive one thing. -Comrade Frank Conollan put on his pince-nez; and, with a spasm of jerks -and twitches, was delivered of the opinion that the Liblab Fellowship -could not hope to recover anything like a respectable position in the -popular estimation as long as it remained where it was. He said that to -blink the fact, that Liblabbery had taken a false step in approaching -the Pope of Rome, was not a bit of good. Liblabbery had courted a snub; -and had been smitten with the snubbiest of snubs. If he might use a -metaphorical expression, he would say that Liblabbery had been enticed -into a bog and made to look unspeakably silly. If he might use a -poetical expression from Shakespeare, he would say 'like unback'd colts -they pricked their ears, advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses, -and calf-like follow'd through tooth'd briers, pricking goss, and -thorns, which enter'd their frail skins, into the filthy mantled pool, -where, dancing up to the chins, the foul lake o'er-stunk their feet.' - -(It began to dawn upon the Liblabs that the Comrade was doing the very -thing desired. He was leading up to the customary denunciation of -some traitor. He was about to provide them with the name of the usual -scape-goat. They prolonged pleased ears in his direction.) - -He would go further. He would say, still using the expressions of the -immortal bard of Avon, "Your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, -has done little better than played the Jack with us." - -(This was something like! The meeting's ears positively flapped.) - -And then, being unable to keep-on his pince-nez any longer by reason of -a steamed nose, he brought his climax to an abrupt term by demanding -the instant and public expulsion of Comrade Jerry Sant. That was voted -nem. con. The Liblab Fellowship shook-off the dust of its dirty feet -at the traitor; and Comrade Mat Matchwood said some very slighting -things about him in the _Salpinx_. No one is so facile and energetic -about believing evil as a Pessimist, that is to say a Socialist; -and, when one traitor is detected, what could be more natural than -for others to be suspected. It happened so. The mutual jealousy, the -flaring incompetency, the sordid selfishness, which always infected -the socialist demagogues, and (of course) the essentially sandy -foundation upon which the socialist system was based, led to further -and more fatal dissensions. Suspicion mated with Baffled Purpose. -Recrimination was the offspring of the match. The fellow-shippers, who -had connived at the scheme of Jerry Sant, found themselves accused as -his accomplices, and denounced and expelled in turn. From dissension -it was no more than one step to disunion. Each demagogue, fearful -lest he should have to take up an honest trade for a livelihood, -devoted persuasive loquacity to the attracting of personal supporters. -Burnson battened on Battersea. West Ham went a-whoring after strange -Bills. Glasgow got into the galley of Kerardy. And Devana succumbed -to a split-thumb-nailed and anarchistic plumber. Schisms within -schisms insued. Dens and caves received the remnants of the Liblab -Fellowship. Mutual damnation was the order of the day. The Socialists -were almost Christian. The ranks were thinned by internecine war. -Then came desertions. Socialism didn't pay; and socialists openly -asked conservative agents for tory gold. When it was refused, they -swore (after their kind). Labor (without the u) looked about for the -patronage of Capital. And British Socialism was in a fair way to perish -of its own radical fatuity, and instability. - -Hadrian watched the process of disintegration from His tower in Rome, -watched the natural absorption of the more respectable socialists -by the more respectable community; and He was glad. Very soon now -the silly obscene heresy would die and disappear, with the obsolete -delusions of Gymnosophists, Anabaptists, Picards, Adamites and -Turlupins. Hadrian was glad. Then came the _Times_, announcing that -Australia, Canada, and South Africa had armed all healthy males -between the ages of 17 and 50; and that England was mobilizing -the sea-and-land-forces of her Empire. Now the whole world was in -battle array. He took out His pyx again, and prayed the prayer of -the Danaides, "O King of kings, Most Blessed of the blessed, Most -Perfect Mighty One of the perfect, be persuaded and let this come to -pass,--avert from Thy race the insolence of men who (for a reason) -hate it; and plunge the black-benched pest into the dark abyss." It -was a pagan enough prayer for a Pope to utter. It was a fierce enough -sentiment for an altruist to express. It was an entirely comprehensible -suggestion of a misanthrope and misogynist, tired by, impatient of, -armed against, the tiresome divarication of little silly people. The -thing which troubled Him most was the irreconcilability of the King -of Italy. He had tried hard to give Victor Emanuel to understand -that, not rebuff but, welcome waited for him. He knew the benefits -which co-operation of Pope and King would bring. Yet the expression -of the Persian fatalist in Herodotus,--ἑχθιστη ὁδυνη πολλα φρονεοντα -μηδενοϛ κραΤεειν--the bitterest of all griefs, to see clearly and yet -to be unable to do anything, might have stood as the motto of His -whole mind, as often before in His life, so most emphatically now. He -recalled the Cardinal of Caerleon. - -The blameless Sant and his companion were in a pretty pickle. Expulsion -from the Liblab Fellowship included, not only the withdrawal of funds -but also, a threat of prosecution on a charge of obtaining money on -false pretences. The last they could afford to laugh at. No English -court of law could or would convict upon the evidence producible. The -first was tiresome: but of course they had a little put by. And with -regard to the future? Mrs. Crowe now was quite certain that Jerry -had made a mess of things. She began to think with longing of her -lodging-house. What was the good of staying on in Rome? Yes, and who -was going to pay her expenses, she would like to know? She impatiently -put that point before her paymaster. He did-on a forensic air; and -asked for time to advise himself of the matter. She demanded how long -he would require. He remarked on the feminine propensity for kicking a -man who has been knocked down; and ramped and raved till he thoroughly -frightened her. Your Pict is a truly awesome figure when he is red with -damp rage. She shrank into a corner whimpering, for she thought he was -going to strike her. Instead of that he cooled to sudden wheedling; and -anon he cuddled her. She permitted. It was better than nothing; and -she felt as though she really needed something of the sort. How could -she so misunderstand him? Of course he was not going to desert her. -They both were in the same boat; and must sink or swim together. For -his part, he intended to swim. She might have known that he was not -the man to give up when matters had proceeded so far. But, she urged, -what could they do? Do? They could do a fair lot of things. To begin -with, they could go and wait on a lot of they old cardinals and mak' -theirsels a nuisance. They went to Ragna, and told him very pretty -stories. Their statements were as a treat of almonds to him; but he -gave no sign of that. He was suave, polite: said that he would see -what could be done; and bowed them away. They went to Whitehead and -got no satisfaction. Caerleon thought that they had better let matters -rest. Carvale denied himself to them. Sterling listened to them with -judicial gravity and gave them no response. Semphill blazed at them; -and dismissed them shattered as to their nerves. They returned to the -Hotel Nike to wait for Ragna. - -The cardinals discussed them with the Pope. The Secretary of State -was insinuatory. He spoke of the terrible scandal; and let it be -understood that, in his opinion, payments should be made to stop -it. He hinted at the impossibility of defending the indefensible. -Better to use that million, the balance of the sale of the Vatican -treasure. That million had paid the expenses of the sale and of the -restoration of the sacristy; and had endowed St. George's College of -historical researchers under the presidency of Dr. Richard Barnett: -it was accounted for in della Volta's balance-sheet, Hadrian put in. -Carvale added that payment never stopped scandal. Caerleon earnestly -hoped that nothing would be done: it would rake up the past and involve -so many people. Semphill yearned for the good old days, faggots, -tongue-tearing, hand-chopping, ear-cropping, head-cutting, eye-gouging, -maiming, and stoning, and the groaning with much wailing of those -impaled by the spine, and all that sort of thing out of the Eymenides. -He loudly said so; and was silenced by a look from the Pontiff's -scornful anguished face. Discussion languished. Then Hadrian said -"Bring them here." - -Sir Iulo pit-pit-pit-pitted across the City on a motor-bicycle, and -burst into Via Due Macelli, a scarlet Hermes, with the annunciation, -"You are summoned to attend our Most Holy Father in the Vatican." -Mrs. Crowe hiccoughed "At last"; and bolted upstairs to put on her -most fetching hat. Jerry Sant grinned spikily through a tattered -moustache. The two got into a hired victoria; and followed the -gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber. - -Hadrian received them in the throne-room. He did not occupy the -throne, but the central chair of a semi-circular group of five. Ragna, -Sterling, Leighton, and Caerleon used the others. The latter had a -pigskin portfolio on his knee. In front of the ecclesiastics were two -chairs of equal importance. The man and woman lounged there. It was -quite a family gathering. But between the Church and the World, Sir -John stood by a little table furnished with the pontifical phonographs. - -"We have summoned you, in order that ye may speak your minds to Us," -the Supreme Pontiff said: "but ye shall know that We will not hold any -communication with you except Our utterances and yours be recorded by -these instruments." His voice was very frigid: but there was neither -menace nor offence in it. His quiet tone totally was at variance -with the furious defiance of the matter of His words. The paradox -disconcerted his hearers. Sant went magenta with wrath: remembered -how much he had at stake; and was canny enough not to demur. With an -attempt at an easy laugh, he said that it was a little unusual, not -quite what he expected, but he didn't want to be unpleasant to His -Lordship, and so he had no objection he was sure. And he lolled in his -armchair, as who should say "A'm fair easy." Mrs. Crowe bit her upper -lip: but said that she had no objection either. Hadrian waved His hand; -and the pontifical gentleman sat down and set the machines in motion. - -The Pope put the woman to the question: "Madam, what do you want?" - -Face to face with that she failed to put her want in words. It was an -acrid pungent permanent want, not-to-be-named. She bit at her upper lip -again; and looked at Jerry for a lead. He proceeded "I think, Reverend -Sir, that it will be more advantageous for all parties if I was to -speak for Mrs. Crowe." - -"We will concede the point. Sir, what do you want?" the Pontiff said. - -Then the virtuous Jerry also began to flounder. Want? Eh, but he wanted -several things. - -"Name them:" the Pope commanded. - -"Well:--reparation--damages." - -"For what?" the Pope inquired. - -"For ma loss of time whiles I've had to be here and for ma business -which Ye may say's gone ta th dogs; and for the loss of ma Liblab -Fellowship." - -"To what extent have you suffered?" - -"To fhat extent? Well, I'll let Ye know. I've been here since last -July, say eight months, say forty weeks, say three hundred days; and I -take ordinarily a pound-note per day on journeys for expenses: but it's -cost me a heap more than that this trip. Ye can call it five hundred -pounds for out-of-pocket expenses. Then there's ma business which -I've had to neglect, eight months, better say a year at one-fifty for -salary, and commissions--say another fifty. There's eight hundreds. -Then they've had the cheek to expel me as a Fellowshipper, as I -suppose Ye've heard. Of course that's very damaging to ma prestige, -say to the extent of a couple of thousands. Fhat's that come to? Two -thousands eight hundreds--may as well call it three thousands. And of -course there's fhat old Krooger named moral and intellectual damage--I -don't know fhat tae pit that at, I'm sure--but Ye might tot it all up -together and call it twenty thousands." - -"And your companion?" - -"Aweel, Ye'd better double it and we'll both ca' quits. Forty thousands -cash!" - -The Pope cast a slight look round upon his cardinals. They returned it. -"You are demanding that We should pay you forty thousand pounds," He -said to the expectant Jerry. - -"That's correct." - -"Why do you demand this sum of Us?" - -"Why? Why because we've run into all these expenses on your account. If -Ye hadna have been here, neither would we have come and have had all -this fuss and bother. Who's to indemnify us for that but Yersel', I'm -asking Ye. I'll let Ye know we've fair ruined oursels----" - -The Bald She interrupted. "If I could have a private word with Your -Holiness." - -The motive did not escape Hadrian's notice. "Daughter, your conduct and -your notorious proclivities debar you from a private interview with any -clergyman, except in the open confessional." - -"Then in the confessional." - -The Pope rose and beckoned her to follow. He beckoned Sir John to stop -the machines and remain: the others to follow. They descended into -St. Peter's. There, He turned out the English Confessor; and took his -place, while the woman kneeled at the left side. Just out of earshot, -the four cardinals stayed with Sant, who fumed in his inward parts. -Fhat blathers was this going on under their very noses? The half-door -and the window both were open: only the lateral partition divided -the priest from the penitent. The grating was between their faces; -and, though they were perfectly visible, they were visible apart and -separate. - -Hadrian in a low tone recited "May the Lord be in thine heart and on -thy lips"--; and put Himself to listen. - -Through the grating there came a whine,-- - -"Georgie!" - -"My child, there is no Georgie here, but only your Judge. Confess your -sins, if you will,--only to Almighty God. Shew contrition. And, by His -authority committed to me His minister, I will absolve." - -Then the Devil entered into her. She incoherently spluttered "I have -no sins--if I had, I wouldn't tell You.--You reject me?--Oh I'll make -You regret it--I'll make You suffer as I have--I'll shew you up for -what You are----" She stiffened and rushed across to Jerry "Now do your -worst," she said; and her face was livid. - -Sant gripped the lapels of his grotesque frock-coat and approached -the white figure which emerged from the central compartment of the -confessional. - -"I should like to mak' an end of this matter," he said. - -Hadrian led the way to the throne-room: the phonographs were set to -work; and the conference was resumed. - -"Now," said Jerry, "I'm thinking that Your Right Reverence had better -let us know definitely fhat Ye intend to do." - -The Pope spoke rather more slowly and with more singular mildness than -before. "You demand that We should pay you forty thousand pounds in -reparation for damage which, you say, We have caused." - -"That's so." - -"It is useless to point out to you that We did not ask you to waste -your time in Rome----" - -"I should have been surprised if Ye had have." - -"And that We did not force you, or induce you, to neglect your -business----" - -"Nae! Ye never thought I'd have dared to face Ye as I have." - -"And that We were in no wise concerned with your expulsion from the -Liblab Fellowship----" - -"But Ye were! If Ye'd have had the civility to give the deputation a -satisfactory answer, or even to have satisfied the fellow-shippers -afterwards, or to have made it all right with me so as I could have -settled them, then there wouldn't have been all this trouble and -unpleasantness, my Lord." - -"Some men are gifted with an abnormal capability for making the -greatest possible fools of themselves. For the credit of the human -race, it must be said that indecent exhibitions of this kind are rare. -Mr. Sant, does it not occur to you that you are engaging in a very -foolish and a very dirty business?" - -"Dirty business Yersel'! Who're Ye talking to? Ma hands are as clean -as Yours any day. Who owes twenty pound notes to this lady I'm brought -with me?" - -"We do not know." - -"Imphm. Well, suppose I was to say it was Yersel'?" - -"You would tell an officious lie, Mr. Sant." The Pope turned to the -woman. "Madam, do We owe you twenty pounds?" - -"You owe me a great deal more than that:" she barked. - -"Mr. Sant alludes to a specific sum of twenty pounds odd which was due -to this lady's deceased husband for books, newspapers, and stationery, -supplied some years ago when he kept a shop:" the Pope explained to -the cardinals, with a gesture to Talacryn. The Cardinal of Caerleon -extracted a slip from the portfolio; and read a receipt for the -amount named plus 5 per cent. interest. This document was dated the -thirty-first of the previous March. The Pope continued, "You know, -Madam, that We paid this bill the moment We were in a position to pay -it. You also know that payment was long delayed solely because you -yourself, by calumniating and libelling Us to Our employers and to -those who called themselves Our friends, prevented Us from earning more -than a bare sustenance----" - -Jerry burst in, "Well, if Ye've paid her why shouldn't Ye pay me?" - -"Because We do not owe you anything." - -"Then Ye mean me ta pit some more about Ye in the papers?" - -"Listen, Mr. Sant. We look upon you as a deeply injured man----" - -"Hech! Now that's something like!" - -"We look upon you as a deeply injured man, injured by himself. You have -been your own enemy. You have suffered loss and damage simply because -you have allowed yourself to persist in doing silly things and wicked -things. Now, is it useless to ask you to change all that? Will you turn -over a new leaf and begin your life again? You shall not be left alone. -You shall be helped." - -"A want ma money." - -"If you wish to do well for yourself, if you wish honestly to earn -a better living than you ever have earned, you shall have the -opportunity." - -An appeal to a goodness which is not in him is, to a vain and sensitive -soul, a stinging insult. Jerry's face became wetter and redder. "And -fhat about damages for the past?" he barked. - -"You shall have a chance for the future." - -"Then Ye willna pay! Ye want me to shew Ye up in the papers again?" - -"You may put what you please in the papers. We will not pay even a -farthing to prevent you, Mr. Sant,--not one farthing." - -"Then I'm not to get anything?" - -"At a threat? No. Nothing!" Defiance hurled denial at the brute. - -"Fhat are we waiting here for, wumman?" Sant snarled at Mrs. Crowe. -"Here let's get out of this. He makes me fair sick with His holy -preaching!" At the door, he turned round, bragging boldly like a cock -beside his partlet; and waved his bowler hat, "E-e-e-h but A'll mak' Ye -squirm, Ye ... inseck!" he foamed. - -Ragna was furious. "Holiness, why don't You shoot them at once? You are -Sovereign within these walls. Give order for their arrest before they -leave the palace, Holiness; and have them shot!" - -"It is Our will that they be left to the common executioner," the -Pope disdainfully ordained, sitting very hieratically in his chair, -young, rigid, and terrific as the Flamen Virbialis. The audience had -been a fresh phase of agony to Him: He had tried to merge His humanity -in His apostolature, and had failed; and the failure was torment, -physical, poignant. He was indignant; and He was dangerous. Their -Eminencies inquiringly looked at Him. Leighton blinked; and thought it -a dreadful pity. Talacryn was for running out and trying to persuade -the blackmailers even at some cost,--anything was better than scandal, -he said. The Pope told him not to be a stupid fool with his infernal -hankerings after compromise. "Fancy paying for silence!" His Holiness -scornfully adjoined. - -"No but Holy Father, I think if You were to leave them to me, I could -find some way of silencing them. Silence is what we want indeed, -whatever." - -"Your Eminency is well skilled in the art of silencing people, bad and -good. It is by no means an honourable art; and you are prohibited from -practising it. We believed that you had ceased to practise it in 1899. -Were We in error?" - -"No indeed no, indeed, Holiness. It was merely a suggestion of mine, -indeed," the cardinal burbled. - -"Drop it then!" the Pontiff slammed at him. - -"Indeed I do, Holiness, indeed I do, whatever." - -"One would hardly have believed that such blatant wickedness could have -existed in the world," Sterling gravely meditated. - -"Holy Father, it will all begin again," Leighton sadly sighed. - -"Let it begin again!" Hadrian challenged, white-flaming, irate, -retiring to the secret chamber. - -Their Eminencies went out through the other door. They were not at -all pleased with the Pope. In the first antechamber several cardinals -were congregated anxious for news, Orezzo and Courtleigh each in -a sedan-chair, Percy, Fiamma, della Volta, Semphill, Carvale, and -Whitehead. Ragna was of opinion that the charges ought publicly to be -answered, that is to say if they could be answered: but---- Could the -accusations satisfactorily be disposed of? No one put the question: but -the aroma of the idea of it was in the air. - -"There was so much mystery about His Holiness:" Orezzo said. - -"There always has been. He is a most incomprehensible creature, -indeed:" Talacryn pronounced. - -"One might expect anything, everything of Him: the height and depth of -good and bad: extreme virtue, extreme vice: one almost could believe -Him to be capable of anything:" Sterling adjudicated. - -"Oh yes, until you have heard Him explain," little Carvale put in. "Did -none of Your Eminencies ever watch Him in His talk? I have. Shall I -tell you the difference between our Holy Father and ourselves? We see -things from a single view-point. He sees things from several. We decide -that the thing is as we see it. But He has seen it otherwise, and He -presents it as a more or less complete coaction of its qualities. See -this sapphire. Well, you see the face of it: underneath, if I take it -off my finger, there are a number of facets to be seen and a number -more which are hidden by the gold of the setting. Now my meaning is -that our Holy Father has seen all the facets as well as the table of -the sapphire, or the thing. Consequently He knows a great deal more -about the sapphire, or the thing, than we do. You must have noted that -in Him. You must have noted how that every now and then, when He deigns -to explain, He makes mysteries appear most wonderfully lucid." - -"But, if one might venture to ask, how often does He condescend to -explain--except to His cat?" Sterling interjected. - -"I'm bound to admit that He opened my eyes considerably during that -fortnight we spent together in town just before His election," -Courtleigh threw out of his chair. Ragna went to him and spoke of the -desirability of capital punishment. - -"Well, anyhow, I believe in Him," Whitehead murmured. - -"Yes:" Leighton energetically blinked. "You'll excuse me if I'm shoppy, -but I say with St. Anselm, 'Neque enim quæro intelligere ut credam: -sed credo ut intelligam. Nam et hoc credo quia nisi credidero non -intelligam.'" - -The gong in the secret chamber loudly and suddenly sounded. The scarlet -limbs of Sir John and Sir Iulo darted towards it. Talacryn was shaking -an unwilling dubious head. Van Kristen gave him a tall look of disgust. -"Well, I guess Your Eminency will feel pretty small some day if you -don't believe in Him too. There are no flies on Hadrian:" and he -stalked away with the dignity of a grand boy honourably enraged. - -"No no, Percy," said Talacryn, running after him. "Of course I believe -in Him: but just for that reason I don't want Him to defend Himself. I -want to keep Him quiet. I think it unwise to rake up the past. There -would be so many frightful scandals, whatever." - -"Have you told Him that?" - -"Have I not indeed." - -"And what did He say?" - -Talacryn once more shook his head. - -"Well then I advise Your Eminency to go 'way back and sit down,' as we -say in the States." - -Newspaper tirades did begin again. The previous attacks on the -Pope almost were forgotten, (horribly pungently palate-tickling -though they were,) at a time when men's minds were filled with wars -and rumours of wars. But the Fleet Street fishers, who knew their -business, were aware that the public appetite is capricious and must -be tempted with a variety of bait. Even wars and rumours of wars are -apt to pall. One must not cry "Wolf" too often. Tired of Black-gnats, -trout must be tried with May-flies: for newspapers must be sold, -or the soap-and-cocoa people will quake; and newspapers will not -sell unless their news are new. So, when the editor of the _Daily -Anagraph_ received a couple of letters from Jerry Sant and Mrs. Crowe, -proffering certain tasty information, and asking for an offer for -same, he consulted his proprietors. The subject certainly was not -entirely novel: but what had gone before merely had been so to speak -an appetizer. This was the strong meat, the pièce de résistance in the -banquet of garbage. Sant was in possession of exclusive information. -The publication of it would mean a boom for the paper. Editors cannot -afford to be curious about the morals of their contributors, or -indeed of anything bar the quality of their contributions. Neither -proprietors nor editor were actuated by any sort of malice, personal or -professional, in defaming the Pope. Their motive was merely commercial. -Therefore, they offered £4,000 a-piece to Sant and his accomplice; and -they invested a similar sum in amateur investigations. At intervals -during the next few weeks, the _Daily Anagraph_ published articles -reflecting on the character of God's Vicegerent; and two columns daily -were set apart for anonymous ex-parte statements concerning His career. -Oh, it all began again! The points insisted on were that He was, and -never had been anything but, a lazy luxurious (the second intention -was "debauched") jesuitical machiavellian and false-pretentious -ignoramus.--Oh it all indubitably began again. Mediocrities, entrusted -with power over their fellow-creatures, invariably develop into -tyrants. All history proves it: the tyranny of the clergy was bad -enough: but it was as nothing in comparison with the sordid tyranny of -the Press which we now complacently tolerate. - -Calumny culminated with a concoction of the calvous Crowe's. It -was admitted that the high-water mark was reached. Hitherto, the -very virulence of the assaults had engendered a certain amount of -unexpressed sympathy among stock-brokers, naval, Varsity, and other -thoughtful men. "Our Representative" had called at Archbishop's -House, had interviewed Monsignor this and Monsignor Canon that, -inviting the candid expression of opinion on the subject of Pontifical -Infallibility, as viewed in the fight of recent journalistic enterprize -and research. The distinction between infallibility and impeccability -had been impressed upon "Our Representative": but that was all. No -defence was offered either by the Pope or by His poor benighted -papists. Then, by slow degrees, the elect, the intelligent, began to -persuade themselves that, after all, the early misdemeanours of George -Arthur Rose, if they were as stated, were altogether apart from the -pontifical acts of Hadrian the Seventh. The latter distinctly were -admired throughout the world: the former--well, they were a pity. So, -public opinion was. And then came Mrs. Crowe. She had a song to sing -(oh!) of secret debauchery on the part of Hadrian the Seventh. She -was concise in the matter of names and dates and places. She alleged -that, at dusk on a certain evening in September, the 29th, she herself -had seen the Pope, disguised in black like an ordinary priest, taking -tea--He Who never ate in public--with two nameless women (far too -beautiful to be respectable in her opinion) in a house on Via Morino. -She was in the street. His so-called Holiness and His female companions -were by the lighted window. Presently the blinds were closed; and she -knew not what went on behind them. She watched the house for an hour -and a half; and then the Pope came out muffling His face, (a thing He -never at any other time had been known to do, but necessary on this -occasion to complete His disguise). He walked away; and she followed -Him: saw Him stop at the Attendolo Palace, and (finally) enter the -Vatican saluted by the guards at the bronze gates. She related the -incident with such particularity and in such a manner, that a great -many people fancied that they thoroughly understood. In a sort of way -the good lady did more than most people have done towards effecting -the Reunion of Christendom: for _The Cliff_ deliriously discursed -(from Revelations) of a great red dragon and seven heads and ten horns -and seven crowns upon his heads, and of a beast rising out of the sea -and seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns on his horns; and _The -Catholic Hour_ simultaneously washed its hands in innocency advertizing -unctuous rectitude in a leading article entitled "The Third Borgia." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - -While the dwarves were diverting themselves as aforesaid, their rulers -were in council together. And one day Sir Francis Bertram found no -closed doors at the Vatican. He was granted an audience which was -friendly and unofficial and secret: so secret in fact that no news of -it "transpired." It was treated as the return visit of an Englishman -to an Englishman. He came in an electric brougham, quite unattended. -No one noted that he brought a small dispatch-box with him: or that he -did not carry it away with him: but some of the senior cardinals, who -kindly came to discuss the latest effusions of the _Daily Anagraph_ -with Hadrian in the evening, found His Holiness brimful of gaiety. -They remarked that the visit of the ambassador had done Him no end of -good. His bearing was vivid, serene, and youthful: His conversation -was witty, limpid, facile: no one would have taken Him for the person -described in the newspapers. He read those which obligingly were handed -to him: but shewed no emotion whatever, although very eager expert eyes -searched for some trace from which to lead theories and hypotheses. Nor -did He utter any comment. He read: He laid down the paper; and resumed -the conversation. Before Their Eminencies withdrew, He summoned the -Sacred Consistory to meet at noon on the morrow; and that was the only -noteworthy event of the evening. - -Hadrian mounted the throne; and the vermilion college displayed itself -before Him. A pigskin kit-bag, which a gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber -had placed by the pontifical footstool before the doors were locked, -did not escape the notice of the more observant. The Pontiff Himself -was in singularly good form: and this was incomprehensible, for He -carried in His hand a copy of the very newspaper which everyone had -read and retched-over. That He should be so aggressively cheerful, -so vividly dominant, with that in His hand, was considered hardly -decorous. Even among those who firmly were determined to force -themselves to believe in Him, that He should not bend His neck to the -smiter now, did not tally at all with conceptions of propriety. With -these sentiments, Their Eminencies composed themselves to listen. - -After the formal opening of the session, a Consistorial Advocate (in -garments of a violet colour and furred with ermine about the neck) was -commanded to read aloud, from the _Daily Anagraph_, the account of the -Pope's visit in disguise to the house on Via Morino. He was to read -it, first, in English, then, in Latin. It was not a long lection: for -journalistic instinct had perceived that the facts stated would be more -damnatory in their nakedness. With that inscrutable incomprehensible -vivid gleam of hilarity irradiating His face, Hadrian checked the -Consistorial Advocate from time to time, preventing him from drifting -into the monotonous gabble, which is used for the formal reading of -documents whose contents already are known informally; and, if His -object was to cause each deadly detail of the charge against Himself -to come out clearly, with all the contours definite and all the -tints brilliantly varnished, it must be admitted that His method was -pontifically successful. - -"Ebbene dunque?" muttered Cardinal Ragna. - -Hadrian darted a word at the Cardinal-Prefect-of-Propaganda: "Will -Your Eminency have the goodness to describe, to the Sacred College, -your acts of the afternoon and evening of the festival of St. Michael -Archangel?" - -The naming of the festival of Michaelmas was like a touch on the latch -of the Red Pope's memory. His pure and gentle face lighted up: for -he perceived the connotation; and that inspired him with a joy so -delectable that he paused to pick his words, tasting them deliberately, -lingering over them. "After siesta on the festival of St. Michael -Archangel,--and that would be about 15-1/2 hours of the clock, not -later,--I came to Vatican and was received by Your Holiness. I was -admitted to the secret chamber. I sat opposite to Your Holiness, by the -window. I remember that, for a reason. I spoke to Your Holiness on the -subject of removing England from the control of Propaganda. I said that -I had pondered Your Holiness's proposition. I said that it appeared to -me, as it already had appeared to Your Holiness, that the necessity for -treating England as a barbarous uncivilized savage country, in which -the Faith is preached by missionaries, no longer existed. I added my -own opinion, that to continue to treat England as a savage uncivilized -barbarous country, now, amounted to perennial insult. I received Your -Holiness's thanks. I am giving only the heads of this conversation, -which was prolonged until the seventeenth hour. Then, the pontifical -pages brought in a tray containing fruit and triscuits and some English -tea. I told Your Holiness that tea astringed my nerves, remarking on -the difference between English nerves and Italian. I was permitted to -make a few jokes. In the midst of these very diverting burlesques, I -ate a little fruit--perhaps a fig and a half--and I drank a little -wine of Cinthyanum. Afterwards, I proceeded to discuss another case -with Your Holiness. That case was the removal, from the spiritual rule -of Propaganda, of the other countries which are under the secular -rule of the Excellent King of England. It was a complication; and the -discussion of it occupied some hours. I said, in sum, that sufficient -information as to the nature and character and national history -of the natives of those countries, especially Scotland, Ireland, -and Wales, officially had not been laid before me. I requested Your -Holiness to afford me longer time for the collection of information and -investigation of the subject. I permitted myself to note that, while -we were talking, Your Holiness made and smoked nineteen cigarettes. I -remember that, when at length I rose to pay my respects, Your Holiness -drew me nearer to the window by which we had been sitting; and deigned -to indicate the image of St. Michael Archangel which poises itself on -the summit of the Mola. The metal of which the said image is formed -appeared to be burnished, owing to radiance from the lights of the -City. I said that it resembled an angelic apparition in the obscure sky -of night. I remember that Your Holiness said 'May the Prince, of the -angels who do service in heaven, succour and defend us on earth.' I -responded 'Amen.' Your Holiness added some words in the Greek tongue, -which You deigned to explain as signifying 'O god of the golden helm, -look upon, look upon the City which thou once didst hold well-beloved.' -To that prayer, I also responded 'Amen.' And I was permitted to retire -at the same moment when the pages were bringing in Your Holiness's -supper, which was at 20-1/2 hours of the clock." - -Cardinal Gentilotto sat down; and the eyes of the Sacred College -twinkled like talc. The Pope, Who had receded to His more usual distant -reticent gravity, gave them a silent moment for appreciation; and then -darted a verisimilar word to Cardinal della Volta. - -"Will Your Eminency have the goodness to describe, to the Sacred -College, your acts of the afternoon and evening of the festival of St. -Michael Archangel." - -The ex-major-domo of the apostolic palace hemmed;--and prayed -for permission to send for his diary. Then he bravely proceeded. -"M-ym-ym-ym: Twenty-ninth September. At 15 o'clock, I drove by the -Fort of Monte Mario to the Milvian Bridge: and walked a little in the -fields. The sky was cloudy. Afterwards I drove by Via Flaminia and -Pincio to Countess Demochede's villino; and sent away my carriage. I -obtained news of the German Emperor. Her Excellency's daughter the -Princess Neri was there. Tea and very agreeable conversation. The -Princess expatiated on the virtues of pedestrianism. She and her -beautiful mother derided me when I said that I was about to walk to -Vatican. I went to Palazzo Attendolo to inquire for Don Umberto. He -had bought a new horse, a strawberry-roan, and was gone to Cinthyanum -to try him. That young man always is buying horses--m-ym-ym. -Returned to Vatican at 19 o'clock. Said Mattins and Lauds. Wrote -to--m-ym-ym,--wrote four letters, Holiness. Supper, capretto ai ferri -and zuppa inglese. Gave my news of the German Emperor to our Most Holy -Lord. Read Chap. IX., 1, of Matthew Arnold's _Literature and Dogma_ -with Δ. Semphill. Conversed with that deacon about it till bed-time. -He says that it is not a book to fear. In my opinion it is a wonderful -book but shocking, and likely to cause misunderstanding except among -the English: but it is not damnable, though many will think so. Sancte -Francisce, ora pro me." - -He was about to sit-down; and the College was about to open -twenty-three mouths: but Hadrian with the left hand signed him to -approach the throne, and with the right simultaneously beckoned a -master-of-ceremonies in a red habit and a violet cloak. - -Cardinal Berstein interpolated with a recondite sneer, "The phenomenon -of bi-location, as exemplified in the case of St. Philip Neri, is -well-known. But this is not the case of a saint." - -Hadrian wiped the floor with the sneerer. "Nor was the case of Samian -Pythagoras, divine, golden-thighed, (if Your Eminency ever heard of -him), the case of a saint. Yet, inasmuch as Pythagoras was heard to -lecture at Metapontion and Tayromenion on the same day and at the same -hour, he would appear to have been an exemplification of the phenomenon -of bi-location. However, this is neither the case of a saint, as you so -acutely have observed: nor a case of bi-location, as you so hilariously -would pretend." He flung the retort at the cardinal with such force -that Berstein sought his seat with not innocuous concussion. - -"Lord Cardinals, the voice of the snake and the voice of the goose are -one and the same. They both hiss:" the Pope added before moving again. - -A feeling that His Holiness was dynamic, picric, dangerous, pervaded -the assembly. Each most eminent lord wondered who would be the next -victim of that quiet shrill velvet claw which tore the brain. The -Pontiff bent His head to the master-of-ceremonies, signifying that he -should remove the mitre. Also He unclasped the morse of His cope; and -addressed Cardinal della Volta. - -"Can Your Eminency remember what habit you wore during the afternoon -and evening of the twenty-ninth of September?" - -"Yes, Holy Father, I wore the plain habit which we commonly wear." - -"Like this?" Hadrian stooped and opened the kit-bag; and drew from it -a black cassock with red buttons, a red sash, and a black cloth cloak, -and a black three-cornered beaver-hat with thin red cord and tassels. - -"But yes: precisely like that." - -"Would Your Eminency do Us the extreme favour of putting on these -garments now?" - -Della Volta smiled: but he made the change, and stood on the -throne-steps pulling out the folds, stretching his arms in the new -sleeves. The Pope took another and a similar suit from the kit-bag; and -changed His Own white for black. Then He descended to the cardinal's -side; and faced the college. They were as like each other as two -blots of ink. And the college roared. Of course, everyone instantly -remembered Courtleigh's allegation that della Volta was the Pope's -Double: but no one until now had seen the two side by side and garbed -alike. And the college roared--roared chiefly with delight at dismissal -of tragedy by comedy. - -The Pope and the Cardinal resumed their proper habits; and Hadrian -again enthroned Himself. His aspect had become very cold, very hard. He -spoke a few words in the dry incisive tone which slapped like sleet, -from the far distance of His misanthropic soul snatched away to that -remote place shared with wounded beasts who creep to die alone. He -began swiftly; and intensified the value of His words by the gradual -monotonous deceleration which marked their close. "Lord Cardinals," -He said, "know that, if We desire to intrigue, Our experience of the -extreme stupidity of intriguers has taught Us to avoid their pitifully -trite folly. Know also that intrigues, disguises, tricks, artifices, -stratagems, and deceptions, are repugnant to Us. And finally know -this, that We never will derogate Our pontifical paraphernalia or -authority to another." After a moment, He changed His manner; and in -a formal tone announced that the Congress of Windsor had invited the -intervention of the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Arbitrator. It was the -appeal of Cæsar to Peter. He made known the contents of the dispatch, -which Sir Francis Bertram had brought; and read the names of sovereign -and presidential signatories. And, without waiting for comment, He -uttered the ceremonial form which closed the Consistory; and was borne -away. - -Acclamations followed Him. Vermilion tumbled over ermine in an effort -to get at Him. What a number of things everybody urgently desired to -know! What was He going to do? Would He not take this magnificent -opportunity of reclaiming Peter's Patrimony? He could not be denied it -now. That was Ragna's notion. The two Vagellaii agreed with it: Italy -could be compensated by the cession of Italia Irredenta, said Serafino. -Little minds expatiated on an infinity of little things. Then, some -began about the calumnies. What was He going to do about them? Oh, for -certain He had disproved the charge made against Hadrian the Seventh; -and most likely he could disprove the others. "Could He?" Berstein -cynically guffawed. Well, was He going to publish this disproval? -"Who knows?" asked Fiamma. The English and American cardinals -energetically asseverated that, for their part, they neither were going -to consult His Holiness on the subject, nor to consider themselves -bound to secrecy in regard to the refutation which they had heard and -witnessed. It was Carvale who hurriedly collected and expressed the -opinions of his colleagues. "What d'ye mean?" neighed the long faced -Capuchin. "I'll tell you what we mean" said Semphill. "With the help -of my friends here, we'll have an authentic copy of the acts of this -consistory sent to every newspaper on earth." "And, you can bet, right -now!" Van Kristen cried. The Cardinal-Archdeacon and nine Italians -vociferated approval of the scheme. Talacryn trumpeted with the others, -gambolling gaily along. Then he put down an elephantine foot--he was -not quite sure that it was advisable: down at the back of his heart he -felt the old distrust of Hadrian--he did not want to be involved by -seeming to support--His Holiness was a most difficult man to get rid -of, if one wanted to get rid of Him, whatever. But, still, the Cardinal -of Caerleon trampled along with the others. Their Eminencies surged -upstairs, chattering like a tygendis of magpies; and flowed along -galleries, screeching like a muster of peacocks, until they reached -the approach to the pontifical antechambers. The approach was closed, -guarded by skewbald harlequins of Swiss with halberds. Before it stood -the two gentlemen-of-the-apostolic-chamber, who formally responded to -inquiry, "Our Most Holy Lord is in secret." - -They had to make what they could of that. Those with sense went about -their business without ado. Some, however, lingered to resent rebuff: -or in the hope of obtaining quasi-accidental admission by bribery. -Ragna panted up to four thousand lire in Sir John's ear; and departed -cursing. The door was barred by "Our Most Holy Lord is in secret." - -In secret Hadrian was kneeling upright in His chapel. "God, I am very -worldly. I have enjoyed the triumph." That was the confession which -He made, not precisely with sorrow but, with a consuming contempt for -Himself. He had done such an ordinary deed: He despised Himself for -doing it. He remained in contemplation of His disgusting humanity for -some time. - -By degrees, His mind detached itself from that; and attached itself -to the next subject which He had prepared. He went into His workshop: -covered the chairs around His armchair with sheets of ms. notes: drew -the writing-board on His knees: laid out blank paper: rolled and -lighted a cigarette; and began to read and amend His notes. From time -to time, He sat back in His chair, gazing out of the window at nothing, -working at problems in His brain. Now and then, He scribbled a note, a -word, a phrase, a sentence. - -At length He began to cover sheet after sheet. He wrote for hours -and hours together, day after day: burning most of what He wrote, -amending more, rewriting much. Anon, an acrid torpor astringed -and benumbed His right arm from elbow to finger-tip, announcing -the advent of scrivener's palsy. It was evening, about two hours -after the Angelus. He put-down His pen; and summoned the first -gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber. Sir John sat in front of Him: -rolled-up the sleeve; and gave the arm and hand a gentle friction. -Hadrian silently watched his busy hands. They were beautiful hands, -very white, very slim, very soft,--yes, singularly soft and soothing. -Yet they were strong hands, firm and lissome. They did not tire with -that continued searching movement, moulding and defining tired muscles -and aching sinews, working the fatigue and ache gradually downward to -dismissal at the finger-tips. Also the bent head was a good head, small -and round, covered with close-cropped hair, black-purple, hyacinthine. -And the healthy pallor of the face, the delicately cloven chin, the -extremely fine grey eyes, the vigorous form, the exquisitely chaste and -intelligent aspect--fancy expecting such an one to roll pills and fill -capsules for ever in a chymist's shop! No: he was better as he was. - -"John," the Pope inquired, "how do you get on with Macleod?" - -"Oh, very well. I think I like him very much." - -"Is he comfortable?" - -"Oh I think so. He seems so at any rate." - -"Has he got anything to say for himself?" - -"Oh yes:--now. He was a bit frightened at first: but he's got over that -now." - -"To whom does he talk most freely?" - -"Oh to me. Not but what he has plenty to say to Iulo too. But he'll -tell me anything." - -"What do you mean by 'anything'?" - -"Oh everything about himself." - -"John, look-up into these eyes a moment." The shy grey eyes readily -soared into the shy brown eyes. - -"How much has he told you about himself?" - -"Oh everything: that's all." - -"Everything?" - -A fine flush tinged the fresh ivory face with coral: but the grey eyes -did not waver. "Oh yes, everything." - -"Can he sing?" - -"Oh no, not a note--thank Heaven." - -Hadrian withdrew His gaze. "And you think you like him very much?" - -"Oh yes,--I don't think: I know. I'm so awfully sorry for him." - -"And pity is akin to----" - -"Oh but it's not pity and it's not love. It's something else -altogether. It makes me in such a rage. I don't think I can make You -understand, that's all." - -"Try." - -"Oh well--do You remember Max Alvary?" - -"The singer-man? Yes. Why?" - -"Oh, don't You know what I said when I saw him in 'Siegfried.' You see, -first I saw the splendour of his beauty; and then, when it came to the -'Idyll,' I got into a rage and I said 'and that voice too.'" - -"What did you mean?" - -"Oh it seemed so abominably unrighteous--all that beauty, and all that -voice as well. That he should have two gifts;--and that others,--I, for -instance,--should have not one!" - -"What has this to do with Macleod?" - -"Oh, a lot, in a topsyturvy kind of way. Look what a fine chap he is -to look at,--just like that lovely Figure on Your cross. And he's -clever too. Well, You'd think him fortunate enough, wouldn't You? Then -comes Fate and spoils him--spoils him completely. That's what makes me -furious. To have to class him with Mustafa. I wonder he doesn't kill -himself." - -"Go gently with that wrist, please. Have you told him that?" - -"Oh no, I should hope not. Sorry. I want to do everything in the world -to keep him from knowing what I think--to keep him from hitting on that -line of thought by accident, by himself, even. It would drive the poor -chap mad: that's all." - -"John you're a brick. Now listen to this. Thoughts you know, are -things. If you think such thoughts, they'll be in the air about you; -and it's as likely as not that Macleod's senses will perceive them. So -you'd better extirpate them hic et nunc--if you like him and want to -help him." - -"Oh do You think so? Well, I will then: because I really do want to -help him." - -"Good. And now what's to be done with him?" - -"Oh but why should anything be done with him? He's very happy here." - -"Thanks to your goodness, John. Silence! But first of all We must give -him a reason for being here: and then We must remember that 'here -we have no continuing city.' Now listen attentively. When you have -finished that hand, you will go to the Secretary of State, and tell His -Eminency to issue a patent to Mr. Macleod as third gentleman of the -chamber--emolument half yours--no knighthood. Will that do?" - -"Oh finely!" - -"Good. Well now let's go back a bit. Suppose Macleod wasn't here. -Where, in your opinion, would he be best?" - -"Oh I hardly know what to say to that." - -"You know your Meredith? Well then, favour Us with the outline of your -ideas. Pour them out pell-mell, intelligibly or not, no matter. We -undertake to catch hold of something." - -"Oh well, I think he'd do well in a garden. He's quite learned about -flowers; and, if You ever saw him handle one, You'd wonder however a -chap with a chest and arms like a blacksmith, as his are, could be so -tender. There's a lot more force and there's a lot more gentleness in -him than You'd think. Same with trees. He looks at them as we look -at other chaps--just as though he could speak to them and make them -understand him if he wanted to. He'd do well at anything out of doors, -farming perhaps. I did think at first of the sea----" - -"Because of his wonderful eyes?" - -"Oh yes I suppose that was the reason. Did ever You see such a blue, -a blue that makes you want to strip and dive,--just the eyes for a -sailor, aren't they? That's simply my romance though. But I haven't -talked to him much about the sea. Do You know what I should like to -do? I should like to go a long sea-voyage with him in one of those old -sailing-ships, and take the Pliny and the Sophokles which You gave me, -and a lexicon, and a dictionary, and read them with him, right away -from--of course I don't mean what You think I mean." - -"No: of course you don't. And then, when you come back from your long -sea-voyage in a sailing ship, you think that Macleod could be useful -and happy on a flower-farm, with orchards, and all that sort of rot, -while you could sit in the shade of medlar-trees and rose-bushes, and -look after him so that no one should insult him, and read books, (write -them too perhaps,) and dream dreams, (and certainly write those,) and -live happily in a dear old-fashioned farm-house ever after----" - -"Oh You're laughing at me now!" - -"Not at all." The bright brown eyes became grave. "John, what are you -going to do with yourself when Hadrian is dead?" - -"Oh but You're not going to die----" - -"How do you know? Answer the question." - -"Oh I haven't thought about it. I don't want to think about it: that's -all." - -"Nonsense. Think about it; and be done with it. John, when We are -dead, if you have a place like that, and means to work it, means to -move about and use yourself--will you use yourself? And will you take -Macleod and be a brother--not a real but the Ideal Brother to him?" - -"Oh of course I would: but----" - -"Will you promise?" - -"Oh yes, I promise You most faithfully. But I hope to God I'll never -have the chance----" - -"Well, no one knows when you will have the chance: but you shall have -it. Bring the pen here, and the writing-board." Hadrian pulled down -His sleeve, and stroked the cat for a minute or two, thoughtfully -looking-out of the window. Then He wrote, putting what He wrote into an -envelope which He gave to the shaking sprig of virtue who stood before -Him. "You will take this to Plowden, after you have been to Ragna. -You will obtain his formal acknowledgment. See that it is made out in -your name; and keep it secretly till the time comes for using it. On -Our death you will present it; and Plowden will pay you five thousand -pounds, and take your receipt for it. With that sum, you will buy, and -stock, such a place as We have described. As long as you and Macleod -live, Plowden will pay you a regular income, so that you never can come -to want, and always can have something to give away. Every quarter-day -he will pay a hundred pounds to you, and fifty to Macleod; and you -can make as much more as you like out of your farm. That, remember, -is yours; and you may do what you please with it. When you both die, -the capital which provides your incomes will return to the pontifical -treasury: so if you want to marry, and beget a family, and leave -something more than real property--the farm--behind you, you must earn -it. We give you a chance, and perfect freedom. Do you follow?" - -"Oh I never shall forget a single word. Holy Father, I can't take it. -What have I done to deserve it? What could I ever do to deserve it?" - -"Boy, you have done this to deserve it. You have wished to bear or to -share another's burden. You shall have your wish; and you shall have a -little reward here and a very great reward--There,--if you carry out -your wish. That's what you have done and what you can do. You are good, -and you are trusted. And that's all. Now go away at once because We -have a lot of writing yet to do." - -"John," cried Hadrian, just before the door closed. "By the bye, you -had better tell Macleod of his appointment; and see about his uniforms -at once: but keep the other matter to yourself till--you know when. -Oh--and please make him understand that We shall call him 'James.' That -Gaelic 'Hamish' is a little too much. And he had better be Mr. James to -the others." - -Outside the closed door, Sir John struck his own hands together. "And -the maddening thing is that there is nothing in the whole world that -I can do for Him. If I were to give Him a little present, like a -baccy-pouch, ten to one it wouldn't be precisely to His taste--anyhow -it 'ld only be like giving Him a calf of His Own cow. Oh damn! It's -like a wax match offering a light to the sun." He suddenly faced to the -door again; and his words came in the form of a solemn pledge. "Lord, I -promise." He remained entranced for several moments: and anon went on -his way with steadfast brow. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - - -The Cardinal-deacon of St. Cosmas and St. Damian did it. The acts -of the consistory, in so far as they related to the calumny against -the Pope, duly appeared in the _Times_ and the _Globe_ and the -_New York Times_ as news which was fit to print. Innumerable other -papers lifted them with acknowledgments. No comment was made. The -collared-puppy-in-the-Tube, and the spectacled-person-in-the-motor-car, -and the female-with-the-loaf-coloured-hat-at-the-bargain-sale, forgot -all about George Arthur Rose: paid no attention whatever to the -Pope; and violently sat up on their hind-legs regarding the Supreme -Arbitrator. France and Russia emitted caricatures and howls; and -prepared to invade Belgium and Sweden, with the intention of descending -on Germany from three sides. - -Mrs. Crowe became conscious that she had lost rather than had gained -by her connection with Jerry Sant. The English Catholics treated her -as they are wont to treat converts after the first three months; and -shewed her the cold shoulder. The refutation of her latest calumny had -made her look foolish--and something dirtier than foolish. She was -mortified: she was angry with herself; and she naturally yearned to -tear and mangle everybody else. She thought that the best thing which -she could do would be to pose as a much deceived woman, to break that -disastrous connection with the Liblabs, and to return (if possible) to -the status quo ante. So she went and fell upon Jerry, vituperating him -for the accented failure of his schemes--for leading an innocent lady -astray with his nastiness, and his pig-headed stupidity, and all that. -She frankly told him that he had gone too far. The precious pair "had -words"; and finally separated. Jerry remained at his hotel, dumb and -dangerous, brooding. As for the lady, respectable mediocrity allured -her by the prospect which it offered of a not unfamiliar obscurity, -where she might try to piece-together the shreds and tatters of her -reputation. She had a little money left--and with economy----She would -stay just a little longer. Who knew what might happen? - -One by one, cardinals received summons to the secret chamber. Their -brains were picked and their opinions heard. Nefski of the ashen -pallor and the haunted eyes admitted that Poland might be happier as a -constitutional monarchy and a member of a federation. Pushed to it, he -promised to use all his influence to persuade. Mundo, cleanly, rotund -and sparkling, spoke of Portugal's long and illustrious alliance with -the Lord of the Sea. His compact vivid nation had no grievances. Grace -looked silently vigorous; and praised the Munroe doctrine. If only----. -The French cardinals chattered: were aghast: sobbed: were quite limp; -and became picturesquely and dithyrambically resigned. Oh they were -so excellent:--and so futile! Courtleigh pleaded age, infirmity. -Circumstances had become more than he could manage. He had begun to -think that he never had been anything but a decorative figure-head: -that he never once had gripped the rudder of affairs since the Prince -of Wales had been so--well, rude to him. He was old: he was garrulous: -craving for greetings. He begged leave to go and end his days in the -college which he had founded, if the Holy Father would but deign to -relieve him of his archbishopric. Hadrian did deign; and summoned -Talacryn, to whom He said "We are about to fulfil the ambition of Your -Eminency's life by preconizing you to the archbishopric of Pimlico." - -The cardinal said something about being unworthy of the honour. - -"That of course," the Pontiff responded: "but We place you there -because you know or ought to know more of Our mind than any man: and -your task is to make that known to England. It at least never can be -said, if you should err, that you erred through ignorance of Our will. -You have health, you have youth, you have a dominant presence. People -will listen to you. Your danger and your fault are due to your national -habit of suspicion. That can be conquered. Act up to your name: be -frank: suspect no one: be ready to renounce:--but your heart should -tell you all that We would say. Now for Caerleon. Whom would you like -to succeed Your Eminency there?" - -Talacryn said something about the right of the clergy to elect: but -that was swept aside. Then he dwelled on the difficulty of finding a -suitable priest who could speak the native language. - -"The last is not essential," said Hadrian: "you yourself cannot speak -and cannot even learn that frightful jargon, although you are a native -of the dreadful place: and, after your habit of suspecting people, -and--yes, it had better be said,--a slight tendency to the habit of -officious lying--(the cardinal went purple)--there, it is said and -done with: you have had your lesson, and you know better now:--after -those things, the only reason why your episcopate has not been a very -brilliant one is that you started with the false idea of the necessity -of speaking that corrupt and obsolete dialect." - -"But does not Your Holiness think that a foreigner----" - -"No: England is the dominant race: her language is the language of all -her colonies. Why a triplet of little conquered countries should refuse -to learn English--should be permitted to insist on their barbarous and -unliterary languages, We never could understand. They are conquered -countries, annexed to their conqueror. They have lost their national -existence for centuries. They have no national existence, or any kind -of existence apart from England. No. Nationality does not come into the -question of your successor at all. That is where the Church of Christ -differs from all religions. Rome can do, and does do, what no other -ecclesiastical power durst do. Our predecessors sent an Italian to -Canterbury, and even a Greek, Theodore; and We are sending a Kelt to -Pimlico. As for Caerleon--do you remember John Jennifer, the priest of -Selce? You do:--he was a white man at Mary vale:--and since? Good. He -is Bishop of Caerleon." - -"He speaks the language, Holy Father," said Talacryn, laughing. - -"The merest accident. We selected him for his steadfast sturdy goodness -under great difficulty at Maryvale. Oh, we remember----" - -And the Pope's gaze went far away into the past. - -Cardinal Talacryn mentioned that the Secretary of State desired to know -whether His Holiness would require the services of the Patriarch of -Byzantion at the present juncture. - -"The Patriarch of Byzantion?" - -"It was thought that as he had negotiated with England during the reign -of Your Holiness's predecessors----" - -"Oh. Then, no. The services of the Patriarch of Byzantion are not -required. When His Grace is not smirking in 'black' drawing-rooms, or -writing defamatory letters to duchesses----" - -"Defamatory letters, Holy Father!" - -"Yes: defamatory letters, such as this one which he wrote in 1890." - -The Pope got up, took off His episcopal ring, unlocked and dived into -an alphabetical letter-case, and handed a most ingeniously suggestive -and lethific note to the cardinal. "Well, when His Grace is not engaged -in these disedifying pastimes, he has his patriarchate to attend-to. -In fact unless he can see his way to become a resident patriarch in -Byzantion within the month, he may look for a decree of deposition." -The Supreme Pontiff's aspect was austere. "Your Eminency will convey -that response to Cardinal Ragna's obliging suggestion." - -Talacryn made haste to kneel. "Give me a blessing, Holy Father, and I -will immediately proceed to my new see, whatever." - -Hadrian smiled. "God bless you, son. But do not go yet. Pimlico has -been in the hands of the Vicar-General and the Coadjutor for years; -and the Vicar-Capitular can manage for the present. Stay here a little -while. We shall need you. We shall not need you long." - -And Talacryn went out from the Presence, glad, yet grave. - -During a few days, questions and answers incessantly passed between the -Vatican and Windsor Castle. Hadrian consulted sovereigns: discussed -difficulties with statesmen. Baron de Boucert expressed the opinion -that it would be futile to oppose the inevitable expansion of Germany. -Signor Barconi himself officiated at an instrument installed in the -apostolic antechamber, until he was carried away in nervous collapse. -Hadrian envied him: and forced Himself to resist temptation. He had -much to do yet. Messages, messages, study of maps, collation of ms. -notes, filled a score of each twenty-four hours. There was need of -profound thought, so that the clairvoyant undazzled eye like a diver -might reach the bottom of deep-preserving thought. The four hours which -remained chiefly were spent at the tomb of St. Peter in the basilica. -The Arbitrator slept not at all in these days. He ate while at work; -and only sought refreshment under the ice-cold tap in the bath-room. -A squadron of English cruisers escorted a procession of royal yachts -and battleships, which conveyed the Congress of Windsor to Golden and -immortal Rome. - -Then came the issue of the _Epistle to the Princes_, in which the -Apostle reiterated the evangelic counsels, predicating a scheme of -utter self-sacrifice and non-resistance in imitation of the "sweet -reasonableness of Christ." This would mean, said He, the deliberate -loosening and casting away of all conventions which bound society -together. It was right: it was straight: it was the most direct road -to heaven. But it was not in accordance with the human will: it would -be called utopian, and unconventional; and it would be derided more -than followed: it would cause confusion inconceivable if it were -attempted on the grand scale. Truth more quickly emerges from error -than from confusion. Men, being what they are, _i.e._ bound to err, -would be better for having their errancy guided. They would diverge -from the road: but they should not leave it out of sight; and, properly -guided, their movement at least could be made to tend towards the -Point Desirable. Individuality so long had been suppressed, that its -efforts required administration. Therefore the Pontiff shewed, as well -as an unconventional, a conventional way of approaching that Point -Desirable. He maintained the aristocratic and monarchic principle -in strict integrity. A rebel was worse than the worst prince, and -rebellion was worse than the worst government of the worst prince that -hitherto had been. He proclaimed the anarchy of France and Russia to be -a manifestation of diabolic ebullience, which ought to be restrained -and stamped out by all right means, even the most stringent. France and -Russia, having forfeited the right of being deemed capable of ruling -themselves, henceforth must submit to be ruled. Satan finds mischief -for idle hands to do. Occupation, and scope for occupation, alone -will enable individuals and nations to work out their own salvation -humanly speaking. Men _must_ use themselves:--for good or ill. Most -human ills were caused by the lack of scope for energy. Sitting on, -or screwing down, the safety valve invariably was fatal:--a doctrine -which He enforced on the attention and obedience of the clergy. These -principles involved a re-arrangement of various spheres of influence. -The Ruler of the World, Peter, the Supreme Arbitrator, decreed that the -only nations, in which the "facultas regendi" survived in undiminished -energy, were England, America, Japan, Germany, Italy. Some of the old -monarchies, however, had not yet reached that point of decay when -their extinction would become desirable: they were Norway, Sweden, -Denmark, the German kingdoms and principalities and duchies, Spain, -Portugal, Greece, Roumania, Albania, Montenegro, the republics of -Switzerland and San Marino. These were to be maintained as sovereign -states and to preserve their national characters. Some also of the -old monarchies, which had tolerated unmerited suppression, were to -be given an opportunity of proving themselves worthy of corporate -existence. These were Hungary, Bohemia, and Russian and German Poland. -They were revived as kingdoms; and required to provide themselves -with constitutions (after the manner of England), and to elect their -respective monarchical dynasties. Switzerland and San Marino were -confirmed as republics. The Sultan at the instigation of England, his -ally, would move his capital to Damascus, in order to concentrate the -main force of Islam in Asia. Servia was added to the Principality of -Montenegro. Turkey-in-Europe and Bulgaria would become merged in the -kingdom of Greece. So far for particulars. - -Hadrian denounced, as bad and idle dreams, the plans of recent -political schemers who had adumbrated ideas of a federation of the -English-speaking and the Teutonic races. He dwelled upon the essential -differences which divided Germany from America, and both from -England. No blend was possible between the English and the Germans; -and Americans were not qualified for bonds. Each one of the three -was unique; and each would stand alone. Three such enormous powers -must have each its own separate and singular existence and sphere of -action. Three such spheres must be found, in which the three nations -independently might thrive. It was room for independent development -which must be sought out, and assigned. - -He stated the case of the continent of Europe. Belgium had 228 -inhabitants to the square-kilometre: Holland, 160: Germany, 104: -Austria, 87: France, 72: Russia was so sparsely populated that only a -migration of 109,000,000 people from the rest of Europe would raise her -to the European average. Hence, the Pope proclaimed the instauration -of the Roman Empire, under two Emperors, a Northern Emperor and a -Southern Emperor; and confirmed the same to the King of Prussia and -the King of Italy as representatives of the dynasties of Hohenzollern -and Savoy respectively. He ordained that this instauration should not -be deemed 'the ghost of the dead Roman Empire sitting crowned upon -the grave thereof, but its legitimate heir and successor, justified -by the ancient virtues of the Romans, the beneficence of their rule,' -and the vigorous aspiration to well-doing which characterized their -present representatives. The Northern Emperor William would nominate -sovereign dynasties for Belgium and Holland. He might replace the -present exiled monarchs on their respective thrones: or he might depose -them and substitute members of his Imperial family. He then would -extend the borders of Germany, eastward to the Ural Mountains by the -inclusion of Russia, westward to the English Channel and Bay of Biscay -by the inclusion of France, southward to the Danube by the inclusion -of Austria. At the same time, he would federate the constitutional -monarchies of Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, -Bohemia, Poland, Roumania, and the republic of Switzerland with the -other sovereign states already under his suzerainty: while the Southern -Emperor Victor Emanuel would federate the constitutional monarchies of -Portugal, Spain, the extended kingdom of Greece, the principalities -of Montenegro and Albania, and the republic of San Marino, with the -kingdom of Italy, which last now was to include Italia Redenta. The -frontier dividing the Northern Empire from the Southern was to be -formed by the Pyrenees, Alps, Danube, and Black Sea. - -The case of America was defined. The United States were to be increased -by the inclusion of all the states and republics of the two Americas -from the present northern frontier of the United States to Cape Horn. - -The Japanese Empire was authorized to annex Siberia. - -All Asia (except Siberia), Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and -All Islands, were erected into five constitutional kingdoms, and added -to the dominions of the King of England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. -The title "Emperor" being antipathetic to the English Race (on account -of its primary significance "War-Lord"), the official style of the -Majesty of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Asia, Africa, Canada, -Australia, New Zealand and All Islands, henceforth would be "The -Ninefold King." - -Thus the Supreme Arbitrator provided the human race with scope and -opportunity for energy. The provisions of the _Epistle to the Princes_ -were drawn up in the form of Treaty dividing the world, till midnight -(G.T.) of December 31st (N.S.) of the year 2000 of the Fructiferous -Incarnation of the Son of God, into the Ninefold Kingdom, the American -Republic, the Japanese Empire and the Roman Empire. This Treaty was -signed, in the Square of St. Peter's at Rome, by the Pontiff, the -Sovereigns and the Presidents, on the Festival of the Annunciation -of Our Lady the Virgin; and the armies and navies of the signatories -instantly set about the pacification of France and Russia by martial -law. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - -April brought to Hadrian an experience of one of those periods of -psychical disturbance which are incidental to the weakness of humanity, -and inevitable by a man of His particular temper. Things lost their -significance to Him, persons lost their personality, events their -importance; and time was not. He kept a straight face, and forced -Himself to courteous demeanour: but He was living in a world in which -He felt Himself to be just off the floor and floating, a world in which -everything was strange and everybody was quite strange, a world where -nobody and nothing mattered the least little bit. He had the sense at -the beginning to include Himself in secret behind guarded doors; and -also to hold His tongue when His attendants were in the Presence. He -simply sat and wondered--wondered who He was, how He came there, who -dressed Him like that, and when;--and decided that it did not matter. -He nursed His cat, cooing and mewing and talking cat-language in a most -enjoyable manner. When the creature went away,--it did not matter. He -used to gaze at His cross by the hour together, planning combinations -of lights and shades and backgrounds of book-backs: placing the golden -symbol there, and revelling in the supple splendour of the Form, its -dignity, its grace, the majestic youth of the Face, noble and grave. -He would close His eyes and learn the lovely planes and contours with -delicate reverent touch. It pleased Him to think that He had created -a type of incarnate divinity, which neither was the Orpheys of the -catacombs, nor the Tragic Mask of the Vernicle, nor the gross sexless -indecencies wherewith pious Catholics in their churches insult the One -among ten thousand, the Altogether Lovely. That thought brought Him -back to Space and Time. Indignation at images at least eleven heads -long, proportioned like female fashion-plates, visaged like emasculate -noodles whom you would slap in the face on sight, simply for their -tepid attenuate silliness, if you met them in the flesh--this drew -down Hadrian to realities and life.--He felt utterly exhausted. An -exposition of sleep seized Him. He was always drowsy; and would fall -asleep in the day-time over the writing and reading which He put -Himself to do, in His armchair by the window, in His favourite seat -by the old wall in the garden where He spent the vivid afternoons of -spring. Only toward night-fall, was He able to write that beautiful -clear script of His, to bring any of His usual alertness to bear upon -affairs: even then that alertness was extraordinarily diluted. His -intellect was nebulous, uncertain. He could not select saliencies, -could not concentrate his thoughts: His constructive faculty was in -abeyance: His imagination was in chains. He spent a long time over -His scanty meals, chewing, chewing, reading, reading, and remembering -nothing which He read. In an inert perfunctory way, He blamed Himself -for waste of time; and continued to waste it. No doubt it was divine -nature's will. Let it be understood that He was not slothful in the -confessional sense of the word. He was merely lethargic, dulled, -blunted, listless, eager for nothing, except to flee away and be at -rest--at rest. - -From this stupor, He awoke in panic, as though nympholeptose, -lymphatic, driven to phrenzy by some unknown external agency. He became -inspired with an appalling consciousness of the absolute necessity -for instant active continuous exertion,--if He were to continue alive -upon this earth. He felt that, if He were to permit Himself to relax -for one instant, if for one instant He were to abdicate command of -His physical forces, to let Himself go,--that instant would be His -last. With this in His mind, He prepared for momentary unconscious -lapses from violent activity. He posed with care, so that, if Death -should seize Him unawares, He might not present a disedifying or untidy -spectacle to the finders of His corpse. He carefully avoided postures -from which, when He should be reft from the body, His form would fall -indecorously. He did not trouble His confessor more often than twice -a week as usual: but His one prayer, His incantation, always was on -His lips, "Dear Jesus, be not to me a Judge, but a Saviour." He was -losing hold of the world. Continually, through every hour of the day -and night, His head rang with the reverberating boom--boom--boom--boom -of His strong heart's beating. The rhythm was maddening. He used to -count the pulsations, wondering, after "fourteen," whether He would be -able to say "fifteen": after "ninety-seven," whether He would be in -Rome to say "ninety-eight": expecting the sudden wrench of self from -body: conjecturing the nature of that unique experience. Once, He put -Himself to the question "Was He afraid?" He answered, No, because He -dared to hope; and, Yes, because He had not been there before. But -Sokrates had said that death was our greatest possession on earth; and -Seneca said that death was the best of the inventions of life; and -Seneca's friend Saint Paul said "to die is gain." On the whole, He was -not afraid, afraid, of death. But, He did not dare to go--to go--to -sleep now. At night, He used to lie in bed, first on His right side, -then at full length on His back with the pillow under His neck, and His -hands crossed on the breast which had been tattoed with a cross when He -was a boy, and His ankles crossed like a crusader, rigid, as He wished -to lie in His coffin,--and His brain active, active, counting physical -pulsations, meditating on the future, scheming, planning, counting each -breath, and waiting for the last--and death. - -Sometimes He wondered whether it was all worth while: whether it was in -accordance with God's Will that He should be so will-full. He decided -to risk an affirmative to that, on the ground of the existence of His -will. He knew that He tried rightly to use it. He hoped for mercy on -account of lapses. One point He determined. With all due respect to -Sokrates and Seneca, Death came by Sin, and Sin was God's enemy, and -God's friends must fight God's enemies to the bitter end. To relax -was suicide, and suicide was sin; and, tired with conflict as He was, -eager for rest and peace as He was, it certainly was not worth while -to add to His tale of sin: it was not worth while to exchange tiresome -earth for untiring hell: to lose, what Petrarch calls 'the splendour -of the angelic smile.' He had no steel in His possession except -safety-razors: knives and scissors He had abolished long ago; and now -He had light strong gratings fixed to all His windows. He would not go -into temptation. 'I am fawned upon by hope. Ah, would that she had a -voice which I could understand, a voice like that of a herald, that I -might not be agitated by distracting thought,' He said to Himself in -the words of Elektra at the tomb of Agamemnōn. Had He been trained in -boyhood at a public-school, in adolescence at an university, had His -lines been cast in service, He would not have had to put so severe -restraint upon Himself. The occasion would not have arisen. A simple -and perhaps a stolid character would have been formed of His temper, -potent and brilliant enough to distinguish Him from the mob, but -incapable of hypersensation. Instead, His frightfully self-concentrated -and lonely life, denied the ordinary opportunities of action, had -developed this heart-rending complexity: had trained him in mental -gymnastics to a degree of excellence which was inhuman, abominable, -(in the first intention of the words), in its facile flexible solert -dexterity. He was not restrained by any sense whatever of modesty or of -decorum. He had no sense of those things. He knew it; and regretted -it. He was Himself. He distrusted that self, rejoiced in it, and -determined to deal well and righteously with it. Dr Guido Cabelli, at -length summoned, found Him positively furious with the pain of physical -and intellectual struggles. The physician exhibited Pot. Brom., Tinct. -Valerian. Am., Tinct. Zinzil., Sp. Chlorof., Aq. Menth. Pip., once -every three hours. It made the Pontiff conscious that He stank like -a male cat in early summer: but He heard no more boom-booming in his -ears. It strung-up His nervous system for the time. He put on His -pontifical mask; and addressed Himself from the ideal to the real. - -He put the affairs of nations on one side. They, the nations all were -tumbling over one another in their eagerness to re-arrange themselves -upon the pattern which He had devised for them. If He adopted the -Pythagorean rôle of an uninterested spectator, either He would be -annoyed by something ugly or something silly, or He would have a chance -of glorifying Himself on account of some success. And He wished to do -otherwise than that. "In this world, God and His angels only may be -spectators." - -The affairs of religion, as far as He could see, amounted to the -service of others and the cultivation of personal holiness, the -correspondence with Divine Love. Someone had told Him that--yes, -Talacryn in confession, of course,--that the key to all His -difficulties, present and to come, was Love. That was all very pretty -and theological on the part of the bishop, the cardinal-archbishop: -but it was the baby who had taught Him the secret of the method. He -would, He really would keep His troubles to Himself. His office was the -office of leader and exemplar. Nothing must interfere. He put Himself -to review the first year of His pontificate: and a black enough tale it -seemed to Him. Without surprize, without emotion, He noted the blurs -of impatience, pride,--pride,--humanity.--Retrospection was the most -wearisome most fatuous banality. Onward! - -Leader and exemplar! One thing was clear. He must come down among the -led and following. He must be seen of men. And He was not seen. No. -Peculiar personal preference kept Him apart, mysterious. He rather -enjoyed (not the being misunderstood but) the not being understood; -and, at the same time, He had been doing a lot of people the gross -injustice of crediting them with the possession of intelligence similar -to His Own, of perspicacity equal to His Own, of the ability to keep -up with His rapid pace and abrupt manœuvres. That was unrighteous. No -doubt it had been all very fine and noble and so forth to sit down -silent under calumny, for example. One could afford to do that when one -was innocent. But, when millions of people (to give the devils their -due) actually wanted to believe one innocent, and would be grieved -and perhaps injured because the opportunity to believe innocence was -withheld, was it righteous to refuse to condescend? No, such a pose was -mere pride. The Servant of the servants of God must not fear to soil -the whiteness of His robe in any kind of ordure. Also, to save others -was the best way of retrieving oneself. - -He sent for the nearest cardinals. Ragna, Saviolli, Semphill, Sterling, -Talacryn, Carvale, Van Kristen, Gentilotto, Leighton, Whitehead, -responded to the summons. Hadrian received them in the throne-room, -but without formality; and contrived to give them an easy and genial -greeting. They thought Him to be looking seriously ill. There was the -dead whiteness of a gardenia in the hue of His face and hands: His -reddish-brown hair was going grey over the left ear: His intense and -rigid mask was the sign of pain. His whole aspect also was diaphanous, -wasted. But His manner was vivid: He was not inaccessible. Their -Eminencies gave Him their attention; and wondered what He was going to -bring-out of the dispatch box by His side. He was extremely glad to -see the Secretary of State: for He knew how antipathetic He was to that -one; and now He was going to try to give him satisfaction. At least it -should not be His fault if Ragna's ordinary attitude of discreet and -convulsive brutality remained unmitigated. - -"Lord Cardinals," the Supreme Pontiff said, "it has occurred to Us that -ye have many things to say: that there be many things which ye desire -to know. We, on Our part, are ready to hear; and We are willing to -respond to questions." - -Questions instantly were born in each man's brain. Ragna was the first -to deliver Himself of his. "Holiness, will You answer a question about -the _Epistle to the Princes_?" - -"Yes." - -Ragna collected himself. "I am curious to know why the rights of France -in Egypt were not even named. I can see that the very nature of Your -Holiness's counsels demanded that Africa as a whole should pass to -England: but I cannot understand why Germany, in taking over France, -should not also have taken-over the condominium of Egypt. Why did that -fall to England; and why did Germany consent to its falling to England?" - -Hadrian made an effort to conquer His natural incapacity for coming -near a subject at the first attempt; and put Himself to be concise. -"Your Eminency knows that since--We forget the exact date--but since a -very short time ago, no international obligations have existed which -could restrain Egypt from legitimate attempts at emancipation. Nothing -but Ottoman firmans held her. Very well. We discovered that when the -King of England and the Sultan, last October, made alliance, the -latter issued a firman in which England was named Protector of Egypt. -Then (the speaker slightly smiled), when the task of arbitration was -submitted to Us, We found that the German colonies in Africa, not only -did not pay their way but, required a yearly subsidy of £1,500,000; -and therefore, taking one thing with another, We arranged to give -Germany sufficient employment for a century nearer home. She promptly -recognized that 'megli' è fringuello in man' che tordo in frasca.' -The fact is that she was only too glad to be rid of her own parasitic -colonies, which had severed their connection from the parent stem, and -derived their nutriment from other states: while the colonies of France -which were epiphytic, having no existence apart from the source from -which they sprang, were wiped out (as French colonies) when France was -wiped out." - -"And no doubt Germany, in her pretty Gothic way, was in such a -desperate hurry to grab France, that she forgot all about Egypt. D'ye -know they say she's going to call her conquest Gallia again?" Semphill -put in with a sniff. "And now I'll ask a question. Holy Father, may I -smoke?" - -"But smoke!" Hadrian assented with pleasure; and held-out His Own hand -for a cigarette. Some of the others did likewise; and the gear began to -run much more easily. Van Kristen expressed joy that the Germans were -not to have chances of doing more monkey business on the Erechtheion -and the Akropolis at Athens. - -"Yes," Ragna meditatively continued: "I suppose I ought to have -understood all that. But now, Holiness, there's another thing: why did -the Sultan consent to evacuate Europe?" - -"Simply because, with all the examples which he has had lately, he goes -in mortal terror of assassination. He has managed to persuade himself -that he only can be warranted against that, as long as he is under -the ægis of England. Well: seeing England and Turkey allied, We moved -England and England moved Ismail. The former had sense: the latter, -sentiment. But Ismail really is not half bad: in fact he's rather -decent. If We only had another dear charming child-like naked Christian -like Blessed Brother Francis----" - -"What?" said Carvale with animation. He happened to have noted that, -when Hadrian rioted in superlatives, it meant no more than positives: -but, when He negligently drawled comparatives, "not half bad" or -"rather decent," the ultimate of praise was signified. "What?" the -cardinal repeated. - -"We would send him to give points to Ismail's mollahs and dervishes." - -"St. Francis has innumerable sons, Holiness," Saviolli put in. - -"And We only know one who in the slightest degree resembles his -father," the Pope responded, waving away the subject. - -"One would like to know," said Sterling, "whether Your Holiness is not -really of the opinion that the _Epistle to the Princes_ was perhaps a -trifle too sentimental and----" - -"Sentimental? Yes. The Ruler, who rules sentiment out of his -calculations, ignores one of the most potent forces in human affairs. -Too sentimental? No. And what else was Your Eminency about to say--a -trifle too sentimental and----" - -"One would have said perhaps a trifle too arbitrary." - -"Dear man----" the Pope gleefully began. - -But Ragna interrupted "Nothing of the kind. That particular _Epistle_ -was replete with pontifical dignity: it was the finest thing----" - -Hadrian stopped him "We were about to remind Cardinal Sterling that -when the Ruler of the World geographically rules the world, He is -accustomed to do His ruling with a ruler. Our predecessor Alexander VI. -used a ruler on a celebrated occasion on the Atlantic Ocean." - -Everybody burst out laughing: laughed for a few moments; and returned -to a serious demeanour. There was a question, an important question, -which sat upon all tongues, wing-preened, ready to fly. But His -Holiness already had refused to discuss it. Those, who had tried to -persuade, so seriously had been hurt by His icy reticence or by His -blunt aloofness, that no one now was temerarious enough to attempt -the re-opening of so unsavoury and so personal a matter, except upon -explicit invitation. Knowing what he did of men, Hadrian had expected -hesitation: but, seeing that His purpose was likely to fail of -completion; and, being determined that it should not fail, He slowly -and significantly drew-off the pontifical ring from His first finger, -and put it in His pocket. "Gentlemen," He said with quite a change -of manner, "some of you would like to put George Arthur Rose to the -question?" - -They would indeed. They would whatever. They would like it so much -that they all spoke in unison. The sum of their words amounted to a -request that George Arthur Rose would give them some sort of statement -concerning newspaper calumnies, some sort of statement by way of -support to their contention that he had been grossly wronged and -mispresented. - -It was George the Digladiator who responded. He seemed to step down -into the arena, naked, lithe, agile, with bright open eyes, and ready -to fight for life. "Very well," he said--"I will give that statement to -you: but understand that I will not defend myself in the newspapers. -If I were a layman, I should have whipped in a writ for libel, and -have given my damages to Nazareth House. I should have preferred to -trust my reputation rather to an English judge and jury, than to the -nameless editors of Erse or Radical newspapers. Fancy having one's -letters edited by the _Catholic Hour_, for example: fancy having one's -letters, which are one's defence, nefariously garbled by a nameless -creature who is one's prosecutor, and one's judge, and one's jury, all -in one! However, not being a layman, I cannot go to law; and I will not -condescend to have dealings with those newspapers. Understand also, -that I tell you what I am about to tell you, not because I have been -provoked, abused, calumniated, traduced, assailed with insinuation, -innuendo, mispresentation, lies: not because my life has been held -up to ridicule, and to most inferior contempt: not because the most -preposterous stories to my detriment have been invented, hawked about, -believed. No. Please understand that I am not going to speak in my -own defence, even to you. I personally and of predilection, can be -indifferent to opinions. But officially I must correct error. So I will -give you some information. You may take it, or leave it: believe it or -disbelieve it. You shall have as photographic a picture as I can give -you of my life, and of the majestic immobility by which you clergy tire -out--assassinate a man's body--perhaps his soul. You are free to use it -or abuse it. When I shall have finished speaking, I never will return -to this subject." - -"Of course we shall believe what you say," Semphill rather nervously -intercalated. "I'm sure we believe it unsaid. We take it as said, you -know. But if you could see your way to give us details, say on half a -dozen points, that would be quite enough." - -"The _Daily Anagraph_ has not apologized for its latest slander," -Carvale put in. - -"Why should it?" George inquired. - -"Well, I sent an authenticated account of what happened in the last -consistory. The other papers printed it; and I should have thought the -least the _Daily Anagraph_ could have done would be----" - -"Carvale, you're making a mistake. The _Daily Anagraph_ has no personal -grudge against me: although the last editor had, because I once -innocently asked him whether historical accuracy came within the scope -of a Radical periodical. That was years ago, at the time of the second -Dreyfus case. I know that he was furious; because Bertram Blighter, -the novel-man, told me that that editor in revenge was going to put -me on the newspaper black-list, whatever that may be. No, it is not a -personal matter, a matter in which an apology is customary. It's simply -an example of the ethics of commercial journalism. The man wanted to -increase the sale of his paper. I happened by chance to be before the -world just then. And he took the liberty of increasing his circulation -at my expense. Actually that is all. You can't (at least I don't), -expect an editor, who is capable of doing such a thing, to apologize -for doing it. The case of the other papers is verisimilar: except -of course the _Catholic Hour_. That simply exists on sycophanty by -sycophants for sycophantophagists, as Semphill knows." - -"Yes I know," said Semphill. "And I don't allow the thing to enter my -house." - -"But the others--in their case it's not lurid malignance, but legal -malfeasance. Did you say that they apologized?" - -"No. None of those, which printed the calumnies, apologized. They just -kept silence. But all the respectable papers, which had not calumniated -you, printed my refutation of the _Daily Anagraph_." - -George made a gesture of scorn, of satisfaction, of dismissal. "Then -the Pope is clear;" he said. "Now I will try to tell you, as briefly as -possible, what you want to know about the other person." He produced -a sheaf of newspaper-cuts. He was in such a white rage at having to -do what he was about to do, that he wreaked his anger on those who -listened to him, piercingly eyeing them, speaking with swift fury as -one would speak to foes. "The _Catholic Hour_ states that in 1886 I -was under an under-master at Grandholme School: that I had to leave -my master-ship because I became Catholic. That is true in substance -and absolutely false in connotation. I was an under-master: but as I -also had charge of the school-house, I was called the house-master. -You also perhaps may be aware that there is only one head-master in a -school; and that all the rest are under-masters. But, when slander is -your object, 'under-master' is a nice disgraceful dab of mud to sling -at your victim for a beginning. Well: I resigned my house-mastership -of my own free and unaided will for the reason alleged; and I have yet -to learn that the becoming Catholic is an extraordinarily slimy deed. -Further, note this, far from my resignation being the dishonourable -affair which the _Catholic Hour_ implies, the head-master of Grandholme -School remained my dear and intimate and honoured friend through thick -and thin, for more than twenty years, and is my only dear and intimate -friend at this moment." - -Semphill and Carvale looked up, and then down. Sterling looked down, -down. Van Kristen looked up. The others, anywhere. Talacryn looked -annoyed. The taunt was flung out; and the flying voice went-on. "The -_Catholic Hour_ thus casts its diatribe in a key of depreciation. Next, -I am said to have gone to a school for outcasts, to have quarrelled -with the two priest-chaplains; and presently to have been 'again out.' -The idea being to infer evil, it is rather cleverly done in that -statement of the case. But here are the facts. The school perhaps -might be called a school for outcasts. But I, a young inexperienced -Catholic of six months, was lured by innumerable false pretences, on -the part of the eccentric party who offered me the post, to accept -what he called the Head-mastership of a Cathedral Choir School. He did -not tell me that he was forcing the establishment on the bishop of -the diocese, nor that the Head-mastership had been refused by several -distinguished priests simply on account of the impossible conditions. -I bought my experience. That I quarrelled with the chaplains is quite -true. I did not quarrel effectually though. They were a Belgian and -a Frenchman. They drank themselves drunk on beer, out of decanters, -chased each other round the refectory tables in a tipsy fight, defied -my authority and compelled the ragamuffins of the school to do the -same. I naturally resigned that post as quickly as possible. Then -follows a pseudo-history of the beginning of my ecclesiastical career -at Maryvale. Talacryn knows all about that; and can tell you at your -leisure. Afterwards, I came across, (I am quoting), 'came across a -certain Pictish lairdie, and was maintained by him for three or four -months----'" - -"And I know all about that," Semphill interrupted: "You gave a great -deal more than you got." - -"The fallacies connected with my career at and expulsion from St. -Andrew's College are known?" - -"Thoroughly," assented Semphill, Talacryn, and Carvale in a breath. - -"The statement that I contracted large debts there----" - -"What about those debts?" Ragna asked. - -Carvale told him. "They all were contracted under the personal -supervision of the Vice-Rector. They were quite insignificant. Besides -that, they would not have been contracted but for the promise of -Archbishop Smithson and the advice of Canon Dugdale----" - -"And the advice of me," Semphill added in a low tone. - -"Oh, you at length acknowledge it?" George fiercely thrust at him. - -"Yes, I acknowledge it." - -"Well then, we're quits now:" George quietly and mysteriously mewed. - -"One confesses that the question of the pseudonym interests one," -Sterling judicially said. - -"I had half-a-dozen. You see when I was kicked out from college, -without a farthing or a friend at hand, I literally became an -adventurer. Thank God Who gave me the pluck to face my adventures. I -was obliged to live by my wits. Thank God again Who gave me wits to -live by." - -Cardinal Leighton was standing-up, blinking and blushing with -indignation which distorted his honest placid features. "Holy -Father, don't say another word." He twitched round towards his -fellow-collegians. "How can you torture the man so!" he cried. "Can't -you see what you're doing, wracking the poor soul like this, pulling -him in little pieces all over again? Shame on ye!--Holy Father don't -say another word." - -"Oh if I had only known!" cried Van Kristen. - -"You did! I told you myself; and you didn't believe me!" George -fulminated. - -The youngest cardinal wept into his handkerchief, shaking with sobs. -George neither saw nor noted anyone. He was glaring like a python. -Demurrers to Leighton's remarks arose. No one wanted to wrack anybody. -Questions had been invited. Of course no one believed. But it would be -so much more satisfactory--Ragna added. George sat violently still in -his chair while they talked: let them talk; and prepared to resume. - -"If Your Holiness would condescend----" Carvale began. - -"There is no Holiness here," George interrupted, in that cold white -candent voice which was more caustic than silver nitrate and more -thrilling than a scream. - -"If you would do us the favour of just noticing a few heads." - -"As you please," George chucked at him: "agree among yourselves as to -those heads; and you shall have bodies and limbs and finger-nails and -teeth to fit them." - -Their Eminencies began agreeing. George meanwhile went into the secret -chamber for ten minutes or so: and returned with his cat on his neck, -and his own tobacco-pouch. He was beginning a cigarette; and his gait -was the gait of a challenged lion. Sterling presented him with a -pencilled slip of paper. He read aloud "Pseudonym: begging letters: -debts: luxurious living: idleness: false pretences as to means and -position." - -"I think it right to say that I myself am perfectly satisfied on all -those points," said Semphill. "I've read the calumnies--and I call them -dastardly calumnies--in the light of my own knowledge of the facts; and -I can only say that the worst thing which they've alleged against you -is that you've been used to go-about bilking landlords. All the rest is -excusable, not to say harmless." - -"Gracious Heavens!" George exclaimed in a rictus of rage. "Do you -suppose that a man of my description goes-about bilking landlords for -the sake of the fun of the thing? It's no such deliriously jolly work, -I can tell you. However, I've never bilked any landlords if that's -what you want to know. Never. They saw that I worked like nineteen -galley-slaves; and they offered to trust me. I voluminously explained -my exact position and prospects to them. I was foolish enough to -believe that you Catholics would keep your promises and pay me for -the work which I did at your orders. So I accepted credit. I wish I -had died. When at length I was defrauded, legally, mind!--for, as my -employers were Catholics and sometimes priests, I trusted to their -honour, and obtained no stamped agreement:--when I was defrauded of my -wages, my landlords lost patience (poor things--I don't blame them,) -harried me, reproached me, at length turned me out, and so prevented -me from paying them. I dug myself out of the gutter with these bare -hands again and again; and started anew to earn enough to pay my -debts. Debts! They never were off my chest for twenty years, no matter -what these vile liars say. Debts! They say that I incurred them for -luxurious living, unjustifiably----" - -His passionate voice subsided: he became frightfully cool and tense -and terse, analytical, quite merciless to himself. Their Eminencies -never before had seen a surgical knife at work in a human heart -and brain. They sat all vigilant and attentive, as self-dissection -proceeded. "They say that I gorged myself with sumptuous banquets at -grand hotels. Once, after several days' absolute starvation, I got -a long earned guinea; and I went and had an omelette and a bed at a -place which called itself a grand hotel. It wasn't particularly grand -in the ordinary sense of the term; and my entertainment there cost me -no more than it would have cost me elsewhere, and it was infinitely -cleaner and tastier. They say that I ate daintily, and had elaborate -dishes made from a cookery book of my own. The recipes, (there may -have been a score of them,) were cut-out of a penny weekly, current -among the working classes. The dishes were lentils, carrots, anything -that was cheapest, cleanest, easiest, and most filling--nourishing--at -the price. Each dish cost something under a penny; and I sometimes -had one each day. As I was living on credit, I tried to injure no -one but myself. That's the story of my luxurious living. Let me add -though that I was extravagant, in proportion to my means, in one thing. -Whenever I earned a little bit, I reserved some of it for apparatus -conducing to personal cleanliness, soap, baths, tooth-things, and so -on. I'm not a bit ashamed of that. Why did I use credit? Because it -was offered: because I hoped: because---- That I did not abuse it you -may see, actually see, by my style of living,--here are the receipted -bills;--and by the number and quantity and quality of the works of -my hands. I never was idle. I worked at one thing after another. The -_Catholic Hour_ admits my skill; and mispresents that as a crime. At -the same time, I myself don't claim my indefatigability as a virtue. -Nothing of the kind. It's something lower than that. It's comical to -say it: but my indefatigability was nothing but a purely selfish pose, -put-on solely to make philanthropists look unspeakably silly, to give -the lie direct to all their idiotic iniquitous shibboleths. It wasn't -that I _couldn't_ stop working: but that I _wouldn't_. The fact is -that I long, I burn, I yearn, I thirst, I most earnestly desire, to do -absolutely nothing. I am so tired. I have such a genius for elaborate -repose. But convention always alleges idleness, or drunkenness, or -lechery, or luxury, to be the causa causans of scoundrelism and of -poverty. That's a specimen of the 'Eidola Specus,' the systematizing -spirit which damns half the world. People never stop to think that -there may be other causes--that men of parts become rakes, or -scoundrels, or paupers, for lack of opportunity to live decently and -cleanly. Look at François Villon, and Christopher Marlowe, and Sir -Richard Steele, and Leo di Giovanni, and heaps of others. Well: I -resolutely determined that you never righteously should allege those -things of me. Simply to deprive you of that excuse for your failure to -do your duty to your neighbour--simply to deprive you of the chance -of classifying me among the ruck which your neglect has made--I -courted semi-starvation and starvation, I scrupulously avoided drink, -I hardly ever even spoke civilly to a woman; and I laboured like a -driven slave. No: I never was idle. But I was a most abject fool. I -used to think that this diligent ascetic life eventually would pay -me best. I made the mistake of omitting to give its due importance to -the word 'own' in the adage 'Virtue is its own reward.' I had no other -reward, except my unwillingly cultivated but altogether undeniable -virtue. A diabolic brute once said to me 'If I had your brains I would -be earning a thousand a year.' I replied 'Take them: tell me what to -do: give me orders, and I implicitly will obey you. Then, take that -thousand a year, and give me two hundred; and I'll bless you all my -days.' He said nothing; and he did nothing. He was just a fatuous -liar. I mocked him: caught him stealing my correspondence--there is -his written confession;--and, he wrote these anonymous calumnies in -long cherished revenge." The dreadful lambent voice flickered for a -moment;--and more rapidly flashed-on. "I repeat, I never was idle. I -did work after work. I designed furniture, and fire-irons. I delineated -saints and seraphim, and sinners, chiefly the former: a series of -rather interesting and polyonomous devils in a period of desperate -revolt. I slaved as a professional photographer, making (from French -prints) a set of negatives for lantern-slides of the Holy Land which -were advertised as being 'from original negatives'--'messing about' the -_Catholic Hour_ elegantly denominates that portion of my purgatory. -Well I admit it was messy, and insanitary within the meaning of the act -too--but then you see I was working for a Catholic. I did journalism, -reported inquests for eighteen pence. I wrote for magazines. I wrote -books. I invented a score of things. Experts used to tell me that -there was a fortune waiting for me in these inventions: that any -capitalist would help me to exploit them. They were small people -themselves, these experts,--small, in that they were not obliged to -pay income tax: they had no capital to invest: but they recommended -me, and advised me, to apply to lots of people who had:--gave me -their names and addresses, dictated the letters of application which -I wrote. I trusted them, for they were 'business men' and I knew -that I was not of that species. I quieted my repugnance; and I laid -invention after invention, scheme after scheme, work after work, -before capitalist after capitalist. I was assured that it was correct -to do so. I despised and detested myself for doing it. I scoured the -round world for a 'patron.' These were my 'begging letters.'--At that -time I was totally ignorant of the fact that there are thousands of -people who live by inviting patronage; and that most of them really -have nothing to be patronized: while the rest are cranks. I knew -that I had done such and such a new thing: that I had exhausted -myself and my resources in doing it: that my deed was approved by -specialists who thoroughly knew the subject. I was very ashamed -to ask for help to make my invention profitable: but I was quite -honest--generous: I always offered a share in the profits--always. I -did not ask for, and I did not expect, something for nothing. I had -done so much; and I wanted so little: but I did want that little,--for -my creditors,--for giving ease to some slaves of my acquaintance. -I was a fool, a sanguine ignorant abject fool! I never learned by -experience. I still kept on. A haggard shabby shy priestly-visaged -individual, such as I was, could not hope to win the confidence of men -who daily were approached by splendid plausible cadgers. My requests -were too diffident, too modest. I made the mistake of appealing to -brains rather than to bowels, to reason rather than to sentiment. I -wanted hundreds, or thousands--say two: others wanted and got tens -and hundreds of thousands. A cotton-waste merchant could not risk -fifteen-hundred on my work, although he liked me personally and said -that he believed in the value of my inventions: but, at the same time, -he cheerfully lost twelve-thousand in a scheme for 'ventilated boots.' -I myself was wearing ventilated boots, then: but the ventilated-boot -man wore resplendent patent leather Cardinals' secretaries could -live at the rate of two-thousand-two-hundred-and-ninety pounds -a year and borrow three-thousand-and-sixty pounds, on a salary -of two-hundred pounds a year; and they could become bankrupt for -four-thousand-one-hundred-and-twenty pounds with one-hundred-and-eighty -pounds worth of assets. But I,--I could not get my due from that man, -one of whose secretaries wrote his business to me on the franked -note-paper of the late Queen of England's Treasury: while the other, -the bankrupt, gave me a winter of starvation, because his lord had -altered his mind, quoth he, about the job on which I was working, -and had determined to put his money into a cathedral. No. I never -accomplished the whole art and mystery of mendicity. I perfectly could -see what was required of him who would be a successful swindler. I was -not that one. I was playing another kind of game--unfortunately an -honest one. Take that 'unfortunately' for irony, please. I mean--but -you perfectly know what I mean.--I made nothing of my inventions. -By degrees, I had the mortification of seeing others arrive at the -discovery which I had made years before. They contrived to turn it -into gold and fame. That way, one after another of my inventions -became nulled to me. I think I am right in saying that there are -only four remaining at the present moment. Finance them now? Engage -in trade like a monk or a nun? No. No. I shall give them to--that -doesn't matter. It shall be done to-day.--Idle? Idle? When I think of -all the violently fatuous frantic excellent things I've done in the -course of my struggles for an honest living--ouf! It makes me sick! -Oh yes, I have been helped. God forgive me for bedaubing myself with -that indelible blur. I had not the courage to sit-down and fold my -hands and die. A brute once said that he supposed that I looked upon -the world as mine oyster. I did not. I worked; and I wanted my wages. -When they were withheld, people encouraged me to hope on; and offered -me a guinea for the present. I took the filthy guinea. God forgive -me for becoming so degraded. Not because I wanted to take it: but -because they said that they would be so pained at my refusal. But one -can't pay all one's debts, and lead a godly righteous sober life for -ever after on a guinea. I was offered help: but help in teaspoonfuls: -just enough to keep me alive and chained in the mire: never enough to -enable me to raise myself out of it. I asked for work, and they gave -me a guinea,--and a tacit request to go and agonize elsewhere. My -weakness, my fault was that I did not die murdered at Maryvale, at St. -Andrew's College. The normal man, treated as I was ill-treated, would -have made no bones whatever about doing so. But I was abnormal. I took -help, when it was offered gently. I'm thankful to say that I flung -it back when it was offered charitably, as the Bishop of Claughton -offered it, and Monsignor--you know whom I mean, Talacryn,--and John -Newcastle of the _Weekly Tabule_. I'll tell you about the last. He -said that, being anxious to do me a good turn, he had deposited ten -pounds with a printer-man, who would be a kind friend to me, and would -consult me as to how that sum could be expended in procuring permanent -employment for me. I took seven specimens of my handicraft to that -printer-man. He admired them: offered me a loan of five pounds on -their security. With that, I fulfilled a temporary engagement. Then -I consulted the printer-man, the 'kind friend.' He proposed to give -me a new suit of clothes, (I was to do without shirts or socks), to -accept my services at no salary, and to teach me the business of a -printer's reader for three months; and, then, to recommend me for a -situation as reader to some other printer. But, I said, why waste -three months in learning a new trade when I already had four trades -at my fingers' ends? But, I said, what was I to live on during those -three months? But, I said, what certainty was there at the end of -those three months? But, he said, that he would 'have none of' my -'lip, for' he 'knew all' my 'capers'; and he bade me begone and take -away my drawings. Those were ruined: he had let them lie on his dirty -office floor for months. Oh I admit that I have been helped--quite -brutally and quite uselessly. Helped? Yes. Once, when they told me at -the hospital that I was on the verge of a nervous collapse, a Jesuit -offered to help me. He would procure my admission to a certain House of -Rest, if I would consent to go there. By the Mercy of God I remembered -that it was a licensed madhouse, where they imprisoned you by force -and tortured you. Fact! There had been a fearful disclosure of their -methods in the _P.M.G._ Well: I refused to go. Rather than add that -brand to what I had incurred through being Catholic, I made an effort -of will; and contrived to escape that danger: contrived to recover -my nerves; and I continued my battle.--Regarding my pseudonyms--my -numerous pseudonyms--think of this: I was a tonsured clerk, intending -to persist in my Divine Vocation, but forced for a time, to engage in -secular pursuits both to earn my living and to pay my debts. I had -a shuddering repugnance from associating my name, the name by which -I certainly some day should be known in the priesthood, with these -secular pursuits. I think that was rather absurd: but I am quite sure -that it was not dishonourable. However, for that reason I adopted -pseudonyms. I took advice about adopting them: for, in those days, -I used to take advice about everything, not being man enough to act -upon my own responsibility. Also, the idea of using pseudonyms was -suggested to me; and the first one was selected for me. As time went -on, and Catholic malfeasance drove me from one trade to another--for -you know--Talacryn--Carvale--Semphill--Sterling--that two excellent -priests declared in so many words that they would prevent me from -ever earning a living--legal assassination, you see definitely was -contemplated--I say as Catholic malfeasance drove me from one trade, I -invented another, and another; and I carried on each of these under a -separate pseudonym. In fact I split up my personality. As Rose I was a -tonsured clerk: as King Clement, I wrote and painted and photographed: -as Austin White, I designed decorations: as Francis Engle, I did -journalism. There were four of me at least. I always have thought it -so inexplicable that none of the authorities--you, Talacryn, with -your pretended confidence in me and your majestic immobility towards -me,--that none of you ever realized the tremendous amount of energy -which was being expended, misdirected, if you like. Certainly no one of -you ever made a practical attempt to direct that energy. I was a like -a wild colt careering round and round a large meadow. You all looked -on and sneered 'Erratic!' Of course I was erratic, for you all did -your very best, by stolidity, hints, insinuations, commands, to create -obstacles over which I had to jump, through which I had to tear a way; -and there was no one to bit and bridle me, to ride me, and to share his -couch with me. And of course my pseudonymity has been misunderstood -by the stupid, as well as mispresented by the invidious. Most people -have only half developed their single personalities. That a man should -split his into four and more; and should develop each separately and -perfectly, was so abnormal that many normals failed to understand it. -So when 'false pretences' and similar shibboleths were shrieked, they -also took alarm and howled. But, there were no false pretences. I told -my name to everyone whom it concerned. I am not the only person who -has traded under pseudonyms or technikryms. Take, for example, the -man whose shop I am said to have offered to buy. He himself used a -trade-name. He begged for my acquaintance when I was openly living as a -tonsured clerk, about a couple of years before my first pseudonym even -was thought of. Take, for another example, those priests, Fr. Aleck of -Beal, and the Order of Divine Love, who are alleged to have 'charitably -maintained' me. By the way, they never did that. They always were paid -for my entertainment, in hard coin, and their own price--always. And -the Fathers of Divine Love refused me shelter for one night in 1892 -at the very time when they are said to have 'charitably maintained' -me. They did suggest a common lodging-house at fourpence, though; and -I flung back the suggestion in their faces and walked the streets all -night. But all these people knew all about me and my pseudonyms. In -fact, the very priest who suggested the common lodging-house, was the -man on whose advice I adopted my first pseudonym. It was invented by -an old lady who chose to call herself my grandmother: she was that -priest's patron and penitent. It was approved by him and adopted by me. -And there you have the blind and naked truth on that point. It now is -pretended that 'King Clement' was a jesuitical machiavellian device of -mine, implying royalty, dominions, wealth, and interminable nonsense. -I think that the pretension is due to malice and imbecillity. It is -malignant now: but I firmly believe that it began by being imbecile. I -confess that the name, taken together with my domineering manner, my -pedantic diction, my austere and (shall I say) exclusive habit, was -liable to misconstruction by the low coarse half-educated uncultured -boors among whom I lived. It's an example of the 'Eidola Fori,' the -strange power of words and phrases over the mind. I think it really was -believed, in some vague way, that I was an exiled sovereign or some -rot of that sort. I believe that I perceived it; and laughed to myself -about it. But I did my best to disabuse the fools of their foolery. -That made things worse. Liars themselves, they could not conceive of -a man speaking truth to his own detriment. My disclaimer was taken -for a lie; and they honoured me the more for it; and chuckled at the -thought of their own perspicacity:--that is to say, when what I said -was intelligible to them. You see I used to be a great talker. I have -had many experiences; and I used freely to talk of them. It amused and -instructed; and I like to amuse and to instruct. You will understand -that my voice and my manner of speech did not resemble the voice and -the manner of speech of the ruffians with whom I worked and lived. -Live as poorly as I would, dress as shabbily as I would, the moment I -opened my mouth I was discovered to be different to those people. They -perceived it; and I never could disguise my speech. Also, I'm quite -sure that they could not understand my speech--follow my argument. I -used words which were strange to them to express ideas unimagined by -them, while their half-developed minds were more than half occupied, -not in listening to me but, in contemplating me, and in trying to form -their particular idea of me by the aid of the 'Vulgi sensus imperiti,' -the imperfection of undisciplined senses, at their disposal. I called -that Imbecillity. Perhaps Ignorance is the apter term. The Malice is -to be found among people who ought to know better: people to whom I -have told the exact truth about myself, exact at the time of telling: -people, who being possessed by a desire to think evil, think evil: -people who read between, instead of on, the lines: people, prone to -folly, whom I have not helped to avoid their predilection. I tried to -be simple and plain, to sulk (if you like) in my own corner by myself. -It was no good. Anyhow, I told no tales of realms or wealth as mine. -I made no false pretences. I myself was grossly deceived: barbarously -man-woman-and-priest-handled. I was foolish to try to explain myself. I -was foolish to try to work with, to live with, to equal myself in every -respect with, verminous persons within the meaning of the act. I ought -to have died. But I did not die. That is all. It is not half. Now you -know. Make what you please of it." - -"Tell me," Gentilotto instantly said: "Why did you never go to the -Trappists?" - -"Because I went to something worse, to something infinitely terribly -more ghastly. Trappists live in beautiful silent solitude; they -have clean water, beds, regular meals, and peace. I went to live in -intellectual silence and solitude in an ugly obscene mob, where clean -water was a difficulty, food and a bed an uncertainty, and where I had -the inevitable certainty of ceaseless and furious conflict." - -He hurled the words like javelins, and drew back in his chair. The old -bitter feeling of disgust with himself inspired him. He feared lest -perhaps he might have seemed to be pleading for sympathy. So he angrily -watched to detect any signs of a wish to insult him with sympathy. But -he really had gone far, far beyond the realm of human sympathy. _There -was not a man on the earth who would have dared to risk rebuff, to -persist against rebuff, to soar to him with that blessed salve of human -sympathy--for which,--underneath his armour,--and behind his warlike -mien,--he yearned._ Pity perhaps, horror perhaps, dislike perhaps, -might have met him. But he only had emphasized his own fastidious -aloofness. He had cleared-off the mire: but he had disclosed the cold -of marble, not the warmth of human flesh. - -The cardinals remained silent for a minute. Then Ragna said "'An enemy -hath done this!' Who is it?" - -George blazed with vigorous candid delight. "That is the first genuine -word which I have had from the heart of Your Eminency!"--He returned to -his repellent manner. "I gave the names of my calumniators to Cardinal -Leighton." - -"Jerry Sant the Liblab, aided by the woman and a clot of worms who had -turned;" Leighton said to Ragna. - -"Let them be smothered in the dung-hill. Anathema sint." Ragna growled. - -Again there was an exposition of silence in the throne-room. George was -frozen hard and white. Ragna and Leighton continued to look at each -other. Carvale's eyes had the blue brilliance of wet stars. Saviolli, -Semphill, Talacryn, Whitehead, were as though they had seen the -saxificous head of the Medoysa. Stirling gazed straight before him, in -the manner of the sphinx carven of black basalt. George was watching -them with half-shut eyes from the illimitable distance of his psychic -altitude. Presently, the pure pale old face of Gentilotto and the pure -pale young face of Van Kristen simultaneously were lifted; and their -eyes met His. He blushed: slowly drew out the pontifical ring: and put -it on His finger. - -"Lord Cardinals, it is Our will to be alone:" the Supreme Pontiff said. - -They came one by one and kissed His ring; and retired in silence. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - -When the door was shut, Hadrian remained quite motionless on the -throne; and set Himself to review what He had said. He wondered whether -He for once had got-down to and laid-bare the root of the matter: -whether He for once had made His argument clear and convincing.--Good -God! Who even could hope to be convincing?--He flung the thing away -from Him; and for ever closed that volume of the book of His life. - -He rose; and went straight into the bedroom. Here He stripped, and -stood erect, knees and feet close: gripped a pair of ten-pound -dumb-bells; and swung them with the alternating gesture of a right and -left overhand bowler, rhythmically swaying from the hips. He counted -up to a hundred; and went to another movement: a full round over-head -sweep of both arms together, expanding the long-breathing lungs, -quickening the pulses, brightening the eyes. His skin became moist and -warm. He washed His face and hands in oatmeal-water with no soap; and -went into the bath-room, turning on the high tap and letting the cold -soft water rain-down upon Him until He was numbed. He quickly dried -Himself; and put on completely clean clothes, rolling up those which -He had discarded and thrusting them into a linen bag. Then, He emerged -all flushed and white and fresh; and summoned Sir Iulo to the secret -chamber. - -"And so you are thinking of marriage, carino;" Hadrian said, putting -the young man into a chair and bestowing fumificables. - -Sir Iulo went almost as scarlet as his uniform: his eyes and teeth -gleamed. Hadrian handed to him a sheet of paper containing six stanzas -of passionate expression in rhyme, under the heading "Vorrei che tu -ascoltassi la mia voce." - -"Don't leave your sonnets about. And don't be so terrified, you silly -boy. Well: is it true?" - -The lover's face twitched rather. "I l-o-v-e her," he said with an -enormous vocal expansion of the middle word. "But I will not to abandon -You, Santità:" he added with fixed eyes. - -"Who is she? Is she good? Has she any money?" - -"She is the little daughter of the dentist. But good? But, yes. But no -money:" was the categorical reply. - -"Does she love you?" - -"Oh, but how she loves me!" - -"How long have you known her?" - -"Since Christmas, Santità, when the father of that has scaled the my -tooths." - -"Have you spoken to 'the father of that' about 'that'?" - -"Oh, but not yet, Santità. Nothing of less, he knows. I gave him to -know without the word." - -"And he didn't drive you out of the house?" - -"But no: for behold me not the assassin of that dentist." - -Hadrian laughed. "Can you describe her?" - -"Oh that I might to describe her to one who is so dear, so wise----" - -"Describe her." - -"Is named Evnica. Is example of goodness, of intellectuality. For -example: yesterday with the favour of the Most Holy I make a visit. I -am entering the saloon in the manner of cat, softly, softly. Behold in -a book reads the Signorina Evnica--not book of novels, not journal of -_Don Chisciotte_. No. I look over her shoulder, reading titles. Behold, -book of piety entitled _Office to the Proximate_----" - -"_Office to the Proximate_? What book of piety is that?" - -Sir Iulo repeated the title in Italian. - -"Ah yes, _The Duty towards our Neighbour_. Yes: a very good sign in a -girl. Go on." - -Sir Iulo fixed his bright green eyes upon a mental image; and described -each point as he observed it, using his gorgeously florid Tuscan idiom. -"Has a face to make burn Jove, and to return to ram, eagle or bull; -and to make scorn to medals old and new. Blond she has the hair like -thread of gold. The cheeks appear like a rose damasked. The mouth and -the eyes are worth a treasure. Has looks angelic, divine: but in the -effects and all the motions, human; and the her excellencies not have -end. She has what they call a good and fine hand: is white like snow -of mountains. Is literate; and makes to talk Tuscan; and in life not a -flaw can be found. There is not who better to a swan understands me. -Does great things, enough facts, little eats: not drinks never in the -middle of eating and not at afternoon-tea (merenda). More, I say. She -is in her proper acts so learned, that all I have in the world, or -small or great, I should have given to her pleasure at a stroke. The -more beautiful to my day I never saw: none more servitial: none more -prudent: nor acts in a girl more courteous and gay. Has Petrarch and -Dante in her hand; and, at time and place if I command, she vomits a -little sonnet lightly. Girl of all perfect qualities; and holds me in -pledge there if mine----" - -"Well now: suppose that you marry her, will you be good to her?" - -"Oh, that she shall be the my life and the my delight, dressed in -velvet, guarded as a queen, for fear that if she goes about too much -should not be robbed by some little hypocrite: that she shall live on -collops and bread of baker----" - -"How amusing you are! Well: marry that paragon, and be good and happy. -You must have an apartment in the City for her, you know;--and, about -your duties here:--you can come when you like. You are not dismissed: -but John and James will suffice. Understand, boy, you are wanted, -wanted here, always." - -"I am here always, Santità." - -"No. Go-away and marry. 'The most certain softeners of a man's moral -skin, and sweeteners of his blood, are domestic intercourse and a happy -marriage and brotherly intercourse with the poor.' Always remember -that. By the bye, what are you going to live on?" - -"If I am always a Gentleman of Hadrian, I am having a plenty of money." - -"Ah, but you always will not be a Gentleman of Hadrian, because Hadrian -will not be always; and, when He is not, His successor will say 'Via! -Via!' to you." - -"And then I shall do some things?" - -"Ah, but what things?" - -"Who knows? But I shall do things." - -Hadrian went to the safe in the bedroom: then to the writing-table, and -wrote. He came back with some papers in His hand. - -"Attend! Take this note to Plowden by the Post-office. He will give you -a thousand sterling. That is a marriage-gift to you, so that you may -get an apartment in the City and marry that little daughter of the -dentist. Don't be silly. Listen. What do you know about photography?" - -"About photography? But I know to use that kodak, the gift della Sua -osservantissima e venerabilissima Santità." - -"And you do it very well. You are one of the few men now alive who -perceive the right moment for pressing the button. Understand?" - -"I see with eyes." - -"But there is something beside seeing with eyes. There is a mind which -ponders and selects." - -"Too much of honour." - -"No. No honour at all: a stated fact. Well now: think of negatives. -They are dense in places: clear in places; and, in other places, more -or less dense. Understand? Under the negative you put a certain paper; -and expose it to light. Light goes through the clear places and stains -the paper black: it partly goes through the more or less dense places; -and stains the paper grey in various gradations of tint. It fails to -go through the dense places and leaves the paper white. There is your -photograph, a little black a little white and many different greys. -Understand?" - -"Yes, Santità." - -"Your photograph is an image of the form, the contours, the modelling, -the morbidezza, of the object before your lens. It lacks one thing. It -has not colour. The process has tralated colour into monochrome. Do you -see that?" - -"Yes, Santità." - -"Now white means a blend of all colours; and black means the absence -of all colours. Then grey should mean some colours, of this quality or -that, of this quantity or that, according to the clarity or the density -of the grey. Understand?" - -"Yes, Santità." - -"Your negative is black and white and many greys." - -"Yes, Santità." - -"Then understand that all colours lie hidden in the black and white and -greys of the negative. In the black, lie all colours: it produces the -positive white. In the white lie no colours: it produces the positive -black. In the various greys, lie various colours--why are you jumping -about? Keep still and listen, wriggling lizard that you are! What do -you want to do?" - -"To liberate those poor colours." - -"So does everybody. At least, everybody wants to photograph in colours: -so they paint on the backs of the films; and they play the fool with -triply-coloured negatives. Only one man in the world knows that the -colour already is there--already is there, my boy--stored in the black -white grey negative; and that the black white grey ordinary negative -will give up its imprisoned colours to him who has the key.--Well now: -take the second envelope. The key's there; and it's yours. (Don't stare -like that!) There are three other things as well, which may be useful. -(Don't say a word!) Read all those papers until you understand them. -They're quite simple. Then practise. When you can do the trick, you -will want a little help to do it greatly, to make it useful. (Get off -the floor!) Then take the third envelope to Plowden--it's mentioned in -the first,--and he will give you two thousand sterling. (Don't touch -that foot!) That will be enough if you are industrious. Now you are -trusted, Iulo mio. Be good always; and be kind to everybody. No don't -move. We are going into the gardens with Flavio. You stay here till -you feel better.--Ptlee-bl ptlee-bl ptlee-bl," Hadrian mewed to His -delighted and excited and persequent cat. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - - -It was the festival of St. George, Protector of the Ninefold Kingdom. -Hadrian noted with pleasure that it was what the Italians call one of -His 'fortunate days.' His head was clear, His limbs were supple, His -body lithe: He felt young, exuberant, potent. His soul seemed balanced, -elevated. His whole poise was one of gentle incisive simplicity. He -had that upright rather dominant gait, by no means arrogant, which -marks the happy able man. The Sacred College came early in the morning, -directly after His mass, to congratulate Him on the anniversary of His -pontificature; and Ragna took occasion to whisper that the Northern -Emperor left Palazzo Caffarelli for the Quirinale at dawn. Everyone -knew what that meant. - -When, later, Hadrian descended in state to the Sala Regia, He -was on the alert. The introducer-of-sovereigns announced,--the -Ninefold King,--the President of the United States of America,--the -Northern Emperor,--the Japanese Emperor,--and a posse of subsidiary -kings, princes, and sovereign-dukes, who came with the world's -congratulations. The pontifical paraphernalia lay on the high red -throne: but Hadrian stood at its foot to receive His guests. His garb -was white, absolutely simple and fresh; and His pose was apostolic, -frank and genial. These enormous potentates towered above Him in the -splendour of their grandeur; and, as Cardinal Carvale, the fantastic -dreamer, said to Cardinal Van Kristen, they radiated from Him as from a -source of light. - -After the ceremony of reception was finished, Their Majesties, -Augustitudes, Highnesses, and Honours, lingered, chatting with the -pontifical court. Some of them had a few words with the Supreme -Pontiff. The Northern Emperor came and said, "I know that Your Holiness -will felicitate me on a dispatch which I have just received from my -brother Prince Henry, who announces that my glorious German navy has -taken Kronstadt." - -Hadrian replied; and added "Be merciful, Augustitude." - -William then did a politely ferocious scowl, intended to indicate -imperial impatience; and continued in a lower tone, "I am also anxious -to assure Your Holiness that I myself deeply regret the absence of my -cousin and imperial brother, Victor Emanuel. All that I could say has -been said to persuade His Augustitude to join me on this auspicious and -never-to-be-forgotten occasion. I wish that to be known." - -"It only is a personal obstacle, not a political, which prevents the -Southern Emperor from coming here?" - -"Most Holy Lord, it is not even a personal obstacle. Victor Emanuel has -the most profound and much-to-be-admired and pre-eminently-well-merited -veneration and reverence for Your Person. It is--well, really it seems -almost childish--but he has persuaded himself that----" - -"That the Roman Pontiff owes the King of Italy a visit?" - -"Precisely, Holy Father. There is some history of an approach which -His Augustitude's royal and martyred father made to the Conclave of -1878----" - -"And for a mere idea, Victor Emanuel, will continue alienate from Us! -Yet, ideas are very fine things, to be respected, to be cultivated, -in this material age. They are so rare, so singular. And constancy, -fidelity to an idea, above all things is singular and rare, in this age -of compromise from which the world only now emerges. Victor Emanuel is -not to be blamed, but praised." Suddenly a bright light came in the -Apostle's eyes. "Well, then, the next step is obvious. If the son will -not come to the Father, then the Father must go to the son." And an -impulse to instant movement appeared to urge Him onward. - -The Northern Emperor splendidly rose to the occasion. "It would be one -more grand deed added to Your Holiness's many grand deeds. I trust that -I may have the never-sufficiently-to-be-valued honour of accompanying -You." - -"But We walk:" said Hadrian. - -"I also will gladly walk:" said William. - -The Pope darted a rapid glance round the hall. The King of Portugal -was talking to the Japanese Emperor; and the Basil of the Hellenes was -listening to the Prince of Montenegro-and-New-Servia. The Ninefold -King, with one arm paternally resting on the shoulder of the young King -of Spain, was telling (as his own) an extremely funny story, (which he -had heard five minutes before from Cardinal Semphill), to the President -of America. Cardinals and sovereigns clustered round them, ploding -with laughter at each admirably detailed jocosity. "We can escape this -way;" the Pope said to the Emperor. Outside the hall, a pontifical page -ran for the white three-cornered hat; and the two descended the Scala -Regia, with its Ionic columns flanked by pontifical guards, and made -their way into the Square of St. Peter's. There was a cleared roadway; -and they quickly walked between long lines of magnificent Italian -soldiery. Rome occupied the side-walks; and sank to its knees as the -Supreme Pontiff, shedding benedictions, went swinging lightly and -swiftly by. The German Gentleman made no attempt to take salutes until -Hadrian said, "Oh do notice these dear Romans. They will be pleased. -And you know that you profoundly admire the bersaglieri." - -The Emperor responded, "I am as proud to salute the Romans as I am -to salute the noblest Roman of them all,--to use the words of Your -Holiness's divine Shakespeare." And he strode on, saluting, while the -Pontiff blessed. - -As they passed the Palazzo Venezia, Hadrian said, "Victor Emanuel -really behaves extremely well. Three-quarters of his army are in the -field; and here is a parcel of foreign sovereigns practically occupying -his capital in--no, not homage--in courtesy to Us.----" - -"And also out of respect, Holiness." - -"Out of respect then and courtesy to Our Apostolature. It is no -affair of his; and yet he lines the streets with troops, while he -himself----oh, it's really very decent of him!" - -"Victor Emanuel is a truly great man;" the Emperor commented. The Pope -assented. - -They entered the Palace of the Quirinale; and went straight through the -ambassador's hall to the Southern Emperor's study. William remained -in the antechamber. Victor Emanuel in a light-grey flannel suit was -reading proofs of his numismatic catalogue. He stood up pale and stiff, -when his groom-of-the-chambers came in and whispered a word. Hadrian -followed on the instant, entering with candid gentle dignity, extending -an English hand. Not a word was said. Victor Emanuel, shining with the -light of the purple which he had not yet worn, took the outstretched -hand: held it: felt his own gripped and held. He bent his head--then -his knee. Reconciliation was complete. - -"May I have the honour and the happiness of presenting my wife to Your -Holiness?" he said, a minute later. He went along the corridor and -gave two raps on a further door. "Darling," he cried; "please come." - -The exquisite Empress Elena appeared. She started slightly at first: -but bravely came on, imperially mysteriously pale and radiant as 'the -chorus of nightly stars and the bright powers which bring summer and -winter to mortals, conspicuous in the firmament.' - -Hadrian at once won her with "And the lovely children." - -"Oh yes, the kiddies!" Victor Emanuel said. - -"Do you know that We owe one immense emotion to your boy?" and Hadrian -narrated the incident in Prince Attendolo's garden. - -Mother and father proudly laughed. "Yes, we heard about that, of -course; and I wondered what would happen if ever we ourselves should -meet Your Holiness by accident, as the children did:" the Empress said. - -"Well, we have met, and now Your Augustitudes know:" laughed Hadrian. - -"Filiberto is a queer little chap," Victor Emanuel continued: "he says -the most extraordinary things;--came running into the stables the other -morning crying because some dog had barked and startled him. 'Stamp at -'em,' I said; 'and after all, you can run faster than a dog,' said I -to hearten him. 'Yes' says he 'but you see, father, when I do run, I'm -always putting out one leg at the back for the dog to bite!'" - -"But I can tell you something better than that," the Empress put in. -"He was a bad boy in the chapel at benediction on Sunday. I'm afraid, -Holiness, that this is rather a naughty story----" - -"Tell it instantly and relieve your sinful soul, daughter;" the haughty -pontiff commanded. - -How the three roared! She continued, "He persisted in trying to balance -a pile of prayer-books on the ledge of his chair-back; and every now -and then they came down with a crash. At last I took him on my knee; -and told him that the holy angels were looking at him, and that they -would go and tell the Lord God what a wicked little ruffian he was. And -then he said--he said, 'Dirty little sneaks!'" - -"Oh, oh, the exquisite boy!" Hadrian shouted with laughter. - -"Well, I'll go and fetch him;" said the Southern Emperor, running-out -of the door, just as the Northern Emperor came-in by the other, -prepared to play the part of peace-maker. That, now, was not necessary; -and England, Germany, and Italy, chattered like children till the -children came. Their father did not return. His men were having a bad -time, trying to beat the record for getting a sovereign into his habit -of ceremony. - -The fair Prince Filiberto solemnly approached the Pope. "Are You the -White Father which formerly I have seen in somebody's forest?" - -"Yes," said Hadrian. - -"Are You quite good now?" the boy continued, with great black basilic -eyes. - -"No," said Hadrian, feeling the horror of the end of youth confronted -with the flower of innocence. - -"Are You truly contrite for having been a naughty boy--no, man I mean?" - -"Yes," said Hadrian. - -"Are You sitting on my father's sofa because he has forgiven You?" - -"Yes," said Hadrian, thinking what a frightful old fool He must appear. - -"I liked You when I saw You in that forest; and I like You now: but -mother told me that the White Father was not my father's friend." - -"Mother made a mistake, little son;" said the Empress, leaning forward -in sudden confusion. "The White Father is father's best friend." - -"Oh, how I am glad for that: because now You can be also my friend!" -the prince cried, scattering his deliberate English to the four -quarters of the globe. - -"Most willingly," said Hadrian, taking the rose-brown hand, and drawing -the child towards Him. Innocence put up its pretty lips. The Apostle -lost one breath;--and stooped and kissed the stainless brow. Then He -turned to greet the girls. - -"This child once asked my husband a very awkward question," the mother -said, presenting the Princess Yolanda. "The King of England was coming -here; and Victor was shewing her His Majesty's incoronation portrait. -Ah, but how she admired it! And she said, 'Father why don't you wear a -hat like that king?'" - -The Supreme Pontiff looked at the blushing child. "You would not call -it a 'hat,' Princess, now that you are grown up?" - -"No, Papa Inglese,--a crown." - -"You would like your father to have a crown? Tell him that there are -two waiting for him, one at Monza, and another in the Lateran." - -The Roman Emperors escorted the Pope returning to Vatican. On the -way, carriages met them, and disgorged sovereigns: state-coaches met -them, and emitted cardinals: courtiers alighted from horseback and -emerged from motor-cars. The return became a procession of the powers, -led by the Power of the Keys. They had crossed the Ponte Santangelo, -and were about to turn to the left by the Castle, when a dishevelled -man in black contrived to break out from the ranks of the people. He -got through the bersaglieri and stepped into the middle of the road: -pointed a revolver at Hadrian; and fired. The bullet struck His -Holiness high up on the left breast, piercing the pulmonary artery just -above the lung. - -The slim white figure stopped--wavered--and sank down. The whole world -seemed to stand still, while the human race gasped once. - -A frantic woman in a fox-coloured wig pitched out of the opposite -crowd; and grovelled. "Love, Love," she howled hideously: "oh and I -loved him so! Oh! Oh! I really did love him. Yes I did, I did, I did, I -did ..." she yelped to the sun in the firmament of heaven. The discord -resembled the baying of a dog which breaks the cadence of Handel's -_Largo_ on arch-lutes. - -God's Vicegerent moved,--looked at her from a distance, gently, even -curiously. "Daughter, go in peace," He said and turned away. She -remained there grovelling, longing to touch Him, forlorn, gorgonized. - -The Roman Emperors also kneeled to right and left, fiercely looking -among their aides for the help which did not come, which could not -come, from man. - -The assassin was in a hundred tearing hands. Screeches shot out of -his gullet when they silently and inevitably began to tear him to -pieces. Roman knives flashed over the parapet; and slid into Tiber: -hooked hands, like the curving talons of griffins, were the weapons -for this work. But the Supreme Pontiff beckoned him; and the gesture -was unmistakeable--universally authoritative. Shaken and violently -shaking, jagged, lacerated, a disreputable wreck of Pictish ready-made -tailoring, Jerry Sant staggered forward, staggered like one fascinated. -Cardinals and sovereigns drew away from him, and the mob hemmed him in. - -" ... for they know not...." The Apostle raised himself a little, -supported by imperial hands. How bright the sunlight was, on the -warm grey stones, on the ripe Roman skins, on vermilion and lavender -and blue and ermine and green and gold, on the indecent grotesque -blackness of two blotches, on apostolic whiteness and the rose of blood. - -"Augustitudes, Our will and pleasure is----" - -"Speak it, Most Holy Father----" - -"Augustitudes, We name you both the ministers of this Our will." And to -the murderer He said, "Son, you are forgiven: you are free." - -Down Borgo Nuovo came guards, chamberlains, curial prelates, cardinals, -from Vatican. The English and American cardinals took their vermilion -on their arms, and ran like lithe long-limbed school-boys. The faithful -young Sir John outran them all. He kneeled to Hadrian, Who said, - -"Dear John, take this cross--and Flavio." The Southern Emperor -unclasped the chain and rosy pectoral cross; and handed them to the -gentleman-of-the-apostolic-chamber, who took them and fainted away. Out -of Santo Spirito, came one with the stocks of sacred chrism. Cardinals -Van Kristen and Carvale, panting, kneeled before the Ruler of the -World. Percy drew out the hidden pontifical pyx: took the Sacred Host -therefrom; and held It. "The profession of faith, Most Holy Lord," he -bravely whispered. - -"I believe all that which Holy Mother Church believes. I ask pardon of -all men. Dear Jesus, be not to me a Judge but a Saviour." - -Cardinal Sterling gravely intoned the commendation of a Christian soul. -The splendid company of angels, the senate of apostles, the army of -white-robed martyrs, the lilied squadron of shining confessors, the -chorus of joyful maids, patriarchs, hermits, Stephen and Lawrence, -Silvester and Gregory, Francis and Lucy and Mary Magdalene, Mary--God's -Own Mother, all the saints of God who daily are invited to attend the -passing of the poorest Christian soul, were invoked for the Father of -Princes and Kings. "And mild and cheerful may the Aspect of Christ -Jesus seem to thee----" The singer's voice failed. Cardinal Carvale -went on with no interval: imparted absolution, and the sacrament of -the dying. "Saints of God advance to help him: Angels of The Lord come -to meet him, receiving his soul, offering it in the Sight of The Most -High." The splendour of mortal words reverberated from the ancient -fortress wall, in the great silence of Immortal Rome. - -When the Earthly Vicar of Jesus Christ had received Extreme Unction -and Viaticum, when He had had done for Him all that which Christ's -Church can do, He required to be lifted on His feet. The Roman Emperors -rose, raising Him. The vehement ferocity of their aspect terribly -contrasted with their tender movement. The torments of powerless power, -of intimidation inflicted in the supreme moment of exultation, rent -these grand strong men--and graced them. The blood-stain streamed down -the Pope's white robes with the red stole of universal jurisdiction. -The slender hand with the two huge rings ascended. The shy brown eyes -fluttered; and were wide, and very glad. Then the tired young voice -rang like a quiet bell. - -"May God Omnipotent, ✠ ✠ ✠ Father, ✠ ✠ ✠ Son, ✠ ✠ ✠ and Holy Ghost, bless -you." - -It was the Apostolic Benediction of the City and the World. - -The hand and the dark eyelashes drooped, and fell. The delicate -fastidious lips closed, in the ineffable smile of the dead who have -found out the Secret of Love, and are perfectly satisfied. - -So died Hadrian the Seventh, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, -and (some say) Martyr. So died Peter in the arms of Caesar. - -The world sobbed, sighed, wiped its mouth; and experienced extreme -relief. - -The college of Cardinals summed Him up in the brilliant epigram of -Tacitus. 'Capax imperii nisi imperâsset.' He would have been an ideal -ruler if He had not ruled. - -Religious people said that He was an incomprehensible creature. And the -man on the motor said that the pace certainly had been rather rapid. - -Pray for the repose of His soul. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Hadrian the Seventh</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frederick Rolfe</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 10, 2022 [eBook #67369]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HADRIAN THE SEVENTH ***</div> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<p class="ph1">HADRIAN THE SEVENTH</p> - -<p class="ph4" style="margin-top: 10em;">A ROMANCE</p> - -<p class="ph5">BY</p> -<p class="ph3">FR. ROLFE</p> - - - -<p class="ph6" style="margin-top: 10em;">LONDON</p> -<p class="ph5">CHATTO & WINDUS</p> -<p class="ph6">1904</p> -<p class="ph3" style="margin-top: 10em;">TO MOTHER</p> - - - - -<p><i>In Obedience to the Decree of <span class="smcap">Urban</span> P.M. VIII, I declare -that I have no Intention of attributing any other than a purely human -Authority to the Miracles, Revelations, Favours, & particular Cases, -recorded in this Book; & the same as regards the Titles of Saints & -Blessed applied to Servants of <span class="smcap">God</span> not yet canonized: except -in those Cases which have been confirmed by the Holy Catholic Apostolic -Roman See, of which I declare myself to be an obedient Son; & therefore -I submit myself & all which I have written to her Judgment.</i></p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i><span class="smcap">Fr. Rolfe.</span></i></span><br /> -</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p><i>xxij Jul., 1904.</i></p></blockquote> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">HADRIAN THE SEVENTH</p> - - -<p class="center">PROOIMION</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> mind he was tired, worn out, by years of hope deferred, of -loneliness, of unrewarded toil. In body he was almost prostrate by -the pain of an arm on the tenth day of vaccination. Bodily pain stung -him like a personal affront. "Some one will have to be made miserable -for this," he once said during the throes of a toothache. He was no -stranger to mental fatigue: but, when to that was added corporeal -anguish, he came near collapse. His capacity for work was constricted: -the mere sight of his writing materials filled him with disgust. But, -because he had a horror of being discovered in a state of inaction, -after breakfast he sat down as usual and tried to write. Dazed in a -torrent of ideas, he painfully halted for words: stumbling in a maze -of words, he frequently lost the thread of his argument: now and then, -in sheer exhaustion, his pen remained immobile. He sat in a small low -armchair which was covered with shabby brocade, dull-red and green. An -old drawing-board, of the large size denominated Antiquarian, rested on -his knees. The lower edge frayed the brocade on the arms of the chair. -His little yellow cat Flavio lay asleep on the tilted board, nestling -in the bend of his left elbow. That was the only living creature to -whom he ever spoke with affection as well as with politeness. His left -hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> steadied his ms., the sheets of which were clipped together -at the top by a metal clip. At the upper edge of the board a couple -of Publishers' Dummies reposed, having the outward similitude of -six-shilling novels: but he had filled their pages with his archaic -handwriting. The first contained thoughts—not great thoughts, nor -thoughts selected on any particular principle, but phrases and opinions -such as Sophokles' denunciation,</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ὡ μιαρον ἡθοϛ και γυναικοϛ ὑστερον,</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>or Gabriele d'Annunzio's sentence</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"Old legitimate monarchies are everywhere declining, and Demos stands -ready to swallow them down its miry throat."</p></blockquote> - -<p>The second was his private dictionary which, (as an artificer in verbal -expression,) he had compiled, taking Greek words from Liddell-and-Scott -and Latin words from Andrews, enlarging his English vocabulary with -such simple but pregnant formations as the adjective "hybrist" from -ὑβριστηϛ, or the noun "gingilism" from <i>gingilismus</i>.</p> - -<p>He was looking askance at his ms. In two hours, he had written no more -than fourteen lines; and these were deformed by erasures of words and -sentences, by substitutions and additions. He struck an upward line -from left to right across the sheet: laid down his pen: lifted board, -cat, books, and ms., from his knees; and laid them by. He could not -work.</p> - -<p>He poked the little fire burning in the corner of a fire-clayed grate. -He was shivering: for, though March was going out like nine lions, -he was very lightly clad in a blue linen suit such as is worn over -all by engineers. He had an impish predilection for that garb since a -cantankerous red-nosed prelate, anxious to sneer at unhaloed poverty, -inanely had said that he looked like a Neapolitan. He brushed the -accumulation of cigarette-ash from the front of his jacket and seized -a pair of spring-dumb-bells: but at once returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> them, warned by -the pain of his left arm-pit. He took up the newspaper which he had -brought with him after breakfast, and read again the news from Rome -and the news of Russia. The former, he could see, was merely the kind -of subterfuge which farthing journalists are wont to use when they are -excluded from a view of facts. It said much, and signified nothing. -"Our Special Correspondent" was being hoodwinked; and knew it: but did -not like to confess it; and so indulged his imagination. Something -was occurring in Rome: something mysterious was occurring in Rome. -That could be deduced from the dispatch: but nothing more. The news of -Russia was a tale of unparalleled ghastliness. It emanated from Berlin: -no direct communication with Russia having taken place for a fortnight.</p> - -<p>"How exquisitely horrible it is," he said to Flavio; "and I believe -it's perfectly true. The Tzar,—well, that was to be expected. But -the Tsaritza,—though, if ever a woman bore her fate in her face, she -did, poor creature. Those dreadful haunted eyes of hers! That hard old -young soft face! The innocent babies! How abominably cynically cruel! -Yet there have been omens and portents of just such a tragedy as this -any time these last few years. They must have known it was coming. Or -is this another example of the onlookers seeing most of the game?" He -fetched a book of newspaper cuttings, and turned the pages. "Here you -are, Flavio," he said to the sleeping cat; "and here—and here. If -these are not forewarnings—well!"</p> - -<p>He sat down again, and studied certain paragraphs attentively.</p> - - -<p class="center">EDUCATION BY THE KNOUT.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Petersburg.</span>—All Russia is in a state of unrest and seething -with discontent. The very air is alive with the rumours of tumults on -the one hand and of <i>coups d'état</i> on the other. The strangest stories -are being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> bandied about as to what is taking place at Kiev, Sula, and -all parts of the Empire, in fact, but especially in Moscow. There, -it seems, while students and members of the higher classes are being -thrown into prison by the hundred—not a few of them being packed off -to Siberia—the workers are being treated with quite extraordinary -consideration. They are even allowed to say their say and hold public -meetings without let or hindrance, a thing unheard of in Russia. In -Petersburg itself an ominous state of things prevails, and the city is -completely in the hands of the police and the military. The streets are -thronged with gensdarmes; even private houses are packed with soldiers; -and never a week passes without some disorder arising or some public -demonstration being made. In February a terrible scene occurred in the -house of Nicholas II., a sort of People's Palace. In the course of a -theatrical performance there some students threw down from the gallery -into the body of the hall leaflets in which they demanded redress of -their grievances. The place was crowded with law-abiding people for -the most part; nevertheless the gensdarmerie who are always within -hail, rushed in and simply trampled under foot all who came in their -way. One great fellow was seen to deliberately stamp on the face of a -poor lad who had fallen, cracking it like a nut. How many were injured -is unknown and probably will remain so. On Sunday the state of things -was even worse. During the previous week the students had sent to the -leading journals, and even to the police, a formal announcement that -they intended to hold a demonstration in the Newsky Prospect to demand -in constitutional fashion the redress of their grievances. It was taken -for granted that measures would be taken to prevent the meeting, and -the Newsky was crowded for the occasion with the usual loungers and -pleasure-seekers. But so far as everyone was aware the police seemed -to have done nothing in the matter, and it was known only to a few -that the courtyards of the great houses of the neighbourhood were -filled with gensdarmes and soldiers. Up to twelve o'clock all went -well; then quite suddenly not only students but working men began to -stream into the Newsky from every side-street; and within a very few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> -minutes the place was one vast crowd. In the square before the Kasan -Cathedral alone there were 3,000 at least. Suddenly seditious cries -were raised, red flags were waved, stones were thrown, and in the midst -of it all the gensdarmes began a mad gallop through the crowd. It was -a ghastly sight, for they slashed right and left with their swords, -even at the bystanders bent only on escaping. Many were wounded, some -were killed—how many no two accounts agree—and in the course of -the following week hundreds of arrests were made. Since then other -demonstrations of the same kind have been held, and will continue to be -held, let the cost be what it may, the students declare, until a clean -sweep has been made of the police regime under which Russia is groaning.</p> - - -<p class="center">THE GATHERING OF THE STORM.</p> - -<p>M. Baltaicheff's murder has drawn the world's attention to the present -state of things in Russia—which is much worse than most people -imagine. The present movement is not confined to the students alone, -though it is that class which makes most noise. The revolutionary -fever has gained a hold of the lower classes—Brains and Brawn as -we said yesterday have combined, and the combination is formidable. -More significant, however, than anything else, if it be true, is the -statement of the <i>Neue Freie Presse</i> that during the demonstrations in -the Kasan Square in Petersburg a detachment of infantry was called upon -to fire upon the crowd, the men thrice refused to obey, were marched -back to barracks, no enquiry being subsequently held, and that similar -incidents have occurred elsewhere. With universal service the Army is -only the people in uniform. Any popular feeling must sooner or later -touch the Army, and if the soldiers cannot be depended upon to shoot, -the game of absolutism is up. The great cataclysm may be nearer at hand -than is generally supposed.</p> - - -<p class="center">SIGNS OF SMOULDERING REVOLT.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Petersburg.</span>—In two of the districts of the Poltava Government -workmans' riots have occurred in consequence of the systematic -repression of "Little Russia"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> by "Greater Russia." The journal -<i>Pridjeprowski Krai</i> gave the first intimation of the state of affairs, -and was promptly suspended for eight months.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Petersburg.</span>—The murder of the Procurator of the Holy Synod -is regarded in a measure as the symptom of the general situation in -Russia. It is reported that the chateau of the Duke of Mecklenburgh in -S.E. Russia has been pillaged and destroyed by rioters.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Berlin.</span>—On the arrival of the express train from Berlin at -Wirballen on the Russian frontier to-day, a passenger was arrested, and -Nihilist documents were discovered in his trunks. This is the third -Nihilist arrest within the fortnight. The Berlin police have received -information from Petersburg of numerous revolutionists having recently -left France. They are now maintaining from Berlin a vigorous agitation -against the Tsar's Government. From London, too, the whereabouts -of several suspects have been reported. In most cases the Berlin -authorities are powerless to effect arrests, but they always supply -full information to Russia, so that suspicious characters are always -detained in passing the frontier.</p> - - -<p class="center">ANARCHY ADVANCING.</p> - -<p>The <i>Kreuzzeitung</i>, which is unusually well-informed in Russian -affairs, expresses the opinion that one of the immediate consequences -of the triumph of Japan will be a general rising of the Russian -peasants against their landlords, and of the army against the -aristocracy. The same paper declares that revolutionary agents of -Social Democratic tendencies have long been systematically poisoning -the minds of the people.</p> - -<p>He turned back to THE GATHERING OF THE STORM, and read the ominous -paragraph again. "Warning enough, in all conscience," he said: "first, -the Public Prosecutor assassinated at Odessa, then the Chief of Secret -Police of Petersburg, then the Procurator of the Holy Synod; and now a -hekatombe, sovereign, royalty, aristocracy, government, bureaucracy, -all annihilated,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and Anarchy in excelsis. France will take fire at -any minute now, that's absolutely certain. Oh, how horrible! But we're -all Christians, Flavio; and this is only one of the many funny ways in -which we love one another."</p> - -<p>He rose and went to the window. The yellow cat deliberately stretched -himself, yawned, and followed; and proceeded to carry out a wonderful -scheme of feints and ambuscades in regard to a ping-pong ball which -was kept for his proper diversion. The man looked on almost lovingly. -Flavio at length captured the ball, took it between his fore-paws, -and posed with all the majesty of a lion of Trafalgar Square. Anon he -uttered a little low gurgle of endearment, fixing the great eloquent -mystery of amber and black velvet eyes, tardy, grave, upon his human -friend. No notice was vouchsafed. Flavio got up; and gently rubbed his -head against the nearest hand.</p> - -<p>"My boy!" the man murmured; and he lifted the little cat on to his -shoulder. He went downstairs. He could not work; and he was going -to take an easy; and he wanted a novel, he said to his landlady. He -feared that he had read all the books in the house. Yes, and those -in the drawing-room too. After a quarter of an hour, application to -a neighbour produced three miserable derelicts, a nameless sixpenny -shudder, a Braddon, and an Edna Lyall. Not to seem ungracious, he took -them upstairs; and pitched them into a corner, to be returned upon -occasion. That salient trait of his character, the desire not to be -ungracious, the readiness to be unselfish and self-sacrificing, had -done him incalculable injury. This world is infested by innumerable -packs of half-licked cubs and quarter-cultivated mediocrities who -seem to have nothing better to do than to buzz about harassing and -interfering with their betters. Out of courtesy, out of kindness, he -was used to give way; but all the same he tenaciously knew and clung -to his original purpose. He knew that delay was his enemy: yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> he -invariably would stand aside and let himself be delayed. And now -towards the end of his youth, he was poor, lonely, a misanthropic -altruist.</p> - -<p>He returned to his armchair, breathing a long sigh of irritation and -exhaustion: broke up three cigarette dottels for a (tobacco famine was -afflicting him), rolled them in a fresh paper, and applied a match. -Flavio, with an indulgent protestant mew, bounded from his knee to a -bedroom chair; and coiled himself up to sleep.</p> - -<p>The armchair was placed directly in front of the fireplace, the -ordinary garret-coloured iron fireplace and mantel of a suburban -lodging-house attic. To the grey wall above the mantel a large sheet -of brown packing-paper was tacked. On this background were pinned -photographs of the Hermes of Herculaneum, the terra-cotta Sebastian -of South Kensington, Donatello's liparose David and the vivid David -of Verrocchio, the wax model of Cellini's Perseys, an unknown Rugger -XV. prized for a single example of the rare feline-human type, and -the O.U.D.S. Sebastian of <i>Twelfth Night</i> of 1900. Tucked into the -edges of these were Italian picture post-cards presenting Andrea del -Sarto's young St. John, Alessandro Filipepi's Primavera, a page from -an old Salon catalogue showing Friant's Wrestlers, another from an -old Harper's Magazine shewing Boucher's Runners, a cheap and lovely -chromo of an olive-skinned black-haired cornflower-crowned Pancratius -in white on a gold ground, the visiting-cards of five literary agents, -and a post-card tersely inscribed <i>Verro precipitevolissimevolmente</i>. -The mantel-shelf contained stone bottles of ink, pipes, a miniature -in a closed morocco case, a cast of Cardinal Andrea della Valle's -seal from Oxford, two pairs of silver spectacles in shagreen cases, -four tiny ingots of pure copper, a sponge gum bottle, and an open -book with painted covers showing Eros at the knees of Psyche and a -mysterious group of divers in the clear of the moon. The door was at -a yard to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> left of the fireplace, at a right-angle. Uncared-for -clothes, black serge and blue linen, hung upon it. A small wooden -wash-stand stood between the door and the armchair, convenient to the -writer's hand. A straw-board covered the hole in its top; and supported -ink-bottles, pens, pen-knife, scissors, a lamp, a biscuit-tin of -cigarette-dottels, sixteen exquisite Greek intaglj. On the lower shelf -stood a row of books-of-reference. Between the wash-stand and the fire -was the chair whereon Flavio slumbered, (if one may use so indelicate -a word of so delicate a cat). About four feet of wall extended on -the right of the fireplace. Pinned there were a pencil design for -a <i>Diamastigosis</i>, a black and white panel of young Sophokles as -Choregos after Salamis done on the back of an Admiralty chart, a water -colour of Tarquinio Santacroce and Alexander VI., a pair of foils and -fencing masks, and a curious Greco-Italian seal shewing St. George -as a wing-footed Perseys wearing what looked like the Garter Mantle -and labelled φυλαξ ἁρχηϛ. Substitutes for shelves stood against the -lower part of the wall. A rush-basket, closed and full of letters, -set up on end, supported files of the <i>American Saturday Review</i>, the -<i>Author</i>, the <i>Outlook</i>, the <i>Salpinx</i>, <i>Reynards's</i>, and the <i>Pall -Mall Gazette</i>, and a feather broom for dusting books and papers or -for correcting Flavio when obstreperous. Another rush-basket, placed -lengthwise on a bedroom chair, held a row of books, ms. note-books, -duodecimo classics of Plantin, Estienne, Maittaire, with English and -American editions of the writer's own works. The third wall was pierced -by two small windows, wide open to the full always. A chest of drawers -protruded endways into the room. Its top was used as a standing desk. -The drawers opened towards the fourth wall. Sheaves of letters in metal -clips hung at the end. Between it and the armchair, more shelves were -contrived of rush-baskets placed beneath and upon a small wooden table. -Books-of-reference, lexicons, and a box of blank paper, congregated -here convenient to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> writer's hand. The little table drawer -contained note-paper, envelopes, sealing-wax, and stamps. The whole was -arranged so that, when once ensconced in the armchair before the fire -with his writing-board on his knees, the digladiator could reach all -his weapons by a simple extension of his arms. The attic was eleven -feet square, low-pitched, and with half the ceiling slanting to the -fourth foot from the floor on the fourth wall. Here was a camp-bed, a -small mirror, and a towel-rail, three pairs of two- six- and ten-pound -dumb-bells, a pair of boots on trees, a bottle of eucalyptus and a -spray-producer.</p> - -<p>His eyes, as they wandered round the room, met these things. He took -a towel, and went downstairs to the bath-room to wash his hands. On -returning he enticed Flavio with a bit of string. The cat was unwilling -to play: gazed at him with innocent imperscrutable round eyes: -elaborately yawned and requested permission to retire. The odour of the -kitchen-dinner was perceptible. The door was opened; and shut.</p> - -<p>He put the butt of his cigarette in an earthenware jar on his left -for future use. The maid appeared with his lunch, a basinful of bread -and milk. Following some subconscious train of thought, he stretched -himself, took the little mirror from the wall and went to the window.</p> - -<p>"It's one of your bad days, my friend," he commented, regarding his -own image. "You look all your age, and twelve years more. Draw down -those feathered brows, man. Never mind the upright furrow which makes -you look stern. Draw them down; and open your eyes; and look alert. Do -something to counteract the tender thin line of that mouth. You mustn't -let yourself relax like this. It brings out your wrinkles, and shews -the sparseness of your hair. If you had an inch more thigh, and say a -couple of inches more shin, you might look people down a little more: -but with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> that meek subservient aspect—how Luckock used to chaff about -it!—no wonder everyone takes advantage of you. What's the good of -having your fastidious mind clearly written on that fastidious mouth if -you don't insist on behaving fastidiously. Cultivate the art of looking -as though you were about to say No. You always can say Yes after No. -But, if you begin with Yes, as you always do, you prevent yourself from -ever saying No. That's why everyone can swindle you. You're far too -anxious to give way. Buck up a bit, you ugly little thing! Ugly as you -are, you're neither vulgar nor common-place. Straighten your back, and -open your eyes wide, and pull yourself together."</p> - -<p>He put the mirror in its place; and again cast a glance round the room, -seeking something to read, something, anything, that was not too recent -in his mind. He picked up at random one of the rejected novels. It was -called <i>Donovan</i>. He remembered having seen (in an ex-tea-pedlar's -magazine) a print of the writer thereof. He also remembered that he -had found her self-conscious pose and labial conformation intensely -antipathetic. His sense of beauty was a great deal more than acute. Let -his predilection (which was for reticent expert virtue in the male and -for innate delicate modesty in the female) once be satisfied, and the -door to his favour lay open.</p> - -<p>"However," he argued with himself, "she sells her books by tens of -thousands while we don't sell ours by tens of hundreds. We'll have a -look at her work, and see how she does it."</p> - -<p>He ate his bread and milk; and seriously and deliberately set himself -to dissect and analyse the book.</p> - -<p>The manner of the portrayal of a youth, of an abnormal type of youth, -the Sentient-Modest type, at once disgusted him by its inadequacy -and superficiality. The male human animal is omnipresent: it is -not difficult for an observant and careful writer to describe the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -γνωριμωτερον φυσει, things as they appear. But the author's sex -had prevented her from knowing, and therefore, from describing the -γνωριμωτερον ἡμιν, things as they are. It is doubtful whether Man -ever mentally knew Woman. It is certain that Woman never knew Man: -except in cases of occession—the author of <i>The Gadfly</i> for example. -He found the image of Donovan fairly convincing: not so the real. -Donovan, in his eponymous history, obviously was the creation of a good -sweet-minded woman, who created him in her own image.</p> - -<p>The student several times was at the point of closing the book from -sheer annoyance. Only the knowledge that he had nothing else to do, -and the desire to gain instruction, caused him to persevere. His -temper only was logical in so far as it endowed him with the faculty -of pursuance. He began many things: he followed them: oftentimes -the influence of Luna on his environment obliged him to pause: but -invariably he returned to them—even after long years he returned to -them—; and then, slowly, surely, he concluded what he had begun. He -had tenacity—the feline pertinacity of vigorous untainted English -blood. Cigarette after cigarette he rolled, and smoked. He frequently -turned back and read a chapter over again. Flavio mewed for admittance. -He took him on his knee: and continued reading, stroking the little -cat meanwhile, tickling his larynx till he purred content. So the dull -March afternoon passed. At five, the maid brought a tray containing -black coffee and dripping toast. At half-past six, he took a bath and -attended to his appearance, execrating the pain of his swollen arm and -the difficulty of keeping it out of the water. He dined at half-past -seven on some soup, and haricot-beans with butter, and a baked apple. -Meanwhile he counted the split infinitives in the day's <i>Pall Mall -Gazette</i>. When he was adolescent, an Oxford tutor had said of him that -he possessed a critical faculty of no mean order. At the time, he had -not understood the saying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> perfectly: but he cultivated the faculty. -He taught himself in a very bitter school, the arts of selection and -discrimination, and the art of annihilating rubbish. To this perhaps -was due his complete psychical detachment from other men. He trod upon -so many worms. And few things are more exasperating than a man of whom -it truly may be said "A chiel's amang ye takin' notes." After dinner, -he returned to his attic with his cup and the coffee-pot: and resumed -his task. In time, he forgot the pain of his arm: he even forgot the -usual terrified anticipation of the late postman's knock, such was his -faculty for concentration. He smoked cigarettes and sipped black coffee -now and then, oblivious of Flavio who returned from a walk about eleven -and promptly went to sleep on the foot of the bed. A little after -midnight, he reached the end of the book: turned back and examined the -last chapter again; and put it down.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he said, "she's a dear good woman. Her book—well—her book is -cheap, awkward, vulgar,—but it's good. It's unpalteringly ugly and -simple and good. Evidently it's best to be good. It pays.... Anyhow -it's bound to pay in the long run."</p> - -<p>He pushed Flavio's chair to the wall near the door: by its side he -placed the wash-stand from the left of his armchair. He disposed -the armchair also against the wall, leaving a cleared space of -garret-coloured drugget between the dead fire and the bed. This was his -gymnasium.</p> - -<p>"If a book like that pays," he reflected, "it must be that there's a -lot of people who care for books about the Good. Why not do one of that -sort instead of casting folk-lore and history before publishers who -turn and rend you? The pity is that the Good should be so dreadfully -dowdy. Evidently το καλονk and το ἁγαφον are just as distinct as they -were in the days of the Broad-browed One. Sophisms again! Why can't -you be honest and simple instead of subtile and complex? You're just -like your own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> cat ambuscading a ping-pong ball as strategically and -as scrupulously as though it were a mouse. For goodness' sake don't -try to deceive yourself. It's all very well to pose before the world: -but there's no one here to see you now. Strip, man, strip stark. -You perfectly know that the Good always is admirable, whether it be -dowdy or chic; and that what you call the Beautiful is no more than a -matter of opinion, worth,—well, generally speaking, not worth six and -eight-pence."</p> - -<p>He threw all his clothes on the armchair: picked his trousers out of -the heap and folded them lengthwise over the towel-rail: powdered his -arm with borax and bound cotton-wool over it: looked at his dumb-bells -while he brushed his hair: sprayed the room with eucalyptus; and got -into bed. Extreme fatigue and pain rendered him almost hysterical. -His thoughts expressed themselves in ejaculations when he had tied a -handkerchief over his eyes, straightened his legs, and laid his right -cheek on the pillow.</p> - -<p>"Yes! It pays to be good—just simple goodness pays. I know, oh I know. -I always knew it.</p> - -<p>God, if ever You loved me, hear me, hear me. De profundis ad Te, ad -Te clamavi. Don't I want to be good and clean and happy? What desire -have I cherished since my boyhood save to serve in the number of Your -mystics? What but that have I asked of You Who made me?</p> - -<p>Not a chance do You give me—ever—ever——.</p> - -<p>Listen! How can I serve You? How be happy, clean, or good, while You -keep me so sequestered?</p> - -<p>Oh I know of that psalm where it is written that You set apart for -Yourself the godly. Am I godly? Ah no: nor even goodly. I'm Your -prisoner writhing in my fetters, fettered, impotent, utterly unhappy.</p> - -<p>Only he, who is good and clean, is happy. I am clean, God, but neither -good nor happy. Not alone can a man be good or happy. Force, which -generates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> no one thing, is not force. All intelligence must be active, -potent. I'm intelligent. So, O God, You made me. Therefore I must be -active. Of my nature I must act. For the chance to act, I languish. I -am impotent and inactive always. He, who wishes to be good, strives -to do good. Deeds must be done to others by the doer. Therefore I, in -my loneliness, am futile. Friends? And which of them have You left me -faithful these twelve years of my solitude, God? Not one. Andrews, -faithless; and Aubrey, faithless; Brander, faithless; Lancaster, -faithless; Strages, faithless and perfidious; Scuttle also; Fareham, -Roole, and Nicholas, faithless; Tatham, faithless; that detestable and -deceitful Blackcote who came fawning upon me crying 'Courage! You shall -suffer no more as you have suffered!' and then robbed me of months and -years of labour. Ah! and Lawrence, my little Lawrence, faithless.</p> - -<p>Women? What do I know of women. Nothing.</p> - -<p>Fiat justitia—well, there's Caerleon. But a bishop is very far above -me; and his friendship is only condescension,—honest, genial, kind, -but—condescension. Still, he wishes me well. I truly think it. But if -only he would believe me, trust me, shew faith in me, and absolutely -trust me,—I might do what the mouse did for the lion.</p> - -<p>Strong? But why do I name my splendid master. Strong of nature and -Strong of name and station, Strong of body and Strong of mind, -immensely my superior altogether, knowing all my weakness and all my -imperfection: who, to me, is as much like You as any man can be! It is -only grand indulgence and urbanity on his part which make him know me; -and, when the sun lacks splendour, only then will Megaloprepes need me, -only then Kalos Kagathos perchance may need me.</p> - -<p>Why, O God, have You made me strange, uncommon, such a mystery to my -fellow-creatures, not a 'man among men' like other people?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> - -<p>Do I want to appear like other people? No, no, certainly not: but—Lord -God, am I such a ruffian as to merit exile?</p> - -<p>Oh of course I'm a sinner, vile and shameful. But, God, look at the -wreck which You have let them make of me and my life. You have some -purpose in it all. Oh you must have, if You are, God; and I know that -You are. O God, I thank You.</p> - -<p>But look,—haven't I tried and toiled and suffered? Yet You never allow -me any satisfaction, any gain or reward for all my trouble. No: but You -always let some shameless brigand rob me, snatching the fair fruit of -my labours.</p> - -<p>Yes: I know how I dream of certain pleasures, certain luxuries, -cleanness, whiteness, freshness, and simplicity, and the life of quiet -healthful vigorous and serene well-doing, all in secret, and all -unostentatious, which, when once I achieve success, I will have. I know -all about that. But You know also I that never should use success in -that way, if You gave it to me. Now did I ever use success for myself -and not for others? No: I couldn't endure the eternal silent wistful -vision of Your Maiden-Mother.</p> - -<p>You know why I want freedom, power, and money—just to make a few -people happy, just to put things right a bit, just to make things easy, -just to straighten out tangled lives whose tangles make me rage because -I myself am helpless. Is that wrong? No—I swear my aim is single and -unselfish. I don't want credit even. You well know that You made me -all-denuded of the power of loving anybody, of the power of being loved -by any. Self-contained, You have made me. I shall always be detached -and apart from others.</p> - -<p>Murmur? No. I never have murmured—nor will murmur.</p> - -<p>Truly, though, I should like to love, to be loved: but, so long I have -been alone and lonely, I suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> I must go on like that always till -the end. They are frightened of me, even when they come to the very -verge of loving. They are frightened because of certain labels which I -frequently use to put on others: frightened lest I should fit them also -some day with a label. Oh, often they have told me that they wouldn't -like me to be against them.</p> - -<p>I will stop that, O God, if You desire it. But, instead of it, what? I -think You mean me not to waste the one talent You have given. Then, I -beg of You, give me scope. I must act.</p> - -<p>No: I am not doing well at present—not my best. Oh, I know it, and I -loathe it. All my life is a pose. Somehow or other I have taken the -pose, or stolid stupids force me into the pose, of strange recondite -haughty genius, very subtile, very learned, inaccessible,—everything -that's foolish. God, You know what a sham I am: how silly this is: how -very little I know really. Don't I know it too? Don't I always tell -them? Then they say that I'm modest—me—ha!—modest!</p> - -<p>Here's the truth, by my One Hope of Salvation. I am frightened of all -men, known and unknown; and of women I go in violent terror: though I -always do say superb and hard things to the one, and all pretty gentle -soft things to the other, while writing pitilessly of them both:—for -I'm frightened of them, frightened; and I want to avoid them; and to -keep them off me. Therefore I pose. And, therefore also, I provide -an image which they can worship, like, or loathe, as it pleases, or -displeases, or strikes awe—and they generally loathe it. All the time, -while they manifest their feelings, I look on like a child at Punch and -Judy.</p> - -<p>Oh, it's wrong, very wrong, wrong altogether. But what can I do? God, -tell me, clearly unmistakeably and distinctly tell me, tell me what I -must do—and make me do it."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>He got out of bed: took his rosary from his trousers' pocket; and -returned. During the fifth meditation on the Finding of The Lord in the -Temple, he fell asleep.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Dr. Courtleigh and Dr. Talacryn?" he repeated as a query, in the tone -of one to whom Beelzebub and the Archangel Periel have been announced -at eleven o'clock on the morning of a working day.</p> - -<p>"Yes," the maid replied. "Clergymen. One is that bishop who came -before."</p> - -<p>"The bishop who came before! And——What's the other like?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, quite old and feeble—rather stoutish—but he's been a fine -handsome man in his day. He wears a red necktie under his collar."</p> - -<p>"Well—I—am!... Thanks. I'll be down in a minute."</p> - -<p>George put his writing-board away and brushed the front of his blue -linen jacket, mentally and corporeally pulling himself together.</p> - -<p>"Flavio, I should just like to know the meaning of this. I rather wish -that I had Iulo here to back me up. If they are meditating mischief, -an athletic and quarrelsome youngster, with an eye like a basilisk and -a mouth full of torrential English, would be an excellent trump to -play. Mischief? What nonsense! Don't you give way to your nerves, man. -Respectable epistatai do not habitually engage in mischief, as you are -well aware. You have nothing to fear: so put on a mask—the superior -one with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> tinge of disdain in it—and brace yourself up to resist the -devil; and go downstairs at once to see him flee."</p> - -<p>The two visitors were in the dining-room, a confined drab and aniline -room rather over-filled with indistinct but useful furniture. When -George entered, they stood up—grave important men, of over forty and -seventy years respectively, dark-haired and robust, white-haired and of -picturesque and supercilious mien. George went straight to the younger -prelate: kneeled; and kissed the episcopal ring.</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency will understand that I do not wish to be disrespectful," -he said to the senior, with as much quiet antipathy as could be crowded -into one man's voice: "but the Bishop of Caerleon calls himself my -friend; and I am at a loss to know to what I may attribute the honour -of Your Eminency's presence, or the manner in which you will allow me -to receive you."</p> - -<p>"I hope, Mr. Rose, that you will accept my blessing as well as Dr. -Talacryn's," the Cardinal-Archbishop replied in a voice where hauteur -strangely struggled with timidity. He extended his hand. George -instantly took it; and respectfully kneeled again, noting that this -ring contained a cameo instead of the cardinalitial sapphire. Then he -caused his guests to become seated. The atmosphere seemed to him laden -with the invigorating aroma of possibilities.</p> - -<p>"Zmnts<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> wishes to ask you a few questions," the young bishop began; -"and he thought you would not take it amiss if I were present as your -friend."</p> - -<p>George shot a glance of would-be affectionate gratitude at the speaker; -and turned, saying "I have been imagining Your Eminency in Rome—in the -Conclave."</p> - -<p>"I was there until a fortnight ago; and then,—well,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> you are said to -be an expert in the annals of conclaves, Mr. Rose, so it will interest -you to know that we stand adjourned."</p> - -<p>"For the removal of the Conclave from Rome?"</p> - -<p>"Oh dear no! There is no need for removal. The Piedmontese usurpers -treat us with profound respect, I'm bound to say. No. We simply stand -adjourned."</p> - -<p>"But this is extremely interesting!" George exclaimed. "Surely it's -unique? And may I ask,—no, I would not venture to inquire the cause: -but, is this generally known? I have seen nothing of it in the papers; -and I am not on speaking terms with any Roman Catholics except the——"</p> - -<p>"No. It is not generally known; and it is not intended to make an -official announcement, for reasons which you will understand, and -which, I believe, you will respect."</p> - -<p>"I am much honoured by Your Eminency's confidence," George purred.</p> - -<p>"Certain affairs required my personal presence in England;" the -cardinal continued. He was a feeble aged man, almost senile sometimes. -He hesitated. He stumbled. But he maintained the progression of the -conversation on its hands and knees, as it were, with "These are very -pregnant times, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>George went to the door: admitted his cat who was mewing outside; and -resumed his seat. Flavio brushed by cardinalitial and episcopal gaiters -turn by turn: bounded to his friend's knee: couched; and became still, -save for twinkling ears. The prelates exchanged glances.</p> - -<p>"But perhaps you will let me say no more on that subject, and come -directly to the point I wished to consult you upon." The cardinal now -seemed to have cleared the obstacles; and he archiepiscopally pranced -along. "It has recently been brought very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> forcibly to my remembrance -that you were at one time a candidate for Holy Orders, Mr. Rose. I am -cognizant of all the unpleasantness which attended that portion of your -career: but it is only lately that I have realised the fact that you -yourself have never accepted, acquiesced in, the adverse verdict of -your superiors."</p> - -<p>"I never have accepted it. I never have acquiesced in it. I never will -accept it. I never will acquiesce in it."</p> - -<p>"Would you mind telling me your reasons?"</p> - -<p>"I should have to say very disagreeable things, Eminency."</p> - -<p>"Never mind. Tell me all the truth. Try to feel that you are confiding -in your spiritual father, whose only desire is to do justice—I may -even say to do justice at the eleventh hour."</p> - -<p>"I am inclined indeed to believe that, because you yourself have -condescended to come to me. I wish, in fact, to believe that. But—is -it advisable to rake up old grievances? Is it desirable to scarify -half-healed wounds? And, how did Your Eminency find me after all these -years?" The feline temper of him produced dalliance.</p> - -<p>"It certainly was a difficult matter at first. You had completely -disappeared——"</p> - -<p>"I object to that," George interrupted. He suddenly saw that this was -the one chance of his life of saying the right thing to the right -person; and he determined to fight every step of the way with this -cardinal before death claimed him. "I object to that," he repeated. "I -neither disappeared nor hid myself in any way. There was no question of -concealment whatever. I found myself most perfidiously deserted; and -I went on my way alone, neither altering my habits, nor changing my -appearance——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> - -<p>"There was no implication of that kind, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>"I am very glad to hear Your Eminency say so. But such things are said. -They are the formulæ which spite or indolence or foolishness uses of a -man whom it has not seen for a month. Sometimes they are detrimental. -To me they are offensive; and I am not in a mood to tolerate them."</p> - -<p>The cardinal swallowed the cachet; and proceeded, "I first wrote to you -at your publishers; and my letters were returned unopened, and marked -<i>Refused</i>."</p> - -<p>"That was in accordance with my own explicit directions. A few years -ago, the opportunity was given me of drawing a sharp line across my -life——"</p> - -<p>"You mean——"</p> - -<p>"I allude to a series of libels which were directed against me in -the newspapers, especially in Catholic newspapers—dirty Keltic -wood-pulp——"</p> - -<p>"Precisely. But why was that an occasion for drawing what you call a -sharp line across your life?"</p> - -<p>"Eminency," said George, calming down and setting out to be concise and -categorical, "scores of people who had known me all my life must have -seen that those attacks were libellous, and false. You yourself must -have seen that." He stretched out a hand and opened and shut it, as -though claws protruded from velvet and retired. "Yet only a single one -out of all those scores came forward to assure me of friendship in that -dreadful moment. All the rest spewed their bile or licked their lips in -unctuous silence. I was left to bear the brunt alone, except for that -one; and he was not a Catholic. Except from him, I had no sympathy and -no comfort whatever. I don't know any case in all my reading, to say -nothing of my experience, where a man had a better or a clearer or a -more convincing test of the trueness and the falseness of his friends. -Not to do any man an injustice, and that no one might call me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> rash -or precipitate in my decision, I waited two years—two whole years. -The Bishop of Caerleon came to me in this period of isolation; and one -other Catholic, a man of my own trade. Later, that one betrayed me -again, so I will say no more of him. Women, of course, I neglect. And -the rest unanimously held aloof. Then I published a book; and I told my -publishers to refuse all letters which might be addressed to them for -me. The sharp line was drawn. I wanted no more fair-weather friends, -afraid to stand by me in storms. If, after those two awful years, I -had received overtures from my former acquaintances, I really think I -should have fulminated at them St. Matthew xxv. 41-43——"</p> - -<p>"What is that?"</p> - -<p>"'I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat' down to 'Depart from me, -ye cursed, into æonial fire.' Yes, the sharp line was drawn across my -life. I had one true friend, a protestant. As for the Faith, I found it -comfortable. As for the Faithful, I found them intolerable. The Bishop -of Caerleon at present is the exception which proves the rule, because -he came to me in the teeth of calumny."</p> - -<p>"You are hard, Mr. Rose, very hard."</p> - -<p>"I am what you and your Catholics have made me."</p> - -<p>"Poor child—poor child," the cardinal adjected.</p> - -<p>"I request that Your Eminency will not speak to me in that tone. I -disdain your pity at this date. The catastrophe is complete. I nourish -no grudge, and seek no revenge, no, nor even justice. I am content to -live my own life, avoiding all my brother-Catholics, or treating them -with severe forbearance when circumstances throw them in my path. I -don't squash cockroaches."</p> - -<p>"The effect on your own soul?"</p> - -<p>"The effect on my own soul is perfectly ghastly. I positively loathe -and distrust all Catholics, known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> and unknown, with one exception. I -have become a rudderless derelict. I have lost all faith in man, and I -have lost the power of loving."</p> - -<p>"How terrible!" the cardinal sighed. "And are there none of us for -whom you have a kindly feeling? At times, I mean? You cannot always be -in a state of white-hot rage, you know. There must be intervals when -the tension of your anger is relaxed, perhaps from sheer fatigue: for -anger is deliberate, the effect of exertion. And, in those intervals, -have you never caught yourself thinking kindly of any of your former -friends?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Eminency, there are very many, clerks and laics both, with whom, -strange to say, when my anger is not dynamic, I sometimes wish to be -reconciled. However, I myself never will approach them; and they afford -me no opportunity. They do not come to me, as you have come." His voice -softened a little; and his smile was an alluring illumination.</p> - -<p>"But you would meet them with vituperation; and naturally they don't -want to expose themselves to affronts?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, of course if their sense of duty (to say nothing of decency) does -not teach them to risk affronts——But I will not say before hand how -I should meet them beyond this: it would depend on their demeanour to -me. I should do as I am done by. For example," he turned to the ruddy -bishop, "did I heave chairs or china-ware at Your Lordship?"</p> - -<p>"Indeed you did not, although I thoroughly deserved both. Yrmnts,"<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> -the young prelate continued, "I believe I understand Mr. Rose's frame -of mind. He has been hit very hard; and he's badly bruised. He is a -burnt child; and he dreads the fire. It's only natural. I'm firmly -convinced that he has been more sinned against than sinning; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> -though I'm sorry to see him practically keeping us at arms' length, -I really don't know what else we can expect until we treat him as we -ourselves would like to be treated."</p> - -<p>"True, true," the cardinal conceded.</p> - -<p>"But it's a pity all the same," the bishop concluded.</p> - -<p>The cardinal audibly thought, "You have perhaps not many very kindly -feelings towards me personally, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>"I have no kindly feelings at all toward Your Eminency; and I believe -you to be aware of my reasons. I trust that I never should be found -wanting in reverence to your Sacred Purple: but apart from that—" -indignant recollection stiffened and inflamed the speaker—"indeed -I only am speaking civilly to you now because you are the successor -of Augustine and Theodore and Dunstan and Anselm and Chichele and -Chichester, and because my friend the Bishop of Caerleon has made you -my guest for the nonce. My Lord Cardinal, I do not know what you want -of me, nor why you have come to me: but let me tell you that you shall -not entangle me again in my talk. You are going the Catholic way to -work with me; and that is the wrong way. Frankness and open honesty is -the only way to win me—if you want me."</p> - -<p>"Well, well! You were going to give me your own view of your Vocation."</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency first was about to tell me how you found me after your -letters to my publishers had been returned."</p> - -<p>"I applied to several Catholics who, formerly, had been your friends; -and, when they could tell me nothing, I had a letter sent to all the -bishops of my province directing inquisition to be made among the clergy. -Your personality, if not your name, was certain to be known to at least -one of these if you still remained Catholic, you know."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> - -<p>"If I still remained Catholic!" George growled with contemptuous ire.</p> - -<p>"People in your position, Mr. Rose, have been known to commit apostasy."</p> - -<p>"And it is precisely because people in my position habitually commit -apostasy that I decline to do what is expected of me. No. I'll follow -my cat's example of exclusive singularity. It would be too obliging and -too silly to give you Catholics that weapon to use against me. No, no, -Eminency, rest assured that I rather will be a nuisance and poor, as I -am, than an apostate and rich, as I might be."</p> - -<p>The cardinal raised his eyebrows. "I trust you have a worthier motive -than that!"</p> - -<p>"I mentioned that I was not in revolt against the Faith, but against -the Faithful."</p> - -<p>"And the Grace of God?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, of course the Grace of God," George hastened in common courtesy -conventionally to adjoin.</p> - -<p>The fine dark brows came down again, and the cardinal continued, "As -soon as I had issued the mandate to my suffragans, Dr. Talacryn at once -furnished the desired information."</p> - -<p>"I see," said George. Then, "Where would Your Eminency like me to -begin?"</p> - -<p>"Tell me your own tale in your own way, dear child."</p> - -<p>George softly and swiftly stroked his little cat. He compelled himself -to think intensely, to marshal salient facts on which he had brooded -day and night unceasingly for years, and to try to eliminate traces of -the acerbity, of the devouring fury, with which they still inspired him.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps I'd better tell Mr. Rose, Yrmnts, that we've already gone very -deeply into his case," the bishop said. "It will make it easier for him -to speak when he knows that it is not information we're seeking, but -his personal point of view."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Indeed it will," said George; "and I sincerely thank Your Lordship. -If you already know the facts, you will be able to check my narrative; -and all I have to do is to state the said facts to the best of my -knowledge and belief. I will begin with my career at Maryvale, where -I was during a scholastic year of eight months as an ecclesiastical -subject of the Bishop of Claughton, and where I received the Tonsure. -At the end of those eight months, my diocesan wrote that he was unable -to make any further plans for me, because there was not (I quote his -words) an unanimous verdict of the superiors in favour of my Vocation. -This was like a bolt from the blue: for the four superiors verbally -had testified the exact contrary to me. Instantly I wrote, inviting -them to explain the discrepancy. It was the Long Vacation. In reply, -the President averred inability to understand my diocesan's statement: -advised me to change my diocese; and volunteered an introduction -to the Bishop of Lambeth, in which he declared that my talents and -energy (I am quoting again) would make me a very valuable priest. The -Vice-president declined to add anything to what he already had told -me. A dark man, he was, who hid inability under a guise of austerity. -The Professor of Dogmatic Theology said that he never had been asked -for, and never had volunteered, an opinion. The Professor of Moral -Theology, who was my confessor, said the same; and, further, he -superintended my subsequent correspondence with my bishop. You will -mark the intentions of that act of his. However, all came to nothing. -The Bishop of Claughton refused to explain, to recede, to afford me -satisfaction. The Bishop of Lambeth refused to look at me, because the -Bishop of Claughton had rejected me. It was my first introduction to -the inexorability of the Roman Machine, inexorable in iniquity as in -righteousness."</p> - -<p>"Did you form any opinion at this juncture?" the cardinal inquired, -waving a white hand.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I formed the opinion that someone carelessly had lied: that someone -clumsily had blundered; and that all concerned were determined not -to own themselves, or anyone else but me, to be in the wrong. A -mistake had been made; and, by quibbles, by evasions, by threats, -by every hole-and-corner means conceivable, the mistake was going -to be perpetuated. Had the case been one of the ordinary type of -ecclesiastical student, (the hebete and half-licked Keltic class I -mean,) either I furiously should have apostatized, or I mildly should -have acquiesced, and should have started-in as a pork-butcher or a -cheesemonger. But those intellectually myopic authorities were unable -to discriminate; and they quite gaily wrecked a life. Oh yes: I formed -an opinion; and I very freely stated it."</p> - -<p>"I mean did you form any opinion of your own concerning your Vocation?"</p> - -<p>"No. My opinion concerning my Vocation, such as it was and is, had been -formed when I was a boy of fifteen. I was very fervent about that time. -I frankly admit that I played the fool from seventeen to twenty, sowed -my wild oats if you like. But I never relinquished my Divine Gift. I -just neglected it, and said 'Domani' like any Roman. And at twenty-four -I became extremely earnest about it. Yes, my opinion was as now, -unchanged, unchangeable."</p> - -<p>"Continue," the cardinal said.</p> - -<p>"A year after I left Maryvale, the Archbishop of Agneda was instigated -by one of his priests, a Varsity man who knew me well, to invite me to -volunteer for his archdiocese. I was only too glad. His Grace sent me -to St. Andrew's College in Rome. The priest who recommended me, and -Canon Dugdale, assured me that, in return for my services, my expenses -would be borne by the archbishop. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> never were. I was more than one -hundred and twenty pounds out of pocket. After four months in College -I was expelled suddenly and brutally. No reason ever has been given -to me; and I never have been aware of a reason which could justify -so atrocious an outrage. My archbishop maintained absolute silence. -I did hear it said that I had no Vocation. That was the gossip of my -fellow-students, immature cubs mostly, hybrid larrikins given to false -quantities and nasal cacophonies. I took, and take, no account of such -gossip. If my legitimate superiors had had grounds for their action, -grounds which they durst expose to day-light; and, if they frankly -had stated the same to me, I believe I should have given very little -trouble. As it is, I am of course a thorn, or a pest, or a fire-brand, -or a rodent and purulent ulcer—vous en faites votre choix. The case -is a mystery to me, inexplicable, except by an hypothesis connected -with the character of the rector of St. Andrew's College. I remember -the Marquess of Mountstuart reading a leading article about him out -of <i>The Scotsman</i> to me in 1886, and remarking that he was 'an awful -little liar.' But perhaps the right reverend gentleman is known to Your -Eminency?"</p> - -<p>"Well known, Mr. Rose, well known. And now tell me of your subsequent -proceedings."</p> - -<p>"I made haste to offer my services to other bishops. When I found -every door shut against me, I firmly deliberated never to recede from -my grade of tonsured clerk under any circumstances whatever; and -I determined to occupy my energies with some pursuit for which my -nature fitted me, until the Divine Giver of my Vocation should deign -to manifest it to others as well as to myself. I chose the trade of a -painter. I was just beginning to make headway when the defalcations of -a Catholic ruined me. All that I ever possessed was swallowed up. Even -my tools of trade illegally were seized. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> began life again with no -more than the clothes on my back, a Book of Hours, and eight shillings -in my pocket. I obtained, from a certain prelate, whose name I need -not mention, a commission for a series of pictures to illustrate a -scheme which he had conceived for the confounding of Anglicans. He saw -specimens of my handicraft, was satisfied with my ability, provided -me with materials for a beginning and a disused skittle-alley for a -studio; and, a few weeks later, (I quote his secretary) he altered his -mind and determined to put his money in the building of a cathedral. I -think that I need not trouble Your Eminency with further details."</p> - -<p>"Quite unnecessary," Mr. Rose.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how I kept alive until I got my next commission. I only -remember that I endured that frightful winter of 1894-5 in light summer -clothes unchanged. But I did not die; and, by odds and ends of work, I -managed to recover a great deal of my lost ground. Then a hare-brained -and degenerate priest asked me to undertake another series of pictures. -I worked two years for him: and he valued my productions at fifteen -hundred pounds: in fact he sold them at that rate. Well, he never paid -me. Again I lost all my apparatus, all my work; and was reduced to the -last extreme of penury. Then I began to write, simply because of the -imperious necessity of expressing myself. And I had much to say. Note -please that I asked nothing better than to be a humble chantry-priest, -saying Mass for the dead. It was denied me. I turned to express -beautiful and holy ideals on canvas. Again I was prevented. I must and -will have scope, an outlet for what the President of Maryvale called my -'talent and energy.' Literature is the only outlet which you Catholics -have left me. Blame yourselves: not me. Oh yes, I have very much to -say."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> - -<p>He paused. The cardinal evaded his glance; and intently gazed at the -under-side of well-manicured pink-onyx finger-nails.</p> - -<p>"And about your Vocation, Mr. Rose. What is your present opinion?"</p> - -<p>George wrenched himself from retrospection. "My opinion, Eminency, as -I already have had the honour of telling you, is the same as it always -has been."</p> - -<p>"That is to say?"</p> - -<p>"That I have a Divine Vocation to the Priesthood."</p> - -<p>"You persist?"</p> - -<p>"Eminency, I am not one of your low Erse or pseudo Gaels, -flippertigibbets of frothy flighty fervour, whom you can blow hither -and thither with a sixpence for a fan. Thank The Lord I'm English, born -under Cancer, tenacious, slow and sure. Naturally I persist."</p> - -<p>Cardinalitial eyebrows re-ascended. "The man, to whom Divine Providence -vouchsafes a Vocation, is bound to prosecute it."</p> - -<p>"I am prosecuting it. I never for one moment have ceased from -prosecuting it."</p> - -<p>"But now you have attained a position as an author."</p> - -<p>"Yes; in the teeth of you all; and no thanks to anyone but myself. -However that is only the means to an end."</p> - -<p>"In what way?"</p> - -<p>"In this way. When I shall have earned enough to pay certain debts, -which I incurred on the strength of my faith in the honour of a parcel -of archiepiscopal and episcopal and clerical sharpers, and also a sum -sufficient to produce a small and certain annuity, then I shall go -straight to Rome and square the rector of St. Andrew's College."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Sh-h!" the bishop sibilated. The cardinal threw up delicate hands.</p> - -<p>"Yrmnts mustn't be offended by Mr. Rose's satirical way of putting -it," the bishop hastily put in. "He's a regular phrase-maker. It's his -trade, you know. But at the bottom of his good heart I'm sure he means -nothing but what is right and proper. And, George, you're not the man -to smite the fallen. Monsignor Cateran was deposed seven years ago and -more."</p> - -<p>"I beg Your Eminency's pardon if I have spoken inurbanely; and I -thank Your Lordship for interpreting me so generously. I didn't know -that Cateran had come to his Cannae. Really I'm sorry: but, I've been -stabbed and stung so many years that, now I am able to retaliate, I am -as touchy as a hornet with a brand-new sting. I can't help it. I seem -to take an impish delight in making my brother-Catholics, especially -clerks, smart and wince and squirm as I myself have squirmed and winced -and smarted. I'm sorry. I simply meant to say that, when I have made -myself free and independent, then I will try again to give you evidence -of my Vocation."</p> - -<p>"Have you approached your diocesan recently?" the cardinal inquired.</p> - -<p>"His Grace died soon after my expulsion from St. Andrew's College. I -approached his successor, who refused to hear me; and is dead. I never -have approached the present archbishop, beyond giving him notice of my -existence and persistence; for I certainly will not come before him -with chains on my hands."</p> - -<p>"Chains?"</p> - -<p>"Debts."</p> - -<p>"Have you any special reason for belonging to the archdiocese of -Agneda?"</p> - -<p>"There is a certain fascination in the idea of administering to a -horde of unspeakable barbarians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> 'the horrible and ultimate Britons, -ferocious to strangers.' Otherwise I have no special reason. I had no -choice. I happen to have been made an ecclesiastical subject of Agneda -at the instance of Mr. George Semphill and at the invitation of the -late Archbishop Smithson. That is all."</p> - -<p>"Would you be inclined to offer your services to another bishop now?"</p> - -<p>"Eminency, 'it is not I who have lost the Athenians: it is the -Athenians who have lost me.' I would say that in Greek if I thought -you would understand me. When the Athenians want me, they will not -have much difficulty in finding me. But to tell you the truth, I find -these bishop-johnnies excessively tiresome. As I said just now, when -Agneda silently relieved himself of his obligations to me, I offered my -services to half-a-dozen of them, more or less, plainly telling them -my history and my circumstances. What a fool they must have thought -me,—or what a brazen and dangerous scoundrel! Yes, I do believe they -thought me that. I was astonishingly unsophisticate then. I didn't -know a tithe of what I know now; and I solemnly assever that I believe -those owl-like hierarchs to have been completely flabbergasted because -I neither whimpered penitence, nor whined for mercy, but actually had -the effrontery to tell them the blind and naked truth about myself. -Truth nude and unadorned, is such a rare commodity among Catholics, -as you know, and especially among the clergy; and I suppose, as long -as we continue to draw the majority of our spiritual pastors from the -hooligan class, from the scum of the gutter, that the man who tells the -truth in his own despite always emphatically will be condemned as mad, -or bad, or both."</p> - -<p>"Really, Mr. Rose!" the cardinal interjected.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Eminency: we teach little children that there are three kinds of -lies; and that the Officiose Lie, which is told to excuse oneself or -another—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> meanest lie of the lot, I say—is only a Venial Sin. It's -in the catechism. Well, naturally enough the miserable little wretches, -who can't possibly grasp the subtilty of a <i>distinguo</i>, put undue -importance on that abominable world 'only'; and they grow up as the -most despicable of all liars. Ouf! I learned all this from a thin thing -named Danielson, just after my return to the faith of my forefathers. -He lied to me. In my innocence I took his word. Then I found him out; -and preached on the enormity of his crime. 'Well, sir,' says he as bold -as brass, 'it's only a Venial Sin!'"</p> - -<p>"George, you're beside the point," the bishop said.</p> - -<p>"His Eminency will indulge me. What was I saying? Oh,—that I had had -enough of being rebuffed by bishops. I came to that conclusion when His -Lordship of Chadsee blandly told me that I never would get a bishop to -accept my services as long as I continued to tell the truth about my -experiences. I stopped competing for rebuffs then. I do not propose to -begin again until I am the possessor of a cheque-book."</p> - -<p>The cardinal was gazing through the leaves of an india-rubber plant out -of the window; his magnificent eyes were drained of all expression. -When the nervose deliberately-hardened and pathetic voice of the -speaker ceased, he brought the argument to a focus with these words, -"George Arthur Rose, I summon you to offer yourself to me."</p> - -<p>"I am not ready to offer myself to Your Eminency."</p> - -<p>"Not ready?"</p> - -<p>"I hoped that I had made it clear to you that, in regard to my -Vocation, I am 'marking time,' until I shall have earned enough to pay -my debts incurred on the strength of my faith in the honour of a parcel -of archiepiscopal and episcopal and clerical sharpers, and also a sum -sufficient to produce me a small and certain annuity——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> - -<p>"You keep harping upon that string," the cardinal complained.</p> - -<p>"It is the only string which you have left unbroken on my lute."</p> - -<p>"I see you are a very sensitive subject, Mr. Rose. I think that -long brooding over your wrongs has fixed in you some such pagan and -erroneous idea as that which Juvenal expresses in the verse where he -says that poverty makes a man ridiculous."</p> - -<p>"Nothing of the kind," George retorted with all his claws out. "On the -contrary, it is I—the creature of you, my Lord Cardinal, and your -Catholics—who make Holy Poverty look ridiculous!"</p> - -<p>"A clever paradox!" The cardinal let a tinge of his normal sneer affect -his voice.</p> - -<p>"Not even a paradox. A poor thing: but mine own," George flung in, -glaring through his great-great-grandfather's silver spectacles which -he used indoors.</p> - -<p>"Well, well: the money-question need not trouble you," said the -cardinal, turning again to the window. Indifference was his pose.</p> - -<p>"But it does trouble me. It vitally troubles me. And your amazing -summons troubles me as well—now. Why do you come to me after all these -years?"</p> - -<p>"Precisely, Mr. Rose, after all these years, as you say. It has -been suggested to me, and I am bound to say that I agree with the -suggestion, that we ought to take your singular persistency during all -these years—how many years?"</p> - -<p>"Say twenty."</p> - -<p>"That we must take your singular persistency during twenty years as a -proof of the genuineness of your Vocation."</p> - -<p>George turned his face to the little yellow cat, who had climbed to and -was nestling on his shoulder.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And therefore," the cardinal continued, "I am here to-day to summon -you to accept Holy Order with no delay beyond the canonical intervals."</p> - -<p>"I will respond to that summons within two years."</p> - -<p>"Within two years? Life is uncertain, Mr. Rose. We who are here to-day -may be in our graves by then." I myself am an old man.</p> - -<p>"I know. Your Eminency is an old man. I, by the grace of God, the -virtue of my ancestors, and my own attention to my physique, am still a -young man; and younger by far than my years. I have not been preserved -in the vigour and freshness of youth by miracle after miracle during -twenty years for nothing. And, when I shall have published three more -books, I will respond to your summons. Not till then."</p> - -<p>"I told you that the money-question need not hinder you."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Eminency; and my late diocesan said the same thing several years -ago."</p> - -<p>"You are suspicious, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>"I have reason to be suspicacious, Eminency."</p> - -<p>The cardinal threw up his hands. The gesture wedded irritation to -despair. "You doubt me?" he all but gasped.</p> - -<p>"I trusted Your Eminency in 1894; and——"</p> - -<p>The bishop intervened: for cardinalitial human nature burst out in -vermilion flames.</p> - -<p>"George," he said, "I am witness of Zmnts's words."</p> - -<p>"What's the good of that? Suppose that I take His Eminency's -word! Suppose that in a couple of months he alters his mind, -determines to mistake the large for the great and to perpetrate -another pea-soup-and-streaky-bacon-coloured caricature of an -electric-light-station! What then would be my remedy? Where would be -my contract again?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> And could I hale a prince of the church before a -secular tribunal? Would I? Could I subpœna Your Lordship to testify -against your Metropolitan and Provincial? Would I? Would you? My Lord -Cardinal, I must speak, and you must hear me, as man to man. You are -offering me Holy Orders on good grounds, on right and legitimate -grounds, on grounds which I knew would be conceded sooner or later. I -thank God for conceding them now.... You also are offering something in -the shape of money." In his agitation, he suddenly rose, to Flavio's -supreme discomfiture; and began to roll a cigarette from dottels in a -tray on the mantel-piece.</p> - -<p>"If I correctly interpret you, you are offering to me, who will be no -man's pensioner, who will accept no man's gifts, a gift, a pension——"</p> - -<p>"No," the cardinal very mildly interjected: "but restitution."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" George ejaculated, suddenly sitting down, and staring like the -martyr who, while yet the pagan pincers were at work upon his tenderest -internals, beheld the angel-bearers of his amaranthine coronal.</p> - -<p>"Amends and restitution," the cardinal repeated.</p> - -<p>"What am I to say?" George addressed his cat and the bishop.</p> - -<p>"You are simply to say in what form you will accept this act of justice -from us," the cardinal responded, taking the question to himself.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I must have time to think. You must afford me time to think."</p> - -<p>"No, George," said the bishop: "take no time at all. Speak your mind -now. Do make an effort to believe that we are sincerely in earnest; and -that in this matter we are in your hands. I may say that, Yrmnts?" he -inquired.</p> - -<p>"Certainly: we place ourselves in Mr. Rose's hands—unreservedly—ha!" -the cardinal affirmed, and gasped with the exertion.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - -<p>George concentrated his faculties; and recited, rather than spoke, -demurely and deliberately and dynamically. "I must have a written -expression of regret for the wrongs which have been done to me both by -Your Eminency and by others who have followed your advice, command, or -example."</p> - -<p>"It is here," the cardinal said, taking a folded paper from the -fascicule of his breviary. "We knew that you would want that. I -may point out that I have written in my own name, and also as the -mouthpiece of the Catholic body."</p> - -<p>George took the paper and carefully read it two or three times, -with some flickering of his thin fastidious lips. It certainly -was very handsome. Then he said, "I thank Your Eminency and my -brother-Catholics," and put the document in the fire, where in a moment -it was burned to ash.</p> - -<p>"Man alive!" cried the bishop.</p> - -<p>"I do not care to preserve a record of my superiors' humiliation," said -George, again in his didactic recitative.</p> - -<p>"I see that Mr. Rose knows how to behave nobly, as you said, Frank," -the cardinal commented.</p> - -<p>"Only now and then, Eminency. One cannot be always posing. But I -long ago had arranged to do that, if you ever should give me the -opportunity. And now," he paused—and continued, "you concede my facts?"</p> - -<p>"We may not deny them, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>"Then, now that I in my turn have placed myself in your hands" (again -he was reciting), "I must have a sum of money"—(that paradoxical -"must" was quite in his best manner)—"I must have a sum of money equal -to the value of all the work which I have done since 1892, and of which -I have been—for which I have not been paid. I must have five thousand -pounds."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And the amount of your debts, and a solatium for the sufferings——"</p> - -<p>"You no more can solace me for my sufferings than you can revest me -with ability to love my neighbour. The paltry amount of my debts -concerns me and my creditors, and no one else. If I had been paid for -my work I should have had no debts. When I am paid, I shall pay."</p> - -<p>"The five thousand pounds are yours, Mr. Rose."</p> - -<p>"But who is being robbed——"</p> - -<p>"My dear child!" from the cardinal; and "George!" from the bishop.</p> - -<p>"Robbed, Eminency. Don't we all know the Catholic manner of robbing -Peter to pay Paul? I repeat, who is being robbed that I may be paid? -For I refuse to touch a farthing diverted from religious funds, or -extracted from the innocuous devout."</p> - -<p>"You need not be alarmed on that score. Your history is well-known -to many of us, as you know: latterly it has deeply concerned some -of us, as perhaps you do not know. And one who used to call himself -your friend, who—ha—promised never to let you sink—and let you -sink,—one who acquiesced when others wronged you, has now been moved -to place ten thousand pounds at my disposal, in retribution, as a -sort of sin-offering. I intend to use it for your rehabilitation, Mr. -Rose,—well then for your enfranchisement. Now that we understand -each other, I shall open an account—have you a banking account -though?—very good: I will open an account in your name at Coutts's on -my way back to Pimlico."</p> - -<p>"I must know the name of that penitent sinner: for quite a score have -said as much as Your Eminency has quoted."</p> - -<p>"Edward Lancaster."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I might have guessed it. Well, he never will miss it—it's just a drop -of his ocean—I think I can do as much with it as he can.—Eminency, -give him my love and say that I will take five thousand pounds: not -more. The rest—oh, I know: I hand it to Your Eminency to give to -converted clergymen who are harassed with wives, or to a sensible -secular home for working boys, or to the Bishop of Caerleon for his -dreadful diocese. Yes, divide it between them."</p> - -<p>The prelates stood up to go. George kneeled; and received benedictions.</p> - -<p>"We shall see you at Archbishop's House, Mr. Rose," said the cardinal -on the doorstep.</p> - -<p>"If Your Eminency will telegraph to Agneda at once, you will be able to -get my dimissorials to your archdiocese by to-morrow morning's post. -I will be at Archbishop's House at half-past seven to confess to the -Bishop of Caerleon. Your Eminency says Mass at eight, and will admit me -to Holy Communion. At half-past eight the post will be in; and you will -give me the four minor orders. Then—well, <i>then</i>, Eminency" (with a -dear smile.) "You see I am not anxious for delay now. And, meanwhile, -I will go and have a Turkish Bath, and buy a Roman collar, and think -myself back into my new—no—my old life."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"What does Yrmnts make of him?" the bishop inquired as the shabby -brougham moved away.</p> - -<p>"God knows! God only knows!" the cardinal responded. "I hope—— -Well we've done what we set out to do: haven't we? What a most -extraordinary, what a most incomprehensible creature to be sure! I -don't of course like his paganism, nor his flippancy, nor his slang, -nor his readiness to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> dictate; and he is certainly sadly lacking in -humility. He treated both of us with scant respect, you must admit, -Frank. What was it he called us—ha—'bishop-johnnies'—now you can't -defend that. And 'owl-like hierarchs' too!"</p> - -<p>"Indeed no. I believe he hasn't a scrap of reverence for any of us. -After all I don't exactly see that we can expect it. But it may come in -time."</p> - -<p>"Do you really think so?" said the cardinal; and the four eyes in the -carriage turned together, met, and struck the spark of a recondite and -mutual smile.</p> - -<p>"For my part," the younger prelate continued, "I'm going to try to -make amends for the immense wrong I did him by neglecting him. I can't -get over the feeling of distrust I have of him yet. But I confess I'm -strangely drawn to him. It is such a treat to come across a man who's -not above treating a bishop as his equal."</p> - -<p>"Did it strike you that he was acting a part?"</p> - -<p>"Indeed yes: I think he was acting a part nearly all the time. But I'm -sure he wasn't conscious of it. He's as transparent and guileless as a -child, whatever."</p> - -<p>"It seemed to me that he had all these pungent little speeches cut and -dried. He said them like a lesson."</p> - -<p>"Well, poor fellow, he's thought of nothing else for years; and I -find, Yrmnts, that mental concentration, carried to anything like that -extreme, gives a sort of power of prevision. I really believe that he -had foreseen something, and was quite prepared for us."</p> - -<p>"Strange," said the cardinal, whose supercilious oblique regard -indicated dearth of interest in ideas that were out of his depth.</p> - -<p>"He behaved very well about the money though?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Very well indeed. But, what a fool! Well, Frank, we can only pray -that he may turn out well. I think he will. I really think he will. -I hope and trust that we shall find the material of sanctity there. -An unpleasant kind of sanctity perhaps. He will be difficult. That -singular character, and the force which all those self-concentrated -years have given him:—oh, he'll never submit to management, depend -upon it. Frank, I've seen just that type of face among academic -anarchists. It will be our business to watch him, for he will go his -own way; and his way will have to be our way. It won't be the wrong -way: but—oh yes, he will be very difficult. Well:—God only knows! -Will you be on the look-out for a telegraph office, Frank, while I get -through my Little Hours? Perhaps we had better——"</p> - -<p>The cardinal opened his breviary at Sext; and made the sign of the -cross.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>George returned to the dining-room; and sat down in the cane -folding-chair which the cardinal had vacated. He lighted the cigarette -rolled during conversation. Flavio had taken possession of the seat -lately occupied by the bishop, a deep-cushioned wickerwork armchair; -and was very majestically posed, haunches broad and high and yellow as -a cocoon, the beautiful brush displayed at length, fore-paws daintily -tucked inward under the paler breast, the grand head guardant.</p> - -<p>A shameless female began to shriek scales and roulades in an opposite -house. George made plans for blasting her with a mammoth gramaphone -which should bray nothing but trumpet-choruses out of his open windows. -He smoked his cigarette to the butt, eyeing the cat. Then he said,</p> - -<p>"Boy, where are we?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> - -<p>Flavio winked and turned away his head, as who should say</p> - -<p>"Obviously here."</p> - -<p>George accepted the hint. He went upstairs, and changed into black -serge: borrowed a few sovereigns from his landlord: ate his lunch of -bread and milk; and took the L. and N.W. Rail to Highbury. Walking away -from the station amid the blatant and vivacious inurbanity of Islington -Upper Street, he kept his mental processes inactive—the higher mental -processes of induction and deduction, the faculties of criticism and -judgment. His method was Aristotelean, in that he drew his universals -from a consideration of numerous particulars. He had plenty of material -for thought; and he stored it till the time for thinking came. Now, -he was out of doors for the sake of physical exercise. Also, he was -getting the morning's events into perspective. At present his mind -resembled warm wax on a tablet, wherein externals inscribed but -transient impressions—an obese magenta Jewess with new boots which -had a white line round their idiotic high heels—a baby with neglected -nostrils festooned over the side of a mail-cart—a neat boy's leg, -long and singularly well-turned, extended in the act of mounting a -bicycle—an Anglican sister-of-mercy displaying side-spring prunellos -and one eye in a haberdasher's violent window—a venerable shy drudge -of a piano-tuner whose left arm was dragged down by the weight of the -unmistakable little bag of tools—the weary anxious excruciating asking -look in the eyes of all. He made his way south-westward, walking till -he was tired for an hour and a half.</p> - -<p>Anon, he was lying face downward in the calidarium of the bath, a slim -white form, evenly muscular, boyishly fine and smooth. His forehead -rested on his crossed arms, veiling his eyes. He came here, because -here he was unknown: the place, with its attendants and frequenters, -was quite strange to him: he would not be bored by the banalities of -familiar tractators; and an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> encounter with any of his acquaintance -was out of the question. From time to time he refreshed himself in -the shower: but, while his procumbent body was at rest in the hot -oxygenated air, he let his mind work easily and quickly. After two -hours, he concluded his bath with a long cold plunge; and retired -rosily tingling to the unctuarium to smoke. Here he made the following -entries in his pocket-book:</p> - -<p>"Have I been fair to them? Yes: but unmerciful. N.B. <i>For an act to be -really good and meritorious, it must be performed noluntarily and with -self-compulsion.</i></p> - -<p>What have I gained? A verbal promise of priesthood, and a verbal -promise of five thousand pounds. M-ym-ym-ym-ym-ym-ym.</p> - -<p>What has he gained? If he's honest, the evacuation of a purulent -abscess, the allegiance of a man who wants to be faithful, and -perhaps the merit of saving a soul. N.B. <i>There was unwillingness and -self-compulsion in him.</i></p> - -<p>Why was he so timid?</p> - -<p>A great part of what I said was gratuitously exasperating. Why did he -stand it?</p> - -<p>What does he know that I don't know?</p> - -<p>What do I know that he doesn't know?</p> - -<p>What salient things have I, in my usual manner, left unsaid?</p> - -<p>Did I say more than enough?</p> - -<p>Have I given myself away again?</p> - -<p>Is he honest?</p> - -<p>What was his real motive?</p> - -<p>Oh why did he humiliate himself so?</p> - -<p>Don't know. Don't know. Don't know.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<p>Now what shall I do? Advance one pace. 'Do y<sup>e</sup> nexte thynge.'"</p> - -<p>As he was powdering his vaccinated arm with borax before dressing, he -said to himself, "Go into Berners Street, and buy a gun-metal stock and -two dozen Roman collars (with a seam down the middle if you can get -them); and then go to Scott's and buy a flat hat. The black serge will -have to do as it is. If they don't like a jacket, let them dislike it. -And then go home and examine your conscience."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The bishop locked the parlour-door: took the crucifix from the mantel -and stood it on the table: kissed the cross embroidered on the little -violet stole which he had brought with him, and put it over his -shoulders. He sat down rectangularly to the end of the table, his left -cheek toward the crucifix, his back to the penitent. George kneeled on -the floor by the side of the table, in face of the crucifix: made the -sign of the cross; and began,</p> - -<p>"Bless me, O father, for I have sinned."</p> - -<p>"May The Lord be in thine heart and on thy lips, that thou with truth -and with humility mayest confess thy sins, ✠ in the Name of the -Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."</p> - -<p>"I confess to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, to Blessed -Michael Archangel, to Blessed John Baptist, to the Holy Apostles Peter -and Paul, to all Saints, and to thee, O Father, that I excessively have -sinned in thought, in word, and in deed, through my fault, through my -fault, through my very great fault. I last confessed five days ago: -received absolution: performed my penance. Since then I broke the first -commandment, once, by being superstitiously silly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> enough to come -downstairs in socks because I accidentally put on my left shoe before -my right: twice, by speaking scornfully of and to God's ministers. I -broke the third commandment, once, by omitting to hear mass on Sunday: -twice, by permitting my mind to be distracted by the brogue of the -priest who said mass on Saturday. I broke the fourth commandment, once, -by being pertly pertinacious to my superior: twice, by saying things to -grieve him——"</p> - -<p>"Was that wilful?"</p> - -<p>"Partly. But I was annoyed by his manner to me."</p> - -<p>"What had you to complain of in his manner?"</p> - -<p>"Side. He had used me rather badly: he came to make amends: I took -umbrage at what I considered to be the arrogance of his manner. I was -wrong. I confess an ebullition of my own critical intolerant impatient -temper, which I ought to have curbed."</p> - -<p>"Is there anything more on your conscience, my son?"</p> - -<p>"Lots. I confess that I have broken the sixth commandment, once, by -continuing to read an epigram in the Anthology after I had found out -that it was obscene. I have broken the eighth commandment, once, by -telling a story defamatory of a royal personage now dead: I don't -know whether it was true or false: it was a common story, which I had -heard; and I ought not to have repeated it. I have broken the third -commandment of the Church, once, by eating dripping-toast at tea on -Friday: I was hungry: it was very nice: I made a good meal of it and -couldn't eat any dinner: this was thoughtless at first, then wilful."</p> - -<p>"Are you bound to fast this Lent?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Father.... Those are all the sins of which I am conscious -since my last confession. I should like to make a general confession -of the chief sins of my life as well. I am guilty of inattention -and half-heartedness in my spiritual exercises. Sometimes I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> can -concentrate upon them: sometimes I allow the most paltry things to -distract me. My mind has a twist towards frivolity, towards perversity. -I know the sane; and I love and admire it: but I don't control myself -as I ought to do. I say my prayers at irregular hours. Sometimes I -forget them altogether."</p> - -<p>"How many times a week on an average?"</p> - -<p>"Not so often as that: not more than once a month, I think. The same -with my Office."</p> - -<p>"What Office? You haven't that obligation?"</p> - -<p>"Well no: not in a way. But several years ago, when I received the -tonsure, I immediately began to say the Divine Office——"</p> - -<p>"Did you make any vow?"</p> - -<p>"No, Father: it was one of my private fads. I was awfully anxious -to get on to the priesthood as quickly as possible; and, as soon as -I was admitted to the clerical estate, I busied myself in acquiring -ecclesiastical habits. I wrote the necessary parts of the Liturgy on -large sheets of paper, and pinned them on my bedroom walls; and I used -to learn them by heart while I was dressing. The Office was another -thing. I said it fairly regularly for about three years. Sometimes -a bit of nasty vulgar Latin, for which someone merited a swishing, -shocked me; and I stopped in the middle of a lection—it generally -was a lection:—but I never relinquished the practice for more than -a day. Circumstances deprived me of my breviary: but I kept a little -book-of-hours; and I went on, saying all but mattins and lauds. It -wasn't satisfactory; and I had no <i>Ordo</i>; and, after a month or two -I gave it up. Then I began to say the <i>Little Office</i>; and that is -of obligation, because I have made my profession in the Third Order -of St. Francis. I added to it the <i>Office for the Dead</i> to make up a -decent quantity. But I have not been regular. The same with my duties. -Generally, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> go to confession and communion once a week: but sometimes -I don't go on the proper days. Sometimes I miss mass on holidays for -absurd reasons. Yes, often. I generally hear mass every day; and, when -I fail, it always is on a holiday——"</p> - -<p>"Explain, my son."</p> - -<p>"I live between two churches: the one is half an hour away: the other, -a quarter——"</p> - -<p>"Have you been obliged to live where you do?"</p> - -<p>"Yes: as far as one is obliged to do a detestable inconvenient thing. -I did not choose the place. A false friend enticed me there, absconded -with some papers of mine and obliged me to stay there, and rot -there——"</p> - -<p>"Continue, my son."</p> - -<p>"When I am well disposed, I go to the distant church. When I am -lazy, I don't go at all—this only refers to holidays:—because at -the near one I should have to encounter the scowls of a purse-proud -family who knew me when I was well-off, and who glare at me now as -though I committed some impertinence in using a church which they -have decorated with a chromolithograph. Also I detest kneeling in a -pew like a protestant, with somebody's breath oozing down the back -of my collar. I can hear Mass with devotion as well as with æsthetic -pleasure in a church which has dark corners and no pews. I've never -seen one in this country where I can be unconscious of the hideous -persons and outrageous costumes of the congregation, the appalling -substitute for ecclesiastical music, the tawdry insolence of the place, -the pretentious demeanour of the ministers. Things like these distract -me; and sometimes keep me away altogether. I like to worship my Maker, -alone, from a distance, unseen of all save Him. You see, among the -laity, I am as a fish out of water: because I am a clerk, whose place -is not without but within the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> <i>cancelli</i>. However, I confess that I -habitually more or less am guilty of neglect of duty, on grounds which -I know to be fantastic and sensuous and indefensible. I confess that -I have used irreverent expletives, such as <i>O my God</i> and <i>Damn</i>. Not -very often.... I confess that I am imperfectly resigned to the Will -of God. I very often think that I do not know and cannot know what is -God's Will. I generally follow my instincts: not, of course, when I -know them to be sinful. I generally resist those. But, in planning my -life, in trial, when I really want to know God's Will, I have no test -which I can apply to the operations of my intellect. I am not alluding -to dogma. I implicitly take that from the Church. I mean life's little -quandaries. Years ago, I used to consult my confessor. I never got -an apt or an illuminating or even an intelligent response. Time was -short: there were a lot of people waiting outside the confessional: -or His Reverence had been interrupted in the middle of his Office. An -inapplicable platitude was pitched at me; and of course I went away -in a rage. Later, I grew to think that a man ought not to shirk his -personal responsibility: that he ought to be prepared to decide for -himself and face the consequence. I gave up consulting the clergy, -except upon technical points. I do my best, by myself; and I pray God -to be merciful to my mistakes. I earnestly desire to do His Will in all -things: but I often fail. For example, I can't stand pain. It makes me -savage, literally. I don't bear chastisement submissively. I confess -all my failures. I was lacking in filial respect towards my parents. -I have been irreverent and disobedient to my superiors. I have argued -with them, instead of meekly submitting my will to theirs. I have given -them nicknames, labels that stick, that annoy them by revealing mental -and corporeal characteristics of which they are not proud. For example, -I said that the violet legs of my college-rector were formed like -little Jacobean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> communion-rails; and I nicknamed a certain domestic -prelate the Greek for <i>Muddy-Mind</i>, βορβοροθυμοϛ. I haven't done -these things out of really vicious wanton cruelty: but out of pride -in my own powers of penetration and perception, or out of culpable -frivolity. I confess that I have been wanting in love, patience, -sincerity, justice, towards my neighbour. Selfishness, self-will, and -a fatuous desire to be distinct from other people, have caused these -breaches of God's law. That desire nearly always is unconscious or -subconscious: seldom deliberate. I am unkind with my bitter tongue -and pen: for example, I made a jibe of the scrofula of a publisher. I -am impatient with mental or natural weakness: for example I brought -tears into a schoolboy's eyes by my remarks when he recorded Edward -III.'s words to Philippa in reference to the six burgesses of Calais -as 'Dam, I can deny you nothing, but I wish you had been otherwhere.' -I am insincere, sinfully not criminally. I mean that I delight in -bewildering others by posing as a monument of complex erudition, when I -really am a very silly simpleton. I am unjust, in my readiness to judge -on insufficient evidence: by my habit of believing all I hear,—that's -a tremendously salient fault of mine:—and by telling or repeating -detrimental stories. I confess the sin of detraction. I have told -improper stories: not of the ordinary revolting kind, but those which -are exquisite or witty or recondite. The koprolalian kind, those which -are common in colleges and among the clergy, I have had the injustice -to label <i>Roman Catholic Stories</i>. If it were necessary to designate -them with particularity, the classic epithet <i>Milesian</i> would serve: -but it is never necessary. I have not often offended in this way: but -now and then, according to the company in which I have happened to -be. I confess that I have sinned against myself—for example, I have -not avoided ease and luxury. I have only been too glad to enjoy them -when they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> came in my way. I have been fastidious in my person, my -tastes, my dress, affecting delicate habits, likes, and dislikes. I -hate getting up early in the morning; and do it with a bad grace. I -am dainty in my diet. I never have conquered my natural antipathy to -flesh-meat, especially to entrails such as sweet-breads and kidneys. -I abhor fish-meat on account of its abominable stench. Formerly, I -never would sit at a table where fish-meat was served. I can do that -now, with an effort of will: but I could not eat fish without physical -nausea. I never will eat it. Once I made a man sick by the filthy -comparison which I used in regard to some oysters which he was about -to eat.... I have not avoided dangerous occasions of sin: I have not -been prompt to resist temptation. For example, my desire to improve my -knowledge leads me to minute appreciation and analysis of everything -which interests me. In regard to the fine arts, I study the nude, -human anatomy, generally with no emotion beyond passionate admiration -for beauty. I never have been able to find beauty shameful: ugliness, -yes. In regard to literature, I have read prohibited books and -magazines—the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, and books ancient and modern which -are of a certain kind. My motive always has been to inform myself. I -perfectly have known into what areas of temptation I was straying. As -a rule, no effect has been produced on me, save the feeling of disgust -at writers who write grossly for the sake of writing grossly, like -Stratōn, or Pontano. I confess that two or three times in my life I -have delighted in impure thoughts inspired by some lines in Cicero's -Oration for M. Coelius: and, perhaps half a dozen times by a verse of -John Addington Symonds in the <i>Artist</i>. I confess that I have dallied -with these thoughts for an instant before dismissing them. There is one -thing which I never have mentioned in confession to my satisfaction. -I mean that I have mentioned it in vague terms only. I have not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> felt -quite sure about it. I know that I cannot think of it and of the -stainless purity of the Mother-Maid at the same time. Hence I conclude -that I am guilty——"</p> - -<p>"Relieve your mind, my son."</p> - -<p>"About fourteen years ago, I dined with a woman whose husband was -a great friend of mine. Her two children dined with us—a girl of -fifteen, a boy of thirteen. Her husband was away on business for a -few months. Soon after dinner, she sent the children to bed. A few -minutes later she went to say good-night to them: she was an excellent -mother. I remained in the drawing-room. When she returned, I was -standing to take my departure. As she entered, she closed the door -and switched off the electric light. I instinctively struck a match. -She laughed, apologising for being absent-minded. I said the usual -polite idioms and went away. A fortnight later, I dined there again -by invitation. All went on as before: but this time, when she came -back from saying good-night to the children she was wearing a violet -flannel dressing-gown. I said nothing at all; and instantly left her. -Afterwards, I gave her the cut direct in the street. I never have -spoken to her since. Her husband was a good man, a martyr, and I -immensely admired him. He died a few years later. I have no feeling -for her except detestation. She was wickedly ugly. Vague thoughts -ensued from these incidents; thoughts not connected with her but -with some sensuous idea, some phasma of my imagination. They never -were more than thoughts. I think that I must have delighted in them, -because they returned to me perhaps twelve or fourteen times in as many -years. I confess these sins of thought. Also, I think that I ought -to confess myself lacking in alacrity after the first switching off -of the electric light; and that I never ought to have remained alone -with that woman again. I was ridiculously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> dense: for, only after the -second event, did I see what the first had portended. I confess that -I have not kept my senses in proper custody. I place no restraint -whatever upon sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, except in so far -as my natural sympathies or antipathies direct me. I cultivate them -and refine them and sharpen them: but never mortify them. I hardly -ever practise self-denial. Even when I do, I catch myself extracting -elements of æsthetic enjoyment from it. For example, I was present at -the amputation of a leg. Under anæsthetics, directly the saw touched -the marrow of the thigh bone, the other leg began to kick. I was next -to it; and the surgeon told me to hold it still. It was ghastly: but -I did. And then I actually caught myself admiring the exquisite silky -texture of human skin.... Father, I am my Master's most unfaithful -servant. I am a very sorry Christian. I confess all these sins, all the -sins which I cannot remember, all the sins of my life. I implore pardon -of God; and from thee, O Father, penance and absolution. Therefore I -beseech blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, blessed Michael Archangel, Blessed -John Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all Saints, and thee, O -Father, to pray for me to The Lord our God."</p> - -<p>"My son, do you love God?"</p> - -<p>From silence, tardily the response emerged, "I don't know. I really -don't know. He is Δημιουῥγοϛ, Maker of the World to me. He is Το Ἁγαθον -to me, Truth and Righteousness and Beauty. He is Πανταναξ, Lord of All -to me. He is First. He is Last. He is Perfect. He is Supreme. I believe -in God, the Father Almighty; I believe in God the Son, Redeemer of -the World; I believe in God the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the Lifegiver; -One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. I absolutely believe in Him. -There isn't in my mind the slightest shade of a question about Him. I -unconditionally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> trust Him. I am not afraid of Him, because I can't -think of Him as anything but righteous and merciful. To think otherwise -would be both absurd and unfair to myself. And I'm quite sure that I'm -ready and willing and delighted to make any kind of sacrifice for Him. -I don't know why. So far, I clearly see. Then, in my mind, there comes -a great gap,—filled with fog."</p> - -<p>"Do you love your neighbour?"</p> - -<p>"No, I frankly detest him, and her. Let me explain. Most people are -repulsive to me, because they are ugly in person: more, because they -are ugly in manner: many, because they are ugly in mind. Not that I -never met people different to these. I have. People have occurred to me -with whom I should like to be in sympathy. But I have been unable to -get near enough to them. I seem to be a thing apart. I can't understand -my neighbour. What satisfies him does not satisfy me. Once I induced -a young lover to let me read his love-letters. He brought them every -day for a week. His love had appeared to be a perfect idyll, pure and -lovely as a flower. Well—I never read such rot in my life: simply -categories of features and infantile gibberish done in the style of a -housemaid's novelette. It made me sick. This kind of thing annoys me, -terrifies me. You see, I want to understand my neighbour in order to -love him. But I don't think I know what love is. But I want to—badly."</p> - -<p>"Do you love yourself?"</p> - -<p>"Father, do you mean the essence of me, or the form?"</p> - -<p>"Yourself?"</p> - -<p>"Well, of course I look after my body, and cultivate my mind: I'm -afraid I don't pay enough attention to my soul. I certainly don't -admire my person. That's all wrong. I can pick out a hundred deviations -from the canon of proportion in it. Lysippos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> would have had a fit. -And the tint is not quite pure. I make the best of it: but I don't -think it matters much. As for my mind, I suppose I'm clever in a way, -compared with other people: but I'm not half as clever as I'm supposed -to be, or as I should like to be. In fact I'm rather more of a stupid -ignoramus than otherwise. Naturally I stick up for myself, when I -care to, against others: but, to myself, I despise myself. Oh I'm not -interesting. On the whole, I think that I despise myself, body, mind, -and soul. If I thought that they would be any good to anyone else, -I'd throw them away to-morrow—if I could do it neatly and tidily and -completely and with no one there to make remarks. They're no particular -pleasure to me——"</p> - -<p>"My son, tell me what would give you pleasure."</p> - -<p>"Nothing. Father, I'm tired. Really nothing—except to flee away and be -at rest."</p> - -<p>"My son, that is actually the longing of your soul for God whatever. -Cultivate that longing, oh cultivate it with all your powers. It -will lead you to love Him; and then your longing will be satisfied, -for God is love, as St. John tells us. Thank Him with all your heart -for this great gift of longing: besiege Him day and night for an -increase of it. At the same time, remember the words of Christ our -Saviour, how He said, <i>If ye love Me, keep My Commandments</i>. Remember -that He definitely commands you to love your neighbour, <i>This is My -Commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you</i>. Mortify -those keen senses of that vile body, which by God's grace you are -already moved to despise. In the words of St. Paul, keep it under -and bring it into subjection. And do try to love your neighbour. Lay -yourself out to be his servant: for Love is Service. Serve the servants -of God; and you will learn to love God; and His servants for His sake. -You have tasted the pleasures of the world, and they are as ashes in -your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> mouth. You say that there is nothing to give you pleasure. That -is a good sign. Cultivate that detachment from the world which is -but for a moment and then passeth away. In the tremendous dignity to -which you are about to be called—the dignity of the priesthood—be -ever mindful of the vanity of worldly things. As a priest, you will be -subject to fiercer temptations than those which assault you now. Brace -up the great natural strength of your will to resist them. Continue -to despise yourself. Begin to love your neighbour. Continue—yes, -continue—unconsciously, but soon consciously, to love God. My son, -the key to all your difficulties, present and to come, is Love.... -For your penance you will say—well, the penance for minor orders is -rather long—for your penance you will say the Divine Praises with the -celebrant after mass. Now renew your sorrow for all your past sins, and -say after me, <i>O my God—because by my sins I have deserved hell—and -have lost my claim to heaven—I am truly sorry that I have offended -Thee—and I firmly resolve—by Thy Grace—to avoid sin for the time to -come.—O my God—because Thou art infinitely Good—and Most Worthy of -all love—I grieve from my heart for having sinned against Thee—and -I purpose—by Thy Grace—never more to offend Thee for the time to -come</i>.... ego te absolvo ✠ in Nomine Patris et Filj et Spiritus -Sancti. Amen. Go in peace and pray for me."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When, a couple of hours later, George actually found himself -door-keeper, reader, exorcist, and acolyth, he noted also with some -exasperation that he was in his usual nasty morning temper. He sat -down to breakfast with the cardinal and the bishop in anything but -a cheerful frame of mind. They had said a few civil kind-like words -to him after the ceremonies: <i>ad multos annos</i> and a sixpenny rosary -emanated from his new ordinary: but, in the refectory, they left him -to himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> while they ate their eggs-and-bacon discussing the news of -the day. He chose a cup of coffee, and soaked some fingers of toast -in it. His idea was to bring himself into harmony with his novel -environment. Environment meant so much to him. Now, he no longer was -an irresponsible vagrant atom, floating in the void at his own will, -or driven into the wilderness by some irresistible human cyclone: -but an officer of a potent corporation, subject to rule, a man under -authority. His pose was to be as simple and innocuous as possible, -alertly to wait for orders; and, at the present moment, to win a merit -from a contemplation of the honour which was his in being received as -a guest at the cardinalitial table. He turned his head to the left, -wondering whether mere accident had placed him at His Eminency's right -hand where the light from the window fell full upon him. He studied the -singularly distinct features of his diocesan, who was reading from the -<i>Times</i> of the outbreak of revolution in France, where General Andrè's -army-reforms of 1902, the blatant scandalous venality of Combes and -Pelletan, and the influence of that frightful society of school-boys -called <i>Les Frères de la Côte</i>, had thrown the military power into the -hands of Jaurès and his anarchists, revived the Commune, and broken off -diplomatic relations with the Powers. Dreadful! His Eminency feared -that he would be obliged to return to Rome by the sea-route, unless, -perhaps, he could go comfortably through Germany. Oh, very dreadful!</p> - -<p>George listened, regretting that he had not the paper and a cigarette -all to himself: but the coffee was not bad; and the ponderous -irritation of his matutinal headache was disappearing. He took another -cup. He remembered how he had laughed at an Occ. Note in the <i>Pall -Mall Gazette</i> some few months before, to the effect that the old -tradition of antipathy between the two peoples separated by the Channel -was as dead as Georgian England and the era of the Bien-Aimé, and -suggesting that the two leading democracies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> world—(England a -democracy indeed!)—ought to live on terms of good understanding and -neighbourliness, or some such tomfoolery. How could two walk together -unless they were agreed? And on what single permanent and vital -essential were England and France agreed? George could think of none, -any more than Nelson could. Commerce? Yes, perhaps some fools thought -so, forgetful that commerce fluctuates from day to day, and that it is -the spawning-bed of individual and international rivalry. No. He had no -confidence in France. She openly had been accumulating combustibility -these five years; and here was the conflagration. This seemed to -be a thoroughly French revolution, sudden, sanguinary, flamboyant, -engendered by self-esteem on instability, and produced with élan and -theatrical effect. Brisk and prompt to war, soft and not in the least -able to resist calamity, fickle in catching at schemes, and always -striving after novelties—French characteristics remained unaltered -twenty centuries after Julius Cæsar made a note of them for all time.</p> - -<p>George detected himself in the very act of affixing a label to a -nation. He brought down his will with a thud on his critical faculty. -The bishop looked at the cardinal, suggesting that Mr. Rose was -accustomed to smoke over his meals.</p> - -<p>"Don't you find it bad for the digestion?" the cardinal inquired in the -tone of an archbishop to an acolyth. An access of genial gentlehood, -and something else, to which George at the moment was unable to put a -name, suddenly infused his manner when he had spoken.</p> - -<p>"I don't think I have a digestion. At least it never manifests itself -to me."</p> - -<p>"Happy man!" the cardinal exclaimed to no one in particular: adding, -"Well perhaps we might go upstairs; and Mr. Rose can have his cigarette -and listen to me at the same time."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> - -<p>The room to which they went was a private cabinet, a very vermilion and -gold room, large, airy, princely. The cardinal took a long envelope -from the bureau. "I think you will find that correct, Mr. Rose," he -said. "You had better open it before we go any further."</p> - -<p>The contents were a blank cheque-book, and a bank-book containing -Messrs. Coutts's acknowledgment of the credit of ten thousand pounds to -the current account of the Reverend George Arthur Rose.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding his natural hypersensibility, that peculiar individual -did not become the plaything of his emotions until some time after -the event which brought them into action. At the moment when blows -or blessings fell upon him, he rarely was conscious of more than a -crab is conscious of when its shell is struck or stroked. Later, when -he deliberately set himself to analyse consequences, all his senses -throbbed and tingled. But, at first, he was wont to act, on the impulse -certainly:—but to act. Having acquainted himself with the contents of -the envelope, he took out his beloved Waterman, saying "I'm sure Your -Eminency will let me have the pleasure of writing my first cheque here."</p> - -<p>He handed to the cardinal a draft for five thousand pounds, payable to -bearer. It afterwards occurred to him that he could have taken no more -cynical way of testing the reality of this fortune. He felt ashamed -of himself, for he hated cynicism. The act itself merely was the act -of a man awakening from a vivid dream and automatically doing what he -had resolved, before falling asleep, to do. In effect, it was by way -of being a pinch of a kind to himself. There was no doubt whatever -but that it was a pinch of another kind to the cardinal. Followed -alternately disclaimers, stolidity, embarrassment, humility, unction: -the cheque went into the bureau, the cheque-book and the bank-book into -the pocket of George's jacket.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> - -<p>And now, what was the extent of his theological studies? His general -knowledge of course was unexceptional: but special—knowledge theology? -Well, in Dogma he had done the treatises <i>On Grace</i>—"a very difficult -treatise, Mr. Rose"—and <i>On the Church</i>—"a very important treatise, -Mr. Rose;"—and in Moral Theology he had read Lehmkuhl, especially <i>On -the Eucharist</i> and <i>On Penance</i>,—"nothing could be better, Mr. Rose." -These had been the subjects of the professorial lectures at Maryvale. -During the years which had elapsed since then, he had read them again -and again, until he thought he had them at his fingers' ends. As for -Cardinal Franzelin's <i>De Ecclesia</i> (that was the Maryvale text-book), -he found it one of the most fascinating books in the world. In fact, -it was a regular bedside book of his: and by this time he knew it by -heart. Being a man of letters, of course he would like to enlarge -it a little, to put a gloss upon it here and there, perhaps even to -expand the thesis at certain points. St. Augustine's <i>Encheiridion</i> was -another favourite book. And St. Anselm's <i>Cur Deus Homo</i> was another. -His reading was extensive and curious: but, sad to say, desultory -and unsystematic, because undirected. He had read the standard works -as a matter of duty: but he had made a far more exhaustive study of -obscure writers. The occult, white magic <i>bien entendue</i>, was intensely -interesting, the book on <i>Demoniality</i> by Fr. Sinistrari of Ameno, for -example. Perhaps it would be desirable for him to tabulate the sum -of his studies, that His Eminency might decide whether to have him -examined in those or to submit him to a fresh course.</p> - -<p>"Quite unnecessary, Mr. Rose. And now touching the matter of -ceremonial."</p> - -<p>He had made a point of mastering Martinucci, practice as well as -theory. It was astonishing what a lot could be done with a guide-book, -a few household-implements, and imagination. He was aware that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> -practised under difficulties: but a few rehearsals beneath the eye of -an expert——</p> - -<p>"And Canon Law?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing at all."</p> - -<p>"Well, well, just those few treatises in Dogmatic and Moral Theology in -particular, and a large amount of random reading in general. Of course -the Grace of God can supply all our deficiencies. I myself—— Things -which are hidden from the wise and prudent oft-times are revealed -unto—oh yes! Well, Mr. Rose, it is not a large, or, humanly speaking, -an adequate equipment for—for the priesthood, certainly. But we must -consider the years which you have waited. Yes. Well, perhaps we had -better waste no more time now. Go home and pack your bag: and come and -stay with me for a little till we can settle on your future. I shall -give you the subdiaconate to-morrow morning; and you can arrange to say -your first Mass on Sunday in the cathedral."</p> - -<p>"My first Mass must be a black mass, Eminency."</p> - -<p>The cardinalitial eyebrows would go up.</p> - -<p>"It is a long-planned intention, Eminency: it is all I can do."</p> - -<p>"I quite understand, Mr. Rose. You would wish to say your first mass -quietly and alone. You shall say it in the private chapel. The Bishop -of Caerleon would like to be your assistant; and—ha—I shall be very -glad if you will allow me to serve you."</p> - -<p>George looked from the cardinal to the bishop; and back again. After -storm, this was calm and peace, with a vengeance.</p> - - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This onomatopoiia presents the English Catholic -pronunciation of "His Eminency."</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This onomatopoiia presents the English Catholic -pronunciation of "Your Eminency."</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER I</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">What</span> was causing the special correspondents in Rome to exude the -subterfuges, with which (as a pis-aller) they are accustomed to gain -their daily bread, was no such recondite matter after all.</p> - -<p>Just as Jews are less commercial, and Jesuits less cunning, so -journalists are less capable than they are supposed to be. As a matter -of fact, they are quite unscientific persons, in that they go about -their business in a fortuitous manner trusting to the human element -called "smartness" for producing their effects. They have not yet -realized the instability of all human elements. The superhuman is a -sealed book to them. They mean oh so well: but they have no knowledge -of first principles. They invariably commit the unpardonable error -of confounding universals with particulars: because the influence -of fragile or unworthy authority, custom, the imperfection of -undisciplined senses, and concealment of ignorance by ostentation of -seeming wisdom, are as stumbling-blocks which obstruct their path to -Truth. Add to this a lack of sympathetic intuition and of an historical -knowledge of their subject. They take no end of pains to acquire a -fluid style of writing; and it may be admitted that, within their -limitations, they can describe the superficies of almost anything -which may be shoved under their noses. But, as for giving a scientific -description (under such heads, for example, as the Material, Formal, -Efficient, and Final Causes,) so that one can derive a satisfactory -understanding of the thing described,—that is beyond their power.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> -And, as for proceeding in a scientific manner, whether by means of -the liberal or the so-called occult arts, to what on the whole is the -essence of their business, viz. the collection of news, why Sir Notyet -Apeer's young men, or Sir Uriah Tepeddle's criminal-investigators, -or the "yearnest" exoletes who fill the <i>Daily Anagraph</i> with food -for literary lionlets and Roman Catholic clergy and nonconforming -philanthropists, have no such adequate ideal of their branch of -literature. Their aim is to please editors or proprietors; and, so, to -earn an as-near-as-may-be-legally honest living. No more.</p> - -<p>Consequently, when (during March and April) a score or so of these good -gentlemen found themselves in Rome, with the doors of the Conclave -bricked-up in their faces, the windows boarded and canvas-covered, and -even the chimneys (with one exception) capped, they knew no better -than to curse quite quietly all to themselves, to say that nothing was -happening because they could not see what was happening, and to write -dicaculous descriptions of the crowd, and the seven puffs of smoke -(which on seven separate occasions distracted the said crowd), in the -square of St. Peter's.</p> - -<p>For, if there be one place in all this orb of earth, where a secret is -a Secret, that place is a Roman Conclave. It is due to the superlative -incompetency of the spies. Ignorant of their subject, they cannot -seize its saliencies: they cannot move a hair's breadth out of their -conventional groove, notwithstanding that common sense should teach -them the imperative necessity for applying unconventional methods to -unconventional cases. When once we have emerged from the banal blinding -stifling paralysing obfuscation of the nineteenth century, (and that -should be in about ten years' time,) it will be obligatory for "Our -Special Correspondent" to add two things to his professional apparatus. -The first is the power of mind-projection, as well as that other power -of will-projection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> which, already, up-to-date practical common-sense -men-of-the-world like the Jesuits use to such advantage. The second -is a round matter, of about two-pounds-ten-ounces' avoirdupois -weight including its black-velvet wrapper, which costs forty-two -pounds-sterling at the mineralogists' in Regent Street.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER II</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Well</span>: this is what was happening in the Roman Conclave.</p> - -<p>Cursors had shouted "Extra omnes": fifty-seven cardinals and -three-hundred-and-eleven conclavists had been immured in three -galleries of the Vatican. All the ceremonies ordained in 1274 at the -Council of Lyons by the Bull of Gregory X. had been observed.</p> - -<p>The Sacred College was divided into factions. There were five -candidates for the paparchy:—Orezzo, Serafino-Vagellaio, -cardinal-bishops: Ragna, Gentilotto, Fiamma, cardinal-presbyters. -Then came groups representing divers nationalities. The French -were Desbiens, Coucheur, Lanifère, Goëland, Perron, Mâteur, Légat, -Labeur, cardinal-presbyters; and Vaghemestre, cardinal-deacon. The -Germans were Rugscha, Zarvasy, Popk, Niazk, cardinal-presbyters. The -Spaniards were Nascha, Sañasca, Harrera, cardinal-presbyters. The -Erse were O'Dromgoole, O'Tuohy, cardinal-presbyters. The Italians -were Moccolo, Agnello, Vincenzo-Vagellaio, cardinal-bishops: Sarda, -Ferraio, Saviolli, Manco, Ferita, Creta, Anziano, Cassia, Portolano, -Respiro, Riciso, Zafferano, Mantenuti, Gennaio, Bosso, Conella, del -Drudo, di Petra, di Bonti, cardinal-presbyters: Macca, Sega, Pietratta, -Pepato, della Volta, cardinal-deacons. The English and American -cardinal-presbyters Courtleigh and Grace agreed to vote together: so -did the Benedictine cardinal-presbyter Cacciatore, and the Capuchin -and Jesuit cardinal-deacons Vivole and Berstein. The Portuguese -cardinal-prior-pres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>byter Mundo, and the Bohemian cardinal-presbyter -Nefski (who was carried in a litter) posed as independent voters. -Cardinal-presbyter Capacitato was absent through the infirmities -of age; and, as common report (to say nothing of common knowledge) -credited him with the possession of the Evil Eye, Their Eminencies -were thankful to think that the fingers, which they would need for -inscribing their suffrages, need not be employed in making perpetual -horns.</p> - -<p>Once walled-up, and the conclavists having been satisfied about their -comical constitutional privileges, the cardinals spent the evening in -visiting one another in their cells, in discussing the prospects of the -five candidates, in canvassing for and promising suffrages. The five -themselves were divided into two parties which Ferraio, who was a bit -of a wag, denominated in an abstruse jest the Snarlers and the Mewers. -A Roman tradition alleges that the letter R (the <i>litera canina</i>) -exercises an indefinable influence over an election, in that it occurs -in the family names of alternate pontiffs. Others declared this -tradition to be grounded upon no more sure warranty than old wives' -fables (anicularum lucubrationes), Serafino-Vagellaio, Gentilotto, -Fiamma, gave expression to that theory. Circumlocution aside, there was -little to choose between the five. Luigi Orezzo was Cardinal-Bishop, -Dean of the Sacred College, Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church. -Mariano Ragna was Secretary of State. Serafino-Vagellaio had been the -favourite of a pontiff who had had all the world from which to choose. -Hieronimo Gentilotto, nicknamed "The Red Pope" because he was Prefect -of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, only -had the Successor of the Fisherman as his superior. Domenico Fiamma, -Archbishop of Bologna, was in the prime of vigorous life and famous for -his brilliant intellect and noble mind.</p> - -<p>A cardinal is prohibited from voting for himself. Orezzo promised his -suffrage to Ragna: Ragna, his to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> Orezzo: Snarlers should snarl at each -other. Serafino-Vagellaio also promised his suffrage to Ragna, having -the idea that an official is worthy of observance. But Gentilotto -supported Fiamma: and Fiamma, Gentilotto.</p> - -<p>Morning saw mass and communion in the Pauline Chapel, and Their -Eminencies proceeding to their thrones in the Xystine Chapel. A long -silence came to pass. Fat wax tapers glimmered on the altar, on the -screen, on the desk before each throne. So the cardinals waited, -smoothing violet robes and the white uncovered rochets which indicated -that supreme spiritual authority was devolved into their hands. No one -was moved to speak. Election was not to be accomplished by the Way of -Inspiration.</p> - -<p>Masters-of-ceremonies placed, on the table before the altar, two silver -basons containing little paper billets. The names of the fifty-seven -cardinals were written each on a little snip of parchment. The snips, -rolled up, were tucked in holes in fifty-seven lead balls. The balls -were dropped into a huge violet burse, one by one, counted by the -electors. The burse was well-shaken; and Vaghemestre drew out three. -The first bore the name Moccolo: the second, Popk: the third Harrera. -Thus were elected the Cardinal-Scrutators.</p> - -<p>In turn, each cardinal provided himself with a blank billet from -the silver basons: retired to his desk: and set about recording his -suffrage. At the top of the billet, he wrote "I, Cardinal" and his -name: folded it over: sealed it at each side. At the bottom he wrote -his motto: folded it over: sealed it at each side. In the middle, he -wrote "elect to the Supreme Pontificate the Most Reverend Lord my Lord -Cardinal" and the name of the candidate to whom he gave his suffrage. -Scratching of quills, splashing of scattered pounce, punctuated -momentous silence. In obedience to the Bull of Gregory X., some made -efforts to disguise their script. The results were hideous. Last, all -folded their billets to about the breadth of an inch; and, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> turn, -each cardinal approached the altar, alone, holding his suffrage at -arms' length between the index and middle fingers of his right hand: -bent his knee: rising, swore "I attest, before Christ, Who is to be my -judge, that I choose him whom I think fittest to be chosen if it be -according to God's will." A great gold chalice covered by a paten stood -on the altar. Each cardinal laid his suffrage on the paten: tipped -it until the suffrage slid into the chalice: replaced the paten; and -returned to his throne.</p> - -<p>Cardinal-Scrutator Moccolo took the chalice by the foot: placed one -hand on the paten: and shook, thoroughly to mix the suffrages. The -Cardinal-Dean, the Cardinal-Prior-Priest, and the Cardinal-Archdeacon -brought down the chalice to the table from which the billet-basons -now had been removed. A ciborium stood there. The three Scrutators -sat at one side of the table in face of the Sacred College. Harrera -counted the suffrages, one by one, from the chalice into the ciborium. -There were fifty-seven. A grateful sigh went up. A hitch would have -invalidated the scrutiny, giving Their Eminencies the pains of voting -and sealing and swearing over again. Moccolo drew out one suffrage: -unfolded it without violating the sealed ends: discovered the name of -the candidate to whom the vote was given; and passed it to Popk, who -also looked at the name; and passed it to Harrera, who read the name -aloud.</p> - -<p>Each cardinal had on his desk a printed list of the Sacred College. -The names ran down the middle of the sheets. To right and left were -horizontal lines on which a tally of the votes was kept. As Harrera -published the names, he filed each billet, piercing the word "elect" -with a needle through which a skein of violet silk was threaded. When -all were filed, he tied a knot in the silk; and laid the bunch of -suffrages on the altar.</p> - -<p>The Way of Scrutiny at first produced the usual result. The fifty-seven -suffrages were so evenly distributed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> among the five candidates that -no one was elected. Orezzo had eight, viz. Ragna, Moccolo, Agnello, -Manco, Sarda, Macca, Pepato, di Petra. Ragna had thirteen, viz. Orezzo, -Serafino-Vagellaio, Cacciatore, Vivole, Berstein, Nascha, Sañasca, -Harrera, Ferita, Pietratta, Bosso, Sega, Conella. Serafino-Vagellaio -had eleven, viz. his brother Vincenzo, Rugscha, Zarvasy, Popk, Niazk, -Gennaio, Cassia, Anziano, Portolano, Creta, di Bonti. Gentilotto had -twelve, viz. Fiamma, Desbiens, Coucheur, Lanifère, Goëland, Mâteur, -Légat, Perron, Labeur, Vaghemestre, Zafferano, Mantenuti. Fiamma had -thirteen, viz. Gentilotto, Courtleigh, Grace, O'Dromgoole, O'Tuohy, -Saviolli, della Volta, del Drudo, Respiro, Riciso, Nefski, Ferraio, -Mundo. The Way of Access shewed that all still were of the same -opinion; and that each expected the others to change theirs. A bundle -of straw in the stove, the files of pierced suffrages laid thereon, and -fire applied, produced the puff of smoke from the chimney in the Square -of St. Peter's which announced that the Lord God had sent no Pope to -Rome that morning.</p> - -<p>The cardinals went to dine in their separate cells. After siesta and -before prayers those who could walk took exercise in the galleries: -others read the <i>Daily Office</i> with their chaplains. There was -conversation, canvassing. In the evening, they sang <i>Veni Creator</i> -and went to work again. Orezzo gained Anziano and Portolano, raising -his total to ten. The nine French and the two Erse, with Ferita, -Bosso, Pietratta, Sega, Conella, acceded to Ragna, raising his total -to twenty-four. Serafino-Vagellaio kept but five supporters, viz. his -brother and the four Germans. Gentilotto lost the nine French: but -gained Gennaio, di Bonti, Cassia, Creta, bringing his total to seven. -The defection of the two Erse reduced Fiamma's adherents to eleven. And -once more the puff of smoke emptied the Square of St. Peter's.</p> - -<p>Private conferences occupied time: candles burned late into the night. -Violet silk robes sussurated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> between violet serge curtains everywhere. -There were colloquies, hints, exhortations, arguments, promises, -promises dictated, suggested, given. Ragna took the opinion of his -friends concerning a commodious pontifical name. Vivole offered him -"Formosus the Second" and a pinch of Capuchin snuff out of the pages -of his breviary: but Berstein preferred "Aloysius the First." The -Secretary of State would bear both in mind. Cohesion in clots began. -The French, Germans, Spaniards, and Erse, already were united in four -groups. What the leader of each group would do, the nine, the four, the -three, and the two would do. By demonstrating that cardinal-deacons -occasionally were raised to Titles, or Suburban sees, by Popes Whom -they had elected, Cardinal-Archdeacon Macca collected a little diaconal -fraction of four, himself, Pietratti, Sega, and Pepato. Ten Italians, -viz. Conella, Manco, di Petra, Ferita, Creta, Cassia, Gennaio, di -Bonti, Sarda, Bosso, agreed to vote together. Mundo refused to join -the Spaniards; and Nefski, the Germans, on account of sundry events in -Poland. Ferraio, Archbishop of Milan, would stick to Fiamma under all -circumstances, because they both had been raised to the cardinalature -together. Saviolli threw in his lot with the Keltic and American -cardinals. Della Volta was in sympathy with Saviolli and his friends. -Del Drudo delivered himself of the cryptic sentence that one who had -been a major-domo ought to know a fresh egg from a stale one. And -Cardinal-Vicar Respiro, and Riciso, Archbishop of Turin, agreed with -del Drudo.</p> - -<p>So in the morning the third capitular assembly revealed an -extraordinary state of affairs. Orezzo lost all his supporters but -four, viz. Moccolo, Agnello, Anziano, Portolano. Serafino-Vagellaio -lost all votes except his brother's. Gentilotto lost all but three, -viz. Fiamma, Zafferano, Mantenuti. Fiamma retained his loyal eleven. -And Ragna began to score. First, he kept Orezzo and Serafino-Vagellaio, -the Benedictine, the Capuchin, the Jesuit, and the three Spaniards. -The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> nine French (for a wonder) remained constant to him for two -consecutive days. So did the two Erse: indeed O'Tuohy, who as a student -had vowed that he never would look a woman in the face, (and kept -his vow,) was as persistent as he had been when Leo XIII. had tried -to force him into the primacy of Eblana in the teeth of electors who -rejected him. The four Germans, the four deacons, and the decade of -Italians also joined Ragna, whose tally went in jumps (so to speak) -from two, to five, and eight, and seventeen, and nineteen, and -twenty-three, and twenty-seven, and thirty-seven——</p> - -<p>According to the Constitution of Alexander III., made at the Council -of Lateran in the year of the Fructiferous Incarnation of the Son of -God MCLXXX., and confirmed by subsequent Bulls of Gregory XV. and -Urban VIII., the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals present at the -Scrutiny are required for the election of a Pope. Not one of Their -Eminencies was ignorant of the fact that two-thirds of fifty-seven is -thirty-eight. Wherefore, when the tallies shewed thirty-seven votes -for Ragna, and the Junior Scrutator stood up with just one more billet -in his hand, some began stertorously to breathe through their noses: -some went mauve and some magenta: while those of a phlegmatic habit of -body reached for the cords of the canopies above their thrones, which -descend at the manifestation of Christ's Vicar.</p> - -<p>Harrera read the name "Ragna."</p> - -<p>What happened next happened very quickly. The Scrutators broke the -seals of the billets one by one; and Harrera read aloud the names of -the electors as well as the name of the elected. At the thirteenth, he -read, <i>I, Cardinal Mariano Ragna, elect to the Supreme Pontificate the -Most Reverend Lord my Lord Cardinal Mariano Ragna</i>.</p> - -<p>This was a horrid example of the clever strong man, who loses control -of his directive faculty, in the moment of excitement. No one could -have done such a thing out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> of wilful wickedness: for the stringency -of conclavial regulations effectually denies success to nefarious -practices. Everyone knows that. The Secretary of State, by voting for -himself just when he was on the verge of achieving the most tremendous -of all ambitions, forfeited his own suffrage; and his election was -nulled by defect of a single vote. What passions dilacerated his -breast, God only knows. He shut-up himself in his cell during the -rest of the day, horribly snarling. Orezzo, who injudiciously went to -sympathize, suddenly came-away mouthing and tottering.</p> - -<p>The fourth Scrutiny began to shew how unpardonable a mistake is. -Ragna's ten Italians and four Germans fled to the faction of Fiamma. -Ragna himself voted for Serafino-Vagellaio. The tally gave Orezzo -four: Ragna, twenty-three: Serafino-Vagellaio, two: Gentilotto, three: -Fiamma, twenty-five.</p> - -<p>In the fifth Scrutiny, desertions from Ragna continued. The French nine -voted for Orezzo: the three Spaniards for Gentilotto. The tally gave -Orezzo thirteen: Ragna eleven: Serafino-Vagellaio, two: Gentilotto, -six: Fiamma, twenty-five.</p> - -<p>And now the French began to be flighty. In the sixth Scrutiny, they -were seen to have dashed from Orezzo to Gentilotto, making the tally -of Orezzo four: of Ragna, eleven: of Serafino-Vagellaio, two: of -Gentilotto, fifteen: of Fiamma, twenty-five.</p> - -<p>Little suburban boys formerly used to satiate their emotions with -a phrenetic and turbulent pastime called General Post. The seventh -Scrutiny indicated a conclavial propensity for a verisimilar species -of energetic dissipation. The four cardinal-deacons, evidently -despairing of Ragna, left him. So did the two Erse cardinal-presbyters. -The diaconate went over to Gentilotto, who lost the French to -Serafino-Vagellaio. The Erse voted for the Cardinal-Chamberlain. The -seventh puff of smoke from the chimney in the Square of St. Peter's was -caused by the burning of fifty-seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> suffrages allotted thus: Orezzo -6: Ragna 5: Serafino-Vagellaio 11: Gentilotto 10: Fiamma 25.</p> - -<p>Confabulations, to say naught of protocols, became the order of the -day and night. No new candidate was forthcoming. The five candidates -flatly refused to retire, or to alter the disposition of their -suffrages. Moccolo, Agnello, Anziano, Portolano, refused to desert -Orezzo. Zafferano and Mantenuti refused to abandon Gentilotto. -Vincenzo-Vagellaio refused to be false to his brother. The Benedictine, -the Capuchin, and the Jesuit, refused to forsake Ragna. Fiamma's -stalwart twenty-five excited disgust. Ringed and middle fingers were -protruded at it. Although there was not a single clean-bred Englishman -in its ranks, it was said to be getting "quite English"; and that is -a very bitter taunt in the Vatican when the Quirinale is notoriously -Anglophile. As for the Portugal Mundo, its leader—well, everyone -knows that Portugal has been in the King of England's pocket since the -Lisbon extravaganza, said Sañasca. As for the Germans,—well, everybody -knows that Prussians are just as bestially cynical as Jonbulls, said -Coucheur. The Franco-Hispano-Erse faction was quite ready to go -anywhere and vote for anybody who was not "English." The deacons, on -the contrary, remembered that England was very much the fashion; and -began to have respect unto the twenty-five. But the Way of Scrutiny -failed, and the Way of Access also failed, to produce a pontiff. -Fiamma's tally rose to twenty-nine by the accession of the diaconate. -The Franco-Hispano-Erse alliance attached itself by fits and starts -to Orezzo, to Ragna, to Serafino-Vagellaio, to Gentilotto: but the -indispensable two-thirds of fifty-seven never was attained. And, after -a week of errancy, Their Eminencies thought that the whole affair was -rather tiresome.</p> - -<p>Ragna's massive prognathous jaw, the colour of porphyry, bulged in -emitting a suggestion. As the College seemed unlikely to come to any -agreement, why not elect an old man, who, in the course of nature, -only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> could live a year or two, and whose demise would necessitate -another Conclave at an early date? He unselfishly would designate -Orezzo. There, for example, was a cardinal to whom the paparchy was -by way of being owed since 1878, when he actually had lost it to Leo. -Let Orezzo now be elected; and, during his brief pontificature, let -the Most Eminent Lords devote their energies towards arrangements for -giving him a generous glorious and enlightened successor, who, in this -reactionary age, was experienced in all the devious subtilties of -secular diplomacy, and who was under sixty-five years old.</p> - -<p>The Sacred College rejected the bare idea. What! Elect a Pope who, out -of sheer personal antipathy, would make it his business to annul the -policy of Leo? What! elect a Pope who had spent more than a quarter -of a century in composing and reciting litanies of complaints against -Leo's management of the Church? What! Elect a Pope who had proved -himself to be purely barbarian by the ferocity of his ritual tapping on -the forehead of the dead Leo? Di meliora!!</p> - -<p>Ragna adroitly disclaimed a personal predilection for Orezzo. That idea -was dismissed.</p> - -<p>"Then what?" was the general question.</p> - -<p>"The Way of Compromise," cooed Vincenzo-Vagellaio.</p> - -<p>There was another capitular session in the Xystine Chapel. By means of -the snips of parchment, the lead balls, the huge violet burse, nine -cardinals were chosen by lot and appointed as Cardinal-Compromissaries. -Singularly enough they were Courtleigh, Mundo, Fiamma, Grace, Ferraio, -Saviolli, Nefski, Gentilotto, and della Volta. The College executed a -compromise in writing, no one contradicting or opposing it, whereby -these nine were invested with absolute power and faculty to make -provision of a pastor for the Holy Roman Church.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Compromissaries conferred. To begin with, they mutually protested -that they would not be understood to give their consent by all sorts -of words or expressions which might fall from them in the heat of -debate, unless they expressly set the same down in writing. Then, they -looked whole inquisitions one at another, saying nothing. And, after -half-an-hour they adjourned till the morrow: gathered up their trains; -and swept each to his separate cell. Stupid conclavists tried to read -their expressions. As well try to find out his thoughts from the sole -of his unworn shoe as from the face of a cardinal. The cardinalitial -mask is as superior (in impenetrable pachydermatosity) to that of the -proverbial public-schoolboy, as is the cuticle of a crocodile to that -of <i>pulex irritans</i>.</p> - -<p>The task of the Compromissaries was too onerous to be begun until a -chaos of ideas had been set in order. Gentilotto and Fiamma paced up -and down the galleries together. Acceptance of their present office had -nullified their chances of the triple crown. Either would have worn -that gladly and well: neither was inclined to struggle for it. The -Scrutinies dreadfully had annoyed their dignity, the pure and gentle -dignity of Gentilotto, the radiant opulent dignity of Fiamma. To have -escaped from the sweaty turmoil of competition satisfied them. Ferraio -joined them in their perambulation: joined his ideas and sympathies to -theirs. Mundo paid a visit to Courtleigh, and heard his confession: -the Cardinal of Pimlico had no use for the conclavial confessor, who -was a Jesuit. Nefski, pallid and wan, tried a little walk by the aid -of the arm of della Volta: and afterwards, those two said mattins and -lauds together. Saviolli sat-out the evening in Grace's cell, chatting -about the Munroe Doctrine. Courtleigh sat alone in his cell: his hands -were on the arms of his chair: his gaze was fixed on the flame of the -candle. His thoughts whirled: eddyed: and were still. He fell asleep. -His brother, who was his chaplain, peered through the violet curtains, -inquiring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> his needs. He needed nothing—perhaps he would do a little -writing before saying his night-prayers. Monsignor John placed a -dispatch-box on the table, a couple of new candles on the prickets; -and retired. Anon, His Eminency opened the box with a miniature gold -key hinged to the under-side of the bezel of his cameo ring; and -meditatively turned over and over his archiepiscopal correspondence. -One packet of letters seemed to fascinate him. He held it in his hands -for a long time, fixedly regarding it. He untied the vermilion ribbon; -and began to read. He had read these letters before, just before he -entered the Conclave. He would read them again now: reading helps -thought: it is as a strong arm supporting feeble steps: it is as the -pinions upon which thought can fly: or it is inspiration. Cardinal -Courtleigh read a dozen pages or so. Then he sat with his chin in his -hand, gazing again at the candle-flame. His thoughts were flying. They -were quite personal, quite unconnected with his present situation or -his present office. Orezzo, Ragna, and Serafino-Vagellaio, engaged the -Compromissaries in conversations wherever they met them, in doorways, -on promenades: quite often they called to make perfectly certain that -they lacked no conveniences in their cells.</p> - -<p>Morning and evening conferences were occupied by long discussions -on the merits of the three remaining candidates, and of the other -five-and-forty cardinals. The predilections of the Powers were passed -in review. The ambassador of the Emperor had notified that Austria -would look favourably upon Rugscha. But to think of that old man—born -in 1818—nearly ninety years old—oh, quite impossible. The Siege of -Peter needed no more senility, but rather juvence. Old men were so -obstinate, much more obstinate than headstrong youth. The ambassador -of the Catholic King had urged the claims of the Archbishop of -Compostella. True, that one was not so old—but, three-score years and -ten—is it not the Psalmist's limit?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> - -<p>And did any of Their Eminencies desire to assist at another Conclave, -(say) within the next five years? Their Eminencies had had enough -of Conclaves to last them for the span of their mortal lives. The -French ambassador had made no recommendation, seeing that the Commune -had recalled him, torn him out of the train at Modane on the French -frontier and sliced him in pieces. Portugal had plumped for Mundo, who -declared himself unwilling to accept, and as Compromissary incapable of -accepting, the paparchy.</p> - -<p>Italy—m-ym-ym-ym-ym—well, Italy? A geographical expression: no more. -Now then the others. The German Emperor? His Majesty had nominated -Courtleigh. Now why? The Cardinal of Pimlico, smiling, really did not -know. He was much obliged, he was sure. Perhaps the young man thought -that, by nominating one of his own uncle's subjects (and a very -unworthy one) he would induce his said uncle to return the compliment -and nominate a German. And would the uncle so oblige? Courtleigh -thought not. The aforesaid uncle was quite as self-willed as, and -infinitely more tactful than, and the last person in the world to let -his leg be pulled by, his imperial nephew. Well then what was the King -of England's attitude? Courtleigh did not know: but he believed—indeed -he had had it from Mr. Chamberlain——Yes, and the Lord Chamberlain -said?—Not the Lord Chamberlain:— Mister Chamberlain—the Prime -Minister—had said that His Majesty was not by way of meddling with -matters which did not concern him. The Compromissaries pronounced the -King of England's conduct to be most observable. And the Cardinal of -Pimlico added that in any case he (as a Compromissary) was ineligible: -while the Cardinal of Baltimore calculated that America also would -stand out of this deal.</p> - -<p>A definite decision evaded capture. Satisfaction seemed to be such a -very long way up in the air.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Not one of the nine was sensible of an -overwhelming irresistible impulse to select any particular individual -as Pope. That is such an invidious undertaking: the spirit faints at -its immensity. But the Compromissaries subconsciously were drawing near -and nearer to each other, and away from the rest, who, in their turn -cohered in curiosity. The fourth conference was an unusually futile -one. Mundo frankly and abruptly stated his conviction that the Lord -God was not intending Himself to take a Vicegerent out of the Sacred -College: whereat Their Eminencies laughed; and adjourned, conversing of -other and secular affairs.</p> - -<p>Courtleigh went out on della Volta's arm. "Eminency," he said, "I have -known you now for nearly twenty years: and, whenever I see you, I -always fancy that I have met you somewhere in other circumstances. You -have never been in London? I thought not. And I suppose you haven't -what they call a Double? I don't mean that your type is common. Far -from it. But, at times, I seem—— You remind me of—— And yet I do -not know of whom——"</p> - -<p>And another night enshrouded the palace on the Vatican Hill.</p> - -<p>As Cardinal Courtleigh was trying to shave himself next morning, the -phantom of his friend della Volta invaded his mental vision: suddenly, -resemblance and remembrance clashed together striking a spark. By the -light of it, he saw and knew—something. He laughed shortly: and grew -grave. He was deeply engrossed with his dispatch-box until the hour of -conference. The matters which he laid before the other Compromissaries -caused several precedents to be set aside and some to be created. -And, at 9 p.m., forty-two cardinals, wearing the habits of ordinary -priests, drove away in cabs towards the railway-station: while the -Cardinal-Chamberlain unlocked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the inside of the door of the Conclave. -Hereditary-marshal Ghici, summoned from his watching chamber to unlock -the outside, was flabbergasted by an invitation to declare whether the -Vatican was a prison for cardinals as well as for popes? He did hate -being mocked by a boiled lobster!</p> - -<p>Fifteen comparatively speechless Eminencies spent a few weeks there in -quiet leisure, reading in the library, admiring the pictures and the -sculptures, sometimes strolling in the gardens. One of them seriously -began to study botany; and the Cardinal-Dean, with a view to a future -Bull, composed a very scathing indictment of that hypocritical anomaly -called Christian Socialism. And all the time the pontifical army -guarded the inside of every entrance, fraternizing through the gratings -with the national army outside. But special correspondents of the -London newspapers in Rome munched vacuity and excreted fibs, after -their kind.</p> - -<p>By twos and threes, plain (but very dignified) priests arrived: were -admitted; and changed black for violet. One did not change. He was only -Cardinal Courtleigh's new chaplain. The door of the Conclave was locked -on both sides and bricked-up again.</p> - -<p>Ensued another session of the Compromissaries, when their authentic -act was put into prescribed form by apostolic prothonotaries. Ensued -a final capitular assembly, in which the Act of the Compromise was -published. Ensued a tempest of tongues and manners, dissolving (as -storms do) in muttered thunders, less and less convulsive upheavals, a -parcel of broken boughs and chimney-pots, stillness, peace, relief, and -sun-bright April smiles.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER III</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> their lords had entered the Xystine Chapel for this last exercise, -the conclavists went away about their own affairs; and the door was -shut. The Reverend George Arthur Rose departed with the Bishop of -Caerleon who was acting-chaplain to Cardinal Mundo. They walked in the -royal gallery between the Xystine and the Pauline Chapels. George was -in a mood of silence. His mind (as usual) was receiving impressions: -the historic scene being enacted under his notice: the magnificent -masks veiling the humanity of the actors: the mysterious gloom of -the stage, its smallness, its air of cavernous confinement: the sour -oppressive septic odour of architectural and waxen and human antiquity. -He had been told that he would have to say mass before noon; and his -head ached from fasting in that indescribably stifling effluvia. He -remembered that, in former days necessity frequently had forced him -to abstain from all food for a hundred hours at a time. Often, during -four days in the week, he had eaten nothing: but that was in the open -air, on the shore of a northern sea, or among the heather on moors -and mountains, where the wind and the spray gave life. Here, the -fast of less than twenty hours made him sick and sulky. However, it -had to be tolerated. Semphill once had told him that a course in an -ecclesiastical college, and the first few years of clerical life, were -as disgusting as ten years' penal servitude. He took it at that with -his eyes open. It was part of the business. He determined to go through -with it. Still, he was in a better position now than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> ever had -been before. He no longer was alone. Dr. Talacryn had seemed anxious -for his company since that day in London; and George was inclined to -value kindness. The Bishop of Caerleon appeared to be precisely what -the new-fledged priest knew himself to need—a sympathetic expert -subintelligent walking-stick, honest and sturdy as oak. Oh, for the -certainty of fidelity! Presently George took out his cherished edition -of Theokritos by Estienne. In spare moments, he was introducing his -companion to the melody of Greek; and together they read and analyzed -the twelfth idyll.</p> - -<p>An hour later, the bishop suggested that they should go into the -Pauline Chapel and say some prayers. George followed him. Prayer is -a mind-cleanser—the best: anyhow it is an effort always due. They -looked for a clean four-feet-of-floor: kneeled side by side; and got -into communication with the Unseen. George's method was intellectual -rather than formal. To him, with his keen and carefully cultivated -sense of the ridiculous, the absurdity of a human individual composing -complacent criticisms of Divine decrees, hashing up scriptural and -liturgical tags with a proper and essentially sensuous pleasure in -patchwork, seemed like gratuitous impertinence. "Dear Jesus, be not to -me a Judge, but a Saviour," was all the form of words which he used. It -included everything, as far as he could see. He repeated it over and -over again and again like a wonderful incantation; and anon it had its -psychic effect. He became in direct communication with the Invisible -Omniscient, to Whom all hearts are open, from Whom no secrets are hid. -It was just his own method, compiled from bitter-sweet experience. -In time, he began to finger his moonstone rosary, concentrating his -meditation on the Mystery of the Annunciation: his mind strenuously -went to work on that: his lips swiftly enunciated the prayers. After -five decades he said <i>Salve Regina</i>: and examined his conscience. Was -there any difference in him? He felt more clear:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> he felt that he -had effected some kind of a difference. That was relief. But was it -worth anything? Wasn't it stained? Was he really strengthened by the -exercise? For example, was he now filled and inflamed with pure Love? -No. Was he any nearer to pure Love, fit to be thought of, even harshly, -by pure Love? No. Well: he had done his best: it would come some day. -God be merciful to us all poor sinners.</p> - -<p>He looked at the bishop, two weeks his junior in years, two centuries -his senior in worth of every kind. The cheerful satisfied stolidity -of that one, turning from his prayers and meeting George's gaze with -a homely smile, was something astounding. How different men are! Here -was one envying the other his stolidity, and the other half afraid of -the agility of the one. George realized that this bishop never had had -embarrassments of any kind: nor could have. He saw the great gulph -which is fixed between the simple and the complex.</p> - -<p>There was a stir at the door of the chapel. "I think perhaps we'd -better be getting back," said Dr. Talacryn.</p> - -<p>Two masters-of-ceremonies appeared in attendance upon -Cardinal-Archdeacon Macca and Cardinal-Deacon Berstein. As George and -his companion approached them, they turned and retraced their steps. -George wished them anywhere but there, impeding him when he ought to -be running-off to the service of his diocesan. They completely blocked -the path as they went before him with superb unconcern. "How stiff, how -antipathetic the elder one looks!" he whispered with acerbity.</p> - -<p>"Sh-h-h!" the bishop sibilated.</p> - -<p>The door of the Xystine Chapel was open. Conclavists from all quarters -hurried towards it. George and his friend found themselves impelled -through the portals. Beyond the delicate marble screen, gleamed the six -steady flamelets of the candles on the altar. The protentous figures in -the Doom appeared to writhe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> - -<p>Inside the screen Macca and Berstein went; and paused; and faced the -crowd which followed them.</p> - -<p>George was looking about him, vehemently alert. He had felt like -this three times in his life before, at the exsequies of the Queen -of England, at the incoronation of the King of England, at the foot -of the first grave which had opened in his path through life. It -was the feeling of the cognoscente who is permitted, during sixty -seconds, to do his own pleasure in a treasure-chest filled to the -brim with inestimable intagliate gems. It was the feeling of absolute -acquisitiveness. Here was history in the making; and he was in the -front rank of the spectators. There was no time to think of effects. -This was a case of causes; and every detail must be seized and stored. -Selection could come later: appreciation afterwards: but now he -must collect. First, his glance flashed upward to the little square -canopies: they all were in position. Then, to the occupants of the five -and fifty thrones: they were sitting as still as the conscript-fathers -sat in their curule chairs, turned-to and watching the crowd which -oozed through the screen-gates. Unconsciously, George was urged further -and further in. His demeanour was abstrusely unemotional: he continued -violently absorbent of the spectacle. Presently, he whispered to the -bishop, "What is it? What is happening?"</p> - -<p>"I think God has given us a Pope."</p> - -<p>"Oh! Whom?"</p> - -<p>"Wait. We shall know in a minute."</p> - -<p>The silence, the stillness, the dim light, where motionless forms of -cardinals curved like the frozen crests of waves carven in white jade -and old ivory on a sea of amethyst, were more than marvellous.</p> - -<p>A voice came out of the gloom, an intense voice, reciting some formula.</p> - -<p>George did not take the Latin easily from an Italian tongue: he found -himself translating, <i>Reverend Lord,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the Sacred College has elected -thee to be the Successor of St. Peter. Wilt thou accept pontificality?</i></p> - -<p>"Reverend?" he thought. Why not "Most Eminent"? He instantly turned -to the bishop, with another question on his tongue. The bishop was -kneeling behind him. The crowd also was kneeling. Why in the world did -not he kneel too? Why should he hesitate for a moment? He faced round -once more, a single black figure with an alert weary white face, alone -and erect in the splendour of violet. He glanced again at the canopies.</p> - -<p>It was on him, on him, that all eyes were. Why did he not kneel?</p> - -<p>Again the voice of the Cardinal-Archdeacon intoned, "Reverend Lord, the -Sacred College has elected thee to be the Successor of St. Peter. Wilt -thou accept pontificality?"</p> - -<p>There was no mistake. The awful tremendous question was addressed to -him.</p> - -<p>A murmur from the bishop prompted him, "The response is <i>Volo</i>—or -<i>Nolo</i>."</p> - -<p>The surging in his temples, the booming in his ears, miraculously -ceased. He took one long slow breath: crossed right hand over left upon -his breast: became like a piece of a pageant; and responded "I will."</p> - -<p>Two hands clapped, and the canopies came down rustling and flapping. -The Sacred College struggled to its feet, as God's Vicegerent passed to -the rear of the high altar.</p> - -<p>They offered Him three suits of pontifical white, large, medium, and -small. The large was too large: the small, too small: but the medium -would serve for the present. He began to undress, among the throng of -assistants, with the noncurance of one accustomed to swim in Sandford -Lasher. He forbade all help, refusing to be touched. When He had -assumed the white hosen, cassock, sash, rochet, cape, and cap, the -crimson shoes and stole, the great new gold Ring of The Fisher<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>man, -He went through His former pockets leaving nothing behind: tucked -His handkerchief into His left sleeve; and asked for the Bishop of -Caerleon. While masters-of-ceremonies and the Augustinian sacristan -hurried to prepare altars for the episcopal consecration of the Pope, -Dr. Talacryn was admitted to the Apostolic presence. He made obeisance: -the moment was too enormous for words, but eyes spoke.</p> - -<p>"A glass of water," then the Pontiff said.</p> - -<p>"The fast, Holy Father——"</p> - -<p>"Will not be broken. Remain always close at hand, please." He felt -as though the whole world suddenly had left Him. Not that He Himself -had moved, or changed: but the world, the past, was entirely gone and -blotted out: the future was obscure: the present was all strange. His -unrelated idea was to steady Himself by this one link with the past. -Water was brought. He dipped half His handkerchief: wrang it out: -pressed it on His hot dry eyes.</p> - -<p>All through the long ceremony of consecration, He carried Himself with -enigmatical equanimity. Though His eyes saw nothing but the matters -of each moment, and though His bearing seemed to indicate an aloof -indifference, yet, within, His sensibilities were at their tensest. -Nothing escaped Him. And He was mobilizing His forces: planning His -campaign. He was looking-down, He was surveying, the opening vista. Two -or three moves on the apostolic chess-board He already could foresee.</p> - -<p>At the conferring of the episcopal ring, He drew-back His hand; and -demanded an amethyst instead of the proffered emerald. The ceremony -halted till the canonical stone came. Cardinals noted the first -manifestation of pontifical will, with much concern, and with some -annoyance. Ragna muttered of ignoble upstarts: Vivole, of boyish -arrogance: Berstein, of beggars on horseback. "He, who is born of -a hen, always scratches the ground," asserted the Benedic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>tine -Cacciatore: and "He, who was a frog, is now a king," Labeur quoted from -the <i>Satyricon</i> of Petronius Arbiter.</p> - -<p>They brought Him before the altar; and set Him in a crimson-velvet -chair, asking what pontifical name He would choose.</p> - -<p>"Hadrian the Seventh:" the response came unhesitatingly, -undemonstratively.</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness would perhaps prefer to be called Leo, or Pius, or -Gregory, as is the modern manner?" the Cardinal-Dean inquired with -imperious suavity.</p> - -<p>"The previous English pontiff was Hadrian the Fourth: the present -English pontiff is Hadrian the Seventh. It pleases Us; and so, by Our -Own impulse, We command."</p> - -<p>Then there was no more to be said. The election of Hadrian the Seventh -was proclaimed in the Conclave. They came to the ceremony of adoration. -One by one, Their Eminencies kissed the Supreme Pontiff's foot and -hand and cheek. Contact with senile humanity made His juvenile soul -shudder. All the time he was saying in His mind "Not unto Us, O Lord, -not unto Us...." Yet that seemed such a silly inadequate thing to say. -It was not humility, it was physical loathing which nauseated Him all -secretly. Some had the breaths of bustards, and all but one were hot. -He would have liked to tear off His Own cheek with clawed tongs. By -a peculiar mental gymnastic, He vaulted to the verse, "Who sweeps an -house as in Thy Sight makes that and th' action fine." He clutched the -thought and clung to it. "Greatest and Best, or by what other Name Thou -wishest to be called, I am only Thy means. This horrible osculation is -no more than a chance for them to benefit themselves by honouring Thee -through me. Let them. I will be the means—Thy means to all men. Ouf! -How it hurts!" His external serenity was unflinchingly feline. He just -tolerated attention. The arrows of cardinalitial eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> impinged upon -Him; and glanced off the ice of His mail. He withdrew His sensibilities -from the surface; and concentrated them in the inmost recesses of his -soul, foreseeing, forescheming. "One step's enough for me" was another -tag, which became detached from the bundles of His memory to float in -the ocean of His counsels. He made sure of the one step: fearlessly -strode and stood; and prepared for the next. He never looked behind. -The amethyst, the pontifical name, and now——? Yes! "Begin as you mean -to go on," He advised Himself.</p> - -<p>When the huge princes of the church bourgeoned in ermine and vermilion, -Hadrian, mitred and coped in silver and gold, followed Macca who bore -the triple cross. Tumultuous sumptuous splendour proceeded through the -Conclave into the gallery of benediction over the porch of St. Peter's. -Masons were removing brickwork from a blocked window leading to a -balcony on the right hand, half-way down the long gallery. The Supreme -Pontiff beckoned Orezzo.</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinal, this balcony looks-into the church?"</p> - -<p>"Into the church, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Which window looks-out over the City?"</p> - -<p>"The window on the left."</p> - -<p>"Let the window on the left be opened."</p> - -<p>The Sacred College swung together as to a scrum.</p> - -<p>Pressure never had influenced George Arthur Rose. He used to say that -you might squash him to death, if you could: but you never should make -him do what you were too lazy, or too proud, or too silly, to persuade -him to do. He would wait a century for his own way; and, unless you -actually and literally had removed him from the face of the earth by -the usual methods of assassination, you would find him still implacably -persistent at the end of the said century. He had learned the trick -from Flavio: observing that, if he would not open the door when the -cat mewed to go out, the creature remained in the room, but would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> not -come and sit on his friend's neck, nor agree to anything except the -opening of the door. And Hadrian the Seventh was quite prepared to be -hustled and hullabaloed-at, as Leo the Thirteenth had been hullabaloed -at and hustled in 1878: but no earthly power should extort Apostolic -Benediction from His hand and lips, except at a place and a time of -His Own choosing. They might push this Pope on to the inner balcony; -and they might lead a horse to the water: but not even the College of -Cardinals arrayed in all its glory could make the one drink, the other -bless.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, that window was bricked-up in 1870; and has not been opened -since."</p> - -<p>"Let it now be opened."</p> - -<p>Ragna snarled and burst out of the phalanx. There was a tinge of -truculence about him. "Holiness, Pope Leo wished to have had it opened -on the day of His Own election; but it was impossible. Impossible! -Capisce? The rust of the stanchions, the solidity of the cement——"</p> - -<p>"All that We know. The gentleness of Pope Leo was persuaded. We are not -gentle; and We are not to be persuaded by violence."</p> - -<p>Orezzo, though secretly inchanted that anyone should act differently -to his one antipathy, Pope Leo, was rather shocked at the notion -of blessing the City and the World while (what he held to be) the -Piedmontese Usurper was occupying Peter's so-called Patrimony and -Intangible Rome. It is an ingrained idea with his school that peoples -should excruciate for the petty spites of potentates. But he tried -urbanity. "Holy Father have pity upon us; and deliver us as soon as -possible from the miseries which afflict us in this Conclave. Deign -blessings to the faithful in the church to-day; and we will see what -can be done about the other affair to-morrow."</p> - -<p>Hadrian looked a little amused. The Bishop of Caerleon thought that he -never had seen more cruelly dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>passionate inflexibility. At a sign -from the Pope, the master-mason came forward and fell on his knees. -Hadrian stooped.</p> - -<p>"Son, open that window."</p> - -<p>Through and through vermilion billows the masons dived and thrust -across the breadth of the gallery, conveying ladders, crowbars, -hammers. Conclavial porters threw down rolls of carpet which they were -about to spread, and sat upon them. Berstein squawked and expectorated. -Hadrian winced: and marked the man. At the clang of hammers, masonry -began to fall: a white dust hovered in the air: the vermilion college -swept away with the white Pope. Some went to the end of the gallery, -where loud voices became protestant: midway, the Germans halted with -most of the Italians: they conversed more moderately. A few paces -beyond the range of operations, the Pope remained quite still: by His -side, He detained Macca with His cross: behind Him, congregated the -Bishop of Caerleon and the nine Cardinal-Compromissaries.</p> - -<p>In a break of the clang of the hammers, Hadrian intoned "Kyrie -eleēson." Mundo gave prompt response. The assemblage at first failed -to catch the idea: but, by degrees, voice acceded to voice; and the -<i>Litanies of the Saints</i> magniloquently reverberated through the -gallery.</p> - -<p>Outside, in the Square of St. Peter's, only a few hundreds of people -were collected. Interest in the proceedings of the Conclave was -nearly dead; and several special correspondents were beginning to -think seriously of the superior excitements of a murder-trial at New -Bailey. But many old-fashioned Romans wished to be able to tell their -grand-children that they themselves had been in the square when the -Pope was proclaimed in the church; and, again, on the morning of St -George's Day, no smoke had been vomited from the Xystine chimney. The -affair was very mysterious! What combinations behind those white walls!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> - -<p>Inside the basilica, there were thousands of expectant people, -officials of the Vatican, cardinalitial familiars, prelates, -penitentiaries, beneficiaries, who had not been immured in the -Conclave. Also there were lords and ladies of eminent quality -belonging to the Black (or clerical) Party, who had been admitted with -meticulous secrecy (in broad day-light and in face of all Rome) by a -privy door. Every day for weeks, they had come and waited, hoping to -be among the first to salute the Pope. To go to St. Peter's in the -morning before dinner, and in the evening before supper, had become -the mode in a society which has few and futile dissipations of its -own and to which the comity of the Quirinale and White Society is -forbidden fruit. Some, who were near the great doorway, thought they -heard faint tappings in the gallery over-head. Rumour protruded her -tongue: certainly there were tappings, more ponderous, more insistent. -Certainly the balcony was being opened. Then the crashing ceased. -In the hush, surmises were born; and stifled: or nurtured. A loose -Benedictine with a face of a flesher, who was leaning against one of -the great piers, suddenly asseverated that the tapping had begun again: -but in another place—further away, he said. An honorary decurial -chamberlain-of-the-cloak-and-sword sniffed long-nosedly, picking a -vandyke beardlet; and stuttered, "They're n-n-never o-opening the outer -b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-balcony." That notion resembled the spark between -negative and positive poles. It vibrated and glittered; and fell upon a -heap of human combustibles.</p> - -<p>"Then what are we waiting here for?" shouted Prince Clenalotti; and he -made a dash at the door by which he had entered. Naturally he led a -stampede.</p> - -<p>The crowd in the Square stood obliquely to the church, with all its -eyes directed to the Vatican: when, round from Via della Sagrestia -poured a stream of half-wild creatures, shooting instant glances at -the vacant balcony, and bringing amazing news. The two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> crowds flew -together, thronging the wide stone steps and the open space beneath. -The military rigesced to attention. The special correspondents (as -one man) made for the obelisk in the centre, or the basins of the -fountains, and set-up portable pairs of steps. And, of course, -motor-cars and cabs, and Caio and Tizio and also Sempronio, not to -mention Maria and Elena and Yolanda and also Margherita, began to issue -from every Borgo avenue.</p> - -<p>There was nothing to be seen, except the empty balcony over the porch. -It was neither canopied nor decorated: but someone said that there was -movement behind the window. That was concisely true. More. The window -itself was moving. The sun-flashed panes of glass turned dull, as it -swung on its hinges, inward. The Italian army presented arms. Rome -kneeled on the stones. The special correspondents ascended their pairs -of steps: directed phonographic and kinematographic machines: pressed -buttons and revolved wheels.</p> - -<p>A tiny figure splashed a web of cloth-of-gold over the balcony; and -a tiny ermine and vermilion figure ascended, placing a tiny triple -cross. Came in a stentorian megaphonic roar a proclamation by the -Cardinal-Archdeacon,</p> - -<p>"I announce to you great joy. We have for a Pope the Lord George of the -Roses of England, Who has imposed upon Himself the name of Hadrian the -Seventh."</p> - -<p>He gave place to another tiny figure, silver and gold, irradiant in the -sun. A clear thin thread of a voice sang, "Our help is in the Name of -the Lord."</p> - -<p>Phonographs recorded the sonorous response, "Who hath made heaven and -earth."</p> - -<p>Hadrian the Seventh raised His hand and sang again, "May Almighty God, -✠ ✠ ✠ Father, ✠ ✠ ✠ Son, -✠ ✠ ✠ and Holy Ghost, bless you."</p> - -<p>It was the Apostolic Benediction of the City and the World.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER IV</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Now</span> things went briskly. There was a brain which schemed and a -will to be obeyed. The hands began to realize that they would have -to act manually. Dear deliberate Rome simply gasped at a Pontiff -Who said "To-morrow" and meant it. The Sacred College found that -it had no option. Naturally it looked as black as night. But the -Cardinal-Archdeacon could not refuse point-blank to crown; and, -when Hadrian announced that His incoronation would take place in -the morning on the steps of St. Peter's, futile effort suggested -difficulty preventing possibility. That was the only course open to the -opposition. Three cardinals in turn alleged that there would not be -time to give notice of the ceremony, to arrange the church, to issue -tickets of admission. Hadrian swept these ideas aside, as rubbish. -Another courted catastrophe saying that there was no time to summon the -proper officials. He heard that there were sixteen hours in which to -summon those who actually were indispensable. A fifth said that, owing -to the antichristian tendencies of the times, no representatives of the -King of France, of the Holy Roman Emperor, of the First Conservator -of the Roman people, were forthcoming; and he politely inquired how -the quadruplex lavation could be performed in their absence? The -Pope responded that He was capable of washing His hands four times -without any assistance, in the absence of legitimate assistants: but -the General of the Church was not to seek: the modern Syndic of Rome -was the equivalent of the ancient First Conservator: the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Austrian -Ambassador could represent the Empire: while, as for wretched kingless -unkingly France—let someone instantly go out into the streets of Rome -and catch the first Christian Frenchman there encountered. Anyhow, the -quadruplex lavation was accidental. The essential was that the Supreme -Pontiff should sing a pontifical mass at the high altar of St. Peter's, -and should receive the triple crown. These things would be done at -eight o'clock on the following morning. All the doors of the basilica -were to be fixed open at midnight; and so remain. No official notice -need be published. And that was all. Then the Pope shut-up Himself in -His predecessor's gorgeous rooms, inspecting them till they gave him a -pain in His eyes. Luckily He had secured his pouchfull of tobacco and -a book of cigarette-papers: He smoked, and thought, looking out of the -windows over Rome.</p> - -<p>After sunset, He ate some cutlets and a salad: placed two chairs face -to face near the right-hand window; and sent for the Bishop of Caerleon -and a large jug of milk. His interior arrangements were as disreputably -healthy as those of a school-boy.</p> - -<p>Dr. Talacryn came, and observed the forms. Hadrian sent him to clear -the antechambers and to close the doors. He returned and remained -standing. The Pope was sitting in one of the splendidly uncomfortable -red chairs.</p> - -<p>"We have sent for Your Lordship because We have occasion for your -special services."</p> - -<p>"I am at all times very ready and willing to serve Your Holiness."</p> - -<p>Hadrian was attracted to this bishop. Lots of his acts He loathed: but -He liked the man, and believed him honest. The bishop was attracted -to the Pope. He liked Him: but he could not understand Him, and was a -little frightened of Him: but still—it was as well to know all that -could be known and that might be useful.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We placed this chair for Your Lordship," said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>Dr. Talacryn was astonished: but not more than much. His trained placid -nature stood him in good stead at a mark of favour which would have -abashed many, and rendered others presumptuous.</p> - -<p>"I thank Your Holiness," he simply said. It appeared that the ship was -cleared for action.</p> - -<p>The Pope continued in His usual concise monotone. He spoke in the key -of E♭ minor, very quickly indeed, slurring the letter r, clipping -some words and every final g, enunciating others with emphasis, in a -manner curiously suggestive of fur and india-rubber and talons. As for -His matter, He seemed to be arguing with Himself by the way in which He -arrayed His ideas, disclosing His process of thought.</p> - -<p>"We have very much to do, and We are confronted by the physical -impossibility of carrying out Our schemes. We find Ourself surprizingly -placed at the head of affairs. We believe that We should not have been -placed there unless the service, which We are able to do, had been -deemed desirable. Therefore We feel bound to act. But, though We know -(or shall know) what to do, yet We cannot do it with this one pair -of hands. We must have assistants with whom we can be intimate, and -who themselves can be sympathetic. First of all, We wish to have Your -Lordship."</p> - -<p>The bishop was quite honest enough to get a little rosier with pleasure.</p> - -<p>"Very pleased, whatever," he said.</p> - -<p>"Next, We need information. Do you know the circumstances which led to -Our election?"</p> - -<p>"In the main they are known to me, Holiness. Indeed, I may say that -they are generally known—except to the Supreme Pontiff Himself," the -bishop added, with an episcopally roguish smile.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> - -<p>Hadrian enjoyed the point. "Please bear this dogma carefully and -continually in mind:—the Pope well-informed is wiser than the Pope -ill-informed. Remember also that Hadrian at all times desires to know -everything. At present He wishes to know what you know about His -election. Briefly: the details can be given later."</p> - -<p>"Briefly, the Conclave found no Pope by the ordinary means; and -committed the task to certain Cardinal-Compromissaries. These chose -Your Holiness."</p> - -<p>"But why?"</p> - -<p>"Cardinal Courtleigh——"</p> - -<p>"Was he a Compromissary? How many were there?"</p> - -<p>"He was one of nine. The others were——"</p> - -<p>"Never mind their names for the moment. Now We take it that these nine -cardinals are well-disposed toward Us?"</p> - -<p>"Most assuredly, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Good! Nine! The names please?"</p> - -<p>"Courtleigh, Grace——"</p> - -<p>"Archbishop of Baltimore. Yes?"</p> - -<p>"Saviolli——"</p> - -<p>"What is he? He formerly was nuncio or something in America, was he -not? Please give the status of each."</p> - -<p>"He was Archbishop of Lepanto and Pontifical Ablegate to the United -States of America. Now he is one of the curia. Then came della Volta, -formerly Major-domo, also of the curia: he, by the bye, is Your -Holiness's Double, according to Cardinal Courtfield."</p> - -<p>"How delicious!" Hadrian vivaciously put in.</p> - -<p>"Mundo, who led the Compromissaries, is Patriarch of Lisbon. Nefski is -Archbishop of Prague, poor fellow——"</p> - -<p>"Why 'poor fellow'?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh he was nearly killed by the anarchists.—Well then, Ferraio is -Archbishop of Milan: Gentilotto is Prefect-General of the Society for -the Propagation of the Faith, and Fiamma is Archbishop of Bologna. The -two last were candidates at first, but gave it up by consenting to -become Compromissaries."</p> - -<p>"These, you say, are well-disposed to Us?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"A Kelt: an American: a Portugal: five Italians: and a Pole."</p> - -<p>"No, a Bohemian, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Oh?" Hadrian directed the bishop to a writing-table. "Now, whether -this be in accordance with regulations or not, We neither know -nor care. Please write"—He sipped a glass of milk; and began -to dictate—"'Hadrian VII.—Bishop,—Servant of the servants of -God,—wills that you immediately shall come—to Him—in the Vatican -Palace—at Rome. Nothing—except the gravest physical inability—or -your duty to your family—if such there be—is to impede you. -All Catholics—are to afford you—the comfort—conveyance—and -assistance—of which you may stand in need.' Please sign it with your -own name and make five copies of it."</p> - -<p>The bishop, sighing for his typewriter, diligently wrote in an -angular oblique almost illegible hand. Electric lights sprang up in -the City. The Pope lighted candles, closed the curtains, and rolled -a cigarette. Then He came and sat by the table, looking at the -manuscripts—considering the huge ring on His Own index-finger. Smiling -to Himself, He took a taper and a stick of sealing-wax; and produced -the <i>Little-Peter-in-a-Boat</i> at the foot of the six sheets.</p> - -<p>"Address them," He continued, "to the Reverend George Semphill, -St. Gowff's, North Britain:—Reverend James Sterling, Oakheath, -Stafford:—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Reverend George Leighton, Shorham, Sussex:—Reverend Gerald -Whitehead, Wilton, Warwick:—Reverend Robert Carvale, Duntellin, -Ayrshire:—and—yes, do you know that eighteen years ago he had the -most exquisitely beautiful face and the most exquisitely beautiful -soul and the most exquisitely horrible voice of any boy in the -college,—address the sixth to Percy Van Kristen, 2023 Madison Avenue, -New York."</p> - -<p>While Dr. Talacryn was closing the envelopes, the Pope Himself wrote on -a sheet of paper which, also, He sealed:</p> - -<p><i>Hadrianus P.M. VII. dilectissimo filio Francisco Talacryni Caerleonis -Episcopo.</i></p> - -<p><i>Te in cardinalem Designamus et Approbamus: quod tamen sub silentio -tenebis donec tempus idoneum aderit.</i></p> - -<p><i>Datum Romae. Sub annulo Piscatoris. Anno pontificatus Nostri I., a.d. -viiii Kal. Mai.</i></p> - -<p>"Now please come and kneel here," He said.</p> - -<p>The bishop looked an inquiry: but he came round the table, and kneeled -before the Pope, Who addressed him in these words:—</p> - -<p>"Well-beloved son, Francis Talacryn, Bishop of Caerleon, We appoint -thee to, and confirm thee in, the cardinalature. But thou shalt not -disclose the fact until the proper time."</p> - -<p>So saying, He lightly pinched-together the bishop's lips, putting the -breve into his hand.</p> - -<p>"Silence," the Pontiff continued. "Now will you yourself go to San -Silvestro,—not to the post-office here,—and stamp and post those -letters. One thing more. There will be no hitch to-morrow? Right. -Then, after leaving San Silvestro, will you find Prince Pilastro and -Prince Orso, and tell them——We certainly shall have the support -of these nine? Good.—Well, quite informally let those princes (as -Princes-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne) know of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> Our insuing -incoronation. When you have named that to Prince Pilastro, say, also -informally, that the Supreme Pontiff wishes the Syndic of Rome to know -that, when He has received the crowns, He intends to go to Lateran to -take possession of His episcopal see. No. There is to be no fuss. We -will go as simply as possible and on foot. Will you always be quite -near? We name you train-bearer; and will make your office a sinecure. -God bless you. Da b'och a dibechod."</p> - -<p>Hadrian remained standing at the antechamber-door, watching the -bishop's big figure disappear along the corridor. He thought it a pity -that a tendency to corpulency was not checked by healthy physical -exercise. A detachment of the Swiss Guard stood armed and motionless -at regular intervals. "For me," was His plebeian thought. A small -man appeared, bowing. He had a servile air. Hadrian's second glance -recognised him. "Is there an apartment on the top storey above this?" -He inquired.</p> - -<p>"But yes, Holiness, a large apartment of smaller rooms not having the -altitude of these."</p> - -<p>"You will cause them to be emptied by noon to-morrow. Now you can go -to bed. Please take care that no one comes inside this door until the -morning."</p> - -<p>The Pope closed the door: and returned through the antechambers and -the throne-room to the table where He had been working. He sat on the -edge of the table for about an hour, swinging a leg, thinking, and -sipping milk. Then He took a candle, and went into a dressing-room with -huge oak clothes-presses. Opening their doors, He looked for a cloak -among piles and festoons of new clothes. There were several of crimson -velvet. After vainly searching for something plain, He put on one of -these and proceeded to the outer door, taking a breviary from the table -on the way. Out in the corridor, He signed to the nearest guard. The -black-red-yellow-and-steel figure came and kneeled.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Do you know the way into St. Peter's?" the Pope said.</p> - -<p>"But yes, Most Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Procure what keys are necessary and conduct Us thither, son."</p> - -<p>"But securely, Most Holy Father."</p> - -<p>The Swiss went on before. Hadrian followed, feeling annoyed by the -salutes with which He was received along the way. He had been so long -unnoted that notice irritated and abashed Him. Life would be unbearable -if trumpets and quaint halberds greeted every movement. He had not the -stolidity of born personages. Presently, He threw back His cloak and -kept head and hand raised in a gesture which petrified. They passed -through innumerable passages and descended stairs, emerging in a chapel -where lights burned about a tabernacle of gilded bronze and lapis -lazuli. Here He paused, while His escort unlocked the gates of the -screen. Once through that, He sent-back the guard to his station: but -He Himself went-on into the vast obscurity of the basilica. He walked -very slowly: it was as though His eyes were wrapped in clear black -velvet, so intense and so immense was the darkness. Then, very far away -to the right, He saw as it were a coronal of dim stars glimmering,—on -the floor, they seemed to be. He was in the mighty nave; and the stars -were the ever-burning lamps surrounding the Confession. He slowly -approached them. As He passed within them, He took one from its golden -branch and descended the marble steps. Here, He spread the cloak on the -floor; placed the lamp beside it: and fell to prayer. Outside, in the -City and the World, men played, or worked, or sinned, or slept. Inside -at the very tomb of the Apostle the Apostle prayed.</p> - -<p>At midnight, bolts of great doors clanged, and fell. A cool air crept -in. Subsacristans set-up iron candlesticks, huge, antique, here and -there upon the marmoreal pavement. The burning torch of each made a -little oasis of light in the immeasurable gloom. From<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> far away, a -slim white form which carried a crimson cloak swiftly came, shedding -benedictions on the startled beholders; and disappeared in the chapel -of the Sacrament.</p> - -<p>On returning to His apartment, Hadrian went straight to bed, invoking -the souls in purgatory to awaken Him at six o'clock. He slept instantly -and well.</p> - -<p>At seven o'clock He had paid His debt with the <i>De Profundis</i>; and -was dressed and waiting in the throne-room. Entered to Him a dozen -cardinals, two by two. Opening their ranks, they disclosed the -Cardinal-Prior-Priest solemnly ostending the image of a cock in -silver-gilt. Hadrian stood on the steps of the throne, still, erect, -vivid. He seemed so brimming over with restrained energy that He -resembled a white flame. Not a sound was uttered. In silence they came; -and they went away in silence. When the Pontiff was alone again, He -strode and stopped in the middle of the floor.</p> - -<p>"No, Lord, I never will deny Thee—never!" He exclaimed with tremendous -emphasis. "But keep me and teach me and govern me, that I may govern -and teach and keep Thy Flock, O Thou Shepherd of the people."</p> - -<p>When the Bishop of Caerleon conveyed the extraordinary news to the -Syndic of Rome, Prince Pilastro at once inquired what arrangements were -made.</p> - -<p>"No arrangements are made."</p> - -<p>"But look here," said Marcantonio, who affected English brusqueness, -"of course we are very happy that the Holy Father should come among -us: but, you know, we are bound by our own guarantees to give Him -all the honours of a sovereign-regnant. We shall be shamed in the -eyes of Europe if we omit those. What I mean by that is this is a -state-progress; and we shall have to turn out the troops, and stop the -traffic and line the streets——"</p> - -<p>"I don't think His Holiness expects you to do all that, Prince. I'm not -speaking officially; and I'm not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> bringing you an official request for -anything of the kind which you name. The Holy Father says He is going -quite simply—on foot, in fact."</p> - -<p>"Now I should just like to know what the devil (if Your Splendour will -excuse the French) that means."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps His Holiness thinks that the movement of the sedia gestatoria, -or of a litter, will make Him sick. It did with Leo, you know."</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with a white mule?"</p> - -<p>"I happen to know that He cannot ride."</p> - -<p>"Peuh! No sportsman, then! And yet He's English?"</p> - -<p>"Yes: but not the kind of sportsman you mean, Prince."</p> - -<p>"Well: what does He want me to do?"</p> - -<p>"Let's say that I am sent to warn you of His intention, in order that -you may arrest Him for disturbing the traffic, if you choose."</p> - -<p>"Of course we shan't do that."</p> - -<p>"No: of course you won't. That's only my way of putting it. I think He -really means to advise you beforehand, so that it can never be said -that He played you a trick, took you unawares, stole a march on you, so -to speak."</p> - -<p>"I see. Well, this is one of the amazing things which you English do -as a matter of course. It's either frantic madness, or—— Will His -Holiness go in any sort of state?"</p> - -<p>"I think not. You see time is short; and (between ourselves) I'm not at -all sure that we're all of one mind over there."</p> - -<p>"By rights, you know, I ought to walk with Orso, just before the -ambassadors. Does Orso know about this walking business?"</p> - -<p>"No. Only of the incoronation."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> - -<p>"That means that there will be no formal procession. It is well. You -see, as Pilastro, I walk with Orso in the Pope's progress: while, as -Syndic of Rome, I ought to walk at the head of the pontifical pages who -precede His Blessedness. I can't do both, can I? Well, I request Your -Splendour to convey my respects to our Holy Father; and to say that -Prince Pilastro will assist at the throne during the incoronation, and -the Syndic of Rome will go before the Pope to Lateran."</p> - -<p>"You will not take the chance of coming to blows with Prince Orso on -the question of precedence then?" joked the bishop.</p> - -<p>"But no. During the incoronation I shall secure the right hand; and -the Pope will be between us. Afterward, no question of precedence will -arise, because Orso may or may not join in this promenade to Lateran; -and in each case the Syndic will have the more honourable position. I -may not be the rose: but at least I shall be near the Rose—a great -deal nearer than Orso," punned the versatile Marcantonio.</p> - -<p>At eight in the morning, Hadrian descended to St. Peter's. -Miscellaneous multitudes paved the spaces with tumultuous eyes. He came -down in ruddy vesture, gleaming with rubies and garnets and carbuncles -like a fire borne high above the crowd, slowly, deliberately, dropping -benedictions. His English phlegm was much admired. They roared at -Him, <i>Long live the Pope-King</i>. Instantly He stopped His bearers; -and the very air of Him struck sudden silence. People stared, and -forgot to shout: the wave of acclamation ebbed in the great nave and -transepts. He moved onward, sitting erect, god-like, with a frozen mien -prohibiting personal homage. Mitred and enthroned, He was the servant -of those who would serve Him: that was the import of His demeanour. A -child acolyth of the lowest rank held up before him a salver containing -flax: set it on fire; and shrilled,</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Behold most Holy Father, how that the glory of this world passeth -away."</p> - -<p>His features shewed no emotion. He well knew all about that. He -was accepting, even insisting on, the observance of all rites to -consolidate Him in the Supreme Pontificature: not that He cared for -them, but that He might be free to act. It was not the glory of the -world which He craved: but the combat, the combat—because one rests so -much more sweetly after strife.</p> - -<p>Slowly, and with all the unspeakable solemnity accumulated during -centuries, the mass was sung. The Apostle elevated the Host to the four -quarters of the globe. Cardinals ruffled like huge flamingoes round -Him. He always was white and still. At the end, the Cardinal-Archpriest -of St. Peter's brought Him a damask purse containing twenty-five gold -coins, honorarium for a mass well-sung. He bestowed it on della Volta -and Sega, who had intoned the Gospel in Greek and Latin; and they -passed it to their train-bearers. Down the nave, He went again toward -the great porch. Out of the crowd a voice cried "Christus regnat." As -He sat enthroned amid the surging peoples, Macca crowned Him, saying,</p> - -<p>"Receive this tiara adorned with three crowns, and know Thyself to be -the Ruler of the World, the Father of Princes and Kings, the earthly -Vicar of Jesus Christ our Saviour."</p> - -<p>Hadrian understood the formula in no metaphorical, but in the plain and -literal, sense of the words. He neither minimised nor magnified their -significance. He had an opportunity which was entirely grateful to Him. -He was Ruler, Father, Vicar. And He was altogether unafraid. He stood -up, and blessed the City and the World.</p> - -<p>In the Xystine Chapel, they relieved Him of the pontifical regalia, and -the voluminous far-flowing petti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>coat of white taffetas, which is so -sumptuous to the eye of the beholden and so ridiculously cumbersome to -the legs of the wearer; and He ate some apples while Orezzo, on behalf -of the Sacred College, recited time-honoured compliments.</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinals," said Hadrian, "We thank you for your service: and We -invite those of you who are able and willing to attend Us, now, when We -go to take possession of Our episcopal see."</p> - -<p>He moved towards the door. The short train of His cassock trailed -behind Him, and the Bishop of Caerleon stooped to it.</p> - -<p>Ragna had something to howl.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, this is suicide for You and murder for us. The City is full -of Jews and Freemasons; and we shall most assuredly be stabbed, or -shot, or shattered to pieces with bombs, or drenched with vitrol——"</p> - -<p>"The Church wants a martyr badly. Your Eminency is invited, not -commanded."</p> - -<p>Berstein muttered to Vivole, in a scandalized tone, that the Pope was -courting popularity. Pepato, with a note of admiration, commented on -the mad English. Word of the invitation rushed on ahead. Of the crowd -of officials, many began to arrange themselves in a certain order: -others had pressing calls elsewhere. Masters-of-ceremonies, wracking -their brains for long forgotten details, flew hither and thither with -instructions and pushes. Poor old Grani sat down in a recess; and wept -to think that there was no time to get out the white gennets annually -presented by the King of Spain. Hadrian came on slowly, chatting with -Caerleon, giving people a chance of making up their minds. When He -emerged from the colonnade in the Square of St. Peter's, the Syndic -of Rome fell into the ranks just before the Pope; and a royal escort -of the Prætorian Guard surrounded Him. Hadrian stopped; and beckoned -Prince Pilastro.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Sir Syndic, are We free?" He mewed.</p> - -<p>"But free, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Let your soldiers precede and not surround Us; and let no one come -within ten paces of Us. We go by Via Giulia and Monte Celio."</p> - -<p>The squadron moved to the head of the line. The Pope took His train -from the Bishop: threw it over His left arm: and came-on alone. Acting -as though the ideal were real, He made it real. If Jews and Freemasons -would slay Him, well and good: it was part of the day's work, no doubt. -He was by no means anxious to be martyred; and He sincerely hoped that, -if it should come to Him, it would not be very painful or distorting. -But, as it was His Own affair, a piece of the part He was fulfilling, -He displayed Himself alone. Ten paces before Him went Prince Pilastro, -looking back from time to time. Ten paces behind Him came the bishop, -ruddy and strong in white and purple, wondering. The vermilion nine -followed in a compact phalanx, very venerable and grand; and, after a -great deal of bustle and noise, seventeen other cardinals added their -magnificence. A motley of patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prelates, -and pontifical guards closed the rear.</p> - -<p>A tremendous shout greeted Hadrian's first appearance in the square. -It was quite incoherent: for the real significance of the pageant was -not immediately realized. No Pope had set His foot in Rome since 1870: -but here undoubtedly was the Pope, with a gentle inflexible face,—a -lonely white figure Whose left hand lay on the little cross on His -breast, Whose right hand gravely scattered the same sign. This crowd -was not the even human parallels which authority is wont to describe -on streets when the Great go by. It was a concurrence from side-ways -coalescing with loafers and ordinary passers-by, suddenly dipping its -knees, gazing, panting, and emitting howls of delirious onomatopes. -Cabs and carts swept to the side of the road; and the drivers kneeled -on the boxes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Here and there, some dowdy alien said "What mockery" -and patronizingly explained that the Salvation Army did these things -much more properly. Here and there, some sour sorry incapable stood -spitting in praise of secret societies. Here and there some godless -worldling scoffed in an undertone. But Hadrian went-on, walking at that -deceptive pace of His, which seemed so leisurely and was so swift. His -movements resembled the running of a perfectly-geared machine: they -had the smooth and forceful grace of the athlete whose muscles are -supple and strong: even the occasional impulse had no jerkiness. It was -the manner with which He disguised His natural timidity. He sometimes -glanced from side to side. Once He smiled at a bare-legged rascalt of -brown boys who kneeled by one of Bernini's angels on the parapet of the -bridge. He adored children, although He was so desperately afraid of -them. Going up the hill by the Church of Sts. John and Paul, a little -girl dabbed an indescribable rag on her head: rushed into the road, -dashing primroses; and remained transfixed by her own audacity. He led -her by the hand to her mother; and blessed them both. All His life long -He had yearned to be giving. Now, under any circumstances, He always -had something to give, ten words and a gesture; and people seemed so -thankful for it. He was glad.</p> - -<p>In the porch of the Mother and Mistress of All Churches in the City -and the World, He sat on the low throne while canons made shift to -intone, <i>He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy -out of the dung-hill; that He may set Him with the Princes, even with -the princes of His people</i>. They gave Him gold and silver keys. They -attended Him to the throne of precious marbles in the centre of the -apse. They intoned <i>Te Deum</i>. Ascending to the lodge of benediction, He -blessed the mobile vulgar in the Square of St. John; and anon returned -in the way by which He came, Bishop of Rome in act and deed, and -Supreme Pontiff.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER V</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Being</span> physically tired with the exertion of withstanding the -concentrated gaze of Rome, He rested all the afternoon. The palace was -a scene of commotion. Cardinals and their familiars cackled and cooed -and squeaked and growled in corners: or arranged for return to their -distant sees. Workmen cleared-away the structure of the Conclave. -Hadrian made an attempt to get-into the gardens with a book: but, -obsequious black velvet chamberlains with their heads in frills like -saucers made themselves so extremely necessary, and Auditors of the -Ruota scudded along bye-paths with such obvious secrecy and bounded -out of box-hedges before Him by carefully calculated accident so very -frequently, that at last He took refuge in the pontifical apartment. He -rang the gong and sent for Caerleon.</p> - -<p>"We have a more or less distinct remembrance of a place on the Lake of -Albano, called Castel something."</p> - -<p>"Castel Gandolfo, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Yes. And it used to be a pontifical villa?"</p> - -<p>"It is a pontifical villa now: but since 1870 an order of religious -women have used part of it as a convent."</p> - -<p>"Which part?"</p> - -<p>"They, I believe, keep the pontifical suite in statu quo, hoping for -the day when the Holy Father shall come to His Own again."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Good. Now will you at once telegraph to those nuns that the Pope -is coming to His Own to-morrow for the inside of a week. And please -arrange everything on a plain and private scale. That is the first -thing."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps I'd better do that at once whatever."</p> - -<p>"Yes, but don't be long."</p> - -<p>When the bishop returned, Hadrian invited him to take a tour of -observation round the rooms. They were accentedly antipathetic, too -red, too ormolu, too floridly renascent, too distractingly rococo. He -could not work in them. Yes, work,—nothing was going to interfere -with that. How, in the name of heaven, could anyone work under these -painted ceilings, among all these violently ineffectual curves? Now -that He was able, He must have what He wanted. He was going to move on -to the top-floor, where people could not stamp on His head, and where -there was a better view from the windows. He would have clean bare -spaces and simplicity without frippery. Then His mind could move. By -the clothes-presses, He damned red velvet. That should go. The feeling -of it made Him squirm. The sight of it on His person reminded Him of -the barking of malodorous dogs and the braying of assertive donkeys. -White was all right, if it fitted properly. He would stick to white, -soft flannelly white, not this shiny cloth: with a decent surplice -(which did not resemble the garments of David's servants after the -attentions of the children of Ammon)—a surplice and the pallium, and -the pontifical red stole in public: but no lace—that should be left -to ladies. How delicious to have plenty of white clothes to wear! How -delicious to wear white in the sun! Well, He was going to work to earn -all these amenities. And now, talking of work, something would have -to be done to the rooms upstairs: and certain things would have to be -settled regarding the domestic arrangements. To what official ought -directions to be given?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> - -<p>"The Major-domo is the head of the household; and the Master of the -Chamber has immediate charge of Your Holiness's person."</p> - -<p>"That set man? Look now, he shall continue to be Master of the -Chamber. We will not repeat the mistake of Pius IX., or interfere with -any of their offices. But he must not come near Us. We should feel -bound to assist his decrepitude; and Our idea is to be so free from -secular cares that We can concentrate undivided attention upon Our -Apostolature. There is the root of the matter. That man is a stranger: -his age makes it certain that he has got into a groove: he is full -of prior experiences and opinions which he cannot, and ought not to -be expected to, change for a newcomer. But, if he remains here, it -will be Ourself Who will have to obey him. That would distract Us. -Therefore, We must interpose someone whom We know—someone who is young -enough to suit himself to Us. There are two young ruffians of about -twenty-five years old, who, like most of his other acquaintances, -formerly loved and hated George Arthur Rose. Their circumstances are -disagreeable: they never had a chance: they are hot-headed passionate -people, always in love with some woman or other, because they have -no means of amusing themselves innocently, being tied and bound with -the chains of respectable poverty. They really have no opportunity of -leading godly righteous and sober lives. They're insane, unhealthy, -because civilization gives them no opportunity to live sane healthy -lives unless they crush all the most salient and most admirable -characteristics of their individuality. Please send for them—John -Devine, 107, Arkwright Street, Preston—Iulo Carrino, 95, Bloomsbury -Square, London,—and let Us give them some service and much freedom, -and a little wholesome neglect to strengthen and develop their -characters and to give play to their individual natures, as good old -Jowett<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> says. We believe in making it, not difficult but, easy to be -good—— Look, Frank, tell Iulo Carrino to bring with him that yellow -cat which you may remember. By the bye, both these men cannot move -without money. Take this cheque for George Arthur Rose's balance at -Coutts's: use what is generous—generous, mind you,—and account to Us -later. And now, about the other things, We had better see Centrina and -the Major-domo upstairs."</p> - -<p>The Pope and the bishop inspected a series of empty rooms on the -top-floor. They occupied the N.E. and the S.E. sides of the palace. -Hadrian chose the large room in the angle with windows on two sides, -for the secret chamber. It was approached from the N.E. corridor by -way of fifteen antechambers and a large room suitable for private -receptions. Beyond the antechambers there was another series of -apartments which He also took. The private room in the angle, -sitting-room, or workshop (as He called it), led into some smaller -rooms on the S.E. face of the palace. Here he fixed upon a bedroom, -bath-room, dressing-room, oratory, and sundry store-rooms, accessible -by a single door in the last room which led into the corridor -over-looking the court of St. Damasus.</p> - -<p>The Major-domo and the Master-of-the-Chamber attended. The latter was -quaking about his situation. Hadrian rapidly reassured him and came -to the point. "You are confirmed in your benefice until such time -as you choose to retire. The emoluments and the pension are at your -disposal. In a few days, two gentlemen will arrive from England. You -will prepare a parlour and a bedroom for each, adjoining the first -antechamber. Fix a bell in each parlour communicating with this room. -(They were standing in the room which had been selected as a workshop.) -You will provide two servants for them. They will take their meals in -their parlours. After their arrival, Our commandments will come to you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> -through them." (He turned and addressed Himself to the Major-domo.) -"These two gentlemen must be given some official status."</p> - -<p>"If I understand aright, Your Holiness is appointing two -Gentlemen-in-Waiting-in-the-Apostolic-Chamber."</p> - -<p>"That will do. When they arrive, see that they have diplomas of -appointment as Gentlemen of the Apostolic Chamber. The Bishop of -Caerleon will arrange with you about their emoluments. Now, let Us -furnish these rooms."</p> - -<p>They went out into the corridor; and re-entered the apartment by the -first antechamber.</p> - -<p>"Cover all the walls and ceilings with brown-packing paper—yes, -brown-packing paper—carta straccia," the Pope repeated. "Stain all -the woodwork with a darker shade of brown. The gilding of the cornices -can remain as it is. No carpets. These small greenish-blue tiles are -clean; and they soothe the eye. Curtains? You may hang very voluminous -linen curtains on the doors and windows, greenish-blue linen to -match the tiles, and without borders. Furnish all those antechambers -with rush chairs and oaken tables. Remember that everything is to -be plain, without ornament.—In this room you may place the usual -throne and canopy: and that crucifix from downstairs—(how exquisite -the mother-of-pearl Figure is!)—and the stools, and twelve large -candlesticks—iron or brass.—Now this room is to be a workshop. Let Us -have a couch and three armchairs, all large and low and well-cushioned, -covered with undyed leather. Get some of those large plain wooden -tables which are used in kitchens, about three yards long and -one-and-a-half wide. Put writing-materials on one of them, there, on -the right of the window. Leave the middle of the room empty. Put three -small book-cases against that wall and a cupboard here.—Make a bedroom -of this room. Let the bed be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> narrow and long, with a husk mattress; -and let the back of the head be toward the window. Put one of the large -wooden tables here and a dozen rush-chairs.—(He spoke to the bishop.) -Do you know that there is no water here at all, except in little jugs? -(He continued to the Major-domo.) Line the walls of this room with -greenish-blue tiles, like those on the floor. Put several pegs on both -doors. In this corner put a drain-pipe covered with a grating; and, six -feet above it, let a waterpipe and tap project rectangularly two feet -from the wall. Yes. Six feet from the floor, two feet from the wall; -and let there be a constant and copious supply of water—rain-water, if -possible. Do you understand?"</p> - -<p>The Major-domo understood. The Master-of-the-Chamber shivered.</p> - -<p>"And lamps. Get two plain oil-lamps for each room, with copper shades: -large lamps, to give a very strong light. Paint over both doors of -the bedroom, on the outside of each, <i>Intrantes excommunicantur -ipso facto</i>. When We have finished here," (He addressed the -Master-of-the-Chamber again),</p> - -<p>"you will parade your staff; and We will select one person and provide -him with a dispensation from that rule as long as he behaves himself -well. He will have charge of the bedroom and the sole right to enter -it." (The Pope passed into the next room: paused, and whispered -explicit directions to the Major-domo; and moved on to the farther -room.)</p> - -<p>"The clothes-presses from downstairs can be moved into this room. They -will serve. And you had better make a door here, so that it can be -entered from the corridor." (He went on again.) "This room is to be the -vestry;—and this the oratory. Let Us have a plain stone altar and the -stations, and the bare necessaries for mass, all of the simplest. Let -everything, walls, floor, ceiling, everything, be white—natural white, -not painted; and make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> a door here, also leading into the corridor, -a large double-door convenient for the faithful who assist at the -pontifical mass. The rooms beyond—you will take order about them at a -convenient occasion."</p> - -<p>Hadrian and the bishop returned to the pontifical apartments downstairs.</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness will excuse me——"</p> - -<p>"Yes?"</p> - -<p>"—but have You ever contemplated the present situation?"</p> - -<p>"No. Why?"</p> - -<p>"Well, Your Holiness seems to have everything cut and dried."</p> - -<p>The Pope laughed. "You shall know that George Arthur Rose has had -plenty of time for thinking and scheming. His schemes never came to -anything, except once; and he certainly never schemed for this. But you -understand perhaps that the last twenty years have rendered Hadrian -conscious both of His abilities and His limitations, as well as of His -requirements; and hence He is able at a glance to describe in detail -what He wants. When He wants something, without knowing what He wants, -He asks questions. For example, what is that hinged arrangement under -Cardinal Courtleigh's ring?"</p> - -<p>"A master-key, Holiness; I have just got one too." The bishop shewed -his own ring.</p> - -<p>"What is that?"</p> - -<p>"I have several places which I have to keep locked, safes, cupboards, -and that sort of thing; and the keys, which are all different, have to -be entrusted to my various chaplains, and so on. Well, each of these -can only open the lock of the thing which concerns him: but, with that -master-key, I can unlock everything and no one else in the world can do -that."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Capital! Where do you get these things made?"</p> - -<p>"At a place in Band Street—Brahma I think the name is."</p> - -<p>"Tell them to——" The voice sank, for some scarlet gentleman began -to bring in tables with the sealed dishes of the pontifical supper. -Hadrian's eyes lingered on the intruders for a moment. They were so -slim, so robust, so deft, so grave, so Roman. He drew the bishop into -the embrasure of a window.</p> - -<p>"Aren't they lovely?" He said. "Isn't the world full of lovely things, -lovely live things? It's the dead and the stagnant that are ugly."</p> - -<p>This was so rapid a change of mood that Talacryn could not follow it. -As soon as the servants were gone, Hadrian continued, returning the -episcopal ring "Tell your Brahma people to fit all the doors upstairs -with locks which have separate keys, and to send another score of locks -also with separate keys; and also to send a man here who is capable of -making an episcopal ring for Us which shall contain a master-key to all -those locks."</p> - -<p>"Very well, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Don't go. Supper can wait a minute Look here: We desire to be in -direct communication with the Sacred College. We chiefly are curious -to know the nine compromissaries: but distinctions sometimes are -invidious. At all events, We must have a long and secret conference -with Cardinal Courtleigh. So will you please make it known to Their -Eminencies that We will receive them after supper. Ask Pimlico to -remain after the others. And—who manages the finances here?"</p> - -<p>"The Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria Nuova is Apostolic Treasurer; and -the Major-domo is responsible for the household expenses."</p> - -<p>"Ask the Treasurer particularly to come? Don't come yourself. -Good-night: God bless you."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - -<p>Caerleon firmly had believed that he knew George Arthur Rose to be -charming—perhaps somewhat incomprehensible, and therefore perhaps -somewhat dangerous. But as for Hadrian—Caerleon felt about him as M. -and Mme. Curie felt when they first put a penny on a piece of radium -and observed the penetrative energy incessantly thrown off from a -source which was both concrete and inexhaustible.</p> - -<p>The Pope's evening party was well attended. Some of the older members -of the Sacred College, who really had suffered from the discomforts -of the Conclave, had left the Vatican. Most of the French absented -themselves, as they had every right to do in view of the informality -of the invitation. The Secretary of State stayed away on a plea of -business. But a mixed motive, in which inquisitiveness was the dominant -ingredient, impelled thirty-two vermilion princes into the Pontiff's -throne-room. The Cardinal-Dean, notwithstanding his age and infirmity, -came with glee. Next to succeeding to the paparchy himself, nothing -suited him better than to have a perfect stranger for a Pope, Who -evidently was about to subvert every single act of Leo's. He said -almost as much to Hadrian, bustling up to the throne and using a stool.</p> - -<p>"We take it very kindly that Your Eminency should come to Us; and -We let you know that We summon Our first consistory to meet on the -thirtieth day of April," said the Pope, in a tone which was a skilful -blend of the World's Ruler's with that of youth to age, of a newcomer -to an old stager.</p> - -<p>Orezzo was pleased. He took the ball of conversation and set it -rolling. "It is a fortunate event, Holiness," he said, "that the Divine -Leo—may His soul rest in a cool place—never carried out His intention -of nominating His successors."</p> - -<p>"Ah!" the Pope responded. "We remember reading about that in an English -newspaper, the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, a few years back. Perhaps Your -Eminency can tell Us what truth there was in the report?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> - -<p>"The facts, Holy Father, were these. Leo so firmly believed that the -policy, which He had seen fit to pursue during His long reign, was -essential to the welfare of the Church, that He wished to be assured of -its continuance; and He would have had each of us to promise Him that, -upon election, we would not depart from His example. Some of us—I name -no names—were unwilling to bind ourselves; and, being unable to secure -unanimous assurance, Leo declared that He would use the plenitude of -the apostolic power and nominate His successors."</p> - -<p>The other cardinals, attracted by these words, drew nearer to the -throne. Some sat on stools: others remained standing: all intently -listened to Orezzo: all intently gazed at Hadrian. The aspect of the -Pontiff did not give satisfaction. It was not listless: it was not -inattentive, for, as a matter of fact, it indicated very vivid ardent -studiose concern, a perfect perception of being "among the Doctors": -but Hadrian seemed to be treating the matter too impersonally, too much -from the view-point of the outsider. He gave no sign whatever that He -was conscious how very nearly this thing touched Himself.</p> - -<p>"He reminds one of a surgeon probing for a bullet in a body which is -not his," said Mundo to Fiamma.</p> - -<p>"And He will find that bullet," the Archbishop of Bologna replied.</p> - -<p>Hadrian (Who could see as far through a brick wall as most men, and a -great deal further than some), was not by any means unconscious of the -situation, and was avidly curious after information. He pursued the -inquiry. Many thought it would have been more delicate to drop it.</p> - -<p>"Yes. That was the gist of the statement in the paper," He continued to -Orezzo. "We remember it well: because We wondered whether or not such a -privilege was included in that 'plenitude of apostolic power.' We could -not find a precedent; and none of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> the authorities whom We consulted -could provide one. Advise Us, Lord Cardinal."</p> - -<p>If Orezzo had not been Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Dean of -the Sacred College, and Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, he would -have grinned. He found the moment unmitigatedly delectable.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, there is a pious opinion, represented (I believe) by the -Cardinal-Penitentiary"—(Serafino-Vagellaio violently flushed)—"to the -effect that the Divine Leo was not in error. Also, there is another -pious opinion, represented (I happen to know) by the rest of the -College, that on this point the said Divine Leo erred as infallibly as -possible."</p> - -<p>This was thin ice indeed.</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency's exposition hath been most sound. The matter is one -for the theologians," said Hadrian, ceasing to lean forward. "But why, -Lord Cardinal, do you call it fortunate that the nomination was not -effected?"</p> - -<p>"Because if it had been effected, we might not have experienced the -pleasure of saluting a Pontiff Who, according to the Cardinal of -Pimlico, is an academic anarchist."</p> - -<p>Hadrian candidly and simply laughed, with a friendly look at -Courtleigh, who did not at all like being the second victim of Orezzo's -caustic tongue.</p> - -<p>"His Eminency has taken that bad habit of labelling people from Us," -He said. "But, although We give due weight to the epithet 'academic,' -We abhor from and cannot away with the term 'anarchist.' Aristocrat -We are not: the mere word Democrat fills Us with repugnance. Such as -it is, Our philosophy is individualistic altruism. But, Eminencies, -is not the labelling of matter which is in a state of flux, humanity -for example, somewhat futile? Even supposing the labelled matter to be -static, do not the very words on the label change their meaning with -the course of time? But deeds remain; and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> motive of a deed is that -by which it must, and will, be judged. Give Us then the benefit of your -holy prayers, Lord Cardinals, that Our motives may be pure, and Our -acts acceptable to Him Who has deigned to Our unworthy hands the awful -office of His Vicegerent here on earth."</p> - -<p>He leaned back in His chair for the moment after this little -out-burst. The sense of His enormous responsibility was upon Him. In -an indefinite shadowy sort of way, it had been in His mind to utter -some such allocution to the cardinals by way of explaining to them His -Own conception of His task: but He had intended to make it more of a -deliberate formal pronouncement. The instant when the words had passed -His lips, however, He perceived that in one sentence He had said all. -He also perceived that the gaiety of the beginning, and the solemnity -of the conclusion, sufficed to give His utterance distinction. He said -no more. There was no doubt but that He had created an impression: -an impression which differed, it is true, according to the temper -of the impressed—but still He had created an impression. Those -Eminencies, who were more formal than vital, assumed that professional -abstraction of demeanour which marks a conference of clergy while one -of their number is "talking shop." Those two or three, who were devout -enthusiasts, blessed themselves and exhibited the white cornea beneath -the iris of their eyes. The majority, (who combined the qualities of -the dignified fine-gentleman-of-the-old-school, with those of the -scholar, the teacher, and the practical Christian) beamed instant -approbation. Their verdict was that the utterance was very correct and -proper. Nothing could be more true.</p> - -<p>The assemblage split-up into groups; and separate conversations were -begun. The Pope sat, still and grave. Orezzo gracefully pleaded his age -and the hour of night: kissed the Apostle's knee; and retired.</p> - -<p>Hadrian beckoned the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria Nuova; and -addressed him in a confidential manner.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We understand that the expenses of Our household pass through the -hands of the Major-domo. Are they paid from some fund particularly -allotted to the purpose?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Most Holy Lord; from——"</p> - -<p>"The details are unimportant. And the expenses of the paparchy in -general?"</p> - -<p>"There are numerous funds, Most Holy Lord, which are administered by -numerous departments under my supervision."</p> - -<p>"And those funds—— Some suffice; and some do not suffice. They vary, -no doubt?"</p> - -<p>"Most Holy Lord, they vary."</p> - -<p>"Is there any particular fund over which We have exclusive control?"</p> - -<p>"The whole revenue, Most Holy Lord, is subject to Your pleasure: but -Peter's Pence belong to the pontiff-regnant personally. They are His -private property—salary—honorarium, I should say."</p> - -<p>"In eight days, Your Eminency will be good enough to let Us know the -annual average of that income, say for the last twenty years."</p> - -<p>"It shall be done, Most Holy Lord."</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile, what money is at Our disposal at this moment?"</p> - -<p>"There has been accumulated a large reserve, the exact amount of which -is known only to the bankers. It is Yours, Most Holy Lord."</p> - -<p>"What approximately is the sum?"</p> - -<p>"In round numbers, Most Holy Lord, it cannot be less than five -millions."</p> - -<p>"Lire?"</p> - -<p>"Pounds sterling, Most Holy Lord."</p> - -<p>Hadrian's eyes sparkled. "Where is it?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> - -<p>"The bulk is in the Bank of England, Most Holy Lord: but there is much -gold in the safe."</p> - -<p>"Which safe?"</p> - -<p>"The safe in the bedroom wall, Most Holy Lord."</p> - -<p>"Where is the key?"</p> - -<p>"The Cardinal-Chamberlain holds all keys, Most Holy Lord."</p> - -<p>"To-morrow Your Eminency will be good enough to cause the safe in the -bedroom-wall to be removed to a similar position in the bedroom which -We have instructed the Major-domo to prepare on the upper storey. And -now please follow the Cardinal-Chamberlain: obtain the key of the safe; -and bring it to Us."</p> - -<p>The Apostolic Treasurer rose; and went out. Hadrian also stood up. The -company, understanding that the reception was ended, made obeisance and -began to move away. The Pope detained Courtleigh.</p> - -<p>"Eminency," He said, "We have many things to say to you: but We will -not detain you now. To-morrow We go to Castel Gandolfo. Come with Us. -A few tired priests are sure of a hospitable welcome there. Yes, come -with Us. Who is that young cardinal by the door?"</p> - -<p>"That is Monsignor Nefski, Holiness,—the Archbishop of Prague."</p> - -<p>"He is marked by some fearful sorrow?"</p> - -<p>"A most fearful sorrow indeed."</p> - -<p>"Once, in a man's rooms at Oxford, a young undergraduate happened to -enter. He had just that deadly pallor, that dense black hair, that -rigidity of feature, that bleached bleak fixity of gaze. When he was -gone, We remarked on his appearance. Our host said that he had been -seeing his best friend drowned. They were on a cliff, somewhere in Your -Eminency's native-land, taking photographs of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> breakers in the height -of a storm. The friend was on the very verge. Suddenly the cliff gave -way; and he fell into the raging sea. He was a magnificent swimmer. -He struggled with the billows for more than half an hour. There was -no help within five miles; and, finally, the breath was battered out -of him. The other perforce had to stand by, and watch it all. It -indelibly marked him. Cardinal Nefski, you say, is marked by a fearful -experience. Lately? Was it as fearful as that?"</p> - -<p>"Ten weeks ago, Holiness; and a much more fearful experience."</p> - -<p>"Eminency, bring him also to Castel Gandolfo. Some of you must attend -the Pope. Let Us have those to whom We can be useful."</p> - -<p>When he was alone, Hadrian examined the safe in the bedroom wall. It -added to His consciousness of His immense potentiality. What a number -of long-planned things He could do now! With its contents, He would -open a current account at the Bank of Italy. With that, and another -at the Bank of England——He acquainted Himself with the tools of -His new trade. Truly, Caerleon did not altogether err in calling Him -an incomprehensible creature. On the one hand, with His principle of -giving He could not even grasp a problem which involved taking: while, -on the other hand, He utterly failed to realize that most people are -averse from giving. As for Himself, He took freely; and, as freely, He -was going to give. As for the Bishop of Caerleon's opinion—it is so -easy and so satisfactory to call a man "an incomprehensible creature," -when one is mentally incapable of comprehending, or unwilling to try to -comprehend, the "creature."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">He</span> spent the first day at Castel Gandolfo in the garden, writing, -enjoying the loveliness of late spring. He produced a score of sheets -of swiftly-scribbled manuscript bristling with emendations. The second -day He summoned Cardinal Courtleigh directly after breakfast; and -addressed him with some formality.</p> - -<p>"We desire to establish relations with Your Eminency, chiefly because -You hold so responsible a position in England, a country dear above -all countries to Us which We design to treat with singular favour. In -pursuance of Our intention, and of Our desire, certain matters must be -defined. If Our words are unpleasing, Your Eminency must take them in -the light of Our said intention and desire."</p> - -<p>The cardinal put on his cardinalitial mask. He was to hear and to note -this rash young man. If anything needed to be said, he was there to say -it.</p> - -<p>"It is Our wish to make England 'a people prepared for The Lord.' -We will attempt it of the whole world; and for this reason We begin -with the race which dominates the world. We find Ourself impeded at -the outset by the present habitude and conduct of English Catholics, -especially of the aboriginal English Catholics."</p> - -<p>At this unexpected fulguration, this feline scratch, the cardinalitial -eyebrows shot upward with a jerk and horizontally came down again. His -Eminency slightly bowed, and attended. The Pope fingered a volume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> of -cuts from English newspapers: selected a cut; and continued,</p> - -<p>"Kindly let Us have your opinion of this statement:—<i>A remarkable -petition has been prepared for presentation to Parliament. The -petitioners are the Roman Catholic laity resident in England; and they -pray Parliament to set up some control over Roman Catholic moneys and -interests. It is pointed out that the total capital invested in the -Roman Catholic clergy in the United Kingdom must amount to nearly -£50,000,000. It is alleged that no account is afforded by the Roman -Catholic bishops of the management or disbursements of such property -and moneys. And the petitioners also call attention to gross injustices -which are of daily occurrence.</i>"</p> - -<p>"That emanated from a priest of my archdiocese, Holiness. It was -a terrible scandal: but we were successful in preventing it from -spreading."</p> - -<p>"Then there was such a petition? At first, We were prepared to ascribe -it to the imagination of one of Sir Notyet Apeer's young men. And -really were there many supporters of the petition?"</p> - -<p>"Unfortunately, yes."</p> - -<p>"Then you have rebellion within the camp. And was there any ground for -these statements?"</p> - -<p>"There was no ground whatever for the insinuation that we habitually -misuse our trusteeship. The man had a grievance. His agitation was -merely a means to compel us to solace him. He trusted, by making -himself unpleasant to us, to make us pleasant to him. So he attacked -our financial arrangements. It was a wicked stroke: for, you know, Holy -Father, that we cannot be expected to account to any Tom-Dick-and-Harry -for bequests and endowments which we administer."</p> - -<p>"Your accounts are properly audited, no doubt?"</p> - -<p>"To a great extent, yes."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But not invariably? You trust much to the honesty and the financial -ability of individual clerks? We do not presume for a moment that there -is any systematic malversation of trust. You have had a lesson on that -subject."</p> - -<p>"Lesson?"</p> - -<p>"Yes: in 1886: after the notorious Carvale Case, when the infatuated -imbecility of the Gaelic and Pictish bishops was shewn to render -them undesirable as trustees, the clergy simply dare not stray into -illegal paths. Oh no. But are the clergy actually capable of financial -administration?"</p> - -<p>"As capable, I suppose, as other men."</p> - -<p>"Priests are not 'as other men.' However, We take it that you all -believe yourselves to have acted conscientiously. We also take it -that, in view of the power and influence which the position of trustee -affords, your clergy eagerly become trustees and are unwilling to -submit to supervision or to criticism. That is quite human. We entirely -disapprove of it."</p> - -<p>"But what would your Holiness have?"</p> - -<p>"We cannot say it in one sentence. You must collect Our mind from -Our conduct as well as from our words. We entirely disapprove of the -clergy competing for or using any secular power or dominance whatever, -especially such power as inheres in the command of money. The clergy -are ministers—ministers—not masters. And as to the other charge—'the -gross injustices which are of daily occurrence'?"</p> - -<p>"That, of course, is simply the scream of an opponent. It is spite."</p> - -<p>"Does Your Eminency mean that there are no injustices? Don't you know -of gross injustices?"</p> - -<p>"'It needs must that offences come.'"</p> - -<p>"'But woe to him by whom the offence cometh.' Eminency, why not -frankly face the predicament?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> The clergy are more than less human; -and they certainly are not even the pick of humanity. Now, don't they -attempt too much in the first instance; and, in the second, don't they -invariably refuse to admit or amend their blunders? Listen to this. -The <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> states, on the authority of the <i>Missiones -Catholicae</i> that, in Australia, during the last five years, we have -increased our numbers from 3,008,399 to 4,507,980. But the government -census taken last year gives the total population of Australia at -4,555,803. That leaves only 47,823 for the other religious and -irreligious bodies. As a matter of fact, the latest Roman Catholic -record is 916,880. Therefore an overstatement of 3,591,100 has been -made. Which is absurd. And perpetuated. Which is damnable."</p> - -<p>"I do not precisely see Your Holiness's point."</p> - -<p>"No? Well, let us go to another." The Pope produced a small green -ticket on which was printed, <i>Church of the Sacred Heart</i>—<i>Quest -Road</i>—<i>Admit Bearer to</i>—<i>Midnight Service</i>—<i>New Year's Eve -1900</i>—<i>Middle Seat 6d.</i> "This comes from Your Eminency's archdiocese," -he said.</p> - -<p>The cardinal looked at the thing, as one looks at the grass of the -field. There it is. One has seen it all before.</p> - -<p>"We disapprove of that," said the Pope.</p> - -<p>"What would Your Holiness suggest then to prevent improper persons from -attending these services?"</p> - -<p>"Improper persons should be encouraged to attend. No obstacle should be -placed in their way."</p> - -<p>The cardinal was irritated. "Then we should have scenes of disorder, to -say nothing of profanation."</p> - -<p>"That is where Your Eminency and all the aboriginals err. Your -opinion is formed upon the apprehensive sentimentality of pious -old-ladies-of-both-sexes whose ideal of Right is the Not-obviously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> -Wrong. When a thing is unpleasant, they go up a turning: wipe their -mouths; and mistake evasion for annihilation. They don't annihilate the -evil: they avoid it. Now, we are here to seek and to save that which -was lost: and our churches must be more free to the lost than to the -saved—if any be saved. Experience proves that your pious fears have no -sure warranty. Wesleyan schismatics have performed Watch-night services -for more than a century. Anglican schismatics have done the same: and, -in later years, they have celebrated their mysteries at midnight on -Christmas Eve. We Ourself have assisted at these functions. The temples -were open and free: and We never saw or heard a sign of the profanation -of which you speak. Sots and harlots undoubtedly were present: but -they were not disorderly: they were cowed, they were sleepy, they were -curious, but they made no noise. Even though they had shouted, it only -would have been in protest against some human ordinance; and a human -ordinance must give way the moment it becomes a barrier between one -soul and that soul's Creator. Supposing means of grace to be obtainable -in a church, who durst deny them to those who chiefly need them? The -position which you clergy take up is an essentially false one. We are -not here to establish conventions, or to enforce conformity. We are -here to serve—only to serve. We especially disapprove of any system -which bars access to the church, or which makes it difficult;—this -admission-fee, for example."</p> - -<p>"Holy Father, the clergy must live."</p> - -<p>"You lead Us to infer that they cannot live without these sixpences?"</p> - -<p>"We are so poor: we have no endowments: the fee is no more than a -pew-rent for a single service——"</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinal, be accurate. You have endowments: not equal to those -of which you are thinking, the 'stolen property' enjoyed by the -Church-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>of-England-as-by-Law-Established: but you have endowments. You -mean that they are meagre. But pew-rents are abominable: so are pews, -for that matter. Abolish them both."</p> - -<p>"I am bound to obey Your Holiness: but I must say that this quixotic -impossible idealism will be the ruin of the Church——"</p> - -<p>"That is impossible: because Her Founder promised to be with Her always -even unto the end of the world."</p> - -<p>"God helps those who help themselves——"</p> - -<p>"But not those who help themselves out of other people's pockets."</p> - -<p>"The workman is worthy of his hire——"</p> - -<p>"Perfectly. But he accepts the wage: he does not dictate it. The -builder of London's new concert-hall in Denambrose Avenue did not let -his masons domineer. He offered work at a certain wage. They took -it, or left it. You confuse the functions of the buyer with those of -the seller, as the clergy always do. Besides, as you seem fond of -Scripture, 'provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses,' -and 'take no thought for the morrow——'"</p> - -<p>"This is simply Tolstoy!"</p> - -<p>"No. We never have read a line of Tolstoy. We studiously avoid doing -so. We give you the commands of Christ Himself as reported by St. -Matthew. Lord Cardinal, you are all wrong——"</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness speaks as though You were not one of us."</p> - -<p>"Oh no! The head looks down at the hands; and says 'Your knuckles and -your nails are dirty.'"</p> - -<p>The cardinal really was angry. Hadrian paused: fixed him with a -taming look: and continued "Is it right or even desirable that the -clergy should engage in trade—actually engage in trade? Look at -your <i>Catholic Directory</i>; and see the advertisement of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> priest -who, with archiepiscopal sanction, is prepared to pay bank interest -on investments, in plain words to borrow money upon usury in direct -contravention of St. Luke's statement of The Lord's words on this -subject. Look at the <i>Catholic Hour</i>; and see the advertisement of a -priest who actually trades as a tobacconist. Look in the precincts of -your churches; and see the tables of the Fenian-literature-sellers and -the seats of them that sell tickets for stage-plays and bazaars where -palmistry is practiced——"</p> - -<p>"I merely interrupt to remind Your Holiness that Your august -predecessor traded as a fisherman."</p> - -<p>"Very neat," the Pope applauded, enjoying the retort: "but not neat -enough. A fisherman's trade is an open-air trade, and a healthy trade, -by the way: but—did Our predecessor St. Peter trade as a fisherman -after He had entered upon the work of the apostolature? We think not. -No, Lord Cardinal, the clergy attempt too much. They might be excellent -priests. As tradesmen, variety-entertainers, entrepreneurs, they are -failures. As a combination, they are catastrophes. These two things -must be kept apart, the clerical and the secular, God and Mammon. -The difference must be emphasized. By attempts at compromise, the -clergy fail in both. As priests, they are mocked: and as for their -penny-farthing peddling——"</p> - -<p>"But Holy Father, do think for one minute. What are the clergy to live -on?"</p> - -<p>"The free-will offerings of the faithful; and one must keep the other."</p> - -<p>"But suppose the faithful do not give free-will offerings?"</p> - -<p>"Then starve and go to Heaven, as Ruskin says. That is what We are -going to do, if possible."</p> - -<p>"How are we to build our churches?"</p> - -<p>"Don't build them, unless you have the means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> freely given. Avoid -beggary. That way you sicken the faithful—you prevent generosity——"</p> - -<p>"How shall we keep up those we have? For example, the cathedral——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, the cathedral,—a futile monument of one vain man's desire for -notoriety. How many lives has it ruined? One, at least, We know. How -many evil passions has it inspired?—the passion for advertisement -by means of the farthing journalist, the critical passion which is -destroying our creative faculty, the passions of envy and covetousness, -the passion of competition, the passion of derision,—for you know -that the world is mocking the ugly veneered pretentious monstrosity -now. Better that it never had been. As it is, and in regard to the -churches which exist, you must do what you can. If the faithful freely -give you enough, then let them stand. If not, you must let them go. -England never will lack altars. In any case, encumber yourselves -with no more unpaid-for buildings. Accept what is given: but ask for -nothing and suggest nothing. Lord Cardinal, the clergy do not act as -though they trusted the Divine Disposer of Events. They mean well: but -their whole aim and object seems to be to serve God by conciliating -Mammon. There is nothing more criminally futile. Instead of winning -England's admiration, you secure Her scornful toleration. Instead of -consolidating the faithful, multitudes have become disaffected, and -multitudes leave you day by day. Instead of improving the clerical -character, (and, by consequence, the character of all who look to -the clergy for example,) the clergy ever more and more assimilate -themselves to the laity. The clergy should cultivate the virtues, not -the vices, of humanity. Not one of us can tell which of our actions -is important or unimportant. By a thoughtless word or deed, we may -lead-astray a brother for whom Christ died. That is what is to be -feared from your worldly clergy. Teach them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> that <i>magna ars</i> which St. -Thomas of Aquino says <i>est conversari Jesu</i>. Teach them to rise above -the world."</p> - -<p>"Surely, Holy Father, they do."</p> - -<p>"Some members of the clergy do, no doubt. We never met them. The tone -of the clergy is distinctly worldly. Here is an illustration from your -own newspaper. The very first thing which <i>The Slab</i> thinks worthy -of note is <i>How Monsignor Cateran signally vindicated his honour and -suitably punished his traducer, the proprietor of 'The Fatherland.' The -terms of the apology which Sir Frederick Smithers has had to publish in -his own journal are set forth as a warning to evil-doers.</i> It is on p. -397. You know the particulars?"</p> - -<p>"I have read them."</p> - -<p>"You cannot approve of the savage triumph of the letter on p. 416, in -which Monsignor Cateran describes his victory: you cannot approve of -the sneer at his enemy who <i>could not be punished by damages—he has no -means to pay</i>, or the gibe at the freemasonry of the libeller, or the -vicious malignant spite of the whole disgraceful document——"</p> - -<p>"But, Holiness, the libel was a dreadful one and grossly unjust."</p> - -<p>"But, Eminency, the accused was bound by his Christianity to suffer -revilings and persecutions and the saying of all manner of evil -falsely. He forgot that. In vindicating himself, he behaved, not as -a minister of God but, as a common human animal. However, besides -the so-called triumphant vindication of Monsignor Cateran, which -<i>The Slab</i> glorifies in three separate columns, this same number -bristles with improprieties. On p. 415, you have Dominican and Jesuit -controversialists calling each other liars, and otherwise politely -hating and abusing one another——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, Jesuits and Dominicans!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Pope put down the paper, and looked. The cardinal collected himself -for a sally in force.</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness will permit me to say that all this is extremely -unusual. I myself was consecrated bishop in 1872, fourteen years before -You were a Christian; and it seems to me that You should give Your -seniors credit for having consciences at least——"</p> - -<p>"Dear Lord Cardinal, if We had seen a sign of the said consciences——"</p> - -<p>The cardinal tottered: but made one more thrust.</p> - -<p>"I am not the only member of the Sacred College who thinks -that Your Holiness's attitude partakes of—shall I say -singularity—and—ha—arrogance."</p> - -<p>"Singularity? Oh, We sincerely hope so. But arrogance—We cannot call -it arrogance to assume that We know more of a particular subject, which -We eagerly have studied from Our childhood, than those do who never -have studied it at all. Eminency, We began by saying that We desired to -establish relations with you. Now, have We shewn you something of Our -frame of mind?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly, Holy Father: You wish me to——"</p> - -<p>"We wish you to act upon the sum of Our words and conduct, in order -that England may have a good and not a bad example from English -Catholics. No more than that. We may call Ourselves Christendom till -We are black in the face: but the true character of a Christendom -is wanting to Us because the great promises of prophecy still lack -fulfilment. The Barque of Peter has been trying to reach harbour. -Muting within, storms without, have driven Her hither and thither. Is -She as far-off from port to-day as ever? Who knows? But the new captain -is trying to set the course again from the old chart. His look is no -longer backward but onward. Lord Cardinal, can the captain count on the -loyal support of his lieutenant?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Holy Father, I assure You that You may count on me." It was an immense -effort: but, when it came to so fine a point, the nature and the pride -of the man gave way to the grace of his Divine Vocation.</p> - -<p>"Well now, only one more blow from the flail, and then We will take up -the crook. Do stop your Catholics from toadying the German Emperor. -Read that. It's perfectly absurd for them to tell him that <i>the whole -Catholic world would be delighted if the protection of Catholics in -the Orient were confided to him</i>. He's an admirable person: but We -are not going to confide the protection of Catholics in the Orient to -him. England is the only power which can manage Orientals. And what -right have these Erse and Gaelic Catholics to speak for 'the whole -Catholic world'? Do neither England nor Italy count? Do make these -pious fat-wits mind their own business—make them understand that -when they tell the Kaiser that <i>they will exert themselves to remove -all misunderstandings between Germany and England</i>—England last, you -note—they would be comical if they were not impertinent and entirely -stupid,—and of course disloyal as usual."</p> - -<p>Hadrian collected His documents and the book of newspaper-cuts: swept -them all into a portfolio; and abruptly changed the subject.</p> - -<p>"Will Your Eminency be good enough to tell Us the circumstances which -led to Our extraordinary election?"</p> - -<p>Barely recovered from his commotion of mind, and posed point-blank like -this, Cardinal Courtfield hesitated and said something about the Acts -of the Conclave. His aboriginally tardy temperament was incapable of -keeping pace with the feline agility of the Pontiff. Hadrian perceived -his difficulty, and intently pursued the inquiry from another footing.</p> - -<p>"We know all about the Acts of the Conclave, which We shall read at -Our leisure. But We want the more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> human light which Your Eminency -can throw upon the subject. Perhaps it will be simpler if We use the -Sokratic method. By what means did Our name, did the mere fact of Our -existence become known to the Sacred College?"</p> - -<p>"By my means, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"We understand that Your Eminency actually proposed us to the Conclave?"</p> - -<p>"That is so."</p> - -<p>"And We infer that you also recommended Us: or at least described Us in -such a way that the cardinals knew whom they were electing?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Why did Your Eminency propose Us?" the Pope purred.</p> - -<p>The cardinal seemed to be at a loss again. He appeared to have a -difficulty in expression, not a lack of material for expression. -Hadrian made a dash for the rudiments.</p> - -<p>"There were other names before the College? Why were none of their -owners chosen?"</p> - -<p>"It was impossible to agree about their merits, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Several attempts, no doubt, were made?"</p> - -<p>"The Ways of Scrutiny and Access were tried seven times."</p> - -<p>"And then?"</p> - -<p>"And then came a deadlock. None of the candidates obtained a -sufficiency of suffrages: and none of the electors were willing to -change their opinion."</p> - -<p>"And then?"</p> - -<p>"The Way of Compromise was tried."</p> - -<p>"And, through Your Eminency's means, the compromissaries were induced -to impose Us on the Sacred College?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Eminency, at the time when the Conclave first was immured, We hardly -can have been in Your mind. It is improbable that you could have -thought of Us then in this connection. At what point did We come into -your calculations?"</p> - -<p>"I ought perhaps to say that Your name had been brought before me some -weeks before the demise of Holiness's predecessor."</p> - -<p>"That would be in connection with the matter of which we treated in -London."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Precisely in what way was Our name brought before Your Eminency?"</p> - -<p>"It was brought before me in a letter from Edward Lancaster—a -perfectly frantic letter accusing himself of all sorts of crimes. Your -Holiness perhaps is aware what a queer person he is, rather inclined to -be scrupulous, and most impulsive."</p> - -<p>"Yes, We know him. We Ourself would have said 'unscrupulous': Your -Eminency uses the word 'scrupulous' in the Catholic sense, whereas We -prefer frank English."</p> - -<p>"I mean that he is given to tormenting himself about fancied sins——"</p> - -<p>"And We mean that as a rule, he does nothing of the kind: but, like a -good many others, is singularly successful in lulling his conscience. -At least, for fifteen years he contrived to do so in this case. -However, he now has made amends; and there is nothing more to be said. -Let us continue. You received a self-accusing letter from Edward -Lancaster. And then?"</p> - -<p>"Not one letter, Holiness: a dozen at least. The injustice, of which -You had been the victim, was on his nerves. He wrote me several -letters; and came to see me several times. He is, as you know, a -person<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> of some importance and a great benefactor to the Church; and so -I was obliged to take the matter up. I promised to investigate the case -myself."</p> - -<p>"Yes. And you did."</p> - -<p>"I instituted an inquisitorial process among some of the persons who -had had to do with Your Holiness; and I am bound to say that their -replies gave me grounds for thought."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"They differed materially as to the details of Your history; and yet -their opinion of You seemed to be fairly unanimous."</p> - -<p>"It was not a desirable opinion."</p> - -<p>"No, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"It would not be. We never were able to arrange to be loved. To be -disagreeable was a sort of habit of Ours. But is Your Eminency able, -from memory, to give Us an idea of these differences in regard to -facts? Opinions do not matter."</p> - -<p>The cardinal pondered for a minute. "Yes, Holiness, I can give you -three examples from Oxford. Fr. Benedict Bart said that he had met You -twice personally: but that he had heard much of You from his friends, -priests as well as laymen. He stated that all that could be done for -You had been done; and that You were—ha—Your Holiness will pardon -me—a very incapable and ungrateful person."</p> - -<p>The Pope gave the little leaden weight of His pallium a swing: and -beamed with delight. The cardinal went on.</p> - -<p>"Fr. Perkins who received You into the Church said 'I'm afraid he's a -genius, poor fellow!'"</p> - -<p>"What rank blasphemy!"</p> - -<p>"Blasphemy, Holiness?"</p> - -<p>"Yes: blasphemy. Almighty God happens to make something a little out of -the common; and, instead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> of praising Him for the privilege of tending -a singular work of His, Fr. Perkins actually bewails the fact! But -continue."</p> - -<p>"I confess I never thought of it in that light before——"</p> - -<p>"No: nor did Fr. Perkins. Continue."</p> - -<p>"I also took the opinion of a certain Dr. Strong who appears to be one -of the superiors of the university."</p> - -<p>"He was senior Public Examiner in Honour Greats, if you know what that -means."</p> - -<p>"Quite so. Well: he said that You had been his intimate and valued -friend for more than twenty years, that You had had no influential -friends to encourage You, and that Your abilities were no less -distinguished than Your moral character."</p> - -<p>The Pope laughed again. "Dr. Strong is an experienced writer of -testimonials."</p> - -<p>"But I should hardly think that a man in his position——"</p> - -<p>"Certainly not. Dr. Strong is one of the two honest men known to -Us. Well: and how did the discrepancy between his statement and Fr. -Benedict's strike you?"</p> - -<p>"It struck me in this way. How did so many worthy priests arrive at -practically the same opinion, (for what Fr. Benedict said, others -said also,) when their knowledge of facts seemed to be so superficial -and so doubtful. I mean, Fr. Benedict and the rest spoke from an -exceedingly casual acquaintance: but Dr. Strong from more than twenty -years' intimacy. However, just when I was pondering these contradictory -statements, Your Holiness's predecessor died; and I was obliged to come -to Rome."</p> - -<p>"Did Your Eminency ever note that very few clergymen are -capable—capable—of forming an unprejudiced proper original -opinion—of judging on the evidence before them and on nothing else."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I have excellent reason to believe that what Your Holiness says is -correct."</p> - -<p>"It is so much easier to echo than to discriminate. Now, if you please, -we will go back to the Compromise. What brought Us again to Your -Eminency's remembrance in the Conclave?"</p> - -<p>"Holy Father, that was most strange. We compromissaries were quite as -unable to agree as the Sacred College had been. And then, at the end -of one of our sessions, I was struck by the extraordinary likeness of -Cardinal della Volta to someone whom I remembered having seen, but -whose name I had forgotten. It was the merest accident: but I came away -wracking my brains about it. Another curious thing happened the same -night. Having some papers to sign, I happened to go to my dispatch-box; -and, quite by accident, I came across Edward Lancaster's letters about -Your Holiness——"</p> - -<p>"We do not call these things 'accidents.'"</p> - -<p>"Nor do I, Holy Father, now. Well: for want of something better to do, -I suppose, I looked over half-a-dozen of the letters: and I determined -to go further into the matter on my return to England. But, early the -very next morning, it suddenly flashed across my mind that I myself had -seen Your Holiness——"</p> - -<p>"In 1894."</p> - -<p>"Ah yes, in 1894; and that Cardinal della Volta was Your Holiness's -Double. This sent me back to the letters again; and I became more and -more convinced that an immense and almost irreparable wrong had been -done. I cannot tell You how strongly I felt that, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"But what made you—well, practically impose Us on the compromissaries?"</p> - -<p>"That I cannot say: although in my own mind there is very little doubt -but that——However,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> these are the facts. I was so full of the case, -that I narrated it at our morning conference as an instance of the -fallibility of what—I think it was Your Holiness Who gave it the -name—yes, it was,—as an instance of the fallibility of the Machine. I -shall never forget the effect of my words upon Cardinal Mundo. It was -most extraordinary. He said—I shall remember what he said as long as -I live—he said 'My Lord Cardinal, you owe it to that man to propose -him for the paparchy; yes you owe it!' He rather upset me. I replied -that Your Holiness was not even in sacred orders. He answered 'Whose -fault is that?' I may say that the point was a very keen one. No one -could fail to perceive its relevancy. To use a vulgar expression, it -touched the thing with a needle. The others did not help me at all; and -I considered the matter for a few minutes. Mundo went on, 'If that man -had a real Vocation, he will have persevered: if he has persevered, the -twenty years or more of waiting will have purified——'"</p> - -<p>"Pray do not quote Cardinal Mundo."</p> - -<p>"Well, in short, I was irresistibly moved to propose Your Holiness——"</p> - -<p>"And then, because no other candidate was forthcoming: because—We -understand. You came to Us, found Us persistent——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Well: shall we take a little stroll in the garden, and say some -Office?"</p> - -<p>Cardinal Courtleigh jumped. "I'm sure—if Your Holiness doesn't mind -walking by the side of my bath-chair——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, but We do. It is Our invariable custom to walk behind bath-chairs -and push them."</p> - -<p>"Indeed I could not for one moment permit——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No: but for an hour you will submit. Nonsense man, do you suppose that -one never has pushed a bath-chair before! Now sit-down quietly and open -your breviary and read the Office; and We will look over your shoulder -and make the responses. It's awfully good exercise, you know."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">After</span> his morning's exertions in the way of taming and domesticating -a prince of the church, Hadrian was conscious that He required a -change of emotions. His thoughts went to the next thing on His -list—the matter of Cardinal Nefski. That would be an exceedingly -interesting experience. He did not want to intrude upon grief: but -He was attracted by all singular phenomena; and the pathos of the -pale young prelate seemed to be quite exemplary. Once in His secular -life, George Arthur Rose had been taken by a doctor to see a man who -had severed his throat in an unusual manner, using a broken pen-knife -and cutting a jagged triangle, of which the apex missed the larynx, -and the base the sterno-kleido-mastoid, avoiding by a hair's breadth -carotid and jugular. The doctor wanted a diagram of the wound made for -the enlightenment of the jury which was to pronounce upon attempted -suicide; and George had made the sketch from the staring speechless -life, noted the furniture of the room and the aspect of his model, -quite untouched by the man's sensations or the horror of the event. -Hadrian approached Cardinal Nefski with similar feelings. He was -curious, He was psychically apart: but, at the same time, something of -subconscious sympathy in His manner elicited the desired revelation. -It was a ghastly one. Nefski, Cardinal Archbishop, had rushed to a -little city in Russian Poland, occupied by anarchists, for the purpose -of pleading with them. He arrived at sunset. There was a college there -where a hundred and twenty lads of noble birth were being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> educated: -among them, his own youngest brother, just seventeen years old. The -cardinal was seized and crucified with ropes to the fountain in the -market-square. Anarchists burst into the college: stripped its inmates -naked; and flung them into the street before his eyes. He absolved -each one dashed from the lofty windows. Some instantly were smashed -and killed: others, who fell on others, were broken and shattered, but -not killed outright. All night long, Nefski remained crucified. The -anarchists must have forgotten him: for they left him; and at dawn -some one, whom he did not know, came and cut him down. He remembered -nothing more, until he found himself paralyzed, in a waggon with two -priests, en route for Prague. Then he came on to Rome, hoping to lose -the phantasm which continually occupied his sight and hearing—the -heap in the dark night, the growing groaning heap on red stones of -white young bodies and writhing limbs like maggots in cheese, the pale -forms strained and curved, the flying hair, the fixed eyes, continually -falling, the cut-off shrieks, the thudding bounding ooze of that -falling, the interminable white writhing. It was a ghastly tale, quite -unimpassionately told. The young man still was in that stupor which -benignant Nature sends by the side of extreme pain. His paralysis was -passing away. He could walk easily now—only he saw and heard. He spoke -affectionately of his murdered brother: but he did not mourn for him.</p> - -<p>Hadrian was moved. He put all the human kindness which he had, and it -was not much, into His voice and manner. He really tried to comfort the -cardinal. He quoted the splendid verses of the herald in the <i>Seven -against Thebes</i>,</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">"being pure in respect to the sacred rites of his country,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">"blameless hath he fallen, where 'tis glorious for the young to fall."</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Nefski seemed grateful. The Pontiff offered to remove him from Prague; -and to attach him to the Court of Rome: but he preferred to return -to his archbishopric<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> for the present, at least, he said, until this -tyranny be overpast. And, anon, he asked permission to retire. The -sunlight dazzled him.</p> - -<p>During the rest of the time at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope seldom was -seen. A boatman rowed Him out on Lake Albano for an hour or two in -the afternoon, while He occupied Himself in pencilling corrections on -manuscript. But the white figure, set in the blaze of the sunny blue -water, did not escape the notice of passers-by on the high road near -the Riformati; and, finding Himself under observation, He returned to -the seclusion of the garden. His memory flew back to the time when -people used to jeer at Him for His habit of writing letters, letters -which explained a great deal too much, to blind men who could not see, -to deaf adders who would not hear. He chuckled at the thought that -those same people would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, every -word and every dotted <i>i</i> of His letters now—letters which were not -going to be painfully voluminously conscientiously persuasive any more: -but dictatorial. He wrote sheet after sheet; and emended them: He -returned to His room and burned all the rejected preliminaries; and He -took a fair copy with Him to Rome on the night of the twenty-eighth of -April.</p> - -<p>Early on the morning of the thirtieth, at a secret audience in the new -throne-room, Caerleon introduced five rather startled very dishevelled -and travel-stained priests, five priests who had undergone a mental -shock. Mr. Semphill, with a white close-cropped head and the face of -a clean pink school-boy, contrived to remind himself that he was in -the presence of the most amusing man he ever had met. He bucked-up; -and made his obeisance with an aplomb which was a combination of -the Service, Teddy Hall, an Anglican curacy and a Pictish rectory. -Mr. Sterling, a stalwart brown schoolmaster, very handsome except -for a mole on his nose, hid his feelings in calm inscrutability. -Mr. Whitehead, a level-headed common-sense Saxon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> golden-hearted, -who never had had any wild oats for sowing, observed reticence in -a matter which was beyond his comprehension. Mr. Leighton, plump, -clean, curly-haired, blinked genially and waited. Mr. Carvale, a lithe -intense little Gael, with the black hair and rose-white skin and the -delicate lips and self-contained mien of a dreamer, looked upon his -old college-acquaintance with clear eyes of burning blue. Some of the -five had the remembrance of sins of omission at the back of their -minds. None remembered sins of commission. All were wondering what was -required of them,—what the devil it all meant, as Semphill secularly -put it. If any of them expected allusion to the past, they must have -been disappointed. Hadrian gave them no sign of recognition. It was the -Supreme Pontiff Who very apostolically received them and addressed them.</p> - -<p>"Reverend Sirs, Our will is to have such assistance in the work of Our -Apostolature as the organs of sense can render to the mind, or as the -experimentalist can render to the theorist. For reasons known unto -Ourself, We have selected you. Believing you to be single-hearted in -this one thing, namely the service of God, We call upon you to devote -yourselves actually to the service of His Vicegerent. To this end, We -would attach you to Our Person in a singular and intimate connection, -by raising you to the cardinal-diaconate. Those of you who believe -yourselves unable to do God-service better in this than in your present -capacity, can depart without forfeiting Our good-will. The conscience -of each man is his own sole true light. Far be it from Us to interfere -with any man's prerogative as his own director in so grave a matter."</p> - -<p>The five remained standing, saying nothing. Semphill was -sincerely delighted: the literary quality, the tops-i'-th'-turfy -straightforwardness of the allocution gave him the keenest joy. The -others felt obedience to be their plain duty: for George Arthur Rose -never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> had been wantonly fantastic, there always had been a fundamental -element of reason about his eccentricities, he never had revolved at -random but always round some deliberately fixed point. And, to plain -priests, the voice of the Successor of St. Peter was a call, to be -answered, and obeyed.</p> - -<p>The Pope addressed Semphill. "Your Reverency quite legitimately hoped -to end your days at St. Gowff's?"</p> - -<p>"True—(hum!)—Holiness: but I may be translated elsewhere by a -telegraph's notice from my diocesan."</p> - -<p>"You are not yet a missionary-rector?"</p> - -<p>"Merely a poor master-of-arts of Oxford."</p> - -<p>"But you have been at St. Gowff's as long as We can remember."</p> - -<p>Mr. Semphill choked a chuckle. "Having a little patrimony, Holiness, I -made my will in favour of the archdiocese of St. Gowff's and Agneda; -and I did not omit to mention the fact to my archbishop. I happened -also to say that, in the event of my being moved from St. Gowff's, -I should be compelled to make another will: but of course I did not -contemplate being moved as far as Rome."</p> - -<p>Hadrian turned to Mr. Sterling. "The last words, which We said to Your -Reverency, were that you had cause to be ashamed of yourself."</p> - -<p>"One had cause, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"To you, Our invitation is a means of repairing a single small defect -in a praiseworthy career."</p> - -<p>"It shall be repaired, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>To the others the Pope said nothing: for He saw their clean souls.</p> - -<p>In the Sacred Consistory, the Supreme Pontiff dictated to consistorial -advocates a pontifical act, denouncing the Lord Francis Talacryn, -Bishop of Caer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>leon, as Cardinal-presbyter of the Title of the Four -Holy Crowned Ones:—the Lord George Semphill as Cardinal-deacon of -St. Mary-in-Broad Street:—the Lord James Sterling as Cardinal-deacon -of St. Nicholas-in-the-Jail-of-Tully:—the Lord George Leighton as -Cardinal-deacon of The Holy Angel-in-the-Fish-Market:—the Lord Gerald -Whitehead as Cardinal-deacon of St. George-of-the-Golden-Sail:—the -Lord Robert Carvale as Cardinal-deacon of St. Cosmas and St. Damian. -Then the six were brought in, and sworn of the College: their heads -were hatted, their fingers ringed with sapphires, their mouths were -closed and opened by the Pope; and they retired in ermine and vermilion.</p> - -<p>What their emotions were, need not be inquired. Indeed, they had little -time for emotion, seeing that during the rest of the day they sat in -the secret chamber, writing writing writing from Hadrian's dictation. -In the evening, Whitehead and Carvale put on their old cassocks and -posted a carriage-full of letters at San Silvestro. These all were -sealed with the Fisherman's Ring; and, as they were addressed to kings, -emperors, prime-ministers, editors of newspapers, and heads of various -religious denominations, it was considered undesirable to trouble -Prince Minimo, the pontifical post-master, with material for gossip. -Meanwhile Hadrian and Cardinal Semphill sat in the Vatican marconigraph -office alone with the operators; and the Pope dictated, while the -experts' fingers expressed His words in dots and dashes in London and -New York. By consequence, what His Holiness called 'the five decent -newspapers' came out on the first of May with an apostolic epistle, a -pontifical bull, and editorial leaders thereupon.</p> - -<p>The world found the <i>Epistle to All Christians</i> very piquant, not on -account of novelty, but because of the nude vivid candour with which -old and trite truths were enunciated dogmatically. Christianity, the -Pope proclaimed, was a great deal more than a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> mere ritual service. -It extended to every part of human life; and its rules must regulate -Christians in all matters of principle and practice. He laid great -stress on the assertion of the principle of the Personal Responsibility -of the Individual. It was quite unavoidable, quite incapable of being -shifted on to societies or servants. Each soul would have to render -its own account to its Creator. In connection with the last doctrine, -He denounced as damnable nonsense the fashionable heresy which is -crystallized in the Quatrains of Edward Fitzgerald,</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"O Thou, Who didst with pitfall and with gin</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"Beset the road I was to wander in,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"Thou wilt not, with predestined evil, round</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"Enmesh; and then impute my fall to sin.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"O Thou, Who man of baser earth didst make;</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"And, e'en with paradise, devise the snake;—</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"For all the sin, wherewith the face of man</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"Is blackened, man's forgiveness give,—and take!"</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<p>He described those lines as the whine of a whimpering coward: -pertinently inquiring whether a human father would be blameable, who, -having taught his boy to swim, should fling him into the sea that he -might have the merit of fighting his own way to shore where the rope -was ready at hand? He condemned all attempts at uniformity as unnatural -crimes, because they insulted the Divine intelligence Which had deigned -to differentiate His creatures. He declared that God's servants were to -be known by their broad minds, generous hearts, and staunch wills.</p> - -<p>"The Church of God is not narrow, nor 'Liberal,' but Catholic with room -for all: for 'there are diversities of gifts.'"</p> - -<p>It was the individual soul which must be saved; and it was that which -was addressed in the Evangel. He considered the immense strength of the -single verse,</p> - -<p>"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Hence He would -have no barrier erected between Christians of the Roman Obedience and -Christians of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> other denominations. The following passage, containing -His Own idea of His relation to other men, attracted much attention:—</p> - -<p>"It is in no man's power to believe what he list. No man is to be -blamed for reasoning in support of his own religion: for he only is -accountable. 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold'; and -these deserve more care and love, but not cheap pity, nor insulting -patronage, nor irritated persecution: for if, as has been said, a man -shall follow Christ's Law, and shall believe His Words according to his -conscientious sense of their meaning, he will be a member of Christ's -Flock although he be not within the Fold. And, though We know that -he understands Christ's Words amiss, yet that is no reason for Our -claiming any kind of superiority over an honest man, the purpose of -whose heart and mind is to obey and to be guided by Christ. Such an one -is a Christian and Our good brother, a servant of God; and, if he will -have Us, We, by virtue of Our Apostolature, are his servant also."</p> - -<p>The conclusion of the <i>Epistle</i> contained a very striking admonition -addressed to members of His Own communion, to the effect that the -being Christian did not confer any title to physical or external -dominion, but rather the contrary. Perhaps the peroration is worthy of -quotation:—</p> - -<p>"Persuade, if ye can persuade, and if the world will permit you to -persuade: but seek not to persuade. Better to live so that men will -convince themselves through the contemplation of your ensample. That -way only satisfaction lies. Accept, but claim not, obedience. Seek -not suffering, nor avoid it: but, when it is deigned to you, most -stringently conceal it and tolerate it with jubilation, remembering -the words of Plato where it is written 'Help cometh through pain and -suffering, nor can we be freed from our iniquity by any other means!' -Scorn not the trite. Scorn no brother-man. Scorn no thing. Yet, if ye -(being men) must scorn, then scorn the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> enemies of God and the King, -which be the Devil and Dishonour and Death."</p> - -<p>An even greater sensation, than that caused by the <i>Epistle to All -Christians</i>, attended the simultaneous publication of the Bull <i>Regnum -Meum</i>. It personally was addressed to the very last person in all the -world by whom, under ordinary circumstances, a communication from the -Vatican might have been expected. Hadrian VII., Bishop, Servant of -the servants of God, sent Greeting and Apostolic Benediction to His -Well-beloved Son—the Majesty of Victor Emanuel III., King of Italy. -"My Kingdom is not of this world" was the text of the Bull, which -the Pope began with an unwavering defence of the Divine Revelation, -the Church, Peter, and the Power of the Keys. So far, He spoke as -a theologian. Then, with lightning swiftness, He assumed the rôle -of the historian. His theme was the Forged Decretals or Donation -of Constantine, which first were promulgated in a breve which His -Holiness's predecessor, Hadrian I., addressed to His Majesty's -predecessor (in a certain sense), the Emperor Charlemagne. He recited -the well-known facts that these Decretals, though undoubtedly forged, -had been forged merely as the intellectual pastime of an exiled -archbishop's idle hours, and with no nefarious intent whatever. -He shewed how that, during four centuries, no doubt as to their -authenticity had been entertained; and how that three more centuries -had elapsed before evidence had been collected sufficing to justify -their being thrown overboard from the Barque of Peter to lighten the -ship. Then, He continued, the Pope was the sovereign of a patrimony -of which He held no title-deeds. A right more inexpugnable than -prescriptive right was deemed desirable; and Alexander VI. and Julius -II. bound the Patrimony to Peter by military conquest. So it remained -until the unification of Italy under the House of Savoy, when those -territories, formerly known as the States of the Church, were absorbed -by the new kingdom. Thus far Hadrian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> pursued the argument; and then -turned to a disquisition on the worldly rights of Christians, the -purport of which perhaps most luminously is expressed in the following -sentences:—</p> - -<p>"We use worldly things till they are wanted by the world: then we will -relinquish them without even so much as a backward thought. For we all -are clearly marked to get that which we give. Nothing is irrevocable on -this orb of earth. Nothing is final: for, after this world is the world -to come. Therefore, let us move, let us gladly move, move with the -times, really move. God always is merciful."</p> - -<p>Hence, as Supreme Pontiff, Hadrian would practise the principle of -renunciation. He would renounce everything which another would take, -because "My Kingdom is not of this world." And, first of all, in order -to remove a bone of contention, He made a formal and unconditional -renunciation of the claim to temporal sovereignty and of the civil-list -provided by the Law of Guarantees. At the same time, He would not be -understood as casting any slight upon His predecessors Who had followed -other counsels:—</p> - -<p>"They were responsible to God: They knew it: He and They were the -judges of Their acts. We, on Our part, in Our turn, act as We deem -best. We know Our responsibility and shrink not. We are God's -Vicegerent; and this is Our will. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's by the -Vatican, on this ninth day of Our Supreme Pontificate."</p> - -<p>The formal publication of the <i>Epistle</i> and the <i>Bull</i> occurred in the -second consistory which met at the abnormal hour of 6 a.m. on May-day. -Hadrian read the two documents in that distinct minor monotone of -His which was so intensely and yet so impersonally magisterial. By -itself the tone was aggravating. The matter also was exasperating; and -the pontifical manner added exacerbation. He seemed to be expecting -opposition. That came from Ragna. If the Pope no longer was a -sovereign, where did the Secretary of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> State come in? Was he dismissed? -Oh dear no, he certainly was not dismissed: only, instead of playing at -statesmanship in regard to states over which he had no control at all, -and which were really rather commodiously managed by the secular power, -he was requested to turn his attention to the increase of business -which inevitably now would come into his department.</p> - -<p>"The world is sick for the Church," said Hadrian; "but She never would -confess it as long as the Church posed as Her rival."</p> - -<p>Nevertheless the thing was a blow, a blow that was heavy and strong. -Half the College put on an indifferent non-committal air: the other -half roared anathemas and execrations. And Ragna howled,</p> - -<p>"Judas, Judas, this shall not be!"</p> - -<p>In a lull, Hadrian coldly mewed "It is; and it shall be."</p> - -<p>He flung down the steps of the throne a bundle of advance-copies of the -Roman morning journals. Vermilion faces stooped to them. There were -the <i>Epistle</i> and the <i>Bull</i> in the vernacular. Serafino-Vagellaio -pounced-upon an announcement in <i>Il Popolo Romano</i> to the effect that</p> - -<blockquote> -<p>enabled to present to our readers these authentic and momentous acts -simultaneously with the <i>Times</i>, the <i>Morning Post</i>, the <i>Globe</i>, the -<i>St. James's Gazette</i>, and the <i>New York Times</i>, the splendid journals -of the magnanimous English, to which race (the sempiternal friend of -Italy) we owe so grand and so enlightened a pontiff."</p> -</blockquote> - -<p>Undoubtedly the thing was done: for the world knew it; and, knowing it, -would not let it be undone. There was no cardinal, however infuriated, -who was not sufficiently serpentine to recognise the columbine as -the attitude most appropriate to the circumstances. The first mad -idea which had seized the rebellious ones, the idea of suppressing -the pontifical decrees by physical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> force, was laid aside. There no -doubt were other means of nullifying them later. And Their Eminencies -dispersed to say their masses with an air which made the Pope feel like -a very naughty tiresome little boy indeed, said Hadrian to Cardinal -Leighton.</p> - -<p>The question of Edward Lancaster worried Hadrian considerably: for -the simple reason that, while He did not want to tire Himself by a -renewal of relations with this individual, decency demanded something. -He discussed the position with Courtfield and Talacryn, neither of -whom were able to appreciate His difficulty. Thrown back upon His Own -resources, He made a cigarette very carefully, a long fat one with the -tobacco tucked into the paper cylinder with a pencil, and with neatly -twisted ends, resembling a small white sausage; and smoked it through. -Then He wrote a letter, telling Lancaster that his offering had been -accepted and applied, assuring him of the pontifical good-will and of -a pleasant reception in case he should feel bound to present himself -in Rome, and conferring Apostolic Benediction and a plenary indulgence -at the hour of death. This, He enclosed in a gold snuff-box with a -device of diamonds on the lid, which the recipient might put upon his -mantel-piece with other curious monstrosities.</p> - -<p>Orezzo and Ragna appeared to have exchanged ethics: for, whereas the -latter had been a pontifical right hand while Orezzo had shut-up -himself in the Chancery, now it was Orezzo who watched the Pope -while Ragna kept aloof in vermilion sulks. It was not that his -occupation was gone: but he wished to emphasize (by withdrawing it) -his indispensability. As for the others, they wonderfully retired -into their shells. Hadrian kept his new creatures in fairly close -attendance; and the nine Compromissaries always were ready to make -themselves agreeable when they were in Rome. The Pope wished and tried -to be on friendly terms with them; and failed, as He always failed. He -could not shew Himself friendly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> - -<p>Crowds of English visitors appeared; and would have been distracting. -They dotted themselves about the Ducal Hall and Hadrian walked among -them. At one of these receptions, the pontifical glance lighted, on -entering, on a dark gaunt Titan seamed with concealed pain, who was -accompanied by a quiet fastidious English lady (wife and mother), and -three children, two glorious girls and a proud shy English boy. They -were a typical group, typical of all that is best,—trial, culture, -moderate success, and English quality. Hadrian at once shook hands with -them.</p> - -<p>"Please wait till the others are gone," He said; and passed on to -a cocky little gentleman with a pink eye, and a plump bare-faced -party who tried to stand easily in the cross-legged pose of the male -photograph of 1864. These sank to their knees, but stood up again at a -word.</p> - -<p>"Well, Holy Father, who would have thought," etcetera, from the first; -and "Oh, I'm sure I shall never dare to call Your Holiness 'Boffin' -again" from the second.</p> - -<p>"Yes you do," replied Hadrian; and gave them a blessing, to which the -plump one nervously responded,</p> - -<p>"Quite so, I'm sure, as it were!"</p> - -<p>Another couple kneeled, a weird brief-bodied man in a pince-nez and a -small suppressed woman with beautiful short-sighted eyes. They were -raised; and the man would chatter like a hail-storm, wittily and with -Gallic gesticulation, and quite insincerely. They were blessed; and the -Pontiff went-on (with some elevation of gait) to the others.</p> - -<p>When the audience was over a slim gentleman in scarlet, with the -delicate pensive beauty of a St. John the Divine by Gian Bellini, -conducted the English family to the apostolic antechamber. Here Hadrian -offered them some fruit and wine; and shewed them the view from the -windows.</p> - -<p>"Now perhaps Mrs. Strong would like to see the garden," He presently -said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was a very happy thought. His Holiness carried His little yellow -cat, and they all went down together; and strolled about the woods -and the box-alleys and the vineyards. They picked the flowers; and -the children picked the fruit. They admired the peacocks: and rested -on white marble hemicycles in the sun-flecked shade of cypresses; and -they talked of this, that, and the other, as well as these and those. A -chamberlain came through the trees, and delivered a small veiled salver -to the gentleman who followed the pontifical party at fifty paces. At -the moment of departure he came near. The salver contained five little -crosses of gold and chrysoberyls set in diamonds. Three were elaborate -and two severely plain. Hadrian presented them to His guests.</p> - -<p>"You will accept a memorial of this happy day; and of course" (with -that rare dear smile of His) "you will not expect the Pope to give you -anything but popery. Good-bye, dear friends, good-bye."</p> - -<p>"How He has improved!" said the dark girl, as they went out.</p> - -<p>"O mother, and did you see the buckles on His shoes!" said the fair one.</p> - -<p>"I call Him a topper," said the boy.</p> - -<p>"He isn't a bit changed," said the wife to the silent husband.</p> - -<p>"I think that He has found His proper niche at last," the great man -answered.</p> - -<p>Percy Van Kristen arrived; and was brought into the secret chamber. -Though only a little over thirty, he looked as old as Hadrian. The -glowing freshness of his olive-skin had faded: but his superb eyes were -as brightly expectant and his small round head as cleanly black as -ever. He looked tired, but wholesome; and he was immaculately groomed. -The Pope said a few words of greeting and of remembrance; and asked -him to speak of himself. Van Kristen was shy: but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> not unwilling. -Leading questions elicited that he was one of that pitiable class of -men for whom the gods have provided everything but a career. Majority -had brought him three-quarters of a million sterling. There was no -necessity for him to go into commerce. Politics were impossible for -respectable persons. He was too old for the services. The fact was, -he had not the natural energy which would have hewn out a career—a -career in the worldly sense—for himself; and by consequence, the -world had shoved him aside on to the shelf of objects whose functions -are purely decorative. His mode of life was that of a man of fashion, -simple, exquisite. Perhaps he read a great deal; and, of course, his -home took up most of his time—but that was a secret. Hadrian deftly -extracted from him that he had founded and was maintaining a home for -a hundred boys of his city, where he provided a complete training in -electrical engineering and a fair start in life. His splendid eyes -glittered as he spoke of this. It seemed that he had kept his own -world in entire ignorance of his ardent effort to be useful; and one -naturally enjoys talking of one's own affairs when the proper listener -at last is encountered. No: he never had felt inclined to marry and -rear a family of his own. He did not think that that sort of thing was -much in his line. Yes: after leaving Oxford, he had had some thoughts -of the priesthood. But Archbishop Corrie had laughed him out of that. -He was not clever enough for the priesthood. That was the real truth, -in his private opinion. Oh yes, he would like it very well,—as much -as anything: but really he hardly felt himself equal to it. He didn't -want to seem to push himself forward in any way. Yes: the Dynam House -could get on quite well without him. They were fortunate in having a -capable manager whom every one liked; and his own share didn't amount -to much more than playing fives with the boys, and paying the bills, -and finding out and getting all the latest dodges. If he could run over -and look round the place, say twice a year, say two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> months in the -year, he was quite willing to take up his abode with Hadrian, if His -Holiness really wanted him. As a cardinal-deacon? Oh, that would be a -daisy! But—sorry: he never did understand chaff. Hadrian was serious. -Van Kristen's grand virginal eyes attentively considered the Pontiff. -Then, with that strangely courtly gracious manner which was his natural -gift, (and due to the perfect proportion of his skeleton), contrasting -so weirdly with the normal nasality of his speech, he said</p> - -<p>"Wal: I expect I won't be much good to You: but You're the master; and, -if You really want me, I guess I'll have a try."</p> - -<p>And he went straight into retreat at the Passionists' on the Celian -Hill.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VII</p> - - -<p>"<span class="smcap">The</span> key to all your difficulties, present and to come, is Love." -Hadrian was at His old self-analytical games again; and the aphorism, -which He had gleaned in the most memorable confession of His lifetime, -suddenly came back to Him. He went over a lot of things once more. He -was convinced that, so far, He did not even know what Love was. People -seemed to like Him. Up to a point there were certain people whom He -liked. But, Love—— He admitted to Himself that men mostly were quite -unknown to Him. Perhaps that was His fault. Perhaps He could not get -near enough to them to love them simply because He did not admit them -to sufficient intimacy—did not study them closely enough. That was a -fault which could be mended. He summoned His fifteen cardinals to spend -an hour with Him in the Vineyard of Leo. The day was a glorious Roman -day of opening summer. The Pope desired to use Their Eminencies for -the discussion of affairs, to sharpen His wits against theirs, to pick -their brains in order to assist in the formation of His Own opinions.</p> - -<p>Gentilotto gently remarked that, if His Holiness would state a case, -they would do their best to help Him. He designated the renunciation of -the temporal power; and struck them dumb. Of course, in most of their -own minds, they disapproved of it. It had shocked them. One and all of -them had been brought up in the fatuous notion that the success of the -Church was to be gauged by the extent of Her temporalities. An idea of -that species, especially when it is inherited, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> not dug-up by the -roots and tossed-out in a moment, even by a Pontifical Bull. Hadrian -understood that His supporters (as well as His opponents) disliked that -audacity of His.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, we don't presume to condemn it: but we don't praise it. Yet -You must have had reasons?" Fiamma at length said.</p> - -<p>The Pope had not His reasons ready on the surface: they were -fundamental. And the temper of Him used to lead Him to disguise the -sacrosanct with a veil of frivolity: that is to say, when His arcana -seemed likely to be violated, He was wont to divert attention by some -gay paradox or witticism. A little roguish glimmer lit His thin lips; -and a suspicion of a merry little twinkle came in the corners of His -half-shut eyes.</p> - -<p>"Once upon a time We used to know a certain writer of amatory novels. -The sentimental balderdash, which he put into the mouths of his -marionettes (he only had one set of them), influenced Us greatly. He -had a living to get. He thought He could get it by recommending the -Temporal Power. He was a very clever worldly Catholic indeed: but the -arguments, which he produced in so vital a matter as the earning of -his living, were so sterile and so curatical, that We summed up the -Temporal Power as negligible. Then there was the disgracefully spiteful -tone of the Catholic newspapers—gloating over the misfortunes of -hard-working well-meaning people, prophesying revolution and national -bankruptcy for this dear Italy, and so on. Well: Our sympathy naturally -went, not to the malignant but, to the maligned. Oh yes, We had -reasons."</p> - -<p>"That is enough. One's hands obey one's head," said Sterling.</p> - -<p>"For my part, I think that if the temporal Power is worth having it -is worth fighting-for. Lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> Ralph Kerrison, who's a British general, -once told me that, if the Pope cares to call-upon Catholics throughout -the world and order military operations, he is quite ready to throw-up -his commission to-morrow and enlist in the pontifical army," Semphill -asserted.</p> - -<p>"No?" Mundo with big eyes inquired.</p> - -<p>"Fact: I assure you," Semphill asservated.</p> - -<p>"But is it worth fighting-for?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Holy Father, the possession would confer a certain status," -put in Saviolli.</p> - -<p>The Pope smiled. "'Certain'—and 'status'? Oh really!"</p> - -<p>Talacryn was annoyed. He considered the query too sarcastic.</p> - -<p>"His Holiness perhaps leans upon the theory that the Church never was -more powerful than She is now," della Volta ventured.</p> - -<p>"I calculate that's fact, not theory!" exclaimed Grace.</p> - -<p>"Well then?"</p> - -<p>"I see. In these thirty-odd years without the Temporal Power, the -Church has increased in power. It might be argued on that that Temporal -Power is not essential."</p> - -<p>"Prosecute that argument, and——"</p> - -<p>"Has anyone a theory as to what precisely is the chief obstacle in Our -way here in Italy?" the Pope interpolated.</p> - -<p>"The secret societies."</p> - -<p>"Atheism."</p> - -<p>"Poverty."</p> - -<p>"Socialism."</p> - -<p>"Corrupt politicians."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> - -<p>"What do we new comers know of Italy?" asked Whitehead of Leighton, who -had made the last remark.</p> - -<p>"The newspapers say——"</p> - -<p>"The newspapers!" Carvale ejaculated. "Don't we know how the newspapers -are written? Has no one of us ever contributed a paragraph? Well -then——"</p> - -<p>"Please view the question from this stand-point. On the one side, you -have the Paparchy and the Kingdom, Church and State, Soul and Body. On -the other, you have the enemies of those. What is necessary?"</p> - -<p>"The destruction of the enemies."</p> - -<p>"Or the conversion of them into friends. But how?"</p> - -<p>"How shall two walk together unless they be agreed?" the Pope inquired.</p> - -<p>"The Paparchy and the Kingdom are not agreed," said Courtleigh.</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness means that they should be agreed: that they should unite -forces?" Ferraio asked.</p> - -<p>"It is Our will and Our hope to be reconciled with the King of Italy."</p> - -<p>"But is His Majesty willing?"</p> - -<p>"We know not: but We have shewn that We will not block the way."</p> - -<p>"Certainly the Pope and the King together would have almost unbounded -influence for good," Ferraio reflected.</p> - -<p>"Then Your Holiness does not think the Temporal Power to be worth -fighting-for?" Sterling concluded.</p> - -<p>Hadrian's eyes no longer were half-shut. "No," He answered. "Try, -Venerable Fathers, to believe that the time has come for stripping. -We have added and added; and yet we have not converted the world. Ask -yourselves whether we really are as successful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> as we ought to be: -or whether, on the whole, we really are not abject and lamentable -failures. If we are the latter, then let us try the other road, the -road of simplicity, of apostolic simplicity. At least let us try. It's -an idea; and for Our Own part We are glad to have a chance of realizing -it, the idea of simplicity, going to the root of the matter."</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness is not afraid of going too far?" inquired Talacryn.</p> - -<p>"William Blake says that truth lies in extremes. To the humdrum -champion of the so-called golden mean, (which generally is a great deal -more mean than golden), that maxim is nothing less than scandalous. All -the same, it is as sound as a bell, Eminency, and nowhere does it ring -more soundly than in the principle of the union of Church with State."</p> - -<p>As they were going in to dinner, Mundo whispered to Fiamma "Have we a -saint or a madman for a Pope?"</p> - -<p>"Two-thirds of the one and one-third of the other," replied the radiant -Archbishop of Bologna.</p> - -<p>After one of the receptions of English pilgrims, Hadrian privately -received an unusual visitor in the last antechamber. She was brought -in by a gentleman, who remained outside one of the doors during the -interview, while his fellow guarded the outside of the other. It was -as secret an audience as ever has been deigned to a sovereign; and it -was accorded to a woman of the lower-middle class, about sixty years -old, who looked like an excessively worthy cook. She flopped on her -knees when the Pontiff came to her: mentioned her joints when assisted -to rise; and made bones about using the chair which He placed for her. -Hadrian's manner was absolutely divested of pontificality. No one -would have taken him for anything but a plain Englishman, perhaps of -a slightly superior type, and perhaps rather oddly attired. He spoke -kindly and easily; and gradually brought His guest from a glaring -twitching state<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> of terror and obsequious joy to her honest ordinary -self.</p> - -<p>"Ee-e-h," she burbled, "but I can never tell Your 'oly Majesty what -I felt when I knew that You was going to let me come and see You. Oh -thank You and God bless You, Sir. And I always knew You'ld come to -it. And, O 'oly Father, ain't You very 'appy to think of all the good -You're doing? Just fancy that ever I should say that to Your 'igh -'oliness and me sitting on one of your own chairs. God bless You Mr. -Rose, Sir, as if You was my own boy. Well now, I knew in a minute who -it was that sent it me. Why 'oly Father? Why because Your 'oly 'ighness -named that very amount years ago as what You'ld give me if You was -paid properly. Yes 'oly Father: I've done what You wished me. I got -it cheaper than we thought because it's been empty so long. Thirteen -'undred pound cash on the nail for the 'ouse: a 'undred for doing it -up: four 'undred and two for furniture and things: and please 'oly -Father I've brought the change."</p> - -<p>She lugged out a great bank-bag containing one hundred and ninety-eight -English sovereigns.</p> - -<p>"Oh but, you dear good soul, you shouldn't have done that. It was all -yours."</p> - -<p>"All mine, 'oly Father? But I tell You I got it cheaper than we -thought."</p> - -<p>"Well then you see you're a hundred and ninety-eight pounds to the -good. You have the house and the furniture; and, if you can get the -lodgers, you're safe for life."</p> - -<p>"If I can get lodgers, 'oly Father? Why I'm filled up, and turning them -away."</p> - -<p>"Good! Well, put that in the bank for the winter."</p> - -<p>"But then I shall have oceans of money I've made in the summer, 'oly -Father."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Look here, Mrs. Dixon. Do you remember cooking two dinners one -Christmas Day? One, we ate. The other, you carried under your apron to -some carpenter who was out of work. Don't you remember who caught you -pretending that you weren't spilling the gravy on your frock?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, Mr. Rose, Sir, how You do recollect things!"</p> - -<p>"Well now, you stinted yourself then, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>"Well perhaps a little."</p> - -<p>"Now don't stint yourself any more; and give away as many dinners as -you like. See?"</p> - -<p>The tears were streaming from her glaring eyes and running down her -kitchen-scorched cheeks. She certainly was looking frowsy.</p> - -<p>"See? I should think I did. Mr. Rose Sir, if I say it to Your face, -saint was what I always said of You. Dear! Dear! To think of me -giving way like this. Well, well, You're too good for this world, -Your Majesty. Oh and I've taken the liberty of bringing you a jar of -pickled samphire like what You used to fancy. I've picked it and did it -up myself with my own 'ands;—and I thought perhaps You wouldn't mind -'aving this antimacassar which I've worked for You, 'oly Father. I knew -all Your 'oly chairs'ld be red, because I've seen pictures of them; and -I thought that the grey and the orange would brighten up a dark corner -for You."</p> - -<p>Hadrian thanked her kindly; and took her little offerings as though He -prized them more than His tiara; and made her infinitely happy.</p> - -<p>"Well now I won't detain Your Majesty, because I know there must be no -end of grand people waiting about to see You, and me occupying Your -time like this, 'oly Father. So I'll just ask You to pray for me and -give me a blessing; and thank You Sir for all You've done for me, and -I'll say a prayer for You every day as long as I'm spared."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> - -<p>She got on her knees: and the Pontiff blessed her. Then He said,</p> - -<p>"When do you go back, Mrs. Dixon?"</p> - -<p>"Well, Your 'oly Majesty, I was thinking of looking about a bit while -I'm 'ere, so as to have plenty to say to the lodgers: but I can't stay -more than a week longer."</p> - -<p>Hadrian wrote on a card, <i>The bearer, Mrs. Agnes Dixon, is Our guest. -Receive and assist her.</i> He signed it; and gave it to her, saying, "You -know this place is full of lovely things, pictures and so on. And there -are heaps of sacred relics in the churches. Well now, that card will -admit you to see everything."</p> - -<p>"Will they let me see the fans?"</p> - -<p>"Which fans?"</p> - -<p>"Them they fan You with when You're glorified?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes. Shew that card to the gentleman who is going to take you down -stairs and tell him what you want to see."</p> - -<p>"Will they want me to give the card up at the door?"</p> - -<p>"No. Not if you want to keep it."</p> - -<p>"Ah well, I'll see everything; and I'll keep the card till I'm laid -out, 'oly Father. Oh what ever can I say! You'll excuse me Sir, and I'm -an honest woman: but I must kiss Your 'oly Majesty's anointed 'and. Oh -bless You, my dear, bless You!"</p> - -<p>Hadrian paced through and through the apartment as soon as He was -alone. "Dear good ugly righteous creature," He commented. Passing -the safe in the bedroom, He let-out with His left and punched the -iron door. "That's what use you are," He said; and put glycerine on -His bleeding knuckles. Catching a glimpse of His face in the mirror, -"Beastly hypocrite" He sneered at Himself.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> - -<p>Very disagreeable talk went on in Ragna's circle. The pontifical -acts of Hadrian were vile enough, but His private ones were simply -criminal. A Pope who asked you the hour and the date and the place -of your birth, drew diagrams on paper, and then told you your secret -vices and virtues, was a practisant of arts unholy. Doubtless that -frightful yellow cat, which He took into the gardens every morning, was -His familiar spirit. It had cursed Cacciatore in a corridor, almost -articulately. Balbo, the chamberlain, was prepared to swear two things, -which he had gathered from the gentlemen of the secret chamber. First, -that His Holiness stood under a tap in His bedroom every morning and -evening, and sometimes during the day as well. Undoubtedly that was -to allay the fervence of the demon who possessed Him. Secondly, that -His Holiness sat up half the night writing or reading, and yet the -pontifical waste-paper basket always was empty. Not even a torn shred -of paper remained. But then, the ashes in the fireplace. Ah! The -disposition was to refer to lunacy, or stupidity, or knavishness, or -vileness, whatsoever was novel to the understanding. The Pontiff's -aggressive personality, His ostentatious inconsistency, His peculiarly -ideal conception of His apostolic character, His moral earnestness, His -practical and uncomfortable embodiment of His views in His conduct, -caused Him to be as loathed by Ragna's set as He was loved by the nine -and the six. He was accused of an anarchistical kind of enthusiasm. -When He heard that, He said</p> - -<p>"We are conservative in all Our instincts, and only contrive to become -otherwise by an effort of reason or principle, as We contrive to -overcome all Our other vicious propensities."</p> - -<p>That was considered an additional indecorum. His quaintly correct -and archaic diction exasperated men who had no means of expressing -their thoughts except in the fluid allusive clipped verbosity of the -day. Objections were made to His hendecasyllabical allo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>cutions, -by mediocrities who could not away with a man who discoursed in -ithyphallics. His autocratic dogmatism, which really was due to His -entire occession by His office, shocked the opportunist, irritated -the worldly-prudent. Outside in the world too, He was by no means a -complete success. People, who were not of His Communion, thought it -rather a liberty that a Pope should have the Authorized Version at His -fingers' ends. At first, a lot of fantastic instabilities prepared -to hail Him as a Reformer: but He gave dire offence to them, and to -all pious fat-wits, by flatly refusing His countenance to any kind of -Scheme or Society. "The Church suffices for this life," He said; and -His sentence "Cultivate, and help to cultivate individuality, at your -own expense if possible, but never at the expense of your brother," -was highly disapproved of. Where did the Rights of Man come in? But -then Hadrian was quite certain that Christians actually had no worldly -"rights" at all. Arraigned on the question of superstition by the -stolidly common-sense Talacryn, He said "Extra-belief, superstition, -that which we hope or augur or imagine, is the poetry of life;" and His -utterance was regarded as almost heretical. His utter lack of personal -swagger or even dignity, His habit of rolling and smoking continual -cigarettes, His natural and patently unprofessional manner, offended -many outsiders who only could think of the Pope as partaking of the -dual character of an Immeasurably Ambitious Clergyman and a Scarlet -Impossible Person. He had enemies at home and abroad. And He remained -quite alone, psychically detached: to a very great extent unconscious -of, certainly uninterested in, the impression which He personally was -creating; and altogether uninfluenced by any other mind or any other -creature.</p> - -<p>A parcel of curial malcontents waited-on the Pope; and poured forth -flocculent interrogations and sophomoric criticisms to their hearts' -content. Hadrian sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> perfectly motionless except for an occasional -twinkle of His ears—a muscular trick which He had forced Himself -to learn for the disconcerting of more than usually oxymorose -fools. He was mute: He was grave. He looked, with large omniscient -imperscrutable eyes, with the countenance open, with the thoughts -restrained. Cavillers recited grievances—His refusal to wear the -pontifical pectoral-cross of great diamonds, or any gems except His -episcopal amethyst, was one;—and appended sentences beginning "Now -surely——," or "And the scandal——," or "Ought we not rather——" He -was mute: He was grave: He was attentive. His intelligent silence had -its calculated effect of causing errancy from points which primarily -had been deemed important. Anon, only one objection remained: an -objection to the new form of pontifical stole. No one complained of -its colour. Red was canonically correct. But the silk should have been -satin. Also, the pattern of the gold embroidery was uncommon. A rich -design, of conventional foliage and grotesques enclosing armorials -and keys, was what custom demanded. (Hadrian had no armorials. Years -before, while discussing heraldic blazons with an aged clergyman, -he had burst out with "My shield is white." "Keep it so," the other -replied. And Hadrian's shield was Argent.) But this narrow strip, -no wider than a ribbon, severely adorned with little fylfot crosses -("a Buddhist emblem" Berstein sneered) in little rectangular panels, -with no expansive ends, and a scanty fringe, was hardly at all the -kind of stole to inspire either the admiration or the homage of the -faithful. Still Hadrian sat immobile, great-eyed, all-absorbent; and -let them furiously rage, and imagine very vain things. And at the end -of three-quarters of an hour, He merely murmured "Your Eminencies have -permission to retire;" and stalked into the secret chamber.</p> - -<p>It was felt that something ought to be done. Ragna put a case to Vivole -and Cacciatore. The Oecumenical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> Council of the Vatican stood adjourned -since 1870: but, if the Sacred College should demand—— They found the -notion excellent: communicated it to Berstein, and the French: plumed -themselves; and went about mysteriously with their noses in the air. -And there were intrigues in holes and corners.</p> - -<p>Hadrian went up to the Church on the Celian Hill; and conferred -diaconate on Percy Van Kristen. The Passionists liked that one for his -stately shyness which did not wear away. It was the mark of a soul -verisimilar to his patron's own, of a soul knit to no other: but, -whereas the soul of Hadrian had been torn out of seclusion and bitterly -buffeted by the world, the soul of Percy Van Kristen preserved its -pristine tenderness. The Pope perforce went armed. His deacon remained -by the altar.</p> - -<p>The consistory was summoned for the twenty-fourth of May. That morning -Hadrian woke just on these words of a dream, Oecumenical Council, -Pseudopontiff, Heretic. A man with an active brain like His naturally -suffers much unconscious cerebration. Very often it happened to -Him vividly to dream some scrap or other of something apparently -unconnected with the present. He used to wonder at it: mentally -note it: generally forget it. Now and then, an event (of which it -was the tip) immediately followed; and He scored. Hadrian named to -the consistory the Lord Percy of New York as Cardinal-deacon of St. -Kyriak-at-the-Baths-of-Diocletian. His Eminency became resplendent in -vermilion, tall, refined, reticent, with dark wide dewy eyes. He was -admired in silence. The Pope by some accident turned His gaze to Ragna: -he had such an aspect as caused His Holiness to look more intently. -Ragna's great strong jaw moved as though to munch; and his glance -defiantly shifted.</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency is free to address Us," the Supreme Pontiff said to Him.</p> - -<p>"I wish rather to address the Sacred College," Ragna answered, rising.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> - -<p>Hadrian had an intuition: His face became austere, His voice deliberate.</p> - -<p>"On the subject of an Oecumenical Council where you may denounce Us as -pseudopontiff and heretic?"</p> - -<p>Ragna hurriedly sat down twitching. Berstein and Vivole muttered of -divination and necromancy.</p> - -<p>"That generally is done," the Pope continued in the tone of one -merely selecting fringe for footstools,—"That generally is done by -oblique-eyed cardinals" (He meant 'envious' but He used the Latin -of Horace) "who cannot accustom themselves to new pontiffs. Rovere -ululated for an Oecumenical Council when he found Our predecessor -Alexander antipathetic; and there be other examples. But Lord -Cardinals, if such an idea should present itself or should be presented -to you, be ye mindful that none but the Supreme Pontiff can convoke -an Oecumenical Council, and also that the decrees of an Oecumenical -Council are ineffective unless they be promulgated with the express -sanction of the Supreme Pontiff. Who would sanction decrees ordaining -his own deposition? Who could? If We pronounce Ourself to be a -pseudopontiff, what would be the value of such pronunciation? Ye were -Our electors. We did not force you to elect Us. If We be Pontiff, We -will not, and, if We be pseudopontiff, We cannot, depose Ourself. We -are conscious of your love and of your loathing for Our person and -Our acts. We value the one; and regret the other. But ye voluntarily -have sworn obedience to Us; and We claim it. 'Subordination,' so the -adage runs" (He was citing the Greek to every Latin's disgust) "'is -the mother of saving counsel.' Nothing must and nothing shall obstruct -Us. Let that be known. And We should welcome co-operation. Wherefore, -Most Eminent Lords and Venerable Fathers, let not the sheep of Christ's -Flock be neglected in order that the shepherds may exchange anathemas."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mundo and Fiamma rose by impulse: went to the throne; and renewed -their allegiance. The new cardinals mixed with the others and began to -talk, while the rest of the Compromissaries approached the Pontiff. -Orezzo moved that way with eight Italians. Then the seven brought each -a companion. When, at last, the Benedictine struggled to his feet, -opposition died. Ragna toed the line.</p> - -<p>"His Holiness has averted a schism," said Orezzo to Moccolo.</p> - -<p>"One has to admire even where one hardly approves."</p> - -<p>"And to hobble-after even when one cannot keep-up-with the pace."</p> - -<p>"Saint or madman?" Mundo repeated to Fiamma.</p> - -<p>"One-third saint, one-sixth madman, one-sixth genius, one-sixth -dreamer, one-sixth diplomatist——"</p> - -<p>"No. All George Arthur Rose plus Peter," Talacryn put in. "He said as -much Himself to me once, whatever!"</p> - -<p>Hadrian went out to take the air. Under His cloak He carried a pickle -bottle, the label of which He had washed off and destroyed. As He went -along, He picked up a trowel left by some gardener in a flower-bed. He -found a solitary corner filled with rose-acacias and lavender-bushes -behind the Leonine Villa. He looked up at the cupola of St. Peter's -and saw no Americans levelling binoculars. Then He dug a little hole; -and buried pickles; and hid the bottle a few yards away beneath the -bee-hives by the lavender-bushes, mauve-bloomed, very sweet to smell. -The solemn odour stimulated his brain; and He returned to chat with His -gentlemen. They were engaged in physical exercises in a parlour. The -Italian, who was one of nature's athletes, with so tremendous a power -of chest-inflation that his ribs seemed unconnected with his sternum, -interminably floated down and up and down to the floor on one leg, with -the other leg and both arms ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>tended rectangularly before him. The -Englishman, a student, graceful and slim but not muscular, watched him -and would imitate. His sinews had not the elastic force rhythmically -to lower and raise him. He could get down but not up. He often lost -balance, and rolled over in frantic failure. "You must have thighs made -of whipcord and steel to do it," he was saying. Then they saw their -visitor and attended. Hadrian asked what the exercise was and whence it -came.</p> - -<p>"Santità, from the bersaglieri," Iulo responded. "That they do, during -an hour of each day for the fortification of their legs. From which -they run."</p> - -<p>"It is beautiful. And are you going to emulate the bersaglieri?"</p> - -<p>"My comrade goes to educate my mind. I go to discipline the physic of -him," the gymnast said.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm going to help him rub up his classics as far as my poor -knowledge lets me, Holiness: that's all:" the student added.</p> - -<p>"Very good indeed," Hadrian pronounced. "Well now, something is going -to happen to you. Go and escort the Secretary of State to the secret -chamber."</p> - -<p>Ragna and the young men appeared within the quarter-hour. The Pope was -seated; and a couple of Noble Guards stood behind His chair.</p> - -<p>"Eminency," He said, "it is Our will to give these gentlemen the rank -of Cavaliere—in English 'knight'——"</p> - -<p>"Nai-tah," Ragna repeated.</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency will cause letters patent to be prepared——"</p> - -<p>"But this is the act of a sovereign!"</p> - -<p>"And We, having no temporal sovereignty, exercise Our prerogative as -Father of princes and kings." He beckoned the gentlemen to kneel, took -a sword from the guard on His left, and struck them on the shoulder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> in -turn, saying "To the honour of God, of His Maiden Mother, and of St. -George, We make thee knight. Be faithful. Rise, Sir John. To the honour -of God, of His Maiden Mother, and of St. Maurice, We make thee knight. -Rise, Sir Iulo."</p> - -<p>The cardinal retired mumbling. In the first antechamber, Sir Iulo cut -a caper. "Oh but that I should come to know such a one as this!" he -chortled. Sir John went to his own room: opened an interlinear crib of -Horace; and could not see one letter.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER VIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Hadrian</span> knew that He was becoming confirmed in His pose of director. -Not that He was inflated by His exaltation to the apostolature. He -was conscious that people, except a few enthusiasts, were become -indifferent to religion. He knew the danger of indifference to be so -great that it was no time to strain at gnats. He could not trouble -about rats in the ship's hold while the torpedo was approaching. He -was thought to share the abominable heresy of Tolstoy, whose works -He never would touch with tongs. He saw that most men lived in mist; -and preferred it: that most men durst not see clearly, because their -business and their social interest would not stand it. He was not -absolutely certain that He Himself could see the remedy: but He was -certain that blindness was no remedy. So He put forth the evangelic -counsels for obedience. "Strip; and obey those" appeared to be -sufficient for the present; and He would not fiddle-faddle with human -doctrines or empirical experiments. He had the big vision, the seeing -eye, the hearing ear, wit, perverseness, daring, and the lonely heart, -and the contempt of the world. The effect of His entire freedom of -action was to inspire Him physically and mentally with the thrilling -vigour of a pentathlete. He had the violent energy of the minute -electron in the enormous atom. He felt Himself strong. He knew that -His forces were tensely strung; and in their melody He was very glad. -Sometimes He caught Himself wondering how long He could maintain the -pitch: but from that thought He turned away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> It was enough that He was -able. He would not spare Himself. The night cometh when no man can work.</p> - -<p>"Let it come," he said to Cardinal Sterling: "but, while day lasts, We -work."</p> - -<p>A splendid sentence of Mommsen's bit into his brain. <i>Cæsar ruled as -King of Rome for five years and a half ...; in the intervals of seven -great campaigns, which allowed him to stay not more than fifteen months -altogether in the capital of the empire, he regulated the destinies -of the world for the present and the future.... Precisely because -the building was an endless one, the master, as long as he lived, -restlessly added stone to stone, with always the same dexterity and -always the same elasticity busy at his work, without ever overturning -or postponing, just as though there were for him merely to-day and no -to-morrow. Thus he worked and created as never did any mortal before or -after him; and, as a worker and creator, he still, after two thousand -years, lives in the memory of the nations—the first, and withal -unique, Imperator Cæsar.</i>—And Julius, also, had been Pontifex Maximus. -Hadrian took a white umbrella for a walk as far as the black-lava fort -on the Appian Way.</p> - -<p>He considered the horrible condition of France and Russia. It was -a menace to the world. Of Russia, He could learn nothing new. -Thews and Thought together had abolished authority and gone mad in -butchery. The information, which He had obtained from the French -Cardinals, was not of a rather useful nature. Elements of emotional -sentiment and archaic conventionalism rendered their opinions well -nigh worthless. They were tolutiloquent in expressing horror at the -impiety of mob-rule which had deprived them of the right to military -salutes ordained by the Concordat. They made the blood boil by their -heart-rending descriptions of holocausts of priests and nuns—earnest -heroic enthusiasts absolutely incapable of doing anything really -practical in the way of eradicating that demoniality of which they -became the victims. Nothing would please Their Eminencies better than -to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> hasten to their distracted native-land, to offer up themselves -as martyrs to the devils of their dioceses. They were no cowards—if -desire to rush on death be bravery:—but they were picturesque, and -dithyrambic,—mainly picturesque, with their long hair and their rabats -edged with white beads. That would not do as an essential. Out of -the mellay of matter laid before Him, the Pontiff extracted certain -points. France, quâ France, no longer was Christian. The Devil was in -power. Christians who were able to cross frontiers, did so. Spain, -Italy, Switzerland, Germany, received them. England, America, Japan, -blockaded Toulon, Brest, Cherbourg. Their liners tapped the coasts; -and carried thousands into freedom. Poverty afflicted the emigrants: -those left behind were butchers, or subject to butchery. Dom Jaime de -Bourbon having perished, the Pope sent for the Duke of Orleans;—and -dismissed him with austere disgust. He subsequently withered away. His -Holiness gave audience to a score of the French nobility; and spent -some days picking the brains of emigrants fortuitously collected. Then, -He again convened the French cardinals, and declared the pontifical -will. They all were deposed from their episcopal sees, and nominated -Apostolic Missionaries. Their charge was the cure, first of the bodies, -second of the souls, of Frenchmen everywhere. The Cardinal-Missionary -of Paris would go to London with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Pimlico, -having powers to draw one million sterling from the pontifical treasure -in the Bank of England: which sum, in halves, was to be the nucleus -of two funds, an English and a German, for French Christians in their -need. Each cardinal-missionary also received a breve authorizing him, -and persons delegated by him, to collect money in every Christian -country for the said funds. It was not to be a clerical charity. The -Lord Mayor of London and the German Emperor were willing to administer -it, each independently. Further Their Eminencies were to use their own -discretion about adventuring themselves in the diabolical dominion. If -they best could serve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> God there, then in God's Name, and with God's -Vicegerent's benediction, let them go: but they most straitly were -bidden to keep one only object before them, viz. the service of God -through the relief and comfort of His servants. Nothing was to prevent -them in that.</p> - -<p>The world began to concentrate the corner of its eye on Hadrian. -Holland and Belgium fell into the arms of anarchical France. The -vigorous bold brilliant young Sultan Ismail, having failed to win -Morocco to his Pan-Islamic scheme, was intriguing for an alliance with -the other great Muhammedan power, England. His Majesty's murdered -predecessor, by the aid of Germany, had formed an army of a million and -a half, full of fanatical valour and the wonderful natural adaptability -of the Turk, the rawest recruit of which had a greater fighting-value -than was possessed by the conscripts of any other nation. This force -was available for active service at fifteen minutes' notice. The -Turkish alliance was worth anyone's while; and was coveted. Germany had -trained the Ottoman squadrons: but was not to profit thereby. Teutonic -stolidity had been outwitted by the wily Oriental. Islam could only and -only would mate with Islam—as might have been foreseen. The rest of -the continent of Europe ringed frontiers under arms. Each nation feared -the other; and all feared France and Russia.</p> - -<p>Hadrian watched the diplomatic processes with interest. He knew that -England was quite capable of taking care of Herself, with or without -the Mussulman. He grasped the theory that Muhammedanism, arising six -hundred years after Christ, justified the Wisdom of God in Judaism, -proving that the Oriental mind could bear nothing more perfect; and -He conceived a sort of sympathy with Islam. His conversations with -ambassadors became known in courts, (the King of Prussia's legate -wrote amazing things to the German Emperor:) from courts, descriptions -of opinions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> tastes, habits, descended until they were discussed in -clubs and miscellaneous congeries. Hadrian's custom of walking about -unattended, looking-at the excavations in the Forum, visiting the sick -in hospitals, sensuously delighting Himself with the glories of sunset -seen from the Pincian Hill, were the themes of common conversation. -And when, one evening, He got-in a left hander (from the shoulder) -on a socialist, who spat at Him in Borgo Nuovo; and then, (on the -filthy beast's bursting into tears and collapsing with the effects of -the blow upon semi-starvation), pressing upon him His pectoral cross -and chain, His gold spectacles, and all the coins left in His pocket -after a couple of hours in Rome,—then the English race began to find -the Pope observable; and English newspapers started columns called -<i>Rome Day by Day</i>. How the special correspondents spread themselves! -She of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> got the usual exclusive information of -the Borgo Nuovo affair; and split nine infinitives in describing the -myopic Pontiff narrowing His eyes to slits, groping His way along the -colonnades with His fainting assailant; His passionate denunciation -of the farce of organized charity, which had let a man become so -degraded; His agitation until Cardinal Carvale came running with His -spare pair of spectacles; His strangely pathetic thankfulness for the -gift of sight which they afforded; His anguish at the defilement of His -garment; and His tender invitation to the starving socialist to be His -guest in Vatican. All this suited the English temper to a T,—being -English. But there was created a profound and perdurable impression. -The King of Prussia's legate wrote more amazing things to the German -Emperor. Hadrian became regarded in cabinets and chancelleries as -one who cared or strove neither for loss nor gain, neither for life -nor death—as the one Potentate who rightly or wrongly knew his own -mind—as a Power with whom a reckoning might have to be made. After -all, it merely was the effect of simplicity upon complexity, of -felinity upon caninity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> - -<p>He was sitting alone, thinking, and carefully unravelling a woollen -antimacassar. It had been crocheted in five bossy strips, three of -orange hue and two of grey, alternately arranged. He had unravelled -two orange and two grey strips; and had the wool neatly rolled in four -balls beside Him. The next time He should go into the City, some little -girl would be made happy with two nice balls of grey wool and a lira -to buy knitting needles; and, the time after that, another little girl -would have three balls of orange wool and a lira also; and pontifical -eyes would not be scorched by ghastly antimacassars any more, nor -would the kind heart of anyone be wounded. He finished the job; and -went to talk to his socialist. That one turned out to be a goldsmith, -with the ideals and the brains and the fingers of Cellini, but not the -acquisitiveness. Hence straits, socialism, sophistries, starvation. -They walked about the sculpture-galleries for coolness; and spoke of -Beautiful Things. Hadrian revelled. His guest was a man of taste; and -talked-on-a-trot with wonderful gestures, making and moulding ideal -images which the mind's eye could see. They came to the Apoxyomenos: -stood: raved; and became dumb, feasting on the lithe majesty of perfect -proportion. The artificer first spoke.</p> - -<p>"Holiness," he said, "can You see that body and those limbs crucified?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian's mind caught the idea. The splendid forms of the marble seemed -to re-arrange themselves in the new pose. His eyes came slowly round to -His questioner.</p> - -<p>"Yes," He answered: "but soaring and triumphing, 'reigning from the -tree,' not drooping and dying—and not the head and bust." He took the -goldsmith's arm and hurried him to the Antinous of the Belvedere; and -began to speak very quickly.</p> - -<p>"Sir," He said, "you will be pleased to stay here; and, with the -materials which will be provided, you will make a new cross for Us. The -cross will be of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> the kind called Potent, elongate: the Figure will -combine the body and limbs of the Apoxyomenos with the head and bust of -the Antinous, but posed as We have described. On the completion of this -master-piece, you will be offered an appointment as goldsmith in the -pontifical household——"</p> - -<p>"Ah, Padrone."</p> - -<p>Hadrian returned to the secret chamber, happy in anticipation of an -emblem which would not offend His taste. True, He was glad (in a way) -that a tangled life so easily could be made straight: but it was the -visionary ideal of Beauty which really inspired joy.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER IX</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">That</span> aggregation of intellectually purblind and covetous dullards, -who formed the socialistic sect of the King of England's subjects, -presently began in their rough rude way to perpend the Pope of Rome. -It had been a moot point with these discontented sentimentalists -whether it would or would not be profitable to unite with French -and Russian anarchy, and attain their ends that way: but one Julia, -in the <i>Salpinx</i> screamed such excruciating tales about slaughtered -French babies, that that was "off." Also, it was remembered that a -certain Comrade Dymoke, the only capable fighting man ever possessed -by socialism, had been spunged upon for fifteen years by socialistic -cadgers, sucked dry, ruined, and cast out, a victim of socialistic -jealousy and treachery. In the plans laid for a Social Revolution, -towards the end of the nineteenth century, that man had been named -commander-in-chief. Now he was not available; and his place was vacant: -for a military expert rarely errs into the purlieus of socialism.</p> - -<p>But one thing had been done. The Social Democratic Federation had -been induced, at the National "Liberal" Club, to coalesce with the -Independent "Labour" Party. The coalition called itself the "Liblab -Fellowship": the <i>Salpinx</i> and <i>Reynards's</i> were its organs; and -a parcel of Bobs and Bens and Bills and Bounders its prophets. It -concluded that it would score by toadying the Supreme Pontiff. The -brainless monster of socialism always was hunting for a brain to -direct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> its forces. By some perverted process, it arrived at the -feeling that a Pope, Who could indite the <i>Epistle to All Christians</i>, -would be likely to lend Himself to the furtherance of its crude designs -on other people's property. A week later, Cardinal Whitehead called -Hadrian's attention to the current issue of the afore-named journals, -which contained an <i>Open Letter to the Pope</i> praising the "enlightened -humanitarianism" of His Holiness's recent utterance, inviting Him to -have courage of His opinions, and to bring His <i>Epistle</i> to (what was -called) "a logical conclusion" by a formal authoritative declaration -of the doctrine of Equality. Popes, as a rule, do not notice <i>Open -Letters</i>. Hadrian, however, had learned from the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> -that the fashion was for copious artists in words to lecture the Roman -Pontiff. He anticipated the being told by that elegant journal that He -knew as much about the true inwardness of Catholicism as a cow knows of -a clean shirt. But He privately was of opinion that more harm may be -done by leaving some things unsaid. But, Love——! Was it possible that -He could love, could like (even), hyenas who screeched such ditties as -this on the same page:</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"They will tax the baked potatoes,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"They will tax our blessed swipes,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"They will tax our blooming hot pea-soup,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"The leather, and the tripes,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"They will tax the coster's donkey,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"They will tax the Derby 'orse</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"And they're going to tax the devil</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>"When he lives at Charing Crorse."</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Ouf! No. It was quite impossible. Yet——: there were people whom He -could like, if not love: people in His Own environment. These He would -make easy, happy. To these He could set an example. They, in turn, -would do as much for the rank below them: and so on, and so on. Thus, -perhaps, by Nature's own method, might Love be brought down among men. -So with a stern and trenchant rebuff He rebuked presumption. On the -following Sunday,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> a Pontifical Breve was read from every Catholic -pulpit in the Kingdom of England at home and beyond the seas. It -proclaimed the dogma of Equality as scientifically, historically, and -obviously false and impracticable: as a diabolical delusion for the -ruin of souls. Hadrian did not soar away in metaphysical intricacies, -but confined His argument to the broad highway whereon the ordinary -man might walk at ease. Infinite difference, He said, was the note of -the Divine Creator's scheme. Not equality, but diversity, of physique, -of intellect, of condition, was man's birthright. One man was not as -good as another: he generally was a great deal better,—as every man -well knew. The claim to equality was so indecently unjust that it only -could emanate from inferiors who hoped to gain by degrading their -superiors. Socialists, who claimed equality, solely were actuated by -the lust of improving their own condition at the expense of their -brother. That was selfishness, and unchristian, and (by consequence) -damnable heresy. The servants of God were bidden to avoid it. The -Vicar of Christ repeated Christ's commands "Love one another—Love -your enemies." Only by Love could be attained the happiness which all -desired. That the classes did care for the masses, futile and indolent -though their method might be, was undeniable: but the attitude of the -masses to the classes was unmitigated hatred. The accident of birth to -poverty or wealth was not a fault, for it was inevitable. The principle -of Aristos "The Best" was to be upheld. The strength of Aristos was -incalculable because it acted through the relations of private life, -which were permanent: whereas the political excitement of socialism -was essentially ephemeral. Rights, inherited, meritorious, conferred -by legitimate authority, were sacred. Only the holders of such rights -of their own free will could depose themselves or abdicate their -rights; and, as Christians, they were expected to behave themselves -Christianly: but to deprive them of such rights, at the will of those -who did not confer them, would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> an outrage. The socialistic idea, -which suggested such iniquity, was essentially selfish and venal. -Hadrian severely denounced the newspapers in which the <i>Open Letter to -the Pope</i> appeared. He said that the thoughtful reading of a newspaper -was one of the most solemn and painful studies in the world, for it -was little more than a category of sin and suffering, of incitements -to sin, of efforts to acquire filthy lucre honestly and dishonestly. -He copiously quoted the advertisements, the Cyclorama page, the Motor -Notes page, the Stageland, the Woman's Letter, and the Leaders, of -the one, in order to show that the socialistic outcry by no means -was the bitter groan of oppressed poverty, but rather the grumbling -vituperation of envious discontented mediocrity anxious to affect an -appearance, which was sham and not its own, and to wallow in luxurious -conditions which it had not earned. Especially He noted the Socialistic -Programme, "<i>We suggest that the nation should own ALL the ships ALL -the railways ALL the factories ALL the buildings ALL the land and ALL -the requisites of national life and defence</i>," as a plain declaration -that robbery of private property created by individual industry -and genius—robbery, pure and unadulterated, was the basis of the -socialistic scheme. He denounced the paper as being written for amateur -agnostics by dilettante atheists. He pungently derided attempts made, -by pseudoscientists of the obsolete school of Haeckel, to popularize -among mistaken but serious secularists the science of yesterday and the -destructive criticism of the day before that. As for the other paper, -He likened it to a <i>cloaca</i> wherein filth of all kinds is committed and -collected. The news of the day was reported only in so far as it was -susceptible of filthy presentation. Pages were devoted to diffusing -refuse from police-courts; and, (under the head of Secret History) to -calumnious inventions or distortions of fact connected with any and -every man or woman who was not of the dregs of humanity. As a method of -earning a living by journalism, this pandering to the basest passions -was dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>graceful, and damnable in the full sense of the word. Not by -such means were the bodies and souls of men to be improved or profited. -Not by such means could happiness, here or hereafter, be attained. -"Let men raise themselves if they will; and let each man help himself -by helping his brother to the utmost: there shall be no limit to your -resurrection, well-beloved sons, if ye rise, not on other men but, upon -your own dead selves," the Pope concluded.</p> - -<p>In accordance with instructions, the Cardinal-Prefect of the -Congregation of Sacred Rites presented to the Pontiff certain completed -processes and petitions for the beatification of the Venerable Servants -of God, Alfred the Great, King and Confessor,—Henry VI. of Lancaster, -King and Confessor,—Mary Stewart of England, France, and Scotland, -Queen and Martyr. Assent was deigned to these petitions; and pictures, -each with a golden nimbus, were unveiled in the Vatican Basilica. The -bull of beatification decreed the addition of the following words to -the Roman Martyrology, the official roll of sanctity:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>This day, in England, is kept the festival of the Blessed Alfred, -King and Confessor, who by the acclamation of his own people is -named Great: memorable as a father of his fatherland, a lover of his -brother, a true servant of God.</p> - -<p>This day, in England, is kept the festival of the Blessed Henry -VI. of Lancaster, King and Confessor: memorable for meekness, for -suffering, for purity of heart, for the gift of prayer.</p> - -<p>This day, in Scotland, is kept the festival of the Blessed Mary -Stewart, Queen and Martyr: memorable for womanly fragility, for -nineteen years' atonement in prison, for choosing death rather than -infidelity.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Semphill and Carvale had urged Hadrian to impose the Proper Office and -Mass of the last upon England as well as Scotland. His Holiness would -know why?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Because Her Majesty was the rightful Queen of England as well as of -Scotland;" Semphill responded with the air of one who has invented a -new sauce.</p> - -<p>"Display your premisses, Lord Cardinal;" said the Pope.</p> - -<p>"They are simply historical facts, known to everyone."</p> - -<p>"But the conclusions which may be drawn from historical facts, mainly -depend upon the sequence or method of arrangement of the said facts. -Display yours, Lord Cardinal."</p> - -<p>"The Blessed Mary Stewart was heiress of James V., who was heir of -Margaret Tudor wife of James IV. of Scotland and daughter of Henry VII. -of England. Henry VII.'s heir was his son Henry VIII., who married -Katherine of Aragona and had issue Mary Tudor. Subsequently, failing -to obtain annulment of this marriage from Your Holiness's predecessor -Clement VII., Henry VIII. lived in sin with Anne Bullen and Jane -Seymour by whom he had issue Elizabeth and Edward. Canonically this -prince and princess were illegitimate and incapable of succession. -Therefore, on the death of Henry VIII. the crown of England demised to -his sole legitimate issue, Mary Tudor——"</p> - -<p>"But Parliament had passed an Act, 28 Hen. VIII. c. 7, giving the -English Sovereign power to limit the crown by letters-patent or by his -last will to such person or persons as he should judge expedient."</p> - -<p>"Surely, Holiness, that ought not to count. However, on the death of -Mary Tudor without issue, I argue that the crown of England demised <i>de -jure</i> though not <i>de facto</i> to the next legitimate Tudor who was Mary -Stewart, heiress of Margaret Tudor."</p> - -<p>Hadrian turned to Carvale.</p> - -<p>"Of course, Most Holy Lord, I feel with Cardinal Semphill. I -think"—his beautiful blue eyes blazed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> with the fire of his dreams—"I -think that the time has come for doing justice to the memory of 'that -predestined victim of uncounted treasons, of unnumbered wrongs, wrongs -which warped and maddened and bewildered her noble nature, but never -quenched her courage, never deadened her gratitude to a servant, never -shook her loyalty to a friend, never made her false to her faith.' O -think, Holiness, of all that the Stewarts have suffered!"</p> - -<p>Hadrian Himself had a very tender and romantic feeling of attachment -towards the Stewarts: but He responded, "Our office is not to stir up -strife. We Englishmen happen to have made an ideal of Elizabeth. With -that delightful capability for making our own ideals and maintaining -them in the teeth of realities, we have chosen to forget the fact that -no sovereign of ordinary intelligence could have helped being gilded -by the really abnormal galaxy of talent which illumined the age of -Elizabeth. It was those gigantic geniuses who made the glory of England -then. England happened to be personified by Elizabeth. Therefore, -in English eyes, Elizabeth was great and glorious and all the rest. -No one" (he turned to Semphill) "can quarrel with your statement of -blind and naked fact; and no one, who is right-minded, will. But, We -desire to reconcile, not to exasperate, though We never will refuse -to exasperate upon an apt occasion. Therefore We will not assert now -that which need not be asserted. Be content that We raise your lovely -martyred queen to the honours of the altars of your country. Ask -Almighty God to look upon your land with favour for His Son's sake, and -for the sake of her who in the Strength of that Son was faithful unto -death. Call upon Mary in Heaven to add her prayers to those which ye -offer to God on earth. Precious in the sight of The Lord.—If it be His -Will to confirm with signs and wonders these your invocations——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> - -<p>Their Eminencies gazed at the Pope with ecstasy. That He, whom they -had known before, not always agreeably, that He—"Oh, really," said -Semphill to Carvale as they left the Presence, "I don't know whether -I'm sleeping or waking." And Hadrian, alone, rolled a cigarette, saying -to Another than Himself, "Is that what You wish me to do in this case?"</p> - -<p>Simultaneously with the beatificatory bull <i>Laudemus insignes</i>, was -issued the <i>Epistle to the English</i>. The Pope affirmed that the -English Race naturally was fitted to give an example to humanity. -In particular, He categorically distinguished its solid worth, its -dignified good sense, its deliberate tenacity, its imperturbable habit, -its superb impassiveness in reverses, its stoical firmness under the -most cruel deceptions, its unshaken determination to conquer under any -circumstances. In general, He noted its faculties of self-restraint, -of construction, of administration, and (among the upper and middle -classes) of altruism. He indulged no vain regrets: but dealt entirely -with the present and the future. He addressed the Race, as the Race -would wish to be addressed, with perfect sincerity. In spite, He said, -of the scum which floats, and is called "Smart": in spite of the dregs -which goes a-mafficking, and is called "Hooligan" the English people -at heart were as sound as ever. Millions, rich and not rich, gentle -and simple, in town and country, led clean and wholesome lives. No -newspaper paragraphs proclaimed that these good souls were bringing-up -their children to be ladies and gentlemen, were solicitous for the -welfare of their inferiors, had respect unto themselves. No flaming -headlines screeched, announcing that they were paying their way, -marrying and giving in marriage, rejoicing and sorrowing, like the -brave honest common-place people that they were. No Society Gossip told -of Robert and William and Nicholas and James and Frederick and Herbert -and Percy and Alfred, day-labourers for a too scanty wage, who never -drank nor fought nor swindled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> nor yelled for their rights, but who led -decent noble lives under circumstances often cruelly unjust and always -rigorously hard. Of such as these, said Hadrian, was the English Race -composed. He reminded England that she had received more from the Latin -Church than any other nation: that her gains had been direct before -1534: indirect after that date, when her natural enemies were dragged -down by the corruptions of Rome. (He thought they would enjoy that -point.) He assumed nothing, not even a prejudice. He advised without -commanding: He directed without trespassing. The latter half of the -<i>Epistle</i> concerned those who owed Him spiritual allegiance: to these -He spoke with all authority. He blamed their phrenetic anxiety to enter -into worldly competition. He pointed out that the Penal Laws, which -from 1534 to 1829 had deprived them of "that culture which contact with -a wider world alone can give," had rendered the Catholic aborigines -corporeally effete and intellectually inferior to the rest of the -nation. He did not blame noluntary defects: but facts were facts, and -only fools would refuse to face them. These defects would find their -remedy in the influx of new and vigorous blood and unexhausted brains. -He quoted the words of a great critic who said that the religious -movement of our day would be almost droll if it were not, from the -tempers and actions which it excited, so extremely irreligious. It had -taken four centuries to produce the present position of Catholics in -England; and, as no man has a right to expect miracles, it might take -four centuries more to restore them to a corporeal and intellectual -equality with the average of their fellow-countrymen. To this end, He -bade them to welcome and to comfort accessions to their number, not -(as was the present custom) with slavering sentimentality giving place -to slights, snubs, slanders, and sneers: but with brotherly love, -putting in practice the Faith which they professed; and <i>letting</i> their -light shine, instead of advertising comparatively paltry efforts at -illumination. He reminded them that</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> - -<p>"God made man right, but he had sought out many abstruse reasonings -and, for a society of Christians to pretend to be "the world" or "of -the world" was an incongruous monstrosity. He warned them that the kind -of conscience which they cultivated, the conscience which descends -from its high personal plane, which consents to haggle and discuss how -far resistance to temptation must be carried, which deigns to consider -consequences, to weigh possibilities, and to guard against disaster, -was the proximate occasion for the well-founded charges of hypocrisy -and humbug brought against all religion by lewd fellows of the baser -sort. As for those of the clergy, whose comportment elicited from -outsiders testimonials to the effect that they were "thorough men of -the world having nothing clerical about them except their collars" or -"thoroughly good chaps who take their glass and enjoy a smutty story -like ordinary beings,"—His Holiness assured Their Right Reverencies, -Their Very Reverencies, and Their Reverencies, that they completely -misconceived their sacred character.</p> - -<p>"Our citizenship is in heaven (ἡ πολιτεια ἡμων ἑν οὑῥανωι.) If then in -very truth, ye look for a city which is an heavenly, ye must esteem -yourselves as being 'in the world' as strangers (ξενοι), or resident -aliens (μετοικοι); and so ye ought not to be 'curiosi in aliena -republica.'"</p> - -<p>He ordained that married Anglican clergy (whose wives were alive and -who possessed the grace of a Divine Vocation) on resuming allegiance -to the See of Peter, should be admitted to the priesthood and serve -secular churches: but faculties for hearing confessions were not to be -disposed to married priests; and each such priest, having charge of -a mission, must nominate and maintain at least one Regular as curate -whose sole duty should be the administration of the sacrament of -penance. Finally, the Supreme Pontiff commanded the sacrifice of that -phantom uniformity which had been the curse of Catholicism for four -centuries, and the retention and cultivation of national and local -rites<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> and uses. And He commended England to St. George, Protector of -the Kingdom.</p> - -<p>The Archsocialists were bitterly chagrined by the pontifical -denunciation of their <i>Open Letter</i>; but the <i>Epistle to the English</i> -made them gnash their teeth. In print, they gibbered at first, and -vomited after their manner. In congress, each one suspected his -neighbour of being a "traitor to the Cause" whose treachery had taken -the form of urging his comrades corporately to attract the pontifical -fulmination. There was a dreadful scene at West Ham and a free fight -at Battersea. Comrade Pete Quillet threatened to 'ave Comrade Bill -Meggin's blighted ear; and had as much of the left one as twenty-seven -unclean gorgonzola-coloured fangs could tear off, before he succumbed -to six boots, a bottle, and a harness-buckle. At head quarters, the -demagogues did behave with outward decency: not disguising their -disappointment, but casting about for a new lead. The curious thing was -that not one of them now but was more than ever anxious for alliance -with the Power which disdained and damned them. It was the Power -which they coveted—and admired, in the first intention of the word. -Their attitude to the Pope was that of those who lick the hand that -lashes them. The Pope was not a Penrhyn, against whose liberty they -could invoke the laws at which otherwise they girded: He was to them -something immense, intangible, potent, detestable—and most desirable.</p> - -<p>While they were debating as to the precise posture in which they next -should cringe, Comrade Jerry Sant communicated startling news. He -was a delegate from the north: by profession, first a haberdasher's -bagman, secondly a socialist; Socialism appearing to him an easy way of -self-aggrandisement. As a rule, he did not push forward, working in the -background, anonymously writing for the papers, watching for a chance -to snatch. He whispered a word to his neighbour at the table.</p> - -<p>"Rot!" said the latter.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Rot yersel'!" Jerry retorted.</p> - -<p>The other Fellowshipper guffawed. "Here, I say, Mr. Chairman, this -Comrade says he used to know that old Pope!"</p> - -<p>Jerry Sant became observed. He had the haggard florid aspect, the -red-lidded prominent eyes, the pendulous lip of a sorry sort of -man. He stood up and began to speak, sometimes dragging a sandy -rag of moustache or fingering shiny conical temples, but generally -holding on by the lapels of a short-skirted broad-cloth frock-coat, -protruding black-nailed thumbs through the button-holes in a manner -acquired during a week in Paris. His style was geological, so to -speak, consisting of various strata deposited at various periods. -The surface stratum, representing the Kainozoic Time, consisted of -the platitudinous bombast characteristic of the common or oratorical -demagogue. Below that, corresponding to the Mesozoic Time, came the -ridiculous obsequious slang of the bagman of commerce. Below that -again, corresponding to the Paleozoic Time, appeared the gelded English -which muscleless feckless unfit-for-handicraft little sciolists -acquire in school-board spawning-beds. And these rested on stratum of -the Azoic Time, to wit the native Pictish Presbyterian jargon of Mr. -Sant's sententious pettifogging spiteful self. These different strata -occurred as irregularly as natural strata. They ran one into the other -like veins in a fissure, causing displacements resembling those which -technically are called Faults; and the tracing and stripping of the -same is a task for the ingenious geophilologist.</p> - -<p>"It's a gospel-truth, comrades. I had used to fhat ye might call know -the Pope a few years ago fhen he was just George Arthur Rose and not -a pound-note in his purse. I was running the <i>Social Standard</i> oot o' -my own pocket, and many's the bit o' work I've let him have. He was -trying his hand at journalism then, and gey glad to get it. I may take -this opportunity of saying that he owes his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> footing to me; and most -ungrateful he has treated me, comrades, as is the nature of him, proud -aristocrat as he is. Not that I look for gratitude in such: but I've -often thought when I've heard of him getting on—I mean before as he -was fhat he is now—as perhaps he might like to remember him as gave -him his first leg up. But no, not a bit of it though. I advised him of -as much, once; and he rounds on me and cheeks me cruel. And I'm not the -only one neither: I can tell you something else about him. There's a -lady-friend of mine——"</p> - -<p>"Here stop a bit," the chairman interrupted. "You're getting on a bit -too fast. What did you let him write for the <i>Social Standard</i> for? -Was he a comrade, I.L.P., or S.D.F., or Fabian p'raps? He seems to be -rather a high sort from what you say."</p> - -<p>"A comrade! Tits, man! ma pairsonal opeenion is that he was nothing bit -a ... Tory spy. I always thought he was a Jesuit in disguise and now of -course I know it. Fhen I knew him first he was pals with the traitor -Dymoke——"</p> - -<p>"Dymoke!!!" Teeth gritted; and the social equivalent for the Roman -"Anathema sit" was snarled.</p> - -<p>"Comrades, it wasn't me that was to blame there you know. Wait a minute -before we meaninglessly divide oursels. I have some most important -developments to lay before the meeting as you'll all cordially endorse. -Don't someone remember I was the one that stopped the traitor's letters -and give information of his treachery? If it hadna have been for me -he would have bought the bally show with his Tory gold. It was me as -put my spoke in his wheel and got him expelled in time. Well, as I -was remarking, fhen I knew Rose he was gey thick with Dymoke. Fhat -for did I let him write for us? Wy, because he could write the verra -blusterous epithets which'ld make the enemy wince. Of course I went -over all that he wrote though, just to see that he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> economically -correct. If I hadna have done that I might just as well have shut -up shop. But I was going to say, comrades, there's a lady-friend of -mine he's treated shameful—made love to her while her man was alive, -borrowed twenty-pound notes of her, had to be forbid the hoose, and -then fhen she was left a widdy-wumman with a family he cuts her dead -at a picture-gallery. That's fhat I mean by ungrateful, the swine, -fit to make a man retch with his mumping cant. What I was about to -observe—no, she's not a Fellowshipper yet. I met her in the way of -business if you know what I mean: but I expect she'll join before long. -I know she will if I can only bring off fhat I'm talking about. She's -got a pension, and she takes paying guests, quite high-toned and all. -That's how I got to know her. I've put up there fhen I've come down -to London these five year. Well, the moment I first come ben her best -parlour I spots his photo on the cheffonier. 'Hech,' says I, 'I know -that chap.' 'Then you know a very mauvy soojy,' says she, for she knows -the French fine, and a' thing as genteel as you can think. So we had -a bit crack; and fhat with fhat she told me and fhat I knew aboot him -before, I may inform you that if we want to get anything out of him now -I'm the man that can secure his entire acquiescence to any proposal we -like to submit to him. Here's my plan, comrades, and if anyone's got a -better let him out with it or else for ever after hold his peace and -stand out of the way of them that has. Comrades, the hour has struck -when tyranny will be no more for I've got the tyrant between ma legs -and A'm going to squeeze him off my own bat, supposing as I'm properly -supported. Cautious though, very cautious we must be: for Rose fhen I -knew him was fine and slippery. Artful? E-e-e-e-e-eh! Dinna ye talk -about his artfulness! Aye and proud too! He was the most haughty don't -care sort of chap ye can think. I mind his eyes were like lowin' coals -somewhens.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> - -<p>You shouldn't nail him anyhow. Insolence I call it; and I'd have pulled -his nose for him many times only he wasn't worth it. Starving I've -known him: yet if you'll believe me he'd give himsel' a wash and a -brush up and go out of an afternoon looking as smart as you please in -his old clothes and with a fag always in his mouth like the masher he -is. That fag! I'll let ye know it was aye the same fag. He hadna used -to light it ever. He lit it once and put it out directly after; and -then he used to stick it in his face every afternoon and shew himself -as usual, so that no one should know he hadna had a bit fhite fish, -na naething to ca' a moothfu' o' flesher's meat wi' his piece the -week past. He felled it me himsel' when I got to know him. And now, -comrades, there's that feller sitting on the seven hills of Rome with -three gold crowns on his head, as has been put in the papers, damning -us for all he's worth. Comrades, fhat I wish to call the attention of -this meeting to this evening is—I'll just speir if ye think that Rose -should like to have his past life gave away by me and my lady-friend? -Mrs. Crowe, her name is."</p> - -<p>Jerry paused for a reply; and realized that he had possession of the -meeting's ear: He mopped the lumps on his forehead: helped himself -out of the chairman's whiskey-bottle: gulped a dram; and continued. -His assumption of the rhetorical manner was consciously enormous now. -"Comrades, as in the east when the golden light of dawn shews that -sunrise is about to come, so this poor feeble voice of mine shews that -the tyrant's thrones are tottering to their overthrow. But, comrades, -we maun beware. Snares beset our path. Once we have let oursel's be -caught by his infernal Jesuitical machinations and he has scornfully -crrrushed us to the earth. This is how Labor is treated, and thus shall -Labor be treated as long as we go cap in hand and ask for our rights -instead of demanding them and taking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> them as Comrade Matchwood says -in the <i>Salpinx</i>. Comrades, this time we maun conquer or expire. If -we want the former, we must fight our enemy with his own tools. Fhat -are his tools? Comrades, his tools are Jesuitical Tory tools. His -emissaries are everywhere, his spies beset our path on every hand I -should say infest our road. Even in this hall to-night, a Tory eye may -be upon us, a Jesuitical ear may be protruded to catch these whispers -falling from this feeble tongue and pass them on to that arch-pariah -in Rome who is drunk with the blood of working-men and battened on -unearned increment. Comrades, we maun take a leaf out of his book: -we maun hoist him up on his own Jesuitical petard. We oursels maun -become Jesuitical for the sake of the Cause. Comrades, there in Rome -sits the Abominable Desolation and I'll let ye know ye'll find him -fhat ye may call a fikey customer. Day by day his satellites prostrate -their forms before his so-called holy toe, and let him know a' things -which they've found out by base and underhand sneaking means. That is -whit way he is so powerful. His slaves tell him so much that he knows -everything. Look fhat with an entire lack of consistency he said about -the <i>Salpinx</i>. Could he have said that if he hadna been informed? No, -I repeat, a thousand times no. Comrades we maun do the same. He knows -our secrets and uses them against us most unfair. We maun worm his -out too, and use them to bend his proud knee to the people's will. -Comrades, I, me, know his secrets. I am the man and Mrs. Crowe is the -woman fhat shall shame him before all his silken harems and cardinals -and potentates—upset his apple-cart if I may use a colloquious -impression. We only have got to show the despot our two faces, and -I'll let ye know he'll quail as sure's death. We shan't need say a -word. At the mere sight of me and my lady-friend the monster'll howl -for mercy. Then we will be able to have our revenge for his recent -most insulting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> remarks. We will dictate fhat he shall have to do to -win our favour. All the starch and haughtiness shall go out of him -like steam out of a toddy-jug when he sees us two; and he shall pay -any price to gain our smile. And then I'll let you know what my plans -are. Comrades, we're agreed aren't we that the only way in which the -Cause can triumph over Capital is by having a Labor majority in the -House of Commons. Fhat I mean by that is this. At that magnificent -demonstration of Labor's irresistible electoral might, in the words -of the <i>Salpinx</i>, we can make the Tories and our friends the Liberals -pass our bills to pay us our proper salaries; and we will wrestle from -the reluctant rich the mines and the railways and the mills and all -the paying industries, and we shall even nationalize the land itself -which our bloated aristocracy have robbed us of and mafficked in and -wallowed in our gore. Comrades, I shall not detain you much longer for -I see the hour is getting on. Fhat I mean to say is this is the point. -There are, in this Great Britain and Ireland of ours the night, no less -than 8,452,637 deluded papists with parliamentary votes. I obtained -those figures carefully from statistics. You have to be careful about -details like this if you mean to do yersel' any good at a'. Now, -Comrades, all those 8,452,637 papists shall gladly drop their 8,452,637 -votes into candidates' ballot boxes which will be put forward by the -Liblab Fellowship. They shall do it at one word from their Pope, at one -penstroke of his, such is the besotted state of slavery in which they -exist. Refuse they dare not, or they should languish in the horrors -of the Spanish Inquisition or light the Fires of Smithfield and the -Massacres of the so-called Saint Bartholomew. Comrades, it is that one -word and penstroke which the sight of me and Mrs. Crowe shall squeeze -out of their haughty Pope. We'd better have a proper deputation to go -to wait on him with us for safety's sake; and happen we'd better have -a sort of address<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> to present, explaining how matters stand, just to -make things look pleasant and polite, as it were. That's only a matter -of form though. The main thing'll be to see him fall back toes over tip -on his judgment-seat like him as was struck with worms when he sees -who's in the deputation. Laugh? I won't ever have laughed like I will -laugh at him then! Well now, comrades, I've said my say and I say no -more leaving the matter to your esteemed consideration. Comrades, think -of all the insults which he and his myrmidons has made us groan under -so long. Revenge is now at your disposal. This weak hand of mine has -pointed out whit way. Seize it, oh seize it in the name of Freedom is -all I ask. For myself I ask nothing, not a penny if you was to offer -it me. Comrades, I'm fighting for the Cause. For the Cause I'd give my -life as far as in me lies. That's my aim: that's my game, as the poet -remarks. Comrades I shall not detain you longer I shall now sit down." -And the raucous gentleman panted into the next Fellowshipper's chair.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER X</p> - - -<blockquote> - -<p> - -"<span class="smcap">Dear Mrs. Crowe</span>,<br /> -<br /> -<i>Secret and Confidential.</i><br /> -<br /> -<i>Please burn it when you have concluded reading.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p>Referring to our numerous enjoyable conversations on the subject -of Socialism in which you have evinced entire acquiescence, I am -directed by the Council of the Liblab Fellowship to call your -attention to the advantages obtainable from comradeship as per -enclosed. The entrance fee is two and six and the subscription five -shillings per ann. payable in June and Dec. I may add that those -are special terms which I have exerted my influence to obtain in -your favour and I trust I shall meet with your esteemed approval. -Would you decide to join, kindly notify me of the same per wire for -wh. I enclose six stamps. Yes or No will answer all purposes, but -personally I feel sure that it shall be yes. On receipt of your -anticipated favour will at once propose and have you seconded at -our evening meeting to take place on the night of the same day when -you get this letter. Should your reply be in the affirmative I am -to let you know that you shall at once be nominated as a member of -a deputation, which I have the honour to be a member of as well, -which is about to proceed to Rome for the purpose of diplomatically -interviewing our mutual friend the Pope. The expenses of the trip -will be borne by the Liblab funds so there is no need to worry -on that score. You are aware that travel especially to such a -famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> town as Rome is considered advantageous in every respect. -The Italian sky the numerous old ancient edifices and the Romans -themselves in their native monasteries cannot fail to amuse the -eye of the beholder. The excursion is entirely gratis and so that -difficulty is removed. But in addition to what I have said there is -also the prospect of renewing our acquaintance with his so-called -'Holiness!!!!! And I may say for certain of having private interviews -with him in the innermost recesses of his haunts. More I shall not -now add. The mission of the deputation is strictly diplomatic and -connected with political affairs, and I am of course not at liberty -to divulge the details to anyone but fellow-shippers, it would be -hardly prudent. Ah would that you dear Mrs. Crowe was one. But I -may without any breach of confidence inform you <span class="u">in the strictest -confidence</span> that Rose alias Hadrian <span class="u">is in our power</span> and therefore -putting politics out of the question it shall go hard if you and me -cannot do a little private business with him on our own account. -Hoping to hear from you soon as per enclosed blank form and thanking -you in anticipation</p> - -<p> -I remain<br /> -Yours truly in the Cause (I hope)<br /> -<span class="smcap">Jeremiah Sant</span>.<br /> -</p> - -<p>P.S. Now burn this without fail."</p></blockquote> - -<p>Sant's lady-friend sat at the breakfast table, pondering this letter -while her kidney grew cold. The four lodgers were gone to business; -and she was alone except for the presence of her son. He was one of -those beautiful speechless cow-eyed youths who seem born to serve as -butts. Most people exercise some influence, assert some personal note. -Alaric Crowe did neither. A course of female rule had produced him -with about as much individuality as a cushion. He ate his breakfast in -delicate silence. His mother was wrapt in thought. She found Sant's -letter delectable. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> consuming passion of her whole life was for -George Arthur Rose. Next to him, she desired fame, notoriety, as a -leader in suburban literary and artistic "circles." By perseverance, an -undeniable amount of clever organizing power, a certain stock of third -or fourth class talent, and any quantity of "push," she had established -a sort of salon where little lions hebdomadally roared. But she never -had won the faintest regard from the man for whom she burned. The -violence of her passion had caused her to make an irremediable mistake -with him. She had not realized the feline temper which had caused him -to repel advances as obvious as abrupt and as shameless as a dog's. -He had ceased to be aware of her existence. Then she had blundered -further. Still ignorant of his peculiarity, she had treated him as the -female animal treats the male of her desire. Finding him unapproachable -by blandishments, she had turned to persecution. She would make him -come to her and beg. Here, she also failed. In vain did she defame him -to her followers: in vain did she libel him to the publishers from -whom he earned his scanty subsistence: in vain did she force herself -upon his few friends with stories of his evil deeds. He let those who -listened to her leave him. He tolerated the ill-will or stupidity of -Bar-abbas. He never said a word in his own defence. And he kept her -severely and entirely at a distance, giving no sign that he even knew -of her manœuvres. It was galling to the last degree. Of course he was -egregiously wrong. "Neither in woes nor in welcome prosperity, may I -be associated with women: for, when they prevail, one cannot tolerate -their audacity; and, when they are frightened, they are a still greater -mischief to their house and their city." His feeling to women was that -of Eteokles in the <i>Seven against Thebes</i>. It caused him to make the -tremendous mistake of his life. A woman of this colour never can be -neglected: she must be taken—or smashed. That, he knew: but he would -not take her, ever; and, a certain chivalrous delicacy, mingled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> with -a certain mercifulness of heart, and a certain fastidious shrinking -from a loathsome object, prevented him from prosecuting her with the -rigour of the law. "Wrong must thou do, or wrong must suffer. Then, -grant, O blind dumb gods, that we, rather the sufferers than the doers -be," expressed his attitude. It annoyed himself: it made her fierce -and furibund: and it was absolutely futile.—And now, he had leaped -at a bound from impotent lonely penury to the terrible altitude of -Peter's Throne. He was famous, mighty, rich, and the idol of her -adoration, despite the great gulph fixed between her insignificance and -His Supremacy. Oh, what would she not give—for a curse, for a blow -from Him. The emotion thrilled and dazzled her. Not one hour during -twelve years had she been without the thought of Him. It was a case of -complete obcession.</p> - -<p>Her daughter flowed into the room in a pink wrapper, finishing a florid -cadenza. A touch on the tea-pot and a glance under the dish-cover -revealed astringent and coagulate tepidity. She rang the bell.</p> - -<p>"Mother, why aren't you eating any breakfast?"</p> - -<p>"I am eating it. I only just stopped a minute to read my letters."</p> - -<p>"A pretty long minute, I should think. Everything's stone-cold. Why -you've only got one letter! Who's it from?"</p> - -<p>"Mr. Sant. He wants me to go to Rome with him."</p> - -<p>"Oh mother, you can't you know."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I don't know anything of the kind. In fact I think I will go. -There'll be a party of us."</p> - -<p>"Well, if it's a party—— But what's going to become of the house?"</p> - -<p>"I'm sure Big Ann is capable of looking after the house, Amelia. If -I can't have a fortnight's holiday now and then I might just as well -go and drown myself. I'm sick to death of Oriel Street. I want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> to go -about a bit. Yes, I will go. And the house must get on the best way it -can. Anybody would think you were all a pack of machines that wouldn't -work if I'm not here to wind you up."</p> - -<p>"Oh, all right, mother, go and have a fling by all means if you like. -But what about the cost? I'm sure I can't help you as long as I only -get these three-guinea engagements. And I simply can't wear that -eau-de-nil again. The bodice is quite gone under the arms."</p> - -<p>"You're not asked to help. Mr. Sant pays all expenses. And, Amelia, if -I can do what I'm going to try to do, you shall have as many new frocks -as you can wear. We're going to see the Pope."</p> - -<p>"Going to see the Pope?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, you silly girl—the Pope,—Rose!"</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"Just what I say."</p> - -<p>"But you can't."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense. Of course I can."</p> - -<p>"Well I mean of course you can see Him the same as other people do: but -you'll be in the crowd, and He—— I can't understand you at all this -morning. Let's look at Sant's letter—— How vilely the man writes! -Like a—— You don't mean to say you'll join these people? M-ym-ym. -Yes, I see the game.—Yes.—But d'you think you really could?—Well: -if you like the idea still, it's worth trying anyhow.—Silly little -mother! Why I believe you're in love with Rose even now. Ah, you're -blushing. Mother, you look a dear like that!"</p> - -<p>"Amelia, don't be stupid. Mind your own business."</p> - -<p>"Oh I'm not going to interfere. You needn't be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> jealous of me. I'm sure -I never saw anything particular in Him myself."</p> - -<p>They spoke as though they were alone. Alaric went quite unnoted. He -folded his napkin and rose from the table.</p> - -<p>"A—and, mother," he mooed, slowly, with a slight hesitation, in a -virginal baritone voice, resonant and low; "if you go to Rome, don't be -nasty to Mr. Rose?"</p> - -<p>Both the women whirled round toward him. They hardly could have been -astounded if the kidneys had commented on their complexions.</p> - -<p>"Alaric! how dare you sir!"</p> - -<p>"A-and I only say if you go to Rome I hope you won't be nasty to Mr. -Rose."</p> - -<p>"Did you ever hear such nonsense, Amelia? Why not, I should like to -know?"</p> - -<p>"A-and he taught me to swim."</p> - -<p>"So he did me. At least he tried to. And what of that?" snapped the -girl.</p> - -<p>"A-and I don't think it's fair. I liked him. A-and father liked him."</p> - -<p>"Yes indeed, he's just the sort of man your father would have liked, -unfortunately. He liked that sonnet-man, too. A pretty kind of person! -All I can say is, Alaric, if I were to let you see the letters I've got -of his and the albums full——: but there, you don't know as much as I -do about your father!"</p> - -<p>The boy bellowed. "A-and don't you dare say anything against father! -I won't stand it. Amelia knows I won't stand it from her; and I won't -from anyone, not even from you, mother. I won't, I tell you! I'll go -right away if I have another word. Mother, I'm sorry: but you oughtn't. -A-and I don't want you to be nasty to Mr. Rose, because I liked him, -a-and father liked him," concluded Alaric departing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> - -<p>Mother and daughter looked at each other. "Who'd have expected Alaric -to burst out like that? I'm sure it's very hard, after all I've gone -through, to have my own children turning against me."</p> - -<p>"I am not turning against you, mother. I think—well of course I can't -see why you care for Rose: but if you do you'd be a fool to miss a -chance like this. What does Mr. Sant mean about having him in his -power?"</p> - -<p>"I don't quite know. I suppose Georgie must have got himself entangled -with these people somehow; and they think he wouldn't like it to come -out. That's very possible. He's been mixed up with several shady -characters in his time. However, we shall see. Amelia, do you know what -I've been thinking? That mauve frock of my aunt Sarah's—now I believe -I could make that up for myself for evenings and save a new one, you -know. It's lovely silk. You can't get anything as good as that anywhere -now-a-days."</p> - -<p>"What the one with the fringe?"</p> - -<p>"Well, isn't fringe coming in again now? I think I know how to use -every bit of it. The only difficulty 'll be with the sleeves. I wish -someone would invent a sleeve that only covers the lower part of one's -arms. You see the best part of mine's about the shoulders."</p> - -<p>"Why don't you simply carry the fringe over the shoulders like straps; -and wear long gloves?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, of course I might do that. And Amelia, I really must have a new -transformation; all things considered I think I will go to Du Schob and -Hamingill's for it this time. I'm afraid they're rather dear: but when -you look what a chance this is and how much depends ... Then there's -another reason why I should go. People are beginning to neglect our -Wednesdays. Well now, if I go to Rome with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> these whats-his-names it's -sure to be in the papers; and then when I come back all our old friends -are sure to want to know."</p> - -<p>So this precious pair of would-be blackmailers accompanied the -deputation from the Liblab Fellowship to God's Vicegerent. Much of the -formality prescribed for pontifical audiences had fallen into abeyance. -Hadrian received ambassadors or personages with various degrees of -ceremony: but, almost every day, He was to be found pacing to and fro -in the portico of St. Peter's; and then He was accessible to all the -world. When, however, the Socialists applied for an audience, it was -intimated that the Supreme Pontiff would deign to receive them at -ten o'clock on the following morning; and the Vatican officials were -instructed that the reception would be carried out with full state. It -was George Arthur Rose's birthday. For twenty years no one had cared -to remember it. Now there were scores who cared; and none who dared. -Hadrian was more remote than George Arthur Rose had been.</p> - -<p>A nervous little group of twenty obvious plebeians, male and female, -awaited Him in the Ducal Hall. Superb chamberlains shewed them the door -by which the Pope would enter, and instructed them to approach the -throne when He should have taken His seat. The great red curtains at -the end of the Hall were drawn-back; and cardinals, prelates, guards -and chamberlains, flowed-in like a wave whose white crest was Hadrian. -As the procession passed, Sant growled to Mrs. Crowe,</p> - -<p>"Does Himself well, don't He?"</p> - -<p>"Oh isn't He just splendid!" she yapped.</p> - -<p>Then chamberlains manœuvred the Liblabs into position at the foot of -the throne steps. Jerry by common consent had been chosen spokesman; -and the united intellect of the Fellowship had drawn up the address -which he, with ostentatious calmness, began to read. The Pope's ringed -hand lay on His knee: His left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> elbow rested on the crimson chair -and the hand supported the keen unfathomable face. He had prepared -His plans: but He alertly was listening, lest unforeseen necessity -for alteration should arise. He was watching with half-shut eyes and -wide-open mind for an opportunity. None came. His prevision had been -singularly accurate. The Liblab Fellowship really had nothing to say -to Him, beyond turgid sesquipedalian verbosity expressive of its -own disinterestedness, and fulsome adulation calculated (according -to the Fellowshippers' lights) to tickle the conceit of any average -man. It would have been funny, if it had not been terribly tiresome: -impertinent, if it had not been pitiable. Sant's tongue clacked on his -drying palate. To himself, his voice sounded quite strange in that -atmosphere of splendid colour and fragrant odour. Mrs. Crowe quivered; -and wondered. The others were in a torpor. No one listened to the -reader, except the Pope. The curia rustled and whispered, exchanging -jewelled snuff-boxes. The guards resembled tinted statues tipped with -steel.</p> - -<p>"We have the honour to remain, in the cause of humanity," concluded -Jerry Sant, reciting the common-place names of the signatories, "On -behalf of the Liblab Fellowship." He refolded the foolscap sheets, -and drew them through his fingers, looking as though he were about -to hand them with a flourish to the Pope. A frilled black-velvet -flunkey took them from him, gave them to a purple prelate, who passed -them to a vermilion cardinal, who kneeled and presented them. The -stately Cardinal Van Kristen moved from the side presenting a second -manuscript. Hadrian unfolded it and began to read His reply. It was -courteous and concise, distant and independent, simply an allocution -on the distinction necessary to be drawn between Demagogues and Demos, -the worthiness of the latter, the doubtfulness of the former. At the -end there was a silence. Chamberlains discreetly made it known to the -Fellowshippers that homage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> might be rendered by any who desired to -render it; and gave instructions as to the customary manner. Twelve -of the demagogues preferred a non-committal pose, having fear of the -snorts of the <i>Salpinx</i>; and, of these, two found it convenient to -glare uncompromisingly, letting it be seen that they regarded their -host as the Man of Sin. But eight approached the throne. Five of them -bowed, as over the counter: one kneeled on one knee and read his -maker's name in his hat: Sant held his own elbows and looked along his -nose; and Mrs. Crowe laid her lips on the cross gold-embroidered on the -Pontiff's crimson shoe. That was all. These people were bewildered, -almost inebriated by the magnificence of the scene, by the more than -regal ceremonial, by the immense psychical distance which divided them -from the clean white exquisitely simple figure under the lofty canopy, -by the quiet fastidious voice purring unknown words from an unimagined -world, by the delphic splendour of Apostolic Benediction waved from the -<i>sedia gestatoria</i> retiring in a pageant of flabellifers. On leaving -the Vatican, they were thoroughly dazed: they knew not whether their -diplomacy had been successful or unsuccessful. Jerry Sant had an -indistinct notion that he might expect to be summoned after night-fall; -and surreptitiously introduced to some pontifical hole or corner in -order to be bribed. Mrs. Crowe exulted in a new emotion. She actually -had touched Him: and she thrilled: and she was sure that this was only -a beginning.</p> - -<p>When Hadrian was about to descend alone into St. Peter's to say His -night prayers, He observed one of His gentlemen practising a new and -curious gymnastic in the first antechamber. Sir Iulo was in solitude; -and he did not hear the feline footfall which came near. He had a -longish knife in his right hand, held behind his back. Then, with his -teeth clenched, and his eyes firmly fixed on an imaginary pair of eyes -in front of him, and every sinew of him at its tensest, he suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> -whipped hand and knife face-high to the front hilt-upward, down to -arms' length and forward-up again point-upward, all with frightful -force and rapidity. Hadrian watched him during five performances. -Then Sir Iulo became aware of the Presence; and relaxed into upright -stillness, grinning and glittering.</p> - -<p>"What is this game?" the Pope enquired.</p> - -<p>"Not game: but for the protection of You."</p> - -<p>"Protection? Protection from what?"</p> - -<p>"From those most horrible peoples who have been to-day here pursuing -some vendettaccia."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean those Liblabs?"</p> - -<p>"But yes, those Libberlabberersser: especially a Libberlabber who has -read, and a she-Libberlabber who goes with him. It is I who have seen -of them both the eye. From which I vibrate a knife most commodious for -the bellies of those. His Holiness can rest secure."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean that you are going to rip them up?"</p> - -<p>"But yes, in the manner which I have learned of the chef from Naples. -Now I watch them. When I shall have seen them make a movement, behold -the tripes of them sliced precipitatissimamente!"</p> - -<p>"Iulo. No. Understand? No."</p> - -<p>"There is not of dishonour! First like this, I demonstrate the -knife—they view the mode of their deaths. There is in it nothing of -sly—— Next, I give them the death which they have merit. That is not -the deed of a dishonourable."</p> - -<p>"You are commanded not to give death—not to think of giving death. -It is prohibited. O Viniti, quo vadis? Understand? Bury the knife in -the garden. Sotterratelo nel giardino, Vinizio mio. Capisce? Break it -first. Then bury it in the garden—— If you wish to be protector of -Hadrian, learn to fight with fists—pugni. Understand?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tell John to buy a punching-bag—punching-bag—and practise on that."</p> - -<p>"Bai a punnertchingerbagger," repeated the devout murderer-in-posse -with disappointment, as the Pope left him limp.</p> - -<p>A sign drew Cardinal Van Kristen to walk by Hadrian's side on the -return from San Pietro and Vincula on Lammas Day. From time to time, -his shy grand eyes turned to the Pope as they rhythmically paced along. -From time to time, a blessing fluttered from the Apostle's hand to some -stranger by the road-side.</p> - -<p>"Holiness," at length he said, "do you remember the saint You used to -worship on this day at Maryvale?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian detached Himself from a reverie. "Little Saint Hugh? Fancy your -remembering that!" And He again dived into silence.</p> - -<p>"One would hardly fail to remember anything You said or did in those -days, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>The Pope said nothing. He was thinking of something else.</p> - -<p>"I put the picture you painted of Little Saint Hugh up in our refectory -at Dynam House."</p> - -<p>No answer came. The cardinal's long eyelashes lifted a little as -he looked at his companion. He was not sure that his attempt at -conversation was welcome.</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness does not care to be reminded perhaps. I did not mean to -intrude. Sorry."</p> - -<p>Hadrian put out a hand. "No, Percy, you don't intrude. We were -wondering how long this King is going to be."</p> - -<p>"Which King?"</p> - -<p>"Italy."</p> - -<p>"Oh. Yes?"</p> - -<p>"Things are at a standstill."</p> - -<p>"For example?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Everything—at least in Italy—as long as something better than sulky -peace is lacking. We want friendship, collaboration. See whether you -can follow this. The personal influence of His Majesty is enormous. -Although his acts are quite constitutional, yet, such is his magnetic -force of character that he actually rules. No matter which party is in -power, the King's Majesty rules. Practically he is an autocrat; and he, -so far, has not made a single mistake, nor done a single unjust or even -ungenerous deed. Now We also have some power, some personal influence. -These people seem to like Us. They're charmingly polite. They run about -after Us. We do not doubt but that they would obey if We commanded—if -We ordained that no woman should cover her hair with a terrible -handkerchief when she goes into a church—if We substituted silver -sand for those abominably insane sponges in the holy-water fonts, for -example—but how many of them would obey Us if We ordered them to cease -from drying their linen at their windows, or to stop spitting? Do you -follow?"</p> - -<p>"No, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Our influence is over particulars, is sentimental, is ideal. The -influence of the King's Majesty is over universals, is practical, is -real——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I see that."</p> - -<p>"Well, then——"</p> - -<p>"You mean that Your influence and the King's——"</p> - -<p>"Could do a great deal more for this dear delightful country than——"</p> - -<p>"Do you think that this King knows of Your desire for reconciliation?"</p> - -<p>"Victor Emanuel is one of the four cleverest men in the world. It -is impossible that he should not have understood the <i>Regnum Meum</i>. -Besides, We addressed him by name. He owes Us the civility of a -response."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Holiness, let me have that news conveyed to him. Guido Attendolo——"</p> - -<p>"No. We Ourself have not yet seen clearly the next move. We believe -that His Majesty of his own initiative ought to have approached -Us—the son to the Father—before now. We have given him a token of -Our good-will. There the matter rests. He cannot have a doubt as to -what Our purpose is. But—His Majesty must do as he pleases. We think -that We have done Our part so far. At present, We are not moved to -proceed further. When We are moved—and that is what occupies Us now. -An idea seems to be forming in Our mind: but as yet,—— Percy, do ask -Our friends to tea in the Garden of the Pine-Cone at half-past sixteen -o'clock to-day."</p> - -<p>The same afternoon after siesta, Hadrian sat at one end of the great -white-marble arc-shaped seat. A yard away sixteen cardinals spread -their vermilion along the same seat. Little tables stood before them -with tea, goat's milk, triscuits and raisins. The Pope preferred to sit -here where the pavement was of marble: because lizards avoided it, and -their creepy-crawly jerks on grass or gravel shocked his nerves. He was -sure that reptiles were diabolical and unclean; and His taste was for -the angelic and the clean. He smoked a cigarette; and flung a subject -to His Court, as one flings corn to chickens.</p> - -<p>"Was not the question of requiems for Non-Catholics settled two or -three years ago?" replied Courtleigh.</p> - -<p>"Yes:" said Talacryn. "It was declared impossible, profane, -inconsistent."</p> - -<p>"Why?" Hadrian's predilection was for the inconsistent, rather than for -that undevelopable fossil which goes by the name of consistency.</p> - -<p>"It would be inconsistent, Holiness, for the Church to proclaim, by the -most solemn act of Her ministry, as a child submissive to Her, one who -always re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>fused; or certainly never consented, to recognise Her as a -mother—one who, while alive, would have rejected any such recognition -as a grave insult and an irreparable misfortune;" Talacryn responded.</p> - -<p>"I don't follow Your Eminency," said Whitehead: "it's eloquent—but -it's only eloquence."</p> - -<p>"Isn't Cardinal Talacryn rather begging the question, Holiness?" -Leighton enquired. "Who spoke of proclaiming as a submissive child one -who never was submissive?"</p> - -<p>"Holy Mass is the public and solemn testimony of visible communion; -the <i>tessera communionis</i>, if I may use the term; and, therefore, the -Church can only offer publicly for those who have departed this life as -members of that visible communion:" Talacryn persisted.</p> - -<p>"Holy Mass is a great deal more than that!" interjected Carvale.</p> - -<p>"Yes?"</p> - -<p>"Holiness, it is not for me to tell Cardinal Talacryn that Holy -Mass is not only a sacrament for the sanctification of souls, but -a sacrifice—the Real Sacrifice of Calvary, offered by our Divine -Redeemer and pleaded in His Name by us His vicars. It is not another -sacrifice, but the Sacrifice of the Cross applied. It is the Clean -Oblation, offered to God for all Christians quick and dead, for all for -whom Christ died."</p> - -<p>"Would not the bonafides of the Non-Catholic in question come in?" said -Semphill. "Take for instance the Divine Victoria——"</p> - -<p>"'Divine'?" queried della Volta.</p> - -<p>"Yes, 'Divine.' You say 'Divus Julius' and 'Divus Calixtus,' meaning -'the late Julius' and 'the late Calixtus.' Very well, then I say 'the -Divine Victoria' for a more thoroughly, worthy woman——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well, but that would mean that on the death of such and such a -Non-Catholic, we should have to institute a process of inquisition, and -adjudicate on his or her life and career:" Ferraio ventured.</p> - -<p>Hadrian threw His cigarette-end at a lizard on the gravel, and laughed -shortly. "'Pippety-pew, me mammy me slew, me daddy me ate, me sister -Kate gathered a' me baines——'" He quoted with deliciously feline -inconsequence. "How you theological people do split straws, to be sure! -Go on, though. You're intensely interesting."</p> - -<p>The Patriarch of Lisbon slapped his knee.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, there are several decrees which are supposed to bear on the -subject," Gentilotto gently put in.</p> - -<p>"Can Your Eminency remember them?"</p> - -<p>"Innocent III. ruled that communion might not be held with those -deceased, with whom it had not been held when they were alive."</p> - -<p>"I concede it. But it doesn't touch the point. I distinguish. Holy Mass -is more than mere communion. Besides, we don't communicate with, but on -behalf of, the deceased. It's not a concession to the deceased. It's -our duty to God and to our neighbour," Carvale persisted.</p> - -<p>"Then there was the case of Gregory XVI. and Queen Caroline of -Bavaria," Gentilotto continued. "The argument is the same: but perhaps -it has been expanded a little. It definitely prohibits persons, who -have died in the eternal and notorious profession of heresy, from being -honoured with Catholic rites."</p> - -<p>"Another point occurs to me," Talacryn went on. "Supposing that we sing -requiems for Non-Catholics, we should imply that one religion is as -good as another."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I guess I deny the consequence," Grace retorted. "Of course people -would infer all sorts of things which ought not to be inferred: but I -can't see that that need concern us."</p> - -<p>"One might imperil the salient and sacred aloofness which marks off -God's Work from man's work, the Church's unmistakeable contrast to the -whole world," said the Cardinal of St. Nicholas-in-the-Jail-of-Tully.</p> - -<p>"And her complete discordance from the world by all the difference -which separates the Divine Institution from the human, the Church of -God from the churches of men," Saviolli appended.</p> - -<p>"All the same I think I go with the Cardinal of St. Cosmas and St. -Damian," said Mundo.</p> - -<p>"There would not be any real ground," Sterling continued, "for -suspecting one of disloyalty to the Church, if one were to recognize -the Invincibly Ignorant as the 'other sheep' which His Holiness -mentioned in His first Epistle. One is not going to take part in their -worship, or frequent their services: because one knows better. And one -is not going to accept the principle of a conglomerate Church of the -'common-christianity' type any more than one is going to accept an -Olympos of gods for a Divinity. But one confesses that one can see no -reason why one should not pray for outsiders, offer Mass for outsiders, -recognize them in short, as His Holiness seems to ordain. They don't -know us; and, naturally, they invent a caricature of us, as things are. -Yes, on the whole, perhaps one ought to support Carvale."</p> - -<p>"Well: if we're taking sides, I'll follow you," said Semphill.</p> - -<p>Their Eminencies rose and surrounded Cardinal Carvale. Talacryn was -left alone at the other end of the seat; and Percy moved a few inches -nearer to the Pope.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Now Percy?" said Talacryn with invitation. The youngest cardinal shook -his grand head in the negative.</p> - -<p>"And will not you yourself join the majority?" Hadrian inquired of the -single minority.</p> - -<p>"I shall follow your Holiness," Talacryn answered. The others looked -their interest.</p> - -<p>The Pope smiled. "Note please, that We are not uttering infallible -dogma, but the fallible opinion of a private clergyman, weak-kneed -perhaps, or worldly. We know no more than this,—that Christ died for -all men." Rising He began to throw on his white cloak, for it was the -hour before sunset and the air was cooler. "Eminencies," He continued, -"We learn much from you. This discussion was an accident, due to Our -negligence. The case which We intended to submit to you was not the -case of an outsider: but, while you have been talking, We have reached -the solution of Our problem by another road. We request you immediately -to publish the news that to-morrow at ten o'clock the Supreme Pontiff -will sing a requiem in St. Peter's for the repose of the soul of -Umberto the Fearless King of Italy."</p> - -<p>An English Catholic painter came to paint the Pope's portrait. Hadrian -knew him for a vulgar and officious liar: detested him; and, at the -first application, had refused to sit to him. His Holiness was not at -all in love with His Own aspect. It annoyed Him because it just missed -the ideal which He admired; and He did not want to be perpetuated. -Also, He loathed the cad's Herkomeresque-cum-Camera esque technique and -his quite earthy imagination: from that palette, the spiritual, the -intellectual, the noble, could not come. But, He thought of the man's -pinched asking face, of his dreadful nagging wife, of his children—of -the rejection of all his pictures by the Academy this year, of the fact -that he was being supplanted by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> younger grander minds. Ousted from -livelihood! Horrible! Love your enemies! Ouf! The Pontiff would give -six sittings of one hour each, on condition that He might read all the -time.</p> - -<p>The privilege alone was an inestimable advertisement. Alfred Elms -looked upon himself as likely to become the fashion. Hadrian sat in the -garden for six siestas; and He read in Plato's Phaidōn, which is the -perfection of human language, until His lineaments were composed in -an expression of keen gentle fastidious rapture. Elms's professional -efforts at conversation were annulled quietly and incisively. The Pope -blessed him and handfuls of rosaries at the end of every sitting. -Sometimes His Holiness was so elated with the beauty of the Greek of -His book, that He even was able with a little self-compulsion to utter -a few kindly and intelligent criticisms of the painter's work. That -was startlingly real, mirror-like. The varied whiteness of marble and -flannel and vellum and the healthy pallor of flesh, gained purity from -the notes of the reddish-brown hair and the translucent violet of the -amethyst. The clean light of the thing was admirably rendered. The -painter could delineate, and tint with his hand, that which his eyes -beheld, with blameless accuracy. What his eyes did not see, the soul, -the mind, the habit of his model, he as accurately omitted. Hadrian -made him glad with a compliment on the perfection of the connection -between his directive brain and his executive fingers. At the end of -the last sitting also He gave him two hundred pounds, and the picture, -and a written indulgence in the hour of death. The painter went away -quite happy, and with his fortune made. He never knew how vehemently -his work was detested, how profoundly he himself was scorned.</p> - -<p>August was deliciously warm. The Pope moved the Court for a few weeks -to the palace on the Nemorensian lake which the Prince of Cinthyanum -lent. It was a vast barrack of a palace. Although three sides of it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> -actually were in the little city, and a public thoroughfare pierced its -central archway, yet it suited Hadrian admirably. Approached through -numerous antechambers and picture-galleries, there was a huge room -frescoed in simulation of a princely tent. Here they placed a throne -for receptions. There was a great balcony high above the porch, facing -a two-mile avenue of elms. When the faithful congregated (as they often -did) the Pope could shew Himself. There were innumerable chambers of -state and private suites, where the curial cardinals took up their -abode. But high on the fourth side of the palace, with no access except -by several little private stairs, Hadrian found an apartment of five -small rooms which was quite secluded. From its windows, (the palace -stood on the crest of the cliff) a stone might be dropped into the -fathomless lake three hundred feet below; and, beyond the lake, the eye -soared to Diana's Forest of oaks and the spurs of the Alban Mount. A -private stair and passage led to the incomparable (and almost unknown) -gardens, which crowned the rocks with verdure and descended by winding -paths to the mirrored waters of the lake. Here the Pontiff established -Himself, with the noise of the world of men and its limitations on the -one side; and, on the other, quiet and illimitable space wherein the -soul might spread wings and explore the empyrean.</p> - -<p>Half-way down the cliff, a little ruined shrine stood in the garden. -The broken grey-brown tracery of the window framed an exquisite -panorama of water and distant hills, brilliantly blue and green. -The nook stood away from the main path; and was quite enclosed by -sun-kissed foliage, and canopied with vines and ivy. Hadrian was -spending a morning here, alone with cigarettes and the <i>Epinikia</i> of -Pindaros and His thoughts. The air was fragrant with the perfume of -southernwood and the generous sun. He rested in a low cane-chair, -soaking Himself in light and peace. His eyes were turned to the far -distant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> shore where the great grove of ilex cast deep tralucid shadows -in the water. A tiny slip of pink shot from sunlight to shade: another -followed: two tiny splashes of silver spray arose, and vanished: -two blue-black dots appeared in the rippled mirror. Hadrian envied -the young swimmers. He remembered all the wild unfettered boundless -sensuous joy of only a little while ago. Was the fisherman still down -there with his boat and the brown boy who rowed it? He wondered what -the world would say if the Pope were to swim in sunlit Nemi—or in -moonlit. Ah, the mild tepidity of moonlit water, the clean cold caress -of moonlit air! Not that He cared jot or tittle for what the world -might say—personally. No. But—— No. If He were to ask for the use -of the boat, tongues would clack. And He could not go alone with the -deliberate intention. Still—didn't Peter swim in Galilee. Weren't -the Attendolo gardens private? Some night He might stroll down to the -shore: the water was fathomless at once: there need be no wading with -the ripples horribly creeping up one's flesh—Yaff! But the toads on -the path, and the lizards and the serpents in the grass—oh no. Then, -thus it must be: the Pope must not go to seek His pleasure: if God -should deign to afford His Vicegerent the recreation of swimming, an -opportunity would be provided. Otherwise——</p> - -<p>Little footsteps pattered down the glade. His retreat was about to be -invaded.</p> - -<p>Three children burst through the shrubs—and stood transfixed. -They were a couple of black-eyed black-haired girls, and a very -pale-coloured very delicately-articulated slim and stalwart baby-boy -with dark-star-like eyes and brows superbly drawn. All Hadrian's -fearful terror of children paralyzed Him. These limpid glances made -Him feel such a hackneyed old sinner. But He shewed no outward tremor, -looking gently and genially at His visitors, and wondering what (in -the name of all the gods) He ought to say or do. Three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> nurses and an -athletic tailor-made lady added their presence.</p> - -<p>"A thousand pardons, sir," a nurse exclaimed;—"O Santissimo -Padre!"—Six knees flopped on the ground.</p> - -<p>"Missy," the boy announced, "I have found a white father. Why have I -seen a white father before never?" His utterance was very deliberate, -and his English quite devoid of accented syllables.</p> - -<p>The tailor-made lady rose to the occasion with an intuition which only -could be feminine and a self-possession which only could be English. -She bowed to the Pope, saying "Your Holiness will pardon the intrusion. -The children escaped us at the fork in the path——"</p> - -<p>"But it is a pleasure," Hadrian hypocritically put in: "it is a -pleasure," He repeated, seeing that she was about to withdraw her -charges; "and it would be a greater pleasure to know the names of these -little ones."</p> - -<p>"The Prince Filiberto, the Princess Yolanda, and the Princess Mafalda," -the lady replied: "the Queen is giving a children's picnic in Lady -Demochede's woods; and we took the liberty of trespassing here in -search of wild-flowers. Of course we had no idea——"</p> - -<p>"Missy," said the boy again, "I wish to speak to this white father." He -was standing with his exquisite fair little legs wide-apart, his little -body splendidly poised; and his glance was the glance of a young lion.</p> - -<p>"Is it permitted?" Hadrian inquired of the governess.</p> - -<p>"Oh surely;" she assented with perfection of manner.</p> - -<p>"I wish to ask this white father whether he can speak English words -like me;" the youngster pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>claimed, keeping at a distance until he had -reconnoitred the position.</p> - -<p>"Don't be silly 'Berto, of course he can. This is Papa Inglese, I -think;" said the Princess Yolanda with the daintiest air of regality. -She was a very stately little person, and quite aware of herself; and -her great black eyes were wonderful. Her younger sister sucked a silent -thumb.</p> - -<p>"Then I wish to know whether I may kiss that ring—the big one. I -always kiss rings when fathers wear them," her brother continued. He -quite ingenuously offered his little token of regard, giving reasons -for the same in the manner of one who is too noble to take advantage of -ignorance or even of blind good-nature. Hadrian had not the faintest -notion of what to say. He never in His life had spoken to a Royal -Highness; and the childhood of the child had tied His tongue. He would -not have hesitated for one moment to converse with an angel: indeed He -would have been rather more than garrulous. But with a human baby boy! -He extended His right hand.</p> - -<p>The princelet took it: looked at it: looked from the great gold -Little-Peter-in-a-Boat to the great amethyst; and pondered them. -"I think I will kiss them both;" he said at length. The full soft -rose-leaf of his lips flitted from the pontifical to the episcopal -ring. He lifted his bright head; and boldly looked into the Pope's -eyes, with a smile disclosing the most wonderful little teeth—with a -gaze which told of a pact of friendship sealed.</p> - -<p>"God bless you, little boy;" said the Apostle.</p> - -<p>"Oh, He can speak my English words!" the youngster shouted with -delight. "Yolanda, come and kiss these rings, and hear Him say 'God -bless you, little boy' again—no,—girl I mean, Missy dear;" with a -side-look at the governess.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> - -<p>The princess came forward like a lady; and paid her respects. Her -brother intently watched.</p> - -<p>"God bless you, Princess," said the Apostle.</p> - -<p>"Oh but listen," the Prince of Naples shrieked, jumping up and down; -"He knows all the words ezattually, just like my own father. He said -to me 'boy,' and to Yolanda 'princess.' Now go you too, Mafalda, and I -will listen again."</p> - -<p>The tiny maid went. "God bless you, little Princess;" the Apostle said.</p> - -<p>"That is right," the boy cried: "he said 'little princess' because——" -There he stopped a moment. Then, "White Father, why for have -You—no,—why did not You say 'prince' to me? I am Prince Filiberto, -aged five, Quirinale, Rome. Do You know that, White Father?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Prince. But you are a boy."</p> - -<p>"Well, I think so. Also I am a sailor, like Uncle Luigi. Cannot You see -that, White Father? Do You know what thing is a sailor?" He stood by -the chair, leaning against Hadrian's knee, deliciously rosily maritime -in white flannel.</p> - -<p>"Oh yes: We know many sailors:" the Pope responded.</p> - -<p>"Are they English?" The question possessed importance. His Royal -Highness evidently was by way of verifying certain information.</p> - -<p>"Most of them are English."</p> - -<p>"My father says that all good sailors are English, or like English."</p> - -<p>"And are you a good sailor?" The Pope switched the argument away from -the Majesty of Italy, for reasons.</p> - -<p>"But yes, I am very good this morning. But I always am a sailor—even -when I am—not quite good;" the candid baby said with a little -hesitation.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Do you like being 'not quite good'?"</p> - -<p>"Oh but yes—I should say, sometimes. I think I like it then: but not -now. No—I do not like being 'not quite good.'" He settled the matter -like that; and nobly lifted himself upon it.</p> - -<p>"Won't you try to be a good sailor?" (Hadrian hated Himself for -preaching. But such a chance! To make a white mark on the heir to a -throne!)</p> - -<p>"But of course I always try,—except——" and there seemed to be the -difficulty. The child drooped a little.</p> - -<p>"You always do try to be a good sailor—and to give no trouble——"</p> - -<p>"Give no trouble? What not to father?" the prince inquired, as though -the very notion clashed with his preconceived idea of the uses of -fathers.</p> - -<p>"No: not to your father."</p> - -<p>"Nor to Missy?" The round face became a little longer.</p> - -<p>"No: never to ladies on any account."</p> - -<p>"To whom then may I give trouble, if I may not give it to father nor to -Missy?" He felt that he had put a poser.</p> - -<p>"Don't give it."</p> - -<p>"What not to anybody?" This was a matter, a dreadful matter, which -anyhow must be pursued to the bitter end.</p> - -<p>"Not to anybody."</p> - -<p>The child's great brave eyes considered the Apostle attentively: then -they wandered to his sisters, to the governess, to the nurses; and came -back again. Hadrian returned his gaze, very gently, quite inflexibly. -The boy must learn his lesson now. Prince Filiberto pondered the novel -doctrine from all his little points of view; and at last he grasped the -consequence like a man.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Ah well, then I suppose I had better keep it myself. I am sorry that I -gave it to you, Missy, yesterday."</p> - -<p>Hadrian experienced the strangest-possible rigour of the throat. -Another moment and something in Him would have spoiled all. He rose: -blessed His visitors; and passed swiftly away through the trees to the -left.</p> - -<p>"Missy, I am liking that white father. When shall I see Him again?" -came after Him in the incomparable voice of innocence.</p> - -<p>He quickly went up the winding path, along the private passage, up -the stairs to the terrace. He dragged a chair out there and sat down. -"God!" He exclaimed aloud, with tremendous expiration, to the wide -expanse of water and earth and sky which yawned before Him. Tears -welled in His eyes: and the constriction of His throat was relaxed. He -took His handkerchief from His sleeve. Thank heaven He was alone! And -He became calm and analytical and infinitely happy. Verses of Melagros -of Gadara streamed through his mind:</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"Our Lady of desire brought me to thee, Theokles,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"me to thee;</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"and delicate-sandalled Love hath stripped and strewed me</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"at thy feet:</i></span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"a lightning-flash of his sweet beauty!</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"flames from his eyes he darteth!</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"Hath Love revealed a Child who fighteth with thunderbolts?</i></span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"the splendour of twin fires did scorch me through and through:</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"one flame indeed was from the sun, and one was love</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>"from a child's eyes."</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<p>His ecstasy was admiration of the lovely little person and the noble -little soul. The clean and vivid candour, the delicate proportion, -the pure tint, aroused in Him a desire to own. The frank self-hood, -the unerring truth, the courageous tranquillity of self-renunciation, -aroused in Him a sense of emulation. He, the Supreme Pontiff, was -prostrate before the seraphic majesty of the Child. And, as though a -curtain had been lifted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> He had a peep into the human heart. Now, He -thought that He could see and understand one cause, perhaps the chief -cause, of human society—the ability to say "This is mine, mine: for I -did it." He began to understand that the human mind must have external -as well as internal operation—and much beside. As for Himself, He -was making experiment of the first personal emotion of undiluted -enjoyment of human society which He could remember. "Then I can love, -after all;" He reflected. Though He mixed freely and absolutely -independently with all men, yet, in the tender inner soul of Him, He -shrank more shudderingly than ever from the contact. Every single act -of urbanity, of courtesy, was a violent effort to Him. His feeling for -His fellow-creatures was repugnance pure and simple. But, in the case -of this yellow-haired mannikin, there was a difference. He would like -to own such a radiant little piece of the Divine-Human as that fair -Prince Filiberto. He would appreciate the honour and the joy of tending -such a treasure. But He could not seek; and it never had been offered. -Perhaps He would shrink if it were offered. That was His peculiar -nature. Had He ever wished to exert for intimate relations with anyone? -No: plainly no. He was a thing apart. More, He was a thing to be -avoided. He remembered how many times he aimlessly had strolled through -London, watching His species gambolling in Piccadilly, or at the -Marble Arch on a Sunday where the fierce lanky spiky sallow Anarchist -raved, and the coy Catholic barrister cracked correct jests out of a -shiny black exercise-book, and the bright-eyed clean Church-Army youth -spoke with genuine conviction. He had moved through partner-seeking -mobs everywhere, lazily, vigilantly, studiously: yet no one ever had -addressed him. He was seen. He was avoided. Yes, He was a thing apart. -That was His trouble. And—what did the boy say?—"I had better keep -it myself." The content of that saying was to Hadrian just like a -thunderbolt. It was Love—yes, that was quintessential Love,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> from the -clear eyes and the stainless lips of childhood,—to keep one's troubles -oneself. For in that way one relieved others. And the Servant of the -servants of God must—— He continued to sit in the sunlight in a sort -of rapture. The lake and the hills and the turquoise sky faded from -His vision. He was alone with His thoughts, His ideals, His soul.... -After the noon-angelus, He went in to His solitary meal. Later in the -afternoon, when He had slept and washed, and put on fresh garments, He -descended to chat with His court. His demeanour was observed to be more -warm, more human. His eyes had an unusual and more usual glow. He did -not seem to be so very very far away.</p> - -<p>"I guess the air of this village suits you, Holy Father," said young -Cardinal Percy. "You look like twenty cents this evening."</p> - -<p>"Yes, the air is delicious enough: but it is not the air." Hadrian -narrated the incident of the morning, ending, "and We have recognised -in Ourself a new and unknown power, a perfectly strange capability. We -have made experience of a feeling which—well, which We suppose—at any -rate will pass for—Love."</p> - -<p>He plunged again into business. He had noted three men for a -purpose. Archbishop Ilario della Valla was a young and exquisitely -polished prelate, son of an ambassador, thoroughly expert in the -English language and habit. Signor Gargouille Grice was one of those -nondescripts devoid of Divine Vocation, who fondly are believed to -occupy an important place at the pontifical court, (equivalent at least -to the English office of Lord Chamberlain) but, which in reality is -that of a flunkey. Prince Guido Attendolo was a young Italian of very -generous birth, who, as younger son of a younger son not over-burdened -with wealth, led an inconspicuous impotent uninteresting life. With -the idea of giving these three a chance, the Pope dispatched them to -America with the red hat for the American Archbishop Erin, whom He -named Cardinal-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>presbyter of the Title of St. Mary-of-the-People. It -was merely an incident, intended to keep them from stagnation, to give -them that scope which human nature must have if it is to do itself -justice, if it is not to become a public nuisance. At the same time, He -was satisfied that the sympathy of the prelate, the antiquity of the -decurial chamberlain, and the urbanity (to say nothing of the perfect -Greek profile) of the prince, would recommend them as ambassadors -from the oldest power to the newest nation. On the arrival of the -Apostolic Ablegate in New York, Hadrian published the <i>Epistle to the -Americans</i>. He praised their exuberant vigour and individualistic -unconventionality, while He warned them of their obligations to their -race and of the evils of oligarchical tyranny. He begged them not to -live in the desperate hurry which was instanced in their carelessness -in details. He advised them not to be too proud to learn from the -history of other nations, dwelling on the principle of the intermittent -tendency of human nature. He pointed out that, as effect is due to -cause, and as the scope and quantity of human ideas is very far from -being illimitable, so, as human types recur, human ideas and the -situations produced by them are bound to recur. "Yet," He continued, -"human nature itself, when inspired by Divine Grace, being so very -fine and so very potent a force, is capable of immense development. -It has Will, Free-will, which, rightly directed can rule itself, can -control natural laws, can dispose events." Wherefore, He admonished the -Americans to divest themselves of juvenile arrogance and selfishness, -in order that (having learned the causes which produce effects) they -might know the rules and play the game. He spoke to them, not only with -the authority of His apostolature, but with the affection of a comrade -who wished to serve them from the experience (inherited and acquired) -of a member of the older nations. He concluded with delicious slyness, -"The young ones think the old are fools: the old ones know the young -ones are."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> - -<p>America was openly delighted, not only by the consideration which the -Pope shewed in addressing Her next to England but, by the pungent vivid -validity of His remarks. She said that He had a dead cinch on things, -that He was on to His job, that as a skypilot He suited Her to a gnat's -bristle; and She began to regard Him with close attention.</p> - -<p>The death of Francis Joseph, Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary, -in September, had its not unexpected consequences. The confusion of -Europe was worse confounded by conflict between Hungarian national -sentiment and the Pan-germanic League. Francis Joseph's successor did -not inspire his multilingual subjects with the same respectful devotion -as that which had been paid to the old Emperor on account of the triple -prestige of his dignity, his long reign, his many sorrows. Hungary -cried for a Magyar king. Bohemia cried for a Czech king. Russian Poland -also cried aloud for a Polish king; and German Poland would have -cried with her, had she dared. As it was, she opened longing eyes and -waited. The Germans of Austria appealed to the German Emperor to come -to their aid and take them into his mailed fist. The Habsburgh dynasty -was tottering. Servia was a small hell. Turkey and Roumania viewed the -prospect of Germany's expansion with favour: Turkey, because she found -it easy to outwit the Teuton: Roumania, because the power by whose -favour she existed was possessed by devils. Albania, Montenegro, and -Greece, strongly disapproved: they prized their individual national -existence, and the idea of being reduced to dependency upon the Gothic -Michael did not suit them. The distracted state of Austria, and her -inability to keep her obligations to Germany and Italy, caused the -lapse of the Triple Alliance. Yet Italy made no sign and Germany made -no sign. There was an interval of intense and silent vigilance.</p> - -<p>Hadrian read in the <i>Times</i> that Signor Panciera, Italian Ambassador -at the Court of St. James's, was leaving town for Rome for a few -weeks. Cardinal Fiamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> sought-out His Excellency; and brought him -privately and unofficially to the Pope's apartment. His Holiness was -very happy to renew acquaintances with so genial and so solid and so -trusty a man. (It was comparatively easy to love such an one.) The -ambassador bowed; and wondered what was expected. The Pope put it -patently. He was profoundly interested in affairs: He pried into no -secrets: He did desire to collect facts and opinions from experts -and secular statesmen: the six ambassadors left to the Vatican were -sterile: if Signor Panciera could see his way to converse of current -events, without betraying his sovereign's confidence, but simply as -between two men whose motives were pure and patriotic, he would confer -a favour upon, (or, if he preferred it the other way, he would render -a service to) the Pope. His Excellency bowed in reciprocation of the -honour. Privately noting that His Holiness was concealing nothing, -and (in fact) was unable to conceal, he thought that there would be -no difficulty. This was not a matter of diplomacy or state-craft. The -crystalline candour of the Pope made Him negligible as a statesman: -as a mere man He was charming, perfectly transparent: He wanted, not -state-secrets but, the opinion of a man-of-affairs upon affairs. -Signor Panciera was quite delighted. The state of Europe as revealed -in the newspapers was passed under review. His Excellency thought that -Germany was looking east and west rather than elsewhere. What could be -expected? Naturally she would look that way where were her two natural -enemies. As for Austria—peuh!—a secondary matter. Austria would not -be touched by Germany as long as danger threatened from France and -Russia. Italy? Well, Italy now was independent. No longer bound to -Germany and Austria, Italy's attitude was that of the lion on guard (in -the words of the immortal Dante).</p> - -<p>"Naturally," Hadrian interpolated, "Italy would watch events and direct -her policy in accordance with her interest."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But securely," the ambassador responded.</p> - -<p>The Pontiff spoke of Spain. Signor Panciera chopped his right wrist -with his left hand. Spain was finished. Portugal? Portugal was English. -England? England was England. The Pope and the ambassador produced -a smile a-piece: the one meant triumphant pride of race: the other, -boundless and intelligent admiration. Hadrian swooped eastwards: the -Balkan States? His Excellency began to discriminate: that little group -of separate sovereignties was very difficult. He seemed to hesitate, -to pick his words:—of course the subject interested him very greatly. -The Pope was quite singularly still. Now and again, as His massive -dark guest passed Him in pacing, He plumped in a question. The Balkan -States? Signor Panciera strode on toward the window, as though seeking -the response there: came back: began a reply: returned to the window: -came back again with a fresh half-dozen of unilluminating words. -Hadrian went to one of his cupboards: took out two little brown -bagatelle-balls; and placed them in the royal ambassador's hands. -"Your Excellency's aid to conversation," He purred with a recondite -smile. "Don't be discomposed. All men have some trick of this kind. -Ours is to play with Our rings or to push up Our glasses. Your friend -Fiamma plaits the fringe of his sash. The Cardinal-Dean strokes the -mother-of-pearl disk which stands on his wig for the tonsure. The -Secretary of State munches his new teeth. And you like to click a pair -of bagatelle-balls, if We rightly remember. You were saying that that -little group of separate sovereignties was very difficult. Because of -their present autonomy?"</p> - -<p>Click-click-click went the balls on the brown palm: and the ambassador -tralated their clicking. "Yes Holiness, for that reason: but also, I -think, because they are racially distinct from the nations with which -they expect to be incorporated."</p> - -<p>"Russia, Germany, Austria, Turkey, for example?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> - -<p>(Click) "I think we may neglect Russia."</p> - -<p>"Yes? In the case of Roumania?"</p> - -<p>"I think that Roumanian sentiment has veered round toward Germany."</p> - -<p>"Well now, let us ignore opinions; and go to these racial differences -of which you speak."</p> - -<p>"I am of opinion that the Roumanian people find themselves in sympathy -with the German peoples," Signor Panciera persisted.</p> - -<p>"Bulgaria then?"</p> - -<p>Signor Panciera took two or three journeys to the window and back, -vigorously clicking the balls. "Holiness, You do not ask for my -opinion; and I only can give You the speculations of an amateur -ethnologist." (Click-click) "I have——" (Click) "I can tell You what -my studies have taught me—no more."</p> - -<p>"But that is most interesting, Signore. We are all students. Some are -anxious to learn: some are not: but both are better off than the man -who knows that he has nothing more to learn. Tell Us what your studies -have taught you."</p> - -<p>"I really believe that the principalities south of the Danube contain -the descendants of those Byzantines who were pushed northward by the -incursion of Turks in the fifteenth century."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>(Click) "First from physiognomy:" (Click) "second from the structure of -their languages."</p> - -<p>"Wonderful! And you have noted points of similarity?"</p> - -<p>"I will go further than that, Holiness. I ought to say that my -attention was attracted to this subject by my Lord the King, who, you -know, deigned to marry a Montenegrin Princess. His Majesty used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> to -speak much at one time on this point to me and also to the Minister of -Public Instruction——"</p> - -<p>"That is Signor Cabelli?"</p> - -<p>"Surely. We examined the matter for His Majesty; and our investigations -all seemed to point to the fact that the Turks, in coming from -Asia, swept across the Byzantine Empire in a westerly and northerly -direction. Then, examining the outlets and the fringes, we found -Byzantine characteristics all along the northern boundary of Turkey, -that is to say not in Bulgaria which is Slav, but in Albania, -Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Montenegro; and, more, we found them along -the Adriatic coast of Italy. Your Holiness will see that these places -are of a contiguity which would render them likely refuges for the -Christians who fled before, or were expelled by, the Muslim."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"There is one thing more. We found traces of an earlier migration than -the Byzantine. We believe that in Eastern Italy from Taranto to Ortona, -and also in Southern Albania, may be seen the lineal descendants of the -Athenians of Perikles' day."</p> - -<p>"But Greece, Excellency?"</p> - -<p>"Holiness, the Greeks of to-day are degenerate from the dirty-knuckled -Laconians crossed with the Ottoman Infidel, their conquistators."</p> - -<p>"That is splendid, Signore. And it marches with an opinion which We -formed some dozen years ago, at least in regard to your Italian Greeks. -We have seen those with Our Own eyes. In Apulia, for instance, the -Elgin Marbles have their living counterfeits: the charcoal-burners -and the fishermen look as though they had stepped out of the Frieze -of the Parthenon. Once We heard a fisherman summon his boy by the -word 'Páddy'—to give it an English form. An Italian would have cried -'Putto.' But 'Páddy,'—what vocative is that but 'Παιδε,' pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>nounced -as Alkibiades would have pronounced it? Oh, We see your point. And is -your Lord the King still interested in the subject?"</p> - -<p>"I believe that His Majesty is intensely interested. I hope I may -venture to repeat the corroboration which Your Holiness has given me. I -am sure that His Majesty——"</p> - -<p>"By all means. Of course you merely will repeat the conversation. -You will not intrude Us before the King's Majesty in Our apostolic -character: but merely——"</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness's wish shall be respected."</p> - -<p>"But to resume:—We agree to identify those states south of the Danube -with the Byzantines in general; and Montenegro and South Albania with -the Greeks in particular. What about North Albania?"</p> - -<p>(Click) "That is Turkish."</p> - -<p>"All Albania is Turkish."</p> - -<p>"But South Albania is Christian. And all Albania, Christian and Muslim, -reverences Madonna—'Panagia,' Παναγια, 'Lady of All,' they call her."</p> - -<p>"How very extraordinary! Well now let us take their present situation. -Suppose, Signore Panciera, that we reverse our positions. Instead of -hearing your opinion, We will state Ours; and you shall comment on it. -Is that fair? Is that agreeable?"</p> - -<p>"Most fair: most agreeable. I always learn from Englishmen and I shall -learn from Your Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Good. We believe that Montenegro is happy and contented under the -paternal rule of Prince Nicholas."</p> - -<p>(Click-click-click) "That is so, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"We hear that Albania is shaping well under Prince Ghin Kastriotis."</p> - -<p>(Click: a walk to the window and back; and more clicks) "Since the -murder of Abdul Hamid, and the erection of Albania into a principality, -progress has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> been astounding. The beautiful country, (click) the -splendid people, are a prize to any ruler. Sultan Ismail is the only -cloud in the sky. He does not approve of the loss of that slice of his -empire. But Albania will take care of herself."</p> - -<p>"Servia, and her yearning for the restoration of the Servian Empire?"</p> - -<p>"Impossible. A nation which murders two kings in four years cannot be -an Empire."</p> - -<p>"Quite impossible. Bulgaria, a country of heretics of the most -notorious and dreadful kind, atrocious brigands to a man, ruled (or -rather not ruled) by a foreigner who is a contemptible cur."</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness would propose——"</p> - -<p>"The deposition of Prince Ferdinand—an easy task now that Russia -has her hands full,—and the annexation of Bulgaria and Servia by -Montenegro under the protection of Italy."</p> - -<p>(Click-click-click) "There, Holiness, we come to the ground of high -politics." (Click-click-click-click) "One must walk very warily."</p> - -<p>"Yes," Hadrian mewed: "until Italy and Germany have made up their -minds."</p> - -<p>The ambassador bowed.</p> - -<p>"Please leave the bagatelle-balls, Excellency; and accept Our thanks -for your very agreeable conversation," said the Pope.</p> - -<p>In giving an account of this interview to the king, the ambassador -concluded "and, Sire, His Holiness spoke like an Englishman."</p> - -<p>"Oh did He," said Victor Emanuel. "In what way?"</p> - -<p>"Majesty, he was profound and limpid, He was large and particular, He -was bold and careful."</p> - -<p>"Basta! Go again as often as you please; and let me hear more of this -Englishman."</p> - -<p>"With the favour of Your Majesty."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Liblab deputation had returned to England: but Jerry Sant and Mrs. -Crowe hung on at a decent little hotel in Two Shambles Street, which -was convenient to the English quarter. Their idea was to wait for an -opportunity to push their scheme of blackmail. Most of each day, Mrs. -Crowe was in the Square of St. Peter's, looking up at the Vatican, -hoping for the apparition of Hadrian at His window. In the evenings, -she saw Him walking to and fro on the steps of the basilica. There -always was something of a crowd there. The poorest of the poor, by the -common consent of the most courteous of nations, were placed in front; -and she used to see the Pope giving words and gold to persons whom she -deemed disreputable. She would have sacrificed her new wig for one of -those coins. Once, she pushed into the front row and kneeled with the -riff-raff. She heard a blind boy tell his miserable tale: she heard the -Apostle's gentle words and saw the munificent careless gift. It was her -turn. She felt the distant inflexible eyes on her bent head: "God bless -you, daughter; go in peace" dropped on her; and Hadrian passed on. The -poor girl on her left bitterly wept—the police-doctor had refused -her certificate—her occupation was gone.—Hadrian's kind of charity -did not appeal to Mrs. Crowe: she called it "disgusting" and "highly -improper" to the table d'hôte. There were several quaint visitors -at the Hotel Nike. They chiefly were English; and they listened in -silence, with shy strange eyes, when she vented her views. Afterwards, -though, she used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> to find herself the recipient of the confidence of -weird old-maids and worn-out matrons, who drew her into corners of the -garden away from the cabin where Sant smoked, and nervously whispered, -"My dear, I'm sure you'll excuse me addressing you, but I feel bound -to say I think I'm right in saying that I owe everything to Him Whom -you're speaking about. I hope you don't mind me saying this but I feel -sure you wouldn't wish to do anyone an injustice. You see I used to -know Him years ago and, I hardly know how to put it, but a certain -sum was named between us which would make me safe for life; and just -now, since last April you see, that very sum, a regular income all my -days, my dear, has come to me through the Bank of England; and I feel -sure it's Him, for there isn't another soul in the world able to do -such a thing: and, my dear, although of course I can't approve of the -indiscriminate charity you've named, I thought I'd just mention this to -you because the fact is I've come here to try and see Him and let him -know how thankful I am."</p> - -<p>Tired wan clean men, with corns on their right-middle-fingers and -jackets bulging along their lower edges, addressed her as "Madam" -and mentioned similar experiences; and, when two straight-limbed -straight-eyed boys of sixteen, twins, orphans, were fierce with the -same story, she began to feel uncomfortable, envious. That He should do -these things for these scarecrows and nothing for her! People avoided -her; and she was lonely. Sant, and the cosmopolitan bagmen with whom -he fraternized, were no companions for her. She expected something a -little more select in the way of society. She conceived the notion that -she would stand a better chance of coming into contact with the Pope by -means of some of the English in Rome. And,—would it not be as well if -she became a Catholic? The hotel-people told her that very few English -were in Rome: they began to come in October<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> and to go away in June: -July, August, September, saw no English except at the colleges and a -few residents. She found her way to St. Andrea delle Fratte, where -she had heard of some Englishwoman's tomb; and saw no one who looked -like an Englishman. She had the same experience at the church by the -G.P.O. Then she discerned a little English affair in Little Sebastian -Street, a convent of sorts; and she made herself conspicuous to the -sisters. Those good creatures were only too happy to discover a chatty -Englishwoman; and, when Mrs. Crowe quite accidentally let out that she -had known George Arthur Rose, they precipitately produced candied fruit -and orangeade. Mrs. Crowe gossiped with discretion. She won hearts by -listening attentively to monasterial rhapsodies. When she was permitted -to slip in a word edgeways, she took care that it was a telling word. -In all their lives the sisters never had heard anything so edifying -as her description of the Holy Father's former predilection for white -flannel shirts, white knitted socks and night-caps. They thought it -heavenly of Him to have refused to wear any colours but white or black -while He was living in the world; and the details of a black corduroy -shooting-suit filled them with ecstatic rapture. In the course of -these improving conversations it came out that Mrs. Crowe herself -was an agnostic—an unwilling agnostic, she whined,—oh, if only she -could believe what her audience believed, it would be such a comfort -to her! Naturally the sisters gladly would help her to that kind of -comfort. They gave her an aluminium medal; and promised prayers. She -turned-up regularly at mass and benediction; and they had great hopes -of her. She thanked them so much. Now, wouldn't she just like to have -a little talk with Father Dawkins—such a holy man? She would like -nothing better. She had a little talk with Father Dawkins: that is to -say that (frequently during the next few weeks) His Reverency exhorted -for three-quarters of an hour on end in the convent parlour; and she -punctuated his discourses with "Ah yes," "How<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> true," "Why did I never -hear this before," etc. The sisters lent her "Thresholds," and other -violently cerulean books. She pronounced them quite convincing. And -then she asked to be received into the Church.</p> - -<p>She became seen at parties at the English pensions; and duly was -slavered. She met cardinals and prelates at receptions. She was the -excitement of the moment. Her pose of the interesting widow, fond -mother of the dearest little girl and boy, clever writer of vers de -société in <i>The Maid, and Matron</i>, was much commended: but it was as -the woman whose dear departed had been the Holy Father's most intimate -friend that she chiefly scored. For His Holiness she always had had -the highest admiration. He had been a peculiar man, certainly, but -never anything but most distinguished. She remembered Him in poverty, -going in the shabbiest of garbs: but His gait and carriage always had -been the gait and carriage of nobility of soul. At all times, she -herself had predicted some extraordinary fate for Him. She told the -most adorable little stories of His wit, His humour, His pathos, and -His dumb-bells. She dilated on a boil which had afflicted the back of -His neck. She had heard that He slept in glycerined gloves for the -softening of His chapped hands. Yes, He had been quite a friend of -theirs. He was so earnest, so brilliant, so learned, that she never had -been able to understand why a man of His ability should be a Catholic. -Of course that was when she herself had been in outer darkness. Now -that she was in the inner light, she perfectly could see why. Mrs. -Crowe was voted to be a very charming person; and became a great -success.</p> - -<p>Sant approved of her procedure. Neither he nor she could see their way -to another direct approach to Hadrian. They must bide a wee. Meanwhile, -no harm was done and much good might be done by cultivating the English -quarter. And, perhaps it would be as well to keep socialism in the -background<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> for the present. Jerry would stay where he was; and she -had better set-up for herself elsewhere: they occasionally could meet -to compare notes; and, if anything particular happed, why they could -write. So Mrs. Crowe took a little flat on Baboon Street, and displayed -herself at the Spain Square tea-shop and the English sisterhood.</p> - -<p>At the back of her brain there was a well-defined desire. She kept it -there to gloat over in private and at intervals: for she was far too -clever a woman to let her passion master her at this stage. It was the -mainspring of her acts, the goal of her thoughts, the ultimate of her -existence: but she kept it well concealed and controlled. Now and then, -in the lonely depth of night, it surged to her oppression: but dawn and -the respectability of her temper, brought it within bounds. She played -a careful game, adding to her counters as opportunity occurred. She had -the Liblabs and their four pounds a week to support her: she had (what -she called) the secret history of the Pope in her possession: she was -capturing the pious English. And then, one evening she acquired quite a -priceless item of scandal which, sooner or later, she would use for the -procuration of her Georgie.</p> - -<p>She had been wandering about alone in some of those new streets on the -Viminal Hill, which Modern Rome built in imitation of the suburban -residences of British merchants: streets where comfortable red-brick -detached mansions stand each in a railed garden. As she was passing -one of these fine but homely residences, the electric light sprang up -in the drawing-room; and she was aware of three figures seated in the -bay-window. An afternoon-tea-table was between them. They were two -gorgeous white women with fair hair, evidently mother and daughter. -Those she did not know: but the third was George Arthur Rose. She -peered between the gilded bronze bars of the gate. It was dusk. No one -but herself was in the street. And there, not twenty yards away, behind -a pane of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> glass, was the man she worshipped. She gave up herself -to her emotions during one minute. Then he and the women retired to -the back of the room; and a decorous black-coated lacquey closed the -curtains. For a moment, she felt like battering at the gate. Her heart -violently palpitated. The connotation of the experience suddenly -struck her. What was the Pope doing here? She knew that He went about -everywhere: but they said that He never ate or drank in company; and -she had seen Him finish a cup of tea. How dainty the elevation of that -left little finger was! Ah! Why was He not dressed in white as usual? -Disguised—taking tea in a private house—with two nameless women! -Ah, why indeed! She focussed her fury. The number on the gate—yes. -She ran to the end of the street and read "Via Morino." She crossed -the road and returned; and found a niche where she could hide in the -shadow of a pillared wall. Here, she watched and waited as a terrier -waits on and watches a kitten demure in a tree—yapping and yelping -almost inaudibly, well-nigh bursting with suppressed impulse to pounce. -Perhaps she waited half-an-hour. Then a couple of lacqueys came-down -to the gate: opened it; and obsequiously bowed to an ecclesiastic who -passed out into the street flinging the right fold of his cloak over -his left shoulder. He swiftly walked towards Via Nationale; and she -followed him. As he came into the more brilliant light, he drew the -fold of his cloak closer across his mouth. That act decided her. She -knew that her Georgie abhorred from every kind of muffling. That he -should muffle now was natural enough. He did not wish to be recognised. -He was incognito, for an evil purpose. That he should have chosen -openly to walk through the biggest street in Rome, when he might have -sneaked down bye-ways, or might have taken a cab, only added to the -evidence. Her Georgie was the most frantically daring of men, she knew. -Precaution on the one hand, nullified by extreme audacity on the other, -she had noted in him before. She nearly lost him as he made his way by -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> Austrian Embassy and the Gesù into Corso Vittorio Emanuele. At the -Oratory he crossed and went by the little Piazza into Banchi, where he -left a card with the porter of the Palazzo Attendolo. Again, he muffled -his face and went on, crossing the temporary bridge, and going by Borgo -Vecchio straight to the gate of the Vatican. Here, he was admitted; and -Mrs. Crowe was left alone in agony and in hilarity. She turned-out of -the Colonnade into the square cursing herself for not speaking to him, -writhing because she had caught her loved one secretly visiting another -woman. Then she laughed at the thought that she had found His Holiness -the Pope engaged in vulgar intrigue. The barb of the one emotion -lacerated her. The barb of the other she would save to dilacerate Him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the night of the second of October, the German Emperor sat in the -Imperial box at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. They were playing <i>Wilhelm -Tell</i>. William II. looked-on at the mummer pourtraying the audacious -genius who, by skill and courage, delivered a people from tyranny. -He looked on the presented incident with a humorous sense of its -coincidence with his present intention: for, in the imperial mind—that -agile predominant mind at which inferior minds (led by the <i>Pall Mall -Gazette</i>) were used to mock—was stored certain knowledge of another -scene yet to be enacted in which he himself would play the part of the -deliverer. An aide-de-camp entered during the interval, while the house -gave itself up to conversation, apples, nuts, pfefferkuchen. He handed -a locked portfolio to the Kaiser.</p> - -<p>"The papers are all here?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Sire."</p> - -<p>"The manager attends?"</p> - -<p>"He is at the door, Sire."</p> - -<p>"He has received my commands?"</p> - -<p>"Your Majesty's commands have been executed."</p> - -<p>"Good. I will follow him. Go now to the newspaper-offices; and bring -the specials to me after supper. Mahlzeit!"</p> - -<p>The curtain went up for the last act. The audience was stricken with -sudden paralyzed amazement. On the stage, actors, scene-shifters, the -whole theatre staff,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> were grouped in an immense semicircle. In the -chord of the semicircle, one figure stood alone, grimly dominant. At -first, it was taken for a daringly realistic caricature of the Emperor; -and fear of the penalties of lèse-majesté dawned in the minds of the -beholders. But the figure spoke, and doubt fled. It <i>was</i> the Emperor. -Everyone knew that vigorous vocative "Germans!" The said Germans were -used to manifestations of their ruler's omniscience and omnipresence; -and they automatically stood to listen. He quoted the assertion of Herr -Bebmarck in the Reichstag, that every speech by the Kaiser against -Socialists meant a socialist gain of 100,000 votes at the elections. -Then he flung out a challenge. He said that the insuing elections -meant war to the knife, not between him and his people but, between -him and the handful of venal demagogues unworthy to bear the sacred -name of Germans who led his people astray. He opened his portfolio. -Socialism, he said, commanded four million votes. One-third of the -German Army was Socialist. Socialism was the largest political party -in the Empire; and increased each year at the expense of every other -party. It was a vast and important body. A body needed a brain to -direct its functions. Who, after all, was the head? The demagogues, -or the Kaiser? At a moment like the present, when the Fatherland was -menaced on both sides by anarchy and hereditary enemies, the glorious -German nation must not be harassed by intestine feuds. Hitherto, a -great part of his people had been taught to obstruct his schemes for -German welfare. Thereby they had hurt themselves. They had had the -pleasure of opposing him: but they had delayed their own betterment: -for his alone was the will which should rule Germany. Yet, he would -not blame his people. They had been betrayed by liars, deceived by -treacherous pseudophilanthropists. He would not blame the tempted, -but the tempters. The names of the tempters, the human Satans, were -August Bebmarck, turner: Grillerbergen, locksmith: Raue,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> Bulermolken, -Reistem, saddlers: Varmol, ex-post-official: Steinbern, lawyer: -Volkenberg, territorial-magnate: Singenmann, capitalist. He arraigned -these men on a charge of having deluded the good heart of four million -German people by professions of disinterestedness, of benevolence, -by promises of universal betterment. He denounced their professions -and their promises as false, and their practices as corrupt enough to -have obtained the attention of the police. The socialist demagogues -were traitors to the very cause which they professed to serve. Their -object was not the improvement of the social conditions of the people: -it was personal aggrandisement. He brought proofs from his portfolio. -Bebmarck, Grillenberger, Varmol had accepted bribes of M. 100,000, -M. 45,000, M. 40,000 respectively from the communist government of -France. Raue, Bulermolken, Reistem had accepted the post of saddlery -contractors to the French army. Each of the foregoing had given a -written promise to influence the Socialist vote. The Kaiser read and -exhibited the promises; and continued. Steinbern had sold the minute -books of various Socialist committees in Hanover for M. 300,000. (The -books were produced by an imperial aide.) Volkenberg had scouted the -proposal to municipalize his own vast possessions: Singenmann was -proved to have derived his riches from ill-paid sweated labour.</p> - -<p>"These be thy gods, O Socialism," the Emperor cried: "the mere -possession of important private property, of what is called a stake -in the country, has revealed their brazen faces and feet of clay. The -mere offer of the price of blood has revealed the Iscariots of the -Fatherland."</p> - -<p>He commanded his hearers to remember that in 1890 he himself had -abrogated the laws against socialism and had dismissed the persecutor -Bismarck, saying <i>Die Social Democratie überlassen sie mir; mit der -werdeich gang alleine fertig</i>. He said that his method had been to -leave them free to work out their own salvation: but in vain. A bad -tree does not bring forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> good fruit. It had not been socialism, -nor parliamentary majorities and resolutions, which had welded -together the German Empire: but the army and he, the Emperor, the -representative of that power in the state which, not only created -German unity in the teeth of those who pretended to represent the -people but, thereby carried into every German home the sense of -national power. Finally, he demanded, did the innocent industrious -great-hearted dupes of the socialist demagogues intend in this crisis -of German history to follow and obey the behests of low-born traitors, -never-sufficiently-to-be-damned-and-despised sweaters, infamous -Rabagases: or would they give loyal allegiance to him, their divinely -appointed and legitimate Kaiser, the heir of Friedrich the Noble and of -Wilhelm the Good and of Friedrich the Great,—to him, the Father of the -fatherland, whose whole life and energy was devoted and consecrated to -"Deutschland Deutschland über alles."</p> - -<p>With that, he left the stage and the theatre. The audience, a typically -middle-class one, the very class of all others to which such an -oration would appeal, was stirred down to the depths of its phlegmatic -Teutonic soul. As the Kaiser departed, not a "Hoch" was uttered: but -multitudes of stem-faced converts poured out, silently saluting him -with the fire of loyalty lighted in their eyes. Germans are logical -by nature. Display indefeasible premisses; and it is not a German who -will err from the just conclusion. All night long, all the newspapers -except the <i>Vorwaerts</i> issued special editions containing the Emperor's -speech. During the next few days William II. himself repeated it in -the great cities of his empire. At Essen and Breslau his reception -partook of the nature of an ovation. Everywhere the press spread his -epoch-making words to all who actually did not hear them. German good -sense preferred honesty, vigorous masterly honesty, even hare-brained -honesty, to the base treachery which is actuated by no motive except -per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>sonal gain. German good sense could see that the Kaiser himself -was the hardest-working man in the Empire: that his simply amazing -diligence and toil were absolutely unselfish, absolutely impersonal: -that he gained no tangible reward whatever: that his life, which quite -easily might have been one of irresponsible pleasure and ease, was an -incessant round of mental and physical exertion for the good of others. -German honour admired and German generosity repaid. The fascinating -personality of William II. at last was recognized as the chief element -of the nation's power. His splendid and unique confidence in himself -and his imperial vocation inspired his subjects with confidence in him. -The device of the secret ballot, and the now-unfettered ability of -every German to vote according to his conscience, had the calculated -effect. The elections shewed that the enormous prestige of the Emperor -had won the Socialist vote, and the Catholic vote, and the votes of the -Right and the Left, in support of his paramount authority. The English -newspapers ceased from jeering; and the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> split -subjunctives as well as infinitives in applause of success.</p> - -<p>The lay-Major-domo of the Apostolic Palace found occasion to invite -Cardinals Talacryn and Semphill to inspect certain accounts. "I feel it -my duty to call Your Eminencies' attention to the fact," said he, "that -our Most Holy Lord consumes about seven and sixpence worth, of food and -drink a week upon the average. It is shocking. Also it is ridiculous. -Kindly cast your eyes over these documents. They are the accounts -covering the past six months. Note how many times His dinner consists -of three raw carrots and two poached eggs. Meat, you see, He eats not -more than twice a week. Fish, He refuses. I understand that He will -take the lean of beef, the fat of pork, the breast of a bird, and chew -them for an hour."</p> - -<p>"That accounts for His magnificent digestion," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> Talacryn; "and I -know that He eats raw carrots for the sake of His white skin. But fat -pork! Semphill, could you digest fat pork when you were His age? I -can't even now."</p> - -<p>"Condescend to consider the wine," Count Piccino added. "His Holiness -quite fails to appreciate fine wine——"</p> - -<p>"All I can say is I can remember seeing Him thoroughly enjoy a -teaspoonful of my peach-brandy sometimes after dinner. That was twenty -years ago though," said Semphill.</p> - -<p>"He used to enjoy peach-brandy! Eminency, a thousand thanks. He shall -have a bottle. I never thought of it. Until now, He has taken what we -give Him: but He has no palate whatever for superior brands. He's quite -content with a plain red wine from Citta Lavinia or Cinthyanum; and He -drinks about as much of it in a week as another man would drink at a -meal. But cream, and goat's milk,—I believe He bathes in those."</p> - -<p>"No, no," said Semphill; "He drinks them day and night, that's all. -He's got the digestion of a baby for milk. Shall I ever forget seeing -Him drink a pint of thick cream—a whole pint—at a farm-house once -when we were out walking? I thought He'd die there. I begged Him to -take some of my pills. I offered to make Him free of my collection. No. -He laughed at me; and goes on rejoicing."</p> - -<p>"But, Eminencies, do you think His Holiness can live on this meagre -diet?"</p> - -<p>"Chi lo sa? I couldn't. He may."</p> - -<p>"He's a most incomprehensible creature whatever:" Talacryn concluded.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Armed with the allegiance of an united empire, the Kaiser scoured -away across the continent to Rome. He travelled incognito as the -Duke of Königsberg and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> put up at the Palazzo Caffarelli. The world -looked on and wondered. No news of his intentions were vouchsafed; -and, as a rule, journalists had the decency to refrain themselves -from suppositions. The exception to the rule was French, of course. -"Religion is the great preoccupation of William II. Beneath the -spangled uniform of this Emperor there is the soul of a clergyman, or -rather the visionary soul of an initiate of even vaguer mysteries. The -Kaiser only waits for an opportunity to achieve in Rome what he has -already achieved in the east, that is to say, to oust France," shrieked -M. Jean de Bonnefon in the Paris <i>Éclair</i>. <i>La Patrie</i> instantly -yelled in comment, "Let Germany take the Holy See. It will be the end -of Germany and the beginning of revenge for Sedan. The Paparchy is an -acid which will dissolve the badly cemented parts of an empire which is -still too new."</p> - -<p>But it was not precisely religion which dictated the Kaiser's movement. -He had the sense to know that religion is personal; and, though he -never lost an opportunity of asserting his personal religious opinions, -the idea of making them the rule for all men never entered his -eminently practical mind. No: he had other plans; and he was seeking -material wherewith to build. He conferred long and secretly with the -King of Italy, a man after his own heart, a born ruler, a natural -autocrat, who himself had been a slave. They discussed needs. William -II. wanted room for a population which had increased by twenty millions -in thirty years. Victor Emanuel III. wanted money and time—money to -make easier the life of his people—time to mature improvements—give -him those and he could laugh at Italy's enemies, the secret societies, -and the clergy——</p> - -<p>"Clergy?" the Kaiser demurred. "Now are you really sure that the clergy -are your enemies?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, in their heart of hearts. Don't you understand that we robbed -them? Don't you know that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> this very palace of the Quirinale, in which -I am receiving Your Imperial Majesty, is stolen property?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, yes. But this Englishman? Surely He makes a difference?"</p> - -<p>"To some extent. But He cannot extirpate in a moment the hatred and -envy with which my House and I are regarded by the clergy whom we -dispossessed. For nearly forty years, to hate us has been part of the -clerical education. A weed of that kind cannot be rooted up at once. It -is ingrained. Perhaps in another generation—Basta!"</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile?"</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile what?"</p> - -<p>"Well, hasn't the Pope made things easier for you?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, in a way. But what is His object? What concession, for -example——"</p> - -<p>"He doesn't seem to have left Himself any opening for extorting -concessions."</p> - -<p>"But did Your Imperial Majesty ever hear of a priest who gave something -for nothing?"</p> - -<p>"One of my cardinals tells me that this is a madman, whose pose is to -be primitive, apostolic."</p> - -<p>"Ha! For a primitive apostle He has a singularly dictatorial method. -Have you read His <i>Epistles</i>, and His denunciations of the socialists, -for example?"</p> - -<p>"I have. I entirely approve of them. They have assisted me greatly in -dealing with some rebels of my own."</p> - -<p>"Oh no one could find fault with His sentiments—so far. But they -are so unusual, so extra-pontifical, that one wonders what they are -concealing."</p> - -<p>"Is Your Majesty sure that they conceal something?"</p> - -<p>"No, I'm not. Of course I have no means of arriving at certainty. That -could only be obtained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> from the Pope Himself; and only from Him if He -were willing to give it."</p> - -<p>"Has Your Majesty asked Him?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly not. We continue to misunderstand one another. Your Imperial -Majesty knows that there is no means of communication between my -government and the Vatican. All we get is hearsay; and all they get is -gossip."</p> - -<p>"Why do you not request Hadrian to receive you—you yourself? I imagine -that He would not refuse."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps not. I believe that He has been preparing for me some such -trap as that. But I distrust the Greeks even when they bear gifts. They -say He says His prayers in Greek, by the bye."</p> - -<p>"I am about to request His Holiness to receive me."</p> - -<p>"Your Imperial Majesty's case is different. You are not likely to have -fresh insults and fresh humiliations offered to you."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?"</p> - -<p>"I mean that I cherish the memory of all ecclesiastical pin-pricks -which formerly were administered to my father and grandfather."</p> - -<p>"Pin-pricks? What do you call pin-pricks?"</p> - -<p>"For example, in 1878, Pio Nono, from His Own deathbed, sent to -reconcile my excommunicated grandfather, who was enabled to die in the -Embrace of The Lord. A little later, died also Pio Nono. My father -voluntarily returned the courtesy, sending his adjutant to offer -condolence to the Conclave. Leone, who then was Chamberlain, ordered -the Swiss Guard to refuse entrance to the royal envoy at the bronze -gates—to refuse the message even."</p> - -<p>"Very clerical!" the Emperor said; and pondered a moment. Then "Will -Your Majesty go to the Vatican with me?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No, Sire: I never will go to the Vatican," the King replied.</p> - -<p>A telegram signed "Wilhelm I.R." addressed to the Prince-Bishop of -Breslau brought Cardinal Popk to his sovereign at the German Embassy -in Rome. On hearing the Kaiser's intention, he did his very best to -persuade him away from it; and curtly was required to explain himself.</p> - -<p>"Majesty," said His Eminency, "no good can come of such a meeting, and -much harm may. Our Most Holy Father is English; and, being English, -He has the English quality of cynicism. With Him it is 'Et Petro et -Nobis' in the highest degree. He is a man of strong likes and dislikes, -fervently patriotic and therefore fervently anti-German——"</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency knows that?"</p> - -<p>"I have no explicit information: but, seeing the estimation in which -those islanders hold us, I judge so. Sire, I beseech you to pause. I -beseech you, I beseech you on behalf of your loyal Catholic subjects, -that you will not expose your imperial person to the risk of an -affront."</p> - -<p>"An affront, indeed!"</p> - -<p>"Majesty, remember what happened when you first visited Pope Leo."</p> - -<p>William II. laughed. "Cardinal, you are a very good German, and -a—well, queer Roman."</p> - -<p>"Sire, I distinguish. I implicitly obey Hadrian as Vicar of Christ: I -dislike Him as a cynical Englishman. I am anxious that Your Majesty -may not have occasion to dislike this Englishman who is the spiritual -director of your loyal Catholic subjects."</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency's solicitude is most creditable. But I have met -Englishmen whom I immensely admire for certain qualities which they -possess and which we Germans lack. What you have said piques my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> -curiosity. I wish to meet this particular Englishman; and I wish -Your Eminency to arrange it. I promise you that, whether He affronts -me or not, I will not afflict my Catholic subjects with another -Kulturkampf—if that is what you fear. However, if you still hesitate -to oblige your Kaiser, I will apply through my legation: or, better, -I will apply through the Cardinal-bishop of Albano who used to be at -Munich."</p> - -<p>The Cardinal-Prince-Bishop of Breslau went to the Vatican without any -more ado; and the Supreme Pontiff consented to receive.</p> - -<p>Hadrian endured an hour of terror. The task of dealing with an -emperor—He was inclined to put it from Him as being too great a thing -for Him. But He felt inquisitive to know what the Kaiser wanted. He Who -sits upon the throne of Peter looks at all the world, knowing that He -will see either enemies—or suitors. Hadrian also was inquisitive to -see the person and the mind of the man whom He invariably had defended -as being the only sovereign in Europe whose conduct indicated belief -in his own divine right to sovereignty, and as being one of the few -delightful persons in the world who can contemplate their own minds and -behold they are very good. Hadrian was interested in William II. as -an extremely fine specimen of the absolute type. Yet—He hesitated to -come to close relations with him, because—well, for one thing, because -He disliked being domineered over, and this military Michael from the -high Hohenzollem hill-top was certain to smack of the barracks. All the -same, popes had received emperors before now; and it had not always -been the emperors who had domineered. But could He love him? Well, at -any rate, He could try to save him trouble. Then what was the Kaiser's -object? He knew that something or other was wanted of Him; and He -feared—feared lest He should say, as usual, more than He meant to say, -and give, as usual, more than He need give. That, though, could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> be -prevented. He would make this rule for the occasion:—Listen little, -inquire less, affirm least, and concede nothing now. Good! It should -be done. He had a couple of easy chairs placed in the throne-room, -and a small table with cigarettes, cigarette-papers and tobacco, the -Crab Mixture which George Arthur Rose had invented. He sat-down in one -of the chairs by the window: took out the little gold pyx from His -bosom; and held it in His hands while He awaited the Emperor's arrival. -His eyes became still and grave. His lips moved swiftly. A singular -serenity inspired Him.... The introducer-of-sovereigns announced</p> - -<p>"The Duke of Königsberg."</p> - -<p>"Your Majesty's visit gives Us great pleasure," was the Apostle's -greeting to the Kaiser, uttered in that clear young minor voice -which was so well known in Rome. The two potentates took each the -other's measure in a glance. The Emperor, smartly groomed in plain -evening-dress with riband, cross, and star, had that slightly conical -head which marks the thinker and the single-minded obstinate man. -The Pope, a year his junior, gave an impression of clean simplicity -with His white habit and His keen white face. There was a distance, a -reticence, in His gaze. He had remembered William's Teutonic osculation -of His indignant predecessor; and, as the Kaiser approached Him, He -took the imperial hand and shook it in the glad-to-see-you-but-keep-off -English fashion. Spring-dumb-bells had given the Pope a grip like a -vice and an arm like a steel piston-rod. The Emperor blinked once.</p> - -<p>"I am grateful to Your Holiness for receiving me in this informal -manner."</p> - -<p>The Pope inclined His head: motioned His guest to a chair; and offered -cigarettes. He Himself rolled one: lighted it; and sat down.</p> - -<p>"I have the pleasure of personally congratulating Your Holiness on Your -election; and I trust that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> God will grant You many years in which to -rule Your section of His people wisely and well."</p> - -<p>"It is Our sincere hope that Our endeavour to feed Christ's flock may -be acceptable."</p> - -<p>"I have many Catholics in my empire; and I may say that their virtues -merit my fullest approbation."</p> - -<p>The Pope again inclined His head.</p> - -<p>"I understand that Your Holiness has never been in Germany?"</p> - -<p>"No. Our life hitherto has been an unimportant one. We are almost -ignorant of the world and of men, except perhaps from the view-point of -the outside observer and student."</p> - -<p>"My sainted mother used to quote an English proverb which says that -Onlookers see most of the game."</p> - -<p>"All English proverbs, which are positive, have their correspondent -negative—'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'—'Out of sight out of -mind.'—Your Majesty's proverb is contradicted by 'Only the toad under -the harrow has counted the spikes.' We mean that We have learned much -of what is done, but very little of the details of the doing."</p> - -<p>"Ah, that of course comes by heredity or by practice——"</p> - -<p>"Or by occession."</p> - -<p>"I fear that I do not quite follow."</p> - -<p>The Pope suddenly was afraid that He had been guilty of a sort of -appeal for this mighty emperor's pity and consideration toward His -plebeian origin and inexperience. Was this keeping His troubles to -Himself? He hastened to divert the conversation from Himself.</p> - -<p>"Our predecessor St. Peter was an illiterate plebeian of no importance: -but, by the occession of Divine Grace, His Holiness was enabled to -wield the keys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> of the kingdom of Heaven, and to win the unfading palm -down there by the obelisk."</p> - -<p>"Ah yes. And I trust that Your Holiness may be similarly enabled. I -have very little doubt but that You will be. The favour of the Almighty -seems to be with men of our nation in a pre-eminent degree."</p> - -<p>"Our nation?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Surely Your Holiness remembers that, by birth, I am half-English?"</p> - -<p>"Oh indeed yes. But, Majesty, in England you are thought of as being -wholly German."</p> - -<p>"I am much misunderstood in England." Again the head inclined in -silence led the Emperor on. "And also I have been much misunderstood in -Germany. The English suspect me of plotting mischief against England; -and my empire has been suspecting me of such leanings toward England -as to interfere with my proper duty of attending to the interests of -Germany!"</p> - -<p>"And both suspicions are equally gratuitous."</p> - -<p>"Both. As a matter of duty, I think first of the interests of Germany: -but, for the sake of those very interests, I am anxious to cultivate -the friendship of England. Personally I have a great appreciation of -many English qualities, as my many English friends know. And of course, -although she was a somewhat terrible person, I had an immense and -genuine admiration for my never-sufficiently-to-be-lauded grandmother, -your great Queen Victoria. Now there was a Woman, a Queen——"</p> - -<p>"In that matter Your Majesty's behaviour was magnificent. We Ourself -saw you at her exsequies: We noted the signs of your countenance and -your comportment; and We honoured your splendid piety. There only was -one feeling in England toward Your Majesty then."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Kaiser was moved: his left arm twitched once or twice. "Your -Holiness's words"—he shook his ferocious eyes—"are very grateful to -me. But what have I done since—to lose——"</p> - -<p>"Majesty, in the English mind, you are incarnate Germany."</p> - -<p>"I am Germany."</p> - -<p>"It is not Your Majesty whom England distrusts, but the Germans."</p> - -<p>"But why, but why?"</p> - -<p>"Englishmen say 'It is all very well to dissemble your love but why -did you kick me downstairs?' They don't believe in Your Majesty's -friendliness because they commit the common error of confounding the -particular with the universal. Your Majesty is the scape-goat. They lay -upon you the sins of execrable taste on the part of your journalists -and of shady diplomacy on the part of your statesmen; and they drive -you out into the wilderness."</p> - -<p>"Is Your Holiness cognizant of the difficulties which I have to contend -with?"</p> - -<p>"We are perfectly astounded at the inertia, the stolidity, the -volatility, the inconstancy of the material which rulers have to -direct, to curb, to shape. We entirely sympathize with Your Majesty in -the matter of the difficulties which fill your life. Also, to descend -to particulars, We know and approve of your masterly method of dealing -with demagogues."</p> - -<p>"I am very glad to hear this. I am pleased to know that there is one -point on which I can agree with Your Holiness."</p> - -<p>"We trust that there are many points on which We cannot agree with Your -Majesty."</p> - -<p>The Kaiser was taken aback. "I do not understand," he said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Complete agreement signifies complete stagnation. Disagreement at -least postulates activity; and only by activity is The Best made -manifest and approved."</p> - -<p>"Holiness, I beg Your pardon. I see the point. That is a very grand and -at-all-times-to-be-remembered doctrine. I must try to remember Your -beautiful words: for it is The Best which I am seeking for Germany."</p> - -<p>"And Germany never will find it in the socialism which aims at that -ridiculous impossibility called Equality, meaning the acquisition -by lazy B of that which active A has won. All history shews that -Aristos only emerges from conflict. That is a truth which must be -insisted-on. At the same time, We rejoice to see that Your Majesty has -been inspired to distinguish between the charlatans and their dupes. -Much unrighteousness is done to suffering humanity by those who will -not take the trouble to remember that, when the natural man is hurt, -he howls and seizes the salve which is nearest. The wise ruler works -to benefit his subjects by going directly to the root of the matter, -removing the cause of injury. But We are not to preach to Your Majesty. -You, no doubt, had some definite object in coming to Us."</p> - -<p>"Yes: I certainly had a definite object: but I had no idea that I was -to discuss it with a Pontiff Who had so complete an intuition of my own -imperial sentiments."</p> - -<p>"Our office is to become in sympathy with all who strive for The Best."</p> - -<p>"The kindness with which Your Holiness has received me, and the -never-to-be-forgotten truths which You so nobly have enunciated make -my task much easier. I desired to consult Your Holiness, to obtain -knowledge of Your feelings, in certain matters. At the present moment, -You are aware,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> my eastern frontier is menaced by Russia, my western -frontier by France; and, on my southern frontier there is a third and a -more miscellaneous difficulty. The Germans of Austria have petitioned -for admission to the Germanic Empire."</p> - -<p>"Can you admit—annex—them? Will it be well for you to do that?"</p> - -<p>"Holiness, I must:—as German Emperor, I must protect Germans. While -Francis Joseph lived, his German subjects were content to live in -Austria as Austrians. Now that Bohemia and Hungary are separating -themselves from Austria, they no longer are content. Austria is no -more. The fragments which composed her are for ever disunited; and——"</p> - -<p>"Poland?"</p> - -<p>"Holiness, in my empire there is no Poland."</p> - -<p>"No? Your Majesty believes that the German Austrians would be happier -under your rule. Are you likely to meet with opposition if you annex -them?"</p> - -<p>"With tremendous opposition. France and Russia instantly will declare -war."</p> - -<p>"With what chance of success?"</p> - -<p>"With no chance of success. My glorious German navy and army will -conquer France and Russia."</p> - -<p>"Majesty! Majesty! And yet—you have endeared yourself to hundreds of -thousands of French refugees."</p> - -<p>"Thanks to Your Holiness's gracious initiative, You may take it that -all Christian France is willing to become German—or English—out of -sheer gratitude."</p> - -<p>"But Russia—Russia is immense—immensely powerful."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Pardon me, Holiness, but do You read the English newspapers?"</p> - -<p>"Nineteen, studiously: thirty-seven, from which cuts are selected for -Our perusal."</p> - -<p>"The English newspapers are well-informed, trustworthy?"</p> - -<p>"Penny and threepenny dailies, threepenny weeklies, shilling and -half-crown monthlies, generally are well-informed, generally are -trustworthy."</p> - -<p>"So. Then I shall tell Your Holiness, from an English penny daily, -that Russia is not powerful in a military sense. The large majority of -her officers are abjectly incapable. The ranks are recruited entirely -from the peasantry; and are, on the admission of their own generals, -entirely unreliable. They have neither intelligence nor initiative; -and they no more know how to obey than their officers know how to -command. Russia's defeat by Japan taught her nothing. Also there has -been for years among patriotic Russians, north, south, east, and west, -a singular yearning for an overwhelming defeat by an European power. -That way only, they say, can they be delivered from the crushing -anarchic tyranny under which the whole country labours. Even supposing -Russia to be united—which she is not—I say that she has no chance -of ultimate success against the German navy and army. I say that her -numbers have inspired a wholly unfounded and exaggerated apprehension -of her military power. I say that bounce—Bounce, if Your Holiness will -permit me to say it—bounce alone has served her purpose well. She will -continue to use bounce until she is opposed by a resolute determination -which there is no possibility of mistaking. Fear of Russia resembles -the fear of a child at an ugly mask. If Russia were to cross my -frontiers, she would march to her final overthrow. And, best of all, -the Russians know that as well as I do."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Your Majesty appears to have made out a case. Well: you will conquer -France and Russia. And then?"</p> - -<p>"I shall annex them to my empire."</p> - -<p>"Are you likely to meet with any opposition then?"</p> - -<p>"I do not know. I am about to proceed to discuss the point with my -uncle. Meanwhile my ambassadors are consulting Mr. Chamberlain and -Mr. Roosevelt; and I myself am consulting my royal cousin the King of -Italy."</p> - -<p>"Ah—the King of Italy!—And what does Your Majesty desire from Us?"</p> - -<p>"I should be glad to know the attitude which Your Holiness will -prescribe for the Catholics of my empire, as well as for other -Catholics, in the event of my engaging in these schemes."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"Because at present my Catholic subjects are loyal. I should not permit -any of my subjects to be disloyal. I wish to give them all freedom -in religious matters: but I should not tolerate opposition to my -state-policy."</p> - -<p>"Touching the matter of Poland——"</p> - -<p>"There is no Poland."</p> - -<p>The Pope put His hand on the table—pontifically. "Will Your Majesty, -for the purposes of argument, consent to imagine a place called Poland, -partly Russian, partly German, inhabited by a race which is neither -German nor Russian, a race very tenacious of its traditions. In the -event of your annexation of France, and Russia, for example,—and -Austria which is composed of sixteen distinct races speaking thirty-two -distinct languages, the various Slavonic nationalities of Parthians, -Medes, and Elamites——"</p> - -<p>"Parthians, Medes, and Elamites?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well: Croats, Slovenes, Dalmatians, and the dwellers in Bosnia and -Herzegovina, to say nothing of the Czechs and the Magyars,—in the -event of your annexation of all these, you would be obliged to have -regard unto the racial characteristics of your new subjects. Now, at -the same time, would you not be well advised to regard the racial -characteristics of Poland?"</p> - -<p>"In what way?"</p> - -<p>"For example, would you concede to Poland, the Polish language, and a -Polish king and constitution under your imperial suzerainty?"</p> - -<p>"Your Holiness means something of the nature of federation, such as -Your Own country so successfully has adopted?"</p> - -<p>"Concisely."</p> - -<p>"I had not thought of it. It merits my profound consideration."</p> - -<p>"And what would happen to the other fragments of Austria, and to the -Balkan States?"</p> - -<p>"I do not know. The Sultan would have something to say."</p> - -<p>"And what will he say?"</p> - -<p>"I must tell Your Holiness that I am much disappointed in Turkey. -I looked upon it as the military power, whose ability to hold back -Russia, and to prevent the political strangulation of Germany in Europe -by keeping-open the gates of the East, must be strengthened at all -costs. Hence I practically re-armed the Sultan's forces; and passed -numbers of young Turkish officers through my military schools. You may -say that I made the Turkish Army. All to no purpose. The new Sultan has -played me false. I am afraid now that Turkey will be more influenced by -England and by Italy than by me."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Is that king blind?"</p> - -<p>"My uncle?"</p> - -<p>"No. Italy."</p> - -<p>"Not that I am aware of. Why does Your Holiness ask?"</p> - - - -<p>The Supreme Pontiff stood up. "We thank Your Majesty for the -sincerity of Your conversation; and assure you of Our good-will. We -will ponder the matters which you have laid before Us."</p> - -<p>"I hoped to have had——" But there was no mistaking the sealed face. -And William II. was one of the cleverest men in the world; and he also -was half an Englishman. "I should be greatly obliged if Your Holiness -would write down that doctrine of Aristos. I should prize it greatly."</p> - -<p>The Pope went to a writing table and produced a couple of lines in His -wonderful fifteenth-century script.</p> - -<p>"I will make this one of the heirlooms of Hohenzollern" said the Kaiser.</p> - -<p>"May God guide you, well-beloved son."</p> - -<p>Hadrian walked that afternoon with Cardinal Semphill on Nomentana, as -far as St. Agnes beyond-the-Walls. It was one of those deliberately -lovely Roman autumn afternoons, when walking is a climax of crisp joy -with the thought of a cup of tea as the fine finial. They talked of -books, especially of novels; and His Eminency asserted that the novels -of Anthony Trollope gave him on the whole the keenest satisfaction. -There was a great deal more in them than generally was supposed, he -said. The Pope agreed that they were very pleasant easy reading, -deliciously anodynic. His Own preference was for Thackeray's Esmond. -He, however, would not commit Himself to approval of all the works -of any one writer, simply because no man was capable of being always -at his best. As they passed through Porta Pia into Venti Settembre, -Hadrian pointed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> the palace on the left of the gate, saying, "Have -you ever been there?"</p> - -<p>"No, Holiness. At least, not since I've been wearing this." He -indicated his vermilion ferraiuola.</p> - -<p>"Don't you think if we asked them very nicely they would give us a cup -of tea?"</p> - -<p>The cardinal mischievously chuckled. "I am of opinion that the English -Ambassador would be very pleased to make Your Holiness's acquaintance -over a cup of tea."</p> - -<p>Hadrian rang the bell. "Semphill," He said as they waited at the gate, -"if there be any ladies about, will you kindly talk to them and leave -the Ambassador to Us."</p> - -<p>Sir Francis was at home. And much honoured. So were two secretaries. -And no ladies. And there was tea. Cardinal Semphill devoted himself -to the secretaries; and told them funny stories about clergymen. -They laughed hugely at the tales, (which were witty), and at the -wittier clergyman who told them. The Pope mentioned to the Ambassador -that He had had a call from the Duke of Königsberg that morning; -and drifted-off into an inquiry as to where reliable maps were to -be procured. Sir Francis named Stanford of Longacre; and was much -interested. Was there any map in particular which His Holiness desired -to consult. They were fairly well-off for maps at the embassy. Perhaps -the Holy Father would condescend——</p> - -<p>"No thank you, Sir Francis. They would ask questions about you in -parliament if We were to borrow your maps. Why, Lady Wimborne will have -a fit as it is, when she hears that you have entertained the Ten-horned -Beast with tea."</p> - -<p>"I am not afraid of that, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"No, of course not. But Stanford will give Us all the information which -We need,—unless you will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> tell Us" (the interest concentrated) "what -England is going to do in the present crisis?"</p> - -<p>"I can tell Your Holiness one thing which She has done; and which will -appear in to-morrow morning's <i>Times</i>. England and Turkey, the two -great Muhammedan Powers, have entered into an offensive and defensive -alliance to-day."</p> - -<p>"Which means that England's interests lie in Asia and Africa; and not -in Europe."</p> - -<p>The Ambassador slightly started. "May I know why Your Holiness thinks -that?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian rose and shook hands. "Because of England's previous alliance -with Japan: because of Her conscious sympathy with the barbaric. Read -'success' for 'sympathy' in the last sentence, if you prefer it. And -please remember that this is not an infallible utterance."</p> - -<p>"It's an astonishingly smart one, all the same," said the Ambassador -with a genial grin.</p> - -<p>"Thank you very much for your tea. Stanford, you said? Good-bye. And, -Sir Francis—there are no closed doors in the Vatican."</p> - -<p>Hadrian chattered at large during the remainder of the evening; and -industriously dreamed all night, first of certain portents connected -with emperors' knuckles: then of tremendous maps on which one crawled: -and finally His usual and favourite dream of being invisible and -stark-naked and fitted with great white feathery wings, flying with the -movement of swimming among and above men, seeing and seeing and seeing, -easily and enormously swooping. In the morning reaction supervened. He -was listless: He wanted to be alone. They left Him alone; and during -several days He was inaccessible, writing, and burning much writing. -The palace, with its fifty separate buildings, its eleven thousand -rooms, its fourteen courtyards hummed with the life of a popu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>lation -of a small town. Up in the series of small chambers under the eaves, -in the large and lovely pleasaunce on the slopes of the Vatican hill, -He found quiet and peace. He thought for hours at a stretch, smoking -cigarette after cigarette, gazing out of the window or across autumnal -lawns. Sometimes He remained rapt in contemplation of the perfect -beauty of His new cross, gently stroking it with delicate finger. A -portfolio of vast maps arrived from London. He pinned them on His blank -brown walls and pored over them. In the night He often would rise and -stand before them till His breast ached and His arms were stiff with -the weight of the lamp. He sent a holograph letter to the King of -Spain; and received a reply which lightened His brow. He concentrated -His mind on the future. He began to form His plans.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of November, He signed the decree of canonization of -Madame Jehane de Lys, commonly called Joan of Arc; and simultaneously -issued the <i>Epistle to the Germans</i>. Very few perceived the true -inwardness of the paradox. Those Frenchmen who remained Christian -were so overjoyed, at the honour accorded to their national heroine, -that they failed to appreciate the significance of the <i>Epistle</i>. The -Germans were so occupied with the contents of the <i>Epistle</i>, that the -glorification of a Frenchwoman passed unnoted. In England, it was -thought that the Pontiff was feeling his way. The <i>Worldly Christian</i> -asked what you would expect of a Jesuit; and the <i>Daily Anagraph</i> -compared Him to Machiavelli. Certainly The <i>Epistle to the Germans</i> -was remarkable not so much for its matter as for its suggestion. It -was a master-piece of what Walt Whitman calls revelation by faint -indirections. The Kaiser did not know whether to be satisfied or -dissatisfied with it. Hadrian praised the Teutonic race for its poetic -(in the Greek sense of "creative") and diligent habits. He dwelled -with admiration upon the many benefits<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> which civilization owes to the -German constructive faculty. But He indicated the want of the "open air -and fresh water" element in all departments, physical and intellectual, -of German life. "Scope is what ye need, free movement of mind and body. -Stagnation breeds purulence, rancorous, suffocating, sour. Brooding -never can bring satisfaction, nor can iron, nor can blood: but only -the gold of Love. Wherefore, well-beloved sons, seek your salvation in -Love. Love one another first: be patient, knowing that Love is manifest -in obedience, and hath exceeding great reward."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Jerry Sant</span> saw Mrs. Crowe driving in victorias with people who wore -smartish bonnets. Professional experience enables him to recognize -real ospreys. Three or four times he met her in her mauve, going to an -evening party. From this he deduced that she was enjoying herself; and, -it being quite contrary to the principles of socialism that any one -should enjoy themselves except under socialist supervision, he put on -a red necktie and paid her a visit. It was a wet day: she had nothing -particular to do; and she was not unwilling to chat about herself. -Looking at his florid sweaty vulgarity, it soothed her vanity to tell -this plebeian of the patricians whom she had captured, the Honble. Mrs. -This, the Baroness von That, and Lady Whatshemame of the Other. They -were so kind. Their kettledrums and bridge-routs were so shick. You met -such thoroughly Nice people you know. And the American millionairesses -were so amusing. They had such shocking manners. Mrs. Crowe actually -had seen one drinking soup out of a plate. Jerry had been getting more -and more morose while she chattered; and now he burst out:</p> - -<p>"I know better than to sup my soup out of the plate. I sup them with a -spoon."</p> - -<p>"Of course you do, Mr. Sant. But these American women have no manners -whatever."</p> - -<p>"Ah weel now, we've had enough of that. Look ye now, I've been letting -ye go your own way a bit; and I think the time's come when ye might -introduce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> me to some of your gran' friens. A'm none too gey at the -hotel; and besides that, it's me due."</p> - -<p>She found the man a sudden and accented nuisance: but she couldn't -possibly quarrel with the keeper of the purse. "I'm sure, if you think -it advisable, I don't want to keep you back. I don't quite see though -how I can take you with me, as you say. You see you don't know any of -these people."</p> - -<p>"Well and fhat of that?"</p> - -<p>"Why you silly man of course you've got to be introduced."</p> - -<p>"How did you get introduced yersel'?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, why, I was converted, you see."</p> - -<p>"Imphm! Well, I'll let ye know I'm not for being converted, as ye call -it."</p> - -<p>"No, I suppose not. I think it rather a pity, you know; because I'm -sure you'd have no difficulty afterwards."</p> - -<p>"A willna!"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps if I were to hint that you were thinking about it——"</p> - -<p>"Ah weel, ye might do that now. Look here ma wumman. Why can't ye -introduce me yersel'?"</p> - -<p>"Oh I couldn't. People would want to know what you were to me——"</p> - -<p>"I'm your paymaster."</p> - -<p>"Oh how can you say such things!"</p> - -<p>"Because I am."</p> - -<p>"Yes I know you are: but you needn't say it out so bluntly. I'll tell -you what I might do. You be at the tea-place in Piazzer Dispaggner -every afternoon from four to five. I'm sure to come in to-morrow or the -next day with a few friends; and, if you were to bow to me, I might -recognize you and ask you to our table."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Wumman A'll dae't. Who pays for the tea, though?"</p> - -<p>"Sometimes I do; and sometimes whoever I come with."</p> - -<p>"Well then I'm coming. And I'll let you know to have a good blow out, -plenty o' scones and bit-cakeys an' a' that. I'll pay; and I don't mind -if it costs me three shilling, so long as ye introduce me to some of -these mashers."</p> - -<p>"Very well. But remember, you're thinking about becoming Catholic."</p> - -<p>"A'm not."</p> - -<p>"Dear me, Mr. Sant, but you must be. Then they'll take an interest in -you and ask you to their parties." "Ah weel then, I am."</p> - -<p>"Who <i>is</i> this Mr. Sant?" said a Pict to an Erse (who called himself -"The" before his surname). The italicized question was asked at a -reception in Mrs. O'Jade's flat on Palazzo Campello, about a fortnight -after the previous confabulation.</p> - -<p>"I really don't quite know, beyond that he's a friend of that Mrs. -Crowe who was converted the other day."</p> - -<p>"Is he a convert too?"</p> - -<p>"No, not yet: but they say he's likely to be. They're both Liblabs, you -know."</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes of course, I read about them in the papers. What a score it -will be for the Church! Well, what do you make of him?"</p> - -<p>"Oh he seems earnest enough: but he's hardly got a word to say for -himself. And I don't think he's quite a gentleman, you know."</p> - -<p>Hadrian sat at the end of one of His long bare tables. On both sides -of Him were two great numbered baskets. At the other end of the -table was a huge leathern sack containing the pontifical mail. At -the sides of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> table stood the two Gentlemen of the Apostolic -Chamber with stilettos. The Pope unlocked the sack; and Sir John and -Sir Iulo in turn drew out a handful of letters and displayed them -before Him. He scanned the handwriting of each; and named a numbered -basket into which the designated missive was cast. When the sack was -empty, the contents of the baskets were dealt with. All the letters -in the first were addressed "To His Holiness the Pope, Prefect of -the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition." Hadrian took the stiletto -from Sir Iulo; and slit open each envelope which Sir John presented. -Thus they were returned to the basket, and sent to be perused by the -Cardinal-Secretary-of-State. The two gentlemen seated themselves at the -table: cut-open the envelopes of the second basketful; and pushed them -within the Pope's reach. These were addressed in known hand-writings. -Hadrian read the letters, and sorted them in separate heaps before Him: -each heap was weighted by a miniature ingot of pure copper, the colour -of which He immensely admired. Two letters were placed face downwards -by themselves. The envelopes from the third basket were opened, and -the letters extracted by the gentlemen: Hadrian only looked-at and -arranged them. The fourth basket contained newspapers, which Sir John -opened and examined for marked paragraphs. If any such were found, Sir -Iulo folded the paper open and placed it: otherwise the paper was torn -and returned to the basket. Meanwhile the Pope more closely inspected -the letters which He had retained. The gentlemen placed a couple of -phonographs on the table: inserted new cylinders; and retired. Hadrian -got up and locked the doors. He took the little heaps of letters from -under the ingots; and spoke into the machine formal acknowledgments of -receipt and a short blessing, or definite instructions for detailed -responses, until all had received attention except the two letters -which lay by themselves, and three others. He unlocked the door. The -gentlemen entered; and carried the instruments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> with the articulate -cylinders to Cardinals Sterling, Whitehead, Leighton, della Volta, and -Fiamma, who acted as pontifical secretaries in the ninth antechamber. -Hadrian Himself wrote to His well-beloved son William, to His beloved -son Edmund Earl Marshal of England, and to His beloved son A. Panciera. -These being enclosed and addressed, He was left alone. He took the two -remaining letters to the easy-chair by the window; rolled and lighted a -cigarette; and considered them.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p> - -"<span class="smcap">Reverend and Dear Sir</span>,<br /> -</p> - -<p>Since our late esteemed interview when I had the pleasure of -addressing your lordship on the subject of Socialism I have been -anxiously awaiting the favour of an acknowledgment of same. In case -the subject has slipped your memory I should remind you that I -informed you previously on behalf of the Liblab Fellowship that we -were not averse to give our careful consideration to any proposal -that you may see fit to make, with a view to co-operation with us -against the horde of cosmopolitan gold-pigs who monopolise the means -of existence production distribution and exchange in order to procure -a complete change in the entire social organism. I am quite at a -loss to understand on what grounds you have not favored me with a -direct reply unless there is anything on which you would like farther -explanations, in that case I will be most happy to call on you per -previous appointment for which I am now waiting at the above address -neglecting my business at considerable expense and inconvenience -to myself which a man in my humble position compared with yours -(!) cannot be expected to incur and common courtesy demands should -be made good. I therefore trust that in view of the not altogether -pleasant facts that are in my possession your lordship shall see fit -to send me a private interview at your earliest convenience. Hopeing -that I will not have occasion to feel myself compelled to proceed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> -farther in this matter if you leave me no option but to do so, and -assuring your lordship that your valued instructions as to time and -place of meeting will have my fullest and promptest attention.</p> - -<p> -I remain Sir,<br /> -<br /> -Yours truly,<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">Comrade Jeremiah Sant</span>. L.F.<br /> -</p> - -<p>P.S. Perhaps I may mention by way of hint that we might be able to -come to some arrangement for our mutual advantage not altogether on -the above lines, and I beg to advise your most reverent lordship that -I would be willing to meet your wishes if the terms are suitable. -Asking to hear from you soon and hoping that any misunderstandings -may presently be cleared up.</p> - -<p> -J.S."<br /> -</p></blockquote> - -<blockquote> - -<p> - -"<span class="smcap">Dearest dearest Georgie</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>For although you have no more the old sweet name my heart is ever -faithfull and will not let me call you by any other. Does it not -remind you of that day of long ago when the floods were out in the -meadows and you and I and Joseph were coming home from the Bellamys, -and you lifted me in your strong arms and carried me through the -water that covered the path. How Joseph laughed. He never thought -it worth his while to take care of me as you did. But I knew that -it was because you loved me and my heart went out to you then and -never has been my own since. If only you knew how deeply I regret -the unpleasantness which arose since then I think you would pity me -a little. Georgie do forgive me. It is my love which made me mad. I -hate myself for what I did and would give the world to undo it. I was -a mad fool then. I did not know what I was doing or how you would -take it so seriously. Georgie you were always good and I was wicked. -But haven't you punished me enough. Think of what I have suffered all -these years apart from you. Every time you have refused to notice me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> -has been like a stab in my heart. Georgie take pity on me. Do you -know that I watch your window every day and watch you walk about the -town. Several times you have brushed against me in the street without -knowing it for I will do nothing to damage you any more, dearest -Georgie. I know very well that ladies are not admitted to your palace -for I have had myself made a Catholic in order to get a little nearer -you, but all priests have housekeepers. Georgie do let me come and be -your housekeeper. I promise on my word of honour that I will serve -you faithfully in any and every way. We might be so happy. Nothing -would give me greater joy than to work my fingers to the bone for -you. Georgie do believe me when you see how I am willing to humiliate -myself so for you. Of course I never speak of our former relations -except that I say I knew you slightly when Joe was alive. But as for -love I never mention it for it was nipped in the bud by my wickedness -and never has been anything but a trial to me, and I should not wish -my love to do you any harm. Don't think that last sentence means -anything spiteful, it is not so indeed but I know you distrust me. I -only mean that it would be better for both of us if you would not go -on being so cruel heartless dreadful and neglectful of</p> - -<p> -Your devoted and distracted<br /> -<br /> -N.<br /> -</p> - -<p>P.S. I have a suspicion that the man who is with me is no friend of -yours. Georgie, be wise and let me see you at least and tell you what -I suspect. It is only your welfare I have at heart, don't refuse me -Georgie don't."</p></blockquote> - -<p>Hadrian read these letters through two or three times, noting the -yapping and the yowling of the one, the panting and the whining of -the other, the barking of both. He turned to the window and looked at -nothing until He had finished His cigarette. His thin lips<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> stiffened -in scorn and drew downward into the straight inflexible line. His -impulse was to make an end of the male animal in a tank of aquafortis, -if such a convenience only had formed part of the pontifical -paraphernalia: as for the female, he remembered George Meredith's -sentence, and would have liked to squeeze all the acid out of her at -one grip and toss her to the divinities who collect exhausted lemons. -The next minute, "The dogs, the dirty abject obscene dogs." He spat -suddenly; and carried the letters to the safe in the bedroom where He -locked them up. He prohibited Himself from taking further note of them. -He was conscious that this course was quite wrong. But there it was. He -had a busy afternoon before Him; and He diligently read in His breviary -to prepare for Himself a convenient frame of mind. Pursuing His policy -of emphasizing the difference between the Church and the World, He -had summoned the generals of religious orders. To each of these He -wished to say some words of admonition, words which would remain in the -memory, and be passed from mind to mind, from mystic to thyrsos-bearer, -from general to postulant. He rather enjoyed the sticking of labels on -people and things now, because He could do it to some purpose. On the -other hand, He had a feeling that He only was touching surfaces. Still, -here and there the surface might be soft and capable of receiving -impression: or here and there might be a crevice or a gap which He -could fill with a cartridge. Somehow, anyhow, His words and acts must -be made to penetrate to the roots of things, to influence fundamentals.</p> - -<p>At fifteen o'clock He mounted the small throne. One by one the -generals passed into the Presence: heard apostolic words; and passed -out again—Servites, Premonstratensians, Augustinians, Cistercians, -Carthusians, Oblates, Marists, Passionists, Carmelites, Dominicans. -To the General of Trinitarians, He commended Africa; and ordained -that twenty friars should preach as of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> old in the market-places -of England, Canada, and Australasia, for African missions. To the -General of the Order of Charity, He would not say anything at present -concerning the condemned Forty Propositions: but He would say Love your -enemies the Jesuits, and "turn not away thine eye from the needy and -give none occasion to curse thee." To the General of Benedictines, He -gave command to keep his monks in their monasteries, and to prohibit -them from appearing in the correspondence-columns of newspapers, -either under their religious names or their renounced secular -styles. He reminded the Minister-General of Capuchins of the second -minister-general, the apostate Ochino, who had preferred worldly things -and had preached polygamy; and also of the fact that playing fast and -loose with worldly things continued to produce apostate Capuchins. To -the Minister-General of Franciscans, He commended Asia; and ordained -that fifty friars should preach as of old in the market-places of -England, Canada, and Australasia, for Asiatic missions. Then He shewed -the grey scapular and cord which He was wearing next to His skin; -and asked that the brotherhood should name Him to Blessed Brother -Francis as a little brother who was not gay but sad, not lively but -weary, and who had but little love. Hadrian, as Brother Serafino of -the Third Order, kissed the Minister-General's naked feet, and begged -a blessing. Returning to the throne, the Supreme Pontiff imparted -apostolic benediction. And Brother Peter Baptist went out into the -noisy antechambers with his clean bright face all-glorious, and light -in his serene blue eyes. The Prepositor-general of Jesuits entered -with ostentation of the knowledge that, if Hadrian the Seventh was the -English White Pope, he himself was the English Black Pope. He had that -benevolently truculent manner which women deem adorable. As he made his -obeisance, Hadrian noted a little lacquered snuff-box in his hand and a -frightful bandanna oozing from the pocket of his cassock. His Holiness -instantly carried war into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> camp, by reminding Father St. Albans of -the bulls of Urban VIII. and Innocent X. which prohibit snuff-taking on -pain of excommunication.</p> - -<p>"No doubt those bulls are obsolete: but Your Reverency will have the -goodness to abstain from practising the filthy habit in Our Presence."</p> - -<p>The sallow General pocketed his snuff-box; and produced the stony -mild smile which is used upon eccentricity. The Pope remarked that -the Company of Jesus appeared to be in a verisimilar position to the -Wesleyans, in that they had departed a very long way from the will -and spirit of their founder. He used His slowly biting monotone, -because He wished to save this General the trouble of misunderstanding -Him. He said that, with the word "Borgia" and the word "Nero," the -word "Jesuit" perhaps was the eponym for all that was vilest in the -world. That was very undesirable. Not that the good opinion of the -world was desirable. Far from that. But Christians ought not to enjoy -anything, not even an evil reputation, under false pretences. He -wished to do something to rectify the erroneous opinion which the -world had formed about the Company of Jesus, to straighten-out the -tangle, correcting and directing; and, as men were wont to judge more -by actions than by words, He did not propose to beat the air with vain -expostulations, explanations, expositions of virtue, and so forth. -It had been done a thousand times before. Historic calumnies had -been refuted from pulpits and in pamphlets with unanswerable logic: -but still the man-in-the-street said "Jesuit" when he meant "a foxy -wolf." The Pontiff was not going to try to persuade the world away -from its nonsense. He wished the Company of Jesus to give the world a -proximate occasion of persuading itself. Therefore, He proposed to the -General, in private, a return to the observance of the good old rule -and a cultivation of the saintly spirit of St. Iñigo Lopez de Recalde. -He wished the Jesuits to reconsider their position, as it were: to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> -surcease from the—not always mortally sinful—not always tangibly -illegal—but perhaps—generally shady transactions——</p> - -<p>The General interrupted. He was prepared to bully.</p> - -<p>Hadrian froze him with a glance of blazing supremacy. "Make no -mistake," the Pope said: "We are not intending Ourself to punish your -Company, nor to degrade your Companions who so diligently degrade -themselves, nor to confer fictitious and unmerited importance upon -you by decrees of dissolution or suppression. We do not forget the -badness of the agents in the goodness of the cause nor the goodness of -the cause in the badness of the agents." He was looking through His -all-observant half-shut eyes straight at the bridge of the General's -fine nose. That is the most exacerbating form of regard: for, while -it holds the hearer rigid and intense, it effectually prevents -retaliation. Much may be done with the eye in wordy warfare. You may -challenge: you may intimidate: you may quell: but you may do none of -these things while your opponent refuses to lend his eye to yours. So -this sleek General found. The Pontiff held him with an eye which gazed -so nearly into his, that he perforce was obliged to lie in wait for the -flicker when his own could seize it. Hadrian knew the dodge. He had not -watched and dichotomized men and Jesuits from the observatory and in -the dissecting-room of His loneliness during twenty years for nothing. -At the end of His sentence, His gaze swept right away. He rose and went -to the window. Looking out over the roofs of Golden and Immortal Rome, -He continued in a milder tone, "We have cited Your Reverency only to -hear Our paternal chiding of your naughty ways, to the end that ye may -amend the same, returning of your own free will to the observance of -the spirit as well as of the letter of those rules of life and conduct -which your Father, St. Ignatius, made for you."</p> - -<p>He paused. The General, who would have preferred wheeling manure in a -barrow at the behest of a novice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> (A.M.D.G. of course) to listening to -this rodent exhortation, took it that the audience was ended; and made -shift to get on to his knees.</p> - -<p>But the Pope went on. "For, it is of the nature of all human things -to deteriorate; and ye have made yourselves a scorn and hissing among -men. The <i>Nouvelle Revue</i> states that ye are in great decadence. The -statement may be one of your own devices for distracting the attention -of the world from your nefarious machinations. Or it may be a fact. In -both cases it is damnable and damnatory." He paused again.</p> - -<p>"Jube, Domine, benedicere," the General intoned, with a determination -to force the apostolic benediction, and to get back to the Via del -Seminario as soon as possible. He felt that he had some very important -things to say to his socii.</p> - -<p>But the pitiless voice probed him again: "Wherefore We admonish you -that ye set your house in order while ye have time."</p> - -<p>The General's oval jaw took an extra lateral crease. His hands twitched -and pattered down and up and down in a talpine manner. Suddenly the -inflexible fathomless eyes flashed on him. Axioms like sleet tersely -lashed him.</p> - -<p>"Remember that ye only exist on sufferance. Dismiss delusions; and see -yourselves as ye really are. Strip, man, strip. Search out your own -weaknesses: lest, not the Father but, the Enemy discover the sores, and -the diamonds, which ye are hiding. For ye do not merit the reputation, -which is associated with your name, on the strength of which ye trade."</p> - -<p>The glossy black priest jerked to his feet: genuflected; and was -backing from the white Presence. The Pontiff, whose mood had become -quite pythian, stepped up to him, laying a firm hand on the bow of the -ribbons of his ferraiuola. "Wince not, dear son. Three-fourths of you -trade upon the reputa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>tion of your Company for cunning and learning. -One-fourth of you is the Christians of the world. At least be frank -with yourselves. Let us have more of the flower of your Christianity. -Let us have less of your false pretences. Your erudition is showy -enough. Oh yes. But it is so superficial. Your machinations are sly -enough. Oh yes. But they are so silly. Ye are not geniuses. Ye are not -monsters either of vice or of virtue: but only ridiculous mediocrities, -always pitifully burrowing, burrowing like assiduous moles, always -seeing your pains mis-spent, your elaborate schemes wrecked, except -sometimes, when—to complete the metaphor—quite by accident, ye chance -to kill a king. This is not to the Greater Glory of God. Then stop. -Stop, here and now."</p> - -<p>They were by the door. The Black Pope had one hand under the blue-linen -curtain, and was fumbling for the handle. The White Pope quickly -clinched His admonition. "Don't pretend to be Superior Persons. Don't -give yourselves such airs. Don't gad about in hansom cabs quite so -much. Don't play billiards in public-houses. Don't nurture jackals. Try -to be honest. Don't oppress the poor. Don't adore the rich. Don't cheat -either. Tell the truth: or try to. Love all men, and learn to serve. -And don't be vulgar."</p> - -<p>Father St. Albans had got the door open. He looked like a flat female -with chlorosis. He was green and quite speechless. But he bowed -profoundly as the decurial chamberlains came forward to escort him -through the antechambers.</p> - -<p>"Benedicat te Omnipotens Deus.... Go in peace and pray for Us," purred -the Supreme Pontiff, rubbing His left hand with His pocket handkerchief -and returning to the window.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XIV</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Hadrian</span> was mooning about in the Treasury one morning, wondering why -people will persist in using diamonds by themselves instead of as a -setting for coloured gems: grieving at the excessive ugliness of most -modern goldsmiths' monstrous work: turning with disgust from huge -brazenly vulgar masses of bullion shaped like bad dreams of chalices, -pyxes, staves, croziers, mitres, tiaras, dishes, jugs, (not beds), -and basons. He bathed in the beauty of sea-blue beryls, corundrums, -catseyes, and chalcedonyx. A vast rose-alexandrolith mysteriously -changed from myrtle-green to purple as He turned it from sunlight to -candle-light. He moved to a great round table-moonstone, transparent -as water one way: brilliantly clouded with the ethereal blue of a -summer-morning sky, the other. These two stones had not the blatant -ostentation, the inevitable noisy obviousness of rubies, emeralds, -diamonds and pearls. They were apart, chaste, recondite, serene, and -permanent. He enjoyed them. His glance again passed over the flaring -cupboards. A plan began to crawl out of one of his brain-cells. He -took the alexandrolith and the moonstone in His two hands; and sat -down profoundly meditating, gazing into the lovely silent mystery in -the stones. So He sat for half-an-hour, while His plan unfolded its -convolutions. To Him entered Cardinal Semphill, rather ruddier than a -cherry, carrying the day-before-yesterday's <i>Times</i>. "Holiness," he -said with some animation, "I hope I don't interrupt You. Thank God -we've got a King of England at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> last!" He read from the paper, "'The -King's Majesty has been graciously pleased to send autograph letters -to all the European sovereigns and prime ministers inviting them to -assemble with the President of the United States and the Japanese -Emperor at Windsor Castle, in order to concert measures for terminating -the present lamentable condition of affairs.'"</p> - -<p>"That explains the length of the Japanese Emperor's visit to England, -and Roosevelt's arrival last week. Yes, it's very king-like. -Statesmanship is all very well up to a point. Then, its force seems to -fade; and kingship's chance comes. Lucky England to have a real King!"</p> - -<p>"I thought Your Holiness would be pleased. And now what will be the -outcome?"</p> - -<p>"Who knows?" Hadrian thought for a minute; and then mounted an -imaginary pulpit, and preached like a purposeful literary man. "First, -they'll quarrel terribly for certain: because five of them are distinct -entities, and the others (the nonentities) out of sheer terror will -make themselves a nuisance. Secondly, when the nonentities have been -reassured, or squashed, the five entities will have to reach a common -ground. If they do that, We shall be very much surprised. Thirdly, -supposing an agreement to have been reached, Their Majesties and the -President will have to get it constitutionally confirmed. Autocracy is -supposed to be dead; and the usual constitutional farce will have to be -performed."</p> - -<p>"Why do You say 'autocracy is supposed to be dead,' Holy Father?"</p> - -<p>"Oh because the euphuism 'constitutional monarchy' has taken its place. -The twentieth century doesn't like the word Autocrat; and pretends that -the thing does not exist. But it does: not in the old hereditary form: -but Aristos, the Strong Man, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>variably dominates. It's in the order -of nature. And Demos likes him for it, only the silly thing won't say -so. That's all. Semphill, you might send a marconigraph to the Earl -Marshal. We require news of this Congress of Windsor at least once a -day."</p> - -<p>The Pope returned the gems to the beneficiato in attendance: took the -<i>Times</i> with Him and went across the basilica into the gardens. A -tramontana bit Him to the bone; and He tightly wrapped His cloak round -Him, facing the wind and the blinding glare of the sun. He briskly -walked a couple of miles, until blood-warmth stung his mind into -activity. By Leo IV.'s ruined wall, He met Cardinal Carvale engaged -in a similar exercise, his delicate cheeks fervid and flushed, and -his grave eyes blazing. Good priests generally retain their bloom -through the full five-and-forty years of youth. Hadrian invited his -companionship and conversation for the return to Vatican. They were -a pair, these two medium-sized slim athletic men, the one in white -and the other in vermilion, both very brilliant in the sunlight, with -vivid aspect and vivid gait. They looked like men who really were -alive. Their discourse was just the vigorous rather epigrammatic talk -of wholesome well-bred men. As they turned into the court of the -Belvedere, His Eminency said "Oh, by the bye, Holy Father, perhaps I -ought to tell you that they cannot understand at St. Andrew's College -why You never have been to see them."</p> - -<p>"But you understand:" Hadrian promptly put in.</p> - -<p>"Well—yes:" the cardinal responded. In his candid gaze there was -intuition, sympathy—and something else.</p> - -<p>The Pontiff read it. "When did they tell you that?"</p> - -<p>"Yesterday."</p> - -<p>"Oh. Do you often go there?"</p> - -<p>"About once a fortnight, Holiness."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Carvale, do you like going there?"</p> - -<p>"—Yes, on the whole I do. The youngsters are glad to see me; and the -older men" (a radiant smile disclosed his exquisite teeth as he spread -an arm)—"they like vermilion to take note of them. And I think it does -my soul good" (he spoke gravely) "to visit the old place. I put it -off as long as I could: I would have been glad to forget the horrors. -Strange to say, I forgot them after I had been there a few times."</p> - -<p>Hadrian's heart informed Him. He understood it all quite well. "Carvale -let us go to St. Andrew's now. We can get there in time for dinner."</p> - -<p>The cardinal instantly looked happy; and the two continued to walk -swiftly through the City, going by Tordinona, Orso, Piazza Colonna and -the Trevi Fountain. As they passed the crucifix at the corner of an -alley, Hadrian bowed. His Eminency did not. "Why don't you salute our -Divine Redeemer?" the Pope inquired.</p> - -<p>"Well of course I always raise my hat to The Lord in the tabernacle -when I pass a church——"</p> - -<p>"And you bow to Us, and even to Our handwriting: but—— Listen, -Carvale: 'It is idolatry to talk about Holy Church and Holy Father, to -bow to fallible sinful man, if you do not bend knee and lip and heart -to every thought and image of God manifest as Man——' Is that explicit -enough? Well; it was a protestant parson who wrote it—one Arnold of -Rugby."</p> - -<p>"He was right, Holiness;" said the cardinal turning back and bowing.</p> - -<p>They walked on in silence. The Pope was doing a thing which He could -not away with. It might be thought that He, a former student, was -come to the college (which had expelled Him) to swagger. Of course it -would be thought. Let it be thought. Then the hateful memory of every -nook and corner, in which, as a student,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> He had been so fearfully -unhappy, surged in His mind: the gaudy chapel where He had received -this snub, the ugly refectory where He received that, the corridor -where the rector had made coarse jests about His mundity to obsequious -grinners, the library where He had found impossible dust-begrimed -books, the stairs up which He had staggered in lonely weakness, the -dreadful gaunt room which had been His homeless home, the altogether -pestilent pretentious bestial insanity of the place—He knew and winced -at every stone of it; and wrenched Himself from retrospection. They -were going up the narrow Avigonesi. Fifty yards in front, a double file -of students in violet cassocks and black sopranos preceded them. A -little group of ragamuffins shouted cattivi verbi at the file; and one -caught hold of the conventional sleeve of a student's soprano which was -streaming in the wind. Cheap cloth rent at a tug. The ragamuffin rushed -off with his spoils. But the bereft one furiously followed: retrieved -his streamer; and clouted a head which howled, resuming his place in -the camerata all unconscious that his act had been observed.</p> - -<p>"History repeats itself:" the Pope said, and laughed.</p> - -<p>Carvale smiled in reply. "Fancy remembering that."</p> - -<p>"We forget no one thing of those days," said Hadrian: "also, the rape -of Your Eminency's streamer was effected on one of the only two days -when We were permitted to accompany the others to the University. -Naturally We remember that. Besides, Carvale, you were in such a blind -and naked rage; and We had deemed you such a virtuous little mouse."</p> - -<p>"Was I?" the cardinal said. "One had to lie low, as a rule: but -sometimes the old Adam——"</p> - -<p>"We owe Our one moment of mirth in St. Andrew's College to that old -Adam."</p> - -<p>"I had to keep in coll. for a week though, afterwards. The boy's father -was waiting for me with a knife."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes. Italy had not got over her taste for steel."</p> - -<p>"Will she ever get over it, Holiness?"</p> - -<p>"Of course She will—when She has killed you—or Us. Nothing but a -tragedy will break a habit of centuries:" the Pope said, as He rang the -bell at the door of the college.</p> - -<p>The old porter Aurelio opened, gasped, dropped on his knees. Hadrian -and Cardinal Carvale entered. A long corridor extended right and left. -In front, on the right, a wide stone stair ascended: on the left, -another stair descended a little way to a glass door leading to a -shabby shrubbery. Some students were on the stairs: others were in the -shrubbery: two or three lingered in the corridor. At the Pontiff's -entrance they all inquisitively turned, gasped, and flopped. It was -awfully funny. They resembled violet hares on their forms, rigid, -goggle-eyed, ready-to-bound. At the turn of the landing, a sturdy -black-a-vised Gael fled upstairs to summon the superiors. The Apostle -blessed the others with a shy smile which would be kind, and a wave of -the hand which emptied space,—except for an obese little spectacled -sharpnosed creature like a violet sparrow who hopped about pertly -obsequious. Down came flying the superiors as a bell began to ring and -intonations sounded in the upper corridors. The rector was annoyed at -being taken unawares: but he presented his vice-rector, a mild anemic -of thirty with the face of a good young woman.</p> - -<p>"We are come to accept your hospitality, Monsignore, without any -ceremony," said Hadrian. They passed into the refectory to the high -table. Twenty-nine students followed: and arranged themselves in two -lines down the sides of the centre, and in a third line across the end. -The dean-of-students intoned the Grace: the rest responded. The Pope -placed Himself on the rector's right, with the vice-rector on His Own -right: Carvale supported the rector on the left. Soup, boiled meat, -vegetables,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> baked-meat, cheese, apples, appeared and disappeared. -The rector conceded to Hadrian the right of signalling to the reader -in the pulpit: the Pope kept him reading, because He did not want to -talk platitudes, and because He did want to look at the men. He ate -little. The food was abundant in quantity: indelicate in quality. -They offered Him the best black wine from the college-vineyards: but -He preferred a student's little cruet of red, a coarse wine with some -body and no bouquet whatever—an unsophisticate wine such as Fabrizio -Colonna might have used at the end of the fifteenth century. Most of -the diners assiduously and emphatically dined, with one eye on the -high table, a nose in their own plate, and the other eye in their -neighbour's. Hadrian noted all their physiognomies; and began to -select those with whom He would have a word. He passed the weak young -thin-nosed dean at the top of the right table, the tall quiet man in -black who looked already sacerdotal, the old bald amiability with an -air of conventionality who might have been a parson,—yes He would -speak to him of the others,—the blubber-lipped gorger who mopped -up gravy with a crumb-wedge and gulched the sop—no: the fastidious -person who ate bread and drank water and looked so hungry—yes: the -florid giant with the fiery wiry mop—no: the dark man with the cruel -face of a Redemptorist—no: the sallow lath who had the manners of an -attaché—no. On the left, colourless mediocrities—no. Across the end, -youngsters:—His Holiness distinguished a black-haired white-skinned -one with wet black eyes, certainly an Erse: a crisp-brown-haired -muscular hobbledehoy with shining grey eyes and a tanned skin, who -would look well in a farm-yard: a big bloom of boyhood yellow-haired, -blue-eyed, scarlet and moist-lipped, ardent and modest. The Pope tapped -on the table. The reader, to whom no one had listened, ceased; and came -down to his dinner. A low murmur of conversation arose. Everybody began -to think furiously of what he would do or demand if he had a chance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> - -<p>"This is a great day for the college, Holy Father," the rector said. -The Pope slightly bowed. "Had we known that You intended to honour us, -Holy Father, a proper reception——"</p> - -<p>"Unnecessary," Hadrian quietly interrupted. "We do not wish to disturb. -Our children expect to see Us; and We are here to be seen. They all -shall be able to say that they have seen and heard and handled Us, if -they please." He spoke lowly, and (the rector perceived) unwillingly, -but very officially. They were eating wind-fallen apples. The rector -offered an enormous silver snuff-box. Hadrian passed it to the -vice-rector, who took a pinch with blushing alacrity. It went the round -of the tables; and returned on the rector's left. Hadrian carefully -noted the takers. Some took snuff perfunctorily, some customarily, -others horribly. The fiery wiry giant stood up and ostentatiously -absorbed it with a cringe to the high table. Those to whom the Pope was -resolved to speak took none: the fastidious person disdained it. The -meal was finished. The students ranked for Grace; and all proceeded -to the chapel to visit The Lord in the Sacrament. After five minutes' -silent prayer, they emerged on the first corridor. There seemed to be -uncertainty: the men congregated on the descent expecting directions. -In the ordinary course of things, some would be going to Propaganda for -lectures; others, to their own rooms for study or siesta: but, for the -next few moments, perhaps a dozen would enjoy horse-play in the shabby -shrubbery. A group of the last collected at the stair-head, by the -reception-room (with the red-velvet settees and the sham Venetian glass -chandeliers), into which the rector was endeavouring to entice the -Pope. But Hadrian was looking at the students, mischievously smiling -at them. "It is to be hoped that you are not going into the garden to -murder a cat:" He said.</p> - -<p>Everybody instantly became as red as a scalding-hot capsicum, some -with shame, one with disgust, others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> from sheer fear. Church-students -easily are frightened, because there generally is less grace than -nature in them; and you only have to disclose a knowledge of the latter -for them to desire (as phrenetically as possible) the predominance of -the former. This makes for uneasiness, often for hypocrisy—in both -cases, for mental and corporeal effort and a sudden flux of blood to -the extremities.</p> - -<p>"To murder a cat, Holy Father?" the vice-rector ejaculated. He was -responsible for discipline.</p> - -<p>"Yes. They used to murder stray cats here, just to pass the time. We -have seen it. The one thing, which We remember in connection with -your shrubbery, is a rush of ramping infuriated boys with spades and -pitchforks, chasing and smashing a poor stray cat. We can see the -horror now, with its broken back, and one eye hanging out on its -whiskers. We can hear its dreadful heart-rending yells. Boys, don't do -such things—to cats of all creatures!"</p> - -<p>He spoke with fervence. Some savages wondered what the blazes He was -driving at. There was a little silence. No one seemed to know how to -break it. Then the sparrow-like student appeared with a red chair -which he had taken the liberty of extracting from the reception-room; -and dragged it behind the Pontiff at the stair-head. It was a welcome -interruption. Hadrian sat down; and dismissed Cardinal Car vale -with the superiors. He was going to have the college to Himself for -half-an-hour. The improvised throne stood alone in the bare corridor: -the students clustered up the stairs below it. Hadrian perceived the -inevitable odour of hot boy. He produced a sentence wherewith to -address them.</p> - -<p>"Dear children," he said, feeling as old as Methuselah for the moment, -"do learn to love: don't be hard, don't be cruel to any living -creature." And that was all.</p> - -<p>He beckoned the dean who came and kneeled before Him: laid His hand -on the young man's head; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> blessed him. The others followed in -rotation. In a secret voice, He invited each one to ask a favour. Most -asked Him to pray for them and held up their beads for a blessing: some -asked for the apostolic benediction in the hour of death for themselves -and their relations: the fastidious person asked for nothing.</p> - -<p>"Nothing?" the Pope whispered.</p> - -<p>"Nothing."</p> - -<p>"Nothing?" (very tenderly)</p> - -<p>"Everything, O Sanctity:" the stoic responded with a sob and a stony -glare. Hadrian inquired for the number of his room; and put a similar -question to the other four whom He had noted. When He had blessed all, -He sent them away, and sat alone for a minute or two. Then He went to -visit the big boy: who looked at Him bravely, with tearful innocent -eyes. To Hadrian, it was wonderful to see this great virile virgin -of nineteen. He elicited a not unusual and simple tale: a little -Gaelic farm, always Catholic through all persecutions, the third of -eight sons, the Vocation at twelve years of age, the mother wanted to -confess to her own son. It was idyllic. It would come exquisitely in -the objective bucolic manner of Theokritos. The long shapely limbs -trembled before Him; the grand shoulders bowed. He gave the boy His -Own white sash as a present for his mother: bade him be a good priest; -and left him wallowing in happiness. Hadrian stopped in the corridor, -disappointed because the lad came from a farm: He had placed him beside -the sea, and had conceived a mental image of him, bare-legged, in a -blue guernsey, at the rudder of a fishing-smack. But the next, the -muscular hobbledehoy, really did come from a farm: his skin had the -unmistakable tan of the sun on a wheat-field: and his front was bovine. -So was his manner. He was so frightened by the importance of his -visitor that he spoke with surliness, and in the voice of a child of -thirteen. Hadrian was astonished at the discrepancy between the voice -and the speaker: He made him less uncomfortable by sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>stituting an -official manner for His friendly one (which the hobbledehoy could not -understand) asking his name and ordinary questions about his status and -addressing him as Mr. Macleod. It was a magnificent animal, incapable -of the finer sentimental emotions, likely to conceal fat in a cassock -(or in corduroy, if on a farm) before the age of thirty. Privately the -Pope wondered what in the world was the sign of this one's Vocation. -He Himself could perceive none: but then He was inexperienced; and the -youth was secretive. Hadrian tried to draw him out. Was he happy? Oh -yes. Did he want anything? Oh no. To what diocese did he belong? To -Devana. When did he expect the priesthood? A look of wild terror came -into the grey eyes. Hadrian perceived a clue; and pressed on, repeating -his inquiry. "I never will be," the creature shrilled.</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>No answer: but a rush to the bedside and a face hidden. Hadrian took -him by the shoulders, and made an act of will. "Why not?"</p> - -<p>"I cannot:" and then the fountains of the great deep were discovered. -His veneer of English peeled off: he spoke with the sibilate dental, -the clipped deliberation of the Gael. No one ever had told him. He -did not know till a month ago. No one knew. He had not mentioned it -to his confessor, because it was not a sin. He read of it in Lehmkuhl -and Togni. He would be obliged to go back and work on his uncle's farm -where he had been brought up. They belonged to the Free Kirk there. He -was an orphan. It was his uncle by marriage. Hadrian looked steadily -into his eyes:</p> - -<p>"Is this the truth, as though you were speaking before kings?"</p> - -<p>"It wass the truth ass though she wass speaking pefore kings," the -response came in the strongest form of asseveration known to a Gael, -deliberately selected and offered by Him Who knew so little, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> so -much of so many little things. Hadrian comforted him; and bade him pack -his bag. His secret was safe. Vatican was the place for him, until some -sort of useful happy life could be planned for him.</p> - -<p>The Pope very slowly went-up the last two flights of stairs to the top -corridor. No man can come into a human tragedy without some vibrance of -sentiment; and Hadrian's senses, keen by nature, were intensified by -art. He entered the room of the black-haired Erse, who most certainly -had kissed the blarney-stone. Och! Blessins on the Howly Forther's -blessid head and might the howly saints receive Him into glory. The -Pope wrote a blessing in a garish birthday book; and got out of the -room as quickly as possible. That such a lovely bit of colour and -litheness should be so abject on the floor! His Holiness shut-down the -lid on memory; and knocked at another door.</p> - -<p>"Come."</p> - -<p>He entered a large bare square room with a window which displayed the -City from the Quirinal to St. Peter's. He noted the bed, the chest of -drawers whose top was arranged as a dressing-table, the writing table, -book case, and two chairs. A bath stood under the bed; and there were -two large tin cans of water against the wall. The fastidious inmate -offered a chair; and remained standing in the Presence. Hadrian signed -to him to be seated also.</p> - -<p>"Dear son, you are one of the unhappy ones. Will you tell Us your -grief?"</p> - -<p>"Sanctity, I have not complained."</p> - -<p>"No. But, complain."</p> - -<p>"I will not complain." The Pope liked him for that; and for an air of -distinction which was not breeding. Dialectic should be tried.</p> - -<p>"How old are you?"</p> - -<p>"Twenty-nine."</p> - -<p>"In which month were you born?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> - -<p>"In July."</p> - -<p>"In England?"</p> - -<p>"In England." A rapid horoscopical calculation let Hadrian know the -lines on which to proceed.</p> - -<p>"You find your environment disagreeable?"</p> - -<p>"All environments are more or less disagreeable to me."</p> - -<p>"All which you have tried up to the present, perhaps. Perhaps the -future may be more propitious."</p> - -<p>"Sanctity, I earnestly hope so: but I do not expect it."</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>"I do not know."</p> - -<p>"Don't you find that your circumstances influence your conduct? Don't -you find that they prevent you from doing yourself justice?"</p> - -<p>"Always."</p> - -<p>"In this college, you have found no kindred spirit?"</p> - -<p>"That may be my fault."</p> - -<p>"More likely your misfortune—and misfortunes are not faults, no -matter what fools say. Note that. Note also that misfortunes may be -overcome.—But, they do not understand you here?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"They mock you?—— They do. Why did they mock you to-day?"</p> - -<p>"They did not mock me to-day."</p> - -<p>"Yesterday?"</p> - -<p>"Because I carry those two cans full of water up two-hundred-and-two -steps every day."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to say that there are no baths in this college yet?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We may have footbaths once a week, if we apply to the infirmarian. -There is nothing else. And I like to tub decently."</p> - -<p>"No doubt they say that you must be a very unclean person to need so -much washing?"</p> - -<p>"Sanctity, You are quoting the rector."</p> - -<p>The Pope abruptly laughed. "Have they ever put a snake—a snake—in -your water-cans?"</p> - -<p>"No they have not done that."</p> - -<p>"They did in Ours."</p> - -<p>The distance between the two now became considerably lessened. The -fastidious person began to feel more at ease. His fastidy evidently was -only a chevaux de frise for the discomfiture of intruders; and this -delicate tender inquisitor was no intruder, but a very welcome—Apostle.</p> - -<p>The Pope continued. "Isn't it very absurd?"</p> - -<p>"It is very absurd. Also, it is very disconcerting."</p> - -<p>"Of course you try not to let it disconcert you?"</p> - -<p>"I try: but I fail. My heart always is on my sleeve; and the daws peck -it. At present, I am trying to contain myself and to use myself in -isolation."</p> - -<p>"That they call 'sulkiness'?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"How much longer must you remain here?"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps one year: perhaps two."</p> - -<p>"Can you persecute, can you hold out so long?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I will hold out. Nothing shall deter me. Sanctity, it is not that -which makes me afraid."</p> - -<p>"Dear son, what makes you afraid?"</p> - -<p>"The afterwards. These people are to be my superiors or -equals—colleagues for life. I am not afraid of poverty or wickedness -among the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> to whom I am to minister: but, my brother-priests—I -shall be at the orders of some of these people, my rectors, my -diocesans even. That makes me afraid."</p> - -<p>"Did you not know what kind of people——"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I did know: but I did not realize it till I came here."</p> - -<p>"Yet you choose to persevere?"</p> - -<p>"Sanctity, I must. I am called."</p> - -<p>"You are sure of that?"</p> - -<p>"It is the only thing in all the world of which I am sure."</p> - -<p>"Do you always live on bread and water?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"I think the food beastly. I have been into the kitchen; and I have -seen—things. I am afraid to eat anything except boiled eggs. They -cannot deposit—sputum inside the shells of boiled eggs. But the -servants complained of the extra trouble in boiling eggs especially for -me. The bread is not made in the college. In order not to be singular, -I eat and drink what I can eat and drink of that which is set before -me; and I am deemed more singular than ever."</p> - -<p>"Have you said this to the rector?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Do you like bread and water?"</p> - -<p>"I think them both exceedingly nasty."</p> - -<p>"Does it affect your health?"</p> - -<p>"Not in the least. It makes my head ache. But I am as strong as a -panther."</p> - -<p>"Why 'panther'?"</p> - -<p>"I really don't know. It seemed to be the just word."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And you believe that you are able to go on?"</p> - -<p>"I intend to go on."</p> - -<p>"You know that this college is not the place for you?"</p> - -<p>"I suppose not: but my diocesan sent me here; and I intend to serve my -sentence."</p> - -<p>"Dear son, what is your ambition?"</p> - -<p>"Priesthood."</p> - -<p>"With a small patrimony, you would be on a more satisfactory footing -here; and afterward you need not take the mission oath. The mere -fact of the possession of a patrimony would purchase courtesy and -consideration for you during your college-life: and would give you an -opportunity of cultivating your individuality independently when you -reach the priesthood."</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes. But I am a church-student."</p> - -<p>"So were We."</p> - -<p>"And Your Sanctity persevered?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"So will I."</p> - -<p>"What is your name?"</p> - -<p>"William Jameson."</p> - -<p>Hadrian took a sheet of paper and wrote the apostolic benediction to -William Jameson. "You will like to have this? Persevere, dear son; and -pray for Us as for your brother-in-the-Lord. And—do you know Cardinal -Sterling? Well: come to Vatican whenever you please and make his -acquaintance. He will expect you. Good-bye. God bless you."</p> - -<p>The Pope went down to the bald old amiability, who was correct and -mild enough in expressing a profound sense of the honour. Hadrian -spoke to him of himself; and found that a public-school, university, -and Anglican parsonage, had dulled what capability of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> emotion he ever -had had, or had taught him the rare art of self-concealment. He was -a capital specimen of the ordinary man, stinted, limited: one whose -instinct prevented him from asserting an individuality. But he was a -gentleman; and a Christian of a kind, actuated by the best intentions, -paralysed by the worst conventions.</p> - -<p>"We wish to speak to you of Jameson:" at length the Apostle said.</p> - -<p>"Ah, poor fellow!"</p> - -<p>"Now why do you say that, Mr. Guthrie?"</p> - -<p>"Well, Holiness, I'm afraid he's in a most uncomfortable position. I'm -sure this is not the place for him. You see he doesn't get on with the -men."</p> - -<p>"Does he quarrel with them?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, dear me no! But he avoids them."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps he has his reasons."</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm afraid he has. But then it doesn't do to shew them. I often -tell him so—try to chaff him into a more come-at-able frame of mind, -you know, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"That hardly would be the way."</p> - -<p>"No I'm afraid it wasn't. He's so very sensitive, you see. Why he -actually got quite angry with me."</p> - -<p>"What did he say?"</p> - -<p>"Well, he said that he really did think I ought to have known better."</p> - -<p>"And what did you say then?"</p> - -<p>"Oh I called him a——but I couldn't possibly tell You what I called -him, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>"Well really it was too dreadful. I've been regretting it ever since."</p> - -<p>"What did you call him?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh it's quite impossible that I should repeat it to You, Holy Father. -I should never be able to hold up my head again."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense, Mr. Guthrie. We desire to know it."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I don't know what You'll think of me, Holy Father: but the -fact is I went so far as to call him a—no, really I cannot—well—I'm -sure I can't think what possessed me to use such an opprobrious term -but I was excessively annoyed You see at the moment and the word -slipped out before I was quite conscious of what I was saying——"</p> - -<p>"What did you call him?"</p> - -<p>"Well really if You must have it, Holy Father, I called him a Goose!"</p> - -<p>"Oh.... And what did he do to you?"</p> - -<p>"Burst into a roar of laughter and shut his door in my face."</p> - -<p>"Did you feel pained?"</p> - -<p>"Well perhaps just a little at the time: but not when I came to think -it over. You see I really can't help feeling sorry for him."</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"Well because really he must be very unhappy, You know, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"In your opinion, Mr. Guthrie, he himself is the cause of his own -unhappiness?"</p> - -<p>"Quite so, Holy Father. You see he doesn't seem to be able to rub along -with the other men. He can't come down to their level so to speak. He -keeps himself too much to himself: won't or can't conciliate the least -little bit. Of course they all think it's pride on his part; and they -pay him out with practical jokes of a rather doubtful kind I'm afraid. -He's good and kind and clever and all that sort of thing: but he hasn't -the slightest idea of making himself popular as a church-student -should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> be among church-students. You see, he's what I may call (if I -may be quite frank about him) such a Beastly Fool. The rector doesn't -like it I'm sure."</p> - -<p>"Then perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the fault is not so -much in the man as in his environment?"</p> - -<p>"That's what I've always said, Holy Father. His present environment -is quite unsuitable for a man of that kind. He must find it extremely -unpleasant."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Guthrie, won't you try to make it more pleasant for him? Bear -with him: defend him: don't seem to form a party with him against the -others: but don't give the others the idea that you approve of their -attitude to him. Will you do as much as that?"</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I'll do anything in my power, Holy Father."</p> - -<p>"That at least is in your power.—God bless you."</p> - -<p>The Pope went on to the reception room to fetch Cardinal Carvale. Not -to neglect the superiors, (although He was very tired) He allowed them -to show Him rather dubious and very ugly treasures; and tolerated -half-an-hour of vapid conversation. They thought Him so nice. He was -bored to death. After conferring the usual favours, He obtained a whole -playday for the college: notified the rector that He was carrying off a -student: arranged for Mr. Jameson to visit Cardinal Sterling; and took -His departure. He put His acquisition into a victoria, and bade him -drive to the obelisk in St. Peter's Square.</p> - -<p>"Dreadful place!" Hadrian ejaculated to Carvale as they turned down -Tritone. "Do you think you could make it decent if you were rector?"</p> - -<p>"I would try, Holiness."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well: We do not see how We can make you rector, because of Monsignor -What's-his-name. But you might do something as protector——"</p> - -<p>"Gentilotto is protector, Holiness. St. Andrew's is subject to the -Cardinal-Prefect of Propaganda."</p> - -<p>"Only for the present, Carvale. You will find that dear old Gentilotto -is quite willing. And you yourself are a Kelt. Yes, that's right! -A Keltic college should have a Keltic protector. Carvale, you are -Protector of St. Andrew's College from this moment, and you shall have -your breve directly We get back to Vatican. Now, first of all, go to -Oxford and ask Dr. Strong to put you up for a week in coll.: and keep -your eyes open. Do that with your first spare fortnight. Then come back -and turn your rivers Peneios and Alpheios through that Aygeian stable. -Give them baths and sanity, for goodness' sake; and try to get them -into cleanly habits. You might make that shrubbery into a gymnasium -and swimming bath with a lovely terrace on the top. And, O Carvale, do -make friends with them, and see what you can do to take that horrible -secretive suppressed look out of their young eyes. Understand?"</p> - -<p>"I think so, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"We give you a year. If We live as long as this day twelvemonth, We -will go again to mark your progress. Remember, you have a free hand. -Now here's something else. Tell Sterling that a—but no—We Ourself -will tell him."</p> - -<p>At the obelisk they picked up Hamish Macleod. Hadrian marched him -straight up to the quarters of the gentlemen of the secret chamber. Sir -John and Sir Iulo, stripped to the buff were punching a bag.</p> - -<p>"John," said the Pope, "Mr. Macleod will be your guest for the present. -Get him a room near your own and make him comfortable." He drew the -young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> man outside while Sir Iulo was lavishing his lovely English on -the visitor. "And John, reorganize his wardrobe on the scale of your -own; and teach him your business."</p> - -<p>To Cardinal Sterling, who came to the secret chamber, Hadrian explained -the case of William Jameson.</p> - -<p>"You have your opportunity," He said to His Eminency.</p> - -<p>"And one will not repeat one's previous mistake, Holiness," was the -remarkable and thankful reply.</p> - -<p>"No, for mercy's sake, don't. And now listen. The Treasurer will pay -you on this order the sum of £10,500. You will invest it in the Bank of -England on these terms. The transaction is to be secret. The interest -on £10,000 is to be paid quarterly to William Jameson as long as he -lives. On his death the capital is to revert to the Treasurer for the -time being of the Apostolic See. Instruct the bank instantly to send -£500 and the vouchers to Jameson, with a statement that it is his -patrimony; and to give him no further information."</p> - -<p>Then Hadrian shut-up Himself and rested, smoking and reading the -<i>Reviews of Unwritten Books</i> in some old numbers of the <i>Monthly -Review</i>. One of them caused Him to think. It was called <i>Thucydides' -Report of Pericles' Oration at the Incoronation of King Edward the -Seventh</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XV</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Jerry Sant</span> gnawed his rag of a moustache for a fortnight or so, till -it was dripping and jagged. He began to have a notion that Mrs. Crowe -would like to have him elsewhere. That did not disturb him: for he -knew that he always could compel her services, when he wanted them, by -means of a pull on the purse-strings. The mildly elegant exiguity of -the circle in which she moved, had no attraction for him. There were -not many saxpences there; and he felt out of his depth in a company -which he could not lead by the nose. "In the kingdom of the blind, the -one-eyed man is king." He knew himself to be "a one-eyed man"; and, in -the kingdom of the Liblabs, he naturally had been one of the kings. -Here, among the English and Keltic Catholics in Rome, he was no more -than tolerated—and awfully worried by people who offered him tracts, -of which, for the life of him, he could make neither head nor tail. -Further he really seriously was annoyed that the Pope had not accepted -his handsome offer—had not even answered his letter. He thought it -most rude. It is a fatal and futile thing to leave letters unanswered, -especially impertinent letters. Silence does not "choke off": in -ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it breeds bile which is bound to be -spurted sooner or later. It is a poor kind of a man who cannot indite -a letter which is a guillotine, a closure about which there can be no -possible mistake. By this means, uncertainty and its vile consequences -are prevented. Hadrian perfectly knew how to deliver Himself. His -faculty for finding-out other people's thumb-screws had provided -Him with blasting powder, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> He had desired to be dynamic; and He -possessed Bishop Bagshawe's celebrated three-line formula, which never -has been known to fail of throttling an importunate correspondent. But -He no more could have touched Sant, even with a letter, than He could -have touched tripe with tongs. His feeling for the man was ultimate -antipathy, which led Him to commit the common error of ignoring what -ought to have been annihilated. Hence Sant's sense of spleen. Finally -Jerry had the Liblabs to keep quiet. Those extraordinary persons -were asking for something definite in the shape of news; and he had -no news at all to give them. That was the worst of it. Soon, some -treachery or other would be hatched against him behind his back, in -the most approved Liblab manner: he would be asked for explanations, -for a statement of accounts: he would be hauled over the coals, and -so on:—oh he obviously could not let it come to that. He must make -a fresh effort. The time had come for playing his next card. And for -three days he sat at the Hotel Nike, writing press-copy.</p> - -<p>It was the Cardinal-Secretary-of-State who did himself the pleasure of -acquainting the Holy Father with the result of Jerry Sant's manœuvre. -His Eminency, on the whole, never had had a more congenial duty to -perform in all his life. He swirled into the Presence one evening at -dusk when Hadrian was waiting for the lamps, sitting by the undraped -window watching the dark figures passing over the grey square and the -specks of yellow light springing in the houses of the Borgo. Ragna -brought a newspaper which he thrust into the Pope's hands.</p> - -<p>"See what a scoundrel you are!" he truculently snarled. "Fly! All is -discovered! The <i>Catholic Hour</i> is exposing you finely!"</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Hadrian, unimpassionately turning from the window, and -speaking with extreme frigidity.</p> - -<p>"Light some candles, please." He took the paper: put up His left -hand to shade His eyes; and looked at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the sheet. As He read His -pontifical name and His secular name, His blood began to tingle: for -He still loathed publicity. As He read on, His blood began to boil. -It was a frightful tale which He was reading—frightful, because He -saw at a glance that it was quite unanswerable. It was unanswerable -because there are some things of which the merest whisper suffices -to destroy—whose effect does not depend on truthfulness. It was -unanswerable because it was anonymous. It was unanswerable because He -never could bring Himself to condescend.... Who could have attacked -Him with such malignant ingenuity? The names of half a dozen filthy -hounds occurred to Him in as many seconds: but He was not able to -recognise any particular paw. He read on. He was conscious that His -face was a-flame with indignation: but it was in shadow. Coming to -a clear chronological error, He chuckled. That taught Him that His -voice was under control; and He remembered that the invidious eyes -of Ragna were upon Him. From time to time thereafter, He produced a -short contemptuous word or laugh by way of commentary as He came to -excessive absurdities; and, so, gradually He possessed Himself again. -Thus, He skimmed the article. At the end He looked up at the cardinal. -"Yes," He said, "We appear to be a very disreputable character. Now -We will go through the thing again, and note the actual errors of -fact." He returned to the top of the first column: and began to read -more analytically. In progress, He counted aloud "One, two,"—up to -"thirty-three absolute and deliberate lies, exclusive of gratuitous or -ignorant mispresentations of fact, in a column and three-quarters of -print.—Well?" He inquired, with a full straight gaze at the attendant -cardinal.</p> - -<p>"What are You going to do now?"</p> - -<p>"We will ponder the matter which Your Eminency has submitted to Us; and -at a convenient time We will declare Our pleasure. The paper may be -left with Us. Your Eminency has permission to retire."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> Ragna strode -towards the door. At the threshold, he turned and bayed, "Abdicate!"</p> - -<p>"No: We will not abdicate," said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>The Secretary-of-State rushed away. As he went swishing, snarling at -all and sundry, through the antechamber where the gentlemen were in -waiting, Sir Iulo suddenly shot-out his arms straight and rectangularly -level with his shoulders, swung-up a stiff right leg in a verisimilar -fashion, rigidly sank on his left toes till he sat on his left heel, -recovered his first position with a jerk, changed legs and repeated -the performance with the right. It was done in a second of time; and -his white teeth glittered in a grin as his muscles relaxed. There are -few more nerve-shattering spectacles than this of a lithe and graceful -young gentleman in scarlet behaving, without any warning whatever, -exactly like a monkey on a stick, manifesting the same startling -descendent and ascendent angularity, the same imperturbable inevitable -intolerable agility. Cardinal Ragna denounced him as a devil where he -stood; and swirled away in a vermilion billow of watered-silk.</p> - -<p>As soon as He was left alone, Hadrian made the very firmest possible -act of will determining neither to bend nor to break. This done, He ate -His supper with careful deliberation; sent-away the tray; and ordered -a large pot-full of black coffee. Then He locked all doors and allowed -Himself a period of disintegration preparatory to redintegration, a -period of slackness preparatory to intensification. Now He severely -suffered. He read the article on the <i>Strange Career of the Pope</i> again -and again, till His head swam with the horror of it. This was the -worst thing which ever had happened to Him. His previous experience -of newspaper libels was as nothing in comparison. All through the -bitter bitter years of His struggle for life, He had known Himself for -a fighter. As a fighter, He had expected blows in return for those -which He gave. And, when all was said and done, his fighting had not -been to Him a source of unmitigated pain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> For one thing, He had had -pleasure in knowing that He scrupulously fought unscrupulous foes, that -He fought a losing battle, that he fought a million times His weight, -that He fought bare-handed against armed champions all the time. That -knowledge it was—the knowledge that He had contended (not as a hero -but) as heroes have contended—which alone had upheld him. And now—— -But this—— It depicted Him as simply contemptible. Inspection of -the image of Himself, which the <i>Catholic Hour</i> with such ferocious -flocculence delineated, brought Him to the verge of physical nausea. -But it was not true, real. It was not Himself. No, no. It was an -atrocious caricature. Oh yes, it was an atrocious caricature. Everybody -would know it for that—— Would they? How many had known the previous -libels for libels? How many had dared to proclaim the previous libels -for libels? One—out of hundreds.—— Oh how beastly, how beastly! He -read the thing again;—and dashed the paper to the ground. If it only -had made Him look wicked—or even ridiculous! But no. He categorically -was damned, as despicable, low, vulgar, abject, mean, everything which -merited contempt. Only a strenuous effort kept Him from shrieking in -hysteria. "God, God, am I really like that?" He moaned aloud, with -His palms stretched upward and outward and His eyes intent in agony. -He lost faith in Himself. Perhaps He was such an one. Perhaps His -imagination after all had been deluding Him, and He really was an -indefensible creature. It was possible. "Oh, have I ever been such a -dirty—beast. Have I?" He moaned again. And then all the being of Him -suffused—and whirled—and outraged Nature took Him in hand. The blow -to His self-respect, the shattering onslaught on His sensibilities, -were more than even His valid virile body could bear. He lay back in -His low chair; and swooned into oblivion.</p> - -<p>After the lapse of an hour, He began to revive. It would appear that He -instantly knew what had hap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>pened: for He staggered to the open window -that the cold night air might reinvigorate him. Full consciousness by -slow degrees returned; and, with it, some measure of serenity. He took -up the argument at the point where He had left it.</p> - -<p>No: He was not like that. Before Jesus in the pyx on His breast, He was -not like that. So He gradually calmed Himself. He had done desperate -deeds and foolish deeds: but never ignoble deeds:—stay:—once:—that -had nothing whatever to do with the present matter: nor was that one -ignoble deed ignoble in the esteem of anyone except Himself: it was -"smart" or "clever" in mundane phraseology: no one had been injured -by it: it had been atoned-for: but, according to the ideal code which -He had made for His Own guidance, it was ignoble. However it was not -known, except to Himself, and God, and His angel-guardian: it was not -even known to His confessor, for it was not even a venial sin. Well -then—— No. No. He had not merited the gibbet of the world's contempt.</p> - -<p>Who had gibbeted Him?</p> - -<p>He very carefully read the paper again. Who in the world could have -collected such a mass of apparently convincing evidence? He was -beginning to study the question from His usual stand-point of personal -unconcern. His own written words were cited in proof of the allegations -here made against Him. He knew them for His own written words. Who in -the world so ingeniously could have distorted their signification: -so skilfully could have mispresented Him? At some time in His life, -He (perhaps inadvertently) must have trodden upon some human worm; -and the worm now had turned and stung Him. He sought for a sign, a -trace;—and found it—— Of course;—and the motive simultaneously -leaped to light. It was payment of a grudge, owed to Him by a detected -letter-thief, a professional infidel, whom He had scathed with barbed -sarcasms about ten years ago.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> There was something more than that. -Again He studied the paper for corroboration. How came the <i>Catholic -Hour</i>, of all papers, to publish a denunciation of Him? He noted that -the <i>Catholic Hour</i> pretended its denunciation as being copied from -the <i>Devana Radical</i>. And the letter-thief resided at Devana; and -engaged in job-journalism: also, he had access to more than much of -the information here misused. Not to all of it though. Here and there -in the article, Hadrian's literary faculty enabled Him to perceive a -change of touch. Here and there were technical opinions and technical -modes of expression which could not have emanated from that one. Who -was responsible for these? The Pope, of all men on God's fair earth, -was qualified to recognize "the fine Roman hand"—the fine Roman hand -at least of one of His Own contemporaries at St. Andrew's College, -whom He had afflicted with a ridiculous label, a harmless jibe simply -composed of the man's own initial and surname joined together:—the -fine Roman hand of a pseudonymous editor with whom He had refused to -have dealings. Yes, and there too was the obscene touch of the female. -"Spretae injuri formae" over again!</p> - -<p>At last, He summed up:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Material Cause. Information, possessed (the gods knew by what means) -by the detected letter-thief and the female. Opinions, collected from -(perhaps proffered by) Spite desirous of stabbing Scorn in the back.</p> - -<p>Formal Cause. Calumny, that is to say Slander which is False.</p> - -<p>Efficient Cause. The pontifical treatment of the representatives of -the Liblab Fellowship now in the City.</p> - -<p>Final Cause. (<i>a</i>) Intimidation. (<i>b</i>) Revenge.</p></blockquote> - -<p>It was as clear as day-light.</p> - -<p>Hadrian sat back in his chair; and blamed—Himself. His mind went -straight to the root of the matter. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> was His Own fault. He had -not loved His neighbour. He had been hard, unkind, austere. He had -cultivated His natural faculty for rubbing salt upon His neighbour's -rawest and most secret sore,—salt in the shape of biting words, -satire, sarcasm, corrosive irony, labels which adhered. But, He had -done this when fighting, stark-naked and alone, against long odds! -No matter. It was part of the struggle for life! No matter. But He -would have been killed—not metaphorically but—literally killed, long -ago—— How did He know that?—Like all men, He had been trusting in -Himself, not in the Maker of the Stars. As a matter of fact, He did not -and could not know.—In His Own eyes, as His Own judge, each point of -His defence failed. He pleaded guilty. He had not loved His neighbour.</p> - -<p>His soul fled up to the divinities who severely sit upon the awful -bench: but there was no solace to be obtained from them. He took the -beautiful crucifix from His neck: the pyx from His breast: laid them on -the table; and kneeled before the Sovereign of the seraphim. He made -an act of contrition. He acknowledged His sin: acknowledged that He -had merited condign punishment. He very humbly thanked God for giving -Him His punishment in this world. "O that my lot might lead me in the -path of holy innocence of thought and deed, the path which august laws -ordain, laws which had their birth in the highest heaven, neither did -the race of mortal man beget them, nor shall oblivion ever put them -to sleep: for the Power of God is mighty in them," He prayed, in the -verses of Sophokles.</p> - -<p>He sent for His confessor.</p> - -<p>It had been a dreadful experience. He was conscious of having been -shaken seriously. He felt quite old. His youth and strength, His -nerve, seemed to have been torn-out of Him. The world seemed to have -slipped-away from under Him. Yes—the world—— How should He meet the -world?—With equanimity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> and fortitude. What should He say and do? -Nothing.... Nothing....</p> - -<p>His confessor arrived; and He confessed that, since His last confession -on the previous day, He had been guilty of the sin of anger. Also, He -renewed His sorrow for a sin of His past life. He had not loved His -neighbour. The bare-footed friar absolved Him; and commanded Him to -say, for His penance, one mass for the present and eternal welfare of -all whom He had offended.</p> - -<p>Hadrian laid-open the <i>Catholic Hour</i> on a table where it was not -concealed and whence it would not be removed: tried to turn away His -thought and to leave the incident behind Him. That the effect of it -would become manifest, that the memory of it would recur, He knew: but -neither memory nor effect ever should delay His progress. He spent the -rest of the evening in meditation on the future. At bed-time He did -not go down to St. Peter's: but said His prayers by His bedside with -child-like simplicity and feebleness. And care-dispersing sleep lit on -His eyelids, unwakeful, very pleasant, the nearest like death.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XVI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the morning, Hadrian summoned Gentilotto, Sterling, Whitehead, -Carvale, della Volta, Semphill, Van Kristen. He fancied that the -gentlemen-of-the-chamber curiously eyed Him. That was so. He guessed -in a moment that now He always would have to stand the fire of curious -eyes, to overhear the ostentatious whispers of people who wished to be -known for nasty thinkers—of people who wished to see the Roman Pontiff -wriggling on a white-hot gridiron. Very well. He would stand fire: -perhaps, up to a certain point, He would answer questions of general -(but not of particular) interest. But there should be no merely human -contortuplications.</p> - -<p>Their Eminencies came into the throne-room, where the Pope was sitting -rather rigidly in a hieratic attitude, His hands on the arms of the -chair, His feet and knees closed, His back straight and His head erect. -He was a shade more pallid than usual. They each paid their respects in -a different manner. Gentilotto's mild pure visage expressed compassion -mingled with a sense of personal injury. The assailants of the Pope -also had wounded him. Sterling's dark face was locked-up with the look -of one who is determined to be righteous under all circumstances, -while willing to forward to the proper quarter a recommendation to -mercy on behalf of the prisoner at the bar. The Cardinal of St. -George-of-the-Golden-Sail contained himself in personal innocence -which precluded him from prancing to believe in the guilt of others. -Della Volta's pose indicated ordinary but sympathetic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> curiosity. -Carvale was white, and Semphill was red, with impatient indignation. -Like Gentilotto, they both were hurt by the attack on their superior: -but they were up in arms. Van Kristen was very very sad. His great -melancholy eyes swam in a mist of commiseration; and Hadrian noted -that his lips rested just an instant longer than usual on the cold -pontifical hand.</p> - -<p>Chamberlains placed stools for the cardinals and retired. The Pope -began to speak in His usual swift and concise tone. By way of -emphasizing the essential difference between the Church (a purely -missionary association) and the World, He had determined to disperse -the Vatican treasures. This was not at all what Their Eminences had -expected to hear; and they were rather taken aback. Hadrian gave them a -moment; and then went-on.</p> - -<p>"Does anyone know whether dear old Cabelli is Minister of Public -instruction now?"</p> - -<p>Della Volta gave a negative.</p> - -<p>"So much the better, because he will be at leisure to do Us a favour. -And now" (His Holiness directly addressed the last speaker) "We place -this matter in Your Eminency's hands. You shall have a breve of -commission; and this is what you will do. First, you will collect -Cabelli and Longhi and Manciani as your board of advisers. Secondly, -with their assistance, you will procure the services of the chief -experts of the world—say five. Thirdly, you will cause these five -experts to estimate the maximum and minimum values of each separate -piece in the treasury. This list of values you will submit to Us. -Fourthly, you will have the pieces arranged, (and the arrangement -must be indicated on the list of values,) in three divisions, the -historic, the artistic, and the merely valuable on account of weight or -character. Fifthly, you instantly will publish everywhere a note to the -effect that the sale at fixed prices of these things will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> take place -here from the first to the sixth of January following."</p> - -<p>He paused: for He saw that people wanted to speak. He conceded the word -to Gentilotto.</p> - -<p>"Has Your Holiness considered," said the Red Pope, "that most of the -treasures are consecrated to the service of the Church?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. We also have considered that the Church exists for the service of -God in His creatures: that She does not serve either by keeping pretty -and costly things shut-up in cupboards: that the Church which set these -things apart by consecration, also can restore them to usefulness by -desecration. Technically things consecrate can become desecrate by -tapping them with intent to desecrate: We soon will descend to the -treasury; and will tap all the sacred things into gems and bullion."</p> - -<p>"That can be done;" the Cardinal-Prefect of Propaganda said. His heart -pulled him one way: heredity and ecclesiastical prejudice, the other.</p> - -<p>"There is one thing which I think it right to mention," put in della -Volta: "the present officials of the treasury, and the buildings:—what -will become of them?"</p> - -<p>"The officials will continue to enjoy the stipends of their benefices. -They will have other and more useful occupation than the furbishing of -plate provided for them. As for the building—when the cupboards are -empty they will be removed; and, the treasury being no longer there, -the building will remain the sacristy."</p> - -<p>"I should like to get a word in edgeways if I may;" said Semphill. -"Doesn't Your Holiness think that the Italian Government will -interfere? Isn't there some law which prevents works-of-art from going -out of Italy?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We should like to see the Italian Government interfere with Us:" -Hadrian responded with a strong and illuminating smile. "The Italian -Government is neither a Fenian nor a fool."</p> - -<p>"No, but——" the cardinal pursued.</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency need fear no opposition from that quarter."</p> - -<p>"Is nothing to be exempted from this sale?" Sterling thoughtfully asked.</p> - -<p>"There will be some exemptions." The Pope turned to Cardinal della -Volta. "You will reserve one silver-gilt chalice and paten for every -priest in the palace: one silver-gilt pyx for every tabernacle; and one -plain set of pontifical regalia which We will indicate to you. Nothing -more. Hereafter, the court can use ornaments which are the private -possessions of individuals."</p> - -<p>"I must say that I think the pontifical regalia deserves a better fate -than conversion into bullion and gems," said Gentilotto.</p> - -<p>"Nonsense," the Pope sharply retorted. "The pontifical regalia is not -sacrosanct like the Carthaginian zaïmph." The frayed edges of His -nerves shewed themselves.</p> - -<p>"I concede it," the cardinal admitted.</p> - -<p>Hadrian rose. "We have summoned the Sacred Consistory for to-morrow -morning, when We will issue Our decrees in this matter."</p> - -<p>Semphill no longer could contain himself. He exploded with "Of course -Your Holiness has seen the <i>Catholic Hour</i>?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian thought that He particularly liked this cardinal to-day for -some reason. Yes of course, His Eminency looked better during Advent. -The ordinary vermilion made his chubby rubicundity appear too blue. -That was the reason.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, yes:" the Pontiff replied.</p> - -<p>"Well really I never read anything more abominable in my life!"</p> - -<p>"Nor did We."</p> - -<p>All the cardinalitial eyes were directed toward the Pope. He remained -standing on the step of the throne; and seemed to be changing into -alabaster. Semphill lashing himself to fury, continued "I should like -to think that something will be done about it."</p> - -<p>"So should We."</p> - -<p>Semphill prolapsed and stared. "But surely Your Holiness will do -something?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"What? Not answer them?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"One would have thought that there would be some canonical means of -bringing the <i>Catholic Hour</i> to book for aspersions against the Pope:" -Sterling said.</p> - -<p>"There is the bull <i>Exsecrabilis</i> of Pius II. But it is not the Pope -Who is aspersed. It is George Arthur Rose:" imperturbably said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>"That's drawing it rather fine:" Whitehead said, looking up for the -first time.</p> - -<p>"Fine enough:" Carvale put in, with appreciation of the distinction.</p> - -<p>"Excommunicate the editor, printer, and publisher, by name, I say!" -ejaculated Semphill.</p> - -<p>Sterling went on, "One finds it difficult to understand what can have -persuaded the <i>Catholic Hour</i> to insert——"</p> - -<p>Hadrian interrupted, "Just ask yourself this. Is it likely that an Erse -periodical,—and, when We say an Erse periodical, We mean a clerical -periodical, (for, according to McCarthy, the Erse clergy hold the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> -Catholic press in the hollow of their hand,)—is it likely that an Erse -periodical, which has the infernal cheek to dub itself the 'Organ of -Catholic Opinion,' and which once called Cardinal Semphill a—what was -it, Eminency?—ah yes, 'a scented masher,'—could be expected to forego -an opportunity of increasing its circulation at the expense of the -Vicar of Christ?"</p> - -<p>"Oh very good indeed!" exclaimed Semphill, with a hearty reminiscent -shout of laughter.</p> - -<p>"But, Holiness," Sterling gravely continued, "one knows that the -statements are not true. One knows that the article mispresents You -entirely."</p> - -<p>"They are not wholly true; and the article entirely mispresents Us."</p> - -<p>"One would recommend that that should be made known."</p> - -<p>"It is known. Hundreds know it. They are not prevented from saying what -they know.—If they dare." Hadrian came down from the throne. A grey -shadow hardened the sharpness of the face. The brows and the eyes were -drawn into parallels, the latter half-shut; and the thin lips were -straight and cruel. Their Eminencies mindfully retired. Van Kristen -lingered till the others were gone. "Holy Father," he said, "I guess -that You're feeling it about as bad as the next man?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian pressed the slim brown hand, on which the cardinalitial -sapphire looked so absolutely lovely,</p> - -<p>"Perhaps, Percy:" He said.</p> - -<p>"I think I won't go back to Dynam House this fall," the cardinal -continued. "They can do without me, Holiness. If I'm any good to You -here, I'm no quitter so long as my eyes remain black."</p> - -<p>"You always are good and useful to Us, Venerable Father," the Pope very -stiffly said, as He quickly passed through the curtains of the secret -antechamber.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> - -<p>Now the world had something to talk about beside the chances of -universal war, and the inferiority of the present Pope. When the -dispersal of the treasures of the Vatican was announced in the Sacred -Consistory, five cardinals walked straight out to swear, four burst -into tears, eight spoke their minds quite freely and (in the case -of two) at the top of their voices, and the rest were dumb. Ragna, -Berstein, Cacciatore, and Vivole came to the conclusion that Hadrian's -new move was a pontifical red-herring intended to divert the scent from -the newspaper-calumnies against George Arthur Rose. They went about -trying to make people see the thing from their point of view. Kelts -and Catholics throughout the world set up howls; and compared Hadrian -to Honorius to the advantage of the latter. "From a Catholic point of -view," wrote one clerical gentleman (who in youth, as an attaché in -Paris, had been known as La Belle Anthropophage), "it is impossible to -blame Hadrian too severely." He was ruined, they said with unctuous -rectitude; and He was going to sell the Vatican Treasures in order to -provide an iniquitous provision for a disreputable and private old age. -Naturally they judged by their own standard. All Catholics do.</p> - -<p>The Liblab Fellowship congratulated itself on the possession of such -a Fellowshipper as Sant. His diplomacy was thought cute. Socialists -hourly expected to hear that the Scarlet Unutterable, in sheer despair, -had asked to be allowed to seek a refuge in their ranks. Jerry Sant -sat-up all night at the Hotel Nike, in case the Pope should be moved to -escape from a throne which had been made too hot for Him. In the event -of such an escape, of course "His Most Reverent Lordship" would come -and try and make peace with them as He had put to so much unnecessary -trouble and expense. So the Liblab cut and dried his plans. He would -administer the oaths to God's Vicegerent: take His entrance-fee and -annual subscription in advance; and admit Him as a Fellowshipper. -Then, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> His senior comrade, He would order Him back to Vatican to -use His popery for carrying out the schemes of Labor against Capital. -Incidentally he would take the opportunity of transferring some of the -pontifical capital from a man as didn't to a man as did deserve it. -However, Jerry gave himself two sleepless nights for nothing. He would -have been better, though perhaps not quite so comely, in bed. And then, -on the third day, Mrs. Crowe rushed in, displaying a tantrum which was -a blend of joy and hate and fear.</p> - -<p>"I suppose this is your work, Mr. Sant?" she said, bringing a cutting -from the <i>Catholic Hour</i> out of her chain-bag.</p> - -<p>"Imphm," Jerry grinned like an oblong gargoyle.</p> - -<p>"Oh how could you say such things about Him! I do think it shocking of -you!"</p> - -<p>"Wumman, hae ye nat telled me maist o' they things yersel'?"</p> - -<p>"Yes of course. But I never thought you'd put it all in the papers."</p> - -<p>"A havena pit them a'. There's a plenty more—if He hasna had His paiks -yet."</p> - -<p>"O but I'm sure He has, I expect you've simply stunned Him."</p> - -<p>"Maybe I have."</p> - -<p>"Haven't you heard from Him yet?"</p> - -<p>"A havena. A'm expecting to hear the now."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Sant if you've killed my George I'll—I don't know what I'll do: -but I'll never forgive you."</p> - -<p>"Hech wumman, that won't kill Him: but it may make Him a bit sore and -I'll let you know that He'll come here for His plaster."</p> - -<p>"I don't mind Him being sore. He deserves it after the way He's behaved -to me. But——"</p> - -<p>"Now just you tak' yersel' away. I can't have you messing about here -when Rose comes. When I'm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> through with Him I'll forward Him to you. So -you be off with you."</p> - -<p>"Clumsy beast!" said Mrs. Crowe to herself when she stood in Two -Shambles Street again. "You'd much better have left it to me to -arrange. I shouldn't be surprised if Georgie did something desperate -now. It 'ld be just like Him. And I believe I could have coaxed -Him——" She hailed a victoria; and drove to St. Peter's Square to have -another look at the window.</p> - -<p>The Pope gave the holy order of priesthood to Cardinal Van Kristen on -Innocents' Day. His Holiness felt that the sacerdotal prayer of so -innocent a one would benefit all. The English and American invasion of -Rome beat the record for the winter season. At a carp-and-punch supper -at Palazzo Caffarelli on Christmas Eve, it was remarked that the City -just then contained all the world's multimillionaires. If war had been -carried on in the antique manner, <i>i.e.</i> for ransoms and spoils, and if -any power had possessed a sufficient military equipment, a new sack of -Rome would have been an exceedingly lucrative undertaking. However, as -it was, Rome sacked the multimillionaires. Despite the fact that the -coming spring was likely to see the dawn of Armageddon, an astonishing -number of people was unable to resist the temptation to purchase the -treasures of the Vatican. The list of prices assigned by the experts -had been submitted to Hadrian, Who struck the mean between maximum and -minimum, greatly to the disgust of curialists who (when once the idea -was grasped) were anxious to drive good bargains. They suggested an -auction, which the Pope incontinently refused, saying that He was going -to compete neither with tradesmen nor with brigands. He made it easy -for museums to acquire historic specimens: the merely artistic chiefly -went to private collectors; and the world acquired the valuables. The -collection of lace alone fetched £785,000; and the total takings, -amounting to four-and-thirty millions sterling, were deposited in the -Bank of Italy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p> - -<p>Signor Panciera made it a great deal more than convenient to accept -another invitation to the Vatican. This time, it was a short visit -which he paid, and a fairly momentous one. The Pope did all the -talking. His Holiness spoke dryly and concisely from a sheet of -manuscript which He afterwards handed to the ambassador, and seemed -to be consumed by some internal fire, the signs of which appeared in -His white pain-drawn face. He said that He had noted with approbation -the scheme of Signor Gigliotti, by which innoculated convicts were -employed in the reclamation of malarious Apulia and Calabria. He wished -Italy to establish and endow farm-colonies in eucalyptus groves on the -Roman Campagna, where a wholesome and industrious life could be found -for inoculated boys and girls. He wished Italy to establish and endow -almshouses for old people, and free schools where handicrafts would be -taught to children. He wished Italy to establish and endow scholarships -for the study of Italian archæology, the idea being to foster a spirit -of enthusiastic patriotism, by excavating and studying and preserving -the buried cities and monuments and treasures of antiquity with which -the sacred and glorious and inviolate soil of Italy simply teems. -Lastly, He wished Italy to give rewards, say of a thousand lire in -cash to every man and woman between twenty and thirty years of age, -who had served one master or secular firm since Lady-day 1899, and who -cared to claim such a reward. To give effect to His four wishes, He -handed to Signor Panciera an order on the Bank of Italy payable to the -Prime Minister of Italy for the time being. The value of the order was -thirty-three millions sterling. It was an offering in honour of the -thirty-three years during which God as Man had laboured for the Love -of men. It was to be the nucleus of a national fund which was to be -called "The Household of Christ." This fund was to be administered, on -the lines stated, by one male member of the Royal Family of Italy, the -Prime Minister, and the Minister of the Interior for the time being, -and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> by nine trustees drawn in rotation from the list of nobles in the -Golden Book. The first of these twelve was to hold his trusteeship -for life, and was to be nominated by the King's Majesty within one -year from the present date. The second and third were to be ex-officio -trusteeships. Of the nine nobles three would retire each year; and -the next three on the roll would succeed them. No ecclesiastics were -to be concerned with the fund in any way, unless they were nobles -eligible for trusteeship, or unless they were paid servants appointed -as chaplains by the Trustees. Hadrian's particular desire was that the -"Household of Christ" should become in every sense a department of the -government of Italy.</p> - -<p>Signor Panciera came out reeling; and furiously drove in the direction -of Monte Citorio. Here, he picked up Signor Zanatello; and the two -carried their little basketful of news to the Queen-Regent in the -Quirinale. Eleven minutes in Her Majesty's music-room sufficed to -send the three quickly through the Hall of Birds, and upstairs to the -marconigraph office, by which means they announced the scheme to Victor -Emanuel at Windsor Castle. The Sovereign's reply was characteristically -Italian, and (therefore) splendid.</p> - -<p>"I add a million: the Queen adds a million: the Prince of Naples adds a -million: all sterling."</p> - -<p>The Prime Minister sent the nation's thanks and asked His Majesty to -nominate himself as trustee. He got this gorgeous answer.</p> - -<p>"The Trustees will be nicknamed the Pope's Twelve Apostles. The <i>Voce -della Verità</i> and the <i>Osservatore Romano</i> instantly would assign to me -the rôle of Judas."</p> - -<p>Signor Panciera sent this message "Sire, there was a thirteenth -apostle."</p> - -<p>The King retorted "But he was an after-thought." That made Queen Elena -laugh. The King continued. "Zanatello, take this money; give a receipt -in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> name of Italy. The Queen-Regent will issue a royal decree -constituting the Household of Christ as a government department: I -nominate the Duke of Aosta as the royal trustee: this scheme is just -what Italy wants at this moment: give it effect at once."</p> - -<p>Zanatello implored His Majesty to become trustee. "No," came the final -response. "I will assist most strenuously in an unofficial capacity: -when there is room for a thirteenth apostle, I will perpend: meanwhile -I engage to double the fund within one year. The King of England will -assist."</p> - -<p>Hadrian first read about the acceptance of the gift to Italy in the -next day's <i>Populo Romano</i>—one of the most respectable papers in the -world, He used to say. He felt that He had achieved another step; -and instantly proceeded to the next. He summoned the Syndic of Rome, -and made over to him, as a free gift to the City, all the moveable -sculpture, paintings, tapestry, and archæological specimens then -present in the Vatican. Simultaneously, He canonized Dom Bosco and -Dante Alighieri and published the <i>Epistle to the Italians</i>. This -document was mainly hortatory, and directed against disbelief and -secret societies. He bade Italy to consider Herself as the temple of -art in Europe; and to set Herself, by the contemplation of masterpieces -of human workmanship already in her possession, or to be added to Her -possession by future discovery, to produce Herself as a country and a -people prepared for The Lord Who is Altogether Lovely. He spoke of the -"Mafia" with admiration and with horror. It was a brotherhood rather -than a society, He said. It was a brotherhood of individualists each -devoted to the service of his brother. Its essential virtues were -honesty, mutual help, self-restraint. Nothing could be better. But -the Devil had distorted the operation of so excellent a scheme. His -Iniquity tempted the "Mafiosi" not only to help each other in good -deeds, but in evil—chiefly in evil deeds. They murdered and screened -murderers; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> forgot "Thou shalt do no murder." They robbed and -screened robbers; and forgot "Thou shalt not steal." They alleged that -Mazzini had welded them into a corporate body for political purposes; -and had given them for a motto "Mazzini Autorizza Furti Incendi -Avvelenamenti," from the initials of which phrase they drew their -corporate name. In place of that wicked and abominable sentence, He -gave them "Madonnina Applaude Fraternità Individualita Amore." Let the -Mafia flourish with that motto for its ruling principle.</p> - -<p>Italy was seeing the burden of poverty removed from Her children, -was seeing Her youth enabled to cultivate talents, was seeing the -honest labour of Her manhood and womanhood rewarded, was seeing refuge -and provision prepared for old age. Rome set herself nobly to work -at housing the treasures of art which Hadrian had given. Immense -and splendid palaces were planned for them and began to rise on the -Esquiline and Celian Hills; and the gracious forms of the old gods were -to stand beneath arcades of marble, white and pure as lilies without, -mosaic of bright gold within, amid the groves upon Janiculum. Honest -men came by their own. There were no unemployed. Consequently, no -hearts were soured while hands were used; and anarchy began to fade -away into the obscurity of bad old rubbish rejected. The <i>Epistle -to the Italians</i> too! They were in the mood to listen to anything -and everything from that dear little piece of omniscient omnipotent -omnipresent aloofness whom they called "Papa Inglese." To the strong -and simple Italian temper, His words carried conviction by reason of -their own essential simplicity and strength.</p> - -<p>"He speaks like one's own conscience!" said Caio and Tizio and also -Sempronio.</p> - -<p>"Hearken and obey Him, then," invected Maria and Elena and also -Margherita.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XVII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Italy</span> was not first in the heart of Hadrian. She was third. He served -Her, because He saw Her instant need. The second of His loved lands -did not know Herself to be in need of Him: hence, He offered Her no -more than courtesy. He did not want America to tell Him not to monkey -with the buzz-saw. And England was first. And what could He do for -England? The thought, that He might do something, alone sustained Him -now. Life among the millions of articulately-speaking men had become -an ever-present horror to Him. He frequently wondered what prevented -Him from hurling Himself from the windows on to the stones of Rome. He -actually sent for a case of safety-razors, and banished knives from the -pontifical apartments. "O for the wings, for the wings of a dove: then -far away, far away, would I fly." There was a boy named Roebuck who -sang that, in New College Chapel in Commemoration week five and twenty -years before. The golden voice, the incomparable young voice came back -to Him in Golden Rome where He was longing to be at rest.</p> - -<p>A scarlet arm held back the blue-linen curtain of the door, and -Cardinal Leighton entered. "I think we missed this, Holy Father," he -said, and offered a more-than-a-month-old copy of the <i>Catholic Hour</i>.</p> - -<p>Hadrian in a moment dragged Himself erect physically and psychically: -He took the paper and read:</p> - -<p>"We have received a long letter from 'D.J.' taking us to task for -exposing George Arthur Rose in a way which he calls 'savagely cruel.' -He says</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> - -<p>'I thank God that I cannot appreciate the humour which speaks gaily -of a man enduring eighteen months of semi-starvation, and at the same -time struggling hard to earn a livelihood by his pen—for the honesty -of his strugglings I can vouch. Whatever his past may have been—and -I believe that your article is in the main erroneous—surely it is -better to leave it as past. As a convert, he had to endure for the -faith that is in him. Once before in his chequered career, at a moment -when he had a means of living by his own hands within his grasp, a -gratuitous newspaper attack snatched from him the support which he -had made himself to lean on. At the present time he is leading an -existence which is bitter enough to himself and quite harmless (not to -say beneficial) to others; and I feel compelled to tell you that I look -upon your onslaught as both criminal and disgraceful.'</p> - -<p>Another correspondent writes, 'I was much grieved at your article -called <i>Strange Career</i> etc. in your issue of Nov. 18th because I am a -great admirer of some books which George Arthur Rose published before -he was made Pope. Those books did more to convert me to Catholicism -than any others and I am very sorry to read the account that you have -printed of their author.'</p> - -<p>Yet another correspondent writes, 'It may be well to inform your -readers that the Austin White who wrote the very offensive letters -headed <i>Rhypokondylose Religion</i> in the <i>Jecorian Courier</i> some few -years back is the George Arthur Rose alias the Pope of Rome about whom -your readers were so amply enlightened in the columns of your issue of -18th November.'</p> - -<p>In reply to 'D.J.' we may say that we hold in our hand a letter which -Rose addressed to an excellent priest in 1898. It concludes 'I regret -for your sake the exposure which inevitably must take place when her -brother-in-law, the bishop, becomes cog<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>nizant of the undue influence -which you use in order to embezzle these sums from Lady Mostingham. I -beg you to make amends and to withdraw from such degrading transactions -before it is too late.' If our correspondent 'D.J.' still thinks it was -not advisable for us to savagely and cruelly denounce the author of -that last letter, we can only say we differ from him."</p> - -<p>Hadrian read the screed with indignant scorn. It was the beastly -English of the vulgar thing, more than the vile sentiments expressed, -which put Him into such a violent rictus of contempt. He looked out of -the window at nothing for a moment, to conceal His disgust. Finding -that Cardinal Leighton waited, He controlled Himself; and turned round -with a gaze of frigid inquiry.</p> - -<p>"Yes?" He said.</p> - -<p>"'Would to Heaven that You would grant me a trifling favour,'" His -Eminency quoted in Greek.</p> - -<p>It was a most artful and invariably successful dodge to approach the -Pontiff in His favourite tongue. He recognized the quotation; and -capped it with the succeeding verse.</p> - -<p>"'Tell me as quickly as you can; and I at once shall know.'"</p> - -<p>"May I ask a question? Did You write that letter, Holy Father?"</p> - -<p>"Which? The last? Yes."</p> - -<p>"What did you know?"</p> - -<p>"Everything."</p> - -<p>"May I say that the amount of knowledge of men which You seem always to -possess is quite extraordinary:" said the cardinal, blinking.</p> - -<p>"No it is not. 'To those who indeed suffer, Righteousness bringeth -knowledge.'" the Pontiff quoted from Aischylos again. "'The greater -the detachment from the world, over worldly things the greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> power -is gained,' some true poet sings. We never were 'a man among men.' We -had five senses and We used them. And all the men whom We ever met -habitually and voluntarily came and told Us their secrets. We never -sought them. They were laid bare before Us. And Our senses perceived -them. That is all."</p> - -<p>The pontifical voice was hard and cruel: the face was harder and more -cruel and also more terrible. The very Presence was like a candent -flame. Good honest innocent Leighton looked at Him as at something -inhuman: but he persevered.</p> - -<p>"Holiness, I want to go on. Do You know who wrote the other letters?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes. D.J. was another 'excellent priest.' He was in philosophy when -We were in theology at Maryvale. Why you know him too, Leighton,—he -took his B.A. with Ambrose."</p> - -<p>"What, 'Gionde'? Yes, of course I knew him."</p> - -<p>"That's the man. We have not heard from him for years: but he evidently -thought it right to defend Us. Poor chap! A snub rewards him. The -<i>Catholic Hour</i> 'differs from him.' ... A tipsy publican wrote the -second; and the third was written by a Jesuit jackal, in return for the -custom of, and most likely at the dictation of, the very detestable -scoundrel to whom We wrote the last."</p> - -<p>"What became of him? The bad priest I mean?"</p> - -<p>"He ruined himself, as We predicted. He persisted in his career -of crime till his bishop found him out. Then he was broken, and -disappeared—Maison de santé or something of that sort for a time. He's -in one of the colonies now; and he might have been—— Lord Cardinal, -We have said too much. It is not Our Will and pleasure to move in this -matter."</p> - -<p>"But the advantage I derive from hearing Your Holiness—if it is -not impertinent—Holiness, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> venture to assure you of my eternal -fidelity——" Leighton stammered with emotion.</p> - -<p>Hadrian shewed him no face: turned to the window which displayed the -panorama of Intangible Rome; and presently was alone.</p> - -<p>"God! God!" He exclaimed, shaking the paper with -terrific violence. "Do you see this brutal cynical -unrighteousness—prejudged,—condemned,—the mere suggestion of defence -derided and fleered-at——in England, fair-minded England—England the -land of the free——"</p> - -<p>No: it was not England, but just a handful of the vicious vermin which -infest her. England—the word summoned Him to His apostolature again. -What was the mind of England now? That question occupied Him. He wished -that England would declare Her mind to Him through ambassadors, the -mind of the statesmen of England. He had no official acquaintance with -any one of them. He could not ask for England's confidence: for, being -English, He knew that asking slams the door. Humanly speaking, He had -nothing to guide Him in the cosmic crisis of the present, the crisis in -which He was certain to be consulted—as a last resort—but certain to -be consulted. Of that, He was convinced. A short calculation displayed -Jupiter passing through Aries, which signified immense benefit to -England. Oh, very good. Then what should be His course of action? -He got up and went round the room, looking at the maps and noting -them, until it seemed that His mental horizon expanded and enlarged, -and He had the whole of the orb of the earth within His vision. What -should He say, or do, for England, when she was too shy, too proud, -to give Him a sign as to what She wanted Him to say, or do? England, -England!—"Land of hope and glory,—how shall We extol thee Who are -born of thee?—wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set: God, Who -made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p> - -<p>He would say and do that which was given to Him to say or do. As an -Englishman, He had His intuitions. And He required no confidences. -England, the shy, the proud, should be served by Her shy proud son, -the Servant of the servants of God. The divine afflatus of patriotism -inspired Him, brightening His eyes, erecting His head. He sat down -again: took His writing-board on His knees; and wrote. Anon, He rang -the bell and gave some orders. Also, He sent some written slips of -cyphers to the operators in the Vatican marconigraph office.</p> - -<p>On the twenty-second of January, the Supreme Pontiff descended to -the basilica of St. Peter-by-the-Vatican; and sang mass for the -repose of the soul of Queen Victoria, the Great, the Good. The same -day, the English newspapers announced that His Holiness had sent a -cardinal-ablegate to place the Golden Rose, the pontifical tribute to -virtuose queens, on Her Majesty's tomb in the mausoleum at Frogmore.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XVIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Italian Socialists having been won for Italy, and the German -Socialists by the German Emperor, the British Socialists began to -wonder where they themselves came in. The predilection for forming -societies which is to be met-with among all the degenerate and -hysterical, may assume different forms. Criminals unite in bands, -as Lombroso expressly establishes. Hence the British Socialists (in -their quandary) held fatuous meetings hoping to generate a policy in -an atmosphere of hot envious man. They really did want to know their -exact position: for, in some indefinable way, they were beginning -to feel that they were by no means as necessary to the universe as -they had imagined themselves to be. It seemed as though this planet -(for one) were moving quite easily without them, and (what was more -annoying) on a path which was quite strange to them, a comfortable -path and a desirable. They felt that they were being left out in the -cold; and, as their nature was, they looked about for some safe person -on whom to void their spleen. They began with the Roman Pontiff. That -an archaic potentate of His calibre, should prove to be fresh and -actual and vigorous, struck them as something of a nuisance. They had -deemed Him hardly worth consideration, a decayed relic of antiquity, -useful perhaps as a monument of the bad old days when the world was -drowned in damnable idolatry: but nothing more. That any man whose -reputation so publicly had been besmirched as His had been, should -dare to hold up his head, to live and move and have his being, to -dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>pose of millions of money and of the minds of nations, struck them -as simply atrocious. He had refused the honour of their alliance, -had scorned their overtures with contemptuous silence. They would -return Him scorn for scorn: they would shew Him what He had lost. If -He flattered Himself that His so called <i>Epistles</i> to this that and -the other would have any influence, the sooner He was undeceived the -better. The Liblab Fellowship soon would let 'an unhappy old drawler -of platitudinous flapdoodle like Hadrian' know His place, quoth the -blameless Comrade Bob Matchwood. All the same, amid all the rhapsodic -rhodomontade of sound and fury signifying nothing, there remained -among the fellow-shippers just enough intellect to perceive one thing. -Comrade Frank Conollan put on his pince-nez; and, with a spasm of jerks -and twitches, was delivered of the opinion that the Liblab Fellowship -could not hope to recover anything like a respectable position in the -popular estimation as long as it remained where it was. He said that to -blink the fact, that Liblabbery had taken a false step in approaching -the Pope of Rome, was not a bit of good. Liblabbery had courted a snub; -and had been smitten with the snubbiest of snubs. If he might use a -metaphorical expression, he would say that Liblabbery had been enticed -into a bog and made to look unspeakably silly. If he might use a -poetical expression from Shakespeare, he would say 'like unback'd colts -they pricked their ears, advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses, -and calf-like follow'd through tooth'd briers, pricking goss, and -thorns, which enter'd their frail skins, into the filthy mantled pool, -where, dancing up to the chins, the foul lake o'er-stunk their feet.'</p> - -<p>(It began to dawn upon the Liblabs that the Comrade was doing the very -thing desired. He was leading up to the customary denunciation of -some traitor. He was about to provide them with the name of the usual -scape-goat. They prolonged pleased ears in his direction.)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p> - -<p>He would go further. He would say, still using the expressions of the -immortal bard of Avon, "Your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, -has done little better than played the Jack with us."</p> - -<p>(This was something like! The meeting's ears positively flapped.)</p> - -<p>And then, being unable to keep-on his pince-nez any longer by reason of -a steamed nose, he brought his climax to an abrupt term by demanding -the instant and public expulsion of Comrade Jerry Sant. That was voted -nem. con. The Liblab Fellowship shook-off the dust of its dirty feet -at the traitor; and Comrade Mat Matchwood said some very slighting -things about him in the <i>Salpinx</i>. No one is so facile and energetic -about believing evil as a Pessimist, that is to say a Socialist; -and, when one traitor is detected, what could be more natural than -for others to be suspected. It happened so. The mutual jealousy, the -flaring incompetency, the sordid selfishness, which always infected -the socialist demagogues, and (of course) the essentially sandy -foundation upon which the socialist system was based, led to further -and more fatal dissensions. Suspicion mated with Baffled Purpose. -Recrimination was the offspring of the match. The fellow-shippers, who -had connived at the scheme of Jerry Sant, found themselves accused as -his accomplices, and denounced and expelled in turn. From dissension -it was no more than one step to disunion. Each demagogue, fearful -lest he should have to take up an honest trade for a livelihood, -devoted persuasive loquacity to the attracting of personal supporters. -Burnson battened on Battersea. West Ham went a-whoring after strange -Bills. Glasgow got into the galley of Kerardy. And Devana succumbed -to a split-thumb-nailed and anarchistic plumber. Schisms within -schisms insued. Dens and caves received the remnants of the Liblab -Fellowship. Mutual damnation was the order of the day. The Socialists -were almost Christian. The ranks were thinned by inter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>necine war. -Then came desertions. Socialism didn't pay; and socialists openly -asked conservative agents for tory gold. When it was refused, they -swore (after their kind). Labor (without the u) looked about for the -patronage of Capital. And British Socialism was in a fair way to perish -of its own radical fatuity, and instability.</p> - -<p>Hadrian watched the process of disintegration from His tower in Rome, -watched the natural absorption of the more respectable socialists -by the more respectable community; and He was glad. Very soon now -the silly obscene heresy would die and disappear, with the obsolete -delusions of Gymnosophists, Anabaptists, Picards, Adamites and -Turlupins. Hadrian was glad. Then came the <i>Times</i>, announcing that -Australia, Canada, and South Africa had armed all healthy males -between the ages of 17 and 50; and that England was mobilizing -the sea-and-land-forces of her Empire. Now the whole world was in -battle array. He took out His pyx again, and prayed the prayer of -the Danaides, "O King of kings, Most Blessed of the blessed, Most -Perfect Mighty One of the perfect, be persuaded and let this come to -pass,—avert from Thy race the insolence of men who (for a reason) -hate it; and plunge the black-benched pest into the dark abyss." It -was a pagan enough prayer for a Pope to utter. It was a fierce enough -sentiment for an altruist to express. It was an entirely comprehensible -suggestion of a misanthrope and misogynist, tired by, impatient of, -armed against, the tiresome divarication of little silly people. The -thing which troubled Him most was the irreconcilability of the King -of Italy. He had tried hard to give Victor Emanuel to understand -that, not rebuff but, welcome waited for him. He knew the benefits -which co-operation of Pope and King would bring. Yet the expression -of the Persian fatalist in Herodotus,—ἑχθιστη ὁδυνη πολλα φρονεοντα -μηδενοϛ κραΤεειν—the bitterest of all griefs, to see clearly and yet -to be unable to do anything, might have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> stood as the motto of His -whole mind, as often before in His life, so most emphatically now. He -recalled the Cardinal of Caerleon.</p> - -<p>The blameless Sant and his companion were in a pretty pickle. Expulsion -from the Liblab Fellowship included, not only the withdrawal of funds -but also, a threat of prosecution on a charge of obtaining money on -false pretences. The last they could afford to laugh at. No English -court of law could or would convict upon the evidence producible. The -first was tiresome: but of course they had a little put by. And with -regard to the future? Mrs. Crowe now was quite certain that Jerry -had made a mess of things. She began to think with longing of her -lodging-house. What was the good of staying on in Rome? Yes, and who -was going to pay her expenses, she would like to know? She impatiently -put that point before her paymaster. He did-on a forensic air; and -asked for time to advise himself of the matter. She demanded how long -he would require. He remarked on the feminine propensity for kicking a -man who has been knocked down; and ramped and raved till he thoroughly -frightened her. Your Pict is a truly awesome figure when he is red with -damp rage. She shrank into a corner whimpering, for she thought he was -going to strike her. Instead of that he cooled to sudden wheedling; and -anon he cuddled her. She permitted. It was better than nothing; and -she felt as though she really needed something of the sort. How could -she so misunderstand him? Of course he was not going to desert her. -They both were in the same boat; and must sink or swim together. For -his part, he intended to swim. She might have known that he was not -the man to give up when matters had proceeded so far. But, she urged, -what could they do? Do? They could do a fair lot of things. To begin -with, they could go and wait on a lot of they old cardinals and mak' -theirsels a nuisance. They went to Ragna, and told him very pretty -stories. Their statements were as a treat of almonds to him;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> but he -gave no sign of that. He was suave, polite: said that he would see -what could be done; and bowed them away. They went to Whitehead and -got no satisfaction. Caerleon thought that they had better let matters -rest. Carvale denied himself to them. Sterling listened to them with -judicial gravity and gave them no response. Semphill blazed at them; -and dismissed them shattered as to their nerves. They returned to the -Hotel Nike to wait for Ragna.</p> - -<p>The cardinals discussed them with the Pope. The Secretary of State -was insinuatory. He spoke of the terrible scandal; and let it be -understood that, in his opinion, payments should be made to stop -it. He hinted at the impossibility of defending the indefensible. -Better to use that million, the balance of the sale of the Vatican -treasure. That million had paid the expenses of the sale and of the -restoration of the sacristy; and had endowed St. George's College of -historical researchers under the presidency of Dr. Richard Barnett: -it was accounted for in della Volta's balance-sheet, Hadrian put in. -Carvale added that payment never stopped scandal. Caerleon earnestly -hoped that nothing would be done: it would rake up the past and involve -so many people. Semphill yearned for the good old days, faggots, -tongue-tearing, hand-chopping, ear-cropping, head-cutting, eye-gouging, -maiming, and stoning, and the groaning with much wailing of those -impaled by the spine, and all that sort of thing out of the Eymenides. -He loudly said so; and was silenced by a look from the Pontiff's -scornful anguished face. Discussion languished. Then Hadrian said -"Bring them here."</p> - -<p>Sir Iulo pit-pit-pit-pitted across the City on a motor-bicycle, and -burst into Via Due Macelli, a scarlet Hermes, with the annunciation, -"You are summoned to attend our Most Holy Father in the Vatican." -Mrs. Crowe hiccoughed "At last"; and bolted upstairs to put on her -most fetching hat. Jerry Sant grinned spikily through a tattered -moustache. The two got<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> into a hired victoria; and followed the -gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber.</p> - -<p>Hadrian received them in the throne-room. He did not occupy the -throne, but the central chair of a semi-circular group of five. Ragna, -Sterling, Leighton, and Caerleon used the others. The latter had a -pigskin portfolio on his knee. In front of the ecclesiastics were two -chairs of equal importance. The man and woman lounged there. It was -quite a family gathering. But between the Church and the World, Sir -John stood by a little table furnished with the pontifical phonographs.</p> - -<p>"We have summoned you, in order that ye may speak your minds to Us," -the Supreme Pontiff said: "but ye shall know that We will not hold any -communication with you except Our utterances and yours be recorded by -these instruments." His voice was very frigid: but there was neither -menace nor offence in it. His quiet tone totally was at variance -with the furious defiance of the matter of His words. The paradox -disconcerted his hearers. Sant went magenta with wrath: remembered -how much he had at stake; and was canny enough not to demur. With an -attempt at an easy laugh, he said that it was a little unusual, not -quite what he expected, but he didn't want to be unpleasant to His -Lordship, and so he had no objection he was sure. And he lolled in his -armchair, as who should say "A'm fair easy." Mrs. Crowe bit her upper -lip: but said that she had no objection either. Hadrian waved His hand; -and the pontifical gentleman sat down and set the machines in motion.</p> - -<p>The Pope put the woman to the question: "Madam, what do you want?"</p> - -<p>Face to face with that she failed to put her want in words. It was an -acrid pungent permanent want, not-to-be-named. She bit at her upper lip -again; and looked at Jerry for a lead. He proceeded "I think,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> Reverend -Sir, that it will be more advantageous for all parties if I was to -speak for Mrs. Crowe."</p> - -<p>"We will concede the point. Sir, what do you want?" the Pontiff said.</p> - -<p>Then the virtuous Jerry also began to flounder. Want? Eh, but he wanted -several things.</p> - -<p>"Name them:" the Pope commanded.</p> - -<p>"Well:—reparation—damages."</p> - -<p>"For what?" the Pope inquired.</p> - -<p>"For ma loss of time whiles I've had to be here and for ma business -which Ye may say's gone ta th dogs; and for the loss of ma Liblab -Fellowship."</p> - -<p>"To what extent have you suffered?"</p> - -<p>"To fhat extent? Well, I'll let Ye know. I've been here since last -July, say eight months, say forty weeks, say three hundred days; and I -take ordinarily a pound-note per day on journeys for expenses: but it's -cost me a heap more than that this trip. Ye can call it five hundred -pounds for out-of-pocket expenses. Then there's ma business which -I've had to neglect, eight months, better say a year at one-fifty for -salary, and commissions—say another fifty. There's eight hundreds. -Then they've had the cheek to expel me as a Fellowshipper, as I -suppose Ye've heard. Of course that's very damaging to ma prestige, -say to the extent of a couple of thousands. Fhat's that come to? Two -thousands eight hundreds—may as well call it three thousands. And of -course there's fhat old Krooger named moral and intellectual damage—I -don't know fhat tae pit that at, I'm sure—but Ye might tot it all up -together and call it twenty thousands."</p> - -<p>"And your companion?"</p> - -<p>"Aweel, Ye'd better double it and we'll both ca' quits. Forty thousands -cash!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Pope cast a slight look round upon his cardinals. They returned it. -"You are demanding that We should pay you forty thousand pounds," He -said to the expectant Jerry.</p> - -<p>"That's correct."</p> - -<p>"Why do you demand this sum of Us?"</p> - -<p>"Why? Why because we've run into all these expenses on your account. If -Ye hadna have been here, neither would we have come and have had all -this fuss and bother. Who's to indemnify us for that but Yersel', I'm -asking Ye. I'll let Ye know we've fair ruined oursels——"</p> - -<p>The Bald She interrupted. "If I could have a private word with Your -Holiness."</p> - -<p>The motive did not escape Hadrian's notice. "Daughter, your conduct and -your notorious proclivities debar you from a private interview with any -clergyman, except in the open confessional."</p> - -<p>"Then in the confessional."</p> - -<p>The Pope rose and beckoned her to follow. He beckoned Sir John to stop -the machines and remain: the others to follow. They descended into -St. Peter's. There, He turned out the English Confessor; and took his -place, while the woman kneeled at the left side. Just out of earshot, -the four cardinals stayed with Sant, who fumed in his inward parts. -Fhat blathers was this going on under their very noses? The half-door -and the window both were open: only the lateral partition divided -the priest from the penitent. The grating was between their faces; -and, though they were perfectly visible, they were visible apart and -separate.</p> - -<p>Hadrian in a low tone recited "May the Lord be in thine heart and on -thy lips"—; and put Himself to listen.</p> - -<p>Through the grating there came a whine,—</p> - -<p>"Georgie!"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> - -<p>"My child, there is no Georgie here, but only your Judge. Confess your -sins, if you will,—only to Almighty God. Shew contrition. And, by His -authority committed to me His minister, I will absolve."</p> - -<p>Then the Devil entered into her. She incoherently spluttered "I have -no sins—if I had, I wouldn't tell You.—You reject me?—Oh I'll make -You regret it—I'll make You suffer as I have—I'll shew you up for -what You are——" She stiffened and rushed across to Jerry "Now do your -worst," she said; and her face was livid.</p> - -<p>Sant gripped the lapels of his grotesque frock-coat and approached -the white figure which emerged from the central compartment of the -confessional.</p> - -<p>"I should like to mak' an end of this matter," he said.</p> - -<p>Hadrian led the way to the throne-room: the phonographs were set to -work; and the conference was resumed.</p> - -<p>"Now," said Jerry, "I'm thinking that Your Right Reverence had better -let us know definitely fhat Ye intend to do."</p> - -<p>The Pope spoke rather more slowly and with more singular mildness than -before. "You demand that We should pay you forty thousand pounds in -reparation for damage which, you say, We have caused."</p> - -<p>"That's so."</p> - -<p>"It is useless to point out to you that We did not ask you to waste -your time in Rome——"</p> - -<p>"I should have been surprised if Ye had have."</p> - -<p>"And that We did not force you, or induce you, to neglect your -business——"</p> - -<p>"Nae! Ye never thought I'd have dared to face Ye as I have."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And that We were in no wise concerned with your expulsion from the -Liblab Fellowship——"</p> - -<p>"But Ye were! If Ye'd have had the civility to give the deputation a -satisfactory answer, or even to have satisfied the fellow-shippers -afterwards, or to have made it all right with me so as I could have -settled them, then there wouldn't have been all this trouble and -unpleasantness, my Lord."</p> - -<p>"Some men are gifted with an abnormal capability for making the -greatest possible fools of themselves. For the credit of the human -race, it must be said that indecent exhibitions of this kind are rare. -Mr. Sant, does it not occur to you that you are engaging in a very -foolish and a very dirty business?"</p> - -<p>"Dirty business Yersel'! Who're Ye talking to? Ma hands are as clean -as Yours any day. Who owes twenty pound notes to this lady I'm brought -with me?"</p> - -<p>"We do not know."</p> - -<p>"Imphm. Well, suppose I was to say it was Yersel'?"</p> - -<p>"You would tell an officious lie, Mr. Sant." The Pope turned to the -woman. "Madam, do We owe you twenty pounds?"</p> - -<p>"You owe me a great deal more than that:" she barked.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Sant alludes to a specific sum of twenty pounds odd which was due -to this lady's deceased husband for books, newspapers, and stationery, -supplied some years ago when he kept a shop:" the Pope explained to -the cardinals, with a gesture to Talacryn. The Cardinal of Caerleon -extracted a slip from the portfolio; and read a receipt for the -amount named plus 5 per cent. interest. This document was dated the -thirty-first of the previous March. The Pope continued, "You know, -Madam, that We paid this bill the moment We were in a position to pay -it. You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> also know that payment was long delayed solely because you -yourself, by calumniating and libelling Us to Our employers and to -those who called themselves Our friends, prevented Us from earning more -than a bare sustenance——"</p> - -<p>Jerry burst in, "Well, if Ye've paid her why shouldn't Ye pay me?"</p> - -<p>"Because We do not owe you anything."</p> - -<p>"Then Ye mean me ta pit some more about Ye in the papers?"</p> - -<p>"Listen, Mr. Sant. We look upon you as a deeply injured man——"</p> - -<p>"Hech! Now that's something like!"</p> - -<p>"We look upon you as a deeply injured man, injured by himself. You have -been your own enemy. You have suffered loss and damage simply because -you have allowed yourself to persist in doing silly things and wicked -things. Now, is it useless to ask you to change all that? Will you turn -over a new leaf and begin your life again? You shall not be left alone. -You shall be helped."</p> - -<p>"A want ma money."</p> - -<p>"If you wish to do well for yourself, if you wish honestly to earn -a better living than you ever have earned, you shall have the -opportunity."</p> - -<p>An appeal to a goodness which is not in him is, to a vain and sensitive -soul, a stinging insult. Jerry's face became wetter and redder. "And -fhat about damages for the past?" he barked.</p> - -<p>"You shall have a chance for the future."</p> - -<p>"Then Ye willna pay! Ye want me to shew Ye up in the papers again?"</p> - -<p>"You may put what you please in the papers. We will not pay even a -farthing to prevent you, Mr. Sant,—not one farthing."</p> - -<p>"Then I'm not to get anything?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> - -<p>"At a threat? No. Nothing!" Defiance hurled denial at the brute.</p> - -<p>"Fhat are we waiting here for, wumman?" Sant snarled at Mrs. Crowe. -"Here let's get out of this. He makes me fair sick with His holy -preaching!" At the door, he turned round, bragging boldly like a cock -beside his partlet; and waved his bowler hat, "E-e-e-h but A'll mak' Ye -squirm, Ye ... inseck!" he foamed.</p> - -<p>Ragna was furious. "Holiness, why don't You shoot them at once? You are -Sovereign within these walls. Give order for their arrest before they -leave the palace, Holiness; and have them shot!"</p> - -<p>"It is Our will that they be left to the common executioner," the -Pope disdainfully ordained, sitting very hieratically in his chair, -young, rigid, and terrific as the Flamen Virbialis. The audience had -been a fresh phase of agony to Him: He had tried to merge His humanity -in His apostolature, and had failed; and the failure was torment, -physical, poignant. He was indignant; and He was dangerous. Their -Eminencies inquiringly looked at Him. Leighton blinked; and thought it -a dreadful pity. Talacryn was for running out and trying to persuade -the blackmailers even at some cost,—anything was better than scandal, -he said. The Pope told him not to be a stupid fool with his infernal -hankerings after compromise. "Fancy paying for silence!" His Holiness -scornfully adjoined.</p> - -<p>"No but Holy Father, I think if You were to leave them to me, I could -find some way of silencing them. Silence is what we want indeed, -whatever."</p> - -<p>"Your Eminency is well skilled in the art of silencing people, bad and -good. It is by no means an honourable art; and you are prohibited from -practising it. We believed that you had ceased to practise it in 1899. -Were We in error?"</p> - -<p>"No indeed no, indeed, Holiness. It was merely a suggestion of mine, -indeed," the cardinal burbled.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Drop it then!" the Pontiff slammed at him.</p> - -<p>"Indeed I do, Holiness, indeed I do, whatever."</p> - -<p>"One would hardly have believed that such blatant wickedness could have -existed in the world," Sterling gravely meditated.</p> - -<p>"Holy Father, it will all begin again," Leighton sadly sighed.</p> - -<p>"Let it begin again!" Hadrian challenged, white-flaming, irate, -retiring to the secret chamber.</p> - -<p>Their Eminencies went out through the other door. They were not at -all pleased with the Pope. In the first antechamber several cardinals -were congregated anxious for news, Orezzo and Courtleigh each in -a sedan-chair, Percy, Fiamma, della Volta, Semphill, Carvale, and -Whitehead. Ragna was of opinion that the charges ought publicly to be -answered, that is to say if they could be answered: but—— Could the -accusations satisfactorily be disposed of? No one put the question: but -the aroma of the idea of it was in the air.</p> - -<p>"There was so much mystery about His Holiness:" Orezzo said.</p> - -<p>"There always has been. He is a most incomprehensible creature, -indeed:" Talacryn pronounced.</p> - -<p>"One might expect anything, everything of Him: the height and depth of -good and bad: extreme virtue, extreme vice: one almost could believe -Him to be capable of anything:" Sterling adjudicated.</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, until you have heard Him explain," little Carvale put in. "Did -none of Your Eminencies ever watch Him in His talk? I have. Shall I -tell you the difference between our Holy Father and ourselves? We see -things from a single view-point. He sees things from several. We decide -that the thing is as we see it. But He has seen it otherwise, and He -presents it as a more or less complete coaction of its qualities. See -this sapphire. Well, you see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> face of it: underneath, if I take it -off my finger, there are a number of facets to be seen and a number -more which are hidden by the gold of the setting. Now my meaning is -that our Holy Father has seen all the facets as well as the table of -the sapphire, or the thing. Consequently He knows a great deal more -about the sapphire, or the thing, than we do. You must have noted that -in Him. You must have noted how that every now and then, when He deigns -to explain, He makes mysteries appear most wonderfully lucid."</p> - -<p>"But, if one might venture to ask, how often does He condescend to -explain—except to His cat?" Sterling interjected.</p> - -<p>"I'm bound to admit that He opened my eyes considerably during that -fortnight we spent together in town just before His election," -Courtleigh threw out of his chair. Ragna went to him and spoke of the -desirability of capital punishment.</p> - -<p>"Well, anyhow, I believe in Him," Whitehead murmured.</p> - -<p>"Yes:" Leighton energetically blinked. "You'll excuse me if I'm shoppy, -but I say with St. Anselm, 'Neque enim quæro intelligere ut credam: -sed credo ut intelligam. Nam et hoc credo quia nisi credidero non -intelligam.'"</p> - -<p>The gong in the secret chamber loudly and suddenly sounded. The scarlet -limbs of Sir John and Sir Iulo darted towards it. Talacryn was shaking -an unwilling dubious head. Van Kristen gave him a tall look of disgust. -"Well, I guess Your Eminency will feel pretty small some day if you -don't believe in Him too. There are no flies on Hadrian:" and he -stalked away with the dignity of a grand boy honourably enraged.</p> - -<p>"No no, Percy," said Talacryn, running after him. "Of course I believe -in Him: but just for that reason I don't want Him to defend Himself. I -want to keep Him quiet. I think it unwise to rake up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> past. There -would be so many frightful scandals, whatever."</p> - -<p>"Have you told Him that?"</p> - -<p>"Have I not indeed."</p> - -<p>"And what did He say?"</p> - -<p>Talacryn once more shook his head.</p> - -<p>"Well then I advise Your Eminency to go 'way back and sit down,' as we -say in the States."</p> - -<p>Newspaper tirades did begin again. The previous attacks on the -Pope almost were forgotten, (horribly pungently palate-tickling -though they were,) at a time when men's minds were filled with wars -and rumours of wars. But the Fleet Street fishers, who knew their -business, were aware that the public appetite is capricious and must -be tempted with a variety of bait. Even wars and rumours of wars are -apt to pall. One must not cry "Wolf" too often. Tired of Black-gnats, -trout must be tried with May-flies: for newspapers must be sold, -or the soap-and-cocoa people will quake; and newspapers will not -sell unless their news are new. So, when the editor of the <i>Daily -Anagraph</i> received a couple of letters from Jerry Sant and Mrs. Crowe, -proffering certain tasty information, and asking for an offer for -same, he consulted his proprietors. The subject certainly was not -entirely novel: but what had gone before merely had been so to speak -an appetizer. This was the strong meat, the pièce de résistance in the -banquet of garbage. Sant was in possession of exclusive information. -The publication of it would mean a boom for the paper. Editors cannot -afford to be curious about the morals of their contributors, or -indeed of anything bar the quality of their contributions. Neither -proprietors nor editor were actuated by any sort of malice, personal or -professional, in defaming the Pope. Their motive was merely commercial. -Therefore, they offered £4,000 a-piece to Sant and his accomplice; and -they invested a similar sum in amateur investigations. At intervals -during the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> next few weeks, the <i>Daily Anagraph</i> published articles -reflecting on the character of God's Vicegerent; and two columns daily -were set apart for anonymous ex-parte statements concerning His career. -Oh, it all began again! The points insisted on were that He was, and -never had been anything but, a lazy luxurious (the second intention -was "debauched") jesuitical machiavellian and false-pretentious -ignoramus.—Oh it all indubitably began again. Mediocrities, entrusted -with power over their fellow-creatures, invariably develop into -tyrants. All history proves it: the tyranny of the clergy was bad -enough: but it was as nothing in comparison with the sordid tyranny of -the Press which we now complacently tolerate.</p> - -<p>Calumny culminated with a concoction of the calvous Crowe's. It -was admitted that the high-water mark was reached. Hitherto, the -very virulence of the assaults had engendered a certain amount of -unexpressed sympathy among stock-brokers, naval, Varsity, and other -thoughtful men. "Our Representative" had called at Archbishop's -House, had interviewed Monsignor this and Monsignor Canon that, -inviting the candid expression of opinion on the subject of Pontifical -Infallibility, as viewed in the fight of recent journalistic enterprize -and research. The distinction between infallibility and impeccability -had been impressed upon "Our Representative": but that was all. No -defence was offered either by the Pope or by His poor benighted -papists. Then, by slow degrees, the elect, the intelligent, began to -persuade themselves that, after all, the early misdemeanours of George -Arthur Rose, if they were as stated, were altogether apart from the -pontifical acts of Hadrian the Seventh. The latter distinctly were -admired throughout the world: the former—well, they were a pity. So, -public opinion was. And then came Mrs. Crowe. She had a song to sing -(oh!) of secret debauchery on the part of Hadrian the Seventh. She -was concise in the matter of names and dates and places. She alleged -that, at dusk on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> certain evening in September, the 29th, she herself -had seen the Pope, disguised in black like an ordinary priest, taking -tea—He Who never ate in public—with two nameless women (far too -beautiful to be respectable in her opinion) in a house on Via Morino. -She was in the street. His so-called Holiness and His female companions -were by the lighted window. Presently the blinds were closed; and she -knew not what went on behind them. She watched the house for an hour -and a half; and then the Pope came out muffling His face, (a thing He -never at any other time had been known to do, but necessary on this -occasion to complete His disguise). He walked away; and she followed -Him: saw Him stop at the Attendolo Palace, and (finally) enter the -Vatican saluted by the guards at the bronze gates. She related the -incident with such particularity and in such a manner, that a great -many people fancied that they thoroughly understood. In a sort of way -the good lady did more than most people have done towards effecting -the Reunion of Christendom: for <i>The Cliff</i> deliriously discursed -(from Revelations) of a great red dragon and seven heads and ten horns -and seven crowns upon his heads, and of a beast rising out of the sea -and seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns on his horns; and <i>The -Catholic Hour</i> simultaneously washed its hands in innocency advertizing -unctuous rectitude in a leading article entitled "The Third Borgia."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XIX</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">While</span> the dwarves were diverting themselves as aforesaid, their rulers -were in council together. And one day Sir Francis Bertram found no -closed doors at the Vatican. He was granted an audience which was -friendly and unofficial and secret: so secret in fact that no news of -it "transpired." It was treated as the return visit of an Englishman -to an Englishman. He came in an electric brougham, quite unattended. -No one noted that he brought a small dispatch-box with him: or that he -did not carry it away with him: but some of the senior cardinals, who -kindly came to discuss the latest effusions of the <i>Daily Anagraph</i> -with Hadrian in the evening, found His Holiness brimful of gaiety. -They remarked that the visit of the ambassador had done Him no end of -good. His bearing was vivid, serene, and youthful: His conversation -was witty, limpid, facile: no one would have taken Him for the person -described in the newspapers. He read those which obligingly were handed -to him: but shewed no emotion whatever, although very eager expert eyes -searched for some trace from which to lead theories and hypotheses. Nor -did He utter any comment. He read: He laid down the paper; and resumed -the conversation. Before Their Eminencies withdrew, He summoned the -Sacred Consistory to meet at noon on the morrow; and that was the only -noteworthy event of the evening.</p> - -<p>Hadrian mounted the throne; and the vermilion college displayed itself -before Him. A pigskin kit-bag, which a gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber -had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> placed by the pontifical footstool before the doors were locked, -did not escape the notice of the more observant. The Pontiff Himself -was in singularly good form: and this was incomprehensible, for He -carried in His hand a copy of the very newspaper which everyone had -read and retched-over. That He should be so aggressively cheerful, -so vividly dominant, with that in His hand, was considered hardly -decorous. Even among those who firmly were determined to force -themselves to believe in Him, that He should not bend His neck to the -smiter now, did not tally at all with conceptions of propriety. With -these sentiments, Their Eminencies composed themselves to listen.</p> - -<p>After the formal opening of the session, a Consistorial Advocate (in -garments of a violet colour and furred with ermine about the neck) was -commanded to read aloud, from the <i>Daily Anagraph</i>, the account of the -Pope's visit in disguise to the house on Via Morino. He was to read -it, first, in English, then, in Latin. It was not a long lection: for -journalistic instinct had perceived that the facts stated would be more -damnatory in their nakedness. With that inscrutable incomprehensible -vivid gleam of hilarity irradiating His face, Hadrian checked the -Consistorial Advocate from time to time, preventing him from drifting -into the monotonous gabble, which is used for the formal reading of -documents whose contents already are known informally; and, if His -object was to cause each deadly detail of the charge against Himself -to come out clearly, with all the contours definite and all the -tints brilliantly varnished, it must be admitted that His method was -pontifically successful.</p> - -<p>"Ebbene dunque?" muttered Cardinal Ragna.</p> - -<p>Hadrian darted a word at the Cardinal-Prefect-of-Propaganda: "Will -Your Eminency have the goodness to describe, to the Sacred College, -your acts of the afternoon and evening of the festival of St. Michael -Archangel?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p> - -<p>The naming of the festival of Michaelmas was like a touch on the latch -of the Red Pope's memory. His pure and gentle face lighted up: for -he perceived the connotation; and that inspired him with a joy so -delectable that he paused to pick his words, tasting them deliberately, -lingering over them. "After siesta on the festival of St. Michael -Archangel,—and that would be about 15-1/2 hours of the clock, not -later,—I came to Vatican and was received by Your Holiness. I was -admitted to the secret chamber. I sat opposite to Your Holiness, by the -window. I remember that, for a reason. I spoke to Your Holiness on the -subject of removing England from the control of Propaganda. I said that -I had pondered Your Holiness's proposition. I said that it appeared to -me, as it already had appeared to Your Holiness, that the necessity for -treating England as a barbarous uncivilized savage country, in which -the Faith is preached by missionaries, no longer existed. I added my -own opinion, that to continue to treat England as a savage uncivilized -barbarous country, now, amounted to perennial insult. I received Your -Holiness's thanks. I am giving only the heads of this conversation, -which was prolonged until the seventeenth hour. Then, the pontifical -pages brought in a tray containing fruit and triscuits and some English -tea. I told Your Holiness that tea astringed my nerves, remarking on -the difference between English nerves and Italian. I was permitted to -make a few jokes. In the midst of these very diverting burlesques, I -ate a little fruit—perhaps a fig and a half—and I drank a little -wine of Cinthyanum. Afterwards, I proceeded to discuss another case -with Your Holiness. That case was the removal, from the spiritual rule -of Propaganda, of the other countries which are under the secular -rule of the Excellent King of England. It was a complication; and the -discussion of it occupied some hours. I said, in sum, that sufficient -information as to the nature and character and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> national history -of the natives of those countries, especially Scotland, Ireland, -and Wales, officially had not been laid before me. I requested Your -Holiness to afford me longer time for the collection of information and -investigation of the subject. I permitted myself to note that, while -we were talking, Your Holiness made and smoked nineteen cigarettes. I -remember that, when at length I rose to pay my respects, Your Holiness -drew me nearer to the window by which we had been sitting; and deigned -to indicate the image of St. Michael Archangel which poises itself on -the summit of the Mola. The metal of which the said image is formed -appeared to be burnished, owing to radiance from the lights of the -City. I said that it resembled an angelic apparition in the obscure sky -of night. I remember that Your Holiness said 'May the Prince, of the -angels who do service in heaven, succour and defend us on earth.' I -responded 'Amen.' Your Holiness added some words in the Greek tongue, -which You deigned to explain as signifying 'O god of the golden helm, -look upon, look upon the City which thou once didst hold well-beloved.' -To that prayer, I also responded 'Amen.' And I was permitted to retire -at the same moment when the pages were bringing in Your Holiness's -supper, which was at 20-1/2 hours of the clock."</p> - -<p>Cardinal Gentilotto sat down; and the eyes of the Sacred College -twinkled like talc. The Pope, Who had receded to His more usual distant -reticent gravity, gave them a silent moment for appreciation; and then -darted a verisimilar word to Cardinal della Volta.</p> - -<p>"Will Your Eminency have the goodness to describe, to the Sacred -College, your acts of the afternoon and evening of the festival of St. -Michael Archangel."</p> - -<p>The ex-major-domo of the apostolic palace hemmed;—and prayed -for permission to send for his diary. Then he bravely proceeded. -"M-ym-ym-ym: Twenty-ninth September. At 15 o'clock, I drove by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> -Fort of Monte Mario to the Milvian Bridge: and walked a little in the -fields. The sky was cloudy. Afterwards I drove by Via Flaminia and -Pincio to Countess Demochede's villino; and sent away my carriage. I -obtained news of the German Emperor. Her Excellency's daughter the -Princess Neri was there. Tea and very agreeable conversation. The -Princess expatiated on the virtues of pedestrianism. She and her -beautiful mother derided me when I said that I was about to walk to -Vatican. I went to Palazzo Attendolo to inquire for Don Umberto. He -had bought a new horse, a strawberry-roan, and was gone to Cinthyanum -to try him. That young man always is buying horses—m-ym-ym. -Returned to Vatican at 19 o'clock. Said Mattins and Lauds. Wrote -to—m-ym-ym,—wrote four letters, Holiness. Supper, capretto ai ferri -and zuppa inglese. Gave my news of the German Emperor to our Most Holy -Lord. Read Chap. IX., 1, of Matthew Arnold's <i>Literature and Dogma</i> -with Δ. Semphill. Conversed with that deacon about it till bed-time. -He says that it is not a book to fear. In my opinion it is a wonderful -book but shocking, and likely to cause misunderstanding except among -the English: but it is not damnable, though many will think so. Sancte -Francisce, ora pro me."</p> - -<p>He was about to sit-down; and the College was about to open -twenty-three mouths: but Hadrian with the left hand signed him to -approach the throne, and with the right simultaneously beckoned a -master-of-ceremonies in a red habit and a violet cloak.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Berstein interpolated with a recondite sneer, "The phenomenon -of bi-location, as exemplified in the case of St. Philip Neri, is -well-known. But this is not the case of a saint."</p> - -<p>Hadrian wiped the floor with the sneerer. "Nor was the case of Samian -Pythagoras, divine, golden-thighed, (if Your Eminency ever heard of -him), the case of a saint. Yet, inasmuch as Pythagoras was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> heard to -lecture at Metapontion and Tayromenion on the same day and at the same -hour, he would appear to have been an exemplification of the phenomenon -of bi-location. However, this is neither the case of a saint, as you so -acutely have observed: nor a case of bi-location, as you so hilariously -would pretend." He flung the retort at the cardinal with such force -that Berstein sought his seat with not innocuous concussion.</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinals, the voice of the snake and the voice of the goose are -one and the same. They both hiss:" the Pope added before moving again.</p> - -<p>A feeling that His Holiness was dynamic, picric, dangerous, pervaded -the assembly. Each most eminent lord wondered who would be the next -victim of that quiet shrill velvet claw which tore the brain. The -Pontiff bent His head to the master-of-ceremonies, signifying that he -should remove the mitre. Also He unclasped the morse of His cope; and -addressed Cardinal della Volta.</p> - -<p>"Can Your Eminency remember what habit you wore during the afternoon -and evening of the twenty-ninth of September?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Holy Father, I wore the plain habit which we commonly wear."</p> - -<p>"Like this?" Hadrian stooped and opened the kit-bag; and drew from it -a black cassock with red buttons, a red sash, and a black cloth cloak, -and a black three-cornered beaver-hat with thin red cord and tassels.</p> - -<p>"But yes: precisely like that."</p> - -<p>"Would Your Eminency do Us the extreme favour of putting on these -garments now?"</p> - -<p>Della Volta smiled: but he made the change, and stood on the -throne-steps pulling out the folds, stretching his arms in the new -sleeves. The Pope took another and a similar suit from the kit-bag; and -changed His Own white for black. Then He descended to the cardinal's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> -side; and faced the college. They were as like each other as two -blots of ink. And the college roared. Of course, everyone instantly -remembered Courtleigh's allegation that della Volta was the Pope's -Double: but no one until now had seen the two side by side and garbed -alike. And the college roared—roared chiefly with delight at dismissal -of tragedy by comedy.</p> - -<p>The Pope and the Cardinal resumed their proper habits; and Hadrian -again enthroned Himself. His aspect had become very cold, very hard. He -spoke a few words in the dry incisive tone which slapped like sleet, -from the far distance of His misanthropic soul snatched away to that -remote place shared with wounded beasts who creep to die alone. He -began swiftly; and intensified the value of His words by the gradual -monotonous deceleration which marked their close. "Lord Cardinals," -He said, "know that, if We desire to intrigue, Our experience of the -extreme stupidity of intriguers has taught Us to avoid their pitifully -trite folly. Know also that intrigues, disguises, tricks, artifices, -stratagems, and deceptions, are repugnant to Us. And finally know -this, that We never will derogate Our pontifical paraphernalia or -authority to another." After a moment, He changed His manner; and in -a formal tone announced that the Congress of Windsor had invited the -intervention of the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Arbitrator. It was the -appeal of Cæsar to Peter. He made known the contents of the dispatch, -which Sir Francis Bertram had brought; and read the names of sovereign -and presidential signatories. And, without waiting for comment, He -uttered the ceremonial form which closed the Consistory; and was borne -away.</p> - -<p>Acclamations followed Him. Vermilion tumbled over ermine in an effort -to get at Him. What a number of things everybody urgently desired to -know! What was He going to do? Would He not take this magnificent -opportunity of reclaiming Peter's Patrimony? He could not be denied it -now. That was Ragna's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> notion. The two Vagellaii agreed with it: Italy -could be compensated by the cession of Italia Irredenta, said Serafino. -Little minds expatiated on an infinity of little things. Then, some -began about the calumnies. What was He going to do about them? Oh, for -certain He had disproved the charge made against Hadrian the Seventh; -and most likely he could disprove the others. "Could He?" Berstein -cynically guffawed. Well, was He going to publish this disproval? "Who -knows?" asked Fiamma. The English and American cardinals energetically -asseverated that, for their part, they neither were going to consult -His Holiness on the subject, nor to consider themselves bound to -secrecy in regard to the refutation which they had heard and witnessed. -It was Carvale who hurriedly collected and expressed the opinions of -his colleagues. "What d'ye mean?" neighed the long faced Capuchin. -"I'll tell you what we mean" said Semphill. "With the help of my friends -here, we'll have an authentic copy of the acts of this consistory -sent to every newspaper on earth." "And, you can bet, right now!" Van -Kristen cried. The Cardinal-Archdeacon and nine Italians vociferated -approval of the scheme. Talacryn trumpeted with the others, gambolling -gaily along. Then he put down an elephantine foot—he was not quite -sure that it was advisable: down at the back of his heart he felt the -old distrust of Hadrian—he did not want to be involved by seeming -to support—His Holiness was a most difficult man to get rid of, if -one wanted to get rid of Him, whatever. But, still, the Cardinal of -Caerleon trampled along with the others. Their Eminencies surged -upstairs, chattering like a tygendis of magpies; and flowed along -galleries, screeching like a muster of peacocks, until they reached -the approach to the pontifical antechambers. The approach was closed, -guarded by skewbald harlequins of Swiss with halberds. Before it stood -the two gentlemen-of-the-apostolic-chamber, who formally responded to -inquiry, "Our Most Holy Lord is in secret."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p> - -<p>They had to make what they could of that. Those with sense went about -their business without ado. Some, however, lingered to resent rebuff: -or in the hope of obtaining quasi-accidental admission by bribery. -Ragna panted up to four thousand lire in Sir John's ear; and departed -cursing. The door was barred by "Our Most Holy Lord is in secret."</p> - -<p>In secret Hadrian was kneeling upright in His chapel. "God, I am very -worldly. I have enjoyed the triumph." That was the confession which -He made, not precisely with sorrow but, with a consuming contempt for -Himself. He had done such an ordinary deed: He despised Himself for -doing it. He remained in contemplation of His disgusting humanity for -some time.</p> - -<p>By degrees, His mind detached itself from that; and attached itself -to the next subject which He had prepared. He went into His workshop: -covered the chairs around His armchair with sheets of ms. notes: drew -the writing-board on His knees: laid out blank paper: rolled and -lighted a cigarette; and began to read and amend His notes. From time -to time, He sat back in His chair, gazing out of the window at nothing, -working at problems in His brain. Now and then, He scribbled a note, a -word, a phrase, a sentence.</p> - -<p>At length He began to cover sheet after sheet. He wrote for hours -and hours together, day after day: burning most of what He wrote, -amending more, rewriting much. Anon, an acrid torpor astringed -and benumbed His right arm from elbow to finger-tip, announcing -the advent of scrivener's palsy. It was evening, about two hours -after the Angelus. He put-down His pen; and summoned the first -gentleman-of-the-secret-chamber. Sir John sat in front of Him: -rolled-up the sleeve; and gave the arm and hand a gentle friction. -Hadrian silently watched his busy hands. They were beautiful hands, -very white, very slim, very soft,—yes, singularly soft and soothing. -Yet they were strong hands, firm and lissome. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> did not tire with -that continued searching movement, moulding and defining tired muscles -and aching sinews, working the fatigue and ache gradually downward to -dismissal at the finger-tips. Also the bent head was a good head, small -and round, covered with close-cropped hair, black-purple, hyacinthine. -And the healthy pallor of the face, the delicately cloven chin, the -extremely fine grey eyes, the vigorous form, the exquisitely chaste and -intelligent aspect—fancy expecting such an one to roll pills and fill -capsules for ever in a chymist's shop! No: he was better as he was.</p> - -<p>"John," the Pope inquired, "how do you get on with Macleod?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, very well. I think I like him very much."</p> - -<p>"Is he comfortable?"</p> - -<p>"Oh I think so. He seems so at any rate."</p> - -<p>"Has he got anything to say for himself?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes:—now. He was a bit frightened at first: but he's got over that -now."</p> - -<p>"To whom does he talk most freely?"</p> - -<p>"Oh to me. Not but what he has plenty to say to Iulo too. But he'll -tell me anything."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean by 'anything'?"</p> - -<p>"Oh everything about himself."</p> - -<p>"John, look-up into these eyes a moment." The shy grey eyes readily -soared into the shy brown eyes.</p> - -<p>"How much has he told you about himself?"</p> - -<p>"Oh everything: that's all."</p> - -<p>"Everything?"</p> - -<p>A fine flush tinged the fresh ivory face with coral: but the grey eyes -did not waver. "Oh yes, everything."</p> - -<p>"Can he sing?"</p> - -<p>"Oh no, not a note—thank Heaven."</p> - -<p>Hadrian withdrew His gaze. "And you think you like him very much?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh yes,—I don't think: I know. I'm so awfully sorry for him."</p> - -<p>"And pity is akin to——"</p> - -<p>"Oh but it's not pity and it's not love. It's something else -altogether. It makes me in such a rage. I don't think I can make You -understand, that's all."</p> - -<p>"Try."</p> - -<p>"Oh well—do You remember Max Alvary?"</p> - -<p>"The singer-man? Yes. Why?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, don't You know what I said when I saw him in 'Siegfried.' You see, -first I saw the splendour of his beauty; and then, when it came to the -'Idyll,' I got into a rage and I said 'and that voice too.'"</p> - -<p>"What did you mean?"</p> - -<p>"Oh it seemed so abominably unrighteous—all that beauty, and all that -voice as well. That he should have two gifts;—and that others,—I, for -instance,—should have not one!"</p> - -<p>"What has this to do with Macleod?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, a lot, in a topsyturvy kind of way. Look what a fine chap he is -to look at,—just like that lovely Figure on Your cross. And he's -clever too. Well, You'd think him fortunate enough, wouldn't You? Then -comes Fate and spoils him—spoils him completely. That's what makes me -furious. To have to class him with Mustafa. I wonder he doesn't kill -himself."</p> - -<p>"Go gently with that wrist, please. Have you told him that?"</p> - -<p>"Oh no, I should hope not. Sorry. I want to do everything in the world -to keep him from knowing what I think—to keep him from hitting on that -line of thought by accident, by himself, even. It would drive the poor -chap mad: that's all."</p> - -<p>"John you're a brick. Now listen to this. Thoughts you know, are -things. If you think such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> thoughts, they'll be in the air about you; -and it's as likely as not that Macleod's senses will perceive them. So -you'd better extirpate them hic et nunc—if you like him and want to -help him."</p> - -<p>"Oh do You think so? Well, I will then: because I really do want to -help him."</p> - -<p>"Good. And now what's to be done with him?"</p> - -<p>"Oh but why should anything be done with him? He's very happy here."</p> - -<p>"Thanks to your goodness, John. Silence! But first of all We must give -him a reason for being here: and then We must remember that 'here -we have no continuing city.' Now listen attentively. When you have -finished that hand, you will go to the Secretary of State, and tell His -Eminency to issue a patent to Mr. Macleod as third gentleman of the -chamber—emolument half yours—no knighthood. Will that do?"</p> - -<p>"Oh finely!"</p> - -<p>"Good. Well now let's go back a bit. Suppose Macleod wasn't here. -Where, in your opinion, would he be best?"</p> - -<p>"Oh I hardly know what to say to that."</p> - -<p>"You know your Meredith? Well then, favour Us with the outline of your -ideas. Pour them out pell-mell, intelligibly or not, no matter. We -undertake to catch hold of something."</p> - -<p>"Oh well, I think he'd do well in a garden. He's quite learned about -flowers; and, if You ever saw him handle one, You'd wonder however a -chap with a chest and arms like a blacksmith, as his are, could be so -tender. There's a lot more force and there's a lot more gentleness in -him than You'd think. Same with trees. He looks at them as we look -at other chaps—just as though he could speak to them and make them -understand him if he wanted to.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> He'd do well at anything out of doors, -farming perhaps. I did think at first of the sea——"</p> - -<p>"Because of his wonderful eyes?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes I suppose that was the reason. Did ever You see such a blue, -a blue that makes you want to strip and dive,—just the eyes for a -sailor, aren't they? That's simply my romance though. But I haven't -talked to him much about the sea. Do You know what I should like to -do? I should like to go a long sea-voyage with him in one of those old -sailing-ships, and take the Pliny and the Sophokles which You gave me, -and a lexicon, and a dictionary, and read them with him, right away -from—of course I don't mean what You think I mean."</p> - -<p>"No: of course you don't. And then, when you come back from your long -sea-voyage in a sailing ship, you think that Macleod could be useful -and happy on a flower-farm, with orchards, and all that sort of rot, -while you could sit in the shade of medlar-trees and rose-bushes, and -look after him so that no one should insult him, and read books, (write -them too perhaps,) and dream dreams, (and certainly write those,) and -live happily in a dear old-fashioned farm-house ever after——"</p> - -<p>"Oh You're laughing at me now!"</p> - -<p>"Not at all." The bright brown eyes became grave. "John, what are you -going to do with yourself when Hadrian is dead?"</p> - -<p>"Oh but You're not going to die——"</p> - -<p>"How do you know? Answer the question."</p> - -<p>"Oh I haven't thought about it. I don't want to think about it: that's -all."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense. Think about it; and be done with it. John, when We are -dead, if you have a place like that, and means to work it, means to -move about and use yourself—will you use yourself? And will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> you take -Macleod and be a brother—not a real but the Ideal Brother to him?"</p> - -<p>"Oh of course I would: but——"</p> - -<p>"Will you promise?"</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, I promise You most faithfully. But I hope to God I'll never -have the chance——"</p> - -<p>"Well, no one knows when you will have the chance: but you shall have -it. Bring the pen here, and the writing-board." Hadrian pulled down -His sleeve, and stroked the cat for a minute or two, thoughtfully -looking-out of the window. Then He wrote, putting what He wrote into an -envelope which He gave to the shaking sprig of virtue who stood before -Him. "You will take this to Plowden, after you have been to Ragna. -You will obtain his formal acknowledgment. See that it is made out in -your name; and keep it secretly till the time comes for using it. On -Our death you will present it; and Plowden will pay you five thousand -pounds, and take your receipt for it. With that sum, you will buy, and -stock, such a place as We have described. As long as you and Macleod -live, Plowden will pay you a regular income, so that you never can come -to want, and always can have something to give away. Every quarter-day -he will pay a hundred pounds to you, and fifty to Macleod; and you -can make as much more as you like out of your farm. That, remember, -is yours; and you may do what you please with it. When you both die, -the capital which provides your incomes will return to the pontifical -treasury: so if you want to marry, and beget a family, and leave -something more than real property—the farm—behind you, you must earn -it. We give you a chance, and perfect freedom. Do you follow?"</p> - -<p>"Oh I never shall forget a single word. Holy Father, I can't take it. -What have I done to deserve it? What could I ever do to deserve it?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Boy, you have done this to deserve it. You have wished to bear or to -share another's burden. You shall have your wish; and you shall have a -little reward here and a very great reward—There,—if you carry out -your wish. That's what you have done and what you can do. You are good, -and you are trusted. And that's all. Now go away at once because We -have a lot of writing yet to do."</p> - -<p>"John," cried Hadrian, just before the door closed. "By the bye, you -had better tell Macleod of his appointment; and see about his uniforms -at once: but keep the other matter to yourself till—you know when. -Oh—and please make him understand that We shall call him 'James.' That -Gaelic 'Hamish' is a little too much. And he had better be Mr. James to -the others."</p> - -<p>Outside the closed door, Sir John struck his own hands together. "And -the maddening thing is that there is nothing in the whole world that -I can do for Him. If I were to give Him a little present, like a -baccy-pouch, ten to one it wouldn't be precisely to His taste—anyhow -it 'ld only be like giving Him a calf of His Own cow. Oh damn! It's -like a wax match offering a light to the sun." He suddenly faced to the -door again; and his words came in the form of a solemn pledge. "Lord, I -promise." He remained entranced for several moments: and anon went on -his way with steadfast brow.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XX</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Cardinal-deacon of St. Cosmas and St. Damian did it. The acts -of the consistory, in so far as they related to the calumny against -the Pope, duly appeared in the <i>Times</i> and the <i>Globe</i> and the -<i>New York Times</i> as news which was fit to print. Innumerable other -papers lifted them with acknowledgments. No comment was made. The -collared-puppy-in-the-Tube, and the spectacled-person-in-the-motor-car, -and the female-with-the-loaf-coloured-hat-at-the-bargain-sale, forgot -all about George Arthur Rose: paid no attention whatever to the -Pope; and violently sat up on their hind-legs regarding the Supreme -Arbitrator. France and Russia emitted caricatures and howls; and -prepared to invade Belgium and Sweden, with the intention of descending -on Germany from three sides.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Crowe became conscious that she had lost rather than had gained -by her connection with Jerry Sant. The English Catholics treated her -as they are wont to treat converts after the first three months; and -shewed her the cold shoulder. The refutation of her latest calumny had -made her look foolish—and something dirtier than foolish. She was -mortified: she was angry with herself; and she naturally yearned to -tear and mangle everybody else. She thought that the best thing which -she could do would be to pose as a much deceived woman, to break that -disastrous connection with the Liblabs, and to return (if possible) to -the status quo ante. So she went and fell upon Jerry, vituperating him -for the accented failure of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> schemes—for leading an innocent lady -astray with his nastiness, and his pig-headed stupidity, and all that. -She frankly told him that he had gone too far. The precious pair "had -words"; and finally separated. Jerry remained at his hotel, dumb and -dangerous, brooding. As for the lady, respectable mediocrity allured -her by the prospect which it offered of a not unfamiliar obscurity, -where she might try to piece-together the shreds and tatters of her -reputation. She had a little money left—and with economy——She would -stay just a little longer. Who knew what might happen?</p> - -<p>One by one, cardinals received summons to the secret chamber. Their -brains were picked and their opinions heard. Nefski of the ashen -pallor and the haunted eyes admitted that Poland might be happier as a -constitutional monarchy and a member of a federation. Pushed to it, he -promised to use all his influence to persuade. Mundo, cleanly, rotund -and sparkling, spoke of Portugal's long and illustrious alliance with -the Lord of the Sea. His compact vivid nation had no grievances. Grace -looked silently vigorous; and praised the Munroe doctrine. If only——. -The French cardinals chattered: were aghast: sobbed: were quite limp; -and became picturesquely and dithyrambically resigned. Oh they were -so excellent:—and so futile! Courtleigh pleaded age, infirmity. -Circumstances had become more than he could manage. He had begun to -think that he never had been anything but a decorative figure-head: -that he never once had gripped the rudder of affairs since the Prince -of Wales had been so—well, rude to him. He was old: he was garrulous: -craving for greetings. He begged leave to go and end his days in the -college which he had founded, if the Holy Father would but deign to -relieve him of his archbishopric. Hadrian did deign; and summoned -Talacryn, to whom He said "We are about to fulfil the ambition of Your -Eminency's life by preconizing you to the archbishopric of Pimlico."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p> - -<p>The cardinal said something about being unworthy of the honour.</p> - -<p>"That of course," the Pontiff responded: "but We place you there -because you know or ought to know more of Our mind than any man: and -your task is to make that known to England. It at least never can be -said, if you should err, that you erred through ignorance of Our will. -You have health, you have youth, you have a dominant presence. People -will listen to you. Your danger and your fault are due to your national -habit of suspicion. That can be conquered. Act up to your name: be -frank: suspect no one: be ready to renounce:—but your heart should -tell you all that We would say. Now for Caerleon. Whom would you like -to succeed Your Eminency there?"</p> - -<p>Talacryn said something about the right of the clergy to elect: but -that was swept aside. Then he dwelled on the difficulty of finding a -suitable priest who could speak the native language.</p> - -<p>"The last is not essential," said Hadrian: "you yourself cannot speak -and cannot even learn that frightful jargon, although you are a native -of the dreadful place: and, after your habit of suspecting people, -and—yes, it had better be said,—a slight tendency to the habit of -officious lying—(the cardinal went purple)—there, it is said and -done with: you have had your lesson, and you know better now:—after -those things, the only reason why your episcopate has not been a very -brilliant one is that you started with the false idea of the necessity -of speaking that corrupt and obsolete dialect."</p> - -<p>"But does not Your Holiness think that a foreigner——"</p> - -<p>"No: England is the dominant race: her language is the language of all -her colonies. Why a triplet of little conquered countries should refuse -to learn English—should be permitted to insist on their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> barbarous and -unliterary languages, We never could understand. They are conquered -countries, annexed to their conqueror. They have lost their national -existence for centuries. They have no national existence, or any kind -of existence apart from England. No. Nationality does not come into the -question of your successor at all. That is where the Church of Christ -differs from all religions. Rome can do, and does do, what no other -ecclesiastical power durst do. Our predecessors sent an Italian to -Canterbury, and even a Greek, Theodore; and We are sending a Kelt to -Pimlico. As for Caerleon—do you remember John Jennifer, the priest of -Selce? You do:—he was a white man at Mary vale:—and since? Good. He -is Bishop of Caerleon."</p> - -<p>"He speaks the language, Holy Father," said Talacryn, laughing.</p> - -<p>"The merest accident. We selected him for his steadfast sturdy goodness -under great difficulty at Maryvale. Oh, we remember——"</p> - -<p>And the Pope's gaze went far away into the past.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Talacryn mentioned that the Secretary of State desired to know -whether His Holiness would require the services of the Patriarch of -Byzantion at the present juncture.</p> - -<p>"The Patriarch of Byzantion?"</p> - -<p>"It was thought that as he had negotiated with England during the reign -of Your Holiness's predecessors——"</p> - -<p>"Oh. Then, no. The services of the Patriarch of Byzantion are not -required. When His Grace is not smirking in 'black' drawing-rooms, or -writing defamatory letters to duchesses——"</p> - -<p>"Defamatory letters, Holy Father!"</p> - -<p>"Yes: defamatory letters, such as this one which he wrote in 1890."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Pope got up, took off His episcopal ring, unlocked and dived into -an alphabetical letter-case, and handed a most ingeniously suggestive -and lethific note to the cardinal. "Well, when His Grace is not engaged -in these disedifying pastimes, he has his patriarchate to attend-to. -In fact unless he can see his way to become a resident patriarch in -Byzantion within the month, he may look for a decree of deposition." -The Supreme Pontiff's aspect was austere. "Your Eminency will convey -that response to Cardinal Ragna's obliging suggestion."</p> - -<p>Talacryn made haste to kneel. "Give me a blessing, Holy Father, and I -will immediately proceed to my new see, whatever."</p> - -<p>Hadrian smiled. "God bless you, son. But do not go yet. Pimlico has -been in the hands of the Vicar-General and the Coadjutor for years; -and the Vicar-Capitular can manage for the present. Stay here a little -while. We shall need you. We shall not need you long."</p> - -<p>And Talacryn went out from the Presence, glad, yet grave.</p> - -<p>During a few days, questions and answers incessantly passed between the -Vatican and Windsor Castle. Hadrian consulted sovereigns: discussed -difficulties with statesmen. Baron de Boucert expressed the opinion -that it would be futile to oppose the inevitable expansion of Germany. -Signor Barconi himself officiated at an instrument installed in the -apostolic antechamber, until he was carried away in nervous collapse. -Hadrian envied him: and forced Himself to resist temptation. He had -much to do yet. Messages, messages, study of maps, collation of ms. -notes, filled a score of each twenty-four hours. There was need of -profound thought, so that the clairvoyant undazzled eye like a diver -might reach the bottom of deep-preserving thought. The four hours which -remained chiefly were spent at the tomb of St. Peter in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> basilica. -The Arbitrator slept not at all in these days. He ate while at work; -and only sought refreshment under the ice-cold tap in the bath-room. -A squadron of English cruisers escorted a procession of royal yachts -and battleships, which conveyed the Congress of Windsor to Golden and -immortal Rome.</p> - -<p>Then came the issue of the <i>Epistle to the Princes</i>, in which the -Apostle reiterated the evangelic counsels, predicating a scheme of -utter self-sacrifice and non-resistance in imitation of the "sweet -reasonableness of Christ." This would mean, said He, the deliberate -loosening and casting away of all conventions which bound society -together. It was right: it was straight: it was the most direct road -to heaven. But it was not in accordance with the human will: it would -be called utopian, and unconventional; and it would be derided more -than followed: it would cause confusion inconceivable if it were -attempted on the grand scale. Truth more quickly emerges from error -than from confusion. Men, being what they are, <i>i.e.</i> bound to err, -would be better for having their errancy guided. They would diverge -from the road: but they should not leave it out of sight; and, properly -guided, their movement at least could be made to tend towards the -Point Desirable. Individuality so long had been suppressed, that its -efforts required administration. Therefore the Pontiff shewed, as well -as an unconventional, a conventional way of approaching that Point -Desirable. He maintained the aristocratic and monarchic principle -in strict integrity. A rebel was worse than the worst prince, and -rebellion was worse than the worst government of the worst prince that -hitherto had been. He proclaimed the anarchy of France and Russia to be -a manifestation of diabolic ebullience, which ought to be restrained -and stamped out by all right means, even the most stringent. France and -Russia, having forfeited the right of being deemed capable of ruling -themselves, henceforth must submit to be ruled. Satan finds mischief -for idle hands to do. Occupation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> and scope for occupation, alone -will enable individuals and nations to work out their own salvation -humanly speaking. Men <i>must</i> use themselves:—for good or ill. Most -human ills were caused by the lack of scope for energy. Sitting on, -or screwing down, the safety valve invariably was fatal:—a doctrine -which He enforced on the attention and obedience of the clergy. These -principles involved a re-arrangement of various spheres of influence. -The Ruler of the World, Peter, the Supreme Arbitrator, decreed that the -only nations, in which the "facultas regendi" survived in undiminished -energy, were England, America, Japan, Germany, Italy. Some of the old -monarchies, however, had not yet reached that point of decay when -their extinction would become desirable: they were Norway, Sweden, -Denmark, the German kingdoms and principalities and duchies, Spain, -Portugal, Greece, Roumania, Albania, Montenegro, the republics of -Switzerland and San Marino. These were to be maintained as sovereign -states and to preserve their national characters. Some also of the -old monarchies, which had tolerated unmerited suppression, were to -be given an opportunity of proving themselves worthy of corporate -existence. These were Hungary, Bohemia, and Russian and German Poland. -They were revived as kingdoms; and required to provide themselves -with constitutions (after the manner of England), and to elect their -respective monarchical dynasties. Switzerland and San Marino were -confirmed as republics. The Sultan at the instigation of England, his -ally, would move his capital to Damascus, in order to concentrate the -main force of Islam in Asia. Servia was added to the Principality of -Montenegro. Turkey-in-Europe and Bulgaria would become merged in the -kingdom of Greece. So far for particulars.</p> - -<p>Hadrian denounced, as bad and idle dreams, the plans of recent -political schemers who had adumbrated ideas of a federation of the -English-speaking and the Teutonic races. He dwelled upon the essential -differences<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> which divided Germany from America, and both from -England. No blend was possible between the English and the Germans; -and Americans were not qualified for bonds. Each one of the three -was unique; and each would stand alone. Three such enormous powers -must have each its own separate and singular existence and sphere of -action. Three such spheres must be found, in which the three nations -independently might thrive. It was room for independent development -which must be sought out, and assigned.</p> - -<p>He stated the case of the continent of Europe. Belgium had 228 -inhabitants to the square-kilometre: Holland, 160: Germany, 104: -Austria, 87: France, 72: Russia was so sparsely populated that only a -migration of 109,000,000 people from the rest of Europe would raise her -to the European average. Hence, the Pope proclaimed the instauration -of the Roman Empire, under two Emperors, a Northern Emperor and a -Southern Emperor; and confirmed the same to the King of Prussia and -the King of Italy as representatives of the dynasties of Hohenzollern -and Savoy respectively. He ordained that this instauration should not -be deemed 'the ghost of the dead Roman Empire sitting crowned upon -the grave thereof, but its legitimate heir and successor, justified -by the ancient virtues of the Romans, the beneficence of their rule,' -and the vigorous aspiration to well-doing which characterized their -present representatives. The Northern Emperor William would nominate -sovereign dynasties for Belgium and Holland. He might replace the -present exiled monarchs on their respective thrones: or he might depose -them and substitute members of his Imperial family. He then would -extend the borders of Germany, eastward to the Ural Mountains by the -inclusion of Russia, westward to the English Channel and Bay of Biscay -by the inclusion of France, southward to the Danube by the inclusion -of Austria. At the same time, he would federate the constitutional -monarchies of Norway and Sweden, Den<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>mark, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, -Bohemia, Poland, Roumania, and the republic of Switzerland with the -other sovereign states already under his suzerainty: while the Southern -Emperor Victor Emanuel would federate the constitutional monarchies of -Portugal, Spain, the extended kingdom of Greece, the principalities -of Montenegro and Albania, and the republic of San Marino, with the -kingdom of Italy, which last now was to include Italia Redenta. The -frontier dividing the Northern Empire from the Southern was to be -formed by the Pyrenees, Alps, Danube, and Black Sea.</p> - -<p>The case of America was defined. The United States were to be increased -by the inclusion of all the states and republics of the two Americas -from the present northern frontier of the United States to Cape Horn.</p> - -<p>The Japanese Empire was authorized to annex Siberia.</p> - -<p>All Asia (except Siberia), Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and -All Islands, were erected into five constitutional kingdoms, and added -to the dominions of the King of England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. -The title "Emperor" being antipathetic to the English Race (on account -of its primary significance "War-Lord"), the official style of the -Majesty of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Asia, Africa, Canada, -Australia, New Zealand and All Islands, henceforth would be "The -Ninefold King."</p> - -<p>Thus the Supreme Arbitrator provided the human race with scope and -opportunity for energy. The provisions of the <i>Epistle to the Princes</i> -were drawn up in the form of Treaty dividing the world, till midnight -(G.T.) of December 31st (N.S.) of the year 2000 of the Fructiferous -Incarnation of the Son of God, into the Ninefold Kingdom, the American -Republic, the Japanese Empire and the Roman Empire. This Treaty was -signed, in the Square of St. Peter's at Rome, by the Pontiff, the -Sovereigns and the Presidents, on the Festival of the Annunciation -of Our Lady the Virgin; and the armies and navies of the signatories -instantly set about the pacification of France and Russia by martial -law.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XXI</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">April</span> brought to Hadrian an experience of one of those periods of -psychical disturbance which are incidental to the weakness of humanity, -and inevitable by a man of His particular temper. Things lost their -significance to Him, persons lost their personality, events their -importance; and time was not. He kept a straight face, and forced -Himself to courteous demeanour: but He was living in a world in which -He felt Himself to be just off the floor and floating, a world in which -everything was strange and everybody was quite strange, a world where -nobody and nothing mattered the least little bit. He had the sense at -the beginning to include Himself in secret behind guarded doors; and -also to hold His tongue when His attendants were in the Presence. He -simply sat and wondered—wondered who He was, how He came there, who -dressed Him like that, and when;—and decided that it did not matter. -He nursed His cat, cooing and mewing and talking cat-language in a most -enjoyable manner. When the creature went away,—it did not matter. He -used to gaze at His cross by the hour together, planning combinations -of lights and shades and backgrounds of book-backs: placing the golden -symbol there, and revelling in the supple splendour of the Form, its -dignity, its grace, the majestic youth of the Face, noble and grave. -He would close His eyes and learn the lovely planes and contours with -delicate reverent touch. It pleased Him to think that He had created -a type of incarnate divinity, which neither was the Orpheys of the -catacombs, nor the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> Tragic Mask of the Vernicle, nor the gross sexless -indecencies wherewith pious Catholics in their churches insult the One -among ten thousand, the Altogether Lovely. That thought brought Him -back to Space and Time. Indignation at images at least eleven heads -long, proportioned like female fashion-plates, visaged like emasculate -noodles whom you would slap in the face on sight, simply for their -tepid attenuate silliness, if you met them in the flesh—this drew -down Hadrian to realities and life.—He felt utterly exhausted. An -exposition of sleep seized Him. He was always drowsy; and would fall -asleep in the day-time over the writing and reading which He put -Himself to do, in His armchair by the window, in His favourite seat -by the old wall in the garden where He spent the vivid afternoons of -spring. Only toward night-fall, was He able to write that beautiful -clear script of His, to bring any of His usual alertness to bear upon -affairs: even then that alertness was extraordinarily diluted. His -intellect was nebulous, uncertain. He could not select saliencies, -could not concentrate his thoughts: His constructive faculty was in -abeyance: His imagination was in chains. He spent a long time over -His scanty meals, chewing, chewing, reading, reading, and remembering -nothing which He read. In an inert perfunctory way, He blamed Himself -for waste of time; and continued to waste it. No doubt it was divine -nature's will. Let it be understood that He was not slothful in the -confessional sense of the word. He was merely lethargic, dulled, -blunted, listless, eager for nothing, except to flee away and be at -rest—at rest.</p> - -<p>From this stupor, He awoke in panic, as though nympholeptose, -lymphatic, driven to phrenzy by some unknown external agency. He became -inspired with an appalling consciousness of the absolute necessity -for instant active continuous exertion,—if He were to continue alive -upon this earth. He felt that, if He were to permit Himself to relax -for one instant, if for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> one instant He were to abdicate command of -His physical forces, to let Himself go,—that instant would be His -last. With this in His mind, He prepared for momentary unconscious -lapses from violent activity. He posed with care, so that, if Death -should seize Him unawares, He might not present a disedifying or untidy -spectacle to the finders of His corpse. He carefully avoided postures -from which, when He should be reft from the body, His form would fall -indecorously. He did not trouble His confessor more often than twice -a week as usual: but His one prayer, His incantation, always was on -His lips, "Dear Jesus, be not to me a Judge, but a Saviour." He was -losing hold of the world. Continually, through every hour of the day -and night, His head rang with the reverberating boom—boom—boom—boom -of His strong heart's beating. The rhythm was maddening. He used to -count the pulsations, wondering, after "fourteen," whether He would be -able to say "fifteen": after "ninety-seven," whether He would be in -Rome to say "ninety-eight": expecting the sudden wrench of self from -body: conjecturing the nature of that unique experience. Once, He put -Himself to the question "Was He afraid?" He answered, No, because He -dared to hope; and, Yes, because He had not been there before. But -Sokrates had said that death was our greatest possession on earth; and -Seneca said that death was the best of the inventions of life; and -Seneca's friend Saint Paul said "to die is gain." On the whole, He was -not afraid, afraid, of death. But, He did not dare to go—to go—to -sleep now. At night, He used to lie in bed, first on His right side, -then at full length on His back with the pillow under His neck, and His -hands crossed on the breast which had been tattoed with a cross when He -was a boy, and His ankles crossed like a crusader, rigid, as He wished -to lie in His coffin,—and His brain active, active, counting physical -pulsations, meditating on the future, scheming, planning, counting each -breath, and waiting for the last—and death.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> - -<p>Sometimes He wondered whether it was all worth while: whether it was in -accordance with God's Will that He should be so will-full. He decided -to risk an affirmative to that, on the ground of the existence of His -will. He knew that He tried rightly to use it. He hoped for mercy on -account of lapses. One point He determined. With all due respect to -Sokrates and Seneca, Death came by Sin, and Sin was God's enemy, and -God's friends must fight God's enemies to the bitter end. To relax -was suicide, and suicide was sin; and, tired with conflict as He was, -eager for rest and peace as He was, it certainly was not worth while -to add to His tale of sin: it was not worth while to exchange tiresome -earth for untiring hell: to lose, what Petrarch calls 'the splendour -of the angelic smile.' He had no steel in His possession except -safety-razors: knives and scissors He had abolished long ago; and now -He had light strong gratings fixed to all His windows. He would not go -into temptation. 'I am fawned upon by hope. Ah, would that she had a -voice which I could understand, a voice like that of a herald, that I -might not be agitated by distracting thought,' He said to Himself in -the words of Elektra at the tomb of Agamemnōn. Had He been trained in -boyhood at a public-school, in adolescence at an university, had His -lines been cast in service, He would not have had to put so severe -restraint upon Himself. The occasion would not have arisen. A simple -and perhaps a stolid character would have been formed of His temper, -potent and brilliant enough to distinguish Him from the mob, but -incapable of hypersensation. Instead, His frightfully self-concentrated -and lonely life, denied the ordinary opportunities of action, had -developed this heart-rending complexity: had trained him in mental -gymnastics to a degree of excellence which was inhuman, abominable, -(in the first intention of the words), in its facile flexible solert -dexterity. He was not restrained by any sense whatever of modesty or of -decorum. He had no sense of those things. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> knew it; and regretted -it. He was Himself. He distrusted that self, rejoiced in it, and -determined to deal well and righteously with it. Dr Guido Cabelli, at -length summoned, found Him positively furious with the pain of physical -and intellectual struggles. The physician exhibited Pot. Brom., Tinct. -Valerian. Am., Tinct. Zinzil., Sp. Chlorof., Aq. Menth. Pip., once -every three hours. It made the Pontiff conscious that He stank like -a male cat in early summer: but He heard no more boom-booming in his -ears. It strung-up His nervous system for the time. He put on His -pontifical mask; and addressed Himself from the ideal to the real.</p> - -<p>He put the affairs of nations on one side. They, the nations all were -tumbling over one another in their eagerness to re-arrange themselves -upon the pattern which He had devised for them. If He adopted the -Pythagorean rôle of an uninterested spectator, either He would be -annoyed by something ugly or something silly, or He would have a chance -of glorifying Himself on account of some success. And He wished to do -otherwise than that. "In this world, God and His angels only may be -spectators."</p> - -<p>The affairs of religion, as far as He could see, amounted to the -service of others and the cultivation of personal holiness, the -correspondence with Divine Love. Someone had told Him that—yes, -Talacryn in confession, of course,—that the key to all His -difficulties, present and to come, was Love. That was all very pretty -and theological on the part of the bishop, the cardinal-archbishop: -but it was the baby who had taught Him the secret of the method. He -would, He really would keep His troubles to Himself. His office was the -office of leader and exemplar. Nothing must interfere. He put Himself -to review the first year of His pontificate: and a black enough tale it -seemed to Him. Without surprize, without emotion, He noted the blurs -of impatience, pride,—pride,—humanity.—Re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>trospection was the most -wearisome most fatuous banality. Onward!</p> - -<p>Leader and exemplar! One thing was clear. He must come down among the -led and following. He must be seen of men. And He was not seen. No. -Peculiar personal preference kept Him apart, mysterious. He rather -enjoyed (not the being misunderstood but) the not being understood; -and, at the same time, He had been doing a lot of people the gross -injustice of crediting them with the possession of intelligence similar -to His Own, of perspicacity equal to His Own, of the ability to keep -up with His rapid pace and abrupt manœuvres. That was unrighteous. No -doubt it had been all very fine and noble and so forth to sit down -silent under calumny, for example. One could afford to do that when one -was innocent. But, when millions of people (to give the devils their -due) actually wanted to believe one innocent, and would be grieved -and perhaps injured because the opportunity to believe innocence was -withheld, was it righteous to refuse to condescend? No, such a pose was -mere pride. The Servant of the servants of God must not fear to soil -the whiteness of His robe in any kind of ordure. Also, to save others -was the best way of retrieving oneself.</p> - -<p>He sent for the nearest cardinals. Ragna, Saviolli, Semphill, Sterling, -Talacryn, Carvale, Van Kristen, Gentilotto, Leighton, Whitehead, -responded to the summons. Hadrian received them in the throne-room, -but without formality; and contrived to give them an easy and genial -greeting. They thought Him to be looking seriously ill. There was the -dead whiteness of a gardenia in the hue of His face and hands: His -reddish-brown hair was going grey over the left ear: His intense and -rigid mask was the sign of pain. His whole aspect also was diaphanous, -wasted. But His manner was vivid: He was not inaccessible. Their -Eminencies gave Him their attention; and wondered what He was going to -bring-out of the dispatch box<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> by His side. He was extremely glad to -see the Secretary of State: for He knew how antipathetic He was to that -one; and now He was going to try to give him satisfaction. At least it -should not be His fault if Ragna's ordinary attitude of discreet and -convulsive brutality remained unmitigated.</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinals," the Supreme Pontiff said, "it has occurred to Us that -ye have many things to say: that there be many things which ye desire -to know. We, on Our part, are ready to hear; and We are willing to -respond to questions."</p> - -<p>Questions instantly were born in each man's brain. Ragna was the first -to deliver Himself of his. "Holiness, will You answer a question about -the <i>Epistle to the Princes</i>?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>Ragna collected himself. "I am curious to know why the rights of France -in Egypt were not even named. I can see that the very nature of Your -Holiness's counsels demanded that Africa as a whole should pass to -England: but I cannot understand why Germany, in taking over France, -should not also have taken-over the condominium of Egypt. Why did that -fall to England; and why did Germany consent to its falling to England?"</p> - -<p>Hadrian made an effort to conquer His natural incapacity for coming -near a subject at the first attempt; and put Himself to be concise. -"Your Eminency knows that since—We forget the exact date—but since a -very short time ago, no international obligations have existed which -could restrain Egypt from legitimate attempts at emancipation. Nothing -but Ottoman firmans held her. Very well. We discovered that when the -King of England and the Sultan, last October, made alliance, the -latter issued a firman in which England was named Protector of Egypt. -Then (the speaker slightly smiled), when the task of arbitration was -submitted to Us, We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> found that the German colonies in Africa, not only -did not pay their way but, required a yearly subsidy of £1,500,000; -and therefore, taking one thing with another, We arranged to give -Germany sufficient employment for a century nearer home. She promptly -recognized that 'megli' è fringuello in man' che tordo in frasca.' -The fact is that she was only too glad to be rid of her own parasitic -colonies, which had severed their connection from the parent stem, and -derived their nutriment from other states: while the colonies of France -which were epiphytic, having no existence apart from the source from -which they sprang, were wiped out (as French colonies) when France was -wiped out."</p> - -<p>"And no doubt Germany, in her pretty Gothic way, was in such a -desperate hurry to grab France, that she forgot all about Egypt. D'ye -know they say she's going to call her conquest Gallia again?" Semphill -put in with a sniff. "And now I'll ask a question. Holy Father, may I -smoke?"</p> - -<p>"But smoke!" Hadrian assented with pleasure; and held-out His Own hand -for a cigarette. Some of the others did likewise; and the gear began to -run much more easily. Van Kristen expressed joy that the Germans were -not to have chances of doing more monkey business on the Erechtheion -and the Akropolis at Athens.</p> - -<p>"Yes," Ragna meditatively continued: "I suppose I ought to have -understood all that. But now, Holiness, there's another thing: why did -the Sultan consent to evacuate Europe?"</p> - -<p>"Simply because, with all the examples which he has had lately, he goes -in mortal terror of assassination. He has managed to persuade himself -that he only can be warranted against that, as long as he is under -the ægis of England. Well: seeing England and Turkey allied, We moved -England and England moved Ismail. The former had sense: the latter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> -sentiment. But Ismail really is not half bad: in fact he's rather -decent. If We only had another dear charming child-like naked Christian -like Blessed Brother Francis——"</p> - -<p>"What?" said Carvale with animation. He happened to have noted that, -when Hadrian rioted in superlatives, it meant no more than positives: -but, when He negligently drawled comparatives, "not half bad" or -"rather decent," the ultimate of praise was signified. "What?" the -cardinal repeated.</p> - -<p>"We would send him to give points to Ismail's mollahs and dervishes."</p> - -<p>"St. Francis has innumerable sons, Holiness," Saviolli put in.</p> - -<p>"And We only know one who in the slightest degree resembles his -father," the Pope responded, waving away the subject.</p> - -<p>"One would like to know," said Sterling, "whether Your Holiness is not -really of the opinion that the <i>Epistle to the Princes</i> was perhaps a -trifle too sentimental and——"</p> - -<p>"Sentimental? Yes. The Ruler, who rules sentiment out of his -calculations, ignores one of the most potent forces in human affairs. -Too sentimental? No. And what else was Your Eminency about to say—a -trifle too sentimental and——"</p> - -<p>"One would have said perhaps a trifle too arbitrary."</p> - -<p>"Dear man——" the Pope gleefully began.</p> - -<p>But Ragna interrupted "Nothing of the kind. That particular <i>Epistle</i> -was replete with pontifical dignity: it was the finest thing——"</p> - -<p>Hadrian stopped him "We were about to remind Cardinal Sterling that -when the Ruler of the World geographically rules the world, He is -accustomed to do His ruling with a ruler. Our predecessor Alexander VI. -used a ruler on a celebrated occasion on the Atlantic Ocean."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p> - -<p>Everybody burst out laughing: laughed for a few moments; and returned -to a serious demeanour. There was a question, an important question, -which sat upon all tongues, wing-preened, ready to fly. But His -Holiness already had refused to discuss it. Those, who had tried to -persuade, so seriously had been hurt by His icy reticence or by His -blunt aloofness, that no one now was temerarious enough to attempt -the re-opening of so unsavoury and so personal a matter, except upon -explicit invitation. Knowing what he did of men, Hadrian had expected -hesitation: but, seeing that His purpose was likely to fail of -completion; and, being determined that it should not fail, He slowly -and significantly drew-off the pontifical ring from His first finger, -and put it in His pocket. "Gentlemen," He said with quite a change -of manner, "some of you would like to put George Arthur Rose to the -question?"</p> - -<p>They would indeed. They would whatever. They would like it so much -that they all spoke in unison. The sum of their words amounted to a -request that George Arthur Rose would give them some sort of statement -concerning newspaper calumnies, some sort of statement by way of -support to their contention that he had been grossly wronged and -mispresented.</p> - -<p>It was George the Digladiator who responded. He seemed to step down -into the arena, naked, lithe, agile, with bright open eyes, and ready -to fight for life. "Very well," he said—"I will give that statement to -you: but understand that I will not defend myself in the newspapers. -If I were a layman, I should have whipped in a writ for libel, and -have given my damages to Nazareth House. I should have preferred to -trust my reputation rather to an English judge and jury, than to the -nameless editors of Erse or Radical newspapers. Fancy having one's -letters edited by the <i>Catholic Hour</i>, for example: fancy having one's -letters, which are one's defence, nefariously garbled by a nameless -creature who is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> one's prosecutor, and one's judge, and one's jury, all -in one! However, not being a layman, I cannot go to law; and I will not -condescend to have dealings with those newspapers. Understand also, -that I tell you what I am about to tell you, not because I have been -provoked, abused, calumniated, traduced, assailed with insinuation, -innuendo, mispresentation, lies: not because my life has been held -up to ridicule, and to most inferior contempt: not because the most -preposterous stories to my detriment have been invented, hawked about, -believed. No. Please understand that I am not going to speak in my -own defence, even to you. I personally and of predilection, can be -indifferent to opinions. But officially I must correct error. So I will -give you some information. You may take it, or leave it: believe it or -disbelieve it. You shall have as photographic a picture as I can give -you of my life, and of the majestic immobility by which you clergy tire -out—assassinate a man's body—perhaps his soul. You are free to use it -or abuse it. When I shall have finished speaking, I never will return -to this subject."</p> - -<p>"Of course we shall believe what you say," Semphill rather nervously -intercalated. "I'm sure we believe it unsaid. We take it as said, you -know. But if you could see your way to give us details, say on half a -dozen points, that would be quite enough."</p> - -<p>"The <i>Daily Anagraph</i> has not apologized for its latest slander," -Carvale put in.</p> - -<p>"Why should it?" George inquired.</p> - -<p>"Well, I sent an authenticated account of what happened in the last -consistory. The other papers printed it; and I should have thought the -least the <i>Daily Anagraph</i> could have done would be——"</p> - -<p>"Carvale, you're making a mistake. The <i>Daily Anagraph</i> has no personal -grudge against me:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> although the last editor had, because I once -innocently asked him whether historical accuracy came within the scope -of a Radical periodical. That was years ago, at the time of the second -Dreyfus case. I know that he was furious; because Bertram Blighter, -the novel-man, told me that that editor in revenge was going to put -me on the newspaper black-list, whatever that may be. No, it is not a -personal matter, a matter in which an apology is customary. It's simply -an example of the ethics of commercial journalism. The man wanted to -increase the sale of his paper. I happened by chance to be before the -world just then. And he took the liberty of increasing his circulation -at my expense. Actually that is all. You can't (at least I don't), -expect an editor, who is capable of doing such a thing, to apologize -for doing it. The case of the other papers is verisimilar: except -of course the <i>Catholic Hour</i>. That simply exists on sycophanty by -sycophants for sycophantophagists, as Semphill knows."</p> - -<p>"Yes I know," said Semphill. "And I don't allow the thing to enter my -house."</p> - -<p>"But the others—in their case it's not lurid malignance, but legal -malfeasance. Did you say that they apologized?"</p> - -<p>"No. None of those, which printed the calumnies, apologized. They just -kept silence. But all the respectable papers, which had not calumniated -you, printed my refutation of the <i>Daily Anagraph</i>."</p> - -<p>George made a gesture of scorn, of satisfaction, of dismissal. "Then -the Pope is clear;" he said. "Now I will try to tell you, as briefly as -possible, what you want to know about the other person." He produced -a sheaf of newspaper-cuts. He was in such a white rage at having to -do what he was about to do, that he wreaked his anger on those who -listened to him, piercingly eyeing them, speaking with swift fury<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> as -one would speak to foes. "The <i>Catholic Hour</i> states that in 1886 I -was under an under-master at Grandholme School: that I had to leave -my master-ship because I became Catholic. That is true in substance -and absolutely false in connotation. I was an under-master: but as I -also had charge of the school-house, I was called the house-master. -You also perhaps may be aware that there is only one head-master in a -school; and that all the rest are under-masters. But, when slander is -your object, 'under-master' is a nice disgraceful dab of mud to sling -at your victim for a beginning. Well: I resigned my house-mastership -of my own free and unaided will for the reason alleged; and I have yet -to learn that the becoming Catholic is an extraordinarily slimy deed. -Further, note this, far from my resignation being the dishonourable -affair which the <i>Catholic Hour</i> implies, the head-master of Grandholme -School remained my dear and intimate and honoured friend through thick -and thin, for more than twenty years, and is my only dear and intimate -friend at this moment."</p> - -<p>Semphill and Carvale looked up, and then down. Sterling looked down, -down. Van Kristen looked up. The others, anywhere. Talacryn looked -annoyed. The taunt was flung out; and the flying voice went-on. "The -<i>Catholic Hour</i> thus casts its diatribe in a key of depreciation. Next, -I am said to have gone to a school for outcasts, to have quarrelled -with the two priest-chaplains; and presently to have been 'again out.' -The idea being to infer evil, it is rather cleverly done in that -statement of the case. But here are the facts. The school perhaps -might be called a school for outcasts. But I, a young inexperienced -Catholic of six months, was lured by innumerable false pretences, on -the part of the eccentric party who offered me the post, to accept -what he called the Head-mastership of a Cathedral Choir School. He did -not tell me that he was forcing the establish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>ment on the bishop of -the diocese, nor that the Head-mastership had been refused by several -distinguished priests simply on account of the impossible conditions. -I bought my experience. That I quarrelled with the chaplains is quite -true. I did not quarrel effectually though. They were a Belgian and -a Frenchman. They drank themselves drunk on beer, out of decanters, -chased each other round the refectory tables in a tipsy fight, defied -my authority and compelled the ragamuffins of the school to do the -same. I naturally resigned that post as quickly as possible. Then -follows a pseudo-history of the beginning of my ecclesiastical career -at Maryvale. Talacryn knows all about that; and can tell you at your -leisure. Afterwards, I came across, (I am quoting), 'came across a -certain Pictish lairdie, and was maintained by him for three or four -months——'"</p> - -<p>"And I know all about that," Semphill interrupted: "You gave a great -deal more than you got."</p> - -<p>"The fallacies connected with my career at and expulsion from St. -Andrew's College are known?"</p> - -<p>"Thoroughly," assented Semphill, Talacryn, and Carvale in a breath.</p> - -<p>"The statement that I contracted large debts there——"</p> - -<p>"What about those debts?" Ragna asked.</p> - -<p>Carvale told him. "They all were contracted under the personal -supervision of the Vice-Rector. They were quite insignificant. Besides -that, they would not have been contracted but for the promise of -Archbishop Smithson and the advice of Canon Dugdale——"</p> - -<p>"And the advice of me," Semphill added in a low tone.</p> - -<p>"Oh, you at length acknowledge it?" George fiercely thrust at him.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I acknowledge it."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well then, we're quits now:" George quietly and mysteriously mewed.</p> - -<p>"One confesses that the question of the pseudonym interests one," -Sterling judicially said.</p> - -<p>"I had half-a-dozen. You see when I was kicked out from college, -without a farthing or a friend at hand, I literally became an -adventurer. Thank God Who gave me the pluck to face my adventures. I -was obliged to live by my wits. Thank God again Who gave me wits to -live by."</p> - -<p>Cardinal Leighton was standing-up, blinking and blushing with -indignation which distorted his honest placid features. "Holy -Father, don't say another word." He twitched round towards his -fellow-collegians. "How can you torture the man so!" he cried. "Can't -you see what you're doing, wracking the poor soul like this, pulling -him in little pieces all over again? Shame on ye!—Holy Father don't -say another word."</p> - -<p>"Oh if I had only known!" cried Van Kristen.</p> - -<p>"You did! I told you myself; and you didn't believe me!" George -fulminated.</p> - -<p>The youngest cardinal wept into his handkerchief, shaking with sobs. -George neither saw nor noted anyone. He was glaring like a python. -Demurrers to Leighton's remarks arose. No one wanted to wrack anybody. -Questions had been invited. Of course no one believed. But it would be -so much more satisfactory—Ragna added. George sat violently still in -his chair while they talked: let them talk; and prepared to resume.</p> - -<p>"If Your Holiness would condescend——" Carvale began.</p> - -<p>"There is no Holiness here," George interrupted, in that cold white -candent voice which was more caustic than silver nitrate and more -thrilling than a scream.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> - -<p>"If you would do us the favour of just noticing a few heads."</p> - -<p>"As you please," George chucked at him: "agree among yourselves as to -those heads; and you shall have bodies and limbs and finger-nails and -teeth to fit them."</p> - -<p>Their Eminencies began agreeing. George meanwhile went into the secret -chamber for ten minutes or so: and returned with his cat on his neck, -and his own tobacco-pouch. He was beginning a cigarette; and his gait -was the gait of a challenged lion. Sterling presented him with a -pencilled slip of paper. He read aloud "Pseudonym: begging letters: -debts: luxurious living: idleness: false pretences as to means and -position."</p> - -<p>"I think it right to say that I myself am perfectly satisfied on all -those points," said Semphill. "I've read the calumnies—and I call them -dastardly calumnies—in the light of my own knowledge of the facts; and -I can only say that the worst thing which they've alleged against you -is that you've been used to go-about bilking landlords. All the rest is -excusable, not to say harmless."</p> - -<p>"Gracious Heavens!" George exclaimed in a rictus of rage. "Do you -suppose that a man of my description goes-about bilking landlords for -the sake of the fun of the thing? It's no such deliriously jolly work, -I can tell you. However, I've never bilked any landlords if that's -what you want to know. Never. They saw that I worked like nineteen -galley-slaves; and they offered to trust me. I voluminously explained -my exact position and prospects to them. I was foolish enough to -believe that you Catholics would keep your promises and pay me for -the work which I did at your orders. So I accepted credit. I wish I -had died. When at length I was defrauded, legally, mind!—for, as my -employers were Catholics and sometimes priests, I trusted to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> their -honour, and obtained no stamped agreement:—when I was defrauded of my -wages, my landlords lost patience (poor things—I don't blame them,) -harried me, reproached me, at length turned me out, and so prevented -me from paying them. I dug myself out of the gutter with these bare -hands again and again; and started anew to earn enough to pay my -debts. Debts! They never were off my chest for twenty years, no matter -what these vile liars say. Debts! They say that I incurred them for -luxurious living, unjustifiably——"</p> - -<p>His passionate voice subsided: he became frightfully cool and tense -and terse, analytical, quite merciless to himself. Their Eminencies -never before had seen a surgical knife at work in a human heart -and brain. They sat all vigilant and attentive, as self-dissection -proceeded. "They say that I gorged myself with sumptuous banquets at -grand hotels. Once, after several days' absolute starvation, I got -a long earned guinea; and I went and had an omelette and a bed at a -place which called itself a grand hotel. It wasn't particularly grand -in the ordinary sense of the term; and my entertainment there cost me -no more than it would have cost me elsewhere, and it was infinitely -cleaner and tastier. They say that I ate daintily, and had elaborate -dishes made from a cookery book of my own. The recipes, (there may -have been a score of them,) were cut-out of a penny weekly, current -among the working classes. The dishes were lentils, carrots, anything -that was cheapest, cleanest, easiest, and most filling—nourishing—at -the price. Each dish cost something under a penny; and I sometimes -had one each day. As I was living on credit, I tried to injure no -one but myself. That's the story of my luxurious living. Let me add -though that I was extravagant, in proportion to my means, in one thing. -Whenever I earned a little bit, I reserved some of it for apparatus -conducing to personal cleanliness, soap, baths, tooth-things, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> so -on. I'm not a bit ashamed of that. Why did I use credit? Because it -was offered: because I hoped: because—— That I did not abuse it you -may see, actually see, by my style of living,—here are the receipted -bills;—and by the number and quantity and quality of the works of -my hands. I never was idle. I worked at one thing after another. The -<i>Catholic Hour</i> admits my skill; and mispresents that as a crime. At -the same time, I myself don't claim my indefatigability as a virtue. -Nothing of the kind. It's something lower than that. It's comical to -say it: but my indefatigability was nothing but a purely selfish pose, -put-on solely to make philanthropists look unspeakably silly, to give -the lie direct to all their idiotic iniquitous shibboleths. It wasn't -that I <i>couldn't</i> stop working: but that I <i>wouldn't</i>. The fact is -that I long, I burn, I yearn, I thirst, I most earnestly desire, to do -absolutely nothing. I am so tired. I have such a genius for elaborate -repose. But convention always alleges idleness, or drunkenness, or -lechery, or luxury, to be the causa causans of scoundrelism and of -poverty. That's a specimen of the 'Eidola Specus,' the systematizing -spirit which damns half the world. People never stop to think that -there may be other causes—that men of parts become rakes, or -scoundrels, or paupers, for lack of opportunity to live decently and -cleanly. Look at François Villon, and Christopher Marlowe, and Sir -Richard Steele, and Leo di Giovanni, and heaps of others. Well: I -resolutely determined that you never righteously should allege those -things of me. Simply to deprive you of that excuse for your failure to -do your duty to your neighbour—simply to deprive you of the chance -of classifying me among the ruck which your neglect has made—I -courted semi-starvation and starvation, I scrupulously avoided drink, -I hardly ever even spoke civilly to a woman; and I laboured like a -driven slave. No: I never was idle. But I was a most abject fool. I -used to think that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> diligent ascetic life eventually would pay -me best. I made the mistake of omitting to give its due importance to -the word 'own' in the adage 'Virtue is its own reward.' I had no other -reward, except my unwillingly cultivated but altogether undeniable -virtue. A diabolic brute once said to me 'If I had your brains I would -be earning a thousand a year.' I replied 'Take them: tell me what to -do: give me orders, and I implicitly will obey you. Then, take that -thousand a year, and give me two hundred; and I'll bless you all my -days.' He said nothing; and he did nothing. He was just a fatuous -liar. I mocked him: caught him stealing my correspondence—there is -his written confession;—and, he wrote these anonymous calumnies in -long cherished revenge." The dreadful lambent voice flickered for a -moment;—and more rapidly flashed-on. "I repeat, I never was idle. I -did work after work. I designed furniture, and fire-irons. I delineated -saints and seraphim, and sinners, chiefly the former: a series of -rather interesting and polyonomous devils in a period of desperate -revolt. I slaved as a professional photographer, making (from French -prints) a set of negatives for lantern-slides of the Holy Land which -were advertised as being 'from original negatives'—'messing about' the -<i>Catholic Hour</i> elegantly denominates that portion of my purgatory. -Well I admit it was messy, and insanitary within the meaning of the act -too—but then you see I was working for a Catholic. I did journalism, -reported inquests for eighteen pence. I wrote for magazines. I wrote -books. I invented a score of things. Experts used to tell me that -there was a fortune waiting for me in these inventions: that any -capitalist would help me to exploit them. They were small people -themselves, these experts,—small, in that they were not obliged to -pay income tax: they had no capital to invest: but they recommended -me, and advised me, to apply to lots of people who had:—gave me -their names and addresses, dictated the letters of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> application which -I wrote. I trusted them, for they were 'business men' and I knew -that I was not of that species. I quieted my repugnance; and I laid -invention after invention, scheme after scheme, work after work, -before capitalist after capitalist. I was assured that it was correct -to do so. I despised and detested myself for doing it. I scoured the -round world for a 'patron.' These were my 'begging letters.'—At that -time I was totally ignorant of the fact that there are thousands of -people who live by inviting patronage; and that most of them really -have nothing to be patronized: while the rest are cranks. I knew -that I had done such and such a new thing: that I had exhausted -myself and my resources in doing it: that my deed was approved by -specialists who thoroughly knew the subject. I was very ashamed -to ask for help to make my invention profitable: but I was quite -honest—generous: I always offered a share in the profits—always. I -did not ask for, and I did not expect, something for nothing. I had -done so much; and I wanted so little: but I did want that little,—for -my creditors,—for giving ease to some slaves of my acquaintance. -I was a fool, a sanguine ignorant abject fool! I never learned by -experience. I still kept on. A haggard shabby shy priestly-visaged -individual, such as I was, could not hope to win the confidence of men -who daily were approached by splendid plausible cadgers. My requests -were too diffident, too modest. I made the mistake of appealing to -brains rather than to bowels, to reason rather than to sentiment. I -wanted hundreds, or thousands—say two: others wanted and got tens -and hundreds of thousands. A cotton-waste merchant could not risk -fifteen-hundred on my work, although he liked me personally and said -that he believed in the value of my inventions: but, at the same time, -he cheerfully lost twelve-thousand in a scheme for 'ventilated boots.' -I myself was wearing ventilated boots, then: but the ventilated-boot -man wore resplendent patent leather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> Cardinals' secretaries could -live at the rate of two-thousand-two-hundred-and-ninety pounds -a year and borrow three-thousand-and-sixty pounds, on a salary -of two-hundred pounds a year; and they could become bankrupt for -four-thousand-one-hundred-and-twenty pounds with one-hundred-and-eighty -pounds worth of assets. But I,—I could not get my due from that man, -one of whose secretaries wrote his business to me on the franked -note-paper of the late Queen of England's Treasury: while the other, -the bankrupt, gave me a winter of starvation, because his lord had -altered his mind, quoth he, about the job on which I was working, -and had determined to put his money into a cathedral. No. I never -accomplished the whole art and mystery of mendicity. I perfectly could -see what was required of him who would be a successful swindler. I was -not that one. I was playing another kind of game—unfortunately an -honest one. Take that 'unfortunately' for irony, please. I mean—but -you perfectly know what I mean.—I made nothing of my inventions. -By degrees, I had the mortification of seeing others arrive at the -discovery which I had made years before. They contrived to turn it -into gold and fame. That way, one after another of my inventions -became nulled to me. I think I am right in saying that there are -only four remaining at the present moment. Finance them now? Engage -in trade like a monk or a nun? No. No. I shall give them to—that -doesn't matter. It shall be done to-day.—Idle? Idle? When I think of -all the violently fatuous frantic excellent things I've done in the -course of my struggles for an honest living—ouf! It makes me sick! -Oh yes, I have been helped. God forgive me for bedaubing myself with -that indelible blur. I had not the courage to sit-down and fold my -hands and die. A brute once said that he supposed that I looked upon -the world as mine oyster. I did not. I worked; and I wanted my wages. -When they were withheld, people en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>couraged me to hope on; and offered -me a guinea for the present. I took the filthy guinea. God forgive -me for becoming so degraded. Not because I wanted to take it: but -because they said that they would be so pained at my refusal. But one -can't pay all one's debts, and lead a godly righteous sober life for -ever after on a guinea. I was offered help: but help in teaspoonfuls: -just enough to keep me alive and chained in the mire: never enough to -enable me to raise myself out of it. I asked for work, and they gave -me a guinea,—and a tacit request to go and agonize elsewhere. My -weakness, my fault was that I did not die murdered at Maryvale, at St. -Andrew's College. The normal man, treated as I was ill-treated, would -have made no bones whatever about doing so. But I was abnormal. I took -help, when it was offered gently. I'm thankful to say that I flung -it back when it was offered charitably, as the Bishop of Claughton -offered it, and Monsignor—you know whom I mean, Talacryn,—and John -Newcastle of the <i>Weekly Tabule</i>. I'll tell you about the last. He -said that, being anxious to do me a good turn, he had deposited ten -pounds with a printer-man, who would be a kind friend to me, and would -consult me as to how that sum could be expended in procuring permanent -employment for me. I took seven specimens of my handicraft to that -printer-man. He admired them: offered me a loan of five pounds on -their security. With that, I fulfilled a temporary engagement. Then -I consulted the printer-man, the 'kind friend.' He proposed to give -me a new suit of clothes, (I was to do without shirts or socks), to -accept my services at no salary, and to teach me the business of a -printer's reader for three months; and, then, to recommend me for a -situation as reader to some other printer. But, I said, why waste -three months in learning a new trade when I already had four trades -at my fingers' ends? But, I said, what was I to live on during those -three months? But, I said, what certainty was there at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> the end of -those three months? But, he said, that he would 'have none of' my -'lip, for' he 'knew all' my 'capers'; and he bade me begone and take -away my drawings. Those were ruined: he had let them lie on his dirty -office floor for months. Oh I admit that I have been helped—quite -brutally and quite uselessly. Helped? Yes. Once, when they told me at -the hospital that I was on the verge of a nervous collapse, a Jesuit -offered to help me. He would procure my admission to a certain House of -Rest, if I would consent to go there. By the Mercy of God I remembered -that it was a licensed madhouse, where they imprisoned you by force -and tortured you. Fact! There had been a fearful disclosure of their -methods in the <i>P.M.G.</i> Well: I refused to go. Rather than add that -brand to what I had incurred through being Catholic, I made an effort -of will; and contrived to escape that danger: contrived to recover -my nerves; and I continued my battle.—Regarding my pseudonyms—my -numerous pseudonyms—think of this: I was a tonsured clerk, intending -to persist in my Divine Vocation, but forced for a time, to engage in -secular pursuits both to earn my living and to pay my debts. I had -a shuddering repugnance from associating my name, the name by which -I certainly some day should be known in the priesthood, with these -secular pursuits. I think that was rather absurd: but I am quite sure -that it was not dishonourable. However, for that reason I adopted -pseudonyms. I took advice about adopting them: for, in those days, -I used to take advice about everything, not being man enough to act -upon my own responsibility. Also, the idea of using pseudonyms was -suggested to me; and the first one was selected for me. As time went -on, and Catholic malfeasance drove me from one trade to another—for -you know—Talacryn—Carvale—Semphill—Sterling—that two excellent -priests declared in so many words that they would prevent me from -ever earning a living—legal assassination,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> you see definitely was -contemplated—I say as Catholic malfeasance drove me from one trade, I -invented another, and another; and I carried on each of these under a -separate pseudonym. In fact I split up my personality. As Rose I was a -tonsured clerk: as King Clement, I wrote and painted and photographed: -as Austin White, I designed decorations: as Francis Engle, I did -journalism. There were four of me at least. I always have thought it -so inexplicable that none of the authorities—you, Talacryn, with -your pretended confidence in me and your majestic immobility towards -me,—that none of you ever realized the tremendous amount of energy -which was being expended, misdirected, if you like. Certainly no one of -you ever made a practical attempt to direct that energy. I was a like -a wild colt careering round and round a large meadow. You all looked -on and sneered 'Erratic!' Of course I was erratic, for you all did -your very best, by stolidity, hints, insinuations, commands, to create -obstacles over which I had to jump, through which I had to tear a way; -and there was no one to bit and bridle me, to ride me, and to share his -couch with me. And of course my pseudonymity has been misunderstood -by the stupid, as well as mispresented by the invidious. Most people -have only half developed their single personalities. That a man should -split his into four and more; and should develop each separately and -perfectly, was so abnormal that many normals failed to understand it. -So when 'false pretences' and similar shibboleths were shrieked, they -also took alarm and howled. But, there were no false pretences. I told -my name to everyone whom it concerned. I am not the only person who -has traded under pseudonyms or technikryms. Take, for example, the -man whose shop I am said to have offered to buy. He himself used a -trade-name. He begged for my acquaintance when I was openly living as a -tonsured clerk, about a couple of years before my first pseudonym even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> -was thought of. Take, for another example, those priests, Fr. Aleck of -Beal, and the Order of Divine Love, who are alleged to have 'charitably -maintained' me. By the way, they never did that. They always were paid -for my entertainment, in hard coin, and their own price—always. And -the Fathers of Divine Love refused me shelter for one night in 1892 -at the very time when they are said to have 'charitably maintained' -me. They did suggest a common lodging-house at fourpence, though; and -I flung back the suggestion in their faces and walked the streets all -night. But all these people knew all about me and my pseudonyms. In -fact, the very priest who suggested the common lodging-house, was the -man on whose advice I adopted my first pseudonym. It was invented by -an old lady who chose to call herself my grandmother: she was that -priest's patron and penitent. It was approved by him and adopted by me. -And there you have the blind and naked truth on that point. It now is -pretended that 'King Clement' was a jesuitical machiavellian device of -mine, implying royalty, dominions, wealth, and interminable nonsense. -I think that the pretension is due to malice and imbecillity. It is -malignant now: but I firmly believe that it began by being imbecile. I -confess that the name, taken together with my domineering manner, my -pedantic diction, my austere and (shall I say) exclusive habit, was -liable to misconstruction by the low coarse half-educated uncultured -boors among whom I lived. It's an example of the 'Eidola Fori,' the -strange power of words and phrases over the mind. I think it really was -believed, in some vague way, that I was an exiled sovereign or some -rot of that sort. I believe that I perceived it; and laughed to myself -about it. But I did my best to disabuse the fools of their foolery. -That made things worse. Liars themselves, they could not conceive of -a man speaking truth to his own detriment. My disclaimer was taken -for a lie;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> and they honoured me the more for it; and chuckled at the -thought of their own perspicacity:—that is to say, when what I said -was intelligible to them. You see I used to be a great talker. I have -had many experiences; and I used freely to talk of them. It amused and -instructed; and I like to amuse and to instruct. You will understand -that my voice and my manner of speech did not resemble the voice and -the manner of speech of the ruffians with whom I worked and lived. -Live as poorly as I would, dress as shabbily as I would, the moment I -opened my mouth I was discovered to be different to those people. They -perceived it; and I never could disguise my speech. Also, I'm quite -sure that they could not understand my speech—follow my argument. I -used words which were strange to them to express ideas unimagined by -them, while their half-developed minds were more than half occupied, -not in listening to me but, in contemplating me, and in trying to form -their particular idea of me by the aid of the 'Vulgi sensus imperiti,' -the imperfection of undisciplined senses, at their disposal. I called -that Imbecillity. Perhaps Ignorance is the apter term. The Malice is -to be found among people who ought to know better: people to whom I -have told the exact truth about myself, exact at the time of telling: -people, who being possessed by a desire to think evil, think evil: -people who read between, instead of on, the lines: people, prone to -folly, whom I have not helped to avoid their predilection. I tried to -be simple and plain, to sulk (if you like) in my own corner by myself. -It was no good. Anyhow, I told no tales of realms or wealth as mine. -I made no false pretences. I myself was grossly deceived: barbarously -man-woman-and-priest-handled. I was foolish to try to explain myself. I -was foolish to try to work with, to live with, to equal myself in every -respect with, verminous persons within the meaning of the act. I ought -to have died. But I did not die. That is all. It is not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> half. Now you -know. Make what you please of it."</p> - -<p>"Tell me," Gentilotto instantly said: "Why did you never go to the -Trappists?"</p> - -<p>"Because I went to something worse, to something infinitely terribly -more ghastly. Trappists live in beautiful silent solitude; they -have clean water, beds, regular meals, and peace. I went to live in -intellectual silence and solitude in an ugly obscene mob, where clean -water was a difficulty, food and a bed an uncertainty, and where I had -the inevitable certainty of ceaseless and furious conflict."</p> - -<p>He hurled the words like javelins, and drew back in his chair. The old -bitter feeling of disgust with himself inspired him. He feared lest -perhaps he might have seemed to be pleading for sympathy. So he angrily -watched to detect any signs of a wish to insult him with sympathy. But -he really had gone far, far beyond the realm of human sympathy. <i>There -was not a man on the earth who would have dared to risk rebuff, to -persist against rebuff, to soar to him with that blessed salve of human -sympathy—for which,—underneath his armour,—and behind his warlike -mien,—he yearned.</i> Pity perhaps, horror perhaps, dislike perhaps, -might have met him. But he only had emphasized his own fastidious -aloofness. He had cleared-off the mire: but he had disclosed the cold -of marble, not the warmth of human flesh.</p> - -<p>The cardinals remained silent for a minute. Then Ragna said "'An enemy -hath done this!' Who is it?"</p> - -<p>George blazed with vigorous candid delight. "That is the first genuine -word which I have had from the heart of Your Eminency!"—He returned to -his repellent manner. "I gave the names of my calumniators to Cardinal -Leighton."</p> - -<p>"Jerry Sant the Liblab, aided by the woman and a clot of worms who had -turned;" Leighton said to Ragna.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Let them be smothered in the dung-hill. Anathema sint." Ragna growled.</p> - -<p>Again there was an exposition of silence in the throne-room. George was -frozen hard and white. Ragna and Leighton continued to look at each -other. Carvale's eyes had the blue brilliance of wet stars. Saviolli, -Semphill, Talacryn, Whitehead, were as though they had seen the -saxificous head of the Medoysa. Stirling gazed straight before him, in -the manner of the sphinx carven of black basalt. George was watching -them with half-shut eyes from the illimitable distance of his psychic -altitude. Presently, the pure pale old face of Gentilotto and the pure -pale young face of Van Kristen simultaneously were lifted; and their -eyes met His. He blushed: slowly drew out the pontifical ring: and put -it on His finger.</p> - -<p>"Lord Cardinals, it is Our will to be alone:" the Supreme Pontiff said.</p> - -<p>They came one by one and kissed His ring; and retired in silence.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XXII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the door was shut, Hadrian remained quite motionless on the -throne; and set Himself to review what He had said. He wondered whether -He for once had got-down to and laid-bare the root of the matter: -whether He for once had made His argument clear and convincing.—Good -God! Who even could hope to be convincing?—He flung the thing away -from Him; and for ever closed that volume of the book of His life.</p> - -<p>He rose; and went straight into the bedroom. Here He stripped, and -stood erect, knees and feet close: gripped a pair of ten-pound -dumb-bells; and swung them with the alternating gesture of a right and -left overhand bowler, rhythmically swaying from the hips. He counted -up to a hundred; and went to another movement: a full round over-head -sweep of both arms together, expanding the long-breathing lungs, -quickening the pulses, brightening the eyes. His skin became moist and -warm. He washed His face and hands in oatmeal-water with no soap; and -went into the bath-room, turning on the high tap and letting the cold -soft water rain-down upon Him until He was numbed. He quickly dried -Himself; and put on completely clean clothes, rolling up those which -He had discarded and thrusting them into a linen bag. Then, He emerged -all flushed and white and fresh; and summoned Sir Iulo to the secret -chamber.</p> - -<p>"And so you are thinking of marriage, carino;" Hadrian said, putting -the young man into a chair and bestowing fumificables.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span></p> - -<p>Sir Iulo went almost as scarlet as his uniform: his eyes and teeth -gleamed. Hadrian handed to him a sheet of paper containing six stanzas -of passionate expression in rhyme, under the heading "Vorrei che tu -ascoltassi la mia voce."</p> - -<p>"Don't leave your sonnets about. And don't be so terrified, you silly -boy. Well: is it true?"</p> - -<p>The lover's face twitched rather. "I l-o-v-e her," he said with an -enormous vocal expansion of the middle word. "But I will not to abandon -You, Santità:" he added with fixed eyes.</p> - -<p>"Who is she? Is she good? Has she any money?"</p> - -<p>"She is the little daughter of the dentist. But good? But, yes. But no -money:" was the categorical reply.</p> - -<p>"Does she love you?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, but how she loves me!"</p> - -<p>"How long have you known her?"</p> - -<p>"Since Christmas, Santità, when the father of that has scaled the my -tooths."</p> - -<p>"Have you spoken to 'the father of that' about 'that'?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, but not yet, Santità. Nothing of less, he knows. I gave him to -know without the word."</p> - -<p>"And he didn't drive you out of the house?"</p> - -<p>"But no: for behold me not the assassin of that dentist."</p> - -<p>Hadrian laughed. "Can you describe her?"</p> - -<p>"Oh that I might to describe her to one who is so dear, so wise——"</p> - -<p>"Describe her."</p> - -<p>"Is named Evnica. Is example of goodness, of intellectuality. For -example: yesterday with the favour of the Most Holy I make a visit. I -am enter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>ing the saloon in the manner of cat, softly, softly. Behold in -a book reads the Signorina Evnica—not book of novels, not journal of -<i>Don Chisciotte</i>. No. I look over her shoulder, reading titles. Behold, -book of piety entitled <i>Office to the Proximate</i>——"</p> - -<p>"<i>Office to the Proximate</i>? What book of piety is that?"</p> - -<p>Sir Iulo repeated the title in Italian.</p> - -<p>"Ah yes, <i>The Duty towards our Neighbour</i>. Yes: a very good sign in a -girl. Go on."</p> - -<p>Sir Iulo fixed his bright green eyes upon a mental image; and described -each point as he observed it, using his gorgeously florid Tuscan idiom. -"Has a face to make burn Jove, and to return to ram, eagle or bull; -and to make scorn to medals old and new. Blond she has the hair like -thread of gold. The cheeks appear like a rose damasked. The mouth and -the eyes are worth a treasure. Has looks angelic, divine: but in the -effects and all the motions, human; and the her excellencies not have -end. She has what they call a good and fine hand: is white like snow -of mountains. Is literate; and makes to talk Tuscan; and in life not a -flaw can be found. There is not who better to a swan understands me. -Does great things, enough facts, little eats: not drinks never in the -middle of eating and not at afternoon-tea (merenda). More, I say. She -is in her proper acts so learned, that all I have in the world, or -small or great, I should have given to her pleasure at a stroke. The -more beautiful to my day I never saw: none more servitial: none more -prudent: nor acts in a girl more courteous and gay. Has Petrarch and -Dante in her hand; and, at time and place if I command, she vomits a -little sonnet lightly. Girl of all perfect qualities; and holds me in -pledge there if mine——"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well now: suppose that you marry her, will you be good to her?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, that she shall be the my life and the my delight, dressed in -velvet, guarded as a queen, for fear that if she goes about too much -should not be robbed by some little hypocrite: that she shall live on -collops and bread of baker——"</p> - -<p>"How amusing you are! Well: marry that paragon, and be good and happy. -You must have an apartment in the City for her, you know;—and, about -your duties here:—you can come when you like. You are not dismissed: -but John and James will suffice. Understand, boy, you are wanted, -wanted here, always."</p> - -<p>"I am here always, Santità."</p> - -<p>"No. Go-away and marry. 'The most certain softeners of a man's moral -skin, and sweeteners of his blood, are domestic intercourse and a happy -marriage and brotherly intercourse with the poor.' Always remember -that. By the bye, what are you going to live on?"</p> - -<p>"If I am always a Gentleman of Hadrian, I am having a plenty of money."</p> - -<p>"Ah, but you always will not be a Gentleman of Hadrian, because Hadrian -will not be always; and, when He is not, His successor will say 'Via! -Via!' to you."</p> - -<p>"And then I shall do some things?"</p> - -<p>"Ah, but what things?"</p> - -<p>"Who knows? But I shall do things."</p> - -<p>Hadrian went to the safe in the bedroom: then to the writing-table, and -wrote. He came back with some papers in His hand.</p> - -<p>"Attend! Take this note to Plowden by the Post-office. He will give you -a thousand sterling. That is a marriage-gift to you, so that you may -get an apartment in the City and marry that little daughter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> of the -dentist. Don't be silly. Listen. What do you know about photography?"</p> - -<p>"About photography? But I know to use that kodak, the gift della Sua -osservantissima e venerabilissima Santità."</p> - -<p>"And you do it very well. You are one of the few men now alive who -perceive the right moment for pressing the button. Understand?"</p> - -<p>"I see with eyes."</p> - -<p>"But there is something beside seeing with eyes. There is a mind which -ponders and selects."</p> - -<p>"Too much of honour."</p> - -<p>"No. No honour at all: a stated fact. Well now: think of negatives. -They are dense in places: clear in places; and, in other places, more -or less dense. Understand? Under the negative you put a certain paper; -and expose it to light. Light goes through the clear places and stains -the paper black: it partly goes through the more or less dense places; -and stains the paper grey in various gradations of tint. It fails to -go through the dense places and leaves the paper white. There is your -photograph, a little black a little white and many different greys. -Understand?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Santità."</p> - -<p>"Your photograph is an image of the form, the contours, the modelling, -the morbidezza, of the object before your lens. It lacks one thing. It -has not colour. The process has tralated colour into monochrome. Do you -see that?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Santità."</p> - -<p>"Now white means a blend of all colours; and black means the absence -of all colours. Then grey should mean some colours, of this quality or -that, of this quantity or that, according to the clarity or the density -of the grey. Understand?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes, Santità."</p> - -<p>"Your negative is black and white and many greys."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Santità."</p> - -<p>"Then understand that all colours lie hidden in the black and white and -greys of the negative. In the black, lie all colours: it produces the -positive white. In the white lie no colours: it produces the positive -black. In the various greys, lie various colours—why are you jumping -about? Keep still and listen, wriggling lizard that you are! What do -you want to do?"</p> - -<p>"To liberate those poor colours."</p> - -<p>"So does everybody. At least, everybody wants to photograph in colours: -so they paint on the backs of the films; and they play the fool with -triply-coloured negatives. Only one man in the world knows that the -colour already is there—already is there, my boy—stored in the black -white grey negative; and that the black white grey ordinary negative -will give up its imprisoned colours to him who has the key.—Well now: -take the second envelope. The key's there; and it's yours. (Don't stare -like that!) There are three other things as well, which may be useful. -(Don't say a word!) Read all those papers until you understand them. -They're quite simple. Then practise. When you can do the trick, you -will want a little help to do it greatly, to make it useful. (Get off -the floor!) Then take the third envelope to Plowden—it's mentioned in -the first,—and he will give you two thousand sterling. (Don't touch -that foot!) That will be enough if you are industrious. Now you are -trusted, Iulo mio. Be good always; and be kind to everybody. No don't -move. We are going into the gardens with Flavio. You stay here till -you feel better.—Ptlee-bl ptlee-bl ptlee-bl," Hadrian mewed to His -delighted and excited and persequent cat.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph2">CHAPTER XXIII</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was the festival of St. George, Protector of the Ninefold Kingdom. -Hadrian noted with pleasure that it was what the Italians call one of -His 'fortunate days.' His head was clear, His limbs were supple, His -body lithe: He felt young, exuberant, potent. His soul seemed balanced, -elevated. His whole poise was one of gentle incisive simplicity. He -had that upright rather dominant gait, by no means arrogant, which -marks the happy able man. The Sacred College came early in the morning, -directly after His mass, to congratulate Him on the anniversary of His -pontificature; and Ragna took occasion to whisper that the Northern -Emperor left Palazzo Caffarelli for the Quirinale at dawn. Everyone -knew what that meant.</p> - -<p>When, later, Hadrian descended in state to the Sala Regia, He -was on the alert. The introducer-of-sovereigns announced,—the -Ninefold King,—the President of the United States of America,—the -Northern Emperor,—the Japanese Emperor,—and a posse of subsidiary -kings, princes, and sovereign-dukes, who came with the world's -congratulations. The pontifical paraphernalia lay on the high red -throne: but Hadrian stood at its foot to receive His guests. His garb -was white, absolutely simple and fresh; and His pose was apostolic, -frank and genial. These enormous potentates towered above Him in the -splendour of their grandeur; and, as Cardinal Carvale, the fantastic -dreamer, said to Cardinal Van Kristen, they radiated from Him as from a -source of light.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span></p> - -<p>After the ceremony of reception was finished, Their Majesties, -Augustitudes, Highnesses, and Honours, lingered, chatting with the -pontifical court. Some of them had a few words with the Supreme -Pontiff. The Northern Emperor came and said, "I know that Your Holiness -will felicitate me on a dispatch which I have just received from my -brother Prince Henry, who announces that my glorious German navy has -taken Kronstadt."</p> - -<p>Hadrian replied; and added "Be merciful, Augustitude."</p> - -<p>William then did a politely ferocious scowl, intended to indicate -imperial impatience; and continued in a lower tone, "I am also anxious -to assure Your Holiness that I myself deeply regret the absence of my -cousin and imperial brother, Victor Emanuel. All that I could say has -been said to persuade His Augustitude to join me on this auspicious and -never-to-be-forgotten occasion. I wish that to be known."</p> - -<p>"It only is a personal obstacle, not a political, which prevents the -Southern Emperor from coming here?"</p> - -<p>"Most Holy Lord, it is not even a personal obstacle. Victor Emanuel has -the most profound and much-to-be-admired and pre-eminently-well-merited -veneration and reverence for Your Person. It is—well, really it seems -almost childish—but he has persuaded himself that——"</p> - -<p>"That the Roman Pontiff owes the King of Italy a visit?"</p> - -<p>"Precisely, Holy Father. There is some history of an approach which -His Augustitude's royal and martyred father made to the Conclave of -1878——"</p> - -<p>"And for a mere idea, Victor Emanuel, will continue alienate from Us! -Yet, ideas are very fine things, to be respected, to be cultivated, -in this material age. They are so rare, so singular. And constancy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> -fidelity to an idea, above all things is singular and rare, in this age -of compromise from which the world only now emerges. Victor Emanuel is -not to be blamed, but praised." Suddenly a bright light came in the -Apostle's eyes. "Well, then, the next step is obvious. If the son will -not come to the Father, then the Father must go to the son." And an -impulse to instant movement appeared to urge Him onward.</p> - -<p>The Northern Emperor splendidly rose to the occasion. "It would be one -more grand deed added to Your Holiness's many grand deeds. I trust that -I may have the never-sufficiently-to-be-valued honour of accompanying -You."</p> - -<p>"But We walk:" said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>"I also will gladly walk:" said William.</p> - -<p>The Pope darted a rapid glance round the hall. The King of Portugal -was talking to the Japanese Emperor; and the Basil of the Hellenes was -listening to the Prince of Montenegro-and-New-Servia. The Ninefold -King, with one arm paternally resting on the shoulder of the young King -of Spain, was telling (as his own) an extremely funny story, (which he -had heard five minutes before from Cardinal Semphill), to the President -of America. Cardinals and sovereigns clustered round them, ploding -with laughter at each admirably detailed jocosity. "We can escape this -way;" the Pope said to the Emperor. Outside the hall, a pontifical page -ran for the white three-cornered hat; and the two descended the Scala -Regia, with its Ionic columns flanked by pontifical guards, and made -their way into the Square of St. Peter's. There was a cleared roadway; -and they quickly walked between long lines of magnificent Italian -soldiery. Rome occupied the side-walks; and sank to its knees as the -Supreme Pontiff, shedding benedictions, went swinging lightly and -swiftly by. The German Gentleman made no attempt to take salutes until -Hadrian said, "Oh do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> notice these dear Romans. They will be pleased. -And you know that you profoundly admire the bersaglieri."</p> - -<p>The Emperor responded, "I am as proud to salute the Romans as I am -to salute the noblest Roman of them all,—to use the words of Your -Holiness's divine Shakespeare." And he strode on, saluting, while the -Pontiff blessed.</p> - -<p>As they passed the Palazzo Venezia, Hadrian said, "Victor Emanuel -really behaves extremely well. Three-quarters of his army are in the -field; and here is a parcel of foreign sovereigns practically occupying -his capital in—no, not homage—in courtesy to Us.——"</p> - -<p>"And also out of respect, Holiness."</p> - -<p>"Out of respect then and courtesy to Our Apostolature. It is no -affair of his; and yet he lines the streets with troops, while he -himself——oh, it's really very decent of him!"</p> - -<p>"Victor Emanuel is a truly great man;" the Emperor commented. The Pope -assented.</p> - -<p>They entered the Palace of the Quirinale; and went straight through the -ambassador's hall to the Southern Emperor's study. William remained -in the antechamber. Victor Emanuel in a light-grey flannel suit was -reading proofs of his numismatic catalogue. He stood up pale and stiff, -when his groom-of-the-chambers came in and whispered a word. Hadrian -followed on the instant, entering with candid gentle dignity, extending -an English hand. Not a word was said. Victor Emanuel, shining with the -light of the purple which he had not yet worn, took the outstretched -hand: held it: felt his own gripped and held. He bent his head—then -his knee. Reconciliation was complete.</p> - -<p>"May I have the honour and the happiness of presenting my wife to Your -Holiness?" he said, a minute later. He went along the corridor and -gave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> two raps on a further door. "Darling," he cried; "please come."</p> - -<p>The exquisite Empress Elena appeared. She started slightly at first: -but bravely came on, imperially mysteriously pale and radiant as 'the -chorus of nightly stars and the bright powers which bring summer and -winter to mortals, conspicuous in the firmament.'</p> - -<p>Hadrian at once won her with "And the lovely children."</p> - -<p>"Oh yes, the kiddies!" Victor Emanuel said.</p> - -<p>"Do you know that We owe one immense emotion to your boy?" and Hadrian -narrated the incident in Prince Attendolo's garden.</p> - -<p>Mother and father proudly laughed. "Yes, we heard about that, of -course; and I wondered what would happen if ever we ourselves should -meet Your Holiness by accident, as the children did:" the Empress said.</p> - -<p>"Well, we have met, and now Your Augustitudes know:" laughed Hadrian.</p> - -<p>"Filiberto is a queer little chap," Victor Emanuel continued: "he says -the most extraordinary things;—came running into the stables the other -morning crying because some dog had barked and startled him. 'Stamp at -'em,' I said; 'and after all, you can run faster than a dog,' said I -to hearten him. 'Yes' says he 'but you see, father, when I do run, I'm -always putting out one leg at the back for the dog to bite!'"</p> - -<p>"But I can tell you something better than that," the Empress put in. -"He was a bad boy in the chapel at benediction on Sunday. I'm afraid, -Holiness, that this is rather a naughty story——"</p> - -<p>"Tell it instantly and relieve your sinful soul, daughter;" the haughty -pontiff commanded.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span></p> - -<p>How the three roared! She continued, "He persisted in trying to balance -a pile of prayer-books on the ledge of his chair-back; and every now -and then they came down with a crash. At last I took him on my knee; -and told him that the holy angels were looking at him, and that they -would go and tell the Lord God what a wicked little ruffian he was. And -then he said—he said, 'Dirty little sneaks!'"</p> - -<p>"Oh, oh, the exquisite boy!" Hadrian shouted with laughter.</p> - -<p>"Well, I'll go and fetch him;" said the Southern Emperor, running-out -of the door, just as the Northern Emperor came-in by the other, -prepared to play the part of peace-maker. That, now, was not necessary; -and England, Germany, and Italy, chattered like children till the -children came. Their father did not return. His men were having a bad -time, trying to beat the record for getting a sovereign into his habit -of ceremony.</p> - -<p>The fair Prince Filiberto solemnly approached the Pope. "Are You the -White Father which formerly I have seen in somebody's forest?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>"Are You quite good now?" the boy continued, with great black basilic -eyes.</p> - -<p>"No," said Hadrian, feeling the horror of the end of youth confronted -with the flower of innocence.</p> - -<p>"Are You truly contrite for having been a naughty boy—no, man I mean?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hadrian.</p> - -<p>"Are You sitting on my father's sofa because he has forgiven You?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hadrian, thinking what a frightful old fool He must appear.</p> - -<p>"I liked You when I saw You in that forest; and I like You now: but -mother told me that the White Father was not my father's friend."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Mother made a mistake, little son;" said the Empress, leaning forward -in sudden confusion. "The White Father is father's best friend."</p> - -<p>"Oh, how I am glad for that: because now You can be also my friend!" -the prince cried, scattering his deliberate English to the four -quarters of the globe.</p> - -<p>"Most willingly," said Hadrian, taking the rose-brown hand, and drawing -the child towards Him. Innocence put up its pretty lips. The Apostle -lost one breath;—and stooped and kissed the stainless brow. Then He -turned to greet the girls.</p> - -<p>"This child once asked my husband a very awkward question," the mother -said, presenting the Princess Yolanda. "The King of England was coming -here; and Victor was shewing her His Majesty's incoronation portrait. -Ah, but how she admired it! And she said, 'Father why don't you wear a -hat like that king?'"</p> - -<p>The Supreme Pontiff looked at the blushing child. "You would not call -it a 'hat,' Princess, now that you are grown up?"</p> - -<p>"No, Papa Inglese,—a crown."</p> - -<p>"You would like your father to have a crown? Tell him that there are -two waiting for him, one at Monza, and another in the Lateran."</p> - -<p>The Roman Emperors escorted the Pope returning to Vatican. On the -way, carriages met them, and disgorged sovereigns: state-coaches met -them, and emitted cardinals: courtiers alighted from horseback and -emerged from motor-cars. The return became a procession of the powers, -led by the Power of the Keys. They had crossed the Ponte Santangelo, -and were about to turn to the left by the Castle, when a dishevelled -man in black contrived to break out from the ranks of the people. He -got through the bersaglieri and stepped into the middle of the road: -pointed a revolver at Hadrian; and fired. The bullet struck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> His -Holiness high up on the left breast, piercing the pulmonary artery just -above the lung.</p> - -<p>The slim white figure stopped—wavered—and sank down. The whole world -seemed to stand still, while the human race gasped once.</p> - -<p>A frantic woman in a fox-coloured wig pitched out of the opposite -crowd; and grovelled. "Love, Love," she howled hideously: "oh and I -loved him so! Oh! Oh! I really did love him. Yes I did, I did, I did, I -did ..." she yelped to the sun in the firmament of heaven. The discord -resembled the baying of a dog which breaks the cadence of Handel's -<i>Largo</i> on arch-lutes.</p> - -<p>God's Vicegerent moved,—looked at her from a distance, gently, even -curiously. "Daughter, go in peace," He said and turned away. She -remained there grovelling, longing to touch Him, forlorn, gorgonized.</p> - -<p>The Roman Emperors also kneeled to right and left, fiercely looking -among their aides for the help which did not come, which could not -come, from man.</p> - -<p>The assassin was in a hundred tearing hands. Screeches shot out of -his gullet when they silently and inevitably began to tear him to -pieces. Roman knives flashed over the parapet; and slid into Tiber: -hooked hands, like the curving talons of griffins, were the weapons -for this work. But the Supreme Pontiff beckoned him; and the gesture -was unmistakeable—universally authoritative. Shaken and violently -shaking, jagged, lacerated, a disreputable wreck of Pictish ready-made -tailoring, Jerry Sant staggered forward, staggered like one fascinated. -Cardinals and sovereigns drew away from him, and the mob hemmed him in.</p> - -<p>" ... for they know not...." The Apostle raised himself a little, -supported by imperial hands. How bright the sunlight was, on the -warm grey stones, on the ripe Roman skins, on vermilion and lavender -and blue and ermine and green and gold, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> the indecent grotesque -blackness of two blotches, on apostolic whiteness and the rose of blood.</p> - -<p>"Augustitudes, Our will and pleasure is——"</p> - -<p>"Speak it, Most Holy Father——"</p> - -<p>"Augustitudes, We name you both the ministers of this Our will." And to -the murderer He said, "Son, you are forgiven: you are free."</p> - -<p>Down Borgo Nuovo came guards, chamberlains, curial prelates, cardinals, -from Vatican. The English and American cardinals took their vermilion -on their arms, and ran like lithe long-limbed school-boys. The faithful -young Sir John outran them all. He kneeled to Hadrian, Who said,</p> - -<p>"Dear John, take this cross—and Flavio." The Southern Emperor -unclasped the chain and rosy pectoral cross; and handed them to the -gentleman-of-the-apostolic-chamber, who took them and fainted away. Out -of Santo Spirito, came one with the stocks of sacred chrism. Cardinals -Van Kristen and Carvale, panting, kneeled before the Ruler of the -World. Percy drew out the hidden pontifical pyx: took the Sacred Host -therefrom; and held It. "The profession of faith, Most Holy Lord," he -bravely whispered.</p> - -<p>"I believe all that which Holy Mother Church believes. I ask pardon of -all men. Dear Jesus, be not to me a Judge but a Saviour."</p> - -<p>Cardinal Sterling gravely intoned the commendation of a Christian soul. -The splendid company of angels, the senate of apostles, the army of -white-robed martyrs, the lilied squadron of shining confessors, the -chorus of joyful maids, patriarchs, hermits, Stephen and Lawrence, -Silvester and Gregory, Francis and Lucy and Mary Magdalene, Mary—God's -Own Mother, all the saints of God who daily are invited to attend the -passing of the poorest Christian soul, were invoked for the Father of -Princes and Kings. "And mild<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> and cheerful may the Aspect of Christ -Jesus seem to thee——" The singer's voice failed. Cardinal Carvale -went on with no interval: imparted absolution, and the sacrament of -the dying. "Saints of God advance to help him: Angels of The Lord come -to meet him, receiving his soul, offering it in the Sight of The Most -High." The splendour of mortal words reverberated from the ancient -fortress wall, in the great silence of Immortal Rome.</p> - -<p>When the Earthly Vicar of Jesus Christ had received Extreme Unction -and Viaticum, when He had had done for Him all that which Christ's -Church can do, He required to be lifted on His feet. The Roman Emperors -rose, raising Him. The vehement ferocity of their aspect terribly -contrasted with their tender movement. The torments of powerless power, -of intimidation inflicted in the supreme moment of exultation, rent -these grand strong men—and graced them. The blood-stain streamed down -the Pope's white robes with the red stole of universal jurisdiction. -The slender hand with the two huge rings ascended. The shy brown eyes -fluttered; and were wide, and very glad. Then the tired young voice -rang like a quiet bell.</p> - -<p>"May God Omnipotent, ✠ ✠ ✠ Father, ✠ -✠ ✠ Son, ✠ ✠ ✠ and Holy Ghost, bless -you."</p> - -<p>It was the Apostolic Benediction of the City and the World.</p> - -<p>The hand and the dark eyelashes drooped, and fell. The delicate -fastidious lips closed, in the ineffable smile of the dead who have -found out the Secret of Love, and are perfectly satisfied.</p> - -<p>So died Hadrian the Seventh, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, -and (some say) Martyr. So died Peter in the arms of Caesar.</p> - -<p>The world sobbed, sighed, wiped its mouth; and experienced extreme -relief.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span></p> - -<p>The college of Cardinals summed Him up in the brilliant epigram of -Tacitus. 'Capax imperii nisi imperâsset.' He would have been an ideal -ruler if He had not ruled.</p> - -<p>Religious people said that He was an incomprehensible creature. And the -man on the motor said that the pace certainly had been rather rapid.</p> - -<p>Pray for the repose of His soul. He was so tired.</p> - - -<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><span class="smcap">Feliciter</span></p> - - -<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><small>BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD</small></p> - - - - - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HADRIAN THE SEVENTH ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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