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diff --git a/8724-0.txt b/8724-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8730197 --- /dev/null +++ b/8724-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6030 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 8724 *** + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + ROME + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + PART IV + + + +X + +IN his anxiety to bring things to a finish, Pierre wished to begin his +campaign on the very next day. But on whom should he first call if he +were to steer clear of blunders in that intricate and conceited +ecclesiastical world? The question greatly perplexed him; however, on +opening his door that morning he luckily perceived Don Vigilio in the +passage, and with a sudden inspiration asked him to step inside. He +realised that this thin little man with the saffron face, who always +trembled with fever and displayed such exaggerated, timorous discretion, +was in reality well informed, mixed up in everything. At one period it +had seemed to Pierre that the secretary purposely avoided him, doubtless +for fear of compromising himself; but recently Don Vigilio had proved +less unsociable, as though he were not far from sharing the impatience +which must be consuming the young Frenchman amidst his long enforced +inactivity. And so, on this occasion, he did not seek to avoid the chat +on which Pierre was bent. + +"I must apologise," said the latter, "for asking you in here when things +are in such disorder. But I have just received some more linen and some +winter clothing from Paris. I came, you know, with just a little valise, +meaning to stay for a fortnight, and yet I've now been here for nearly +three months, and am no more advanced than I was on the morning of my +arrival." + +Don Vigilio nodded. "Yes, yes, I know," said he. + +Thereupon Pierre explained to him that Monsignor Nani had informed him, +through the Contessina, that he now ought to act and see everybody for +the defence of his book. But he was much embarrassed, as he did not know +in what order to make his visits so that they might benefit him. For +instance, ought he to call in the first place on Monsignor Fornaro, the +/consultore/ selected to report on his book, and whose name had been +given him? + +"Ah!" exclaimed Don Vigilio, quivering; "has Monsignor Nani gone as far +as that--given you the reporter's name? That's even more than I +expected." Then, forgetting his prudence, yielding to his secret interest +in the affair, he resumed: "No, no; don't begin with Monsignor Fornaro. +Your first visit should be a very humble one to the Prefect of the +Congregation of the Index--his Eminence Cardinal Sanguinetti; for he +would never forgive you for having offered your first homage to another +should he some day hear of it." And, after a pause, Don Vigilio added, in +a low voice, amidst a faint, feverish shiver: "And he /would/ hear of it; +everything becomes known." + +Again he hesitated, and then, as if yielding to sudden, sympathetic +courage, he took hold of the young Frenchman's hands. "I swear to you, my +dear Monsieur Froment," he said, "that I should be very happy to help +you, for you are a man of simple soul, and I really begin to feel worried +for you. But you must not ask me for impossibilities. Ah! if you only +knew--if I could only tell you of all the perils which surround us! +However, I think I can repeat to you that you must in no wise rely on my +patron, his Eminence Cardinal Boccanera. He has expressed absolute +disapproval of your book in my presence on several occasions. Only he is +a saint, a most worthy, honourable man; and, though he won't defend you, +he won't attack you--he will remain neutral out of regard for his niece, +whom he loves so dearly, and who protects you. So, when you see him, +don't plead your cause; it would be of no avail, and might even irritate +him." + +Pierre was not particularly distressed by this news, for at his first +interview with the Cardinal, and on the few subsequent occasions when he +had respectfully visited him, he had fully understood that his Eminence +would never be other than an adversary. "Well," said he, "I will wait on +him to thank him for his neutrality." + +But at this all Don Vigilio's terrors returned. "No, no, don't do that; +he would perhaps realise that I have spoken to you, and then what a +disaster--my position would be compromised. I've said nothing, nothing! +See the cardinals to begin with, see all the cardinals. Let it be +understood between us that I've said nothing more." And, on that occasion +at any rate, Don Vigilio would speak no further, but left the room +shuddering and darting fiery, suspicious glances on either side of the +corridor. + +Pierre at once went out to call on Cardinal Sanguinetti. It was ten +o'clock, and there was a chance that he might find him at home. This +cardinal resided on the first floor of a little palazzo in a dark, narrow +street near San Luigi dei Francesi.* There was here none of the giant +ruin full of princely and melancholy grandeur amidst which Cardinal +Boccanera so stubbornly remained. The old regulation gala suite of rooms +had been cut down just like the number of servants. There was no +throne-room, no red hat hanging under a /baldacchino/, no arm-chair +turned to the wall pending a visit from the Pope. A couple of apartments +served as ante-rooms, and then came a /salon/ where the Cardinal +received; and there was no luxury, indeed scarcely any comfort; the +furniture was of mahogany, dating from the empire period, and the +hangings and carpets were dusty and faded by long use. Moreover, Pierre +had to wait a long time for admittance, and when a servant, leisurely +putting on his jacket, at last set the door ajar, it was only to say that +his Eminence had been away at Frascati since the previous day. + + * This is the French church of Rome, and is under the protection + of the French Government.--Trans. + +Pierre then remembered that Cardinal Sanguinetti was one of the suburban +bishops. At his see of Frascati he had a villa where he occasionally +spent a few days whenever a desire for rest or some political motive +impelled him to do so. + +"And will his Eminence soon return?" Pierre inquired. + +"Ah! we don't know. His Eminence is poorly, and expressly desired us to +send nobody to worry him." + +When Pierre reached the street again he felt quite bewildered by this +disappointment. At first he wondered whether he had not better call on +Monsignor Fornaro without more ado, but he recollected Don Vigilio's +advice to see the cardinals first of all, and, an inspiration coming to +him, he resolved that his next visit should be for Cardinal Sarno, whose +acquaintance he had eventually made at Donna Serafina's Mondays. In spite +of Cardinal Sarno's voluntary self-effacement, people looked upon him as +one of the most powerful and redoubtable members of the Sacred College, +albeit his nephew Narcisse Habert declared that he knew no man who showed +more obtuseness in matters which did not pertain to his habitual +occupations. At all events, Pierre thought that the Cardinal, although +not a member of the Congregation of the Index, might well give him some +good advice, and possibly bring his great influence to bear on his +colleagues. + +The young man straightway betook himself to the Palace of the Propaganda, +where he knew he would find the Cardinal. This palace, which is seen from +the Piazza di Spagna, is a bare, massive corner pile between two streets. +And Pierre, hampered by his faulty Italian, quite lost himself in it, +climbing to floors whence he had to descend again, and finding himself in +a perfect labyrinth of stairs, passages, and halls. At last he luckily +came across the Cardinal's secretary, an amiable young priest, whom he +had already seen at the Boccanera mansion. "Why, yes," said the +secretary, "I think that his Eminence will receive you. You did well to +come at this hour, for he is always here of a morning. Kindly follow me, +if you please." + +Then came a fresh journey. Cardinal Sarno, long a Secretary of the +Propaganda, now presided over the commission which controlled the +organisation of worship in those countries of Europe, Africa, America, +and Oceanica where Catholicism had lately gained a footing; and he thus +had a private room of his own with special officers and assistants, +reigning there with the ultra-methodical habits of a functionary who had +grown old in his arm-chair, closely surrounded by nests of drawers, and +knowing nothing of the world save the usual sights of the street below +his window. + +The secretary left Pierre on a bench at the end of a dark passage, which +was lighted by gas even in full daylight. And quite a quarter of an hour +went by before he returned with his eager, affable air. "His Eminence is +conferring with some missionaries who are about to leave Rome," he said; +"but it will soon be over, and he told me to take you to his room, where +you can wait for him." + +As soon as Pierre was alone in the Cardinal's sanctum he examined it with +curiosity. Fairly spacious, but in no wise luxurious, it had green paper +on its walls, and its furniture was of black wood and green damask. From +two windows overlooking a narrow side street a mournful light reached the +dark wall-paper and faded carpets. There were a couple of pier tables and +a plain black writing-table, which stood near one window, its worn +mole-skin covering littered with all sorts of papers. Pierre drew near to +it for a moment, and glanced at the arm-chair with damaged, sunken seat, +the screen which sheltered it from draughts, and the old inkstand +splotched with ink. And then, in the lifeless and oppressive atmosphere, +the disquieting silence, which only the low rumbles from the street +disturbed, he began to grow impatient. + +However, whilst he was softly walking up and down he suddenly espied a +map affixed to one wall, and the sight of it filled him with such +absorbing thoughts that he soon forgot everything else. It was a coloured +map of the world, the different tints indicating whether the territories +belonged to victorious Catholicism or whether Catholicism was still +warring there against unbelief; these last countries being classified as +vicariates or prefectures, according to the general principles of +organisation. And the whole was a graphic presentment of the long efforts +of Catholicism in striving for the universal dominion which it has sought +so unremittingly since its earliest hour. God has given the world to His +Church, but it is needful that she should secure possession of it since +error so stubbornly abides. From this has sprung the eternal battle, the +fight which is carried on, even in our days, to win nations over from +other religions, as it was in the days when the Apostles quitted Judaea +to spread abroad the tidings of the Gospel. During the middle ages the +great task was to organise conquered Europe, and this was too absorbing +an enterprise to allow of any attempt at reconciliation with the +dissident churches of the East. Then the Reformation burst forth, schism +was added to schism, and the Protestant half of Europe had to be +reconquered as well as all the orthodox East. + +War-like ardour, however, awoke at the discovery of the New World. Rome +was ambitious of securing that other side of the earth, and missions were +organised for the subjection of races of which nobody had known anything +the day before, but which God had, nevertheless, given to His Church, +like all the others. And by degrees the two great divisions of +Christianity were formed, on one hand the Catholic nations, those where +the faith simply had to be kept up, and which the Secretariate of State +installed at the Vatican guided with sovereign authority, and on the +other the schismatical or pagan nations which were to be brought back to +the fold or converted, and over which the Congregation of the Propaganda +sought to reign. Then this Congregation had been obliged to divide itself +into two branches in order to facilitate its work--the Oriental branch, +which dealt with the dissident sects of the East, and the Latin branch, +whose authority extended over all the other lands of mission: the two +forming a vast organisation--a huge, strong, closely meshed net cast over +the whole world in order that not a single soul might escape. + +It was in presence of that map that Pierre for the first time became +clearly conscious of the mechanism which for centuries had been working +to bring about the absorption of humanity. The Propaganda, richly dowered +by the popes, and disposing of a considerable revenue, appeared to him +like a separate force, a papacy within the papacy, and he well understood +that the Prefect of the Congregation should be called the "Red Pope," for +how limitless were the powers of that man of conquest and domination, +whose hands stretched from one to the other end of the earth. Allowing +that the Cardinal Secretary held Europe, that diminutive portion of the +globe, did not he, the Prefect, hold all the rest--the infinity of space, +the distant countries as yet almost unknown? Besides, statistics showed +that Rome's uncontested dominion was limited to 200 millions of Apostolic +and Roman Catholics; whereas the schismatics of the East and the +Reformation, if added together, already exceeded that number, and how +small became the minority of the true believers when, besides the +schismatics, one brought into line the 1000 millions of infidels who yet +remained to be converted. The figures struck Pierre with a force which +made him shudder. What! there were 5 million Jews, nearly 200 million +Mahommedans, more than 700 million Brahmanists and Buddhists, without +counting another 100 million pagans of divers creeds, the whole making +1000 millions, and against these the Christians could marshal barely more +than 400 millions, who were divided among themselves, ever in conflict, +one half with Rome and the other half against her?* Was it possible that +in 1800 years Christianity had not proved victorious over even one-third +of mankind, and that Rome, the eternal and all-powerful, only counted a +sixth part of the nations among her subjects? Only one soul saved out of +every six--how fearful was the disproportion! However, the map spoke with +brutal eloquence: the red-tinted empire of Rome was but a speck when +compared with the yellow-hued empire of the other gods--the endless +countries which the Propaganda still had to conquer. And the question +arose: How many centuries must elapse before the promises of the Christ +were realised, before the whole world were gained to Christianity, before +religious society spread over secular society, and there remained but one +kingdom and one belief? And in presence of this question, in presence of +the prodigious labour yet to be accomplished, how great was one's +astonishment when one thought of Rome's tranquil serenity, her patient +stubbornness, which has never known doubt or weariness, her bishops and +ministers toiling without cessation in the conviction that she alone will +some day be the mistress of the world! + + * Some readers may question certain of the figures given by M. + Zola, but it must be remembered that all such calculations + (even those of the best "authorities") are largely guesswork. + I myself think that there are more than 5 million Jews, and + more than 200 millions of Mahommedans, but I regard the alleged + number of Brahmanists and Buddhists as exaggerated. On the + other hand, some statistical tables specify 80 millions of + Confucianists, of whom M. Zola makes no separate mention. + However, as regards the number of Christians in the world, the + figures given above are, within a few millions, probably + accurate.--Trans. + +Narcisse had told Pierre how carefully the embassies at Rome watched the +doings of the Propaganda, for the missions were often the instruments of +one or another nation, and exercised decisive influence in far-away +lands. And so there was a continual struggle, in which the Congregation +did all it could to favour the missionaries of Italy and her allies. It +had always been jealous of its French rival, "L'Oeuvre de la Propagation +de la Foi," installed at Lyons, which is as wealthy in money as itself, +and richer in men of energy and courage. However, not content with +levelling tribute on this French association, the Propaganda thwarted it, +sacrificed it on every occasion when it had reason to think it might +achieve a victory. Not once or twice, but over and over again had the +French missionaries, the French orders, been driven from the scenes of +their labours to make way for Italians or Germans. And Pierre, standing +in that mournful, dusty room, which the sunlight never brightened, +pictured the secret hot-bed of political intrigue masked by the +civilising ardour of faith. Again he shuddered as one shudders when +monstrous, terrifying things are brought home to one. And might not the +most sensible be overcome? Might not the bravest be dismayed by the +thought of that universal engine of conquest and domination, which worked +with the stubbornness of eternity, not merely content with the gain of +souls, but ever seeking to ensure its future sovereignty over the whole +of corporeal humanity, and--pending the time when it might rule the +nations itself--disposing of them, handing them over to the charge of +this or that temporary master, in accordance with its good pleasure. And +then, too, what a prodigious dream! Rome smiling and tranquilly awaiting +the day when she will have united Christians, Mahommedans, Brahmanists, +and Buddhists into one sole nation, of whom she will be both the +spiritual and the temporal queen! + +However, a sound of coughing made Pierre turn, and he started on +perceiving Cardinal Sarno, whom he had not heard enter. Standing in front +of that map, he felt like one caught in the act of prying into a secret, +and a deep flush overspread his face. The Cardinal, however, after +looking at him fixedly with his dim eyes, went to his writing-table, and +let himself drop into the arm-chair without saying a word. With a gesture +he dispensed Pierre of the duty of kissing his ring. + +"I desired to offer my homage to your Eminence," said the young man. "Is +your Eminence unwell?" + +"No, no, it's nothing but a dreadful cold which I can't get rid of. And +then, too, I have so many things to attend to just now." + +Pierre looked at the Cardinal as he appeared in the livid light from the +window, puny, lopsided, with the left shoulder higher than the right, and +not a sign of life on his worn and ashen countenance. The young priest +was reminded of one of his uncles, who, after thirty years spent in the +offices of a French public department, displayed the same lifeless +glance, parchment-like skin, and weary hebetation. Was it possible that +this withered old man, so lost in his black cassock with red edging, was +really one of the masters of the world, with the map of Christendom so +deeply stamped on his mind, albeit he had never left Rome, that the +Prefect of the Propaganda did not take a decision without asking his +opinion? + +"Sit down, Monsieur l'Abbe," said the Cardinal. "So you have come to see +me--you have something to ask of me!" And, whilst disposing himself to +listen, he stretched out his thin bony hands to finger the documents +heaped up before him, glancing at each of them like some general, some +strategist, profoundly versed in the science of his profession, who, +although his army is far away, nevertheless directs it to victory from +his private room, never for a moment allowing it to escape his mind. + +Pierre was somewhat embarrassed by such a plain enunciation of the +interested object of his visit; still, he decided to go to the point. +"Yes, indeed," he answered, "it is a liberty I have taken to come and +appeal to your Eminence's wisdom for advice. Your Eminence is aware that +I am in Rome for the purpose of defending a book of mine, and I should be +grateful if your Eminence would help and guide me." Then he gave a brief +account of the present position of the affair, and began to plead his +cause; but as he continued speaking he noticed that the Cardinal gave him +very little attention, as though indeed he were thinking of something +else, and failed to understand. + +"Ah! yes," the great man at last muttered, "you have written a book. +There was some question of it at Donna Serafina's one evening. But a +priest ought not to write; it is a mistake for him to do so. What is the +good of it? And the Congregation of the Index must certainly be in the +right if it is prosecuting your book. At all events, what can I do? I +don't belong to the Congregation, and I know nothing, nothing about the +matter." + +Pierre, pained at finding him so listless and indifferent, went on trying +to enlighten and move him. But he realised that this man's mind, so +far-reaching and penetrating in the field in which it had worked for +forty years, closed up as soon as one sought to divert it from its +specialty. It was neither an inquisitive nor a supple mind. All trace of +life faded from the Cardinal's eyes, and his entire countenance assumed +an expression of mournful imbecility. "I know nothing, nothing," he +repeated, "and I never recommend anybody." However, at last he made an +effort: "But Nani is mixed up in this," said he. "What does Nani advise +you to do?" + +"Monsignor Nani has been kind enough to reveal to me that the reporter is +Monsignor Fornaro, and advises me to see him." + +At this Cardinal Sarno seemed surprised and somewhat roused. A little +light returned to his eyes. "Ah! really," he rejoined, "ah! really-- +Well, if Nani has done that he must have some idea. Go and see Monsignor +Fornaro." Then, after rising and dismissing his visitor, who was +compelled to thank him, bowing deeply, he resumed his seat, and a moment +later the only sound in the lifeless room was that of his bony fingers +turning over the documents before him. + +Pierre, in all docility, followed the advice given him, and immediately +betook himself to the Piazza Navona, where, however, he learnt from one +of Monsignor Fornaro's servants that the prelate had just gone out, and +that to find him at home it was necessary to call in the morning at ten +o'clock. Accordingly it was only on the following day that Pierre was +able to obtain an interview. He had previously made inquiries and knew +what was necessary concerning Monsignor Fornaro. Born at Naples, he had +there begun his studies under the Barnabites, had finished them at the +Seminario Romano, and had subsequently, for many years, been a professor +at the University Gregoriana. Nowadays Consultor to several Congregations +and a Canon of Santa Maria Maggiore, he placed his immediate ambition in +a Canonry at St. Peter's, and harboured the dream of some day becoming +Secretary of the Consistorial Congregation, a post conducting to the +cardinalate. A theologian of remarkable ability, Monsignor Fornaro +incurred no other reproach than that of occasionally sacrificing to +literature by contributing articles, which he carefully abstained from +signing, to certain religious reviews. He was also said to be very +worldly. + +Pierre was received as soon as he had sent in his card, and perhaps he +would have fancied that his visit was expected had not an appearance of +sincere surprise, blended with a little anxiety, marked his reception. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment," repeated the prelate, +looking at the card which he still held. "Kindly step in--I was about to +forbid my door, for I have some urgent work to attend to. But no matter, +sit down." + +Pierre, however, remained standing, quite charmed by the blooming +appearance of this tall, strong, handsome man who, although five and +forty years of age, was quite fresh and rosy, with moist lips, caressing +eyes, and scarcely a grey hair among his curly locks. Nobody more +fascinating and decorative could be found among the whole Roman prelacy. +Careful of his person undoubtedly, and aiming at a simple elegance, he +looked really superb in his black cassock with violet collar. And around +him the spacious room where he received his visitors, gaily lighted as it +was by two large windows facing the Piazza Navona, and furnished with a +taste nowadays seldom met with among the Roman clergy, diffused a +pleasant odour and formed a setting instinct with kindly cheerfulness. + +"Pray sit down, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment," he resumed, "and tell me to +what I am indebted for the honour of your visit." + +He had already recovered his self-possession and assumed a /naif/, purely +obliging air; and Pierre, though the question was only natural, and he +ought to have foreseen it, suddenly felt greatly embarrassed, more +embarrassed indeed than in Cardinal Sarno's presence. Should he go to the +point at once, confess the delicate motive of his visit? A moment's +reflection showed him that this would be the best and worthier course. +"Dear me, Monseigneur," he replied, "I know very well that the step I +have taken in calling on you is not usually taken, but it has been +advised me, and it has seemed to me that among honest folks there can +never be any harm in seeking in all good faith to elucidate the truth." + +"What is it, what is it, then?" asked the prelate with an expression of +perfect candour, and still continuing to smile. + +"Well, simply this. I have learnt that the Congregation of the Index has +handed you my book 'New Rome,' and appointed you to examine it; and I +have ventured to present myself before you in case you should have any +explanations to ask of me." + +But Monsignor Fornaro seemed unwilling to hear any more. He had carried +both hands to his head and drawn back, albeit still courteous. "No, no," +said he, "don't tell me that, don't continue, you would grieve me +dreadfully. Let us say, if you like, that you have been deceived, for +nothing ought to be known, in fact nothing is known, either by others or +myself. I pray you, do not let us talk of such matters." + +Pierre, however, had fortunately remarked what a decisive effect was +produced when he had occasion to mention the name of the Assessor of the +Holy Office. So it occurred to him to reply: "I most certainly do not +desire to give you the slightest cause for embarrassment, Monseigneur, +and I repeat to you that I would never have ventured to importune you if +Monsignor Nani himself had not acquainted me with your name and address." + +This time the effect was immediate, though Monsignor Fornaro, with that +easy grace which he introduced into all things, made some ceremony about +surrendering. He began by a demurrer, speaking archly with subtle shades +of expression. "What! is Monsignor Nani the tattler! But I shall scold +him, I shall get angry with him! And what does he know? He doesn't belong +to the Congregation; he may have been led into error. You must tell him +that he has made a mistake, and that I have nothing at all to do with +your affair. That will teach him not to reveal needful secrets which +everybody respects!" Then, in a pleasant way, with winning glance and +flowery lips, he went on: "Come, since Monsignor Nani desires it, I am +willing to chat with you for a moment, my dear Monsieur Froment, but on +condition that you shall know nothing of my report or of what may have +been said or done at the Congregation." + +Pierre in his turn smiled, admiring how easy things became when forms +were respected and appearances saved. And once again he began to explain +his case, the profound astonishment into which the prosecution of his +book had thrown him, and his ignorance of the objections which were taken +to it, and for which he had vainly sought a cause. + +"Really, really," repeated the prelate, quite amazed at so much +innocence. "The Congregation is a tribunal, and can only act when a case +is brought before it. Proceedings have been taken against your book +simply because it has been denounced." + +"Yes, I know, denounced." + +"Of course. Complaint was laid by three French bishops, whose names you +will allow me to keep secret, and it consequently became necessary for +the Congregation to examine the incriminated work." + +Pierre looked at him quite scared. Denounced by three bishops? Why? With +what object? Then he thought of his protector. "But Cardinal Bergerot," +said he, "wrote me a letter of approval, which I placed at the beginning +of my work as a preface. Ought not a guarantee like that to have been +sufficient for the French episcopacy?" + +Monsignor Fornaro wagged his head in a knowing way before making up his +mind to reply: "Ah! yes, no doubt, his Eminence's letter, a very +beautiful letter. I think, however, that it would have been much better +if he had not written it, both for himself and for you especially." Then +as the priest, whose surprise was increasing, opened his mouth to urge +him to explain himself, he went on: "No, no, I know nothing, I say +nothing. His Eminence Cardinal Bergerot is a saintly man whom everybody +venerates, and if it were possible for him to sin it would only be +through pure goodness of heart." + +Silence fell. Pierre could divine that an abyss was opening, and dared +not insist. However, he at last resumed with some violence: "But, after +all, why should my book be prosecuted, and the books of others be left +untouched? I have no intention of acting as a denouncer myself, but how +many books there are to which Rome closes her eyes, and which are far +more dangerous than mine can be!" + +This time Monsignor Fornaro seemed glad to be able to support Pierre's +views. "You are right," said he, "we cannot deal with every bad book, and +it greatly distresses us. But you must remember what an incalculable +number of works we should be compelled to read. And so we have to content +ourselves with condemning the worst /en bloc/." + +Then he complacently entered into explanations. In principle, no printer +ought to send any work to press without having previously submitted the +manuscript to the approval of the bishop of the diocese. Nowadays, +however, with the enormous output of the printing trade, one could +understand how terribly embarrassed the bishops would be if the printers +were suddenly to conform to the Church's regulation. There was neither +the time nor the money, nor were there the men necessary for such +colossal labour. And so the Congregation of the Index condemned /en +masse/, without examination, all works of certain categories: first, +books which were dangerous for morals, all erotic writings, and all +novels; next the various bibles in the vulgar tongue, for the perusal of +Holy Writ without discretion was not allowable; then the books on magic +and sorcery, and all works on science, history, or philosophy that were +in any way contrary to dogma, as well as the writings of heresiarchs or +mere ecclesiastics discussing religion, which should never be discussed. +All these were wise laws made by different popes, and were set forth in +the preface to the catalogue of forbidden books which the Congregation +published, and without them this catalogue, to have been complete, would +in itself have formed a large library. On turning it over one found that +the works singled out for interdiction were chiefly those of priests, the +task being so vast and difficult that Rome's concern extended but little +beyond the observance of good order within the Church. And Pierre and his +book came within the limit. + +"You will understand," continued Monsignor Fornaro, "that we have no +desire to advertise a heap of unwholesome writings by honouring them with +special condemnation. Their name is legion in every country, and we +should have neither enough paper nor enough ink to deal with them all. So +we content ourselves with condemning one from time to time, when it bears +a famous name and makes too much noise, or contains disquieting attacks +on the faith. This suffices to remind the world that we exist and defend +ourselves without abandoning aught of our rights or duties." + +"But my book, my book," exclaimed Pierre, "why these proceedings against +my book?" + +"I am explaining that to you as far as it is allowable for me to do, my +dear Monsieur Froment. You are a priest, your book is a success, you have +published a cheap edition of it which sells very readily; and I don't +speak of its literary merit, which is remarkable, for it contains a +breath of real poetry which transported me, and on which I must really +compliment you. However, under the circumstances which I have enumerated, +how could we close our eyes to such a work as yours, in which the +conclusion arrived at is the annihilation of our holy religion and the +destruction of Rome?" + +Pierre remained open-mouthed, suffocating with surprise. "The destruction +of Rome!" he at last exclaimed; "but I desire to see Rome rejuvenated, +eternal, again the queen of the world." And, once more mastered by his +glowing enthusiasm, he defended himself and confessed his faith: +Catholicism reverting to the principles and practices of the primitive +Church, drawing the blood of regeneration from the fraternal Christianity +of Jesus; the Pope, freed from all terrestrial royalty, governing the +whole of humanity with charity and love, and saving the world from the +frightful social cataclysm that threatens it by leading it to the real +Kingdom of God: the Christian communion of all nations united in one +nation only. "And can the Holy Father disavow me?" he continued. "Are not +these his secret ideas, which people are beginning to divine, and does +not my only offence lie in having expressed them perhaps too soon and too +freely? And if I were allowed to see him should I not at once obtain from +him an order to stop these proceedings?" + +Monsignor Fornaro no longer spoke, but wagged his head without appearing +offended by the priest's juvenile ardour. On the contrary, he smiled with +increasing amiability, as though highly amused by so much innocence and +imagination. At last he gaily responded, "Oh! speak on, speak on; it +isn't I who will stop you. I'm forbidden to say anything. But the +temporal power, the temporal power." + +"Well, what of the temporal power?" asked Pierre. + +The prelate had again become silent, raising his amiable face to heaven +and waving his white hands with a pretty gesture. And when he once more +opened his mouth it was to say: "Then there's your new religion--for the +expression occurs twice: the new religion, the new religion--ah, /Dio/!" + +Again he became restless, going off into an ecstasy of wonderment, at +sight of which Pierre impatiently exclaimed: "I do not know what your +report will be, Monseigneur, but I declare to you that I have had no +desire to attack dogma. And, candidly now, my whole book shows that I +only sought to write a work of pity and salvation. It is only justice +that some account should be taken of one's intentions." + +Monsignor Fornaro had become very calm and paternal again. "Oh! +intentions! intentions!" he said as he rose to dismiss his visitor. "You +may be sure, my dear Monsieur Froment, that I feel much honoured by your +visit. Naturally I cannot tell you what my report will be; as it is, we +have talked too much about it, and, in fact, I ought to have refused to +listen to your defence. At the same time, you will always find me ready +to be of service to you in anything that does not go against my duty. But +I greatly fear that your book will be condemned." And then, as Pierre +again started, he added: "Well, yes. It is facts that are judged, you +know, not intentions. So all defence is useless; the book is there, and +we take it such as it is. However much you may try to explain it, you +cannot alter it. And this is why the Congregation never calls the accused +parties before it, and never accepts from them aught but retraction pure +and simple. And, indeed, the wisest course would be for you to withdraw +your book and make your submission. No? You won't? Ah! how young you are, +my friend!" + +He laughed yet more loudly at the gesture of revolt, of indomitable pride +which had just escaped his young friend, as he called him. Then, on +reaching the door, he again threw off some of his reserve, and said in a +low voice, "Come, my dear Abbe, there is something I will do for you. I +will give you some good advice. At bottom, I myself am nothing. I deliver +my report, and it is printed, and the members of the Congregation read +it, but are quite free to pay no attention to it. However, the Secretary +of the Congregation, Father Dangelis, can accomplish everything, even +impossibilities. Go to see him; you will find him at the Dominican +convent behind the Piazza di Spagna. Don't name me. And for the present +good-bye, my dear fellow, good-bye." + +Pierre once more found himself on the Piazza Navona, quite dazed, no +longer knowing what to believe or hope. A cowardly idea was coming over +him; why should he continue this struggle, in which his adversaries +remained unknown and indiscernible? Why carry obstinacy any further, why +linger any longer in that impassionating but deceptive Rome? He would +flee that very evening, return to Paris, disappear there, and forget his +bitter disillusion in the practice of humble charity. He was traversing +one of those hours of weakness when the long-dreamt-of task suddenly +seems to be an impossibility. However, amidst his great confusion he was +nevertheless walking on, going towards his destination. And when he found +himself in the Corso, then in the Via dei Condotti, and finally in the +Piazza di Spagna, he resolved that he would at any rate see Father +Dangelis. The Dominican convent is there, just below the Trinity de' +Monti. + +Ah! those Dominicans! Pierre had never thought of them without a feeling +of respect with which mingled a little fear. What vigorous pillars of the +principle of authority and theocracy they had for centuries proved +themselves to be! To them the Church had been indebted for its greatest +measure of authority; they were the glorious soldiers of its triumph. +Whilst St. Francis won the souls of the humble over to Rome, St. Dominic, +on Rome's behalf, subjected all the superior souls--those of the +intelligent and powerful. And this he did with passion, amidst a blaze of +faith and determination, making use of all possible means, preachings, +writings, and police and judicial pressure. Though he did not found the +Inquisition, its principles were his, and it was with fire and sword that +his fraternal, loving heart waged war on schism. Living like his monks, +in poverty, chastity, and obedience--the great virtues of those times of +pride and licentiousness--he went from city to city, exhorting the +impious, striving to bring them back to the Church and arraigning them +before the ecclesiastical courts when his preachings did not suffice. He +also laid siege to science, sought to make it his own, dreamt of +defending God with the weapons of reason and human knowledge like a true +forerunner of the angelic St. Thomas, that light of the middle ages, who +joined the Dominican order and set everything in his "Summa Theologiae," +psychology, logic, policy, and morals. And thus it was that the +Dominicans filled the world, upholding the doctrines of Rome in the most +famous pulpits of every nation, and contending almost everywhere against +the free sprit of the Universities, like the vigilant guardians of dogma +that they were, the unwearying artisans of the fortunes of the popes, the +most powerful amongst all the artistic, scientific, and literary workers +who raised the huge edifice of Catholicism such as it exists to-day. + +However, Pierre, who could feel that this edifice was even now tottering, +though it had been built, people fancied, so substantially as to last +through all eternity, asked himself what could be the present use of the +Dominicans, those toilers of another age, whose police system and whose +tribunals had perished beneath universal execration, whose voices were no +longer listened to, whose books were but seldom read, and whose /role/ as +/savants/ and civilisers had come to an end in presence of latter-day +science, the truths of which were rending dogma on all sides. Certainly +the Dominicans still form an influential and prosperous order; but how +far one is from the times when their general reigned in Rome, Master of +the Holy Palace, with convents and schools, and subjects throughout +Europe! Of all their vast inheritance, so far as the Roman curia is +concerned, only a few posts now remain to them, and among others the +Secretaryship of the Congregation of the Index, a former dependency of +the Holy Office where they once despotically ruled. + +Pierre was immediately ushered into the presence of Father Dangelis. The +convent parlour was vast, bare, and white, flooded with bright sunshine. +The only furniture was a table and some stools; and a large brass +crucifix hung from the wall. Near the table stood the Father, a very thin +man of about fifty, severely draped in his ample white habit and black +mantle. From his long ascetic face, with thin lips, thin nose, and +pointed, obstinate chin, his grey eyes shone out with a fixity that +embarrassed one. And, moreover, he showed himself very plain and simple +of speech, and frigidly polite in manner. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe Froment--the author of 'New Rome,' I suppose?" Then +seating himself on one stool and pointing to another, he added: "Pray +acquaint me with the object of your visit, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +Thereupon Pierre had to begin his explanation, his defence, all over +again; and the task soon became the more painful as his words fell from +his lips amidst death-like silence and frigidity. Father Dangelis did not +stir; with his hands crossed upon his knees he kept his sharp, +penetrating eyes fixed upon those of the priest. And when the latter had +at last ceased speaking, he slowly said: "I did not like to interrupt +you, Monsieur l'Abbe, but it was not for me to hear all this. Process +against your book has begun, and no power in the world can stay or impede +its course. I do not therefore realise what it is that you apparently +expect of me." + +In a quivering voice Pierre was bold enough to answer: "I look for some +kindness and justice." + +A pale smile, instinct with proud humility, arose to the Dominican's +lips. "Be without fear," he replied, "God has ever deigned to enlighten +me in the discharge of my modest duties. Personally, be it said, I have +no justice to render; I am but an employee whose duty is to classify +matters and draw up documents concerning them. Their Eminences, the +members of the Congregation, will alone pronounce judgment on your book. +And assuredly they will do so with the help of the Holy Spirit. You will +only have to bow to their sentence when it shall have been ratified by +his Holiness." + +Then he broke off the interview by rising, and Pierre was obliged to do +the same. The Dominican's words were virtually identical with those that +had fallen from Monsignor Fornaro, but they were spoken with cutting +frankness, a sort of tranquil bravery. On all sides Pierre came into +collision with the same anonymous force, the same powerful engine whose +component parts sought to ignore one another. For a long time yet, no +doubt, he would be sent from one to the other, without ever finding the +volitional element which reasoned and acted. And the only thing that he +could do was to bow to it all. + +However, before going off, it occurred to him once more to mention the +name of Monsignor Nani, the powerful effect of which he had begun to +realise. "I ask your pardon," he said, "for having disturbed you to no +purpose, but I simply deferred to the kind advice of Monsignor Nani, who +has condescended to show me some interest." + +The effect of these words was unexpected. Again did Father Dangelis's +thin face brighten into a smile, but with a twist of the lips, sharp with +ironical contempt. He had become yet paler, and his keen intelligent eyes +were flaming. "Ah! it was Monsignor Nani who sent you!" he said. "Well, +if you think you need a protector, it is useless for you to apply to any +other than himself. He is all-powerful. Go to see him; go to see him!" + +And that was the only encouragement Pierre derived from his visit: the +advice to go back to the man who had sent him. At this he felt that he +was losing ground, and he resolved to return home in order to reflect on +things and try to understand them before taking any further steps. The +idea of questioning Don Vigilio at once occurred to him, and that same +evening after supper he luckily met the secretary in the corridor, just +as, candle in hand, he was on his way to bed. + +"I have so many things that I should like to say to you," Pierre said to +him. "Can you kindly come to my rooms for a moment?" + +But the other promptly silenced him with a gesture, and then whispered: +"Didn't you see Abbe Paparelli on the first floor? He was following us, +I'm sure." + +Pierre often saw the train-bearer roaming about the house, and greatly +disliked his stealthy, prying ways. However, he had hitherto attached no +importance to him, and was therefore much surprised by Don Vigilio's +question. The other, without awaiting his reply, had returned to the end +of the corridor, where for a long while he remained listening. Then he +came back on tip-toe, blew out his candle, and darted into Pierre's +sitting-room. "There--that's done," he murmured directly the door was +shut. "But if it is all the same to you, we won't stop in this +sitting-room. Let us go into your bed-room. Two walls are better than +one." + +When the lamp had been placed on the table and they found themselves +seated face to face in that bare, faded bed-chamber, Pierre noticed that +the secretary was suffering from a more violent attack of fever than +usual. His thin puny figure was shivering from head to foot, and his +ardent eyes had never before blazed so blackly in his ravaged, yellow +face. "Are you poorly?" asked Pierre. "I don't want to tire you." + +"Poorly, yes, I am on fire--but I want to talk. I can't bear it any +longer. One always has to relieve oneself some day or other." + +Was it his complaint that he desired to relieve; or was he anxious to +break his long silence in order that it might not stifle him? This at +first remained uncertain. He immediately asked for an account of the +steps that Pierre had lately taken, and became yet more restless when he +heard how the other had been received by Cardinal Sarno, Monsignor +Fornaro, and Father Dangelis. "Yes, that's quite it," he repeated, +"nothing astonishes me nowadays, and yet I feel indignant on your +account. Yes, it doesn't concern me, but all the same it makes me ill, +for it reminds me of all my own troubles. You must not rely on Cardinal +Sarno, remember, for he is always elsewhere, with his mind far away, and +has never helped anybody. But that Fornaro, that Fornaro!" + +"He seemed to me very amiable, even kindly disposed," replied Pierre; +"and I really think that after our interview, he will considerably soften +his report." + +"He! Why, the gentler he was with you the more grievously he will saddle +you! He will devour you, fatten himself with such easy prey. Ah! you +don't know him, /dilizioso/ that he is, ever on the watch to rear his own +fortune on the troubles of poor devils whose defeat is bound to please +the powerful. I prefer the other one, Father Dangelis, a terrible man, no +doubt, but frank and brave and of superior mind. I must admit, however, +that he would burn you like a handful of straw if he were the master. And +ah! if I could tell you everything, if I could show you the frightful +under-side of this world of ours, the monstrous, ravenous ambition, the +abominable network of intrigues, venality, cowardice, treachery, and even +crime!" + +On seeing Don Vigilio so excited, in such a blaze of spite, Pierre +thought of extracting from him some of the many items of information +which he had hitherto sought in vain. "Well, tell me merely what is the +position of my affair," he responded. "When I questioned you on my +arrival here you said that nothing had yet reached Cardinal Boccanera. +But all information must now have been collected, and you must know of +it. And, by the way, Monsignor Fornaro told me that three French bishops +had asked that my book should be prosecuted. Three bishops, is it +possible?" + +Don Vigilio shrugged his shoulders. "Ah!" said he, "yours is an innocent +soul! I'm surprised that there were /only/ three! Yes, several documents +relating to your affair are in our hands; and, moreover, things have +turned out much as I suspected. The three bishops are first the Bishop of +Tarbes, who evidently carries out the vengeance of the Fathers of +Lourdes; and then the Bishops of Poitiers and Evreux, who are both known +as uncompromising Ultramontanists and passionate adversaries of Cardinal +Bergerot. The Cardinal, you know, is regarded with disfavour at the +Vatican, where his Gallican ideas and broad liberal mind provoke perfect +anger. And don't seek for anything else. The whole affair lies in that: +an execution which the powerful Fathers of Lourdes demand of his +Holiness, and a desire to reach and strike Cardinal Bergerot through your +book, by means of the letter of approval which he imprudently wrote to +you and which you published by way of preface. For a long time past the +condemnations of the Index have largely been secret knock-down blows +levelled at Churchmen. Denunciation reigns supreme, and the law applied +is that of good pleasure. I could tell you some almost incredible things, +how perfectly innocent books have been selected among a hundred for the +sole object of killing an idea or a man; for the blow is almost always +levelled at some one behind the author, some one higher than he is. And +there is such a hot-bed of intrigue, such a source of abuses in this +institution of the Index, that it is tottering, and even among those who +surround the Pope it is felt that it must soon be freshly regulated if it +is not to fall into complete discredit. I well understand that the Church +should endeavour to retain universal power, and govern by every fit +weapon, but the weapons must be such as one can use without their +injustice leading to revolt, or their antique childishness provoking +merriment!" + +Pierre listened with dolorous astonishment in his heart. Since he had +been at Rome and had seen the Fathers of the Grotto saluted and feared +there, holding an authoritative position, thanks to the large alms which +they contributed to the Peter's Pence, he had felt that they were behind +the proceedings instituted against him, and realised that he would have +to pay for a certain page of his book in which he had called attention to +an iniquitous displacement of fortune at Lourdes, a frightful spectacle +which made one doubt the very existence of the Divinity, a continual +cause of battle and conflict which would disappear in the truly Christian +society of to-morrow. And he could also now understand that his delight +at the loss of the temporal power must have caused a scandal, and +especially that the unfortunate expression "a new religion" had alone +been sufficient to arm /delatores/ against him. But that which amazed and +grieved him was to learn that Cardinal Bergerot's letter was looked upon +as a crime, and that his (Pierre's) book was denounced and condemned in +order that adversaries who dared not attack the venerable pastor face to +face might, deal him a cowardly blow from behind. The thought of +afflicting that saintly man, of serving as the implement to strike him in +his ardent charity, cruelly grieved Pierre. And how bitter and +disheartening it was to find the most hideous questions of pride and +money, ambition and appetite, running riot with the most ferocious +egotism, beneath the quarrels of those leaders of the Church who ought +only to have contended together in love for the poor! + +And then Pierre's mind revolted against that supremely odious and idiotic +Index. He now understood how it worked, from the arrival of the +denunciations to the public posting of the titles of the condemned works. +He had just seen the Secretary of the Congregation, Father Dangelis, to +whom the denunciations came, and who then investigated the affair, +collecting all documents and information concerning it with the passion +of a cultivated authoritarian monk, who dreamt of ruling minds and +consciences as in the heroic days of the Inquisition. Then, too, Pierre +had visited one of the consultive prelates, Monsignor Fornaro, who was so +ambitious and affable, and so subtle a theologian that he would have +discovered attacks against the faith in a treatise on algebra, had his +interests required it. Next there were the infrequent meetings of the +cardinals, who at long intervals voted for the interdiction of some +hostile book, deeply regretting that they could not suppress them all; +and finally came the Pope, approving and signing the decrees, which was a +mere formality, for were not all books guilty? But what an extraordinary +wretched Bastille of the past was that aged Index, that senile +institution now sunk into second childhood. One realised that it must +have been a formidable power when books were rare and the Church had +tribunals of blood and fire to enforce her edicts. But books had so +greatly multiplied, the written, printed thoughts of mankind had swollen +into such a deep broad river, that they had swept all opposition away, +and now the Index was swamped and reduced to powerlessness, compelled +more and more to limit its field of action, to confine itself to the +examination of the writings of ecclesiastics, and even in this respect it +was becoming corrupt, fouled by the worst passions and changed into an +instrument of intrigue, hatred, and vengeance. Ah! that confession of +decay, of paralysis which grew more and more complete amidst the scornful +indifference of the nations. To think that Catholicism, the once glorious +agent of civilisation, had come to such a pass that it cast books into +hell-fire by the heap; and what books they were, almost the entire +literature, history, philosophy, and science of the past and the present! +Few works, indeed, are published nowadays that would not fall under the +ban of the Church. If she seems to close her eyes, it is in order to +avoid the impossible task of hunting out and destroying everything. Yet +she stubbornly insists on retaining a semblance of sovereign authority +over human intelligence, just as some very aged queen, dispossessed of +her states and henceforth without judges or executioners, might continue +to deliver vain sentences to which only an infinitesimal minority would +pay heed. But imagine the Church momentarily victorious, miraculously +mastering the modern world, and ask yourself what she, with her tribunals +to condemn and her gendarmes to enforce, would do with human thought. +Imagine a strict application of the Index regulations: no printer able to +put anything whatever to press without the approval of his bishop, and +even then every book laid before the Congregation, the past expunged, the +present throttled, subjected to an intellectual Reign of Terror! Would +not the closing of every library perforce ensue, would not the long +heritage of written thought be cast into prison, would not the future be +barred, would not all progress, all conquest of knowledge, be totally +arrested? Rome herself is nowadays a terrible example of such a +disastrous experiment--Rome with her congealed soil, her dead sap, killed +by centuries of papal government, Rome which has become so barren that +not a man, not a work has sprung from her midst even after five and +twenty years of awakening and liberty! And who would accept such a state +of things, not among people of revolutionary mind, but among those of +religious mind that might possess any culture and breadth of view? +Plainly enough it was all mere childishness and absurdity. + +Deep silence reigned, and Pierre, quite upset by his reflections, made a +gesture of despair whilst glancing at Don Vigilio, who sat speechless in +front of him. For a moment longer, amidst the death-like quiescence of +that old sleeping mansion, both continued silent, seated face to face in +the closed chamber which the lamp illumined with a peaceful glow. But at +last Don Vigilio leant forward, his eyes sparkling, and with a feverish +shiver murmured: "It is they, you know, always they, at the bottom of +everything." + +Pierre, who did not understand, felt astonished, indeed somewhat anxious +at such a strange remark coming without any apparent transition. "Who are +/they/?" he asked. + +"The Jesuits!" + +In this reply the little, withered, yellow priest had set all the +concentrated rage of his exploding passion. Ah! so much the worse if he +had perpetrated a fresh act of folly. The cat was out of the bag at last! +Nevertheless, he cast a final suspicious glance around the walls. And +then he relieved his mind at length, with a flow of words which gushed +forth the more irresistibly since he had so long held them in check. "Ah! +the Jesuits, the Jesuits! You fancy that you know them, but you haven't +even an idea of their abominable actions and incalculable power. They it +is whom one always comes upon, everywhere, in every circumstance. +Remember /that/ whenever you fail to understand anything, if you wish to +understand it. Whenever grief or trouble comes upon you, whenever you +suffer, whenever you weep, say to yourself at once: 'It is they; they are +there!' Why, for all I know, there may be one of them under that bed, +inside that cupboard. Ah! the Jesuits, the Jesuits! They have devoured +me, they are devouring me still, they will leave nothing of me at last, +neither flesh nor bone." + +Then, in a halting voice, he related the story of his life, beginning +with his youth, which had opened so hopefully. He belonged to the petty +provincial nobility, and had been dowered with a fairly large income, +besides a keen, supple intelligence, which looked smilingly towards the +future. Nowadays, he would assuredly have been a prelate, on the road to +high dignities, but he had been foolish enough to speak ill of the +Jesuits and to thwart them in two or three circumstances. And from that +moment, if he were to be believed, they had caused every imaginable +misfortune to rain upon him: his father and mother had died, his banker +had robbed him and fled, good positions had escaped him at the very +moment when he was about to occupy them, the most awful misadventures had +pursued him amidst the duties of his ministry to such a point indeed, +that he had narrowly escaped interdiction. It was only since Cardinal +Boccanera, compassionating his bad luck, had taken him into his house and +attached him to his person, that he had enjoyed a little repose. "Here I +have a refuge, an asylum," he continued. "They execrate his Eminence, who +has never been on their side, but they haven't yet dared to attack him or +his servants. Oh! I have no illusions, they will end by catching me +again, all the same. Perhaps they will even hear of our conversation this +evening, and make me pay dearly for it; for I do wrong to speak, I speak +in spite of myself. They have stolen all my happiness, and brought all +possible misfortune on me, everything that was possible, everything--you +hear me!" + +Increasing discomfort was taking possession of Pierre, who, seeking to +relieve himself by a jest, exclaimed: "Come, come, at any rate it wasn't +the Jesuits who gave you the fever." + +"Yes, yes, it was!" Don Vigilio violently declared. "I caught it on the +bank of the Tiber one evening, when I went to weep there in my grief at +having been driven from the little church where I officiated." + +Pierre, hitherto, had never believed in the terrible legend of the +Jesuits. He belonged to a generation which laughed at the idea of +wehr-wolves, and considered the /bourgeois/ fear of the famous black men, +who hid themselves in walls and terrorised families, to be a trifle +ridiculous. To him all such things seemed to be nursery tales, +exaggerated by religious and political passion. And so it was with +amazement that he examined Don Vigilio, suddenly fearing that he might +have to deal with a maniac. + +Nevertheless he could not help recalling the extraordinary story of the +Jesuits. If St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic are the very soul and +spirit of the middle ages, its masters and teachers, the former a living +expression of all the ardent, charitable faith of the humble, and the +other defending dogma and fixing doctrines for the intelligent and the +powerful, on the other hand Ignatius de Loyola appeared on the threshold +of modern times to save the tottering heritage by accommodating religion +to the new developments of society, thereby ensuring it the empire of the +world which was about to appear. + +At the advent of the modern era it seemed as if the Deity were to be +vanquished in the uncompromising struggle with sin, for it was certain +that the old determination to suppress Nature, to kill the man within +man, with his appetites, passions, heart, and blood, could only result in +a disastrous defeat, in which, indeed, the Church found herself on the +very eve of sinking; and it was the Jesuits who came to extricate her +from this peril and reinvigorate her by deciding that it was she who now +ought to go to the world, since the world seemed unwilling to go any +longer to her. All lay in that; you find the Jesuits declaring that one +can enter into arrangements with heaven; they bend and adjust themselves +to the customs, prejudices, and even vices of the times; they smile, all +condescension, cast rigourism aside, and practice the diplomacy of +amiability, ever ready to turn the most awful abominations "to the +greater glory of God." That is their motto, their battle-cry, and thence +springs the moral principle which many regard as their crime: that all +means are good to attain one's end, especially when that end is the +furtherance of the Deity's interests as represented by those of the +Church. And what overwhelming success attends the efforts of the Jesuits! +they swarm and before long cover the earth, on all sides becoming +uncontested masters. They shrive kings, they acquire immense wealth, they +display such victorious power of invasion that, however humbly they may +set foot in any country, they soon wholly possess it: souls, bodies, +power, and fortune alike falling to them. And they are particularly +zealous in founding schools, they show themselves to be incomparable +moulders of the human brain, well understanding that power always belongs +to the morrow, to the generations which are growing up and whose master +one must be if one desire to reign eternally. So great is their power, +based on the necessity of compromise with sin, that, on the morrow of the +Council of Trent, they transform the very spirit of Catholicism, +penetrate it, identify it with themselves and become the indispensable +soldiers of the papacy which lives by them and for them. And from that +moment Rome is theirs, Rome where their general so long commands, whence +so long go forth the directions for the obscure tactics which are blindly +followed by their innumerable army, whose skilful organisation covers the +globe as with an iron network hidden by the velvet of hands expert in +dealing gently with poor suffering humanity. But, after all, the most +prodigious feature is the stupefying vitality of the Jesuits who are +incessantly tracked, condemned, executed, and yet still and ever erect. +As soon as their power asserts itself, their unpopularity begins and +gradually becomes universal. Hoots of execration arise around them, +abominable accusations, scandalous law cases in which they appear as +corruptors and felons. Pascal devotes them to public contempt, +parliaments condemn their books to be burnt, universities denounce their +system of morals and their teaching as poisonous. They foment such +disturbances, such struggles in every kingdom, that organised persecution +sets in, and they are soon driven from everywhere. During more than a +century they become wanderers, expelled, then recalled, passing and +repassing frontiers, leaving a country amidst cries of hatred to return +to it as soon as quiet has been restored. Finally, for supreme disaster, +they are suppressed by one pope, but another re-establishes them, and +since then they have been virtually tolerated everywhere. And in the +diplomatic self-effacement, the shade in which they have the prudence to +sequester themselves, they are none the less triumphant, quietly +confident of their victory like soldiers who have once and for ever +subdued the earth. + +Pierre was aware that, judging by mere appearances, the Jesuits were +nowadays dispossessed of all influence in Rome. They no longer officiated +at the Gesu, they no longer directed the Collegio Romano, where they +formerly fashioned so many souls; and with no abode of their own, reduced +to accept foreign hospitality, they had modestly sought a refuge at the +Collegio Germanico, where there is a little chapel. There they taught and +there they still confessed, but without the slightest bustle or display. +Was one to believe, however, that this effacement was but masterly +cunning, a feigned disappearance in order that they might really remain +secret, all-powerful masters, the hidden hand which directs and guides +everything? People certainly said that the proclamation of papal +Infallibility had been their work, a weapon with which they had armed +themselves whilst feigning to bestow it on the papacy, in readiness for +the coming decisive task which their genius foresaw in the approaching +social upheavals. And thus there might perhaps be some truth in what Don +Vigilio, with a shiver of mystery, related about their occult +sovereignty, a seizin, as it were, of the government of the Church, a +royalty ignored but nevertheless complete. + +As this idea occurred to Pierre, a dim connection between certain of his +experiences arose in his mind and he all at once inquired: "Is Monsignor +Nani a Jesuit, then?" + +These words seemed to revive all Don Vigilio's anxious passion. He waved +his trembling hand, and replied: "He? Oh, he's too clever, too skilful by +far to have taken the robe. But he comes from that Collegio Romano where +his generation grew up, and he there imbibed that Jesuit genius which +adapted itself so well to his own. Whilst fully realising the danger of +wearing an unpopular and embarrassing livery, and wishing to be free, he +is none the less a Jesuit in his flesh, in his bones, in his very soul. +He is evidently convinced that the Church can only triumph by utilising +the passions of mankind, and withal he is very fond of the Church, very +pious at bottom, a very good priest, serving God without weakness in +gratitude for the absolute power which God gives to His ministers. And +besides, he is so charming, incapable of any brutal action, full of the +good breeding of his noble Venetian ancestors, and deeply versed in +knowledge of the world, thanks to his experiences at the nunciatures of +Paris, Vienna, and other places, without mentioning that he knows +everything that goes on by reason of the delicate functions which he has +discharged for ten years past as Assessor of the Holy Office. Yes, he is +powerful, all-powerful, and in him you do not have the furtive Jesuit +whose robe glides past amidst suspicion, but the head, the brain, the +leader whom no uniform designates." + +This reply made Pierre grave, for he was quite willing to admit that an +opportunist code of morals, like that of the Jesuits, was inoculable and +now predominated throughout the Church. Indeed, the Jesuits might +disappear, but their doctrine would survive them, since it was the one +weapon of combat, the one system of strategy which might again place the +nations under the dominion of Rome. And in reality the struggle which +continued lay precisely in the attempts to accommodate religion to the +century, and the century to religion. Such being the case, Pierre +realised that such men as Monsignor Nani might acquire vast and even +decisive importance. + +"Ah! if you knew, if you knew," continued Don Vigilio, "he's everywhere, +he has his hand in everything. For instance, nothing has ever happened +here, among the Boccaneras, but I've found him at the bottom of it, +tangling or untangling the threads according to necessities with which he +alone is acquainted." + +Then, in the unquenchable fever for confiding things which was now +consuming him, the secretary related how Monsignor Nani had most +certainly brought on Benedetta's divorce case. The Jesuits, in spite of +their conciliatory spirit, have always taken up a hostile position with +regard to Italy, either because they do not despair of reconquering Rome, +or because they wait to treat in due season with the ultimate and real +victor, whether King or Pope. And so Nani, who had long been one of Donna +Serafina's intimates, had helped to precipitate the rupture with Prada as +soon as Benedetta's mother was dead. Again, it was he who, to prevent any +interference on the part of the patriotic Abbe Pisoni, the young woman's +confessor and the artisan of her marriage, had urged her to take the same +spiritual director as her aunt, Father Lorenza, a handsome Jesuit with +clear and kindly eyes, whose confessional in the chapel of the Collegio +Germanico was incessantly besieged by penitents. And it seemed certain +that this manoeuvre had brought about everything; what one cleric working +for Italy had done, was to be undone by another working against Italy. +Why was it, however, that Nani, after bringing about the rupture, had +momentarily ceased to show all interest in the affair to the point even +of jeopardising the suit for the dissolution of the marriage? And why was +he now again busying himself with it, setting Donna Serafina in action, +prompting her to buy Monsignor Palma's support, and bringing his own +influence to bear on the cardinals of the Congregation? There was mystery +in all this, as there was in everything he did, for his schemes were +always complicated and distant in their effects. However, one might +suppose that he now wished to hasten the marriage of Benedetta and Dario, +in order to stop all the abominable rumours which were circulating in the +white world; unless, indeed, this divorce secured by pecuniary payments +and the pressure of notorious influences were an intentional scandal at +first spun out and now hastened, in order to harm Cardinal Boccanera, +whom the Jesuits might desire to brush aside in certain eventualities +which were possibly near at hand. + +"To tell the truth, I rather incline to the latter view," said Don +Vigilio, "the more so indeed as I learnt this evening that the Pope is +not well. With an old man of eighty-four the end may come at any moment, +and so the Pope can never catch cold but what the Sacred College and the +prelacies are all agog, stirred by sudden ambitious rivalries. Now, the +Jesuits have always opposed Cardinal Boccanera's candidature. They ought +to be on his side, on account of his rank, and his uncompromising +attitude towards Italy, but the idea of giving themselves such a master +disquiets them, for they consider him unseasonably rough and stern, too +violent in his faith, which unbending as it is would prove dangerous in +these diplomatic times through which the Church is passing. And so I +should in no wise be astonished if there were an attempt to discredit him +and render his candidature impossible, by employing the most underhand +and shameful means." + +A little quiver of fear was coming over Pierre. The contagion of the +unknown, of the black intrigues plotted in the dark, was spreading amidst +the silence of the night in the depths of that palace, near that Tiber, +in that Rome so full of legendary tragedies. But all at once the young +man's mind reverted to himself, to his own affair. "But what is my part +in all this?" he asked: "why does Monsignor Nani seem to take an interest +in me? Why is he mixed up in the proceedings against my book?" + +"Oh! one never knows, one never knows exactly!" replied Don Vigilio, +waving his arms. "One thing I can say, that he only knew of the affair +when the denunciations of the three bishops were already in the hands of +Father Dangelis; and I have also learnt that he then tried to stop the +proceedings, which he no doubt thought both useless and impolitic. But +when a matter is once before the Congregation it is almost impossible for +it to be withdrawn, and Monsignor Nani must also have come into collision +with Father Dangelis who, like a faithful Dominican, is the passionate +adversary of the Jesuits. It was then that he caused the Contessina to +write to Monsieur de la Choue, requesting him to tell you to hasten here +in order to defend yourself, and to arrange for your acceptance of +hospitality in this mansion, during your stay." + +This revelation brought Pierre's emotion to a climax. "You are sure of +that?" he asked. + +"Oh! quite sure. I heard Nani speak of you one Monday, and some time ago +I told you that he seemed to know all about you, as if he had made most +minute inquiries. My belief is that he had already read your book, and +was extremely preoccupied about it." + +"Do you think that he shares my ideas, then? Is he sincere, is he +defending himself while striving to defend me?" + +"Oh! no, no, not at all. Your ideas, why he certainly hates them, and +your book and yourself as well. You have no idea what contempt for the +weak, what hatred of the poor, and love of authority and domination he +conceals under his caressing amiability. Lourdes he might abandon to you, +though it embodies a marvellous weapon of government; but he will never +forgive you for being on the side of the little ones of the world, and +for pronouncing against the temporal power. If you only heard with what +gentle ferocity he derides Monsieur de la Choue, whom he calls the +weeping willow of Neo-Catholicism!" + +Pierre carried his hands to his temples and pressed his head +despairingly. "Then why, why, tell me I beg of you, why has he brought me +here and kept me here in this house at his disposal? Why has he +promenaded me up and down Rome for three long months, throwing me against +obstacles and wearying me, when it was so easy for him to let the Index +condemn my book if it embarrassed him? It's true, of course, that things +would not have gone quietly, for I was disposed to refuse submission and +openly confess my new faith, even against the decisions of Rome." + +Don Vigilio's black eyes flared in his yellow face: "Perhaps it was that +which he wished to prevent. He knows you to be very intelligent and +enthusiastic, and I have often heard him say that intelligence and +enthusiasm should not be fought openly." + +Pierre, however, had risen to his feet, and instead of listening, was +striding up and down the room as though carried away by the whirlwind of +his thoughts. "Come, come," he said at last, "it is necessary that I +should know and understand things if I am to continue the struggle. You +must be kind enough to give me some detailed particulars about each of +the persons mixed up in my affair. Jesuits, Jesuits everywhere? /Mon +Dieu/, it may be so, you are perhaps right! But all the same you must +point out the different shades to me. Now, for instance, what of that +Fornaro?" + +"Monsignor Fornaro, oh! he's whatever you like. Still he also was brought +up at the Collegio Romano, so you may be certain that he is a Jesuit, a +Jesuit by education, position, and ambition. He is longing to become a +cardinal, and if he some day becomes one, he'll long to be the next pope. +Besides, you know, every one here is a candidate to the papacy as soon as +he enters the seminary." + +"And Cardinal Sanguinetti?" + +"A Jesuit, a Jesuit! To speak plainly, he was one, then ceased to be one, +and is now undoubtedly one again. Sanguinetti has flirted with every +influence. It was long thought that he was in favour of conciliation +between the Holy See and Italy; but things drifted into a bad way, and he +violently took part against the usurpers. In the same style he has +frequently fallen out with Leo XIII and then made his peace. To-day at +the Vatican, he keeps on a footing of diplomatic reserve. Briefly he only +has one object, the tiara, and even shows it too plainly, which is a +mistake, for it uses up a candidate. Still, just at present the struggle +seems to be between him and Cardinal Boccanera. And that's why he has +gone over to the Jesuits again, utilising their hatred of his rival, and +anticipating that they will be forced to support /him/ in order to defeat +the other. But I doubt it, they are too shrewd, they will hesitate to +patronise a candidate who is already so compromised. He, blunder-head, +passionate and proud as he is, doubts nothing, and since you say that he +is now at Frascati, I'm certain that he made all haste to shut himself up +there with some grand strategical object in view, as soon as he heard of +the Pope's illness." + +"Well, and the Pope himself, Leo XIII?" asked Pierre. + +This time Don Vigilio slightly hesitated, his eyes blinking. Then he +said: "Leo XIII? He is a Jesuit, a Jesuit! Oh! I know it is said that he +sides with the Dominicans, and this is in a measure true, for he fancies +that he is animated with their spirit and he has brought St. Thomas into +favour again, and has restored all the ecclesiastical teaching of +doctrine. But there is also the Jesuit, remember, who is one +involuntarily and without knowing it, and of this category the present +Pope will prove the most famous example. Study his acts, investigate his +policy, and you will find that everything in it emanates from the Jesuit +spirit. The fact is that he has unwittingly become impregnated with that +spirit, and that all the influence, directly or indirectly brought to +bear on him comes from a Jesuit centre. Ah! why don't you believe me? I +repeat that the Jesuits have conquered and absorbed everything, that all +Rome belongs to them from the most insignificant cleric to his Holiness +in person." + +Then he continued, replying to each fresh name that Pierre gave with the +same obstinate, maniacal cry: "Jesuit, Jesuit!" It seemed as if a +Churchman could be nothing else, as if each answer were a confirmation of +the proposition that the clergy must compound with the modern world if it +desired to preserve its Deity. The heroic age of Catholicism was +accomplished, henceforth it could only live by dint of diplomacy and +ruses, concessions and arrangements. "And that Paparelli, he's a Jesuit +too, a Jesuit!" Don Vigilio went on, instinctively lowering his voice. +"Yes, the humble but terrible Jesuit, the Jesuit in his most abominable +/role/ as a spy and a perverter! I could swear that he has merely been +placed here in order to keep watch on his Eminence! And you should see +with what supple talent and craft he has performed his task, to such a +point indeed that it is now he alone who wills and orders things. He +opens the door to whomsoever he pleases, uses his master like something +belonging to him, weighs on each of his resolutions, and holds him in his +power by dint of his stealthy unremitting efforts. Yes! it's the lion +conquered by the insect; the infinitesimally small disposing of the +infinitely great; the train-bearer--whose proper part is to sit at his +cardinal's feet like a faithful hound--in reality reigning over him, and +impelling him in whatsoever direction he chooses. Ah! the Jesuit! the +Jesuit! Mistrust him when you see him gliding by in his shabby old +cassock, with the flabby wrinkled face of a devout old maid. And make +sure that he isn't behind the doors, or in the cupboards, or under the +beds. Ah! I tell you that they'll devour you as they've devoured me; and +they'll give you the fever too, perhaps even the plague if you are not +careful!" + +Pierre suddenly halted in front of his companion. He was losing all +assurance, both fear and rage were penetrating him. And, after all, why +not? These extraordinary stories must be true. "But in that case give me +some advice," he exclaimed, "I asked you to come in here this evening +precisely because I no longer know what to do, and need to be set in the +right path--" Then he broke off and again paced to and fro, as if urged +into motion by his exploding passion. "Or rather no, tell me nothing!" he +abruptly resumed. "It's all over; I prefer to go away. The thought +occurred to me before, but it was in a moment of cowardice and with the +idea of disappearing and of returning to live in peace in my little nook: +whereas now, if I go off, it will be as an avenger, a judge, to cry aloud +to all the world from Paris, to proclaim what I have seen in Rome, what +men have done there with the Christianity of Jesus, the Vatican falling +into dust, the corpse-like odour which comes from it, the idiotic +illusions of those who hope that they will one day see a renascence of +the modern soul arise from a sepulchre where the remnants of dead +centuries rot and slumber. Oh! I will not yield, I will not make my +submission, I will defend my book by a fresh one. And that book, I +promise you, will make some noise in the world, for it will sound the +last agony of a dying religion, which one must make all haste to bury +lest its remains should poison the nations!" + +All this was beyond Don Vigilio's mind. The Italian priest, with narrow +belief and ignorant terror of the new ideas, awoke within him. He clasped +his hands, affrighted. "Be quiet, be quiet! You are blaspheming! And, +besides, you cannot go off like that without again trying to see his +Holiness. He alone is sovereign. And I know that I shall surprise you; +but Father Dangelis has given you in jest the only good advice that can +be given: Go back to see Monsignor Nani, for he alone will open the door +of the Vatican for you." + +Again did Pierre give a start of anger: "What! It was with Monsignor Nani +that I began, from him that I set out; and I am to go back to him? What +game is that? Can I consent to be a shuttlecock sent flying hither and +thither by every battledore? People are having a game with me!" + +Then, harassed and distracted, the young man fell on his chair in front +of Don Vigilio, who with his face drawn by his prolonged vigil, and his +hands still and ever faintly trembling, remained for some time silent. At +last he explained that he had another idea. He was slightly acquainted +with the Pope's confessor, a Franciscan father, a man of great +simplicity, to whom he might recommend Pierre. This Franciscan, despite +his self-effacement, would perhaps prove of service to him. At all events +he might be tried. Then, once more, silence fell, and Pierre, whose +dreamy eyes were turned towards the wall, ended by distinguishing the old +picture which had touched him so deeply on the day of his arrival. In the +pale glow of the lamp it gradually showed forth and lived, like an +incarnation of his own case, his own futile despair before the sternly +closed portal of truth and justice. Ah! that outcast woman, that stubborn +victim of love, weeping amidst her streaming hair, her visage hidden +whilst with pain and grief she sank upon the steps of that palace whose +door was so pitilessly shut--how she resembled him! Draped with a mere +strip of linen, she was shivering, and amidst the overpowering distress +of her abandonment she did not reveal her secret, misfortune, or +transgression, whichever it might be. But he, behind her close-pressed +hands, endowed her with a face akin to his own: she became his sister, as +were all the poor creatures without roof or certainty who weep because +they are naked and alone, and wear out their strength in seeking to force +the wicked thresholds of men. He could never gaze at her without pitying +her, and it stirred him so much that evening to find her ever so unknown, +nameless and visageless, yet steeped in the most bitter tears, that he +suddenly began to question his companion. + +"Tell me," said he, "do you know who painted that old picture? It stirs +me to the soul like a masterpiece." + +Stupefied by this unexpected question, the secretary raised his head and +looked, feeling yet more astonished when he had examined the blackened, +forsaken panel in its sorry frame. + +"Where did it come from?" resumed Pierre; "why has it been stowed away in +this room?" + +"Oh!" replied Don Vigilio, with a gesture of indifference, "it's nothing. +There are heaps of valueless old paintings everywhere. That one, no +doubt, has always been here. But I don't know; I never noticed it +before." + +Whilst speaking he had at last risen to his feet, and this simple action +had brought on such a fit of shivering that he could scarcely take leave, +so violently did his teeth chatter with fever. "No, no, don't show me +out," he stammered, "keep the lamp here. And to conclude: the best course +is for you to leave yourself in the hands of Monsignor Nani, for he, at +all events, is a superior man. I told you on your arrival that, whether +you would or not, you would end by doing as he desired. And so what's the +use of struggling? And mind, not a word of our conversation to-night; it +would mean my death." + +Then he noiselessly opened the doors, glanced distrustfully into the +darkness of the passage, and at last ventured out and disappeared, +regaining his own room with such soft steps that not the faintest +footfall was heard amidst the tomb-like slumber of the old mansion. + +On the morrow, Pierre, again mastered by a desire to fight on to the very +end, got Don Vigilio to recommend him to the Pope's confessor, the +Franciscan friar with whom the secretary was slightly acquainted. +However, this friar proved to be an extremely timid if worthy man, +selected precisely on account of his great modesty, simplicity, and +absolute lack of influence in order that he might not abuse his position +with respect to the Holy Father. And doubtless there was an affectation +of humility on the latter's part in taking for confessor a member of the +humblest of the regular orders, a friend of the poor, a holy beggar of +the roads. At the same time the friar certainly enjoyed a reputation for +oratory; and hidden by a veil the Pope at times listened to his sermons; +for although as infallible Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII could not receive +lessons from any priest, it was admitted that as a man he might reap +profit by listening to good discourse. Nevertheless apart from his +natural eloquence, the worthy friar was really a mere washer of souls, a +confessor who listens and absolves without even remembering the +impurities which he removes in the waters of penitence. And Pierre, +finding him really so poor and such a cipher, did not insist on an +intervention which he realised would be futile. + +All that day the young priest was haunted by the figure of that ingenuous +lover of poverty, that delicious St. Francis, as Narcisse Habert was wont +to say. Pierre had often wondered how such an apostle, so gentle towards +both animate and inanimate creation, and so full of ardent charity for +the wretched, could have arisen in a country of egotism and enjoyment +like Italy, where the love of beauty alone has remained queen. Doubtless +the times have changed; yet what a strong sap of love must have been +needed in the old days, during the great sufferings of the middle ages, +for such a consoler of the humble to spring from the popular soil and +preach the gift of self to others, the renunciation of wealth, the horror +of brutal force, the equality and obedience which would ensure the peace +of the world. St. Francis trod the roads clad as one of the poorest, a +rope girdling his grey gown and his bare feet shod with sandals, and he +carried with him neither purse nor staff. And he and his brethren spoke +aloud and freely, with sovereign florescence of poetry and boldness of +truth, attacking the rich and the powerful, and daring even to denounce +the priests of evil life, the debauched, simoniacal, and perjured +bishops. A long cry of relief greeted the Franciscans, the people +followed them in crowds--they were the friends, the liberators of all the +humble ones who suffered. And thus, like revolutionaries, they at first +so alarmed Rome, that the popes hesitated to authorise their Order. When +they at last gave way it was assuredly with the hope of using this new +force for their own profit, by conquering the whole vague mass of the +lowly whose covert threats have ever growled through the ages, even in +the most despotic times. And thenceforward in the sons of St. Francis the +Church possessed an ever victorious army--a wandering army which spread +over the roads, in the villages and through the towns, penetrating to the +firesides of artisan and peasant, and gaining possession of all simple +hearts. How great the democratic power of such an Order which had sprung +from the very entrails of the people! And thence its rapid prosperity, +its teeming growth in a few years, friaries arising upon all sides, and +the third Order* so invading the secular population as to impregnate and +absorb it. And that there was here a genuine growth of the soil, a +vigorous vegetation of the plebeian stock was shown by an entire national +art arising from it--the precursors of the Renascence in painting and +even Dante himself, the soul of Italia's genius. + + * The Franciscans, like the Dominicans and others, admit, in + addition to the two Orders of friars and nuns, a third Order + comprising devout persons of either sex who have neither the + vocation nor the opportunity for cloistered life, but live in + the world, privately observing the chief principles of the + fraternity with which they are connected. In central and + southern Europe members of these third Orders are still + numerous.--Trans. + +For some days now, in the Rome of the present time, Pierre had been +coming into contact with those great Orders of the past. The Franciscans +and the Dominicans were there face to face in their vast convents of +prosperous aspect. But it seemed as if the humility of the Franciscans +had in the long run deprived them of influence. Perhaps, too, their +/role/ as friends and liberators of the people was ended since the people +now undertook to liberate itself. And so the only real remaining battle +was between the Dominicans and the Jesuits, both of whom still claimed to +mould the world according to their particular views. Warfare between them +was incessant, and Rome--the supreme power at the Vatican--was ever the +prize for which they contended. But, although the Dominicans had St. +Thomas on their side, they must have felt that their old dogmatic science +was crumbling, compelled as they were each day to surrender a little +ground to the Jesuits whose principles accorded better with the spirit of +the century. And, in addition to these, there were the white-robed +Carthusians, those very holy, pure, and silent meditators who fled from +the world into quiet cells and cloisters, those despairing and consoled +ones whose numbers may decrease but whose Order will live for ever, even +as grief and desire for solitude will live. And then there were the +Benedictines whose admirable rules have sanctified labour, passionate +toilers in literature and science, once powerful instruments of +civilisation, enlarging universal knowledge by their immense historical +and critical works. These Pierre loved, and with them would have sought a +refuge two centuries earlier, yet he was astonished to find them building +on the Aventine a huge dwelling, for which Leo XIII has already given +millions, as if the science of to-day and to-morrow were yet a field +where they might garner harvests. But /cui bono/, when the workmen have +changed, and dogmas are there to bar the road--dogmas which totter, no +doubt, but which believers may not fling aside in order to pass onward? +And finally came the swarm of less important Orders, hundreds in number; +there were the Carmelites, the Trappists, the Minims, the Barnabites, the +Lazzarists, the Eudists, the Mission Fathers, the Servites, the Brothers +of the Christian Doctrine; there were the Bernadines, the Augustinians, +the Theatines, the Observants, the Passionists, the Celestines, and the +Capuchins, without counting the corresponding Orders of women or the Poor +Clares, or the innumerable nuns like those of the Visitation and the +Calvary. Each community had its modest or sumptuous dwelling, certain +districts of Rome were entirely composed of convents, and behind the +silent lifeless facades all those people buzzed, intrigued, and waged the +everlasting warfare of rival interests and passions. The social evolution +which produced them had long since ceased, still they obstinately sought +to prolong their life, growing weaker and more useless day by day, +destined to a slow agony until the time shall come when the new +development of society will leave them neither foothold nor breathing +space. + +And it was not only with the regulars that Pierre came in contact during +his peregrinations through Rome; indeed, he more particularly had to deal +with the secular clergy, and learnt to know them well. A hierarchical +system which was still vigorously enforced maintained them in various +ranks and classes. Up above, around the Pope, reigned the pontifical +family, the high and noble cardinals and prelates whose conceit was great +in spite of their apparent familiarity. Below them the parish clergy +formed a very worthy middle class of wise and moderate minds; and here +patriot priests were not rare. Moreover, the Italian occupation of a +quarter of a century, by installing in the city a world of functionaries +who saw everything that went on, had, curiously enough, greatly purified +the private life of the Roman priesthood, in which under the popes women, +beyond all question, played a supreme part. And finally one came to the +plebeian clergy whom Pierre studied with curiosity, a collection of +wretched, grimy, half-naked priests who like famished animals prowled +around in search of masses, and drifted into disreputable taverns in the +company of beggars and thieves. However, he was more interested by the +floating population of foreign priests from all parts of Christendom--the +adventurers, the ambitious ones, the believers, the madmen whom Rome +attracted just as a lamp at night time attracts the insects of the gloom. +Among these were men of every nationality, position, and age, all lashed +on by their appetites and scrambling from morn till eve around the +Vatican, in order to snap at the prey which they hoped to secure. He +found them everywhere, and told himself with some shame that he was one +of them, that the unit of his own personality served to increase the +incredible number of cassocks that one encountered in the streets. Ah! +that ebb and flow, that ceaseless tide of black gowns and frocks of every +hue! With their processions of students ever walking abroad, the +seminaries of the different nations would alone have sufficed to drape +and decorate the streets, for there were the French and the English all +in black, the South Americans in black with blue sashes, the North +Americans in black with red sashes, the Poles in black with green sashes, +the Greeks in blue, the Germans in red, the Scots in violet, the Romans +in black or violet or purple, the Bohemians with chocolate sashes, the +Irish with red lappets, the Spaniards with blue cords, to say nothing of +all the others with broidery and bindings and buttons in a hundred +different styles. And in addition there were the confraternities, the +penitents, white, black, blue, and grey, with sleeveless frocks and capes +of different hue, grey, blue, black, or white. And thus even nowadays +Papal Rome at times seemed to resuscitate, and one could realise how +tenaciously and vivaciously she struggled on in order that she might not +disappear in the cosmopolitan Rome of the new era. However, Pierre, +whilst running about from one prelate to another, frequenting priests and +crossing churches, could not accustom himself to the worship, the Roman +piety which astonished him when it did not wound him. One rainy Sunday +morning, on entering Santa Maria Maggiore, he fancied himself in some +waiting-room, a very splendid one, no doubt, but where God seemed to have +no habitation. There was not a bench, not a chair in the nave, across +which people passed, as they might pass through a railway station, +wetting and soiling the precious mosaic pavement with their muddy shoes; +and tired women and children sat round the bases of the columns, even as +in railway stations one sees people sitting and waiting for their trains +during the great crushes of the holiday season. And for this tramping +throng of folks of small degree, who had looked in /en passant/, a priest +was saying a low mass in a side chapel, before which a narrow file of +standing people had gathered, extending across the nave, and recalling +the crowds which wait in front of theatres for the opening of the doors. +At the elevation of the host one and all inclined themselves devoutly, +but almost immediately afterwards the gathering dispersed. And indeed why +linger? The mass was said. Pierre everywhere found the same form of +attendance, peculiar to the countries of the sun; the worshippers were in +a hurry and only favoured the Deity with short familiar visits, unless it +were a question of some gala scene at San Paolo or San Giovanni in +Laterano or some other of the old basilicas. It was only at the Gesu, on +another Sunday morning, that the young priest came upon a high-mass +congregation, which reminded him of the devout throngs of the North. Here +there were benches and women seated, a worldly warmth and cosiness under +the luxurious, gilded, carved, and painted roof, whose tawny splendour is +very fine now that time has toned down the eccentricities of the +decoration. But how many of the churches were empty, among them some of +the most ancient and venerable, San Clemente, Sant' Agnese, Santa Croce +in Gerusalemme, where during the offices one saw but a few believers of +the neighbourhood. Four hundred churches were a good many for even Rome +to people; and, indeed, some were merely attended on fixed ceremonial +occasions, and a good many merely opened their doors once every year--on +the feast day, that is, of their patron saint. Some also subsisted on the +lucky possession of a fetish, an idol compassionate to human sufferings. +Santa Maria in Ara Coeli possessed the miraculous little Jesus, the +"Bambino," who healed sick children, and Sant' Agostino had the "Madonna +del Parto," who grants a happy delivery to mothers. Then others were +renowned for the holy water of their fonts, the oil of their lamps, the +power of some wooden saint or marble virgin. Others again seemed +forsaken, given up to tourists and the perquisites of beadles, like mere +museums peopled with dead gods: Finally others disturbed one's faith by +the suggestiveness of their aspects, as, for instance, that Santa Maria +Rotonda, which is located in the Pantheon, a circular hall recalling a +circus, where the Virgin remains the evident tenant of the Olympian +deities. + +Pierre took no little interest in the churches of the poor districts, but +did not find there the keen faith and the throngs he had hoped for. One +afternoon, at Santa Maria in Trastevere, he heard the choir in full song, +but the church was quite empty, and the chant had a most lugubrious sound +in such a desert. Then, another day, on entering San Crisogono, he found +it draped, probably in readiness for some festival on the morrow. The +columns were cased with red damask, and between them were hangings and +curtains alternately yellow and blue, white and red; and the young man +fled from such a fearful decoration as gaudy as that of a fair booth. Ah! +how far he was from the cathedrals where in childhood he had believed and +prayed! On all sides he found the same type of church, the antique +basilica accommodated to the taste of eighteenth-century Rome. Though the +style of San Luigi dei Francesi is better, more soberly elegant, the only +thing that touched him even there was the thought of the heroic or +saintly Frenchmen, who sleep in foreign soil beneath the flags. And as he +sought for something Gothic, he ended by going to see Santa Maria sopra +Minerva,* which, he was told, was the only example of the Gothic style in +Rome. Here his stupefaction attained a climax at sight of the clustering +columns cased in stucco imitating marble, the ogives which dared not +soar, the rounded vaults condemned to the heavy majesty of the dome +style. No, no, thought he, the faith whose cooling cinders lingered there +was no longer that whose brazier had invaded and set all Christendom +aglow! However, Monsignor Fornaro whom he chanced to meet as he was +leaving the church, inveighed against the Gothic style as rank heresy. +The first Christian church, said the prelate, had been the basilica, +which had sprung from the temple, and it was blasphemy to assert that the +Gothic cathedral was the real Christian house of prayer, for Gothic +embodied the hateful Anglo-Saxon spirit, the rebellious genius of Luther. +At this a passionate reply rose to Pierre's lips, but he said nothing for +fear that he might say too much. However, he asked himself whether in all +this there was not a decisive proof that Catholicism was the very +vegetation of Rome, Paganism modified by Christianity. Elsewhere +Christianity has grown up in quite a different spirit, to such a point +that it has risen in rebellion and schismatically turned against the +mother-city. And the breach has ever gone on widening, the dissemblance +has become more and more marked; and amidst the evolution of new +societies, yet a fresh schism appears inevitable and proximate in spite +of all the despairing efforts to maintain union. + + * So called because it occupies the site of a temple to + Minerva.--Trans. + +While Pierre thus visited the Roman churches, he also continued his +efforts to gain support in the matter of his book, his irritation tending +to such stubbornness, that if in the first instance he failed to obtain +an interview, he went back again and again to secure one, steadfastly +keeping his promise to call in turn upon each cardinal of the +Congregation of the Index. And as a cardinal may belong to several +Congregations, it resulted that he gradually found himself roaming +through those former ministries of the old pontifical government which, +if less numerous than formerly, are still very intricate institutions, +each with its cardinal-prefect, its cardinal-members, its consultative +prelates, and its numerous employees. Pierre repeatedly had to return to +the Cancelleria, where the Congregation of the Index meets, and lost +himself in its world of staircases, corridors, and halls. From the moment +he passed under the porticus he was overcome by the icy shiver which fell +from the old walls, and was quite unable to appreciate the bare, frigid +beauty of the palace, Bramante's masterpiece though it be, so purely +typical of the Roman Renascence. He also knew the Propaganda where he had +seen Cardinal Sarno; and, sent as he was hither and thither, in his +efforts to gain over influential prelates, chance made him acquainted +with the other Congregations, that of the Bishops and Regulars, that of +the Rites and that of the Council. He even obtained a glimpse of the +Consistorial, the Dataria,* and the sacred Penitentiary. All these formed +part of the administrative mechanism of the Church under its several +aspects--the government of the Catholic world, the enlargement of the +Church's conquests, the administration of its affairs in conquered +countries, the decision of all questions touching faith, morals, and +individuals, the investigation and punishment of offences, the grant of +dispensations and the sale of favours. One can scarcely imagine what a +fearful number of affairs are each morning submitted to the Vatican, +questions of the greatest gravity, delicacy, and intricacy, the solution +of which gives rise to endless study and research. It is necessary to +reply to the innumerable visitors who flock to Rome from all parts, and +to the letters, the petitions, and the batches of documents which are +submitted and require to be distributed among the various offices. And +Pierre was struck by the deep and discreet silence in which all this +colossal labour was accomplished; not a sound reaching the streets from +the tribunals, parliaments, and factories for the manufacture of saints +and nobles, whose mechanism was so well greased, that in spite of the +rust of centuries and the deep and irremediable wear and tear, the whole +continued working without clank or creak to denote its presence behind +the walls. And did not that silence embody the whole policy of the +Church, which is to remain mute and await developments? Nevertheless what +a prodigious mechanism it was, antiquated no doubt, but still so +powerful! And amidst those Congregations how keenly Pierre felt himself +to be in the grip of the most absolute power ever devised for the +domination of mankind. However much he might notice signs of decay and +coming ruin he was none the less seized, crushed, and carried off by that +huge engine made up of vanity and venality, corruption and ambition, +meanness and greatness. And how far, too, he now was from the Rome that +he had dreamt of, and what anger at times filled him amidst his +weariness, as he persevered in his resolve to defend himself! + + * It is from the Dataria that bulls, rescripts, letters of + appointment to benefices, and dispensations of marriage, + are issued, after the affixture of the date and formula + /Datum Romae/, "Given at Rome."--Trans. + +All at once certain things which he had never understood were explained +to him. One day, when he returned to the Propaganda, Cardinal Sarno spoke +to him of Freemasonry with such icy rage that he was abruptly +enlightened. Freemasonry had hitherto made him smile; he had believed in +it no more than he had believed in the Jesuits. Indeed, he had looked +upon the ridiculous stories which were current--the stories of +mysterious, shadowy men who governed the world with secret incalculable +power--as mere childish legends. In particular he had been amazed by the +blind hatred which maddened certain people as soon as Freemasonry was +mentioned. However, a very distinguished and intelligent prelate had +declared to him, with an air of profound conviction, that at least on one +occasion every year each masonic Lodge was presided over by the Devil in +person, incarnate in a visible shape! And now, by Cardinal Sarno's +remarks, he understood the rivalry, the furious struggle of the Roman +Catholic Church against that other Church, the Church of over the way.* +Although the former counted on her own triumph, she none the less felt +that the other, the Church of Freemasonry, was a competitor, a very +ancient enemy, who indeed claimed to be more ancient than herself, and +whose victory always remained a possibility. And the friction between +them was largely due to the circumstance that they both aimed at +universal sovereignty, and had a similar international organisation, a +similar net thrown over the nations, and in a like way mysteries, dogmas, +and rites. It was deity against deity, faith against faith, conquest +against conquest: and so, like competing tradesmen in the same street, +they were a source of mutual embarrassment, and one of them was bound to +kill the other. But if Roman Catholicism seemed to Pierre to be worn out +and threatened with ruin, he remained quite as sceptical with regard to +the power of Freemasonry. He had made inquiries as to the reality of that +power in Rome, where both Grand Master and Pope were enthroned, one in +front of the other. He was certainly told that the last Roman princes had +thought themselves compelled to become Freemasons in order to render +their own difficult position somewhat easier and facilitate the future of +their sons. But was this true? had they not simply yielded to the force +of the present social evolution? And would not Freemasonry eventually be +submerged by its own triumph--that of the ideas of justice, reason, and +truth, which it had defended through the dark and violent ages of +history? It is a thing which constantly happens; the victory of an idea +kills the sect which has propagated it, and renders the apparatus with +which the members of the sect surrounded themselves, in order to fire +imaginations, both useless and somewhat ridiculous. Carbonarism did not +survive the conquest of the political liberties which it demanded; and on +the day when the Catholic Church crumbles, having accomplished its work +of civilisation, the other Church, the Freemasons' Church of across the +road, will in a like way disappear, its task of liberation ended. +Nowadays the famous power of the Lodges, hampered by traditions, weakened +by a ceremonial which provokes laughter, and reduced to a simple bond of +brotherly agreement and mutual assistance, would be but a sorry weapon of +conquest for humanity, were it not that the vigorous breath of science +impels the nations onwards and helps to destroy the old religions. + + * Some readers may think the above passages an exaggeration, but + such is not the case. The hatred with which the Catholic + priesthood, especially in Italy, Spain, and France, regards + Freemasonry is remarkable. At the moment of writing these lines + I have before me several French clerical newspapers, which + contain the most abusive articles levelled against President + Faure solely because he is a Freemason. One of these prints, a + leading journal of Lyons, tells the French President that he + cannot serve both God and the Devil; and that if he cannot give + up Freemasonry he would do well to cease desecrating the abode + of the Deity by his attendance at divine service.--Trans. + +However, all Pierre's journeyings and applications brought him no +certainty; and, while stubbornly clinging to Rome, intent on fighting to +the very end, like a soldier who will not believe in the possibility of +defeat, he remained as anxious as ever. He had seen all the cardinals +whose influence could be of use to him. He had seen the Cardinal Vicar, +entrusted with the diocese of Rome, who, like the man of letters he was, +had spoken to him of Horace, and, like a somewhat blundering politician, +had questioned him about France, the Republic, the Army, and the Navy +Estimates, without dealing in the slightest degree with the incriminated +book. He had also seen the Grand Penitentiary, that tall old man, with +fleshless, ascetic face, of whom he had previously caught a glimpse at +the Boccanera mansion, and from whom he now only drew a long and severe +sermon on the wickedness of young priests, whom the century had perverted +and who wrote most abominable books. Finally, at the Vatican, he had seen +the Cardinal Secretary, in some wise his Holiness's Minister of Foreign +Affairs, the great power of the Holy See, whom he had hitherto been +prevented from approaching by terrifying warnings as to the possible +result of an unfavourable reception. However, whilst apologising for +calling at such a late stage, he had found himself in presence of a most +amiable man, whose somewhat rough appearance was softened by diplomatic +affability, and who, after making him sit down, questioned him with an +air of interest, listened to him, and even spoke some words of comfort. +Nevertheless, on again reaching the Piazza of St. Peter's, Pierre well +understood that his affair had not made the slightest progress, and that +if he ever managed to force the Pope's door, it would not be by way of +the Secretariate of State. And that evening he returned home quite +exhausted by so many visits, in such distraction at feeling that little +by little he had been wholly caught in that huge mechanism with its +hundred wheels, that he asked himself in terror what he should do on the +morrow now that there remained nothing for him to do--unless, indeed, it +were to go mad. + +However, meeting Don Vigilio in a passage of the house, he again wished +to ask him for some good advice. But the secretary, who had a gleam of +terror in his eyes, silenced him, he knew not why, with an anxious +gesture. And then in a whisper, in Pierre's ear, he said: "Have you seen +Monsignor Nani? No! Well, go to see him, go to see him. I repeat that you +have nothing else to do!" + +Pierre yielded. And indeed why should he have resisted? Apart from the +motives of ardent charity which had brought him to Rome to defend his +book, was he not there for a self-educating, experimental purpose? It was +necessary that he should carry his attempts to the very end. + +On the morrow, when he reached the colonnade of St. Peter's, the hour was +so early that he had to wait there awhile. He had never better realised +the enormity of those four curving rows of columns, forming a forest of +gigantic stone trunks among which nobody ever promenades. In fact, the +spot is a grandiose and dreary desert, and one asks oneself the why and +wherefore of such a majestic porticus. Doubtless, however, it was for its +sole majesty, for the mere pomp of decoration, that this colonnade was +reared; and therein, again, one finds the whole Roman spirit. However, +Pierre at last turned into the Via di Sant' Offizio, and passing the +sacristy of St. Peter's, found himself before the Palace of the Holy +Office in a solitary silent district, which the footfall of pedestrians +or the rumble of wheels but seldom disturbs. The sun alone lives there, +in sheets of light which spread slowly over the small, white paving. You +divine the vicinity of the Basilica, for there is a smell as of incense, +a cloisteral quiescence as of the slumber of centuries. And at one corner +the Palace of the Holy Office rises up with heavy, disquieting bareness, +only a single row of windows piercing its lofty, yellow front. The wall +which skirts a side street looks yet more suspicious with its row of even +smaller casements, mere peep-holes with glaucous panes. In the bright +sunlight this huge cube of mud-coloured masonry ever seems asleep, +mysterious, and closed like a prison, with scarcely an aperture for +communication with the outer world. + +Pierre shivered, but then smiled as at an act of childishness, for he +reflected that the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition, nowadays the +Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, was no longer the institution it +had been, the purveyor of heretics for the stake, the occult tribunal +beyond appeal which had right of life and death over all mankind. True, +it still laboured in secrecy, meeting every Wednesday, and judging and +condemning without a sound issuing from within its walls. But on the +other hand if it still continued to strike at the crime of heresy, if it +smote men as well as their works, it no longer possessed either weapons +or dungeons, steel or fire to do its bidding, but was reduced to a mere +/role/ of protest, unable to inflict aught but disciplinary penalties +even upon the ecclesiastics of its own Church. + +When Pierre on entering was ushered into the reception-room of Monsignor +Nani who, as assessor, lived in the palace, he experienced an agreeable +surprise. The apartment faced the south, and was spacious and flooded +with sunshine. And stiff as was the furniture, dark as were the hangings, +an exquisite sweetness pervaded the room, as though a woman had lived in +it and accomplished the prodigy of imparting some of her own grace to all +those stern-looking things. There were no flowers, yet there was a +pleasant smell. A charm expanded and conquered every heart from the very +threshold. + +Monsignor Nani at once came forward, with a smile on his rosy face, his +blue eyes keenly glittering, and his fine light hair powdered by age. +With hands outstretched, he exclaimed: "Ah! how kind of you to have come +to see me, my dear son! Come, sit down, let us have a friendly chat." +Then with an extraordinary display of affection, he began to question +Pierre: "How are you getting on? Tell me all about it, exactly what you +have done." + +Touched in spite of Don Vigilio's revelations, won over by the sympathy +which he fancied he could detect, Pierre thereupon confessed himself, +relating his visits to Cardinal Sarno, Monsignor Fornaro and Father +Dangelis, his applications to all the influential cardinals, those of the +Index, the Grand Penitentiary, the Cardinal Vicar, and the Cardinal +Secretary; and dwelling on his endless journeys from door to door through +all the Congregations and all the clergy, that huge, active, silent +bee-hive amidst which he had wearied his feet, exhausted his limbs, and +bewildered his poor brain. And at each successive Station of this Calvary +of entreaty, Monsignor Nani, who seemed to listen with an air of rapture, +exclaimed: "But that's very good, that's capital! Oh! your affair is +progressing. Yes, yes, it's progressing marvellously well." + +He was exultant, though he allowed no unseemly irony to appear, while his +pleasant, penetrating eyes fathomed the young priest, to ascertain if he +had been brought to the requisite degree of obedience. Had he been +sufficiently wearied, disillusioned and instructed in the reality of +things, for one to finish with him? Had three months' sojourn in Rome +sufficed to turn the somewhat mad enthusiast of the first days into an +unimpassioned or at least resigned being? + +However, all at once Monsignor Nani remarked: "But, my dear son, you tell +me nothing of his Eminence Cardinal Sanguinetti." + +"The fact is, Monseigneur, that his Eminence is at Frascati, so I have +been unable to see him." + +Thereupon the prelate, as if once more postponing the /denouement/ with +the secret enjoyment of an artistic /diplomate/, began to protest, +raising his little plump hands with the anxious air of a man who +considers everything lost: "Oh! but you must see his Eminence; it is +absolutely necessary! Think of it! The Prefect of the Index! We can only +act after your visit to him, for as you have not seen /him/ it is as if +you had seen nobody. Go, go to Frascati, my dear son." + +And thereupon Pierre could only bow and reply: "I will go, Monseigneur." + + + +XI + +ALTHOUGH Pierre knew that he would be unable to see Cardinal Sanguinetti +before eleven o'clock, he nevertheless availed himself of an early train, +so that it was barely nine when he alighted at the little station of +Frascati. He had already visited the place during his enforced idleness, +when he had made the classical excursion to the Roman castles which +extend from Frascati to Rocco di Papa, and from Rocco di Papa to Monte +Cavo, and he was now delighted with the prospect of strolling for a +couple of hours along those first slopes of the Alban hills, where, +amidst rushes, olives, and vines, Frascati, like a promontory, overlooks +the immense ruddy sea of the Campagna even as far as Rome, which, six +full leagues away, wears the whitish aspect of a marble isle. + +Ah! that charming Frascati, on its greeny knoll at the foot of the wooded +Tusculan heights, with its famous terrace whence one enjoys the finest +view in the world, its old patrician villas with proud and elegant +Renascence facades and magnificent parks, which, planted with cypress, +pine, and ilex, are for ever green! There was a sweetness, a delight, a +fascination about the spot, of which Pierre would have never wearied. And +for more than an hour he had wandered blissfully along roads edged with +ancient, knotty olive-trees, along dingle ways shaded by the spreading +foliage of neighbouring estates, and along perfumed paths, at each turn +of which the Campagna was seen stretching far away, when all at once he +was accosted by a person whom he was both surprised and annoyed to meet. +He had strolled down to some low ground near the railway station, some +old vineyards where a number of new houses had been built of recent +years, and suddenly saw a stylish pair-horse victoria, coming from the +direction of Rome, draw up close by, whilst its occupant called to him: +"What! Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, are you taking a walk here, at this early +hour?" + +Thereupon Pierre recognised Count Luigi Prada, who alighted, shook hands +with him and began to walk beside him, whilst the empty carriage went on +in advance. And forthwith the Count explained his tastes: "I seldom take +the train," he said, "I drive over. It gives my horses an outing. I have +interests over here as you may know, a big building enterprise which is +unfortunately not progressing very well. And so, although the season is +advanced, I'm obliged to come rather more frequently than I care to do." + +As Prada suggested, Pierre was acquainted with the story. The Boccaneras +had been obliged to sell a sumptuous villa which a cardinal of their +family had built at Frascati in accordance with the plans of Giacomo +della Porta, during the latter part of the sixteenth century: a regal +summer-residence it had been, finely wooded, with groves and basins and +cascades, and in particular a famous terrace projecting like a cape above +the Roman Campagna whose expanse stretches from the Sabine mountains to +the Mediterranean sands. Through the division of the property, Benedetta +had inherited from her mother some very extensive vineyards below +Frascati, and these she had brought as dowry to Prada at the very moment +when the building mania was extending from Rome into the provinces. And +thereupon Prada had conceived the idea of erecting on the spot a number +of middle-class villas like those which litter the suburbs of Paris. Few +purchasers, however, had come forward, the financial crash had +supervened, and he was now with difficulty liquidating this unlucky +business, having indemnified his wife at the time of their separation. + +"And then," he continued, addressing Pierre, "one can come and go as one +likes with a carriage, whereas, on taking the train, one is at the mercy +of the time table. This morning, for instance, I have appointments with +contractors, experts, and lawyers, and I have no notion how long they +will keep me. It's a wonderful country, isn't it? And we are quite right +to be proud of it in Rome. Although I may have some worries just now, I +can never set foot here without my heart beating with delight." + +A circumstance which he did not mention, was that his /amica/, Lisbeth +Kauffmann, had spent the summer in one of the newly erected villas, where +she had installed her studio and had been visited by all the foreign +colony, which tolerated her irregular position on account of her gay +spirits and artistic talent. Indeed, people had even ended by accepting +the outcome of her connection with Prada, and a fortnight previously she +had returned to Rome, and there given birth to a son--an event which had +again revived all the scandalous tittle-tattle respecting Benedetta's +divorce suit. And Prada's attachment to Frascati doubtless sprang from +the recollection of the happy hours he had spent there, and the joyful +pride with which the birth of the boy inspired him. + +Pierre, for his part, felt ill at ease in the young Count's presence, for +he had an instinctive hatred of money-mongers and men of prey. +Nevertheless, he desired to respond to his amiability, and so inquired +after his father, old Orlando, the hero of the Liberation. + +"Oh!" replied Prada, "excepting for his legs he's in wonderfully good +health. He'll live a hundred years. Poor father! I should so much have +liked to install him in one of these little houses, last summer. But I +could not get him to consent; he's determined not to leave Rome; he's +afraid, perhaps, that it might be taken away from him during his +absence." Then the young Count burst into a laugh, quite merry at the +thought of jeering at the heroic but no longer fashionable age of +independence. And afterwards he said, "My father was speaking of you +again only yesterday, Monsieur l'Abbe. He is astonished that he has not +seen you lately." + +This distressed Pierre, for he had begun to regard Orlando with +respectful affection. Since his first visit, he had twice called on the +old hero, but the latter had refused to broach the subject of Rome so +long as his young friend should not have seen, felt, and understood +everything. There would be time for a talk later on, said he, when they +were both in a position to formulate their conclusions. + +"Pray tell Count Orlando," responded Pierre, "that I have not forgotten +him, and that, if I have deferred a fresh visit, it is because I desire +to satisfy him. However, I certainly will not leave Rome without going to +tell him how deeply his kind greeting has touched me." + +Whilst talking, the two men slowly followed the ascending road past the +newly erected villas, several of which were not yet finished. And when +Prada learned that the priest had come to call on Cardinal Sanguinetti, +he again laughed, with the laugh of a good-natured wolf, showing his +white fangs. "True," he exclaimed, "the Cardinal has been here since the +Pope has been laid up. Ah! you'll find him in a pretty fever." + +"Why?" + +"Why, because there's bad news about the Holy Father this morning. When I +left Rome it was rumoured that he had spent a fearful night." + +So speaking, Prada halted at a bend of the road, not far from an antique +chapel, a little church of solitary, mournful grace of aspect, on the +verge of an olive grove. Beside it stood a ruinous building, the old +parsonage, no doubt, whence there suddenly emerged a tall, knotty priest +with coarse and earthy face, who, after roughly locking the door, went +off in the direction of the town. + +"Ah!" resumed the Count in a tone of raillery, "that fellow's heart also +must be beating violently; he's surely gone to your Cardinal in search of +news." + +Pierre had looked at the priest. "I know him," he replied; "I saw him, I +remember, on the day after my arrival at Cardinal Boccanera's. He brought +the Cardinal a basket of figs and asked him for a certificate in favour +of his young brother, who had been sent to prison for some deed of +violence--a knife thrust if I recollect rightly. However, the Cardinal +absolutely refused him the certificate." + +"It's the same man," said Prada, "you may depend on it. He was often at +the Villa Boccanera formerly; for his young brother was gardener there. +But he's now the client, the creature of Cardinal Sanguinetti. Santobono +his name is, and he's a curious character, such as you wouldn't find in +France, I fancy. He lives all alone in that falling hovel, and officiates +at that old chapel of St. Mary in the Fields, where people don't go to +hear mass three times in a year. Yes, it's a perfect sinecure, which with +its stipend of a thousand francs enables him to live there like a peasant +philosopher, cultivating the somewhat extensive garden whose big walls +you see yonder." + +The close to which he called attention stretched down the slope behind +the parsonage, without an aperture, like some savage place of refuge into +which not even the eye could penetrate. And all that could be seen above +the left-hand wall was a superb, gigantic fig-tree, whose big leaves +showed blackly against the clear sky. Prada had moved on again, and +continued to speak of Santobono, who evidently interested him. Fancy, a +patriot priest, a Garibaldian! Born at Nemi, in that yet savage nook +among the Alban hills, he belonged to the people and was still near to +the soil. However, he had studied, and knew sufficient history to realise +the past greatness of Rome, and dream of the re-establishment of Roman +dominion as represented by young Italy. And he had come to believe, with +passionate fervour, that only a great pope could realise his dream by +seizing upon power, and then conquering all the other nations. And what +could be easier, since the Pope commanded millions of Catholics? Did not +half Europe belong to him? France, Spain, and Austria would give way as +soon as they should see him powerful, dictating laws to the world. +Germany and Great Britain, indeed all the Protestant countries, would +also inevitably be conquered, for the papacy was the only dike that could +be opposed to error, which must some day fatally succumb in its efforts +against such a barrier. Politically, however, Santobono had declared +himself for Germany, for he considered that France needed to be crushed +before she would throw herself into the arms of the Holy Father. And thus +contradictions and fancies clashed in his foggy brain, whose burning +ideas swiftly turned to violence under the influence of primitive, racial +fierceness. Briefly, the priest was a barbarian upholder of the Gospel, a +friend of the humble and woeful, a sectarian of that school which is +capable alike of great virtues and great crimes. + +"Yes," concluded Prada, "he is now devoted to Cardinal Sanguinetti +because he believes that the latter will prove the great pope of +to-morrow, who is to make Rome the one capital of the nations. At the +same time he doubtless harbours a lower personal ambition, that of +attaining to a canonry or of gaining assistance in the little worries of +life, as when he wished to extricate his brother from trouble. Here, you +know, people stake their luck on a cardinal just as they nurse a 'trey' +in the lottery, and if their cardinal proves the winning number and +becomes pope they gain a fortune. And that's why you now see Santobono +striding along yonder, all anxiety to know if Leo XIII will die and +Sanguinetti don the tiara." + +"Do you think the Pope so very ill, then?" asked Pierre, both anxious and +interested. + +The Count smiled and raised both arms: "Ah!" said he, "can one ever tell? +They all get ill when their interest lies that way. However, I believe +that the Pope is this time really indisposed; a complaint of the bowels, +it is said; and at his age, you know, the slightest indisposition may +prove fatal." + +The two men took a few steps in silence, then the priest again asked a +question: "Would Cardinal Sanguinetti have a great chance if the Holy See +were vacant?" + +"A great chance! Ah! that's another of those things which one never +knows. The truth is people class Sanguinetti among the acceptable +candidates, and if personal desire sufficed he would certainly be the +next pope, for ambition consumes him to the marrow, and he displays +extraordinary passion and determination in his efforts to succeed. But +therein lies his very weakness; he is using himself up, and he knows it. +And so he must be resolved to every step during the last days of battle. +You may be quite sure that if he has shut himself up here at this +critical time, it is in order that he may the better direct his +operations from a distance, whilst at the same time feigning a retreat, a +disinterestedness which is bound to have a good effect." + +Then Prada began to expatiate on Sanguinetti with no little complacency, +for he liked the man's spirit of intrigue, his keen, conquering appetite, +his excessive, and even somewhat blundering activity. He had become +acquainted with him on his return from the nunciature at Vienna, when he +had already resolved to win the tiara. That ambition explained +everything, his quarrels and reconciliations with the reigning pope, his +affection for Germany, followed by a sudden evolution in the direction of +France, his varying attitude with regard to Italy, at first a desire for +agreement, and then absolute rejection of all compromises, a refusal to +grant any concession, so long as Rome should not be evacuated. This, +indeed, seemed to be Sanguinetti's definite position; he made a show of +disliking the wavering sway of Leo XIII, and of retaining a fervent +admiration for Pius IX, the great, heroic pope of the days of resistance, +whose goodness of heart had proved no impediment to unshakable firmness. +And all this was equivalent to a promise that he, Sanguinetti, would +again make kindliness exempt from weakness, the rule of the Church, and +would steer clear of the dangerous compounding of politics. At bottom, +however, politics were his only dream, and he had even formulated a +complete programme of intentional vagueness, which his clients and +creatures spread abroad with an air of rapturous mystery. However, since +a previous indisposition of the Pope's, during the spring, he had been +living in mortal disquietude, for it had then been rumoured that the +Jesuits would resign themselves to support Cardinal Pio Boccanera, +although the latter scarcely favoured them. He was rough and stern, no +doubt, and his extreme bigotry might be a source of danger in this +tolerant age; but, on the other hand, was he not a patrician, and would +not his election imply that the papacy would never cease to claim the +temporal power? From that moment Boccanera had been the one man whom +Sanguinetti feared, for he beheld himself despoiled of his prize, and +spent his time in devising plans to rid himself of such a powerful rival, +repeating abominable stories of Cardinal Pio's alleged complaisance with +regard to Benedetta and Dario, and incessantly representing him as +Antichrist, the man of sin, whose reign would consummate the ruin of the +papacy. Finally, to regain the support of the Jesuits, Sanguinetti's last +idea was to repeat through his familiars that for his part he would not +merely maintain the principle of the temporal power intact, but would +even undertake to regain that power. And he had a full plan on the +subject, which folks confided to one another in whispers, a plan which, +in spite of its apparent concessions, would lead to the overwhelming +victory of the Church. It was to raise the prohibition which prevented +Catholics from voting or becoming candidates at the Italian elections; to +send a hundred, then two hundred, and then three hundred deputies to the +Chamber, and in that wise to overthrow the House of Savoy, and establish +a Federation of the Italian provinces, whereof the Holy Father, once more +placed in possession of Rome, would become the august and sovereign +President. + +As Prada finished he again laughed, showing his white teeth--teeth which +would never readily relinquish the prey they held. "So you see," he +added, "we need to defend ourselves, since it's a question of turning us +out. Fortunately, there are some little obstacles in the way of that. +Nevertheless, such dreams naturally have great influence on excited +minds, such as that of Santobono, for instance. He's a man whom one word +from Sanguinetti would lead far indeed. Ah! he has good legs. Look at him +up yonder, he has already reached the Cardinal's little palace--that +white villa with the sculptured balconies." + +Pierre raised his eyes and perceived the episcopal residence, which was +one of the first houses of Frascati. Of modern construction and +Renascence style, it overlooked the immensity of the Roman Campagna. + +It was now eleven o'clock, and as the young priest, before going up to +pay his own visit, bade the Count good-bye, the latter for a moment kept +hold of his hand. "Do you know," said he, "it would be very kind of you +to lunch with me--will you? Come and join me at that restaurant yonder +with the pink front as soon as you are at liberty. I shall have settled +my own business in an hour's time, and I shall be delighted to have your +company at table." + +Pierre began by declining, but he could offer no possible excuse, and at +last surrendered, won over, despite himself, by Prada's real charm of +manner. When they had parted, the young priest only had to climb a street +in order to reach the Cardinal's door. With his natural expansiveness and +craving for popularity, Sanguinetti was easy of access, and at Frascati +in particular his doors were flung open even to the most humble cassocks. +So Pierre was at once ushered in, a circumstance which somewhat surprised +him, for he remembered the bad humour of the servant whom he had seen on +calling at the Cardinal's residence in Rome, when he had been advised to +forego the journey, as his Eminence did not like to be disturbed when he +was ill. However, nothing spoke of illness in that pleasant villa, +flooded with sunshine. True, the waiting-room, where he was momentarily +left alone, displayed neither luxury nor comfort; but it was brightened +by the finest light in the world, and overlooked that extraordinary +Campagna, so flat, so bare, and so unique in its beauty, for in front of +it one ever dreams and sees the past arise. And so, whilst waiting, +Pierre stationed himself at an open window, conducting on to a balcony, +and his eyes roamed over the endless sea of herbage to the far-away +whiteness of Rome, above which rose the dome of St. Peter's, at that +distance a mere sparkling speck, barely as large as the nail of one's +little finger. + +However, the young man had scarcely taken up this position when he was +surprised to hear some people talking, their words reaching him with +great distinctness. And on leaning forward he realised that his Eminence +in person was standing on another balcony close by, and conversing with a +priest, only a portion of whose cassock could be seen. Still, this +sufficed for Pierre to recognise Santobono. His first impulse, dictated +by natural discretion, was to withdraw from the window, but the words he +next heard riveted him to the spot. + +"We shall know in a moment," his Eminence was saying in his full voice. +"I sent Eufemio to Rome, for he is the only person in whom I've any +confidence. And see, there is the train bringing him back." + +A train, still as small as a plaything, could in fact be seen approaching +over the vast plain, and doubtless it was to watch for its arrival that +Sanguinetti had stationed himself on the balcony. And there he lingered, +with his eyes fixed on distant Rome. Then Santobono, in a passionate +voice, spoke some words which Pierre imperfectly understood, but the +Cardinal with clear articulation rejoined, "Yes, yes, my dear fellow, a +catastrophe would be a great misfortune. Ah! may his Holiness long be +preserved to us." Then he paused, and as he was no hypocrite, gave full +expression to the thoughts which were in his mind: "At least, I hope that +he will be preserved just now, for the times are bad, and I am in +frightful anguish. The partisans of Antichrist have lately gained much +ground." + +A cry escaped Santobono: "Oh! your Eminence will act and triumph." + +"I, my dear fellow? What would you have me do? I am simply at the +disposal of my friends, those who are willing to believe in me, with the +sole object of ensuring the victory of the Holy See. It is they who ought +to act, it is they--each according to the measure of his means--who ought +to bar the road to the wicked in order that the righteous may succeed. +Ah! if Antichrist should reign--" + +The recurrence of this word Antichrist greatly disturbed Pierre; but he +suddenly remembered what the Count had told him: Antichrist was Cardinal +Boccanera. + +"Think of that, my dear fellow," continued Sanguinetti. "Picture +Antichrist at the Vatican, consummating the ruin of religion by his +implacable pride, his iron will, his gloomy passion for nihility; for +there can be no doubt of it, he is the Beast of Death announced by the +prophecies, the Beast who will expose one and all to the danger of being +swallowed up with him in his furious rush into abysmal darkness. I know +him; he only dreams of obstinacy and destruction, he will seize the +pillars of the temple and shake them in order that he may sink beneath +the ruins, he and the whole Catholic world! In less than six months he +will be driven from Rome, at strife with all the nations, execrated by +Italy, and roaming the world like the phantom of the last pope!" + +It was with a low growl, suggestive of a stifled oath, that Santobono +responded to this frightful prediction. But the train had now reached the +station, and among the few passengers who had alighted, Pierre could +distinguish a little Abbe, who was walking so fast that his cassock +flapped against his hips. It was Abbe Eufemio, the Cardinal's secretary, +and when he had perceived his Eminence on the balcony he lost all +self-respect, and broke into a run, in order that he might the sooner +ascend the sloping street. "Ah! here's Eufemio," exclaimed the Cardinal, +quivering with anxiety. "We shall know now, we shall know now." + +The secretary had plunged into the doorway below, and he climbed the +stairs with such rapidity that almost immediately afterwards Pierre saw +him rush breathlessly across the waiting-room, and vanish into the +Cardinal's sanctum. Sanguinetti had quitted the balcony to meet his +messenger, but soon afterwards he returned to it asking questions, +venting exclamations, raising, in fact, quite a tumult over the news +which he had received. "And so it's really true, the night was a bad one. +His Holiness scarcely slept! Colic, you were told? But nothing could be +worse at his age; it might carry him off in a couple of hours. And the +doctors, what do they say?" + +The answer did not reach Pierre, but he understood its purport as the +Cardinal in his naturally loud voice resumed: "Oh! the doctors never +know. Besides, when they refuse to speak death is never far off. /Dio/! +what a misfortune if the catastrophe cannot be deferred for a few days!" + +Then he became silent, and Pierre realised that his eyes were once more +travelling towards Rome, gazing with ambitious anguish at the dome of St. +Peter's, that little, sparkling speck above the vast, ruddy plain. What a +commotion, what agitation if the Pope were dead! And he wished that it +had merely been necessary for him to stretch forth his arm in order to +take and hold the Eternal City, the Holy City, which, yonder on the +horizon, occupied no more space than a heap of gravel cast there by a +child's spade. And he was already dreaming of the coming Conclave, when +the canopy of each other cardinal would fall, and his own, motionless and +sovereign, would crown him with purple. + +"But you are right, my friend!" he suddenly exclaimed, addressing +Santobono, "one must act, the salvation of the Church is at stake. And, +besides, it is impossible that Heaven should not be with us, since our +sole desire is its triumph. If necessary, at the supreme moment, Heaven +will know how to crush Antichrist." + +Then, for the first time, Pierre distinctly heard the voice of Santobono, +who, gruffly, with a sort of savage decision, responded: "Oh! if Heaven +is tardy it shall be helped." + +That was all; the young man heard nothing further save a confused murmur +of voices. The speakers quitted the balcony, and his spell of waiting +began afresh in the sunlit /salon/ so peaceful and delightful in its +brightness. But all at once the door of his Eminence's private room was +thrown wide open and a servant ushered him in; and he was surprised to +find the Cardinal alone, for he had not witnessed the departure of the +two priests, who had gone off by another door. The Cardinal, with his +highly coloured face, big nose, thick lips, square-set, vigorous figure, +which still looked young despite his sixty years, was standing near a +window in the bright golden light. He had put on the paternal smile with +which he greeted even the humblest from motives of good policy, and as +soon as Pierre had knelt and kissed his ring, he motioned him to a chair. +"Sit down, dear son, sit down. You have come of course about that +unfortunate affair of your book. I am very pleased indeed to be able to +speak with you about it." + +He himself then took a chair in front of that window overlooking Rome +whence he seemed unable to drag himself. And the young priest, whilst +apologising for coming to disturb his rest, perceived that he scarcely +listened, for his eyes again sought the prey which he so ardently +coveted. Yet the semblance of good-natured attention was perfect, and +Pierre marvelled at the force of will which this man must possess to +appear so calm, so interested in the affairs of others, when such a +tempest was raging in him. + +"Your Eminence will, I hope, kindly forgive me," continued the young +priest. + +"But you have done right to come, since I am kept here by my failing +health," said the Cardinal. "Besides, I am somewhat better, and it is +only natural that you should wish to give me some explanations and defend +your work and enlighten my judgment. In fact, I was astonished at not yet +having seen you, for I know that your faith in your cause is great and +that you spare no steps to convert your judges. So speak, my dear son, I +am listening and shall be pleased indeed if I can absolve you." + +Pierre was caught by these kind words, and a hope returned to him, that +of winning the support of the all-powerful Prefect of the Index. He +already regarded this ex-nuncio--who at Brussels and Vienna had acquired +the worldly art of sending people away satisfied with indefinite promises +though he meant to grant them nothing--as a man of rare intelligence and +exquisite cordiality. And so once more he regained the fervour of his +apostolate to express his views respecting the future Rome, the Rome he +dreamt of, which was destined yet again to become the mistress of the +world if she would return to the Christianity of Jesus, to an ardent love +for the weak and the humble. + +Sanguinetti smiled, wagged his head, and raised exclamations of rapture: +"Very good, very good indeed, perfect! Oh! I agree with you, dear son. +One cannot put things better. It is quite evident; all good minds must +agree with you." And then, said he, the poetic side deeply touched him. +Like Leo XIII--and doubtless in a spirit of rivalry--he courted the +reputation of being a very distinguished Latinist, and professed a +special and boundless affection for Virgil. "I know, I know," he +exclaimed, "I remember your page on the return of spring, which consoles +the poor whom winter has frozen. Oh! I read it three times over! And are +you aware that your writing is full of Latin turns of style. I noticed +more than fifty expressions which could be found in the 'Bucolics.' Your +book is a charm, a perfect charm!" + +As he was no fool, and realised that the little priest before him was a +man of high intelligence, he ended by interesting himself, not in Pierre +personally, but in the profit which he might possibly derive from him. +Amidst his feverish intrigues, he unceasingly sought to utilise all the +qualities possessed by those whom God sent to him that might in any way +be conducive to his own triumph. So, for a moment, he turned away from +Rome and looked his companion in the face, listening to him and asking +himself in what way he might employ him--either at once in the crisis +through which he was passing, or later on when he should be pope. But the +young priest again made the mistake of attacking the temporal power, and +of employing that unfortunate expression, "a new religion." Thereupon the +Cardinal stopped him with a gesture, still smiling, still retaining all +his amiability, although the resolution which he had long since formed +became from that moment definitive. "You are certainly in the right on +many points, my dear son," he said, "and I often share your views--share +them completely. But come, you are doubtless not aware that I am the +protector of Lourdes here at Rome. And so, after the page which you have +written about the Grotto, how can I possibly pronounce in your favour and +against the Fathers?" + +Pierre was utterly overcome by this announcement, for he was indeed +unaware of the Cardinal's position with respect to Lourdes, nobody having +taken the precaution to warn him. However, each of the Catholic +enterprises distributed throughout the world has a protector at Rome, a +cardinal who is designated by the Pope to represent it and, if need be, +to defend it. + +"Those good Fathers!" Sanguinetti continued in a gentle voice, "you have +caused them great grief, and really our hands are tied, we cannot add to +their sorrow. If you only knew what a number of masses they send us! I +know more than one of our poor priests who would die of hunger if it were +not for them." + +Pierre could only bow beneath the blow. Once more he found himself in +presence of the pecuniary question, the necessity in which the Holy See +is placed to secure the revenue it requires one year with another. And +thus the Pope was ever in servitude, for if the loss of Rome had freed +him of the cares of state, his enforced gratitude for the alms he +received still riveted him to earth. So great, indeed, were the +requirements, that money was the ruler, the sovereign power, before which +all bowed at the Court of Rome. + +And now Sanguinetti rose to dismiss his visitor. "You must not despair, +dear son," he said effusively. "I have only my own vote, you know, and I +promise you that I will take into account the excellent explanations +which you have just given me. And who can tell? If God be with you, He +will save you even in spite of all!" This speech formed part of the +Cardinal's usual tactics; for one of his principles was never to drive +people to extremes by sending them away hopeless. What good, indeed, +would it do to tell this one that the condemnation of his book was a +foregone conclusion, and that his only prudent course would be to disavow +it? Only a savage like Boccanera breathed anger upon fiery souls and +plunged them into rebellion. "You must hope, hope!" repeated Sanguinetti +with a smile, as if implying a multitude of fortunate things which he +could not plainly express. + +Thereupon Pierre, who was deeply touched, felt born anew. He even forgot +the conversation he had surprised, the Cardinal's keen ambition and +covert rage with his redoubtable rival. Besides, might not intelligence +take the place of heart among the powerful? If this man should some day +become pope, and had understood him, might he not prove the pope who was +awaited, the pope who would accept the task of reorganising the Church of +the United States of Europe, and making it the spiritual sovereign of the +world? So he thanked him with emotion, bowed, and left him to his dream, +standing before that widely open window whence Rome appeared to him, +glittering like a jewel, even indeed as the tiara of gold and gems, in +the splendour of the autumn sun. + +It was nearly one o'clock when Pierre and Count Prada were at last able +to sit down to /dejeuner/ in the little restaurant where they had agreed +to meet. They had both been delayed by their affairs. However, the Count, +having settled some worrying matters to his own advantage, was very +lively, whilst the priest on his side was again hopeful, and yielded to +the delightful charm of that last fine day. And so the meal proved a very +pleasant one in the large, bright room, which, as usual at that season of +the year, was quite deserted. Pink and blue predominated in the +decoration, but Cupids fluttered on the ceiling, and landscapes, vaguely +recalling the Roman castles, adorned the walls. The things they ate were +fresh, and they drank the wine of Frascati, to which the soil imparts a +kind of burnt flavour as if the old volcanoes of the region had left some +little of their fire behind. + +For a long while the conversation ranged over those wild and graceful +Alban hills, which, fortunately for the pleasure of the eye, overlook the +flat Roman Campagna. Pierre, who had made the customary carriage +excursion from Frascati to Nemi, still felt its charm and spoke of it in +glowing language. First came the lovely road from Frascati to Albano, +ascending and descending hillsides planted with reeds, vines, and +olive-trees, amongst which one obtained frequent glimpses of the +Campagna's wavy immensity. On the right-hand the village of Rocca di Papa +arose in amphitheatrical fashion, showing whitely on a knoll below Monte +Cavo, which was crowned by lofty and ancient trees. And from this point +of the road, on looking back towards Frascati, one saw high up, on the +verge of a pine wood the ruins of Tusculum, large ruddy ruins, baked by +centuries of sunshine, and whence the boundless panorama must have been +superb. Next one passed through Marino, with its sloping streets, its +large cathedral, and its black decaying palace belonging to the Colonnas. +Then, beyond a wood of ilex-trees, the lake of Albano was skirted with +scenery which has no parallel in the world. In front, beyond the clear +mirror of motionless water, were the ruins of Alba Longa; on the left +rose Monte Cavo with Rocca di Papa and Palazzuolo; whilst on the right +Castel Gandolfo overlooked the lake as from the summit of a cliff. Down +below in the extinct crater, as in the depths of a gigantic cup of +verdure, the lake slept heavy and lifeless: a sheet of molten metal, +which the sun on one side streaked with gold, whilst the other was black +with shade. And the road then ascended all the way to Castel Gandolfo, +which was perched on its rock, like a white bird betwixt the lake and the +sea. Ever refreshed by breezes, even in the most burning hours of summer, +the little place was once famous for its papal villa, where Pius IX loved +to spend hours of indolence, and whither Leo XIII has never come. And +next the road dipped down, and the ilex-trees appeared again, ilex-trees +famous for their size, a double row of monsters with twisted limbs, two +and three hundred years old. Then one at last reached Albano, a small +town less modernised and less cleansed than Frascati, a patch of the old +land which has retained some of its ancient wildness; and afterwards +there was Ariccia with the Palazzo Chigi, and hills covered with forests +and viaducts spanning ravines which overflowed with foliage; and there +was yet Genzano, and yet Nemi, growing still wilder and more remote, lost +in the midst of rocks and trees. + +Ah! how ineffaceable was the recollection which Pierre had retained of +Nemi, Nemi on the shore of its lake, Nemi so delicious and fascinating +from afar, conjuring up all the ancient legends of fairy towns springing +from amidst the greenery of mysterious waters, but so repulsively filthy +when one at last reaches it, crumbling on all sides but yet dominated by +the Orsini tower, as by the evil genius of the middle ages, which there +seems to perpetuate the ferocious habits, the violent passions, the knife +thrusts of the past! Thence came that Santobono whose brother had killed, +and who himself, with his eyes of crime glittering like live embers, +seemed to be consumed by a murderous flame. And the lake, that lake round +like an extinguished moon fallen into the depths of a former crater, a +deeper and less open cup than that of the lake of Albano, a cup rimmed +with trees of wondrous vigour and density! Pines, elms, and willows +descend to the very margin, with a green mass of tangled branches which +weigh each other down. This formidable fecundity springs from the vapour +which constantly arises from the water under the parching action of the +sun, whose rays accumulate in this hollow till it becomes like a furnace. +There is a warm, heavy dampness, the paths of the adjacent gardens grow +green with moss, and in the morning dense mists often fill the large cup +with white vapour, as with the steaming milk of some sorceress of +malevolent craft. And Pierre well remembered how uncomfortable he had +felt before that lake where ancient atrocities, a mysterious religion +with abominable rites, seemed to slumber amidst the superb scenery. He +had seen it at the approach of evening, looking, in the shade of its +forest girdle, like a plate of dull metal, black and silver, motionless +by reason of its weight. And that water, clear and yet so deep, that +water deserted, without a bark upon its surface, that water august, +lifeless, and sepulchral, had left him a feeling of inexpressible +sadness, of mortal melancholy, the hopelessness of great solitary +passion, earth and water alike swollen by the mute spasms of germs, +troublous in their fecundity. Ah! those black and plunging banks, and +that black mournful lake prone at the bottom!* + + * Some literary interest attaches to M. Zola's account of Nemi, + whose praises have been sung by a hundred poets. It will be + observed that he makes no mention of Egeria. The religion + distinguished by abominable practices to which he alludes, + may perhaps be the worship of the Egyptian Diana, who had a + famous temple near Nemi, which was excavated by Lord Savile + some ten years ago, when all the smaller objects discovered + were presented to the town of Nottingham. At this temple, + according to some classical writers, the chief priest was + required to murder his predecessor, and there were other + abominable usages.--Trans. + +Count Prada began to laugh when Pierre told him of these impressions. +"Yes, yes," said he, "it's true, Nemi isn't always gay. In dull weather I +have seen the lake looking like lead, and even the full sunshine scarcely +animates it. For my part, I know I should die of /ennui/ if I had to live +face to face with that bare water. But it is admired by poets and +romantic women, those who adore great tragedies of passion." + +Then, as he and Pierre rose from the table to go and take coffee on the +terrace of the restaurant, the conversation changed: "Do you mean to +attend Prince Buongiovanni's reception this evening?" the Count inquired. +"It will be a curious sight, especially for a foreigner, and I advise you +not to miss it." + +"Yes, I have an invitation," Pierre replied. "A friend of mine, Monsieur +Narcisse Habert, an /attache/ at our embassy, procured it for me, and I +am going with him." + +That evening, indeed, there was to be a /fete/ at the Palazzo +Buongiovanni on the Corso, one of the few galas that take place in Rome +each winter. People said that this one would surpass all others in +magnificence, for it was to be given in honour of the betrothal of little +Princess Celia. The Prince, her father, after boxing her ears, it was +rumoured, and narrowly escaping an attack of apoplexy as the result of a +frightful fit of anger, had, all at once, yielded to her quiet, gentle +stubbornness, and consented to her marriage with Lieutenant Attilio, the +son of Minister Sacco. And all the drawing-rooms of Rome, those of the +white world quite as much as those of the black, were thoroughly upset by +the tidings. + +Count Prada made merry over the affair. "Ah! you'll see a fine sight!" he +exclaimed. "Personally, I'm delighted with it all for the sake of my good +cousin Attilio, who is really a very nice and worthy fellow. And nothing +in the world would keep me from going to see my dear uncle Sacco make his +entry into the ancient /salons/ of the Buongiovanni. It will be something +extraordinary and superb. He has at last become Minister of Agriculture, +you know. My father, who always takes things so seriously, told me this +morning that the affair so worried him he hadn't closed his eyes all +night." + +The Count paused, but almost immediately added: "I say, it is half-past +two and you won't have a train before five o'clock. Do you know what you +ought to do? Why, drive back to Rome with me in my carriage." + +"No, no," rejoined Pierre, "I'm deeply obliged to you but I'm to dine +with my friend Narcisse this evening, and I mustn't be late." + +"But you won't be late--on the contrary! We shall start at three and +reach Rome before five o'clock. There can't be a more pleasant promenade +when the light falls; and, come, I promise you a splendid sunset." + +He was so pressing that the young priest had to accept, quite subjugated +by so much amiability and good humour. They spent another half-hour very +pleasantly in chatting about Rome, Italy, and France. Then, for a moment, +they went up into Frascati where the Count wished to say a few words to a +contractor, and just as three o'clock was striking they started off, +seated side by side on the soft cushions and gently rocked by the motion +of the victoria as the two horses broke into a light trot. As Prada had +predicted, that return to Rome across the bare Campagna under the vast +limpid heavens at the close of such a mild autumn day proved most +delightful. First of all, however, the victoria had to descend the slopes +of Frascati between vineyards and olive-trees. The paved road snaked, and +was but little frequented; they merely saw a few peasants in old felt +hats, a white mule, and a cart drawn by a donkey, for it is only upon +Sundays that the /osterie/ or wine-shops are filled and that artisans in +easy circumstances come to eat a dish of kid at the surrounding +/bastides/. However, at one turn of the road they passed a monumental +fountain. Then a flock of sheep momentarily barred the way before +defiling past. And beyond the gentle undulations of the ruddy Campagna +Rome appeared amidst the violet vapours of evening, sinking by degrees as +the carriage itself descended to a lower and lower level. There came a +moment when the city was a mere thin grey streak, speckled whitely here +and there by a few sunlit house-fronts. And then it seemed to plunge +below the ground--to be submerged by the swell of the far-spreading +fields. + +The victoria was now rolling over the plain, leaving the Alban hills +behind, whilst before it and on either hand came the expanse of meadows +and stubbles. And then it was that the Count, after leaning forward, +exclaimed: "Just look ahead, yonder, there's our man of this morning, +Santobono in person--what a strapping fellow he is, and how fast he +walks! My horses can scarcely overtake him." + +Pierre in his turn leant forward and likewise perceived the priest of St. +Mary in the Fields, looking tall and knotty, fashioned as it were with a +bill-hook. Robed in a long black cassock, he showed like a vigorous +splotch of ink amidst the bright sunshine streaming around him; and he +was walking on at such a fast, stern, regular pace that he suggested +Destiny on the march. Something, which could not be well distinguished, +was hanging from his right arm. + +When the carriage had at last overtaken him Prada told the coachman to +slacken speed, and then entered into conversation. + +"Good-day, Abbe; you are well, I hope?" he asked. + +"Very well, Signor Conte, I thank you." + +"And where are you going so bravely?" + +"Signor Conte, I am going to Rome." + +"What! to Rome, at this late hour?" + +"Oh! I shall be there nearly as soon as yourself. The distance doesn't +frighten me, and money's quickly earned by walking." + +Scarcely turning his head to reply, stepping out beside the wheels, +Santobono did not miss a stride. And Prada, diverted by the meeting, +whispered to Pierre: "Wait a bit, he'll amuse us." Then he added aloud: +"Since you are going to Rome, Abbe, you had better get in here; there's +room for you." + +Santobono required no pressing, but at once accepted the offer. +"Willingly; a thousand thanks," he said. "It's still better to save one's +shoe leather." + +Then he got in and installed himself on the bracket-seat, declining with +abrupt humility the place which Pierre politely offered him beside the +Count. The young priest and the latter now saw that the object he was +carrying was a little basket of fresh figs, nicely arranged and covered +with leaves. + +The horses set off again at a faster trot, and the carriage rolled on and +on over the superb, flat plain. "So you are going to Rome?" the Count +resumed in order to make Santobono talk. + +"Yes," the other replied, "I am taking his Eminence Cardinal Boccanera +these few figs, the last of the season: a little present which I had +promised him." He had placed the basket on his knees and was holding it +between his big knotty hands as if it were something rare and fragile. + +"Ah! some of the famous figs of your garden," said Prada. "It's quite +true, they are like honey. But why don't you rid yourself of them. You +surely don't mean to keep them on your knees all the way to Rome. Give +them to me, I'll put them in the hood." + +However, Santobono became quite agitated, and vigorously declined the +offer. "No, no, a thousand thanks! They don't embarrass me in the least; +they are very well here; and in this way I shall be sure that no accident +will befall them." + +His passion for the fruit he grew quite amused Prada, who nudged Pierre, +and then inquired: "Is the Cardinal fond of your figs?" + +"Oh! his Eminence condescends to adore them. In former years, when he +spent the summer at the villa, he would never touch the figs from other +trees. And so, you see, knowing his tastes, it costs me very little to +gratify him." + +Whilst making this reply Santobono had shot such a keen glance in the +direction of Pierre that the Count felt it necessary to introduce them to +one another. This he did saying: "As it happens, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment +is stopping at the Palazzo Boccanera; he has been there for three months +or so." + +"Yes, I'm aware of it," Santobono quietly replied; "I found Monsieur +l'Abbe with his Eminence one day when I took some figs to the Palazzo. +Those were less ripe, but these are perfect." So speaking he gave the +little basket a complacent glance, and seemed to press it yet more +closely between his huge and hairy fingers. + +Then came a spell of silence, whilst on either hand the Campagna spread +out as far as the eye could reach. All houses had long since disappeared; +there was not a wall, not a tree, nothing but the undulating expanse +whose sparse, short herbage was, with the approach of winter, beginning +to turn green once more. A tower, a half-fallen ruin which came into +sight on the left, rising in solitude into the limpid sky above the flat, +boundless line of the horizon, suddenly assumed extraordinary importance. +Then, on the right, the distant silhouettes of cattle and horses were +seen in a large enclosure with wooden rails. Urged on by the goad, oxen, +still yoked, were slowly coming back from ploughing; whilst a farmer, +cantering beside the ploughed land on a little sorrel nag, gave a final +look round for the night. Now and again the road became peopled. A +/biroccino/, an extremely light vehicle with two huge wheels and a small +seat perched upon the springs, whisked by like a gust of wind. From time +to time also the victoria passed a /carrotino/, one of the low carts in +which peasants, sheltered by a kind of bright-hued tent, bring the wine, +vegetables, and fruit of the castle-lands to Rome. The shrill tinkling of +horses' bells was heard afar off as the animals followed the well-known +road of their own accord, their peasant drivers usually being sound +asleep. Women with bare, black hair, scarlet neckerchiefs, and skirts +caught up, were seen going home in groups of three and four. And then the +road again emptied, and the solitude became more and more complete, +without a wayfarer or an animal appearing for miles and miles, whilst +yonder, at the far end of the lifeless sea, so grandiose and mournful in +its monotony, the sun continued to descend from the infinite vault of +heaven. + +"And the Pope, Abbe, is he dead?" Prada suddenly inquired. + +Santobono did not even start. "I trust," he replied in all simplicity, +"that his Holiness still has many long years to live for the triumph of +the Church." + +"So you had good news this morning when you called on your bishop, +Cardinal Sanguinetti?" + +This time the priest was unable to restrain a slight start. Had he been +seen, then? In his haste he had failed to notice the two men following +the road behind him. However, he at once regained self-possession, and +replied: "Oh! one can never tell exactly whether news is good or bad. It +seems that his Holiness passed a somewhat painful night, but I devoutly +hope that the next will be a better one." Then he seemed to meditate for +a moment, and added: "Moreover, if God should have deemed it time to call +his Holiness to Himself, He would not leave His flock without a shepherd. +He would have already chosen and designated the Sovereign Pontiff of +to-morrow." + +This superb answer increased Prada's gaiety. "You are really +extraordinary, Abbe," he said. "So you think that popes are solely +created by the grace of the Divinity! The pope of to-morrow is chosen up +in heaven, eh, and simply waits? Well, I fancied that men had something +to do with the matter. But perhaps you already know which cardinal it is +that the divine favour has thus elected in advance?" + +Then, like the unbeliever he was, he went on with his facile jests, which +left the priest unruffled. In fact, the latter also ended by laughing +when the Count, after alluding to the gambling passion which at each +fresh Conclave sets wellnigh the whole population of Rome betting for or +against this or that candidate, told him that he might easily make his +fortune if he were in the divine secret. Next the talk turned on the +three white cassocks of different sizes which are always kept in +readiness in a cupboard at the Vatican. Which of them would be required +on this occasion?--the short one, the long one, or the one of medium +size? Each time that the reigning pope falls somewhat seriously ill there +is in this wise an extraordinary outburst of emotion, a keen awakening of +all ambitions and intrigues, to such a point that not merely in the black +world, but throughout the city, people have no other subject of +curiosity, conversation, and occupation than that of discussing the +relative claims of the cardinals and predicting which of them will be +elected. + +"Come, come," Prada resumed, "since you know the truth, I'm determined +that you shall tell me. Will it be Cardinal Moretta?" + +Santobono, in spite of his evident desire to remain dignified and +disinterested, like a good, pious priest, was gradually growing +impassioned, yielding to the hidden fire which consumed him. And this +interrogatory finished him off; he could no longer restrain himself, but +replied: "Moretta! What an idea! Why, he is sold to all Europe!" + +"Well, will it be Cardinal Bartolini?" + +"Oh! you can't think that. Bartolini has used himself up in striving for +everything and getting nothing." + +"Will it be Cardinal Dozio, then?" + +"Dozio, Dozio! Why, if Dozio were to win one might altogether despair of +our Holy Church, for no man can have a baser mind than he!" + +Prada raised his hands, as if he had exhausted the serious candidates. In +order to increase the priest's exasperation he maliciously refrained from +naming Cardinal Sanguinetti, who was certainly Santobono's nominee. All +at once, however, he pretended to make a good guess, and gaily exclaimed: +"Ah! I have it; I know your man--Cardinal Boccanera!" + +The blow struck Santobono full in the heart, wounding him both in his +rancour and his patriotic faith. His terrible mouth was already opening, +and he was about to shout "No! no!" with all his strength, but he managed +to restrain the cry, compelled as he was to silence by the present on his +knees--that little basket of figs which he pressed so convulsively with +both hands; and the effort which he was obliged to make left him +quivering to such a point that he had to wait some time before he could +reply in a calm voice: "His most reverend Eminence Cardinal Boccanera is +a saintly man, well worthy of the throne, and my only fear is that, with +his hatred of new Italy, he might bring us warfare." + +Prada, however, desired to enlarge the wound. "At all events," said he, +"you accept him and love him too much not to rejoice over his chances of +success. And I really think that we have arrived at the truth, for +everybody is convinced that the Conclave's choice cannot fall elsewhere. +Come, come; Boccanera is a very tall man, so it's the long white cassock +which will be required." + +"The long cassock, the long cassock," growled Santobono, despite himself; +"that's all very well, but--" + +Then he stopped short, and, again overcoming his passion, left his +sentence unfinished. Pierre, listening in silence, marvelled at the man's +self-restraint, for he remembered the conversation which he had overheard +at Cardinal Sanguinetti's. Those figs were evidently a mere pretext for +gaining admission to the Boccanera mansion, where some friend--Abbe +Paparelli, no doubt--could alone supply certain positive information +which was needed. But how great was the command which the hot-blooded +priest exercised over himself amidst the riotous impulses of his soul! + +On either side of the road the Campagna still and ever spread its expanse +of verdure, and Prada, who had become grave and dreamy, gazed before him +without seeing anything. At last, however, he gave expression to his +thoughts. "You know, Abbe, what will be said if the Pope should die this +time. That sudden illness, those colics, those refusals to make any +information public, mean nothing good--Yes, yes, poison, just as for the +others!" + +Pierre gave a start of stupefaction. The Pope poisoned! "What! Poison? +Again?" he exclaimed as he gazed at his companions with dilated eyes. +Poison at the end of the nineteenth century, as in the days of the +Borgias, as on the stage in a romanticist melodrama! To him the idea +appeared both monstrous and ridiculous. + +Santobono, whose features had become motionless and impenetrable, made no +reply. But Prada nodded, and the conversation was henceforth confined to +him and the young priest. "Why, yes, poison," he replied. "The fear of it +has remained very great in Rome. Whenever a death seems inexplicable, +either by reason of its suddenness or the tragic circumstances which +attend it, the unanimous thought is poison. And remark this: in no city, +I believe, are sudden deaths so frequent. The causes I don't exactly +know, but some doctors put everything down to the fevers. Among the +people, however, the one thought is poison, poison with all its legends, +poison which kills like lightning and leaves no trace, the famous recipe +bequeathed from age to age, through the emperors and the popes, down to +these present times of middle-class democracy." + +As he spoke he ended by smiling, for he was inclined to be somewhat +sceptical on the point, despite the covert terror with which he was +inspired by racial and educational causes. However, he quoted instances. +The Roman matrons had rid themselves of their husbands and lovers by +employing the venom of red toads. Locusta, in a more practical spirit, +sought poison in plants, one of which, probably aconite, she was wont to +boil. Then, long afterwards, came the age of the Borgias, and +subsequently, at Naples, La Toffana sold a famous water, doubtless some +preparation of arsenic, in phials decorated with a representation of St. +Nicholas of Bari. There were also extraordinary stories of pins, a prick +from which killed one like lightning, of cups of wine poisoned by the +infusion of rose petals, of woodcocks cut in half with prepared knives, +which poisoned but one-half of the bird, so that he who partook of that +half was killed. "I myself, in my younger days," continued Prada, "had a +friend whose bride fell dead in church during the marriage service +through simply inhaling a bouquet of flowers. And so isn't it possible +that the famous recipe may really have been handed down, and have +remained known to a few adepts?" + +"But chemistry has made too much progress," Pierre replied. "If +mysterious poisons were believed in by the ancients and remained +undetected in their time it was because there were no means of analysis. +But the drug of the Borgias would now lead the simpleton who might employ +it straight to the Assizes. Such stories are mere nonsense, and at the +present day people scarcely tolerate them in newspaper serials and +shockers." + +"Perhaps so," resumed the Count with his uneasy smile. "You are right, no +doubt--only go and tell that to your host, for instance, Cardinal +Boccanera, who last summer held in his arms an old and deeply-loved +friend, Monsignor Gallo, who died after a seizure of a couple of hours." + +"But apoplexy may kill one in two hours, and aneurism only takes two +minutes." + +"True, but ask the Cardinal what he thought of his friend's prolonged +shudders, the leaden hue which overcame his face, the sinking of his +eyes, and the expression of terror which made him quite unrecognisable. +The Cardinal is convinced that Monsignor Gallo was poisoned, because he +was his dearest confidant, the counsellor to whom he always listened, and +whose wise advice was a guarantee of success." + +Pierre's bewilderment was increasing, and, irritated by the impassibility +of Santobono, he addressed him direct. "It's idiotic, it's awful! Does +your reverence also believe in these frightful stories?" + +But the priest of Frascati gave no sign. His thick, passionate lips +remained closed while his black glowing eyes never ceased to gaze at +Prada. The latter, moreover, was quoting other instances. There was the +case of Monsignor Nazzarelli, who had been found in bed, shrunken and +calcined like carbon. And there was that of Monsignor Brando, struck down +in his sacerdotal vestments at St. Peter's itself, in the very sacristy, +during vespers! + +"Ah! /Mon Dieu/!" sighed Pierre, "you will tell me so much that I myself +shall end by trembling, and sha'n't dare to eat anything but boiled eggs +as long as I stay in this terrible Rome of yours." + +For a moment this whimsical reply enlivened both the Count and Pierre. +But it was quite true that their conversation showed Rome under a +terrible aspect, for it conjured up the Eternal City of Crime, the city +of poison and the knife, where for more than two thousand years, ever +since the raising of the first bit of wall, the lust of power, the +frantic hunger for possession and enjoyment, had armed men's hands, +ensanguined the pavements, and cast victims into the river and the +ground. Assassinations and poisonings under the emperors, poisonings and +assassinations under the popes, ever did the same torrent of abominations +strew that tragic soil with death amidst the sovereign glory of the sun. + +"All the same," said the Count, "those who take precautions are perhaps +not ill advised. It is said that more than one cardinal shudders and +mistrusts people. One whom I know will never eat anything that has not +been bought and prepared by his own cook. And as for the Pope, if he is +anxious--" + +Pierre again raised a cry of stupefaction. "What, the Pope himself! The +Pope afraid of being poisoned!" + +"Well, my dear Abbe, people commonly assert it. There are certainly days +when he considers himself more menaced than anybody else. And are you not +aware of the old Roman view that a pope ought never to live till too +great an age, and that when he is so obstinate as not to die at the right +time he ought to be assisted? As soon as a pope begins to fall into +second childhood, and by reason of his senility becomes a source of +embarrassment, and possibly even danger, to the Church, his right place +is heaven. Moreover, matters are managed in a discreet manner; a slight +cold becomes a decent pretext to prevent him from tarrying any longer on +the throne of St. Peter." + +Prada then gave some curious details. One prelate, it was said, wishing +to dispel his Holiness's fears, had devised an elaborate precautionary +system which, among other things, was to comprise a little padlocked +vehicle, in which the food destined for the frugal pontifical table was +to be securely placed before leaving the kitchen, so that it might not be +tampered with on its way to the Pope's apartments. However, this project +had not yet been carried into effect. + +"After all," the Count concluded with a laugh, "every pope has to die +some day, especially when his death is needful for the welfare of the +Church. Isn't that so, Abbe?" + +Santobono, whom he addressed, had a moment previously lowered his eyes as +if to contemplate the little basket of figs which he held on his lap with +as much care as if it had been the Blessed Sacrament. On being questioned +in such a direct, sharp fashion he could not do otherwise than look up. +However, he did not depart from his prolonged silence, but limited his +answer to a slow nod. + +"And it is God alone, and not poison, who causes one to die. Is that not +so, Abbe?" repeated Prada. "It is said that those were the last words of +poor Monsignor Gallo before he expired in the arms of his friend Cardinal +Boccanera." + +For the second time Santobono nodded without speaking. And then silence +fell, all three sinking into a dreamy mood. + +Meantime, without a pause, the carriage rolled on across the immensity of +the Campagna. The road, straight as an arrow, seemed to extend into the +infinite. As the sun descended towards the horizon the play of light and +shade became more marked on the broad undulations of the ground which +stretched away, alternately of a pinky green and a violet grey, till they +reached the distant fringe of the sky. At the roadside on either hand +there were still and ever tall withered thistles and giant fennel with +yellow umbels. Then, after a time, came a team of four oxen, that had +been kept ploughing until late, and stood forth black and huge in the +pale atmosphere and mournful solitude. Farther on some flocks of sheep, +whence the breeze wafted a tallowy odour, set patches of brown amidst the +herbage, which once more was becoming verdant; whilst at intervals a dog +was heard to bark, his voice the only distinct sound amidst the low +quivering of that silent desert where the sovereign peacefulness of death +seemed to reign. But all at once a light melody arose and some larks flew +up, one of them soaring into the limpid golden heavens. And ahead, at the +far extremity of the pure sky, Rome, with her towers and domes, grew +larger and larger, like a city of white marble springing from a mirage +amidst the greenery of some enchanted garden. + +"Matteo!" Prada called to his coachman, "pull up at the Osteria Romana." +And to his companions he added: "Pray excuse me, but I want to see if I +can get some new-laid eggs for my father. He is so fond of them." + +A few minutes afterwards the carriage stopped. At the very edge of the +road stood a primitive sort of inn, bearing the proud and sonorous name +of "Antica Osteria Romana." It had now become a mere house of call for +carters and chance sportsmen, who ventured to drink a flagon of white +wine whilst eating an omelet and a slice of ham. Occasionally, on +Sundays, some of the humble classes would walk over from Rome and make +merry there; but the week days often went by without a soul entering the +place, such was its isolation amidst the bare Campagna. + +The Count was already springing from the carriage. "I shall only be a +minute," said he as he turned away. + +The /osteria/ was a long, low pile with a ground floor and one upper +storey, the last being reached by an outdoor stairway built of large +blocks of stone which had been scorched by the hot suns. The entire +place, indeed, was corroded, tinged with the hue of old gold. On the +ground floor one found a common room, a cart-house, and a stable with +adjoining sheds. At one side, near a cluster of parasol pines--the only +trees that could grow in that ungrateful soil--there was an arbour of +reeds where five or six rough wooden tables were set out. And, as a +background to this sorry, mournful nook of life, there arose a fragment +of an ancient aqueduct whose arches, half fallen and opening on to space, +alone interrupted the flat line of the horizon. + +All at once, however, the Count retraced his steps, and, addressing +Santobono, exclaimed: "I say, Abbe, you'll surely accept a glass of white +wine. I know that you are a bit of a vine grower, and they have a little +white wine here which you ought to make acquaintance with." + +Santobono again required no pressing, but quietly alighted. "Oh! I know +it," said he; "it's a wine from Marino; it's grown in a lighter soil than +ours at Frascati." + +Then, as he would not relax his hold on his basket of figs, but even now +carried it along with him, the Count lost patience. "Come, you don't want +that basket," said he; "leave it in the carriage." + +The priest gave no reply, but walked ahead, whilst Pierre also made up +his mind to descend from the carriage in order to see what a suburban +/osteria/ was like. Prada was known at this place, and an old woman, +tall, withered, but looking quite queenly in her wretched garments, had +at once presented herself. On the last occasion when the Count had called +she had managed to find half a dozen eggs. This time she said she would +go to see, but could promise nothing, for the hens laid here and there +all over the place, and she could never tell what eggs there might be. + +"All right!" Prada answered, "go and look; and meantime we will have a +/caraffa/ of white wine." + +The three men entered the common room, which was already quite dark. +Although the hot weather was now over, one heard the buzzing of +innumerable flies immediately one reached the threshold, and a pungent +odour of acidulous wine and rancid oil caught one at the throat. As soon +as their eyes became accustomed to the dimness they were able to +distinguish the spacious, blackened, malodorous chamber, whose only +furniture consisted of some roughly made tables and benches. It seemed to +be quite empty, so complete was the silence, apart from the buzz of the +flies. However, two men were seated there, two wayfarers who remained +mute and motionless before their untouched, brimming glasses. Moreover, +on a low chair near the door, in the little light which penetrated from +without, a thin, sallow girl, the daughter of the house, sat idle, +trembling with fever, her hands close pressed between her knees. + +Realising that Pierre felt uncomfortable there, the Count proposed that +they should drink their wine outside. "We shall be better out of doors," +said he, "it's so very in mild this evening." + +Accordingly, whilst the mother looked for the eggs, and the father mended +a wheel in an adjacent shed, the daughter was obliged to get up shivering +to carry the flagon of wine and the three glasses to the arbour, where +she placed them on one of the tables. And, having pocketed the price of +the wine--threepence--in silence, she went back to her seat with a sullen +look, as if annoyed at having been compelled to make such a long journey. +Meanwhile the three men had sat down, and Prada gaily filled each of the +glasses, although Pierre declared that he was quite unable to drink wine +between his meals. "Pooh, pooh," said the Count, "you can always clink +glasses with us. And now, Abbe, isn't this little wine droll? Come, +here's to the Pope's better health, since he's unwell!" + +Santobono at one gulp emptied his glass and clacked his tongue. With +gentle, paternal care he had deposited his basket on the ground beside +him: and, taking off his hat, he drew a long breath. The evening was +really delightful. A superb sky of a soft golden hue stretched over that +endless sea of the Campagna which was soon to fall asleep with sovereign +quiescence. And the light breeze which went by amidst the deep silence +brought with it an exquisite odour of wild herbs and flowers. + +"How pleasant it is!" muttered Pierre, affected by the surrounding charm. +"And what a desert for eternal rest, forgetfulness of all the world!" + +Prada, who had emptied the flagon by filling Santobono's glass a second +time, made no reply; he was silently amusing himself with an occurrence +which at first he was the only one to observe. However, with a merry +expression of complicity, he gave the young priest a wink, and then they +both watched the dramatic incidents of the affair. Some scraggy fowls +were wandering round them searching the yellow turf for grasshoppers; and +one of these birds, a little shiny black hen with an impudent manner, had +caught sight of the basket of figs and was boldly approaching it. When +she got near, however, she took fright, and retreated somewhat, with neck +stiffened and head turned, so as to cast suspicious glances at the basket +with her round sparkling eye. But at last covetousness gained the +victory, for she could see one of the figs between the leaves, and so she +slowly advanced, lifting her feet very high at each step; and, all at +once, stretching out her neck, she gave the fig a formidable peck, which +ripped it open and made the juice exude. + +Prada, who felt as happy as a child, was then able to give vent to the +laughter which he had scarcely been able to restrain: "Look out, Abbe," +he called, "mind your figs!" + +At that very moment Santobono was finishing his second glass of wine with +his head thrown back and his eyes blissfully raised to heaven. He gave a +start, looked round, and on seeing the hen at once understood the +position. And then came a terrible outburst of anger, with sweeping +gestures and terrible invectives. But the hen, who was again pecking, +would not be denied; she dug her beak into the fig and carried it off, +flapping her wings, so quick and so comical that Prada, and Pierre as +well, laughed till tears came into their eyes, their merriment increasing +at sight of the impotent fury of Santobono, who, for a moment, pursued +the thief, threatening her with his fist. + +"Ah!" said the Count, "that's what comes of not leaving the basket in the +carriage. If I hadn't warned you the hen would have eaten all the figs." + +The priest did not reply, but, growling out vague imprecations, placed +the basket on the table, where he raised the leaves and artistically +rearranged the fruit so as to fill up the void. Then, the harm having +been repaired as far as was possible, he at last calmed down. + +It was now time for them to resume their journey, for the sun was sinking +towards the horizon, and night would soon fall. Thus the Count ended by +getting impatient. "Well, and those eggs?" he called. + +Then, as the woman did not return, he went to seek her. He entered the +stable, and afterwards the cart-house, but she was neither here nor +there. Next he went towards the rear of the /osteria/ in order to look in +the sheds. But all at once an unexpected spectacle made him stop short. +The little black hen was lying on the ground, dead, killed as by +lightning. She showed no sign of hurt; there was nothing but a little +streamlet of violet blood still trickling from her beak. Prada was at +first merely astonished. He stooped and touched the hen. She was still +warm and soft like a rag. Doubtless some apoplectic stroke had killed +her. But immediately afterwards he became fearfully pale; the truth +appeared to him, and turned him as cold as ice. In a moment he conjured +up everything: Leo XIII attacked by illness, Santobono hurrying to +Cardinal Sanguinetti for tidings, and then starting for Rome to present a +basket of figs to Cardinal Boccanera. And Prada also remembered the +conversation in the carriage: the possibility of the Pope's demise, the +candidates for the tiara, the legendary stories of poison which still +fostered terror in and around the Vatican; and he once more saw the +priest, with his little basket on his knees, lavishing paternal attention +on it, and he saw the little black hen pecking at the fruit and fleeing +with a fig on her beak. And now that little black hen lay there, suddenly +struck down, dead! + +His conviction was immediate and absolute. But he did not have time to +decide what course he should take, for a voice behind him exclaimed: +"Why, it's the little hen; what's the matter with her?" + +The voice was that of Pierre, who, letting Santobono climb into the +carriage alone, had in his turn come round to the rear of the house in +order to obtain a better view of the ruined aqueduct among the parasol +pines. + +Prada, who shuddered as if he himself were the culprit, answered him with +a lie, a lie which he did not premeditate, but to which he was impelled +by a sort of instinct. "But she's dead," he said. . . . "Just fancy, +there was a fight. At the moment when I got here that other hen, which +you see yonder, sprang upon this one to get the fig, which she was still +holding, and with a thrust of the beak split her head open. . . . The +blood's flowing, as you can see yourself." + +Why did he say these things? He himself was astonished at them whilst he +went on inventing them. Was it then that he wished to remain master of +the situation, keep the abominable secret entirely to himself, in order +that he might afterwards act in accordance with his own desires? +Certainly his feelings partook of shame and embarrassment in presence of +that foreigner, whilst his personal inclination for violence set some +admiration amidst the revolt of his conscience, and a covert desire arose +within him to examine the matter from the standpoint of his interests +before he came to a decision. But, on the other hand, he claimed to be a +man of integrity, and would assuredly not allow people to be poisoned. + +Pierre, who was compassionately inclined towards all creation, looked at +the hen with the emotion which he always felt at the sudden severance of +life. However, he at once accepted Prada's story. "Ah! those fowls!" said +he. "They treat one another with an idiotic ferocity which even men can +scarcely equal. I kept fowls at home at one time, and one of the hens no +sooner hurt her leg than all the others, on seeing the blood oozing, +would flock round and peck at the limb till they stripped it to the +bone." + +Prada, however, did not listen, but at once went off; and it so happened +that the woman was, on her side, looking for him in order to hand him +four eggs which, after a deal of searching, she had discovered in odd +corners about the house. The Count made haste to pay for them, and called +to Pierre, who was lingering behind: "We must look sharp! We sha'n't +reach Rome now until it is quite dark." + +They found Santobono quietly waiting in the carriage, where he had again +installed himself on the bracket with his spine resting against the +box-seat and his long legs drawn back under him, and he again had the +little basket of figs on his knees, and clasped it with his big knotty +hands as though it were something fragile and rare which the slightest +jolting might damage. His cassock showed like a huge blot, and in his +coarse ashen face, that of a peasant yet near to the wild soil and but +slightly polished by a few years of theological studies, his eyes alone +seemed to live, glowing with the dark flame of a devouring passion. On +seeing him seated there in such composure Prada could not restrain a +slight shudder. Then, as soon as the victoria was again rolling along the +road, he exclaimed: "Well, Abbe, that glass of wine will guarantee us +against the malaria. The Pope would soon be cured if he could imitate our +example." + +Santobono's only reply was a growl. He was in no mood for conversation, +but wrapped himself in perfect silence, as in the night which was slowly +falling. And Prada in his turn ceased to speak, and, with his eyes still +fixed upon the other, reflected on the course that he should follow. + +The road turned, and then the carriage rolled on and on over another +interminable straight highway with white paving, whose brilliancy made +the road look like a ribbon of snow stretching across the Campagna, where +delicate shadows were slowly falling. Gloom gathered in the hollows of +the broad undulations whence a tide of violet hue seemed to spread over +the short herbage until all mingled and the expanse became an indistinct +swell of neutral hue from one to the other horizon. And the solitude was +now yet more complete; a last indolent cart had gone by and a last +tinkling of horses' bells had subsided in the distance. There was no +longer a passer-by, no longer a beast of the fields to be seen, colour +and sound died away, all forms of life sank into slumber, into the serene +stillness of nihility. Some fragments of an aqueduct were still to be +seen at intervals on the right hand, where they looked like portions of +gigantic millepeds severed by the scythe of time; next, on the left, came +another tower, whose dark and ruined pile barred the sky as with a huge +black stake; and then the remains of another aqueduct spanned the road, +assuming yet greater dimensions against the sunset glow. Ah! that unique +hour, the hour of twilight in the Campagna, when all is blotted out and +simplified, the hour of bare immensity, of the infinite in its simplest +expression! There is nothing, nothing all around you, but the flat line +of the horizon with the one splotch of an isolated tower, and yet that +nothing is instinct with sovereign majesty. + +However, on the left, towards the sea, the sun was setting, descending in +the limpid sky like a globe of fire of blinding redness. It slowly +plunged beneath the horizon, and the only sign of cloud was some fiery +vapour, as if indeed the distant sea had seethed at contact with that +royal and flaming visit. And directly the sun had disappeared the heavens +above it purpled and became a lake of blood, whilst the Campagna turned +to grey. At the far end of the fading plain there remained only that +purple lake whose brasier slowly died out behind the black arches of the +aqueduct, while in the opposite direction the scattered arches remained +bright and rosy against a pewter-like sky. Then the fiery vapour was +dissipated, and the sunset ended by fading away. One by one the stars +came out in the pacified vault, now of an ashen blue, while the lights of +Rome, still far away on the verge of the horizon, scintillated like the +lamps of light-houses. + +And Prada, amidst the dreamy silence of his companions and the infinite +melancholy of the evening and the inexpressible distress which even he +experienced, continued to ask himself what course he should adopt. Again +and again he mentally repeated that he could not allow people to be +poisoned. The figs were certainly intended for Cardinal Boccanera, and on +the whole it mattered little to him whether there were a cardinal the +more or the fewer in the world. Moreover, it had always seemed to him +best to let Destiny follow its course; and, infidel that he was, he saw +no harm in one priest devouring another. Again, it might be dangerous for +him to intervene in that abominable affair, to mix himself up in the +base, fathomless intrigues of the black world. But on the other hand the +Cardinal was not the only person who lived in the Boccanera mansion, and +might not the figs go to others, might they not be eaten by people to +whom no harm was intended? This idea of a treacherous chance haunted him, +and in spite of every effort the figures of Benedetta and Dario rose up +before him, returned and imposed themselves on him though he again and +again sought to banish them from his mind. What if Benedetta, what if +Dario should partake of that fruit? For Benedetta he felt no fear, for he +knew that she and her aunt ate their meals by themselves, and that their +cuisine and the Cardinal's had nothing in common. But Dario sat at his +uncle's table every day, and for a moment Prada, pictured the young +Prince suddenly seized with a spasm, then falling, like poor Monsignor +Gallo, into the Cardinal's arms with livid face and receding eyes, and +dying within two hours. + +But no, no! That would be frightful, he could not suffer such an +abomination. And thereupon he made up his mind. He would wait till the +night had completely gathered round and would then simply take the basket +from Santobono's lap and fling it into some dark hollow without saying a +word. The priest would understand him. The other one, the young +Frenchman, would perhaps not even notice the incident. Besides, that +mattered little, for he would not even attempt to explain his action. And +he felt quite calm again when the idea occurred to him to throw the +basket away while the carriage passed through the Porta Furba, a couple +of miles or so before reaching Rome. That would suit him exactly; in the +darkness of the gateway nothing whatever would be seen. + +"We stopped too long at that /osteria/," he suddenly exclaimed aloud, +turning towards Pierre. "We sha'n't reach Rome much before six o'clock. +Still you will have time to dress and join your friend." And then without +awaiting the young man's reply he said to Santobono: "Your figs will +arrive very late, Abbe." + +"Oh!" answered the priest, "his Eminence receives until eight o'clock. +And, besides, the figs are not for this evening. People don't eat figs in +the evening. They will be for to-morrow morning." And thereupon he again +relapsed into silence. + +"For to-morrow morning--yes, yes, no doubt," repeated Prada. "And the +Cardinal will be able to thoroughly regale himself if nobody helps him to +eat the fruit." + +Thereupon Pierre, without pausing to reflect, exclaimed: "He will no +doubt eat it by himself, for his nephew, Prince Dario, must have started +to-day for Naples on a little convalescence trip to rid himself of the +effects of the accident which laid him up during the last month." Then, +having got so far, the young priest remembered to whom he was speaking, +and abruptly stopped short. + +The Count noticed his embarrassment. "Oh! speak on, my dear Monsieur +Froment," said he, "you don't offend me. It's an old affair now. So that +young man has left, you say?" + +"Yes, unless he has postponed his departure. However, I don't expect to +find him at the palazzo when I get there." + +For a moment the only sound was that of the continuous rumble of the +wheels. Prada again felt worried, a prey to the discomfort of +uncertainty. Why should he mix himself up in the affair if Dario were +really absent? All the ideas which came to him tired his brain, and he +ended by thinking aloud: "If he has gone away it must be for propriety's +sake, so as to avoid attending the Buongiovanni reception, for the +Congregation of the Council met this morning to give its decision in the +suit which the Countess has brought against me. Yes, I shall know by and +by whether our marriage is to be dissolved." + +It was in a somewhat hoarse voice that he spoke these words, and one +could realise that the old wound was again bleeding within him. Although +Lisbeth had borne him a son, the charge levelled against him in his +wife's petition for divorce still filled him with blind fury each time +that he thought of it. And all at once he shuddered violently, as if an +icy blast had darted through his frame. Then, turning the conversation, +he added: "It's not at all warm this evening. This is the dangerous hour +of the Roman climate, the twilight hour when it's easy to catch a +terrible fever if one isn't prudent. Here, pull the rug over your legs, +wrap it round you as carefully as you can." + +Then, as they drew near the Porta Furba, silence again fell, more +profound, like the slumber which was invincibly spreading over the +Campagna, now steeped in night. And at last, in the bright starlight, +appeared the gate, an arch of the Acqua Felice, under which the road +passed. From a distance, this fragment seemed to bar the way with its +mass of ancient half-fallen walls. But afterwards the gigantic arch where +all was black opened like a gaping porch. And the carriage passed under +it in darkness whilst the wheels rumbled with increased sonority. + +When the victoria emerged on the other side, Santobono still had the +little basket of figs upon his knees and Prada looked at it, quite +overcome, asking himself what sudden paralysis of the hands had prevented +him from seizing it and throwing it into the darkness. Such had still +been his intention but a few seconds before they passed under the arch. +He had even given the basket a final glance in order that he might the +better realise what movements he should make. What had taken place within +him then? At present he was yielding to increasing irresolution, +henceforth incapable of decisive action, feeling a need of delay in order +that he might, before everything else, fully satisfy himself as to what +was likely to happen. And as Dario had doubtless gone away and the figs +would certainly not be eaten until the following morning, what reason was +there for him to hurry? He would know that evening if the Congregation of +the Council had annulled his marriage, he would know how far the +so-called "Justice of God" was venal and mendacious! Certainly he would +suffer nobody to be poisoned, not even Cardinal Boccanera, though the +latter's life was of little account to him personally. But had not that +little basket, ever since leaving Frascati, been like Destiny on the +march? And was it not enjoyment, the enjoyment of omnipotence, to be able +to say to himself that he was the master who could stay that basket's +course, or allow it to go onward and accomplish its deadly purpose? +Moreover, he yielded to the dimmest of mental struggles, ceasing to +reason, unable to raise his hand, and yet convinced that he would drop a +warning note into the letter-box at the palazzo before he went to bed, +though at the same time he felt happy in the thought that if his interest +directed otherwise he would not do so. + +And the remainder of the journey was accomplished in silent weariness, +amidst the shiver of evening which seemed to have chilled all three men. +In vain did the Count endeavour to escape from the battle of his +thoughts, by reverting to the Buongiovanni reception, and giving +particulars of the splendours which would be witnessed at it: his words +fell sparsely in an embarrassed and absent-minded way. Then he sought to +inspirit Pierre by speaking to him of Cardinal Sanguinetti's amiable +manner and fair words, but although the young priest was returning home +well pleased with his journey, in the idea that with a little help he +might yet triumph, he scarcely answered the Count, so wrapt he was in his +reverie. And Santobono, on his side, neither spoke nor moved. Black like +the night itself, he seemed to have vanished. However, the lights of Rome +were increasing in number, and houses again appeared on either hand, at +first at long intervals, and then in close succession. They were suburban +houses, and there were yet more fields of reeds, quickset hedges, +olive-trees overtopping long walls, and big gateways with vase-surmounted +pillars; but at last came the city with its rows of small grey houses, +its petty shops and its dingy taverns, whence at times came shouts and +rumours of battle. + +Prada insisted on setting his companions down in the Via Giulia, at fifty +paces from the palazzo. "It doesn't inconvenience me at all," said he to +Pierre. "Besides, with the little time you have before you, it would +never do for you to go on foot." + +The Via Giulia was already steeped in slumber, and wore a melancholy +aspect of abandonment in the dreary light of the gas lamps standing on +either hand. And as soon as Santobono had alighted from the carriage, he +took himself off without waiting for Pierre, who, moreover, always went +in by the little door in the side lane. + +"Good-bye, Abbe," exclaimed Prada. + +"Good-bye, Count, a thousand thanks," was Santobono's response. + +Then the two others stood watching him as he went towards the Boccanera +mansion, whose old, monumental entrance, full of gloom, was still wide +open. For a moment they saw his tall, rugged figure erect against that +gloom. Then in he plunged, he and his little basket, bearing Destiny. + + + +XII + +IT was ten o'clock when Pierre and Narcisse, after dining at the Caffe di +Roma, where they had long lingered chatting, at last walked down the +Corso towards the Palazzo Buongiovanni. They had the greatest difficulty +to reach its entrance, for carriages were coming up in serried files, and +the inquisitive crowd of on-lookers, who pressed even into the roadway, +in spite of the injunctions of the police, was growing so compact that +even the horses could no longer approach. The ten lofty windows on the +first floor of the long monumental facade shone with an intense white +radiance, the radiance of electric lamps, which illumined the street like +sunshine, spreading over the equipages aground in that human sea, whose +billows of eager, excited faces rolled to and fro amidst an extraordinary +tumult. + +And in all this there was not merely the usual curiosity to see uniforms +go by and ladies in rich attire alight from their carriages, for Pierre +soon gathered from what he heard that the crowd had come to witness the +arrival of the King and Queen, who had promised to appear at the ball +given by Prince Buongiovanni, in celebration of the betrothal of his +daughter Celia to Lieutenant Attilio Sacco, the son of one of his +Majesty's ministers. Moreover, people were enraptured with this marriage, +the happy ending of a love story which had impassioned the whole city: to +begin with, love at first sight, with the suddenness of a +lightning-flash, and then stubborn fidelity triumphing over all +obstacles, amidst romantic circumstances whose story sped from lip to +lip, moistening every eye and stirring every heart. + +It was this story that Narcisse had related at dessert to Pierre, who +already knew some portion of it. People asserted that if the Prince had +ended by yielding after a final terrible scene, it was only from fear of +seeing Celia elope from the palace with her lover. She did not threaten +to do so, but, amidst her virginal calmness, there was so much contempt +for everything foreign to her love, that her father felt her to be +capable of acting with the greatest folly in all ingenuousness. Only +indifference was manifested by the Prince's wife, a phlegmatic and still +beautiful Englishwoman, who considered that she had done quite enough for +the household by bringing her husband a dowry of five millions, and +bearing him five children. The Prince, anxious and weak despite his +violence, in which one found a trace of the old Roman blood, already +spoilt by mixture with that of a foreign race, was nowadays ever +influenced in his actions by the fear that his house and fortune--which +hitherto had remained intact amidst the accumulated ruins of the +/patriziato/--might suddenly collapse. And in finally yielding to Celia, +he must have been guided by the idea of rallying to the new /regime/ +through his daughter, so as to have one foot firmly set at the Quirinal, +without withdrawing the other from the Vatican. It was galling, no doubt; +his pride must have bled at the idea of allying his name with that of +such low folks as the Saccos. But then Sacco was a minister, and had sped +so quickly from success to success that it seemed likely he would rise +yet higher, and, after the portfolio of Agriculture, secure that of +Finances, which he had long coveted. And an alliance with Sacco meant the +certain favour of the King, an assured retreat in that direction should +the papacy some day collapse. Then, too, the Prince had made inquiries +respecting the son, and was somewhat disarmed by the good looks, bravery, +and rectitude of young Attilio, who represented the future, and possibly +the glorious Italy of to-morrow. He was a soldier, and could be helped +forward to the highest rank. And people spitefully added that the last +reason which had influenced the Prince, who was very avaricious, and +greatly worried by the thought that his fortune must be divided among his +five children,* was that an opportunity presented itself for him to +bestow a ridiculously small dowry on Celia. However, having consented to +the marriage, he resolved to give a splendid /fete/, such as was now +seldom witnessed in Rome, throwing his doors open to all the rival +sections of society, inviting the sovereigns, and setting the palazzo +ablaze as in the grand days of old. In doing this he would necessarily +have to expend some of the money to which he clung, but a boastful spirit +incited him to show the world that he at any rate had not been vanquished +by the financial crisis, and that the Buongiovannis had nothing to hide +and nothing to blush for. To tell the truth, some people asserted that +this bravado had not originated with himself, but had been instilled into +him without his knowledge by the quiet and innocent Celia, who wished to +exhibit her happiness to all applauding Rome. + + * The Italian succession law is similar to the French. Children + cannot be disinherited. All property is divided among them, + and thus the piling up of large hereditary fortunes is + prevented.--Trans. + +"Dear me!" said Narcisse, whom the throng prevented from advancing. "We +shall never get in. Why, they seem to have invited the whole city." And +then, as Pierre seemed surprised to see a prelate drive up in his +carriage, the /attache/ added: "Oh! you will elbow more than one of them +upstairs. The cardinals won't like to come on account of the presence of +the King and Queen, but the prelates are sure to be here. This, you know, +is a neutral drawing-room where the black and the white worlds can +fraternise. And then too, there are so few /fetes/ that people rush on +them." + +He went on to explain that there were two grand balls at Court every +winter, but that it was only under exceptional circumstances that the +/patriziato/ gave similar /galas/. Two or three of the black /salons/ +were opened once in a way towards the close of the Carnival, but little +dances among intimates replaced the pompous entertainments of former +times. Some princesses moreover merely had their day. And as for the few +white /salons/ that existed, these likewise retained the same character +of intimacy, more or less mixed, for no lady had yet become the +undisputed queen of the new society. + +"Well, here we are at last," resumed Narcisse as they eventually climbed +the stairs. + +"Let us keep together," Pierre somewhat anxiously replied. "My only +acquaintance is with the /fiancee/, and I want you to introduce me." + +However, a considerable effort was needed even to climb the monumental +staircase, so great was the crush of arriving guests. Never, in the old +days of wax candles and oil lamps, had this staircase offered such a +blaze of light. Electric lamps, burning in clusters in superb bronze +candelabra on the landings, steeped everything in a white radiance. The +cold stucco of the walls was hidden by a series of lofty tapestries +depicting the story of Cupid and Psyche, marvels which had remained in +the family since the days of the Renascence. And a thick carpet covered +the worn marble steps, whilst clumps of evergreens and tall spreading +palms decorated every corner. An affluence of new blood warmed the +antique mansion that evening; there was a resurrection of life, so to +say, as the women surged up the staircase, smiling and perfumed, +bare-shouldered, and sparkling with diamonds. + +At the entrance of the first reception-room Pierre at once perceived +Prince and Princess Buongiovanni, standing side by side and receiving +their guests. The Prince, a tall, slim man with fair complexion and hair +turning grey, had the pale northern eyes of his American mother in an +energetic face such as became a former captain of the popes. The +Princess, with small, delicate, and rounded features, looked barely +thirty, though she had really passed her fortieth year. And still pretty, +displaying a smiling serenity which nothing could disconcert, she purely +and simply basked in self-adoration. Her gown was of pink satin, and a +marvellous parure of large rubies set flamelets about her dainty neck and +in her fine, fair hair. Of her five children, her son, the eldest, was +travelling, and three of the girls, mere children, were still at school, +so that only Celia was present, Celia in a modest gown of white muslin, +fair like her mother, quite bewitching with her large innocent eyes and +her candid lips, and retaining to the very end of her love story the +semblance of a closed lily of impenetrable, virginal mysteriousness. The +Saccos had but just arrived, and Attilio, in his simple lieutenant's +uniform, had remained near his betrothed, so naively and openly delighted +with his great happiness that his handsome face, with its caressing mouth +and brave eyes, was quite resplendent with youth and strength. Standing +there, near one another, in the triumph of their passion they appeared +like life's very joy and health, like the personification of hope in the +morrow's promises; and the entering guests who saw them could not refrain +from smiling and feeling moved, momentarily forgetting their loquacious +and malicious curiosity to give their hearts to those chosen ones of love +who looked so handsome and so enraptured. + +Narcisse stepped forward in order to present Pierre, but Celia +anticipated him. Going to meet the young priest she led him to her father +and mother, saying: "Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre Froment, a friend of my dear +Benedetta." Ceremonious salutations followed. Then the young girl, whose +graciousness greatly touched Pierre, said to him: "Benedetta is coming +with her aunt and Dario. She must be very happy this evening! And you +will also see how beautiful she will be." + +Pierre and Narcisse next began to congratulate her, but they could not +remain there, the throng was ever jostling them; and the Prince and +Princess, quite lost in the crush, had barely time to answer the many +salutations with amiable, continuous nods. And Celia, after conducting +the two friends to Attilio, was obliged to return to her parents so as to +take her place beside them as the little queen of the /fete/. + +Narcisse was already slightly acquainted with Attilio, and so fresh +congratulations ensued. Then the two friends manoeuvred to find a spot +where they might momentarily tarry and contemplate the spectacle which +this first /salon/ presented. It was a vast hall, hung with green velvet +broidered with golden flowers, and contained a very remarkable collection +of weapons and armour, breast-plates, battle-axes, and swords, almost all +of which had belonged to the Buongiovannis of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries. And amidst those stern implements of war there was a lovely +sedan-chair of the last century, gilded and decorated with delicate +paintings. It was in this chair that the Prince's great-grandmother, the +celebrated Bettina, whose beauty was historical, had usually been carried +to mass. On the walls, moreover, there were numerous historical +paintings: battles, peace congresses, and royal receptions in which the +Buongiovannis had taken part, without counting the many family portraits, +tall and proud figures of sea-captains, commanders in the field, great +dignitaries of the Church, prelates and cardinals, amongst whom, in the +place of honour, appeared the family pope, the white-robed Buongiovanni +whose accession to the pontifical throne had enriched a long line of +descendants. And it was among those armours, near that coquettish sedan, +and below those antique portraits, that the Saccos, husband and wife, had +in their turn just halted, at a few steps from the master and mistress of +the house, in order to secure their share of congratulations and bows. + +"Look over there!" Narcisse whispered to Pierre, "those are the Saccos in +front of us, that dark little fellow and the lady in mauve silk." + +Pierre promptly recognised the bright face and pleasant smile of Stefana, +whom he had already met at old Orlando's. But he was more interested in +her husband, a dark dry man, with big eyes, sallow complexion, prominent +chin, and vulturine nose. Like some gay Neapolitan "Pulcinello," he was +dancing, shouting, and displaying such infectious good humour that it +spread to all around him. He possessed a wonderful gift of speech, with a +voice that was unrivalled as an instrument of fascination and conquest; +and on seeing how easily he ingratiated himself with the people in that +drawing-room, one could understand his lightning-like successes in the +political world. He had manoeuvered with rare skill in the matter of his +son's marriage, affecting such exaggerated delicacy of feeling as to set +himself against the lovers, and declare that he would never consent to +their union, as he had no desire to be accused of stealing a dowry and a +title. As a matter of fact, he had only yielded after the Buongiovannis +had given their consent, and even then he had desired to take the opinion +of old Orlando, whose lofty integrity was proverbial. However, he knew +right well that he would secure the old hero's approval in this +particular affair, for Orlando made no secret of his opinion that the +Buongiovannis ought to be glad to admit his grand-nephew into their +family, as that handsome young fellow, with brave and healthy heart, +would help to regenerate their impoverished blood. And throughout the +whole affair, Sacco had shrewdly availed himself of Orlando's famous +name, for ever talking of the relationship between them, and displaying +filial veneration for this glorious founder of the country, as if indeed +he had no suspicion that the latter despised and execrated him and +mourned his accession to power in the conviction that he would lead Italy +to shame and ruin. + +"Ah!" resumed Narcisse addressing Pierre, "he's one of those supple, +practical men who care nothing for a smack in the face. It seems that +unscrupulous individuals like himself become necessary when states get +into trouble and have to pass through political, financial, and moral +crises. It is said that Sacco with his imperturbable assurance and +ingenious and resourceful mind has quite won the King's favour. Just look +at him! Why, with that crowd of courtiers round him, one might think him +the master of this palace!" + +And indeed the guests, after passing the Prince and Princess with a bow, +at once congregated around Sacco, for he represented power, emoluments, +pensions, and crosses; and if folks still smiled at seeing his dark, +turbulent, and scraggy figure amidst that framework of family portraits +which proclaimed the mighty ancestry of the Buongiovannis, they none the +less worshipped him as the personification of the new power, the +democratic force which was confusedly rising even from the old Roman soil +where the /patriziato/ lay in ruins. + +"What a crowd!" muttered Pierre. "Who are all these people?" + +"Oh!" replied Narcisse, "it is a regular mixture. These people belong +neither to the black nor the white world; they form a grey world as it +were. The evolution was certain; a man like Cardinal Boccanera may retain +an uncompromising attitude, but a whole city, a nation can't. The Pope +alone will always say no and remain immutable. But everything around him +progresses and undergoes transformation, so that in spite of all +resistance, Rome will become Italian in a few years' time. Even now, +whenever a prince has two sons only one of them remains on the side of +the Vatican, the other goes over to the Quirinal. People must live, you +see; and the great families threatened with annihilation have not +sufficient heroism to carry obstinacy to the point of suicide. And I have +already told you that we are here on neutral ground, for Prince +Buongiovanni was one of the first to realise the necessity of +conciliation. He feels that his fortune is perishing, he does not care to +risk it either in industry or in speculation, and already sees it +portioned out among his five children, by whose descendants it will be +yet further divided; and this is why he prudently makes advances to the +King without, however, breaking with the Pope. In this /salon/, +therefore, you see a perfect picture of the /debacle/, the confusion +which reigns in the Prince's ideas and opinions." Narcisse paused, and +then began to name some of the persons who were coming in. "There's a +general," said he, "who has become very popular since his last campaign +in Africa. There will be a great many military men here this evening, for +all Attilio's superiors have been invited, so as to give the young man an +/entourage/ of glory. Ah! and there's the German ambassador. I fancy that +nearly all the Corps Diplomatique will come on account of their +Majesties' presence. But, by way of contrast, just look at that stout +fellow yonder. He's a very influential deputy, a /parvenu/ of the new +middle class. Thirty years ago he was merely one of Prince Albertini's +farmers, one of those /mercanti di campagna/ who go about the environs of +Rome in stout boots and a soft felt hat. And now look at that prelate +coming in--" + +"Oh! I know him," Pierre interrupted. "He's Monsignor Fornaro." + +"Exactly, Monsignor Fornaro, a personage of some importance. You told me, +I remember, that he is the reporter of the Congregation in that affair of +your book. A most delightful man! Did you see how he bowed to the +Princess? And what a noble and graceful bearing he has in his little +mantle of violet silk!" + +Then Narcisse went on enumerating the princes and princesses, the dukes +and duchesses, the politicians and functionaries, the diplomatists and +ministers, and the officers and well-to-do middle-class people, who of +themselves made up a most wonderful medley of guests, to say nothing of +the representatives of the various foreign colonies, English people, +Americans, Germans, Spaniards, and Russians, in a word, all ancient +Europe, and both Americas. And afterwards the young man reverted to the +Saccos, to the little Signora Sacco in particular, in order to tell +Pierre of the heroic efforts which she had made to open a /salon/ for the +purpose of assisting her husband's ambition. Gentle and modest as she +seemed, she was also very shrewd, endowed with genuine qualities, +Piedmontese patience and strength of resistance, orderly habits and +thriftiness. And thus it was she who re-established the equilibrium in +household affairs which her husband by his exuberance so often disturbed. +He was indeed greatly indebted to her, though nobody suspected it. At the +same time, however, she had so far failed in her attempts to establish a +white /salon/ which should take the lead in influencing opinion. Only the +people of her own set visited her, not a single prince ever came, and her +Monday dances were the same as in a score of other middle-class homes, +having no brilliancy and no importance. In fact, the real white /salon/, +which should guide men and things and sway all Rome was still in +dreamland. + +"Just notice her keen smile as she examines everything here," resumed +Narcisse. "She's teaching herself and forming plans, I'm sure of it. Now +that she is about to be connected with a princely family she probably +hopes to receive some of the best society." + +Large as was the room, the crowd in it had by this time grown so dense +that the two friends were pressed back to a wall, and felt almost +stifled. The /attache/ therefore decided to lead the priest elsewhere, +and as they walked along he gave him some particulars concerning the +palace, which was one of the most sumptuous in Rome, and renowned for the +magnificence of its reception-rooms. Dancing took place in the picture +gallery, a superb apartment more than sixty feet long, with eight windows +overlooking the Corso; while the buffet was installed in the Hall of the +Antiques, a marble hall, which among other precious things contained a +statue of Venus, rivalling the one at the Capitol. Then there was a suite +of marvellous /salons/, still resplendent with ancient luxury, hung with +the rarest stuffs, and retaining some unique specimens of old-time +furniture, on which covetous antiquaries kept their eyes fixed, whilst +waiting and hoping for the inevitable future ruin. And one of these +apartments, the little Saloon of the Mirrors, was particularly famous. Of +circular shape and Louis XV style, it was surrounded by mirrors in +/rococo/ frames, extremely rich, and most exquisitely carved. + +"You will see all that by and by," continued Narcisse. "At present we had +better go in here if we want to breathe a little. It is here that the +arm-chairs from the adjacent gallery have been brought for the +accommodation of the ladies who desire to sit down and be seen and +admired." + +The apartment they entered was a spacious one, draped with the most +superb Genoese velvet, that antique /jardiniere/ velvet with pale satin +ground, and flowers once of dazzling brightness, whose greens and blues +and reds had now become exquisitely soft, with the subdued, faded tones +of old floral love-tokens. On the pier tables and in the cabinets all +around were some of the most precious curios in the palace, ivory +caskets, gilt and painted wood carvings, pieces of antique +plate--briefly, a collection of marvels. And several ladies, fleeing the +crush, had already taken refuge on the numerous seats, clustering in +little groups, and laughing and chatting with the few gentlemen who had +discovered this retreat of grace and /galanterie/. In the bright glow of +the lamps nothing could be more delightful than the sight of all those +bare, sheeny shoulders, and those supple necks, above whose napes were +coiled tresses of fair or raven hair. Bare arms emerged like living +flowers of flesh from amidst the mingling lace and silk of soft-hued +bodices. The fans played slowly, as if to heighten the fires of the +precious stones, and at each beat wafted around an /odore di femina/ +blended with a predominating perfume of violets. + +"Hallo!" exclaimed Narcisse, "there's our good friend Monsignor Nani +bowing to the Austrian ambassadress." + +As soon as Nani perceived the young priest and his companion he came +towards them, and the trio then withdrew into the embrasure of a window +in order that they might chat for a moment at their ease. The prelate was +smiling like one enchanted with the beauty of the /fete/, but at the same +time he retained all the serenity of innocence, as if he had not even +noticed the exhibition of bare shoulders by which he was surrounded. "Ah, +my dear son!" he said to Pierre, "I am very pleased to see you! Well, and +what do you think of our Rome when she makes up her mind to give +/fetes/?" + +"Why, it is superb, Monseigneur." + +Then, in an emotional manner, Nani spoke of Celia's lofty piety; and, in +order to give the Vatican the credit of this sumptuous /gala/, affected +to regard the Prince and Princess as staunch adherents of the Church, as +if he were altogether unaware that the King and Queen were presently +coming. And afterwards he abruptly exclaimed: "I have been thinking of +you all day, my dear son. Yes, I heard that you had gone to see his +Eminence Cardinal Sanguinetti. Well, and how did he receive you?" + +"Oh! in a most paternal manner," Pierre replied. "At first he made me +understand the embarrassment in which he was placed by his position as +protector of Lourdes; but just as I was going off he showed himself +charming, and promised me his help with a delicacy which deeply touched +me." + +"Did he indeed, my dear son? But it doesn't surprise me, his Eminence is +so good-hearted!" + +"And I must add, Monseigneur, that I came back with a light and hopeful +heart. It now seems to me as if my suit were half gained." + +"Naturally, I understand it," replied Nani, who was still smiling with +that keen, intelligent smile of his, sharpened by a touch of almost +imperceptible irony. And after a short pause he added in a very simple +way: "The misfortune is that on the day before yesterday your book was +condemned by the Congregation of the Index, which was convoked by its +Secretary expressly for that purpose. And the judgment will be laid +before his Holiness, for him to sign it, on the day after to-morrow." + +Pierre looked at the prelate in bewilderment. Had the old mansion fallen +on his head he would not have felt more overcome. What! was it all over? +His journey to Rome, the experiment he had come to attempt there, had +resulted in that defeat, of which he was thus suddenly apprised amidst +that betrothal /fete/. And he had not even been able to defend himself, +he had sacrificed his time without finding any one to whom he might +speak, before whom he might plead his cause! Anger was rising within him, +and he could not prevent himself from muttering bitterly: "Ah! how I have +been duped! And that Cardinal who said to me only this morning: 'If God +be with you he will save you in spite of everything.' Yes, yes, I now +understand him; he was juggling with words, he only desired a disaster in +order that submission might lead me to Heaven! Submit, indeed, ah! I +cannot, I cannot yet! My heart is too full of indignation and grief." + +Nani examined and studied him with curiosity. "But my dear son," he said, +"nothing is final so long as the Holy Father has not signed the judgment. +You have all to-morrow and even the morning of the day after before you. +A miracle is always possible." Then, lowering his voice and drawing +Pierre on one side whilst Narcisse in an aesthetical spirit examined the +ladies, he added: "Listen, I have a communication to make to you in great +secrecy. Come and join me in the little Saloon of the Mirrors by and by, +during the Cotillon. We shall be able to talk there at our ease." + +Pierre nodded, and thereupon the prelate discreetly withdrew and +disappeared in the crowd. However, the young man's ears were buzzing; he +could no longer hope; what indeed could he accomplish in one day since he +had lost three months without even being able to secure an audience with +the Pope? And his bewilderment increased as he suddenly heard Narcisse +speaking to him of art. "It's astonishing how the feminine figure has +deteriorated in these dreadful democratic days. It's all fat and horribly +common. Not one of those women yonder shows the Florentine contour, with +small bosom and slender, elegant neck. Ah! that one yonder isn't so bad +perhaps, the fair one with her hair coiled up, whom Monsignor Fornaro has +just approached." + +For a few minutes indeed Monsignor Fornaro had been fluttering from +beauty to beauty, with an amiable air of conquest. He looked superb that +evening with his lofty decorative figure, blooming cheeks, and victorious +affability. No unpleasant scandal was associated with his name; he was +simply regarded as a prelate of gallant ways who took pleasure in the +society of ladies. And he paused and chatted, and leant over their bare +shoulders with laughing eyes and humid lips as if experiencing a sort of +devout rapture. However, on perceiving Narcisse whom he occasionally met, +he at once came forward and the /attache/ had to bow to him. "You have +been in good health I hope, Monseigneur, since I had the honour of seeing +you at the embassy." + +"Oh! yes, I am very well, very well indeed. What a delightful /fete/, is +it not?" + +Pierre also had bowed. This was the man whose report had brought about +the condemnation of his book; and it was with resentment that he recalled +his caressing air and charming greeting, instinct with such lying +promise. However, the prelate, who was very shrewd, must have guessed +that the young priest was already acquainted with the decision of the +Congregation, and have thought it more dignified to abstain from open +recognition; for on his side he merely nodded and smiled at him. "What a +number of people!" he went on, "and how many charming persons there are! +It will soon be impossible for one to move in this room." + +All the seats in fact were now occupied by ladies, and what with the +strong perfume of violets and the exhalations of warm necks and shoulders +the atmosphere was becoming most oppressive. The fans flapped more +briskly, and clear laughter rang out amidst a growing hubbub of +conversation in which the same words constantly recurred. Some news, +doubtless, had just arrived, some rumour was being whispered from group +to group, throwing them all into feverish excitement. As it happened, +Monsignor Fornaro, who was always well informed, desired to be the +proclaimer of this news, which nobody as yet had ventured to announce +aloud. + +"Do you know what is exciting them all?" he inquired. + +"Is it the Holy Father's illness?" asked Pierre in his anxiety. "Is he +worse this evening?" + +The prelate looked at him in astonishment, and then somewhat impatiently +replied: "Oh, no, no. His Holiness is much better, thank Heaven. A person +belonging to the Vatican was telling me just now that he was able to get +up this afternoon and receive his intimates as usual." + +"All the same, people have been alarmed," interrupted Narcisse. "I must +confess that we did not feel easy at the embassy, for a Conclave at the +present time would be a great worry for France. She would exercise no +influence at it. It is a great mistake on the part of our Republican +Government to treat the Holy See as of no importance! However, can one +ever tell whether the Pope is ill or not? I know for a certainty that he +was nearly carried off last winter when nobody breathed a word about any +illness, whereas on the last occasion when the newspapers killed him and +talked about a dreadful attack of bronchitis, I myself saw him quite +strong and in the best of spirits! His reported illnesses are mere +matters of policy, I fancy."* + + * There is much truth in this; but the reader must not imagine + that the Pope is never ill. At his great age, indispositions + are only natural.--Trans. + +With a hasty gesture, however, Monsignor Fornaro brushed this importunate +subject aside. "No, no," said he, "people are tranquillised and no longer +talk of it. What excites all those ladies is that the Congregation of the +Council to-day voted the dissolution of the Prada marriage by a great +majority." + +Again did Pierre feel moved. However, not having had time to see any +members of the Boccanera family on his return from Frascati he feared +that the news might be false and said so. Thereupon the prelate gave his +word of honour that things were as he stated. "The news is certain," he +declared. "I had it from a member of the Congregation." And then, all at +once, he apologised and hurried off: "Excuse me but I see a lady whom I +had not yet caught sight of, and desire to pay my respects to her." + +He at once hastened to the lady in question, and, being unable to sit +down, inclined his lofty figure as if to envelop her with his gallant +courtesy; whilst she, young, fresh, and bare-shouldered, laughed with a +pearly laugh as his cape of violet silk lightly brushed her sheeny skin. + +"You know that person, don't you?" Narcisse inquired of Pierre. "No! +Really? Why, that is Count Prada's /inamorata/, the charming Lisbeth +Kauffmann, by whom he has just had a son. It's her first appearance in +society since that event. She's a German, you know, and lost her husband +here. She paints a little; in fact, rather nicely. A great deal is +forgiven to the ladies of the foreign colony, and this one is +particularly popular on account of the very affable manner in which she +receives people at her little palazzo in the Via Principe Amedeo. As you +may imagine, the news of the dissolution of that marriage must amuse +her!" + +She looked really exquisite, that Lisbeth, very fair, rosy, and gay, with +satiny skin, soft blue eyes, and lips wreathed in an amiable smile, which +was renowned for its grace. And that evening, in her gown of white silk +spangled with gold, she showed herself so delighted with life, so +securely happy in the thought that she was free, that she loved and was +loved in return, that the whispered tidings, the malicious remarks +exchanged behind the fans of those around her, seemed to turn to her +personal triumph. For a moment all eyes had sought her, and people talked +of the outcome of her connection with Prada, the man whose manhood the +Church solemnly denied by its decision of that very day! And there came +stifled laughter and whispered jests, whilst she, radiant in her insolent +serenity, accepted with a rapturous air the gallantry of Monsignor +Fornaro, who congratulated her on a painting of the Virgin with the lily, +which she had lately sent to a fine-art show. + +Ah! that matrimonial nullity suit, which for a year had supplied Rome +with scandal, what a final hubbub it occasioned as the tidings of its +termination burst forth amidst that ball! The black and white worlds had +long chosen it as a battlefield for the exchange of incredible slander, +endless gossip, the most nonsensical tittle-tattle. And now it was over; +the Vatican with imperturbable impudence had pronounced the marriage null +and void on the ground that the husband was no man, and all Rome would +laugh over the affair, with that free scepticism which it displayed as +soon as the pecuniary affairs of the Church came into question. The +incidents of the struggle were already common property: Prada's feelings +revolting to such a point that he had withdrawn from the contest, the +Boccaneras moving heaven and earth in their feverish anxiety, the money +which they had distributed among the creatures of the various cardinals +in order to gain their influence, and the large sum which they had +indirectly paid for the second and favourable report of Monsignor Palma. +People said that, altogether, more than a hundred thousand francs had +been expended, but this was not thought over-much, as a well-known French +countess had been obliged to disburse nearly ten times that amount to +secure the dissolution of her marriage. But then the Holy Father's need +was so great! And, moreover, nobody was angered by this venality; it +merely gave rise to malicious witticisms; and the fans continued waving +in the increasing heat, and the ladies quivered with contentment as the +whispered pleasantries took wing and fluttered over their bare shoulders. + +"Oh! how pleased the Contessina must be!" Pierre resumed. "I did not +understand what her little friend, Princess Celia, meant by saying when +we came in that she would be so happy and beautiful this evening. It is +doubtless on that account that she is coming here, after cloistering +herself all the time the affair lasted, as if she were in mourning." + +However, Lisbeth's eyes had chanced to meet those of Narcisse, and as she +smiled at him he was, in his turn, obliged to pay his respects to her, +for, like everybody else of the foreign colony, he knew her through +having visited her studio. He was again returning to Pierre when a fresh +outburst of emotion stirred the diamond aigrettes and the flowers +adorning the ladies' hair. People turned to see what was the matter, and +again did the hubbub increase. "Ah! it's Count Prada in person!" murmured +Narcisse, with an admiring glance. "He has a fine bearing, whatever folks +may say. Dress him up in velvet and gold, and what a splendid, +unscrupulous, fifteenth-century adventurer he would make!" + +Prada entered the room, looking quite gay, in fact, almost triumphant. +And above his large, white shirtfront, edged by the black of his coat, he +really had a commanding, predacious expression, with his frank, stern +eyes, and his energetic features barred by a large black moustache. Never +had a more rapturous smile of sensuality revealed the wolfish teeth of +his voracious mouth. With rapid glances he took stock of the women, dived +into their very souls. Then, on seeing Lisbeth, who looked so pink, and +fair, and girlish, his expression softened, and he frankly went up to +her, without troubling in the slightest degree about the ardent, +inquisitive eyes which were turned upon him. As soon as Monsignor Fornaro +had made room, he stooped and conversed with the young woman in a low +tone. And she no doubt confirmed the news which was circulating, for as +he again drew himself erect, he laughed a somewhat forced laugh, and made +an involuntary gesture. + +However, he then caught sight of Pierre, and joined him in the embrasure +of the window; and when he had also shaken hands with Narcisse, he said +to the young priest with all his wonted /bravura/: "You recollect what I +told you as we were coming back from Frascati? Well, it's done, it seems, +they've annulled my marriage. It's such an impudent, such an imbecile +decision, that I still doubted it a moment ago!" + +"Oh! the news is certain," Pierre made bold to reply. "It has just been +confirmed to us by Monsignor Fornaro, who had it from a member of the +Congregation. And it is said that the majority was very large." + +Prada again shook with laughter. "No, no," said he, "such a farce is +beyond belief! It's the finest smack given to justice and common-sense +that I know of. Ah! if the marriage can also be annulled by the civil +courts, and if my friend whom you see yonder be only willing, we shall +amuse ourselves in Rome! Yes, indeed, I'd marry her at Santa Maria +Maggiore with all possible pomp. And there's a dear little being in the +world who would take part in the /fete/ in his nurse's arms!" + +He laughed too loud as he spoke, alluded in too brutal a fashion to his +child, that living proof of his manhood. Was it suffering that made his +lips curve upwards and reveal his white teeth? It could be divined that +he was quivering, fighting against an awakening of covert, tumultuous +passion, which he would not acknowledge even to himself. + +"And you, my dear Abbe?" he hastily resumed. "Do you know the other +report? Do you know that the Countess is coming here?" It was thus, by +force of habit, that he designated Benedetta, forgetting that she was no +longer his wife. + +"Yes, I have just been told so," Pierre replied; and then he hesitated +for a moment before adding, with a desire to prevent any disagreeable +surprise: "And we shall no doubt see Prince Dario also, for he has not +started for Naples as I told you. Something prevented his departure at +the last moment, I believe. At least so I gathered from a servant." + +Prada no longer laughed. His face suddenly became grave, and he contented +himself with murmuring: "Ah! so the cousin is to be of the party. Well, +we shall see them, we shall see them both!" + +Then, whilst the two friends went on chatting, he became silent, as if +serious considerations impelled him to reflect. And suddenly making a +gesture of apology he withdrew yet farther into the embrasure in which he +stood, pulled a note-book out of his pocket, and tore from it a leaf on +which, without modifying his handwriting otherwise than by slightly +enlarging it, he pencilled these four lines: "A legend avers that the fig +tree of Judas now grows at Frascati, and that its fruit is deadly for him +who may desire to become Pope. Eat not the poisoned figs, nor give them +either to your servants or your fowls." Then he folded the paper, +fastened it with a postage stamp, and wrote on it the address: "To his +most Reverend and most Illustrious Eminence, Cardinal Boccanera." And +when he had placed everything in his pocket again, he drew a long breath +and once more called back his laugh. + +A kind of invincible discomfort, a far-away terror had momentarily frozen +him. Without being guided by any clear train of reasoning, he had felt +the need of protecting himself against any cowardly temptation, any +possible abomination. He could not have told what course of ideas had +induced him to write those four lines without a moment's delay, on the +very spot where he stood, under penalty of contributing to a great +catastrophe. But one thought was firmly fixed in his brain, that on +leaving the ball he would go to the Via Giulia and throw that note into +the letter-box at the Palazzo Boccanera. And that decided, he was once +more easy in mind. + +"Why, what is the matter with you, my dear Abbe?" he inquired on again +joining in the conversation of the two friends. "You are quite gloomy." +And on Pierre telling him of the bad news which he had received, the +condemnation of his book, and the single day which remained to him for +action if he did not wish his journey to Rome to result in defeat, he +began to protest as if he himself needed agitation and diversion in order +to continue hopeful and bear the ills of life. "Never mind, never mind, +don't worry yourself," said he, "one loses all one's strength by +worrying. A day is a great deal, one can do ever so many things in a day. +An hour, a minute suffices for Destiny to intervene and turn defeat into +victory!" He grew feverish as he spoke, and all at once added, "Come, +let's go to the ball-room. It seems that the scene there is something +prodigious." + +Then he exchanged a last loving glance with Lisbeth whilst Pierre and +Narcisse followed him, the three of them extricating themselves from +their corner with the greatest difficulty, and then wending their way +towards the adjoining gallery through a sea of serried skirts, a billowy +expanse of necks and shoulders whence ascended the passion which makes +life, the odour alike of love and of death. + +With its eight windows overlooking the Corso, their panes uncurtained and +throwing a blaze of light upon the houses across the road, the picture +gallery, sixty-five feet in length and more than thirty in breadth, +spread out with incomparable splendour. The illumination was dazzling. +Clusters of electric lamps had changed seven pairs of huge marble +candelabra into gigantic /torcheres/, akin to constellations; and all +along the cornice up above, other lamps set in bright-hued floral glasses +formed a marvellous garland of flaming flowers: tulips, paeonies, and +roses. The antique red velvet worked with gold, which draped the walls, +glowed like a furnace fire. About the doors and windows there were +hangings of old lace broidered with flowers in coloured silk whose hues +had the very intensity of life. But the sight of sights beneath the +sumptuous panelled ceiling adorned with golden roses, the unique +spectacle of a richness not to be equalled, was the collection of +masterpieces such as no museum could excel. There were works of Raffaelle +and Titian, Rembrandt and Rubens, Velasquez and Ribera, famous works +which in this unexpected illumination suddenly showed forth, triumphant +with youth regained, as if awakened to the immortal life of genius. And, +as their Majesties would not arrive before midnight, the ball had just +been opened, and flights of soft-hued gowns were whirling in a waltz past +all the pompous throng, the glittering jewels and decorations, the +gold-broidered uniforms and the pearl-broidered robes, whilst silk and +satin and velvet spread and overflowed upon every side. + +"It is prodigious, really!" declared Prada with his excited air; "let us +go this way and place ourselves in a window recess again. There is no +better spot for getting a good view without being too much jostled." + +They lost Narcisse somehow or other, and on reaching the desired recess +found themselves but two, Pierre and the Count. The orchestra, installed +on a little platform at the far end of the gallery, had just finished the +waltz, and the dancers, with an air of giddy rapture, were slowly walking +through the crowd when a fresh arrival caused every head to turn. Donna +Serafina, arrayed in a robe of purple silk as if she had worn the colours +of her brother the Cardinal, was making a royal entry on the arm of +Consistorial-Advocate Morano. And never before had she laced herself so +tightly, never had her waist looked so slim and girlish; and never had +her stern, wrinkled face, which her white hair scarcely softened, +expressed such stubborn and victorious domination. A discreet murmur of +approval ran round, a murmur of public relief as it were, for all Roman +society had condemned the unworthy conduct of Morano in severing a +connection of thirty years to which the drawing-rooms had grown as +accustomed as if it had been a legal marriage. The rupture had lasted for +two months, to the great scandal of Rome where the cult of long and +faithful affections still abides. And so the reconciliation touched every +heart and was regarded as one of the happiest consequences of the victory +which the Boccaneras had that day gained in the affair of Benedetta's +marriage. Morano repentant and Donna Serafina reappearing on his arm, +nothing could have been more satisfactory; love had conquered, decorum +was preserved and good order re-established. + +But there was a deeper sensation as soon as Benedetta and Dario were seen +to enter, side by side, behind the others. This tranquil indifference for +the ordinary forms of propriety, on the very day when the marriage with +Prada had been annulled, this victory of love, confessed and celebrated +before one and all, seemed so charming in its audacity, so full of the +bravery of youth and hope, that the pair were at once forgiven amidst a +murmur of universal admiration. And as in the case of Celia and Attilio, +all hearts flew to them, to their radiant beauty, to the wondrous +happiness that made their faces so resplendent. Dario, still pale after +his long convalescence, somewhat slight and delicate of build, with the +fine clear eyes of a big child, and the dark curly beard of a young god, +bore himself with a light pride, in which all the old princely blood of +the Boccaneras could be traced. And Benedetta, she so white under her +casque of jetty hair, she so calm and so sensible, wore her lovely smile, +that smile so seldom seen on her face but which was irresistibly +fascinating, transfiguring her, imparting the charm of a flower to her +somewhat full mouth, and filling the infinite of her dark and fathomless +eyes with a radiance as of heaven. And in this gay return of youth and +happiness, an exquisite instinct had prompted her to put on a white gown, +a plain girlish gown which symbolised her maidenhood, which told that she +had remained through all a pure untarnished lily for the husband of her +choice. And nothing of her form was to be seen, not a glimpse of bosom or +shoulder. It was as if the impenetrable, redoubtable mystery of love, the +sovereign beauty of woman slumbered there, all powerful, but veiled with +white. Again, not a jewel appeared on her fingers or in her ears. There +was simply a necklace falling about her /corsage/, but a necklace fit for +royalty, the famous pearl necklace of the Boccaneras, which she had +inherited from her mother, and which was known to all Rome--pearls of +fabulous size cast negligently about her neck, and sufficing, simply as +she was gowned, to make her queen of all. + +"Oh!" murmured Pierre in ecstasy, "how happy and how beautiful she is!" + +But he at once regretted that he had expressed his thoughts aloud, for +beside him he heard a low plaint, an involuntary growl which reminded him +of the Count's presence. However, Prada promptly stifled this cry of +returning anguish, and found strength enough to affect a brutish gaiety: +"The devil!" said he, "they have plenty of impudence. I hope we shall see +them married and bedded at once!" Then regretting this coarse jest which +had been prompted by the revolt of passion, he sought to appear +indifferent: "She looks very nice this evening," he said; "she has the +finest shoulders in the world, you know, and its a real success for her +to hide them and yet appear more beautiful than ever." + +He went on speaking, contriving to assume an easy tone, and giving +various little particulars about the Countess as he still obstinately +called the young woman. However, he had drawn rather further into the +recess, for fear, no doubt, that people might remark his pallor, and the +painful twitch which contracted his mouth. He was in no state to fight, +to show himself gay and insolent in presence of the joy which the lovers +so openly and naively expressed. And he was glad of the respite which the +arrival of the King and Queen at this moment offered him. "Ah! here are +their Majesties!" he exclaimed, turning towards the window. "Look at the +scramble in the street!" + +Although the windows were closed, a tumult could be heard rising from the +footways. And Pierre on looking down saw, by the light of the electric +lamps, a sea of human heads pour over the road and encompass the +carriages. He had several times already seen the King during the latter's +daily drives to the grounds of the Villa Borghese, whither he came like +any private gentleman--unguarded, unescorted, with merely an aide-de-camp +accompanying him in his victoria. At other times he drove a light phaeton +with only a footman in black livery to attend him. And on one occasion +Pierre had seen him with the Queen, the pair of them seated side by side +like worthy middle-class folks driving abroad for pleasure. And, as the +royal couple went by, the busy people in the streets and the promenaders +in the public gardens contented themselves with wafting them an +affectionate wave of the hand, the most expansive simply approaching to +smile at them, and no one importuning them with acclamations. Pierre, who +harboured the traditional idea of kings closely guarded and passing +processionally with all the accompaniment of military pomp, was therefore +greatly surprised and touched by the amiable /bonhomie/ of this royal +pair, who went wherever they listed in full security amidst the smiling +affection of their people. Everybody, moreover, had told him of the +King's kindliness and simplicity, his desire for peace, and his passion +for sport, solitude, and the open air, which, amidst the worries of +power, must often have made him dream of a life of freedom far from the +imperious duties of royalty for which he seemed unfitted.* But the Queen +was yet more tenderly loved. So naturally and serenely virtuous that she +alone remained ignorant of the scandals of Rome, she was also a woman of +great culture and great refinement, conversant with every field of +literature, and very happy in being so intelligent, so superior to those +around her--a pre-eminence which she realised and which she was fond of +showing, but in the most natural and most graceful of ways. + + * King Humbert inherited these tastes from his father Victor + Emanuel, who was likewise a great sportsman and had a perfect + horror of court life, pageantry, and the exigencies of + politics.--Trans. + +Like Pierre, Prada had remained with his face to the window, and suddenly +pointing to the crowd he said: "Now that they have seen the Queen they +will go to bed well pleased. And there isn't a single police agent there, +I'm sure. Ah! to be loved, to be loved!" Plainly enough his distress of +spirit was coming back, and so, turning towards the gallery again, he +tried to play the jester. "Attention, my dear Abbe, we mustn't miss their +Majesties' entry. That will be the finest part of the /fete/!" + +A few minutes went by, and then, in the very midst of a polka, the +orchestra suddenly ceased playing. But a moment afterwards, with all the +blare of its brass instruments, it struck up the Royal March. The dancers +fled in confusion, the centre of the gallery was cleared, and the King +and Queen entered, escorted by the Prince and Princess Buongiovanni, who +had received them at the foot of the staircase. The King was in ordinary +evening dress, while the Queen wore a robe of straw-coloured satin, +covered with superb white lace; and under the diadem of brilliants which +encircled her beautiful fair hair, she looked still young, with a fresh +and rounded face, whose expression was all amiability, gentleness, and +wit. The music was still sounding with the enthusiastic violence of +welcome. Behind her father and mother, Celia appeared amidst the press of +people who were following to see the sight; and then came Attilio, the +Saccos, and various relatives and official personages. And, pending the +termination of the Royal March, only salutations, glances, and smiles +were exchanged amidst the sonorous music and dazzling light; whilst all +the guests crowded around on tip-toe, with outstretched necks and +glittering eyes--a rising tide of heads and shoulders, flashing with the +fires of precious stones. + +At last the march ended and the presentations began. Their Majesties were +already acquainted with Celia, and congratulated her with quite +affectionate kindliness. However, Sacco, both as minister and father, was +particularly desirous of presenting his son Attilio. He bent his supple +spine, and summoned to his lips the fine words which were appropriate, in +such wise that he contrived to make the young man bow to the King in the +capacity of a lieutenant in his Majesty's army, whilst his homage as a +handsome young man, so passionately loved by his betrothed was reserved +for Queen Margherita. Again did their Majesties show themselves very +gracious, even towards the Signora Sacco who, ever modest and prudent, +had remained in the background. And then occurred an incident that was +destined to give rise to endless gossip. Catching sight of Benedetta, +whom Count Prada had presented to her after his marriage, the Queen, who +greatly admired her beauty and charm of manner, addressed her a smile in +such wise that the young woman was compelled to approach. A conversation +of some minutes' duration ensued, and the Contessina was favoured with +some extremely amiable expressions which were perfectly audible to all +around. Most certainly the Queen was ignorant of the event of the day, +the dissolution of Benedetta's marriage with Prada, and her coming union +with Dario so publicly announced at this /gala/, which now seemed to have +been given to celebrate a double betrothal. Nevertheless that +conversation caused a deep impression; the guests talked of nothing but +the compliments which Benedetta had received from the most virtuous and +intelligent of queens, and her triumph was increased by it all, she +became yet more beautiful and more victorious amidst the happiness she +felt at being at last able to bestow herself on the spouse of her choice, +that happiness which made her look so radiant. + +But, on the other hand, the torture which Prada experienced now became +intense. Whilst the sovereigns continued conversing, the Queen with the +ladies who came to pay her their respects, the King with the officers, +diplomatists, and other important personages who approached him, Prada +saw none but Benedetta--Benedetta congratulated, caressed, exalted by +affection and glory. Dario was near her, flushing with pleasure, radiant +like herself. It was for them that this ball had been given, for them +that the lamps shone out, for them that the music played, for them that +the most beautiful women of Rome had bared their bosoms and adorned them +with precious stones. It was for them that their Majesties had entered to +the strains of the Royal March, for them that the /fete/ was becoming +like an apotheosis, for them that a fondly loved queen was smiling, +appearing at that betrothal /gala/ like the good fairy of the nursery +tales, whose coming betokens life-long happiness. And for Prada, this +wondrously brilliant hour when good fortune and joyfulness attained their +apogee, was one of defeat. It was fraught with the victory of that woman +who had refused to be his wife in aught but name, and of that man who now +was about to take her from him: such a public, ostentatious, insulting +victory that it struck him like a buffet in the face. And not merely did +his pride and passion bleed for that: he felt that the triumph of the +Saccos dealt a blow to his fortune. Was it true, then, that the rough +conquerors of the North were bound to deteriorate in the delightful +climate of Rome, was that the reason why he already experienced such a +sensation of weariness and exhaustion? That very morning at Frascati in +connection with that disastrous building enterprise he had realised that +his millions were menaced, albeit he refused to admit that things were +going badly with him, as some people rumoured. And now, that evening, +amidst that /fete/ he beheld the South victorious, Sacco winning the day +like one who feeds at his ease on the warm prey so gluttonously pounced +upon under the flaming sun. + +And the thought of Sacco being a minister, an intimate of the King, +allying himself by marriage to one of the noblest families of the Roman +aristocracy, and already laying hands on the people and the national +funds with the prospect of some day becoming the master of Rome and +Italy--that thought again was a blow for the vanity of this man of prey, +for the ever voracious appetite of this enjoyer, who felt as if he were +being pushed away from table before the feast was over! All crumbled and +escaped him, Sacco stole his millions, and Benedetta tortured his flesh, +stirring up that awful wound of unsatisfied passion which never would be +healed. + +Again did Pierre hear that dull plaint, that involuntary despairing +growl, which had upset him once before. And he looked at the Count, and +asked him: "Are you suffering?" But on seeing how livid was the face of +Prada, who only retained his calmness by a superhuman effort, he +regretted his indiscreet question, which, moreover, remained unanswered. +And then to put the other more at ease, the young priest went on +speaking, venting the thoughts which the sight before him inspired: "Your +father was right," said he, "we Frenchmen whose education is so full of +the Catholic spirit, even in these days of universal doubt, we never +think of Rome otherwise than as the old Rome of the popes. We scarcely +know, we can scarcely understand the great changes which, year by year, +have brought about the Italian Rome of the present day. Why, when I +arrived here, the King and his government and the young nation working to +make a great capital for itself, seemed to me of no account whatever! +Yes, I dismissed all that, thought nothing of it, in my dream of +resuscitating a Christian and evangelical Rome, which should assure the +happiness of the world." + +He laughed as he spoke, pitying his own artlessness, and then pointed +towards the gallery where Prince Buongiovanni was bowing to the King +whilst the Princess listened to the gallant remarks of Sacco: a scene +full of symbolism, the old papal aristocracy struck down, the /parvenus/ +accepted, the black and white worlds so mixed together that one and all +were little else than subjects, on the eve of forming but one united +nation. That conciliation between the Quirinal and the Vatican which in +principle was regarded as impossible, was it not in practice fatal, in +face of the evolution which went on day by day? People must go on living, +loving, and creating life throughout the ages. And the marriage of +Attilio and Celia would be the symbol of the needful union: youth and +love triumphing over ancient hatred, all quarrels forgotten as a handsome +lad goes by, wins a lovely girl, and carries her off in his arms in order +that the world may last. + +"Look at them!" resumed Pierre, "how handsome and young and gay both the +/fiances/ are, all confidence in the future. Ah! I well understand that +your King should have come here to please his minister and win one of the +old Roman families over to his throne; it is good, brave, and fatherly +policy. But I like to think that he has also realised the touching +significance of that marriage--old Rome, in the person of that candid, +loving child giving herself to young Italy, that upright, enthusiastic +young man who wears his uniform so jauntily. And may their nuptials be +definitive and fruitful; from them and from all the others may there +arise the great nation which, now that I begin to know you, I trust you +will soon become!" + +Amidst the tottering of his former dream of an evangelical and universal +Rome, Pierre expressed these good wishes for the Eternal City's future +fortune with such keen and deep emotion that Prada could not help +replying: "I thank you; that wish of yours is in the heart of every good +Italian." + +But his voice quavered, for even whilst he was looking at Celia and +Attilio, who stood smiling and talking together, he saw Benedetta and +Dario approach them, wearing the same joyful expression of perfect +happiness. And when the two couples were united, so radiant and so +triumphant, so full of superb and happy life, he no longer had strength +to stay there, see them, and suffer. + +"I am frightfully thirsty," he hoarsely exclaimed. "Let's go to the +buffet to drink something." And, thereupon, in order to avoid notice, he +so manoeuvred as to glide behind the throng, skirting the windows in the +direction of the entrance to the Hall of the Antiques, which was beyond +the gallery. + +Whilst Pierre was following him they were parted by an eddy of the crowd, +and the young priest found himself carried towards the two loving couples +who still stood chatting together. And Celia, on recognising him, +beckoned to him in a friendly way. With her passionate cult for beauty, +she was enraptured with the appearance of Benedetta, before whom she +joined her little lily hands as before the image of the Madonna. "Oh! +Monsieur l'Abbe," said she, "to please me now, do tell her how beautiful +she is, more beautiful than anything on earth, more beautiful than even +the sun, and the moon and stars. If you only knew, my dear, it makes me +quiver to see you so beautiful as that, as beautiful as happiness, as +beautiful as love itself!" + +Benedetta began to laugh, while the two young men made merry. "But you +are as beautiful as I am, darling," said the Contessina. "And if we are +beautiful it is because we are happy." + +"Yes, yes, happy," Celia gently responded. "Do you remember the evening +when you told me that one didn't succeed in marrying the Pope and the +King? But Attilio and I are marrying them, and yet we are very happy." + +"But we don't marry them, Dario and I! On the contrary!" said Benedetta +gaily. "No matter; as you answered me that same evening, it is sufficient +that we should love one another, love saves the world." + +When Pierre at last succeeded in reaching the door of the Hall of the +Antiques, where the buffet was installed, he found Prada there, +motionless, gazing despite himself on the galling spectacle which he +desired to flee. A power stronger than his will had kept him there, +forcing him to turn round and look, and look again. And thus, with a +bleeding heart, he still lingered and witnessed the resumption of the +dancing, the first figure of a quadrille which the orchestra began to +play with a lively flourish of its brass instruments. Benedetta and +Dario, Celia and Attilio were /vis-Ã -vis/. And so charming and +delightful was the sight which the two couples presented dancing in the +white blaze, all youth and joy, that the King and Queen drew near to them +and became interested. And soon bravos of admiration rang out, while from +every heart spread a feeling of infinite tenderness. + +"I'm dying of thirst, let's go!" repeated Prada, at last managing to +wrench himself away from the torturing sight. + +He called for some iced lemonade and drank the glassful at one draught, +gulping it down with the greedy eagerness of a man stricken with fever, +who will never more be able to quench the burning fire within him. + +The Hall of the Antiques was a spacious room with mosaic pavement, and +decorations of stucco; and a famous collection of vases, bas-reliefs, and +statues, was disposed along its walls. The marbles predominated, but +there were a few bronzes, and among them a dying gladiator of extreme +beauty. The marvel however was the famous statue of Venus, a companion to +that of the Capitol, but with a more elegant and supple figure and with +the left arm falling loosely in a gesture of voluptuous surrender. That +evening a powerful electric reflector threw a dazzling light upon the +statue, which, in its divine and pure nudity, seemed to be endowed with +superhuman, immortal life. Against the end-wall was the buffet, a long +table covered with an embroidered cloth and laden with fruit, pastry, and +cold meats. Sheaves of flowers rose up amidst bottles of champagne, hot +punch, and iced /sorbetto/, and here and there were marshalled armies of +glasses, tea-cups, and broth-bowls, a perfect wealth of sparkling +crystal, porcelain, and silver. And a happy innovation had been to fill +half of the hall with rows of little tables, at which the guests, in lieu +of being obliged to refresh themselves standing, were able to sit down +and order what they desired as in a cafe. + +At one of these little tables, Pierre perceived Narcisse seated near a +young woman, whom Prada, on approaching, recognised to be Lisbeth. "You +find me, you see, in delightful company," gallantly exclaimed the +/attache/. "As we lost one another, I could think of nothing better than +of offering madame my arm to bring her here." + +"It was, in fact, a good idea," said Lisbeth with her pretty laugh, "for +I was feeling very thirsty." + +They had ordered some iced coffee, which they were slowly sipping out of +little silver-gilt spoons. + +"I have a terrible thirst, too," declared the Count, "and I can't quench +it. You will allow us to join you, will you not, my dear sir? Some of +that coffee will perhaps calm me." And then to Lisbeth he added, "Ah! my +dear, allow me to introduce to you Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, a young +French priest of great distinction." + +Then for a long time they all four remained seated at that table, +chatting and making merry over certain of the guests who went by. Prada, +however, in spite of his usual gallantry towards Lisbeth, frequently +became absent-minded; at times he quite forgot her, being again mastered +by his anguish, and, in spite of all his efforts, his eyes ever turned +towards the neighbouring gallery whence the sound of music and dancing +reached him. + +"Why, what are you thinking of, /caro mio/?" Lisbeth asked in her pretty +way, on seeing him at one moment so pale and lost. "Are you indisposed?" + +He did not reply, however, but suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! look there, +that's the real pair, there's real love and happiness for you!" + +With a jerk of the hand he designated Dario's mother, the Marchioness +Montefiori and her second husband, Jules Laporte--that ex-sergeant of the +papal Swiss Guard, her junior by fifteen years, whom she had one day +hooked at the Corso with her eyes of fire, which yet had remained superb, +and whom she had afterwards triumphantly transformed into a Marquis +Montefiori in order to have him entirely to herself. Such was her passion +that she never relaxed her hold on him whether at ball or reception, but, +despite all usages, kept him beside her, and even made him escort her to +the buffet, so much did she delight in being able to exhibit him and say +that this handsome man was her own exclusive property. And standing there +side by side, the pair of them began to drink champagne and eat +sandwiches, she yet a marvel of massive beauty although she was over +fifty, and he with long wavy moustaches, and proud bearing, like a +fortunate adventurer whose jovial impudence pleased the ladies. + +"You know that she had to extricate him from a nasty affair," resumed the +Count in a lower tone. "Yes, he travelled in relics; he picked up a +living by supplying relics on commission to convents in France and +Switzerland; and he had launched quite a business in false relics with +the help of some Jews here who concocted little ancient reliquaries out +of mutton bones, with everything sealed and signed by the most genuine +authorities. The affair was hushed up, as three prelates were also +compromised in it! Ah! the happy man! Do you see how she devours him with +her eyes? And he, doesn't he look quite a /grand seigneur/ by the mere +way in which he holds that plate for her whilst she eats the breast of a +fowl out of it!" + +Then, in a rough way and with biting irony, he went on to speak of the +/amours/ of Rome. The Roman women, said he, were ignorant, obstinate, and +jealous. When a woman had managed to win a man, she kept him for ever, he +became her property, and she disposed of him as she pleased. By way of +proof, he cited many interminable /liaisons/, such as that of Donna +Serafina and Morano which, in time became virtual marriages; and he +sneered at such a lack of fancy, such an excess of fidelity whose only +ending, when it did end, was some very disagreeable unpleasantness. + +At this, Lisbeth interrupted him. "But what is the matter with you this +evening, my dear?" she asked with a laugh. "What you speak of is on the +contrary very nice and pretty! When a man and a woman love one another +they ought to do so for ever!" + +She looked delightful as she spoke, with her fine wavy blonde hair and +delicate fair complexion; and Narcisse with a languorous expression in +his half-closed eyes compared her to a Botticelli which he had seen at +Florence. However, the night was now far advanced, and Pierre had once +more sunk into gloomy thoughtfulness when he heard a passing lady remark +that they had already begun to dance the Cotillon in the gallery; and +thereupon he suddenly remembered that Monsignor Nani had given him an +appointment in the little Saloon of the Mirrors. + +"Are you leaving?" hastily inquired Prada on seeing him rise and bow to +Lisbeth. + +"No, no, not yet," Pierre answered. + +"Oh! all right. Don't go away without me. I want to walk a little, and +I'll see you home. It's agreed, eh? You will find me here." + +The young priest had to cross two rooms, one hung with yellow and the +other with blue, before he at last reached the mirrored /salon/. This was +really an exquisite example of the /rococo/ style, a rotunda as it were +of pale mirrors framed with superb gilded carvings. Even the ceiling was +covered with mirrors disposed slantwise so that on every side things +multiplied, mingled, and appeared under all possible aspects. Discreetly +enough no electric lights had been placed in the room, the only +illumination being that of some pink tapers burning in a pair of +candelabra. The hangings and upholstery were of soft blue silk, and the +impression on entering was very sweet and charming, as if one had found +oneself in the abode of some fairy queen of the rills, a palace of limpid +water, illumined to its farthest depths by clusters of stars. + +Pierre at once perceived Monsignor Nani, who was sitting on a low couch, +and, as the prelate had hoped, he was quite alone, for the Cotillon had +attracted almost everybody to the picture gallery. And the silence in the +little /salon/ was nearly perfect, for at that distance the blare of the +orchestra subsided into a faint, flute-like murmur. The young priest at +once apologised to the prelate for having kept him waiting. + +"No, no, my dear son," said Nani, with his inexhaustible amiability. "I +was very comfortable in this retreat--when the press of the crowd became +over-threatening I took refuge here." He did not speak of the King and +Queen, but he allowed it to be understood that he had politely avoided +their company. If he had come to the /fete/ it was on account of his +sincere affection for Celia and also with a very delicate diplomatic +object, for the Church wished to avoid any appearance of having entirely +broken with the Buongiovanni family, that ancient house which was so +famous in the annals of the papacy. Doubtless the Vatican was unable to +subscribe to this marriage which seemed to unite old Rome with the young +Kingdom of Italy, but on the other hand it did not desire people to think +that it abandoned old and faithful supporters and took no interest in +what befell them. + +"But come, my dear son," the prelate resumed, "it is you who are now in +question. I told you that although the Congregation of the Index had +pronounced itself for the condemnation of your book, the sentence would +only be submitted to the Holy Father and signed by him on the day after +to-morrow. So you still have a whole day before you." + +At this Pierre could not refrain from a dolorous and vivacious +interruption. + +"Alas! Monseigneur, what can I do?" said he; "I have thought it all over, +and I see no means, no opportunity of defending myself. How could I even +see his Holiness now that he is so ill?" + +"Oh! ill, ill!" muttered Nani with his shrewd expression. "His Holiness +is ever so much better, for this very day, like every other Wednesday, I +had the honour to be received by him. When his Holiness is a little tired +and people say that he is very ill, he often lets them do so, for it +gives him a rest and enables him to judge certain ambitions and +manifestations of impatience around him." + +Pierre, however, was too upset to listen attentively. "No, it's all +over," he continued, "I'm in despair. You spoke to me of the possibility +of a miracle, but I am no great believer in miracles. Since I am defeated +here at Rome, I shall go away, I shall return to Paris, and continue the +struggle there. Oh! I cannot resign myself, my hope in salvation by the +practice of love cannot die, and I shall answer my denouncers in a new +book, in which I shall tell in what new soil the new religion will grow +up!" + +Silence fell. Nani looked at him with his clear eyes in which +intelligence shone distinct and sharp like steel. And amidst the deep +calm, the warm heavy atmosphere of the little /salon/, whose mirrors were +starred with countless reflections of candles, a more sonorous burst of +music was suddenly wafted from the gallery, a rhythmical waltz melody, +which slowly expanded, then died away. + +"My dear son," said Nani, "anger is always harmful. You remember that on +your arrival here I promised that if your own efforts to obtain an +interview with the Holy Father should prove unavailing, I would myself +endeavour to secure an audience for you." Then, seeing how agitated the +young priest was getting, he went on: "Listen to me and don't excite +yourself. His Holiness, unfortunately, is not always prudently advised. +Around him are persons whose devotion, however great, is at times +deficient in intelligence. I told you that, and warned you against +inconsiderate applications. And this is why, already three weeks ago, I +myself handed your book to his Holiness in the hope that he would deign +to glance at it. I rightly suspected that it had not been allowed to +reach him. And this is what I am instructed to tell you: his Holiness, +who has had the great kindness to read your book, expressly desires to +see you." + +A cry of joy and gratitude died away in Pierre's throat: "Ah! +Monseigneur. Ah! Monseigneur!" + +But Nani quickly silenced him and glanced around with an expression of +keen anxiety as if he feared that some one might hear them. "Hush! Hush!" +said he, "it is a secret. His Holiness wishes to see you privately, +without taking anybody else into his confidence. Listen attentively. It +is now two o'clock in the morning. Well, this very day, at nine in the +evening precisely, you must present yourself at the Vatican and at every +door ask for Signor Squadra. You will invariably be allowed to pass. +Signor Squadra will be waiting for you upstairs, and will introduce you. +And not a word, mind; not a soul must have the faintest suspicion of +these things." + +Pierre's happiness and gratitude at last flowed forth. He had caught hold +of the prelate's soft, plump hands, and stammered, "Ah! Monseigneur, how +can I express my gratitude to you? If you only knew how full my soul was +of night and rebellion since I realised that I had been a mere plaything +in the hands of those powerful cardinals. But you have saved me, and +again I feel sure that I shall win the victory, for I shall at last be +able to fling myself at the feet of his Holiness the father of all truth +and all justice. He can but absolve me, I who love him, I who admire him, +I who have never battled for aught but his own policy and most cherished +ideas. No, no, it is impossible; he will not sign that judgment; he will +not condemn my book!" + +Releasing his hands, Nani sought to calm him with a fatherly gesture, +whilst retaining a faint smile of contempt for such a useless expenditure +of enthusiasm. At last he succeeded, and begged him to retire. The +orchestra was again playing more loudly in the distance. And when the +young priest at last withdrew, thanking him once more, he said very +simply, "Remember, my dear son, that only obedience is great." + +Pierre, whose one desire now was to take himself off, found Prada almost +immediately afterwards in the first reception-room. Their Majesties had +just left the ball in grand ceremony, escorted to the threshold by the +Buongiovannis and the Saccos. And before departing the Queen had +maternally kissed Celia, whilst the King shook hands with +Attilio--honours instinct with a charming good nature which made the +members of both families quite radiant. However, a good many of the +guests were following the example of the sovereigns and disappearing in +small batches. And the Count, who seemed strangely nervous, and showed +more sternness and bitterness than ever, was, on his side, also eager to +be gone. "Ah! it's you at last. I was waiting for you," he said to +Pierre. "Well, let's get off at once, eh? Your compatriot Monsieur +Narcisse Habert asked me to tell you not to look for him. The fact is, he +has gone to see my friend Lisbeth to her carriage. I myself want a breath +of fresh air, a stroll, and so I'll go with you as far as the Via +Giulia." + +Then, as they took their things from the cloak-room, he could not help +sneering and saying in his brutal way: "I saw your good friends go off, +all four together. It's lucky that you prefer to go home on foot, for +there was no room for you in the carriage. What superb impudence it was +on the part of that Donna Serafina to drag herself here, at her age, with +that Morano of hers, so as to triumph over the return of the fickle one! +And the two others, the two young ones--ah! I confess that I can hardly +speak calmly of /them/, for in parading here together as they did this +evening, they have shown an impudence and a cruelty such as is rarely +seen!" Prada's hands trembled, and he murmured: "A good journey, a good +journey to the young man, since he is going to Naples. Yes, I heard Celia +say that he was starting for Naples this evening at six o'clock. Well, my +wishes go with him; a good journey!" + +The two men found the change delightful when they at last emerged from +the stifling heat of the reception-rooms into the lovely, cool, and +limpid night. It was a night illumined by a superb full moon, one of +those matchless Roman nights when the city slumbers in Elysian radiance, +steeped in a dream of the Infinite, under the vast vault of heaven. And +they took the most agreeable route, going down the Corso proper and then +turning into the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. + +Prada had grown somewhat calmer, but remained full of irony. To divert +his mind, no doubt, he talked on in the most voluble manner, reverting to +the women of Rome and to that /fete/ which he had at first found +splendid, but at which he now began to rail. + +"Oh! of course they have very fine gowns," said he, speaking of the +women; "but gowns which don't fit them, gowns which are sent them from +Paris, and which, of course, they can't try on. It's just the same with +their jewels; they still have diamonds and pearls, in particular, which +are very fine, but they are so wretchedly, so heavily mounted that they +look frightful. And if you only knew how ignorant and frivolous these +women are, despite all their conceit! Everything is on the surface with +them, even religion: there's nothing beneath. I looked at them eating at +the buffet. Oh! they at least have fine appetites. This evening some +decorum was observed, there wasn't too much gorging. But at one of the +Court balls you would see a general pillage, the buffets besieged, and +everything swallowed up amidst a scramble of amazing voracity!" + +To all this talk Pierre only returned monosyllabic responses. He was +wrapped in overflowing delight at the thought of that audience with the +Pope, which, unable as he was to confide in any one, he strove to arrange +and picture in his own mind, even in its pettiest details. And meantime +the footsteps of the two men rang out on the dry pavement of the clear, +broad, deserted thoroughfare, whose black shadows were sharply outlined +by the moonlight. + +All at once Prada himself became silent. His loquacious /bravura/ was +exhausted, the frightful struggle going on in his mind wholly possessed +and paralysed him. Twice already he had dipped his hand into his coat +pocket and felt the pencilled note whose four lines he mentally repeated: +"A legend avers that the fig-tree of Judas now grows at Frascati, and +that its fruit is deadly for him who may desire to become pope. Eat not +the poisoned figs, nor give them either to your servants or your fowls." +The note was there; he could feel it; and if he had desired to accompany +Pierre, it was in order that he might drop it into the letter-box at the +Palazzo Boccanera. And he continued to step out briskly, so that within +another ten minutes that note would surely be in the box, for no power in +the world could prevent it, since such was his express determination. +Never would he commit such a crime as to allow people to be poisoned. + +But he was suffering such abominable torture. That Benedetta and that +Dario had raised such a tempest of jealous hatred within him! For them he +forgot Lisbeth whom he loved, and even that flesh of his flesh, the child +of whom he was so proud. All sex as he was, eager to conquer and subdue, +he had never cared for facile loves. His passion was to overcome. And now +there was a woman in the world who defied him, a woman forsooth whom he +had bought, whom he had married, who had been handed over to him, but who +would never, never be his. Ah! in the old days, to subdue her, he would +if needful have fired Rome like a Nero; but now he asked himself what he +could possibly do to prevent her from belonging to another. That galling +thought made the blood gush from his gaping wound. How that woman and her +lover must deride him! And to think that they had sought to turn him to +ridicule by a baseless charge, an arrant lie which still and ever made +him smart, all proof of its falsity to the contrary. He, on his side, had +accused them in the past without much belief in what he said, but now the +charges he had imputed to them must come true, for they were free, freed +at all events of the religious bond, and that no doubt was their only +care. And then visions of their happiness passed before his eyes, +infuriating him. Ah! no, ah! no, it was impossible, he would rather +destroy the world! + +Then, as he and Pierre turned out of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele to +thread the old narrow tortuous streets leading to the Via Giulia, he +pictured himself dropping the note into the letter-box at the palazzo. +And next he conjured up what would follow. The note would lie in the +letter-box till morning. At an early hour Don Vigilio, the secretary, who +by the Cardinal's express orders kept the key of the box, would come +down, find the note, and hand it to his Eminence, who never allowed +another to open any communication addressed to him. And then the figs +would be thrown away, there would be no further possibility of crime, the +black world would in all prudence keep silent. But if the note should not +be in the letter-box, what would happen then? And admitting that +supposition he pictured the figs placed on the table at the one o'clock +meal, in their pretty little leaf-covered basket. Dario would be there as +usual, alone with his uncle, since he was not to leave for Naples till +the evening. And would both the uncle and the nephew eat the figs, or +would only one of them partake of the fruit, and which of them would that +be? At this point Prada's clearness of vision failed him; again he +conjured up Destiny on the march, that Destiny which he had met on the +road from Frascati, going on towards its unknown goal, athwart all +obstacles without possibility of stoppage. Aye, the little basket of figs +went ever on and on to accomplish its fateful purpose, which no hand in +the world had power enough to prevent. + +And at last, on either hand of Pierre and Prada, the Via Giulia stretched +away in a long line white with moonlight, and the priest emerged as if +from a dream at sight of the Palazzo Boccanera rising blackly under the +silver sky. Three o'clock struck at a neighbouring church. And he felt +himself quivering slightly as once again he heard near him the dolorous +moan of a lion wounded unto death, that low involuntary growl which the +Count, amidst the frightful struggle of his feelings, had for the third +time allowed to escape him. But immediately afterwards he burst into a +sneering laugh, and pressing the priest's hands, exclaimed: "No, no, I am +not going farther. If I were seen here at this hour, people would think +that I had fallen in love with my wife again." + +And thereupon he lighted a cigar, and retraced his steps in the clear +night, without once looking round. + + + +XIII + +WHEN Pierre awoke he was much surprised to hear eleven o'clock striking. +Fatigued as he was by that ball where he had lingered so long, he had +slept like a child in delightful peacefulness, and as soon as he opened +his eyes the radiant sunshine filled him with hope. His first thought was +that he would see the Pope that evening at nine o'clock. Ten more hours +to wait! What would he be able to do with himself during that lovely day, +whose radiant sky seemed to him of such happy augury? He rose and opened +the windows to admit the warm air which, as he had noticed on the day of +his arrival, had a savour of fruit and flowers, a blending, as it were, +of the perfume of rose and orange. Could this possibly be December? What +a delightful land, that the spring should seem to flower on the very +threshold of winter! Then, having dressed, he was leaning out of the +window to glance across the golden Tiber at the evergreen slopes of the +Janiculum, when he espied Benedetta seated in the abandoned garden of the +mansion. And thereupon, unable to keep still, full of a desire for life, +gaiety, and beauty, he went down to join her. + +With radiant visage and outstretched hands, she at once vented the cry he +had expected: "Ah! my dear Abbe, how happy I am!" + +They had often spent their mornings in that quiet, forsaken nook; but +what sad mornings those had been, hopeless as they both were! To-day, +however, the weed-grown paths, the box-plants growing in the old basin, +the orange-trees which alone marked the outline of the beds--all seemed +full of charm, instinct with a sweet and dreamy cosiness in which it was +very pleasant to lull one's joy. And it was so warm, too, beside the big +laurel-bush, in the corner where the streamlet of water ever fell with +flute-like music from the gaping, tragic mask. + +"Ah!" repeated Benedetta, "how happy I am! I was stifling upstairs, and +my heart felt such a need of space, and air, and sunlight, that I came +down here!" + +She was seated on the fallen column beside the old marble sarcophagus, +and desired the priest to place himself beside her. Never had he seen her +looking so beautiful, with her black hair encompassing her pure face, +which in the sunshine appeared pinky and delicate as a flower. Her large, +fathomless eyes showed in the light like braziers rolling gold, and her +childish mouth, all candour and good sense, laughed the laugh of one who +was at last free to love as her heart listed, without offending either +God or man. And, dreaming aloud, she built up plans for the future. "It's +all simple enough," said she; "I have already obtained a separation, and +shall easily get that changed into civil divorce now that the Church has +annulled my marriage. And I shall marry Dario next spring, perhaps +sooner, if the formalities can be hastened. He is going to Naples this +evening about the sale of some property which we still possess there, but +which must now be sold, for all this business has cost us a lot of money. +Still, that doesn't matter since we now belong to one another. And when +he comes back in a few days, what a happy time we shall have! I could not +sleep when I got back from that splendid ball last night, for my head was +so full of plans--oh! splendid plans, as you shall see, for I mean to +keep you in Rome until our marriage." + +Like herself, Pierre began to laugh, so gained upon by this explosion of +youth and happiness that he had to make a great effort to refrain from +speaking of his own delight, his hopefulness at the thought of his coming +interview with the Pope. Of that, however, he had sworn to speak to +nobody. + +Every now and again, amidst the quivering silence of the sunlit garden, +the cry of a bird persistently rang out; and Benedetta, raising her head +and looking at a cage hanging beside one of the first-floor windows, +jestingly exclaimed: "Yes, yes, Tata, make a good noise, show that you +are pleased, my dear. Everybody in the house must be pleased now." Then, +turning towards Pierre, she added gaily: "You know Tata, don't you? What! +No? Why, Tata is my uncle's parrot. I gave her to him last spring; he's +very fond of her, and lets her help herself out of his plate. And he +himself attends to her, puts her out and takes her in, and keeps her in +his dining-room, for fear lest she should take cold, as that is the only +room of his which is at all warm." + +Pierre in his turn looked up and saw the bird, one of those pretty little +parrots with soft, silky, dull-green plumage. It was hanging by the beak +from a bar of its cage, swinging itself and flapping its wings, all mirth +in the bright sunshine. + +"Does the bird talk?" he asked. + +"No, she only screams," replied Benedetta, laughing. "Still my uncle +pretends that he understands her." And then the young woman abruptly +darted to another subject, as if this mention of her uncle the Cardinal +had made her think of the uncle by marriage whom she had in Paris. "I +suppose you have heard from Viscount de la Choue," said she. "I had a +letter from him yesterday, in which he said how grieved he was that you +were unable to see the Holy Father, as he had counted on you for the +triumph of his ideas." + +Pierre indeed frequently heard from the Viscount, who was greatly +distressed by the importance which his adversary, Baron de Fouras, had +acquired since his success with the International Pilgrimage of the +Peter's Pence. The old, uncompromising Catholic party would awaken, said +the Viscount, and all the conquests of Neo-Catholicism would be +threatened, if one could not obtain the Holy Father's formal adhesion to +the proposed system of free guilds, in order to overcome the demand for +closed guilds which was brought forward by the Conservatives. And the +Viscount overwhelmed Pierre with injunctions, and sent him all sorts of +complicated plans in his eagerness to see him received at the Vatican. +"Yes, yes," muttered the young priest in reply to Benedetta. "I had a +letter on Sunday, and found another waiting for me on my return from +Frascati yesterday. Ah! it would make me very happy to be able to send +the Viscount some good news." Then again Pierre's joy overflowed at the +thought that he would that evening see the Pope, and, on opening his +loving heart to the Pontiff, receive the supreme encouragement which +would strengthen him in his mission to work social salvation in the name +of the lowly and the poor. And he could not restrain himself any longer, +but let his secret escape him: "It's settled, you know," said he. "My +audience is for this evening." + +Benedetta did not understand at first. "What audience?" she asked. + +"Oh! Monsignor Nani was good enough to tell me at the ball this morning, +that the Holy Father has read my book and desires to see me. I shall be +received this evening at nine o'clock." + +At this the Contessina flushed with pleasure, participating in the +delight of the young priest to whom she had grown much attached. And this +success of his, coming in the midst of her own felicity, acquired +extraordinary importance in her eyes as if it were an augury of complete +success for one and all. Superstitious as she was, she raised a cry of +rapture and excitement: "Ah! /Dio/, that will bring us good luck. How +happy I am, my friend, to see happiness coming to you at the same time as +to me! You cannot think how pleased I am! And all will go well now, it's +certain, for a house where there is any one whom the Pope welcomes is +blessed, the thunder of Heaven falls on it no more!" + +She laughed yet more loudly as she spoke, and clapped her hands with such +exuberant gaiety that Pierre became anxious. "Hush! hush!" said he, "it's +a secret. Pray don't mention it to any one, either your aunt or even his +Eminence. Monsignor Nani would be much annoyed." + +She thereupon promised to say nothing, and in a kindly voice spoke of +Nani as a benefactor, for was she not indebted to him for the dissolution +of her marriage? Then, with a fresh explosion of gaiety, she went on: +"But come, my friend, is not happiness the only good thing? You don't ask +me to weep over the suffering poor to-day! Ah! the happiness of life, +that's everything. People don't suffer or feel cold or hungry when they +are happy." + +He looked at her in stupefaction at the idea of that strange solution of +the terrible question of human misery. And suddenly he realised that, +with that daughter of the sun who had inherited so many centuries of +sovereign aristocracy, all his endeavours at conversion were vain. He had +wished to bring her to a Christian love for the lowly and the wretched, +win her over to the new, enlightened, and compassionate Italy that he had +dreamt of; but if she had been moved by the sufferings of the multitude +at the time when she herself had suffered, when grievous wounds had made +her own heart bleed, she was no sooner healed than she proclaimed the +doctrine of universal felicity like a true daughter of a clime of burning +summers, and winters as mild as spring. "But everybody is not happy!" +said he. + +"Yes, yes, they are!" she exclaimed. "You don't know the poor! Give a +girl of the Trastevere the lad she loves, and she becomes as radiant as a +queen, and finds her dry bread quite sweet. The mothers who save a child +from sickness, the men who conquer in a battle, or who win at the +lottery, one and all in fact are like that, people only ask for good +fortune and pleasure. And despite all your striving to be just and to +arrive at a more even distribution of fortune, the only satisfied ones +will be those whose hearts sing--often without their knowing the +cause--on a fine sunny day like this." + +Pierre made a gesture of surrender, not wishing to sadden her by again +pleading the cause of all the poor ones who at that very moment were +somewhere agonising with physical or mental pain. But, all at once, +through the luminous mild atmosphere a shadow seemed to fall, tingeing +joy with sadness, the sunshine with despair. And the sight of the old +sarcophagus, with its bacchanal of satyrs and nymphs, brought back the +memory that death lurks even amidst the bliss of passion, the unsatiated +kisses of love. For a moment the clear song of the water sounded in +Pierre's ears like a long-drawn sob, and all seemed to crumble in the +terrible shadow which had fallen from the invisible. + +Benedetta, however, caught hold of his hands and roused him once more to +the delight of being there beside her. "Your pupil is rebellious, is she +not, my friend?" said she. "But what would you have? There are ideas +which can't enter into our heads. No, you will never get those things +into the head of a Roman girl. So be content with loving us as we are, +beautiful with all our strength, as beautiful as we can be." + +She herself, in her resplendent happiness, looked at that moment so +beautiful that he trembled as in presence of a divinity whose +all-powerfulness swayed the world. "Yes, yes," he stammered, "beauty, +beauty, still and ever sovereign. Ah! why can it not suffice to satisfy +the eternal longings of poor suffering men?" + +"Never mind!" she gaily responded. "Do not distress yourself; it is +pleasant to live. And now let us go upstairs, my aunt must be waiting." + +The midday meal was served at one o'clock, and on the few occasions when +Pierre did not eat at one or another restaurant a cover was laid for him +at the ladies' table in the little dining-room of the second floor, +overlooking the courtyard. At the same hour, in the sunlit dining-room of +the first floor, whose windows faced the Tiber, the Cardinal likewise sat +down to table, happy in the society of his nephew Dario, for his +secretary, Don Vigilio, who also was usually present, never opened his +mouth unless to reply to some question. And the two services were quite +distinct, each having its own kitchen and servants, the only thing at all +common to them both being a large room downstairs which served as a +pantry and store-place. + +Although the second-floor dining-room was so gloomy, saddened by the +greeny half-light of the courtyard, the meal shared that day by the two +ladies and the young priest proved a very gay one. Even Donna Serafina, +usually so rigid, seemed to relax under the influence of great internal +felicity. She was no doubt still enjoying her triumph of the previous +evening, and it was she who first spoke of the ball and sung its praises, +though the presence of the King and Queen had much embarrassed her, said +she. According to her account, she had only avoided presentation by +skilful strategy; however she hoped that her well-known affection for +Celia, whose god-mother she was, would explain her presence in that +neutral mansion where Vatican and Quirinal had met. At the same time she +must have retained certain scruples, for she declared that directly after +dinner she was going to the Vatican to see the Cardinal Secretary, to +whom she desired to speak about an enterprise of which she was +lady-patroness. This visit would compensate for her attendance at the +Buongiovanni entertainment. And on the other hand never had Donna +Serafina seemed so zealous and hopeful of her brother's speedy accession +to the throne of St. Peter: therein lay a supreme triumph, an elevation +of her race, which her pride deemed both needful and inevitable; and +indeed during Leo XIII's last indisposition she had actually concerned +herself about the trousseau which would be needed and which would require +to be marked with the new Pontiff's arms. + +On her side, Benedetta was all gaiety during the repast, laughing at +everything, and speaking of Celia and Attilio with the passionate +affection of a woman whose own happiness delights in that of her friends. +Then, just as the dessert had been served, she turned to the servant with +an air of surprise: "Well, and the figs, Giacomo?" she asked. + +Giacomo, slow and sleepy of notion, looked at her without understanding. +However, Victorine was crossing the room, and Benedetta's next question +was for her: "Why are the figs not served, Victorine?" she inquired. + +"What figs, Contessina?" + +"Why the figs I saw in the pantry as I passed through it this morning on +my way to the garden. They were in a little basket and looked superb. I +was even astonished to see that there were still some fresh figs left at +this season. I'm very fond of them, and felt quite pleased at the thought +that I should eat some at dinner." + +Victorine began to laugh: "Ah! yes, Contessina, I understand," she +replied. "They were some figs which that priest of Frascati, whom you +know very well, brought yesterday evening as a present for his Eminence. +I was there, and I heard him repeat three or four times that they were a +present, and were to be put on his Eminence's table without a leaf being +touched. And so one did as he said." + +"Well, that's nice," retorted Benedetta with comical indignation. "What +/gourmands/ my uncle and Dario are to regale themselves without us! They +might have given us a share!" + +Donna Serafina thereupon intervened, and asked Victorine: "You are +speaking, are you not, of that priest who used to come to the villa at +Frascati?" + +"Yes, yes, Abbe Santobono his name is, he officiates at the little church +of St. Mary in the Fields. He always asks for Abbe Paparelli when he +calls; I think they were at the seminary together. And it was Abbe +Paparelli who brought him to the pantry with his basket last night. To +tell the truth, the basket was forgotten there in spite of all the +injunctions, so that nobody would have eaten the figs to-day if Abbe +Paparelli hadn't run down just now and carried them upstairs as piously +as if they were the Blessed Sacrament. It's true though that his Eminence +is so fond of them." + +"My brother won't do them much honour to-day," remarked the Princess. "He +is slightly indisposed. He passed a bad night." The repeated mention of +Abbe Paparelli had made the old lady somewhat thoughtful. She had +regarded the train-bearer with displeasure ever since she had noticed the +extraordinary influence he was gaining over the Cardinal, despite all his +apparent humility and self-effacement. He was but a servant and +apparently a very insignificant one, yet he governed, and she could feel +that he combated her own influence, often undoing things which she had +done to further her brother's interests. Twice already, moreover, she had +suspected him of having urged the Cardinal to courses which she looked +upon as absolute blunders. But perhaps she was wrong; she did the +train-bearer the justice to admit that he had great merits and displayed +exemplary piety. + +However, Benedetta went on laughing and jesting, and as Victorine had now +withdrawn, she called the man-servant: "Listen, Giacomo, I have a +commission for you." Then she broke off to say to her aunt and Pierre: +"Pray let us assert our rights. I can see them at table almost underneath +us. Uncle is taking the leaves off the basket and serving himself with a +smile; then he passes the basket to Dario, who passes it on to Don +Vigilio. And all three of them eat and enjoy the figs. You can see them, +can't you?" She herself could see them well. And it was her desire to be +near Dario, the constant flight of her thoughts to him that now made her +picture him at table with the others. Her heart was down below, and there +was nothing there that she could not see, and hear, and smell, with such +keenness of the senses did her love endow her. "Giacomo," she resumed, +"you are to go down and tell his Eminence that we are longing to taste +his figs, and that it will be very kind of him if he will send us such as +he can spare." + +Again, however, did Donna Serafina intervene, recalling her wonted +severity of voice: "Giacomo, you will please stay here." And to her niece +she added: "That's enough childishness! I dislike such silly freaks." + +"Oh! aunt," Benedetta murmured. "But I'm so happy, it's so long since I +laughed so good-heartedly." + +Pierre had hitherto remained listening, enlivened by the sight of her +gaiety. But now, as a little chill fell, he raised his voice to say that +on the previous day he himself had been astonished to see the famous +fig-tree of Frascati still bearing fruit so late in the year. This was +doubtless due, however, to the tree's position and the protection of a +high wall. + +"Ah! so you saw the tree?" said Benedetta. + +"Yes, and I even travelled with those figs which you would so much like +to taste." + +"Why, how was that?" + +The young man already regretted the reply which had escaped him. However, +having gone so far, he preferred to say everything. "I met somebody at +Frascati who had come there in a carriage and who insisted on driving me +back to Rome," said he. "On the way we picked up Abbe Santobono, who was +bravely making the journey on foot with his basket in his hand. And +afterwards we stopped at an /osteria/--" Then he went on to describe the +drive and relate his impressions whilst crossing the Campagna amidst the +falling twilight. But Benedetta gazed at him fixedly, aware as she was of +Prada's frequent visits to the land and houses which he owned at +Frascati; and suddenly she murmured: "Somebody, somebody, it was the +Count, was it not?" + +"Yes, madame, the Count," Pierre answered. "I saw him again last night; +he was overcome, and really deserves to be pitied." + +The two women took no offence at this charitable remark which fell from +the young priest with such deep and natural emotion, full as he was of +overflowing love and compassion for one and all. Donna Serafina remained +motionless as if she had not even heard him, and Benedetta made a gesture +which seemed to imply that she had neither pity nor hatred to express for +a man who had become a perfect stranger to her. However, she no longer +laughed, but, thinking of the little basket which had travelled in +Prada's carriage, she said: "Ah! I don't care for those figs at all now, +I am even glad that I haven't eaten any of them." + +Immediately after the coffee Donna Serafina withdrew, saying that she was +at once going to the Vatican; and the others, being left to themselves, +lingered at table, again full of gaiety, and chatting like friends. The +priest, with his feverish impatience, once more referred to the audience +which he was to have that evening. It was now barely two o'clock, and he +had seven more hours to wait. How should he employ that endless +afternoon? Thereupon Benedetta good-naturedly made him a proposal. "I'll +tell you what," said she, "as we are all in such good spirits we mustn't +leave one another. Dario has his victoria, you know. He must have +finished lunch by now, and I'll ask him to take us for a long drive along +the Tiber." + +This fine project so delighted her that she began to clap her hands; but +just then Don Vigilio appeared with a scared look on his face. "Isn't the +Princess here?" he inquired. + +"No, my aunt has gone out. What is the matter?" + +"His Eminence sent me. The Prince has just felt unwell on rising from +table. Oh! it's nothing--nothing serious, no doubt." + +Benedetta raised a cry of surprise rather than anxiety: "What, Dario! +Well, we'll all go down. Come with me, Monsieur l'Abbe. He mustn't get +ill if he is to take us for a drive!" Then, meeting Victorine on the +stairs, she bade her follow. "Dario isn't well," she said. "You may be +wanted." + +They all four entered the spacious, antiquated, and simply furnished +bed-room where the young Prince had lately been laid up for a whole +month. It was reached by way of a small /salon/, and from an adjoining +dressing-room a passage conducted to the Cardinal's apartments, the +relatively small dining-room, bed-room, and study, which had been devised +by subdividing one of the huge galleries of former days. In addition, the +passage gave access to his Eminence's private chapel, a bare, uncarpeted, +chairless room, where there was nothing beyond the painted, wooden altar, +and the hard, cold tiles on which to kneel and pray. + +On entering, Benedetta hastened to the bed where Dario was lying, still +fully dressed. Near him, in fatherly fashion, stood Cardinal Boccanera, +who, amidst his dawning anxiety, retained his proud and lofty +bearing--the calmness of a soul beyond reproach. "Why, what is the +matter, Dario /mio/?" asked the young woman. + +He smiled, eager to reassure her. One only noticed that he was very pale, +with a look as of intoxication on his face. + +"Oh! it's nothing, mere giddiness," he replied. "It's just as if I had +drunk too much. All at once things swam before my eyes, and I thought I +was going to fall. And then I only had time to come and fling myself on +the bed." + +Then he drew a long breath, as though talking exhausted him, and the +Cardinal in his turn gave some details. "We had just finished our meal," +said he, "I was giving Don Vigilio some orders for this afternoon, and +was about to rise when I saw Dario get up and reel. He wouldn't sit down +again, but came in here, staggering like a somnambulist, and fumbling at +the doors to open them. We followed him without understanding. And I +confess that I don't yet comprehend it." + +So saying, the Cardinal punctuated his surprise by waving his arm towards +the rooms, through which a gust of misfortune seemed to have suddenly +swept. All the doors had remained wide open: the dressing-room could be +seen, and then the passage, at the end of which appeared the dining-room, +in a disorderly state, like an apartment suddenly vacated; the table +still laid, the napkins flung here and there, and the chairs pushed back. +As yet, however, there was no alarm. + +Benedetta made the remark which is usually made in such cases: "I hope +you haven't eaten anything which has disagreed with you." + +The Cardinal, smiling, again waved his hand as if to attest the frugality +of his table. "Oh!" said he, "there were only some eggs, some lamb +cutlets, and a dish of sorrel--they couldn't have overloaded his stomach. +I myself only drink water; he takes just a sip of white wine. No, no, the +food has nothing to do with it." + +"Besides, in that case his Eminence and I would also have felt +indisposed," Don Vigilio made bold to remark. + +Dario, after momentarily closing his eyes, opened them again, and once +more drew a long breath, whilst endeavouring to laugh. "Oh, it will be +nothing;" he said. "I feel more at ease already. I must get up and stir +myself." + +"In that case," said Benedetta, "this is what I had thought of. You will +take Monsieur l'Abbe Froment and me for a long drive in the Campagna." + +"Willingly. It's a nice idea. Victorine, help me." + +Whilst speaking he had raised himself by means of one arm; but, before +the servant could approach, a slight convulsion seized him, and he fell +back again as if overcome by a fainting fit. It was the Cardinal, still +standing by the bedside, who caught him in his arms, whilst the +Contessina this time lost her head: "/Dio, Dio/! It has come on him +again. Quick, quick, a doctor!" + +"Shall I run for one?" asked Pierre, whom the scene was also beginning to +upset. + +"No, no, not you; stay with me. Victorine will go at once. She knows the +address. Doctor Giordano, Victorine." + +The servant hurried away, and a heavy silence fell on the room where the +anxiety became more pronounced every moment. Benedetta, now quite pale, +had again approached the bed, whilst the Cardinal looked down at Dario, +whom he still held in his arms. And a terrible suspicion, vague, +indeterminate as yet, had just awoke in the old man's mind: Dario's face +seemed to him to be ashen, to wear that mask of terrified anguish which +he had already remarked on the countenance of his dearest friend, +Monsignor Gallo, when he had held him in his arms, in like manner, two +hours before his death. There was also the same swoon and the same +sensation of clasping a cold form whose heart ceases to beat. And above +everything else there was in Boccanera's mind the same growing thought of +poison, poison coming one knew not whence or how, but mysteriously +striking down those around him with the suddenness of lightning. And for +a long time he remained with his head bent over the face of his nephew, +that last scion of his race, seeking, studying, and recognising the signs +of the mysterious, implacable disorder which once already had rent his +heart atwain. + +But Benedetta addressed him in a low, entreating voice: "You will tire +yourself, uncle. Let me take him a little, I beg you. Have no fear, I'll +hold him very gently, he will feel that it is I, and perhaps that will +rouse him." + +At last the Cardinal raised his head and looked at her, and allowed her +to take his place after kissing her with distracted passion, his eyes the +while full of tears--a sudden burst of emotion in which his great love +for the young woman melted the stern frigidity which he usually affected. +"Ah! my poor child, my poor child!" he stammered, trembling from head to +foot like an oak-tree about to fall. Immediately afterwards, however, he +mastered himself, and whilst Pierre and Don Vigilio, mute and motionless, +regretted that they could be of no help, he walked slowly to and fro. +Soon, moreover, that bed-chamber became too small for all the thoughts +revolving in his mind, and he strayed first into the dressing-room and +then down the passage as far as the dining-room. And again and again he +went to and fro, grave and impassible, his head low, ever lost in the +same gloomy reverie. What were the multitudinous thoughts stirring in the +brain of that believer, that haughty Prince who had given himself to God +and could do naught to stay inevitable Destiny? From time to time he +returned to the bedside, observed the progress of the disorder, and then +started off again at the same slow regular pace, disappearing and +reappearing, carried along as it were by the monotonous alternations of +forces which man cannot control. Possibly he was mistaken, possibly this +was some mere indisposition at which the doctor would smile. One must +hope and wait. And again he went off and again he came back; and amidst +the heavy silence nothing more clearly bespoke the torture of anxious +fear than the rhythmical footsteps of that tall old man who was thus +awaiting Destiny. + +The door opened, and Victorine came in breathless. "I found the doctor, +here he is," she gasped. + +With his little pink face and white curls, his discreet paternal bearing +which gave him the air of an amiable prelate, Doctor Giordano came in +smiling; but on seeing that room and all the anxious people waiting in +it, he turned very grave, at once assuming the expression of profound +respect for all ecclesiastical secrets which he had acquired by long +practice among the clergy. And when he had glanced at the sufferer he let +but a low murmur escape him: "What, again! Is it beginning again!" + +He was probably alluding to the knife thrust for which he had recently +tended Dario. Who could be thus relentlessly pursuing that poor and +inoffensive young prince? However no one heard the doctor unless it were +Benedetta, and she was so full of feverish impatience, so eager to be +tranquillised, that she did not listen but burst into fresh entreaties: +"Oh! doctor, pray look at him, examine him, tell us that it is nothing. +It can't be anything serious, since he was so well and gay but a little +while ago. It's nothing serious, is it?" + +"You are right no doubt, Contessina, it can be nothing dangerous. We will +see." + +However, on turning round, Doctor Giordano perceived the Cardinal, who +with regular, thoughtful footsteps had come back from the dining-room to +place himself at the foot of the bed. And while bowing, the doctor +doubtless detected a gleam of mortal anxiety in the dark eyes fixed upon +his own, for he added nothing but began to examine Dario like a man who +realises that time is precious. And as his examination progressed the +affable optimism which usually appeared upon his countenance gave place +to ashen gravity, a covert terror which made his lips slightly tremble. +It was he who had attended Monsignor Gallo when the latter had been +carried off so mysteriously; it was he who for imperative reasons had +then delivered a certificate stating the cause of death to be infectious +fever; and doubtless he now found the same terrible symptoms as in that +case, a leaden hue overspreading the sufferer's features, a stupor as of +excessive intoxication; and, old Roman practitioner that he was, +accustomed to sudden deaths, he realised that the /malaria/ which kills +was passing, that /malaria/ which science does not yet fully understand, +which may come from the putrescent exhalations of the Tiber unless it be +but a name for the ancient poison of the legends. + +As the doctor raised his head his glance again encountered the black eyes +of the Cardinal, which never left him. "Signor Giordano," said his +Eminence, "you are not over-anxious, I hope? It is only some case of +indigestion, is it not?" + +The doctor again bowed. By the slight quiver of the Cardinal's voice he +understood how acute was the anxiety of that powerful man, who once more +was stricken in his dearest affections. + +"Your Eminence must be right," he said, "there's a bad digestion +certainly. Such accidents sometimes become dangerous when fever +supervenes. I need not tell your Eminence how thoroughly you may rely on +my prudence and zeal." Then he broke off and added in a clear +professional voice: "We must lose no time; the Prince must be undressed. +I should prefer to remain alone with him for a moment." + +Whilst speaking in this way, however, Doctor Giordano detained Victorine, +who would be able to help him, said he; should he need any further +assistance he would take Giacomo. His evident desire was to get rid of +the members of the family in order that he might have more freedom of +action. And the Cardinal, who understood him, gently led Benedetta into +the dining-room, whither Pierre and Don Vigilio followed. + +When the doors had been closed, the most mournful and oppressive silence +reigned in that dining-room, which the bright sun of winter filled with +such delightful warmth and radiance. The table was still laid, its cloth +strewn here and there with bread-crumbs; and a coffee cup had remained +half full. In the centre stood the basket of figs, whose covering of +leaves had been removed. However, only two or three of the figs were +missing. And in front of the window was Tata, the female parrot, who had +flown out of her cage and perched herself on her stand, where she +remained, dazzled and enraptured, amidst the dancing dust of a broad +yellow sunray. In her astonishment however, at seeing so many people +enter, she had ceased to scream and smooth her feathers, and had turned +her head the better to examine the newcomers with her round and +scrutinising eye. + +The minutes went by slowly amidst all the feverish anxiety as to what +might be occurring in the neighbouring room. Don Vigilio had taken a +corner seat in silence, whilst Benedetta and Pierre, who had remained +standing, preserved similar muteness, and immobility. But the Cardinal +had reverted to that instinctive, lulling tramp by which he apparently +hoped to quiet his impatience and arrive the sooner at the explanation +for which he was groping through a tumultuous maze of ideas. And whilst +his rhythmical footsteps resounded with mechanical regularity, dark fury +was taking possession of his mind, exasperation at being unable to +understand the why and wherefore of that sickness. As he passed the table +he had twice glanced at the things lying on it in confusion, as if +seeking some explanation from them. Perhaps the harm had been done by +that unfinished coffee, or by that bread whose crumbs lay here and there, +or by those cutlets, a bone of which remained? Then as for the third time +he passed by, again glancing, his eyes fell upon the basket of figs, and +at once he stopped, as if beneath the shock of a revelation. An idea +seized upon him and mastered him, without any plan, however, occurring to +him by which he might change his sudden suspicion into certainty. For a +moment he remained puzzled with his eyes fixed upon the basket. Then he +took a fig and examined it, but, noticing nothing strange, was about to +put it back when Tata, the parrot, who was very fond of figs, raised a +strident cry. And this was like a ray of light; the means of changing +suspicion into certainty was found. + +Slowly, with grave air and gloomy visage, the Cardinal carried the fig to +the parrot and gave it to her without hesitation or regret. She was a +very pretty bird, the only being of the lower order of creation to which +he had ever really been attached. Stretching out her supple, delicate +form, whose silken feathers of dull green here and there assumed a pinky +tinge in the sunlight, she took hold of the fig with her claws, then +ripped it open with her beak. But when she had raked it she ate but +little, and let all the rest fall upon the floor. Still grave and +impassible, the Cardinal looked at her and waited. Quite three minutes +went by, and then feeling reassured, he began to scratch the bird's poll, +whilst she, taking pleasure in the caress, turned her neck and fixed her +bright ruby eye upon her master. But all at once she sank back without +even a flap of the wings, and fell like a bullet. She was dead, killed as +by a thunderbolt. + +Boccanera made but a gesture, raising both hands to heaven as if in +horror at what he now knew. Great God! such a terrible crime, and such a +fearful mistake, such an abominable trick of Destiny! No cry of grief +came from him, but the gloom upon his face grew black and fierce. Yet +there was a cry, a piercing cry from Benedetta, who like Pierre and Don +Vigilio had watched the Cardinal with an astonishment which had changed +into terror: "Poison! poison! Ah! Dario, my heart, my soul!" + +But the Cardinal violently caught his niece by the wrist, whilst darting +a suspicious glance at the two petty priests, the secretary and the +foreigner, who were present: "Be quiet, be quiet!" said he. + +She shook herself free, rebelling, frantic with rage and hatred: "Why +should I be quiet!" she cried. "It is Prada's work, I shall denounce him, +he shall die as well! I tell you it is Prada, I know it, for yesterday +Abbe Froment came back with him from Frascati in his carriage with that +priest Santobono and that basket of figs! Yes, yes, I have witnesses, it +is Prada, Prada!" + +"No, no, you are mad, be quiet!" said the Cardinal, who had again taken +hold of the young woman's hands and sought to master her with all his +sovereign authority. He, who knew the influence which Cardinal +Sanguinetti exercised over Santobono's excitable mind, had just +understood the whole affair; no direct complicity but covert propulsion, +the animal excited and then let loose upon the troublesome rival at the +moment when the pontifical throne seemed likely to be vacant. The +probability, the certainty of all this flashed upon Boccanera who, though +some points remained obscure, did not seek to penetrate them. It was not +necessary indeed that he should know every particular: the thing was as +he said, since it was bound to be so. "No, no, it was not Prada," he +exclaimed, addressing Benedetta. "That man can bear me no personal +grudge, and I alone was aimed at, it was to me that those figs were +given. Come, think it out! Only an unforeseen indisposition prevented me +from eating the greater part of the fruit, for it is known that I am very +fond of figs, and while my poor Dario was tasting them, I jested and told +him to leave the finer ones for me to-morrow. Yes, the abominable blow +was meant for me, and it is on him that it has fallen by the most +atrocious of chances, the most monstrous of the follies of fate. Ah! Lord +God, Lord God, have you then forsaken us!" + +Tears came into the old man's eyes, whilst she still quivered and seemed +unconvinced: "But you have no enemies, uncle," she said. "Why should that +Santobono try to take your life?" + +For a moment he found no fitting reply. With supreme grandeur he had +already resolved to keep the truth secret. Then a recollection came to +him, and he resigned himself to the telling of a lie: "Santobono's mind +has always been somewhat unhinged," said he, "and I know that he has +hated me ever since I refused to help him to get a brother of his, one of +our former gardeners, out of prison. Deadly spite often has no more +serious cause. He must have thought that he had reason to be revenged on +me." + +Thereupon Benedetta, exhausted, unable to argue any further, sank upon a +chair with a despairing gesture: "Ah! God, God! I no longer know--and +what matters it now that my Dario is in such danger? There's only one +thing to be done, he must be saved. How long they are over what they are +doing in that room--why does not Victorine come for us!" + +The silence again fell, full of terror. Without speaking the Cardinal +took the basket of figs from the table and carried it to a cupboard in +which he locked it. Then he put the key in his pocket. No doubt, when +night had fallen, he himself would throw the proofs of the crime into the +Tiber. However, on coming back from the cupboard he noticed the two +priests, who naturally had watched him; and with mingled grandeur and +simplicity he said to them: "Gentlemen, I need not ask you to be +discreet. There are scandals which we must spare the Church, which is +not, cannot be guilty. To deliver one of ourselves, even when he is a +criminal, to the civil tribunals, often means a blow for the whole +Church, for men of evil mind may lay hold of the affair and seek to +impute the responsibility of the crime even to the Church itself. We +therefore have but to commit the murderer to the hands of God, who will +know more surely how to punish him. Ah! for my part, whether I be struck +in my own person or whether the blow be directed against my family, my +dearest affections, I declare in the name of the Christ who died upon the +cross, that I feel neither anger, nor desire for vengeance, that I efface +the murderer's name from my memory and bury his abominable act in the +eternal silence of the grave." + +Tall as he was, he seemed of yet loftier stature whilst with hand +upraised he took that oath to leave his enemies to the justice of God +alone; for he did not refer merely to Santobono, but to Cardinal +Sanguinetti, whose evil influence he had divined. And amidst all the +heroism of his pride, he was rent by tragic dolour at thought of the dark +battle which was waged around the tiara, all the evil hatred and +voracious appetite which stirred in the depths of the gloom. Then, as +Pierre and Don Vigilio bowed to him as a sign that they would preserve +silence, he almost choked with invincible emotion, a sob of loving grief +which he strove to keep down rising to his throat, whilst he stammered: +"Ah! my poor child, my poor child, the only scion of our race, the only +love and hope of my heart! Ah! to die, to die like this!" + +But Benedetta, again all violence, sprang up: "Die! Who, Dario? I won't +have it! We'll nurse him, we'll go back to him. We will take him in our +arms and save him. Come, uncle, come at once! I won't, I won't, I won't +have him die!" + +She was going towards the door, and nothing would have prevented her from +re-entering the bed-room, when, as it happened, Victorine appeared with a +wild look on her face, for, despite her wonted serenity, all her courage +was now exhausted. "The doctor begs madame and his Eminence to come at +once, at once," said she. + +Stupefied by all these things, Pierre did not follow the others, but +lingered for a moment in the sunlit dining-room with Don Vigilio. What! +poison? Poison as in the time of the Borgias, elegantly hidden away, +served up with luscious fruit by a crafty traitor, whom one dared not +even denounce! And he recalled the conversation on his way back from +Frascati, and his Parisian scepticism with respect to those legendary +drugs, which to his mind had no place save in the fifth acts of +melodramas. Yet those abominable stories were true, those tales of +poisoned knives and flowers, of prelates and even dilatory popes being +suppressed by a drop or a grain of something administered to them in +their morning chocolate. That passionate tragical Santobono was really a +poisoner, Pierre could no longer doubt it, for a lurid light now +illumined the whole of the previous day: there were the words of ambition +and menace which had been spoken by Cardinal Sanguinetti, the eagerness +to act in presence of the probable death of the reigning pope, the +suggestion of a crime for the sake of the Church's salvation, then that +priest with his little basket of figs encountered on the road, then that +basket carried for hours so carefully, so devoutly, on the priest's +knees, that basket which now haunted Pierre like a nightmare, and whose +colour, and odour, and shape he would ever recall with a shudder. Aye, +poison, poison, there was truth in it; it existed and still circulated in +the depths of the black world, amidst all the ravenous, rival longings +for conquest and sovereignty. + +And all at once the figure of Prada likewise arose in Pierre's mind. A +little while previously, when Benedetta had so violently accused the +Count, he, Pierre, had stepped forward to defend him and cry aloud what +he knew, whence the poison had come, and what hand had offered it. But a +sudden thought had made him shiver: though Prada had not devised the +crime, he had allowed it to be perpetrated. Another memory darted keen +like steel through the young priest's mind--that of the little black hen +lying lifeless beside the shed, amidst the dismal surroundings of the +/osteria/, with a tiny streamlet of violet blood trickling from her beak. +And here again, Tata, the parrot, lay still soft and warm at the foot of +her stand, with her beak stained by oozing blood. Why had Prada told that +lie about a battle between two fowls? All the dim intricacy of passion +and contention bewildered Pierre, he could not thread his way through it; +nor was he better able to follow the frightful combat which must have +been waged in that man's mind during the night of the ball. At the same +time he could not again picture him by his side during their nocturnal +walk towards the Boccanera mansion without shuddering, dimly divining +what a frightful decision had been taken before that mansion's door. +Moreover, whatever the obscurities, whether Prada had expected that the +Cardinal alone would be killed, or had hoped that some chance stroke of +fate might avenge him on others, the terrible fact remained--he had +known, he had been able to stay Destiny on the march, but had allowed it +to go onward and blindly accomplish its work of death. + +Turning his head Pierre perceived Don Vigilio still seated on the corner +chair whence he had not stirred, and looking so pale and haggard that +perhaps he also had swallowed some of the poison. "Do you feel unwell?" +the young priest asked. + +At first the secretary could not reply, for terror had gripped him at the +throat. Then in a low voice he said: "No, no, I didn't eat any. Ah, +Heaven, when I think that I so much wanted to taste them, and that merely +deference kept me back on seeing that his Eminence did not take any!" Don +Vigilio's whole body shivered at the thought that his humility alone had +saved him; and on his face and his hands there remained the icy chill of +death which had fallen so near and grazed him as it passed. + +Then twice he heaved a sigh, and with a gesture of affright sought to +brush the horrid thing away while murmuring: "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" + +Pierre, deeply stirred, and knowing what he thought of the train-bearer, +tried to extract some information from him: "What do you mean?" he asked. +"Do you accuse him too? Do you think they urged him on, and that it was +they at bottom?" + +The word Jesuits was not even spoken, but a big black shadow passed +athwart the gay sunlight of the dining-room, and for a moment seemed to +fill it with darkness. "They! ah yes!" exclaimed Don Vigilio, "they are +everywhere; it is always they! As soon as one weeps, as soon as one dies, +they are mixed up in it. And this is intended for me too; I am quite +surprised that I haven't been carried off." Then again he raised a dull +moan of fear, hatred, and anger: "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" And he +refused to reply any further, but darted scared glances at the walls as +if from one or another of them he expected to see the train-bearer +emerge, with his wrinkled flabby face like that of an old maid, his +furtive mouse-like trot, and his mysterious, invading hands which had +gone expressly to bring the forgotten figs from the pantry and deposit +them on the table. + +At last the two priests decided to return to the bedroom, where perhaps +they might be required; and Pierre on entering was overcome by the +heart-rending scene which the chamber now presented. Doctor Giordano, +suspecting poison, had for half an hour been trying the usual remedies, +an emetic and then magnesia. Just then, too, he had made Victorine whip +some whites of eggs in water. But the disorder was progressing with such +lightning-like rapidity that all succour was becoming futile. Undressed +and lying on his back, his bust propped up by pillows and his arms lying +outstretched over the sheets, Dario looked quite frightful in the sort of +painful intoxication which characterised that redoubtable and mysterious +disorder to which already Monsignor Gallo and others had succumbed. The +young man seemed to be stricken with a sort of dizzy stupor, his eyes +receded farther and farther into the depth of their dark sockets, whilst +his whole face became withered, aged as it were, and covered with an +earthy pallor. A moment previously he had closed his eyes, and the only +sign that he still lived was the heaving of his chest induced by painful +respiration. And leaning over his poor dying face stood Benedetta, +sharing his sufferings, and mastered by such impotent grief that she also +was unrecognisable, so white, so distracted by anguish, that it seemed as +if death were gradually taking her at the same time as it was taking him. + +In the recess by the window whither Cardinal Boccanera had led Doctor +Giordano, a few words were exchanged in low tones. "He is lost, is he +not?" + +The doctor made the despairing gesture of one who is vanquished: "Alas! +yes. I must warn your Eminence that in an hour all will be over." + +A short interval of silence followed. "And the same malady as Gallo, is +it not?" asked the Cardinal; and as the doctor trembling and averting his +eyes did not answer he added: "At all events of an infectious fever!" + +Giordano well understood what the Cardinal thus asked of him: silence, +the crime for ever hidden away for the sake of the good renown of his +mother, the Church. And there could be no loftier, no more tragical +grandeur than that of this old man of seventy, still so erect and +sovereign, who would neither suffer a slur to be cast upon his spiritual +family, nor consent to his human family being dragged into the inevitable +mire of a sensational murder trial. No, no, there must be none of that, +there must be silence, the eternal silence in which all becomes +forgotten. + +At last the doctor bowed with his gentle air of discretion. "Evidently, +of an infectious fever as your Eminence so well says," he replied. + +Two big tears then again appeared in Boccanera's eyes. Now that he had +screened the Deity from attack in the person of the Church, his heart as +a man again bled. He begged the doctor to make a supreme effort, to +attempt the impossible; but, pointing to the dying man with trembling +hands, Giordano shook his head. For his own father, his own mother he +could have done nothing. Death was there. So why weary, why torture a +dying man, whose sufferings he would only have increased? And then, as +the Cardinal, finding the end so near at hand, thought of his sister +Serafina, and lamented that she would not be able to kiss her nephew for +the last time if she lingered at the Vatican, the doctor offered to fetch +her in his carriage which was waiting below. It would not take him more +than twenty minutes, said he, and he would be back in time for the end, +should he then be needed. + +Left to himself in the window recess the Cardinal remained there +motionless for another moment. With eyes blurred by tears, he gazed +towards heaven. And his quivering arms were suddenly raised in a gesture +of ardent entreaty. O God, since the science of man was so limited and +vain, since that doctor had gone off happy to escape the embarrassment of +his impotence, O God, why not a miracle which should proclaim the +splendour of Thy Almighty Power! A miracle, a miracle! that was what the +Cardinal asked from the depths of his believing soul, with the +insistence, the imperious entreaty of a Prince of the Earth, who deemed +that he had rendered considerable services to Heaven by dedicating his +whole life to the Church. And he asked for that miracle in order that his +race might be perpetuated, in order that its last male scion might not +thus miserably perish, but be able to marry that fondly loved cousin, who +now stood there all woe and tears. A miracle, a miracle for the sake of +those two dear children! A miracle which would endow the family with +fresh life: a miracle which would eternise the glorious name of Boccanera +by enabling an innumerable posterity of valiant ones and faithful ones to +spring from that young couple! + +When the Cardinal returned to the centre of the room he seemed +transfigured. Faith had dried his eyes, his soul had become strong and +submissive, exempt from all human weakness. He had placed himself in the +hands of God, and had resolved that he himself would administer extreme +unction to Dario. With a gesture he summoned Don Vigilio and led him into +the little room which served as a chapel, and the key of which he always +carried. A cupboard had been contrived behind the altar of painted wood, +and the Cardinal went to it to take both stole and surplice. The coffer +containing the Holy Oils was likewise there, a very ancient silver coffer +bearing the Boccanera arms. And on Don Vigilio following the Cardinal +back into the bed-room they in turn pronounced the Latin words: + +"/Pax huic domui/." + +"/Et omnibus habitantibus in ea/."* + + * "Peace unto this house and unto all who dwell in it."--Trans. + +Death was coming so fast and threatening, that all the usual preparations +were perforce dispensed with. Neither the two lighted tapers, nor the +little table covered with white cloth had been provided. And, in the same +way, Don Vigilio the assistant, having failed to bring the Holy Water +basin and sprinkler, the Cardinal, as officiating priest, could merely +make the gesture of blessing the room and the dying man, whilst +pronouncing the words of the ritual: "/Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et +mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor."* + + * "Sprinkle me, Lord, with hyssop, and purify me; wash me, and + make me whiter than snow."--Trans. + +Benedetta on seeing the Cardinal appear carrying the Holy Oils, had with +a long quiver fallen on her knees at the foot of the bed, whilst, +somewhat farther away, Pierre and Victorine likewise knelt, overcome by +the dolorous grandeur of the scene. And the dilated eyes of the +Contessina, whose face was pale as snow, never quitted her Dario, whom +she no longer recognised, so earthy was his face, its skin tanned and +wrinkled like that of an old man. And it was not for their marriage which +he so much desired that their uncle, the all-powerful Prince of the +Church, was bringing the Sacrament, but for the supreme rupture, the end +of all pride, Death which finishes off the haughtiest races, and sweeps +them away, even as the wind sweeps the dust of the roads. + +It was needful that there should be no delay, so the Cardinal promptly +repeated the Credo in an undertone, "/Credo in unum Deum--/" + +"/Amen/," responded Don Vigilio, who, after the prayers of the ritual, +stammered the Litanies in order that Heaven might take pity on the +wretched man who was about to appear before God, if God by a prodigy did +not spare him. + +Then, without taking time to wash his fingers, the Cardinal opened the +case containing the Holy Oils, and limiting himself to one anointment, as +is permissible in pressing cases, he deposited a single drop of the oil +on Dario's parched mouth which was already withered by death. And in +doing so he repeated the words of the formula, his heart all aglow with +faith as he asked that the divine mercy might efface each and every sin +that the young man had committed by either of his five senses, those five +portals by which everlasting temptation assails the soul. And the +Cardinal's fervour was also instinct with the hope that if God had +smitten the poor sufferer for his offences, perhaps He would make His +indulgence entire and even restore him to life as soon as He should have +forgiven his sins. Life, O Lord, life in order that the ancient line of +the Boccaneras might yet multiply and continue to serve Thee in battle +and at the altar until the end of time! + +For a moment the Cardinal remained with quivering hands, gazing at the +mute face, the closed eyes of the dying man, and waiting for the miracle. +But no sign appeared, not the faintest glimmer brightened that haggard +countenance, nor did a sigh of relief come from the withered lips as Don +Vigilio wiped them with a little cotton wool. And the last prayer was +said, and whilst the frightful silence fell once more the Cardinal, +followed by his assistant, returned to the chapel. There they both knelt, +the Cardinal plunging into ardent prayer upon the bare tiles. With his +eyes raised to the brass crucifix upon the altar he saw nothing, heard +nothing, but gave himself wholly to his entreaties, supplicating God to +take him in place of his nephew, if a sacrifice were necessary, and yet +clinging to the hope that so long as Dario retained a breath of life and +he himself thus remained on his knees addressing the Deity, he might +succeed in pacifying the wrath of Heaven. He was both so humble and so +great. Would not accord surely be established between God and a +Boccanera? The old palace might have fallen to the ground, he himself +would not even have felt the toppling of its beams. + +In the bed-room, however, nothing had yet stirred beneath the weight of +tragic majesty which the ceremony had left there. It was only now that +Dario raised his eyelids, and when on looking at his hands he saw them so +aged and wasted the depths of his eyes kindled with an expression of +immense regretfulness that life should be departing. Doubtless it was at +this moment of lucidity amidst the kind of intoxication with which the +poison overwhelmed him, that he for the first time realised his perilous +condition. Ah! to die, amidst such pain, such physical degradation, what +a revolting horror for that frivolous and egotistical man, that lover of +beauty, joy, and light, who knew not how to suffer! In him ferocious fate +chastised racial degeneracy with too heavy a hand. He became horrified +with himself, seized with childish despair and terror, which lent him +strength enough to sit up and gaze wildly about the room, in order to see +if every one had not abandoned him. And when his eyes lighted on +Benedetta still kneeling at the foot of the bed, a supreme impulse +carried him towards her, he stretched forth both arms as passionately as +his strength allowed and stammered her name: "O Benedetta, Benedetta!" + +She, motionless in the stupor of her anxiety, had not taken her eyes from +his face. The horrible disorder which was carrying off her lover, seemed +also to possess and annihilate her more and more, even as he himself grew +weaker and weaker. Her features were assuming an immaterial whiteness; +and through the void of her clear eyeballs one began to espy her soul. +However, when she perceived him thus resuscitating and calling her with +arms outstretched, she in her turn arose and standing beside the bed made +answer: "I am coming, my Dario, here I am." + +And then Pierre and Victorine, still on their knees, beheld a sublime +deed of such extraordinary grandeur that they remained rooted to the +floor, spell-bound as in the presence of some supra-terrestrial spectacle +in which human beings may not intervene. Benedetta herself spoke and +acted like one freed from all social and conventional ties, already +beyond life, only seeing and addressing beings and things from a great +distance, from the depths of the unknown in which she was about to +disappear. + +"Ah! my Dario, so an attempt has been made to part us! It was in order +that I might never belong to you--that we might never be happy, that your +death was resolved upon, and it was known that with your life my own must +cease! And it is that man who is killing you! Yes, he is your murderer, +even if the actual blow has been dealt by another. He is the first +cause--he who stole me from you when I was about to become yours, he who +ravaged our lives, and who breathed around us the hateful poison which is +killing us. Ah! how I hate him, how I hate him; how I should like to +crush him with my hate before I die with you!" + +She did not raise her voice, but spoke those terrible words in a deep +murmur, simply and passionately. Prada was not even named, and she +scarcely turned towards Pierre--who knelt, paralysed, behind her--to add +with a commanding air: "You will see his father, I charge you to tell him +that I cursed his son! That kind-hearted hero loved me well--I love him +even now, and the words you will carry to him from me will rend his +heart. But I desire that he should know--he must know, for the sake of +truth and justice." + +Distracted by terror, sobbing amidst a last convulsion, Dario again +stretched forth his arms, feeling that she was no longer looking at him, +that her clear eyes were no longer fixed upon his own: "Benedetta, +Benedetta!" + +"I am coming, I am coming, my Dario--I am here!" she responded, drawing +yet nearer to the bedside and almost touching him. "Ah!" she went on, +"that vow which I made to the Madonna to belong to none, not even you, +until God should allow it by the blessing of one of his priests! Ah! I +set a noble, a divine pride in remaining immaculate for him who should be +the one master of my soul and body. And that chastity which I was so +proud of, I defended it against the other as one defends oneself against +a wolf, and I defended it against you with tears for fear of sacrilege. +And if you only knew what terrible struggles I was forced to wage with +myself, for I loved you and longed to be yours, like a woman who accepts +the whole of love, the love that makes wife and mother! Ah! my vow to the +Madonna--with what difficulty did I keep it when the old blood of our +race arose in me like a tempest; and now what a disaster!" She drew yet +nearer, and her low voice became more ardent: "You remember that evening +when you came back with a knife-thrust in your shoulder. I thought you +dead, and cried aloud with rage at the idea of losing you like that. I +insulted the Madonna and regretted that I had not damned myself with you +that we might die together, so tightly clasped that we must needs be +buried together also. And to think that such a terrible warning was of no +avail! I was blind and foolish; and now you are again stricken, again +being taken from my love. Ah! my wretched pride, my idiotic dream!" + +That which now rang out in her stifled voice was the anger of the +practical woman that she had ever been, all superstition notwithstanding. +Could the Madonna, who was so maternal, desire the woe of lovers? No, +assuredly not. Nor did the angels make the mere absence of a priest a +cause for weeping over the transports of true and mutual love. Was not +such love holy in itself, and did not the angels rather smile upon it and +burst into gladsome song! And ah! how one cheated oneself by not loving +to heart's content under the sun, when the blood of life coursed through +one's veins! + +"Benedetta! Benedetta!" repeated the dying man, full of child-like terror +at thus going off all alone into the depths of the black and everlasting +night. + +"Here I am, my Dario, I am coming!" + +Then, as she fancied that the servant, albeit motionless, had stirred, as +if to rise and interfere, she added: "Leave me, leave me, Victorine, +nothing in the world can henceforth prevent it. A moment ago, when I was +on my knees, something roused me and urged me on. I know whither I am +going. And besides, did I not swear on the night of the knife thrust? Did +I not promise to belong to him alone, even in the earth if it were +necessary? I must embrace him, and he will carry me away! We shall be +dead, and we shall be wedded in spite of all, and for ever and for ever!" + +She stepped back to the dying man, and touched him: "Here I am, my Dario, +here I am!" + +Then came the apogee. Amidst growing exaltation, buoyed up by a blaze of +love, careless of glances, candid like a lily, she divested herself of +her garments and stood forth so white, that neither marble statue, nor +dove, nor snow itself was ever whiter. "Here I am, my Dario, here I am!" + +Recoiling almost to the ground as at sight of an apparition, the glorious +flash of a holy vision, Pierre and Victorine gazed at her with dazzled +eyes. The servant had not stirred to prevent this extraordinary action, +seized as she was with that shrinking reverential terror which comes upon +one in presence of the wild, mad deeds of faith and passion. And the +priest, whose limbs were paralysed, felt that something so sublime was +passing that he could only quiver in distraction. And no thought of +impurity came to him on beholding that lily, snowy whiteness. All candour +and all nobility as she was, that virgin shocked him no more than some +sculptured masterpiece of genius. + +"Here I am, my Dario, here I am." + +She had lain herself down beside the spouse whom she had chosen, she had +clasped the dying man whose arms only had enough strength left to fold +themselves around her. Death was stealing him from her, but she would go +with him; and again she murmured: "My Dario, here I am." + +And at that moment, against the wall at the head of the bed, Pierre +perceived the escutcheon of the Boccaneras, embroidered in gold and +coloured silks on a groundwork of violet velvet. There was the winged +dragon belching flames, there was the fierce and glowing motto "/Bocca +nera, Alma rossa/" (black mouth, red soul), the mouth darkened by a roar, +the soul flaming like a brazier of faith and love. And behold! all that +old race of passion and violence with its tragic legends had reappeared, +its blood bubbling up afresh to urge that last and adorable daughter of +the line to those terrifying and prodigious nuptials in death. And to +Pierre that escutcheon recalled another memory, that of the portrait of +Cassia Boccanera the /amorosa/ and avengeress who had flung herself into +the Tiber with her brother Ercole and the corpse of her lover Flavio. Was +there not here even with Benedetta the same despairing clasp seeking to +vanquish death, the same savagery in hurling oneself into the abyss with +the corpse of the one's only love? Benedetta and Cassia were as sisters, +Cassia, who lived anew in the old painting in the /salon/ overhead, +Benedetta who was here dying of her lover's death, as though she were but +the other's spirit. Both had the same delicate childish features, the +same mouth of passion, the same large dreamy eyes set in the same round, +practical, and stubborn head. + +"My Dario, here I am!" + +For a second, which seemed an eternity, they clasped one another, she +neither repelled nor terrified by the disorder which made him so +unrecognisable, but displaying a delirious passion, a holy frenzy as if +to pass beyond life, to penetrate with him into the black Unknown. And +beneath the shock of the felicity at last offered to him he expired, with +his arms yet convulsively wound around her as though indeed to carry her +off. Then, whether from grief or from bliss amidst that embrace of death, +there came such a rush of blood to her heart that the organ burst: she +died on her lover's neck, both tightly and for ever clasped in one +another's arms. + +There was a faint sigh. Victorine understood and drew near, while Pierre, +also erect, remained quivering with the tearful admiration of one who has +beheld the sublime. + +"Look, look!" whispered the servant, "she no longer moves, she no longer +breathes. Ah! my poor child, my poor child, she is dead!" + +Then the priest murmured: "Oh! God, how beautiful they are." + +It was true, never had loftier and more resplendent beauty appeared on +the faces of the dead. Dario's countenance, so lately aged and earthen, +had assumed the pallor and nobility of marble, its features lengthened +and simplified as by a transport of ineffable joy. Benedetta remained +very grave, her lips curved by ardent determination, whilst her whole +face was expressive of dolorous yet infinite beatitude in a setting of +infinite whiteness. Their hair mingled, and their eyes, which had +remained open, continued gazing as into one another's souls with eternal, +caressing sweetness. They were for ever linked, soaring into immortality +amidst the enchantment of their union, vanquishers of death, radiant with +the rapturous beauty of love, the conqueror, the immortal. + +But Victorine's sobs at last burst forth, mingled with such lamentations +that great confusion followed. Pierre, now quite beside himself, in some +measure failed to understand how it was that the room suddenly became +invaded by terrified people. The Cardinal and Don Vigilio, however, must +have hastened in from the chapel; and at the same moment, no doubt, +Doctor Giordano must have returned with Donna Serafina, for both were now +there, she stupefied by the blows which had thus fallen on the house in +her absence, whilst he, the doctor, displayed the perturbation and +astonishment which comes upon the oldest practitioners when facts seem to +give the lie to their experience. However, he sought an explanation of +Benedetta's death, and hesitatingly ascribed it to aneurism, or possibly +embolism. + +Thereupon Victorine, like a servant whose grief makes her the equal of +her employers, boldly interrupted him: "Ah! Sir," said she, "they loved +each other too fondly; did not that suffice for them to die together?" + +Meantime Donna Serafina, after kissing the poor children on the brow, +desired to close their eyes; but she could not succeed in doing so, for +the lids lifted directly she removed her finger and once more the eyes +began to smile at one another, to exchange in all fixity their loving and +eternal glance. And then as she spoke of parting the bodies, Victorine +again protested: "Oh! madame, oh! madame," she said, "you would have to +break their arms. Cannot you see that their fingers are almost dug into +one another's shoulders? No, they can never be parted!" + +Thereupon Cardinal Boccanera intervened. God had not granted the miracle; +and he, His minister, was livid, tearless, and full of icy despair. But +he waved his arm with a sovereign gesture of absolution and +sanctification, as if, Prince of the Church that he was, disposing of the +will of Heaven, he consented that the lovers should appear in that +embrace before the supreme tribunal. In presence of such wondrous love, +indeed, profoundly stirred by the sufferings of their lives and the +beauty of their death, he showed a broad and lofty contempt for mundane +proprieties. "Leave them, leave me, my sister," said he, "do not disturb +their slumber. Let their eyes remain open since they desire to gaze on +one another till the end of time without ever wearying. And let them +sleep in one another's arms since in their lives they did not sin, and +only locked themselves in that embrace in order that they might be laid +together in the ground." + +And then, again becoming a Roman Prince whose proud blood was yet hot +with old-time deeds of battle and passion, he added: "Two Boccaneras may +well sleep like that; all Rome will admire them and weep for them. Leave +them, leave them together, my sister. God knows them and awaits them!" + +All knelt, and the Cardinal himself repeated the prayers for the dead. +Night was coming, increasing gloom stole into the chamber, where two +burning tapers soon shone out like stars. + +And then, without knowing how, Pierre again found himself in the little +deserted garden on the bank of the Tiber. Suffocating with fatigue and +grief, he must have come thither for fresh air. Darkness shrouded the +charming nook where the streamlet of water falling from the tragic mask +into the ancient sarcophagus ever sang its shrill and flute-like song; +and the laurel-bush which shaded it, and the bitter box-plants and the +orange-trees skirting the paths now formed but vague masses under the +blue-black sky. Ah! how gay and sweet had that melancholy garden been in +the morning, and what a desolate echo it retained of Benedetta's winsome +laughter, all that fine delight in coming happiness which now lay prone +upstairs, steeped in the nothingness of things and beings! So dolorous +was the pang which came to Pierre's heart that he burst into sobs, seated +on the same broken column where she had sat, and encompassed by the same +atmosphere that she had breathed, in which still lingered the perfume of +her presence. + +But all at once a distant clock struck six, and the young priest started +on remembering that he was to be received by the Pope that very evening +at nine. Yet three more hours! He had not thought of that interview +during the terrifying catastrophe, and it seemed to him now as if months +and months had gone by, as if the appointment were some very old one +which a man is only able to keep after years of absence, when he has +grown aged and had his heart and brain modified by innumerable +experiences. However, he made an effort and rose to his feet. In three +hours' time he would go to the Vatican and at last he would see the Pope. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 8724 *** |