diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/8726-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/8726-8.txt | 23852 |
1 files changed, 23852 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/8726-8.txt b/old/8726-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5a70d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8726-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23852 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rome, by Emile Zola + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rome + From the "Three Cities" + +Author: Emile Zola + +Translator: Ernest A. Vizetelly + +Posting Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #8726] +Release Date: August, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + + + + + + + + +ROME + +FROM "THE THREE CITIES" + + +By Emile Zola + + +Translated By Ernest A. Vizetelly + + + + +PREFACE + +IN submitting to the English-speaking public this second volume of M. +Zola's trilogy "Lourdes, Rome, Paris," I have no prefatory remarks to +offer on behalf of the author, whose views on Rome, its past, present, +and future, will be found fully expounded in the following pages. That a +book of this character will, like its forerunner "Lourdes," provoke +considerable controversy is certain, but comment or rejoinder may well be +postponed until that controversy has arisen. At present then I only +desire to say, that in spite of the great labour which I have bestowed on +this translation, I am sensible of its shortcomings, and in a work of +such length, such intricacy, and such a wide range of subject, it will +not be surprising if some slips are discovered. Any errors which may be +pointed out to me, however, shall be rectified in subsequent editions. I +have given, I think, the whole essence of M. Zola's text; but he himself +has admitted to me that he has now and again allowed his pen to run away +with him, and thus whilst sacrificing nothing of his sense I have at +times abbreviated his phraseology so as slightly to condense the book. I +may add that there are no chapter headings in the original, and that the +circumstances under which the translation was made did not permit me to +supply any whilst it was passing through the press; however, as some +indication of the contents of the book--which treats of many more things +than are usually found in novels--may be a convenience to the reader, I +have prepared a table briefly epitomising the chief features of each +successive chapter. + + E. A. V. + + MERTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, + April, 1896. + + + + + CONTENTS TO PART I. I + "NEW ROME"--Abbe Froment in the Eternal City--His First Impressions--His + Book and the Rejuvenation of Christianity + + II + "BLACK MOUTH, RED SOUL"--The Boccaneras, their Mansion, Ancestors, + History, and Friends + + III + ROMANS OF THE CHURCH--Cardinals Boccanera and Sanguinetti--Abbes + Paparelli and Santobono--Don Vigilio--Monsignor Nani + + + + + CONTENTS TO PART II. IV + ROMANS OF NEW ITALY--The Pradas and the Saccos--The Corso and the Pincio + + V + THE BLOOD OF AUGUSTUS--The Palaces of the Caesars--The Capitol--The + Forum--The Appian Way--The Campagna--The Catacombs--St. Peter's. + + VI + VENUS AND HERCULES--The Vatican--The Sixtine Chapel--Michael Angelo and + Raffaelle--Botticelli and Bernini--Gods and Goddesses--The Gardens--Leo + XIII--The Revolt of Passion + + + + + CONTENTS TO PART III. VII + PRINCE AND PONTIFF--The International Pilgrimage--The Papal Revenue--A + Function at St. Peter's--The Pope-King--The Temporal Power + + VIII + THE POOR AND THE POPE--The Building Mania--The Financial Crash--The + Horrors of the Castle Fields--The Roman Workman--May Christ's Vicar + Gamble?--Hopes and Fears of the Papacy + + IX + TITO's WARNING--Aspects of Rome--The Via Giulia--The Tiber by Day--The + Gardens--The Villa Medici---The Squares--The Fountains--Poussin and the + Campagna--The Campo Verano--The Trastevere--The "Palaces"--Aristocracy, + Middle Class, Democracy--The Tiber by Night + + + + + CONTENTS TO PART IV. X + FROM PILLAR TO POST--The Propaganda--The Index--Dominicans, Jesuits, + Franciscans--The Secular Clergy--Roman Worship--Freemasonry--Cardinal + Vicar and Cardinal Secretary--The Inquisition. + + XI + POISON!--Frascati--A Cardinal and his Creature--Albano, Castel Gandolfo, + Nemi--Across the Campagna--An Osteria--Destiny on the March + + XII + THE AGONY OF PASSION--A Roman Gala--The Buongiovannis--The Grey + World--The Triumph of Benedetta--King Humbert and Queen Margherita--The + Fig-tree of Judas + + XIII + DESTINY!--A Happy Morning--The Mid-day Meal--Dario and the Figs--Extreme + Unction--Benedetta's Curse--The Lovers' Death + + + + + CONTENTS TO PART V. XIV + SUBMISSION--The Vatican by Night--The Papal Anterooms--Some Great + Popes--His Holiness's Bed-room--Pierre's Reception--Papal Wrath--Pierre's + Appeal--The Pope's Policy--Dogma and Lourdes--Pierre Reprobates his Book + + XV + A HOUSE OF MOURNING--Lying in State--Mother and Son--Princess and + Work-girl--Nani the Jesuit--Rival Cardinals--The Pontiff of Destruction + + XVI + JUDGMENT--Pierre and Orlando--Italian Rome--Wanted, a Democracy--Italy + and France--The Rome of the Anarchists--The Agony of Guilt--A + Botticelli--The Papacy Condemned--The Coming Schism--The March of + Science--The Destruction of Rome--The Victory of Reason--Justice not + Charity--Departure--The March of Civilisation--One Fatherland for All + Mankind + + + + + +ROME + + + + +PART I. + + + + +I. + +THE train had been greatly delayed during the night between Pisa and +Civita Vecchia, and it was close upon nine o'clock in the morning when, +after a fatiguing journey of twenty-five hours' duration, Abbe Pierre +Froment at last reached Rome. He had brought only a valise with him, and, +springing hastily out of the railway carriage amidst the scramble of the +arrival, he brushed the eager porters aside, intent on carrying his +trifling luggage himself, so anxious was he to reach his destination, to +be alone, and look around him. And almost immediately, on the Piazza dei +Cinquecento, in front of the railway station, he climbed into one of the +small open cabs ranged alongside the footwalk, and placed the valise near +him after giving the driver this address: + +"Via Giulia, Palazzo Boccanera."* + + * Boccanera mansion, Julia Street. + +It was a Monday, the 3rd of September, a beautifully bright and mild +morning, with a clear sky overhead. The cabby, a plump little man with +sparkling eyes and white teeth, smiled on realising by Pierre's accent +that he had to deal with a French priest. Then he whipped up his lean +horse, and the vehicle started off at the rapid pace customary to the +clean and cheerful cabs of Rome. However, on reaching the Piazza delle +Terme, after skirting the greenery of a little public garden, the man +turned round, still smiling, and pointing to some ruins with his whip, + +"The baths of Diocletian," said he in broken French, like an obliging +driver who is anxious to court favour with foreigners in order to secure +their custom. + +Then, at a fast trot, the vehicle descended the rapid slope of the Via +Nazionale, which dips down from the summit of the Viminalis,* where the +railway station is situated. And from that moment the driver scarcely +ceased turning round and pointing at the monuments with his whip. In this +broad new thoroughfare there were only buildings of recent erection. +Still, the wave of the cabman's whip became more pronounced and his voice +rose to a higher key, with a somewhat ironical inflection, when he gave +the name of a huge and still chalky pile on his left, a gigantic erection +of stone, overladen with sculptured work-pediments and statues. + + * One of the seven hills on which Rome is built. The other six + are the Capitoline, Aventine, Quirinal, Esquiline, Coelian, + and Palatine. These names will perforce frequently occur in + the present narrative. + +"The National Bank!" he said. + +Pierre, however, during the week which had followed his resolve to make +the journey, had spent wellnigh every day in studying Roman topography in +maps and books. Thus he could have directed his steps to any given spot +without inquiring his way, and he anticipated most of the driver's +explanations. At the same time he was disconcerted by the sudden slopes, +the perpetually recurring hills, on which certain districts rose, house +above house, in terrace fashion. On his right-hand clumps of greenery +were now climbing a height, and above them stretched a long bare yellow +building of barrack or convent-like aspect. + +"The Quirinal, the King's palace," said the driver. + +Lower down, as the cab turned across a triangular square, Pierre, on +raising his eyes, was delighted to perceive a sort of aerial garden high +above him--a garden which was upheld by a lofty smooth wall, and whence +the elegant and vigorous silhouette of a parasol pine, many centuries +old, rose aloft into the limpid heavens. At this sight he realised all +the pride and grace of Rome. + +"The Villa Aldobrandini," the cabman called. + +Then, yet lower down, there came a fleeting vision which decisively +impassioned Pierre. The street again made a sudden bend, and in one +corner, beyond a short dim alley, there was a blazing gap of light. On a +lower level appeared a white square, a well of sunshine, filled with a +blinding golden dust; and amidst all that morning glory there arose a +gigantic marble column, gilt from base to summit on the side which the +sun in rising had laved with its beams for wellnigh eighteen hundred +years. And Pierre was surprised when the cabman told him the name of the +column, for in his mind he had never pictured it soaring aloft in such a +dazzling cavity with shadows all around. It was the column of Trajan. + +The Via Nazionale turned for the last time at the foot of the slope. And +then other names fell hastily from the driver's lips as his horse went on +at a fast trot. There was the Palazzo Colonna, with its garden edged by +meagre cypresses; the Palazzo Torlonia, almost ripped open by recent +"improvements"; the Palazzo di Venezia, bare and fearsome, with its +crenelated walls, its stern and tragic appearance, that of some fortress +of the middle ages, forgotten there amidst the commonplace life of +nowadays. Pierre's surprise increased at the unexpected aspect which +certain buildings and streets presented; and the keenest blow of all was +dealt him when the cabman with his whip triumphantly called his attention +to the Corso, a long narrow thoroughfare, about as broad as Fleet +Street,* white with sunshine on the left, and black with shadows on the +right, whilst at the far end the Piazza del Popolo (the Square of the +People) showed like a bright star. Was this, then, the heart of the city, +the vaunted promenade, the street brimful of life, whither flowed all the +blood of Rome? + + * M. Zola likens the Corso to the Rue St. Honore in Paris, but + I have thought that an English comparison would be preferable + in the present version.--Trans. + +However, the cab was already entering the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which +follows the Via Nazionale, these being the two piercings effected right +across the olden city from the railway station to the bridge of St. +Angelo. On the left-hand the rounded apsis of the Gesu church looked +quite golden in the morning brightness. Then, between the church and the +heavy Altieri palace which the "improvers" had not dared to demolish, the +street became narrower, and one entered into cold, damp shade. But a +moment afterwards, before the facade of the Gesu, when the square was +reached, the sun again appeared, dazzling, throwing golden sheets of +light around; whilst afar off at the end of the Via di Ara Coeli, steeped +in shadow, a glimpse could be caught of some sunlit palm-trees. + +"That's the Capitol yonder," said the cabman. + +The priest hastily leant to the left, but only espied the patch of +greenery at the end of the dim corridor-like street. The sudden +alternations of warm light and cold shade made him shiver. In front of +the Palazzo di Venezia, and in front of the Gesu, it had seemed to him as +if all the night of ancient times were falling icily upon his shoulders; +but at each fresh square, each broadening of the new thoroughfares, there +came a return to light, to the pleasant warmth and gaiety of life. The +yellow sunflashes, in falling from the house fronts, sharply outlined the +violescent shadows. Strips of sky, very blue and very benign, could be +perceived between the roofs. And it seemed to Pierre that the air he +breathed had a particular savour, which he could not yet quite define, +but it was like that of fruit, and increased the feverishness which had +possessed him ever since his arrival. + +The Corso Vittorio Emanuele is, in spite of its irregularity, a very fine +modern thoroughfare; and for a time Pierre might have fancied himself in +any great city full of huge houses let out in flats. But when he passed +before the Cancelleria,* Bramante's masterpiece, the typical monument of +the Roman Renascence, his astonishment came back to him and his mind +returned to the mansions which he had previously espied, those bare, +huge, heavy edifices, those vast cubes of stone-work resembling hospitals +or prisons. Never would he have imagined that the famous Roman "palaces" +were like that, destitute of all grace and fancy and external +magnificence. However, they were considered very fine and must be so; he +would doubtless end by understanding things, but for that he would +require reflection.** + + * Formerly the residence of the Papal Vice-Chancellors. + + ** It is as well to point out at once that a palazzo is not a + palace as we understand the term, but rather a mansion.--Trans. + +All at once the cab turned out of the populous Corso Vittorio Emanuele +into a succession of winding alleys, through which it had difficulty in +making its way. Quietude and solitude now came back again; the olden +city, cold and somniferous, followed the new city with its bright +sunshine and its crowds. Pierre remembered the maps which he had +consulted, and realised that he was drawing near to the Via Giulia, and +thereupon his curiosity, which had been steadily increasing, augmented to +such a point that he suffered from it, full of despair at not seeing more +and learning more at once. In the feverish state in which he had found +himself ever since leaving the station, his astonishment at not finding +things such as he had expected, the many shocks that his imagination had +received, aggravated his passion beyond endurance, and brought him an +acute desire to satisfy himself immediately. Nine o'clock had struck but +a few minutes previously, he had the whole morning before him to repair +to the Boccanera palace, so why should he not at once drive to the +classic spot, the summit whence one perceives the whole of Rome spread +out upon her seven hills? And when once this thought had entered into his +mind it tortured him until he was at last compelled to yield to it. + +The driver no longer turned his head, so that Pierre rose up to give him +this new address: "To San Pietro in Montorio!" + +On hearing him the man at first looked astonished, unable to understand. +He indicated with his whip that San Pietro was yonder, far away. However, +as the priest insisted, he again smiled complacently, with a friendly nod +of his head. All right! For his own part he was quite willing. + +The horse then went on at a more rapid pace through the maze of narrow +streets. One of these was pent between high walls, and the daylight +descended into it as into a deep trench. But at the end came a sudden +return to light, and the Tiber was crossed by the antique bridge of +Sixtus IV, right and left of which stretched the new quays, amidst the +ravages and fresh plaster-work of recent erections. On the other side of +the river the Trastevere district also was ripped open, and the vehicle +ascended the slope of the Janiculum by a broad thoroughfare where large +slabs bore the name of Garibaldi. For the last time the driver made a +gesture of good-natured pride as he named this triumphal route. + +"Via Garibaldi!" + +The horse had been obliged to slacken its pace, and Pierre, mastered by +childish impatience, turned round to look at the city as by degrees it +spread out and revealed itself behind him. The ascent was a long one; +fresh districts were ever rising up, even to the most distant hills. +Then, in the increasing emotion which made his heart beat, the young +priest felt that he was spoiling the contentment of his desire by thus +gradually satisfying it, slowly and but partially effecting his conquest +of the horizon. He wished to receive the shock full in the face, to +behold all Rome at one glance, to gather the holy city together, and +embrace the whole of it at one grasp. And thereupon he mustered +sufficient strength of mind to refrain from turning round any more, in +spite of the impulses of his whole being. + +There is a spacious terrace on the summit of the incline. The church of +San Pietro in Montorio stands there, on the spot where, as some say, St. +Peter was crucified. The square is bare and brown, baked by the hot +summer suns; but a little further away in the rear, the clear and noisy +waters of the Acqua Paola fall bubbling from the three basins of a +monumental fountain amidst sempiternal freshness. And alongside the +terrace parapet, on the very crown of the Trastevere, there are always +rows of tourists, slim Englishmen and square-built Germans, agape with +traditional admiration, or consulting their guide-books in order to +identify the monuments. + +Pierre sprang lightly from the cab, leaving his valise on the seat, and +making a sign to the driver, who went to join the row of waiting cabs, +and remained philosophically seated on his box in the full sunlight, his +head drooping like that of his horse, both resigning themselves to the +customary long stoppage. + +Meantime Pierre, erect against the parapet, in his tight black cassock, +and with his bare feverish hands nervously clenched, was gazing before +him with all his eyes, with all his soul. Rome! Rome! the city of the +Caesars, the city of the Popes, the Eternal City which has twice +conquered the world, the predestined city of the glowing dream in which +he had indulged for months! At last it was before him, at last his eyes +beheld it! During the previous days some rainstorms had abated the +intense August heat, and on that lovely September morning the air had +freshened under the pale blue of the spotless far-spreading heavens. And +the Rome that Pierre beheld was a Rome steeped in mildness, a visionary +Rome which seemed to evaporate in the clear sunshine. A fine bluey haze, +scarcely perceptible, as delicate as gauze, hovered over the roofs of the +low-lying districts; whilst the vast Campagna, the distant hills, died +away in a pale pink flush. At first Pierre distinguished nothing, sought +no particular edifice or spot, but gave sight and soul alike to the whole +of Rome, to the living colossus spread out below him, on a soil +compounded of the dust of generations. Each century had renewed the +city's glory as with the sap of immortal youth. And that which struck +Pierre, that which made his heart leap within him, was that he found Rome +such as he had desired to find her, fresh and youthful, with a volatile, +almost incorporeal, gaiety of aspect, smiling as at the hope of a new +life in the pure dawn of a lovely day. + +And standing motionless before the sublime vista, with his hands still +clenched and burning, Pierre in a few minutes again lived the last three +years of his life. Ah! what a terrible year had the first been, spent in +his little house at Neuilly, with doors and windows ever closed, +burrowing there like some wounded animal suffering unto death. He had +come back from Lourdes with his soul desolate, his heart bleeding, with +nought but ashes within him. Silence and darkness fell upon the ruins of +his love and his faith. Days and days went by, without a pulsation of his +veins, without the faintest gleam arising to brighten the gloom of his +abandonment. His life was a mechanical one; he awaited the necessary +courage to resume the tenor of existence in the name of sovereign reason, +which had imposed upon him the sacrifice of everything. Why was he not +stronger, more resistant, why did he not quietly adapt his life to his +new opinions? As he was unwilling to cast off his cassock, through +fidelity to the love of one and disgust of backsliding, why did he not +seek occupation in some science suited to a priest, such as astronomy or +archaeology? The truth was that something, doubtless his mother's spirit, +wept within him, an infinite, distracted love which nothing had yet +satisfied and which ever despaired of attaining contentment. Therein lay +the perpetual suffering of his solitude: beneath the lofty dignity of +reason regained, the wound still lingered, raw and bleeding. + +One autumn evening, however, under a dismal rainy sky, chance brought him +into relations with an old priest, Abbe Rose, who was curate at the +church of Ste. Marguerite, in the Faubourg St. Antoine. He went to see +Abbe Rose in the Rue de Charonne, where in the depths of a damp ground +floor he had transformed three rooms into an asylum for abandoned +children, whom he picked up in the neighbouring streets. And from that +moment Pierre's life changed, a fresh and all-powerful source of interest +had entered into it, and by degrees he became the old priest's passionate +helper. It was a long way from Neuilly to the Rue de Charonne, and at +first he only made the journey twice a week. But afterwards he bestirred +himself every day, leaving home in the morning and not returning until +night. As the three rooms no longer sufficed for the asylum, he rented +the first floor of the house, reserving for himself a chamber in which +ultimately he often slept. And all his modest income was expended there, +in the prompt succouring of poor children; and the old priest, delighted, +touched to tears by the young devoted help which had come to him from +heaven, would often embrace Pierre, weeping, and call him a child of God. + +It was then that Pierre knew want and wretchedness--wicked, abominable +wretchedness; then that he lived amidst it for two long years. The +acquaintance began with the poor little beings whom he picked up on the +pavements, or whom kind-hearted neighbours brought to him now that the +asylum was known in the district--little boys, little girls, tiny mites +stranded on the streets whilst their fathers and mothers were toiling, +drinking, or dying. The father had often disappeared, the mother had gone +wrong, drunkenness and debauchery had followed slack times into the home; +and then the brood was swept into the gutter, and the younger ones half +perished of cold and hunger on the footways, whilst their elders betook +themselves to courses of vice and crime. One evening Pierre rescued from +the wheels of a stone-dray two little nippers, brothers, who could not +even give him an address, tell him whence they had come. On another +evening he returned to the asylum with a little girl in his arms, a +fair-haired little angel, barely three years old, whom he had found on a +bench, and who sobbed, saying that her mother had left her there. And by +a logical chain of circumstances, after dealing with the fleshless, +pitiful fledglings ousted from their nests, he came to deal with the +parents, to enter their hovels, penetrating each day further and further +into a hellish sphere, and ultimately acquiring knowledge of all its +frightful horror, his heart meantime bleeding, rent by terrified anguish +and impotent charity. + +Oh! the grievous City of Misery, the bottomless abyss of human suffering +and degradation--how frightful were his journeys through it during those +two years which distracted his whole being! In that Ste. Marguerite +district of Paris, in the very heart of that Faubourg St. Antoine, so +active and so brave for work, however hard, he discovered no end of +sordid dwellings, whole lanes and alleys of hovels without light or air, +cellar-like in their dampness, and where a multitude of wretches wallowed +and suffered as from poison. All the way up the shaky staircases one's +feet slipped upon filth. On every story there was the same destitution, +dirt, and promiscuity. Many windows were paneless, and in swept the wind +howling, and the rain pouring torrentially. Many of the inmates slept on +the bare tiled floors, never unclothing themselves. There was neither +furniture nor linen, the life led there was essentially an animal life, a +commingling of either sex and of every age--humanity lapsing into +animality through lack of even indispensable things, through indigence of +so complete a character that men, women, and children fought even with +tooth and nail for the very crumbs swept from the tables of the rich. And +the worst of it all was the degradation of the human being; this was no +case of the free naked savage, hunting and devouring his prey in the +primeval forests; here civilised man was found, sunk into brutishness, +with all the stigmas of his fall, debased, disfigured, and enfeebled, +amidst the luxury and refinement of that city of Paris which is one of +the queens of the world. + +In every household Pierre heard the same story. There had been youth and +gaiety at the outset, brave acceptance of the law that one must work. +Then weariness had come; what was the use of always toiling if one were +never to get rich? And so, by way of snatching a share of happiness, the +husband turned to drink; the wife neglected her home, also drinking at +times, and letting the children grow up as they might. Sordid +surroundings, ignorance, and overcrowding did the rest. In the great +majority of cases, prolonged lack of work was mostly to blame; for this +not only empties the drawers of the savings hidden away in them, but +exhausts human courage, and tends to confirmed habits of idleness. During +long weeks the workshops empty, and the arms of the toilers lose +strength. In all Paris, so feverishly inclined to action, it is +impossible to find the slightest thing to do. And then the husband comes +home in the evening with tearful eyes, having vainly offered his arms +everywhere, having failed even to get a job at street-sweeping, for that +employment is much sought after, and to secure it one needs influence and +protectors. Is it not monstrous to see a man seeking work that he may +eat, and finding no work and therefore no food in this great city +resplendent and resonant with wealth? The wife does not eat, the children +do not eat. And then comes black famine, brutishness, and finally revolt +and the snapping of all social ties under the frightful injustice meted +out to poor beings who by their weakness are condemned to death. And the +old workman, he whose limbs have been worn out by half a century of hard +toil, without possibility of saving a copper, on what pallet of agony, in +what dark hole must he not sink to die? Should he then be finished off +with a mallet, like a crippled beast of burden, on the day when ceasing +to work he also ceases to eat? Almost all pass away in the hospitals, +others disappear, unknown, swept off by the muddy flow of the streets. +One morning, on some rotten straw in a loathsome hovel, Pierre found a +poor devil who had died of hunger and had been forgotten there for a +week. The rats had devoured his face. + +But it was particularly on an evening of the last winter that Pierre's +heart had overflowed with pity. Awful in winter time are the sufferings +of the poor in their fireless hovels, where the snow penetrates by every +chink. The Seine rolls blocks of ice, the soil is frost-bound, in all +sorts of callings there is an enforced cessation of work. Bands of +urchins, barefooted, scarcely clad, hungry and racked by coughing, wander +about the ragpickers' "rents" and are carried off by sudden hurricanes of +consumption. Pierre found families, women with five and six children, who +had not eaten for three days, and who huddled together in heaps to try to +keep themselves warm. And on that terrible evening, before anybody else, +he went down a dark passage and entered a room of terror, where he found +that a mother had just committed suicide with her five little +ones--driven to it by despair and hunger--a tragedy of misery which for a +few hours would make all Paris shudder! There was not an article of +furniture or linen left in the place; it had been necessary to sell +everything bit by bit to a neighbouring dealer. There was nothing but the +stove where the charcoal was still smoking and a half-emptied palliasse +on which the mother had fallen, suckling her last-born, a babe but three +months old. And a drop of blood had trickled from the nipple of her +breast, towards which the dead infant still protruded its eager lips. Two +little girls, three and five years old, two pretty little blondes, were +also lying there, sleeping the eternal sleep side by side; whilst of the +two boys, who were older, one had succumbed crouching against the wall +with his head between his hands, and the other had passed through the +last throes on the floor, struggling as though he had sought to crawl on +his knees to the window in order to open it. Some neighbours, hurrying +in, told Pierre the fearful commonplace story; slow ruin, the father +unable to find work, perchance taking to drink, the landlord weary of +waiting, threatening the family with expulsion, and the mother losing her +head, thirsting for death, and prevailing on her little ones to die with +her, while her husband, who had been out since the morning, was vainly +scouring the streets. Just as the Commissary of Police arrived to verify +what had happened, the poor devil returned, and when he had seen and +understood things, he fell to the ground like a stunned ox, and raised a +prolonged, plaintive howl, such a poignant cry of death that the whole +terrified street wept at it. + +Both in his ears and in his heart Pierre carried away with him that +horrible cry, the plaint of a condemned race expiring amidst abandonment +and hunger; and that night he could neither eat nor sleep. Was it +possible that such abomination, such absolute destitution, such black +misery leading straight to death should exist in the heart of that great +city of Paris, brimful of wealth, intoxicated with enjoyment, flinging +millions out of the windows for mere pleasure? What! there should on one +side be such colossal fortunes, so many foolish fancies gratified, with +lives endowed with every happiness, whilst on the other was found +inveterate poverty, lack even of bread, absence of every hope, and +mothers killing themselves with their babes, to whom they had nought to +offer but the blood of their milkless breast! And a feeling of revolt +stirred Pierre; he was for a moment conscious of the derisive futility of +charity. What indeed was the use of doing that which he did--picking up +the little ones, succouring the parents, prolonging the sufferings of the +aged? The very foundations of the social edifice were rotten; all would +soon collapse amid mire and blood. A great act of justice alone could +sweep the old world away in order that the new world might be built. And +at that moment he realised so keenly how irreparable was the breach, how +irremediable the evil, how deathly the cancer of misery, that he +understood the actions of the violent, and was himself ready to accept +the devastating and purifying whirlwind, the regeneration of the world by +flame and steel, even as when in the dim ages Jehovah in His wrath sent +fire from heaven to cleanse the accursed cities of the plains. + +However, on hearing him sob that evening, Abbe Rose came up to +remonstrate in fatherly fashion. The old priest was a saint, endowed with +infinite gentleness and infinite hope. Why despair indeed when one had +the Gospel? Did not the divine commandment, "Love one another," suffice +for the salvation of the world? He, Abbe Rose, held violence in horror +and was wont to say that, however great the evil, it would soon be +overcome if humanity would but turn backward to the age of humility, +simplicity, and purity, when Christians lived together in innocent +brotherhood. What a delightful picture he drew of evangelical society, of +whose second coming he spoke with quiet gaiety as though it were to take +place on the very morrow! And Pierre, anxious to escape from his +frightful recollections, ended by smiling, by taking pleasure in Abbe +Rose's bright consoling tale. They chatted until a late hour, and on the +following days reverted to the same subject of conversation, one which +the old priest was very fond of, ever supplying new particulars, and +speaking of the approaching reign of love and justice with the touching +confidence of a good if simple man, who is convinced that he will not die +till he shall have seen the Deity descend upon earth. + +And now a fresh evolution took place in Pierre's mind. The practice of +benevolence in that poor district had developed infinite compassion in +his breast, his heart failed him, distracted, rent by contemplation of +the misery which he despaired of healing. And in this awakening of his +feelings he often thought that his reason was giving way, he seemed to be +retracing his steps towards childhood, to that need of universal love +which his mother had implanted in him, and dreamt of chimerical +solutions, awaiting help from the unknown powers. Then his fears, his +hatred of the brutality of facts at last brought him an increasing desire +to work salvation by love. No time should be lost in seeking to avert the +frightful catastrophe which seemed inevitable, the fratricidal war of +classes which would sweep the old world away beneath the accumulation of +its crimes. Convinced that injustice had attained its apogee, that but +little time remained before the vengeful hour when the poor would compel +the rich to part with their possessions, he took pleasure in dreaming of +a peaceful solution, a kiss of peace exchanged by all men, a return to +the pure morals of the Gospel as it had been preached by Jesus. + +Doubts tortured him at the outset. Could olden Catholicism be +rejuvenated, brought back to the youth and candour of primitive +Christianity? He set himself to study things, reading and questioning, +and taking a more and more passionate interest in that great problem of +Catholic socialism which had made no little noise for some years past. +And quivering with pity for the wretched, ready as he was for the miracle +of fraternisation, he gradually lost such scruples as intelligence might +have prompted, and persuaded himself that once again Christ would work +the redemption of suffering humanity. At last a precise idea took +possession of him, a conviction that Catholicism purified, brought back +to its original state, would prove the one pact, the supreme law that +might save society by averting the sanguinary crisis which threatened it. + +When he had quitted Lourdes two years previously, revolted by all its +gross idolatry, his faith for ever dead, but his mind worried by the +everlasting need of the divine which tortures human creatures, a cry had +arisen within him from the deepest recesses of his being: "A new +religion! a new religion!" And it was this new religion, or rather this +revived religion which he now fancied he had discovered in his desire to +work social salvation--ensuring human happiness by means of the only +moral authority that was erect, the distant outcome of the most admirable +implement ever devised for the government of nations. + +During the period of slow development through which Pierre passed, two +men, apart from Abbe Rose, exercised great influence on him. A benevolent +action brought him into intercourse with Monseigneur Bergerot, a bishop +whom the Pope had recently created a cardinal, in reward for a whole life +of charity, and this in spite of the covert opposition of the papal +_curia_ which suspected the French prelate to be a man of open mind, +governing his diocese in paternal fashion. Pierre became more impassioned +by his intercourse with this apostle, this shepherd of souls, in whom he +detected one of the good simple leaders that he desired for the future +community. However, his apostolate was influenced even more decisively by +meeting Viscount Philibert de la Choue at the gatherings of certain +workingmen's Catholic associations. A handsome man, with military +manners, and a long noble-looking face, spoilt by a small and broken nose +which seemed to presage the ultimate defeat of a badly balanced mind, the +Viscount was one of the most active agitators of Catholic socialism in +France. He was the possessor of vast estates, a vast fortune, though it +was said that some unsuccessful agricultural enterprises had already +reduced his wealth by nearly one-half. In the department where his +property was situated he had been at great pains to establish model +farms, at which he had put his ideas on Christian socialism into +practice, but success did not seem to follow him. However, it had all +helped to secure his election as a deputy, and he spoke in the Chamber, +unfolding the programme of his party in long and stirring speeches. + +Unwearying in his ardour, he also led pilgrimages to Rome, presided over +meetings, and delivered lectures, devoting himself particularly to the +people, the conquest of whom, so he privately remarked, could alone +ensure the triumph of the Church. And thus he exercised considerable +influence over Pierre, who in him admired qualities which himself did not +possess--an organising spirit and a militant if somewhat blundering will, +entirely applied to the revival of Christian society in France. However, +though the young priest learnt a good deal by associating with him, he +nevertheless remained a sentimental dreamer, whose imagination, +disdainful of political requirements, straightway winged its flight to +the future abode of universal happiness; whereas the Viscount aspired to +complete the downfall of the liberal ideas of 1789 by utilising the +disillusion and anger of the democracy to work a return towards the past. + +Pierre spent some delightful months. Never before had neophyte lived so +entirely for the happiness of others. He was all love, consumed by the +passion of his apostolate. The sight of the poor wretches whom he +visited, the men without work, the women, the children without bread, +filled him with a keener and keener conviction that a new religion must +arise to put an end to all the injustice which otherwise would bring the +rebellious world to a violent death. And he was resolved to employ all +his strength in effecting and hastening the intervention of the divine, +the resuscitation of primitive Christianity. His Catholic faith remained +dead; he still had no belief in dogmas, mysteries, and miracles; but a +hope sufficed him, the hope that the Church might still work good, by +connecting itself with the irresistible modern democratic movement, so as +to save the nations from the social catastrophe which impended. His soul +had grown calm since he had taken on himself the mission of replanting +the Gospel in the hearts of the hungry and growling people of the +Faubourgs. He was now leading an active life, and suffered less from the +frightful void which he had brought back from Lourdes; and as he no +longer questioned himself, the anguish of uncertainty no longer tortured +him. It was with the serenity which attends the simple accomplishment of +duty that he continued to say his mass. He even finished by thinking that +the mystery which he thus celebrated--indeed, that all the mysteries and +all the dogmas were but symbols--rites requisite for humanity in its +childhood, which would be got rid of later on, when enlarged, purified, +and instructed humanity should be able to support the brightness of naked +truth. + +And in his zealous desire to be useful, his passion to proclaim his +belief aloud, Pierre one morning found himself at his table writing a +book. This had come about quite naturally; the book proceeded from him +like a heart-cry, without any literary idea having crossed his mind. One +night, whilst he lay awake, its title suddenly flashed before his eyes in +the darkness: "NEW ROME." That expressed everything, for must not the new +redemption of the nations originate in eternal and holy Rome? The only +existing authority was found there; rejuvenescence could only spring from +the sacred soil where the old Catholic oak had grown. He wrote his book +in a couple of months, having unconsciously prepared himself for the work +by his studies in contemporary socialism during a year past. There was a +bubbling flow in his brain as in a poet's; it seemed to him sometimes as +if he dreamt those pages, as if an internal distant voice dictated them +to him. + +When he read passages written on the previous day to Viscount Philibert +de la Choue, the latter often expressed keen approval of them from a +practical point of view, saying that one must touch the people in order +to lead them, and that it would also be a good plan to compose pious and +yet amusing songs for singing in the workshops. As for Monseigneur +Bergerot, without examining the book from the dogmatic standpoint, he was +deeply touched by the glowing breath of charity which every page exhaled, +and was even guilty of the imprudence of writing an approving letter to +the author, which letter he authorised him to insert in his work by way +of preface. And yet now the Congregation of the Index Expurgatorius was +about to place this book, issued in the previous June, under interdict; +and it was to defend it that the young priest had hastened to Rome, +inflamed by the desire to make his ideas prevail, and resolved to plead +his cause in person before the Holy Father, having, he was convinced of +it, simply given expression to the pontiff's views. + +Pierre had not stirred whilst thus living his three last years afresh: he +still stood erect before the parapet, before Rome, which he had so often +dreamt of and had so keenly desired to see. There was a constant +succession of arriving and departing vehicles behind him; the slim +Englishmen and the heavy Germans passed away after bestowing on the +classic view the five minutes prescribed by their guidebooks; whilst the +driver and the horse of Pierre's cab remained waiting complacently, each +with his head drooping under the bright sun, which was heating the valise +on the seat of the vehicle. And Pierre, in his black cassock, seemed to +have grown slimmer and elongated, very slight of build, as he stood there +motionless, absorbed in the sublime spectacle. He had lost flesh after +his journey to Lourdes, his features too had become less pronounced. +Since his mother's part in his nature had regained ascendency, the broad, +straight forehead, the intellectual air which he owed to his father +seemed to have grown less conspicuous, while his kind and somewhat large +mouth, and his delicate chin, bespeaking infinite affection, dominated, +revealing his soul, which also glowed in the kindly sparkle of his eyes. + +Ah! how tender and glowing were the eyes with which he gazed upon the +Rome of his book, the new Rome that he had dreamt of! If, first of all, +the _ensemble_ had claimed his attention in the soft and somewhat veiled +light of that lovely morning, at present he could distinguish details, +and let his glance rest upon particular edifices. And it was with +childish delight that he identified them, having long studied them in +maps and collections of photographs. Beneath his feet, at the bottom of +the Janiculum, stretched the Trastevere district with its chaos of old +ruddy houses, whose sunburnt tiles hid the course of the Tiber. He was +somewhat surprised by the flattish aspect of everything as seen from the +terraced summit. It was as though a bird's-eye view levelled the city, +the famous hills merely showing like bosses, swellings scarcely +perceptible amidst the spreading sea of house-fronts. Yonder, on the +right, distinct against the distant blue of the Alban mountains, was +certainly the Aventine with its three churches half-hidden by foliage; +there, too, was the discrowned Palatine, edged as with black fringe by a +line of cypresses. In the rear, the Coelian hill faded away, showing only +the trees of the Villa Mattei paling in the golden sunshine. The slender +spire and two little domes of Sta. Maria Maggiore alone indicated the +summit of the Esquiline, right in front and far away at the other end of +the city; whilst on the heights of the neighbouring Viminal, Pierre only +perceived a confused mass of whitish blocks, steeped in light and +streaked with fine brown lines--recent erections, no doubt, which at that +distance suggested an abandoned stone quarry. He long sought the Capitol +without being able to discover it; he had to take his bearings, and ended +by convincing himself that the square tower, modestly lost among +surrounding house-roofs, which he saw in front of Sta. Maria Maggiore was +its campanile. Next, on the left, came the Quirinal, recognisable by the +long facade of the royal palace, a barrack or hospital-like facade, flat, +crudely yellow in hue, and pierced by an infinite number of regularly +disposed windows. However, as Pierre was completing the circuit, a sudden +vision made him stop short. Without the city, above the trees of the +Botanical Garden, the dome of St. Peter's appeared to him. It seemed to +be poised upon the greenery, and rose up into the pure blue sky, sky-blue +itself and so ethereal that it mingled with the azure of the infinite. +The stone lantern which surmounts it, white and dazzling, looked as +though it were suspended on high. + +Pierre did not weary, and his glances incessantly travelled from one end +of the horizon to the other. They lingered on the noble outlines, the +proud gracefulness of the town-sprinkled Sabine and Alban mountains, +whose girdle limited the expanse. The Roman Campagna spread out in far +stretches, bare and majestic, like a desert of death, with the glaucous +green of a stagnant sea; and he ended by distinguishing "the stern round +tower" of the tomb of Cecilia Metella, behind which a thin pale line +indicated the ancient Appian Way. Remnants of aqueducts strewed the short +herbage amidst the dust of the fallen worlds. And, bringing his glance +nearer in, the city again appeared with its jumble of edifices, on which +his eyes lighted at random. Close at hand, by its loggia turned towards +the river, he recognised the huge tawny cube of the Palazzo Farnese. The +low cupola, farther away and scarcely visible, was probably that of the +Pantheon. Then by sudden leaps came the freshly whitened walls of San +Paolo-fuori-le-Mura,* similar to those of some huge barn, and the statues +crowning San Giovanni in Laterano, delicate, scarcely as big as insects. +Next the swarming of domes, that of the Gesu, that of San Carlo, that of +St'. Andrea della Valle, that of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini; then a +number of other sites and edifices, all quivering with memories, the +castle of St'. Angelo with its glittering statue of the Destroying Angel, +the Villa Medici dominating the entire city, the terrace of the Pincio +with its marbles showing whitely among its scanty verdure; and the +thick-foliaged trees of the Villa Borghese, whose green crests bounded +the horizon. Vainly however did Pierre seek the Colosseum. + + * St. Paul-beyond-the-walls. + +The north wind, which was blowing very mildly, had now begun to dissipate +the morning haze. Whole districts vigorously disentangled themselves, and +showed against the vaporous distance like promontories in a sunlit sea. +Here and there, in the indistinct swarming of houses, a strip of white +wall glittered, a row of window panes flared, or a garden supplied a +black splotch, of wondrous intensity of hue. And all the rest, the medley +of streets and squares, the endless blocks of buildings, scattered about +on either hand, mingled and grew indistinct in the living glory of the +sun, whilst long coils of white smoke, which had ascended from the roofs, +slowly traversed the pure sky. + +Guided by a secret influence, however, Pierre soon ceased to take +interest in all but three points of the mighty panorama. That line of +slender cypresses which set a black fringe on the height of the Palatine +yonder filled him with emotion: beyond it he saw only a void: the palaces +of the Caesars had disappeared, had fallen, had been razed by time; and +he evoked their memory, he fancied he could see them rise like vague, +trembling phantoms of gold amidst the purple of that splendid morning. +Then his glances reverted to St. Peter's, and there the dome yet soared +aloft, screening the Vatican which he knew was beside the colossus, +clinging to its flanks. And that dome, of the same colour as the heavens, +appeared so triumphant, so full of strength, so vast, that it seemed to +him like a giant king, dominating the whole city and seen from every spot +throughout eternity. Then he fixed his eyes on the height in front of +him, on the Quirinal, and there the King's palace no longer appeared +aught but a flat low barracks bedaubed with yellow paint. + +And for him all the secular history of Rome, with its constant +convulsions and successive resurrections, found embodiment in that +symbolical triangle, in those three summits gazing at one another across +the Tiber. Ancient Rome blossoming forth in a piling up of palaces and +temples, the monstrous florescence of imperial power and splendour; Papal +Rome, victorious in the middle ages, mistress of the world, bringing that +colossal church, symbolical of beauty regained, to weigh upon all +Christendom; and the Rome of to-day, which he knew nothing of, which he +had neglected, and whose royal palace, so bare and so cold, brought him +disparaging ideas--the idea of some out-of-place, bureaucratic effort, +some sacrilegious attempt at modernity in an exceptional city which +should have been left entirely to the dreams of the future. However, he +shook off the almost painful feelings which the importunate present +brought to him, and would not let his eyes rest on a pale new district, +quite a little town, in course of erection, no doubt, which he could +distinctly see near St. Peter's on the margin of the river. He had dreamt +of his own new Rome, and still dreamt of it, even in front of the +Palatine whose edifices had crumbled in the dust of centuries, of the +dome of St. Peter's whose huge shadow lulled the Vatican to sleep, of the +Palace of the Quirinal repaired and repainted, reigning in homely fashion +over the new districts which swarmed on every side, while with its ruddy +roofs the olden city, ripped up by improvements, coruscated beneath the +bright morning sun. + +Again did the title of his book, "NEW ROME," flare before Pierre's eyes, +and another reverie carried him off; he lived his book afresh even as he +had just lived his life. He had written it amid a flow of enthusiasm, +utilising the _data_ which he had accumulated at random; and its division +into three parts, past, present, and future, had at once forced itself +upon him. + +The PAST was the extraordinary story of primitive Christianity, of the +slow evolution which had turned this Christianity into present-day +Catholicism. He showed that an economical question is invariably hidden +beneath each religious evolution, and that, upon the whole, the +everlasting evil, the everlasting struggle, has never been aught but one +between the rich and the poor. Among the Jews, when their nomadic life +was over, and they had conquered the land of Canaan, and ownership and +property came into being, a class warfare at once broke out. There were +rich, and there were poor; thence arose the social question. The +transition had been sudden, and the new state of things so rapidly went +from bad to worse that the poor suffered keenly, and protested with the +greater violence as they still remembered the golden age of the nomadic +life. Until the time of Jesus the prophets are but rebels who surge from +out the misery of the people, proclaim its sufferings, and vent their +wrath upon the rich, to whom they prophesy every evil in punishment for +their injustice and their harshness. Jesus Himself appears as the +claimant of the rights of the poor. The prophets, whether socialists or +anarchists, had preached social equality, and called for the destruction +of the world if it were unjust. Jesus likewise brings to the wretched +hatred of the rich. All His teaching threatens wealth and property; and +if by the Kingdom of Heaven which He promised one were to understand +peace and fraternity upon this earth, there would only be a question of +returning to a life of pastoral simplicity, to the dream of the Christian +community, such as after Him it would seem to have been realised by His +disciples. During the first three centuries each Church was an experiment +in communism, a real association whose members possessed all in +common--wives excepted. This is shown to us by the apologists and early +fathers of the Church. Christianity was then but the religion of the +humble and the poor, a form of democracy, of socialism struggling against +Roman society. And when the latter toppled over, rotted by money, it +succumbed far more beneath the results of frantic speculation, swindling +banks, and financial disasters, than beneath the onslaught of barbarian +hordes and the stealthy, termite-like working of the Christians. + +The money question will always be found at the bottom of everything. And +a new proof of this was supplied when Christianity, at last triumphing by +virtue of historical, social, and human causes, was proclaimed a State +religion. To ensure itself complete victory it was forced to range itself +on the side of the rich and the powerful; and one should see by means of +what artfulness and sophistry the fathers of the Church succeeded in +discovering a defence of property and wealth in the Gospel of Jesus. All +this, however, was a vital political necessity for Christianity; it was +only at this price that it became Catholicism, the universal religion. +From that time forth the powerful machine, the weapon of conquest and +rule, was reared aloft: up above were the powerful and the wealthy, those +whose duty it was to share with the poor, but who did not do so; while +down below were the poor, the toilers, who were taught resignation and +obedience, and promised the kingdom of futurity, the divine and eternal +reward--an admirable monument which has lasted for ages, and which is +entirely based on the promise of life beyond life, on the +inextinguishable thirst for immortality and justice that consumes +mankind. + +Pierre had completed this first part of his book, this history of the +past, by a broad sketch of Catholicism until the present time. First +appeared St. Peter, ignorant and anxious, coming to Rome by an +inspiration of genius, there to fulfil the ancient oracles which had +predicted the eternity of the Capitol. Then came the first popes, mere +heads of burial associations, the slow rise of the all-powerful papacy +ever struggling to conquer the world, unremittingly seeking to realise +its dream of universal domination. At the time of the great popes of the +middle ages it thought for a moment that it had attained its goal, that +it was the sovereign master of the nations. Would not absolute truth and +right consist in the pope being both pontiff and ruler of the world, +reigning over both the souls and the bodies of all men, even like the +Deity whose vicar he is? This, the highest and mightiest of all +ambitions, one, too, that is perfectly logical, was attained by Augustus, +emperor and pontiff, master of all the known world; and it is the +glorious figure of Augustus, ever rising anew from among the ruins of +ancient Rome, which has always haunted the popes; it is his blood which +has pulsated in their veins. + +But power had become divided into two parts amidst the crumbling of the +Roman empire; it was necessary to content oneself with a share, and leave +temporal government to the emperor, retaining over him, however, the +right of coronation by divine grant. The people belonged to God, and in +God's name the pope gave the people to the emperor, and could take it +from him; an unlimited power whose most terrible weapon was +excommunication, a superior sovereignty, which carried the papacy towards +real and final possession of the empire. Looking at things broadly, the +everlasting quarrel between the pope and the emperor was a quarrel for +the people, the inert mass of humble and suffering ones, the great silent +multitude whose irremediable wretchedness was only revealed by occasional +covert growls. It was disposed of, for its good, as one might dispose of +a child. Yet the Church really contributed to civilisation, rendered +constant services to humanity, diffused abundant alms. In the convents, +at any rate, the old dream of the Christian community was ever coming +back: one-third of the wealth accumulated for the purposes of worship, +the adornment and glorification of the shrine, one-third for the priests, +and one-third for the poor. Was not this a simplification of life, a +means of rendering existence possible to the faithful who had no earthly +desires, pending the marvellous contentment of heavenly life? Give us, +then, the whole earth, and we will divide terrestrial wealth into three +such parts, and you shall see what a golden age will reign amidst the +resignation and the obedience of all! + +However, Pierre went on to show how the papacy was assailed by the +greatest dangers on emerging from its all-powerfulness of the middle +ages. It was almost swept away amidst the luxury and excesses of the +Renascence, the bubbling of living sap which then gushed from eternal +nature, downtrodden and regarded as dead for ages past. More threatening +still were the stealthy awakenings of the people, of the great silent +multitude whose tongue seemed to be loosening. The Reformation burst +forth like the protest of reason and justice, like a recall to the +disregarded truths of the Gospel; and to escape total annihilation Rome +needed the stern defence of the Inquisition, the slow stubborn labour of +the Council of Trent, which strengthened the dogmas and ensured the +temporal power. And then the papacy entered into two centuries of peace +and effacement, for the strong absolute monarchies which had divided +Europe among themselves could do without it, and had ceased to tremble at +the harmless thunderbolts of excommunication or to look on the pope as +aught but a master of ceremonies, controlling certain rites. The +possession of the people was no longer subject to the same rules. +Allowing that the kings still held the people from God, it was the pope's +duty to register the donation once for all, without ever intervening, +whatever the circumstances, in the government of states. Never was Rome +farther away from the realisation of its ancient dream of universal +dominion. And when the French Revolution burst forth, it may well have +been imagined that the proclamation of the rights of man would kill that +papacy to which the exercise of divine right over the nations had been +committed. And so how great at first was the anxiety, the anger, the +desperate resistance with which the Vatican opposed the idea of freedom, +the new _credo_ of liberated reason, of humanity regaining +self-possession and control. It was the apparent _denouement_ of the long +struggle between the pope and the emperor for possession of the people: +the emperor vanished, and the people, henceforward free to dispose of +itself, claimed to escape from the pope--an unforeseen solution, in which +it seemed as though all the ancient scaffolding of the Catholic world +must fall to the very ground. + +At this point Pierre concluded the first part of his book by contrasting +primitive Christianity with present-day Catholicism, which is the triumph +of the rich and the powerful. That Roman society which Jesus had come to +destroy in the name of the poor and humble, had not Catholic Rome +steadily continued rebuilding it through all the centuries, by its policy +of cupidity and pride? And what bitter irony it was to find, after +eighteen hundred years of the Gospel, that the world was again collapsing +through frantic speculation, rotten banks, financial disasters, and the +frightful injustice of a few men gorged with wealth whilst thousands of +their brothers were dying of hunger! The whole redemption of the wretched +had to be worked afresh. However, Pierre gave expression to all these +terrible things in words so softened by charity, so steeped in hope, that +they lost their revolutionary danger. Moreover, he nowhere attacked the +dogmas. His book, in its sentimental, somewhat poetic form, was but the +cry of an apostle glowing with love for his fellow-men. + +Then came the second part of the work, the PRESENT, a study of Catholic +society as it now exists. Here Pierre had painted a frightful picture of +the misery of the poor, the misery of a great city, which he knew so well +and bled for, through having laid his hands upon its poisonous wounds. +The present-day injustice could no longer be tolerated, charity was +becoming powerless, and so frightful was the suffering that all hope was +dying away from the hearts of the people. And was it not the monstrous +spectacle presented by Christendom, whose abominations corrupted the +people, and maddened it with hatred and vengeance, that had largely +destroyed its faith? However, after this picture of rotting and crumbling +society, Pierre returned to history, to the period of the French +Revolution, to the mighty hope with which the idea of freedom had filled +the world. The middle classes, the great Liberal party, on attaining +power had undertaken to bring happiness to one and all. But after a +century's experience it really seemed that liberty had failed to bring +any happiness whatever to the outcasts. In the political sphere illusions +were departing. At all events, if the reigning third estate declares +itself satisfied, the fourth estate, that of the toilers,* still suffers +and continues to demand its share of fortune. The working classes have +been proclaimed free; political equality has been granted them, but the +gift has been valueless, for economically they are still bound to +servitude, and only enjoy, as they did formerly, the liberty of dying of +hunger. All the socialist revendications have come from that; between +labour and capital rests the terrifying problem, the solution of which +threatens to sweep away society. When slavery disappeared from the olden +world to be succeeded by salaried employment the revolution was immense, +and certainly the Christian principle was one of the great factors in the +destruction of slavery. Nowadays, therefore, when the question is to +replace salaried employment by something else, possibly by the +participation of the workman in the profits of his work, why should not +Christianity again seek a new principle of action? The fatal and +proximate accession of the democracy means the beginning of another phase +in human history, the creation of the society of to-morrow. And Rome +cannot keep away from the arena; the papacy must take part in the quarrel +if it does not desire to disappear from the world like a piece of +mechanism that has become altogether useless. + + * In England we call the press the fourth estate, but in France + and elsewhere the term is applied to the working classes, and + in that sense must be taken here.--Trans. + +Hence it followed that Catholic socialism was legitimate. On every side +the socialist sects were battling with their various solutions for the +privilege of ensuring the happiness of the people, and the Church also +must offer her solution of the problem. Here it was that New Rome +appeared, that the evolution spread into a renewal of boundless hope. +Most certainly there was nothing contrary to democracy in the principles +of the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed she had only to return to the +evangelical traditions, to become once more the Church of the humble and +the poor, to re-establish the universal Christian community. She is +undoubtedly of democratic essence, and if she sided with the rich and +the powerful when Christianity became Catholicism, she only did so +perforce, that she might live by sacrificing some portion of her +original purity; so that if to-day she should abandon the condemned +governing classes in order to make common cause with the multitude of +the wretched, she would simply be drawing nearer to Christ, thereby +securing a new lease of youth and purifying herself of all the political +compromises which she formerly was compelled to accept. Without +renouncing aught of her absolutism the Church has at all times known how +to bow to circumstances; but she reserves her perfect sovereignty, +simply tolerating that which she cannot prevent, and patiently waiting, +even through long centuries, for the time when she shall again become +the mistress of the world. + +Might not that time come in the crisis which was now at hand? Once more, +all the powers are battling for possession of the people. Since the +people, thanks to liberty and education, has become strong, since it has +developed consciousness and will, and claimed its share of fortune, all +rulers have been seeking to attach it to themselves, to reign by it, and +even with it, should that be necessary. Socialism, therein lies the +future, the new instrument of government; and the kings tottering on +their thrones, the middle-class presidents of anxious republics, the +ambitious plotters who dream of power, all dabble in socialism! They all +agree that the capitalist organisation of the State is a return to pagan +times, to the olden slave-market; and they all talk of breaking for ever +the iron law by which the labour of human beings has become so much +merchandise, subject to supply and demand, with wages calculated on an +estimate of what is strictly necessary to keep a workman from dying of +hunger. And, down in the sphere below, the evil increases, the workmen +agonise with hunger and exasperation, while above them discussion still +goes on, systems are bandied about, and well-meaning persons exhaust +themselves in attempting to apply ridiculously inadequate remedies. +There is much stir without any progress, all the wild bewilderment which +precedes great catastrophes. And among the many, Catholic socialism, +quite as ardent as Revolutionary socialism, enters the lists and strives +to conquer. + +After these explanations Pierre gave an account of the long efforts made +by Catholic socialism throughout the Christian world. That which +particularly struck one in this connection was that the warfare became +keener and more victorious whenever it was waged in some land of +propaganda, as yet not completely conquered by Roman Catholicism. For +instance, in the countries where Protestantism confronted the latter, the +priests fought with wondrous passion, as for dear life itself, contending +with the schismatical clergy for possession of the people by dint of +daring, by unfolding the most audacious democratic theories. In Germany, +the classic land of socialism, Mgr. Ketteler was one of the first to +speak of adequately taxing the rich; and later he fomented a wide-spread +agitation which the clergy now directs by means of numerous associations +and newspapers. In Switzerland Mgr. Mermillod pleaded the cause of the +poor so loudly that the bishops there now almost make common cause with +the democratic socialists, whom they doubtless hope to convert when the +day for sharing arrives. In England, where socialism penetrates so very +slowly, Cardinal Manning achieved considerable success, stood by the +working classes on the occasion of a famous strike, and helped on a +popular movement, which was signalised by numerous conversions. But it +was particularly in the United States of America that Catholic socialism +proved triumphant, in a sphere of democracy where the bishops, like Mgr. +Ireland, were forced to set themselves at the head of the working-class +agitation. And there across the Atlantic a new Church seems to be +germinating, still in confusion but overflowing with sap, and upheld by +intense hope, as at the aurora of the rejuvenated Christianity of +to-morrow. + +Passing thence to Austria and Belgium, both Catholic countries, one found +Catholic socialism mingling in the first instance with anti-semitism, +while in the second it had no precise sense. And all movement ceased and +disappeared when one came to Spain and Italy, those old lands of faith. +The former with its intractable bishops who contented themselves with +hurling excommunication at unbelievers as in the days of the Inquisition, +seemed to be abandoned to the violent theories of revolutionaries, whilst +Italy, immobilised in the traditional courses, remained without +possibility of initiative, reduced to silence and respect by the presence +of the Holy See. In France, however, the struggle remained keen, but it +was more particularly a struggle of ideas. On the whole, the war was +there being waged against the revolution, and to some it seemed as though +it would suffice to re-establish the old organisation of monarchical +times in order to revert to the golden age. It was thus that the question +of working-class corporations had become the one problem, the panacea for +all the ills of the toilers. But people were far from agreeing; some, +those Catholics who rejected State interference and favoured purely moral +action, desired that the corporations should be free; whilst others, the +young and impatient ones, bent on action, demanded that they should be +obligatory, each with capital of its own, and recognised and protected by +the State. + +Viscount Philibert de la Choue had by pen and speech carried on a +vigorous campaign in favour of the obligatory corporations; and his great +grief was that he had so far failed to prevail on the Pope to say whether +in his opinion these corporations should be closed or open. According to +the Viscount, herein lay the fate of society, a peaceful solution of the +social question or the frightful catastrophe which must sweep everything +away. In reality, though he refused to own it, the Viscount had ended by +adopting State socialism. And, despite the lack of agreement, the +agitation remained very great; attempts, scarcely happy in their results, +were made; co-operative associations, companies for erecting workmen's +dwellings, popular savings' banks were started; many more or less +disguised efforts to revert to the old Christian community organisation +were tried; while day by day, amidst the prevailing confusion, in the +mental perturbation and political difficulties through which the country +passed, the militant Catholic party felt its hopes increasing, even to +the blind conviction of soon resuming sway over the whole world. + +The second part of Pierre's book concluded by a picture of the moral and +intellectual uneasiness amidst which the end of the century is +struggling. While the toiling multitude suffers from its hard lot and +demands that in any fresh division of wealth it shall be ensured at least +its daily bread, the _elite_ is no better satisfied, but complains of the +void induced by the freeing of its reason and the enlargement of its +intelligence. It is the famous bankruptcy of rationalism, of positivism, +of science itself which is in question. Minds consumed by need of the +absolute grow weary of groping, weary of the delays of science which +recognises only proven truths; doubt tortures them, they need a complete +and immediate synthesis in order to sleep in peace; and they fall on +their knees, overcome by the roadside, distracted by the thought that +science will never tell them all, and preferring the Deity, the mystery +revealed and affirmed by faith. Even to-day, it must be admitted, science +calms neither our thirst for justice, our desire for safety, nor our +everlasting idea of happiness after life in an eternity of enjoyment. To +one and all it only brings the austere duty to live, to be a mere +contributor in the universal toil; and how well one can understand that +hearts should revolt and sigh for the Christian heaven, peopled with +lovely angels, full of light and music and perfumes! Ah! to embrace one's +dead, to tell oneself that one will meet them again, that one will live +with them once more in glorious immortality! And to possess the certainty +of sovereign equity to enable one to support the abominations of +terrestrial life! And in this wise to trample on the frightful thought of +annihilation, to escape the horror of the disappearance of the _ego_, and +to tranquillise oneself with that unshakable faith which postpones until +the portal of death be crossed the solution of all the problems of +destiny! This dream will be dreamt by the nations for ages yet. And this +it is which explains why, in these last days of the century, excessive +mental labour and the deep unrest of humanity, pregnant with a new world, +have awakened religious feeling, anxious, tormented by thoughts of the +ideal and the infinite, demanding a moral law and an assurance of +superior justice. Religions may disappear, but religious feelings will +always create new ones, even with the help of science. A new religion! a +new religion! Was it not the ancient Catholicism, which in the soil of +the present day, where all seemed conducive to a miracle, was about to +spring up afresh, throw out green branches and blossom in a young yet +mighty florescence? + +At last, in the third part of his book and in the glowing language of an +apostle, Pierre depicted the FUTURE: Catholicism rejuvenated, and +bringing health and peace, the forgotten golden age of primitive +Christianity, back to expiring society. He began with an emotional and +sparkling portrait of Leo XIII, the ideal Pope, the Man of Destiny +entrusted with the salvation of the nations. He had conjured up a +presentment of him and beheld him thus in his feverish longing for the +advent of a pastor who should put an end to human misery. It was perhaps +not a close likeness, but it was a portrait of the needed saviour, with +open heart and mind, and inexhaustible benevolence, such as he had +dreamed. At the same time he had certainly searched documents, studied +encyclical letters, based his sketch upon facts: first Leo's religious +education at Rome, then his brief nunciature at Brussels, and afterwards +his long episcopate at Perugia. And as soon as Leo became pope in the +difficult situation bequeathed by Pius IX, the duality of his nature +appeared: on one hand was the firm guardian of dogmas, on the other the +supple politician resolved to carry conciliation to its utmost limits. We +see him flatly severing all connection with modern philosophy, stepping +backward beyond the Renascence to the middle ages and reviving Christian +philosophy, as expounded by "the angelic doctor," St. Thomas Aquinas, in +Catholic schools. Then the dogmas being in this wise sheltered, he +adroitly maintains himself in equilibrium by giving securities to every +power, striving to utilise every opportunity. He displays extraordinary +activity, reconciles the Holy See with Germany, draws nearer to Russia, +contents Switzerland, asks the friendship of Great Britain, and writes to +the Emperor of China begging him to protect the missionaries and +Christians in his dominions. Later on, too, he intervenes in France and +acknowledges the legitimacy of the Republic. + +From the very outset an idea becomes apparent in all his actions, an idea +which will place him among the great papal politicians. It is moreover +the ancient idea of the papacy--the conquest of every soul, Rome capital +and mistress of the world. Thus Leo XIII has but one desire, one object, +that of unifying the Church, of drawing all the dissident communities to +it in order that it may be invincible in the coming social struggle. He +seeks to obtain recognition of the moral authority of the Vatican in +Russia; he dreams of disarming the Anglican Church and of drawing it into +a sort of fraternal truce; and he particularly seeks to come to an +understanding with the Schismatical Churches of the East, which he +regards as sisters, simply living apart, whose return his paternal heart +entreats. Would not Rome indeed dispose of victorious strength if she +exercised uncontested sway over all the Christians of the earth? + +And here the social ideas of Leo XIII come in. Whilst yet Bishop of +Perugia he wrote a pastoral letter in which a vague humanitarian +socialism appeared. As soon, however, as he had assumed the triple crown +his opinions changed and he anathematised the revolutionaries whose +audacity was terrifying Italy. But almost at once he corrected himself, +warned by events and realising the great danger of leaving socialism in +the hands of the enemies of the Church. Then he listened to the bishops +of the lands of propaganda, ceased to intervene in the Irish quarrel, +withdrew the excommunications which he had launched against the American +"knights of labour," and would not allow the bold works of Catholic +socialist writers to be placed in the Index. This evolution towards +democracy may be traced through his most famous encyclical letters: +_Immortale Dei_, on the constitution of States; _Libertas_, on human +liberty; _Sapientoe_, on the duties of Christian citizens; _Rerum +novarum_, on the condition of the working classes; and it is particularly +this last which would seem to have rejuvenated the Church. The Pope +herein chronicles the undeserved misery of the toilers, the undue length +of the hours of labour, the insufficiency of salaries. All men have the +right to live, and all contracts extorted by threats of starvation are +unjust. Elsewhere he declares that the workman must not be left +defenceless in presence of a system which converts the misery of the +majority into the wealth of a few. Compelled to deal vaguely with +questions of organisation, he contents himself with encouraging the +corporative movement, placing it under State patronage; and after thus +contributing to restore the secular power, he reinstates the Deity on the +throne of sovereignty, and discerns the path to salvation more +particularly in moral measures, in the ancient respect due to family ties +and ownership. Nevertheless, was not the helpful hand which the august +Vicar of Christ thus publicly tendered to the poor and the humble, the +certain token of a new alliance, the announcement of a new reign of Jesus +upon earth? Thenceforward the people knew that it was not abandoned. And +from that moment too how glorious became Leo XIII, whose sacerdotal +jubilee and episcopal jubilee were celebrated by all Christendom amidst +the coming of a vast multitude, of endless offerings, and of flattering +letters from every sovereign! + +Pierre next dealt with the question of the temporal power, and this he +thought he might treat freely. Naturally, he was not ignorant of the fact +that the Pope in his quarrel with Italy upheld the rights of the Church +over Rome as stubbornly as his predecessor; but he imagined that this was +merely a necessary conventional attitude, imposed by political +considerations, and destined to be abandoned when the times were ripe. +For his own part he was convinced that if the Pope had never appeared +greater than he did now, it was to the loss of the temporal power that he +owed it; for thence had come the great increase of his authority, the +pure splendour of moral omnipotence which he diffused. + +What a long history of blunders and conflicts had been that of the +possession of the little kingdom of Rome during fifteen centuries! +Constantine quits Rome in the fourth century, only a few forgotten +functionaries remaining on the deserted Palatine, and the Pope naturally +rises to power, and the life of the city passes to the Lateran. However, +it is only four centuries later that Charlemagne recognises accomplished +facts and formally bestows the States of the Church upon the papacy. From +that time warfare between the spiritual power and the temporal powers has +never ceased; though often latent it has at times become acute, breaking +forth with blood and fire. And to-day, in the midst of Europe in arms, is +it not unreasonable to dream of the papacy ruling a strip of territory +where it would be exposed to every vexation, and where it could only +maintain itself by the help of a foreign army? What would become of it in +the general massacre which is apprehended? Is it not far more sheltered, +far more dignified, far more lofty when disentangled from all terrestrial +cares, reigning over the world of souls? + +In the early times of the Church the papacy from being merely local, +merely Roman, gradually became catholicised, universalised, slowly +acquiring dominion over all Christendom. In the same way the Sacred +College, at first a continuation of the Roman Senate, acquired an +international character, and in our time has ended by becoming the most +cosmopolitan of assemblies, in which representatives of all the nations +have seats. And is it not evident that the Pope, thus leaning on the +cardinals, has become the one great international power which exercises +the greater authority since it is free from all monarchical interests, +and can speak not merely in the name of country but in that of humanity +itself? The solution so often sought amidst such long wars surely lies in +this: Either give the Pope the temporal sovereignty of the world, or +leave him only the spiritual sovereignty. Vicar of the Deity, absolute +and infallible sovereign by divine delegation, he can but remain in the +sanctuary if, ruler already of the human soul, he is not recognised by +every nation as the one master of the body also--the king of kings. + +But what a strange affair was this new incursion of the papacy into the +field sown by the French Revolution, an incursion conducting it perhaps +towards the domination, which it has striven for with a will that has +upheld it for centuries! For now it stands alone before the people. The +kings are down. And as the people is henceforth free to give itself to +whomsoever it pleases, why should it not give itself to the Church? The +depreciation which the idea of liberty has certainly undergone renders +every hope permissible. The liberal party appears to be vanquished in the +sphere of economics. The toilers, dissatisfied with 1789 complain of the +aggravation of their misery, bestir themselves, seek happiness +despairingly. On the other hand the new _regimes_ have increased the +international power of the Church; Catholic members are numerous in the +parliaments of the republics and the constitutional monarchies. All +circumstances seem therefore to favour this extraordinary return of +fortune, Catholicism reverting to the vigour of youth in its old age. +Even science, remember, is accused of bankruptcy, a charge which saves +the _Syllabus_ from ridicule, troubles the minds of men, and throws the +limitless sphere of mystery and impossibility open once more. And then a +prophecy is recalled, a prediction that the papacy shall be mistress of +the world on the day when she marches at the head of the democracy after +reuniting the Schismatical Churches of the East to the Catholic, +Apostolic, and Roman Church. And, in Pierre's opinion, assuredly the +times had come since Pope Leo XIII, dismissing the great and the wealthy +of the world, left the kings driven from their thrones in exile to place +himself like Jesus on the side of the foodless toilers and the beggars of +the high roads. Yet a few more years, perhaps, of frightful misery, +alarming confusion, fearful social danger, and the people, the great +silent multitude which others have so far disposed of, will return to the +cradle, to the unified Church of Rome, in order to escape the destruction +which threatens human society. + +Pierre concluded his book with a passionate evocation of New Rome, the +spiritual Rome which would soon reign over the nations, reconciled and +fraternising as in another golden age. Herein he even saw the end of +superstitions. Without making a direct attack on dogma, he allowed +himself to dream of an enlargement of religious feeling, freed from +rites, and absorbed in the one satisfaction of human charity. And still +smarting from his journey to Lourdes, he felt the need of contenting his +heart. Was not that gross superstition of Lourdes the hateful symptom of +the excessive suffering of the times? On the day when the Gospel should +be universally diffused and practised, suffering ones would cease seeking +an illusory relief so far away, assured as they would be of finding +assistance, consolation, and cure in their homes amidst their brothers. +At Lourdes there was an iniquitous displacement of wealth, a spectacle so +frightful as to make one doubt of God, a perpetual conflict which would +disappear in the truly Christian society of to-morrow. Ah! that society, +that Christian community, all Pierre's work ended in an ardent longing +for its speedy advent: Christianity becoming once more the religion of +truth and justice which it had been before it allowed itself to be +conquered by the rich and the powerful! The little ones and the poor ones +reigning, sharing the wealth of earth, and owing obedience to nought but +the levelling law of work! The Pope alone erect at the head of the +federation of nations, prince of peace, with the simple mission of +supplying the moral rule, the link of charity and love which was to unite +all men! And would not this be the speedy realisation of the promises of +Christ? The times were near accomplishment, secular and religious society +would mingle so closely that they would form but one; and it would be the +age of triumph and happiness predicted by all the prophets, no more +struggles possible, no more antagonism between the mind and the body, but +a marvellous equilibrium which would kill evil and set the kingdom of +heaven upon earth. New Rome, the centre of the world, bestowing on the +world the new religion! + +Pierre felt that tears were coming to his eyes, and with an unconscious +movement, never noticing how much he astonished the slim Englishmen and +thick-set Germans passing along the terrace, he opened his arms and +extended them towards the _real_ Rome, steeped in such lovely sunshine +and stretched out at his feet. Would she prove responsive to his dream? +Would he, as he had written, find within her the remedy for our +impatience and our alarms? Could Catholicism be renewed, could it return +to the spirit of primitive Christianity, become the religion of the +democracy, the faith which the modern world, overturned and in danger of +perishing, awaits in order to be pacified and to live? + +Pierre was full of generous passion, full of faith. He again beheld good +Abbe Rose weeping with emotion as he read his book. He heard Viscount +Philibert de la Choue telling him that such a book was worth an army. And +he particularly felt strong in the approval of Cardinal Bergerot, that +apostle of inexhaustible charity. Why should the Congregation of the +Index threaten his work with interdiction? Since he had been officiously +advised to go to Rome if he desired to defend himself, he had been +turning this question over in his mind without being able to discover +which of his pages were attacked. To him indeed they all seemed to glow +with the purest Christianity. However, he had arrived quivering with +enthusiasm and courage: he was all eagerness to kneel before the Pope, +and place himself under his august protection, assuring him that he had +not written a line without taking inspiration from his ideas, without +desiring the triumph of his policy. Was it possible that condemnation +should be passed on a book in which he imagined in all sincerity that he +had exalted Leo XIII by striving to help him in his work of Christian +reunion and universal peace? + +For a moment longer Pierre remained standing before the parapet. He had +been there for nearly an hour, unable to drink in enough of the grandeur +of Rome, which, given all the unknown things she hid from him, he would +have liked to possess at once. Oh! to seize hold of her, know her, +ascertain at once the true word which he had come to seek from her! This +again, like Lourdes, was an experiment, but a graver one, a decisive one, +whence he would emerge either strengthened or overcome for evermore. He +no longer sought the simple, perfect faith of the little child, but the +superior faith of the intellectual man, raising himself above rites and +symbols, working for the greatest happiness of humanity as based on its +need of certainty. His temples throbbed responsive to his heart. What +would be the answer of Rome? + +The sunlight had increased and the higher districts now stood out more +vigorously against the fiery background. Far away the hills became gilded +and empurpled, whilst the nearer house-fronts grew very distinct and +bright with their thousands of windows sharply outlined. However, some +morning haze still hovered around; light veils seemed to rise from the +lower streets, blurring the summits for a moment, and then evaporating in +the ardent heavens where all was blue. For a moment Pierre fancied that +the Palatine had vanished, for he could scarcely see the dark fringe of +cypresses; it was as though the dust of its ruins concealed the hill. But +the Quirinal was even more obscured; the royal palace seemed to have +faded away in a fog, so paltry did it look with its low flat front, so +vague in the distance that he no longer distinguished it; whereas above +the trees on his left the dome of St. Peter's had grown yet larger in the +limpid gold of the sunshine, and appeared to occupy the whole sky and +dominate the whole city! + +Ah! the Rome of that first meeting, the Rome of early morning, whose new +districts he had not even noticed in the burning fever of his +arrival--with what boundless hopes did she not inspirit him, this Rome +which he believed he should find alive, such indeed as he had dreamed! +And whilst he stood there in his thin black cassock, thus gazing on her +that lovely day, what a shout of coming redemption seemed to arise from +her house-roofs, what a promise of universal peace seemed to issue from +that sacred soil, twice already Queen of the world! It was the third +Rome, it was New Rome whose maternal love was travelling across the +frontiers to all the nations to console them and reunite them in a common +embrace. In the passionate candour of his dream he beheld her, he heard +her, rejuvenated, full of the gentleness of childhood, soaring, as it +were, amidst the morning freshness into the vast pure heavens. + +But at last Pierre tore himself away from the sublime spectacle. The +driver and the horse, their heads drooping under the broad sunlight, had +not stirred. On the seat the valise was almost burning, hot with rays of +the sun which was already heavy. And once more Pierre got into the +vehicle and gave this address: + +"Via Giulia, Palazzo Boccanera." + + + + +II. + +THE Via Giulia, which runs in a straight line over a distance of five +hundred yards from the Farnese palace to the church of St. John of the +Florentines, was at that hour steeped in bright sunlight, the glow +streaming from end to end and whitening the small square paving stones. +The street had no footways, and the cab rolled along it almost to the +farther extremity, passing the old grey sleepy and deserted residences +whose large windows were barred with iron, while their deep porches +revealed sombre courts resembling wells. Laid out by Pope Julius II, who +had dreamt of lining it with magnificent palaces, the street, then the +most regular and handsome in Rome, had served as Corso* in the sixteenth +century. One could tell that one was in a former luxurious district, +which had lapsed into silence, solitude, and abandonment, instinct with a +kind of religious gentleness and discretion. The old house-fronts +followed one after another, their shutters closed and their gratings +occasionally decked with climbing plants. At some doors cats were seated, +and dim shops, appropriated to humble trades, were installed in certain +dependencies. But little traffic was apparent. Pierre only noticed some +bare-headed women dragging children behind them, a hay cart drawn by a +mule, a superb monk draped in drugget, and a bicyclist speeding along +noiselessly, his machine sparkling in the sun. + + * The Corso was so called on account of the horse races held in + it at carnival time.--Trans. + +At last the driver turned and pointed to a large square building at the +corner of a lane running towards the Tiber. + +"Palazzo Boccanera." + +Pierre raised his head and was pained by the severe aspect of the +structure, so bare and massive and blackened by age. Like its neighbours +the Farnese and Sacchetti palaces, it had been built by Antonio da +Sangallo in the early part of the sixteenth century, and, as with the +former of those residences, the tradition ran that in raising the pile +the architect had made use of stones pilfered from the Colosseum and the +Theatre of Marcellus. The vast, square-looking facade had three upper +stories, each with seven windows, and the first one very lofty and noble. +Down below, the only sign of decoration was that the high ground-floor +windows, barred with huge projecting gratings as though from fear of +siege, rested upon large consoles, and were crowned by attics which +smaller consoles supported. Above the monumental entrance, with folding +doors of bronze, there was a balcony in front of the central first-floor +window. And at the summit of the facade against the sky appeared a +sumptuous entablature, whose frieze displayed admirable grace and purity +of ornamentation. The frieze, the consoles, the attics, and the door-case +were of white marble, but marble whose surface had so crumbled and so +darkened that it now had the rough yellowish grain of stone. Right and +left of the entrance were two antique seats upheld by griffons also of +marble; and incrusted in the wall at one corner, a lovely Renascence +fountain, its source dried up, still lingered; and on it a cupid riding a +dolphin could with difficulty be distinguished, to such a degree had the +wear and tear of time eaten into the sculpture. + +Pierre's eyes, however, had been more particularly attracted by an +escutcheon carved above one of the ground-floor windows, the escutcheon +of the Boccaneras, a winged dragon venting flames, and underneath it he +could plainly read the motto which had remained intact: "_Bocca nera, +Alma rossa_" (black mouth, red soul). Above another window, as a pendant +to the escutcheon, there was one of those little shrines which are still +common in Rome, a satin-robed statuette of the Blessed Virgin, before +which a lantern burnt in the full daylight. + +The cabman was about to drive through the dim and gaping porch, according +to custom, when the young priest, overcome by timidity, stopped him. "No, +no," he said; "don't go in, it's useless." + +Then he alighted from the vehicle, paid the man, and, valise in hand, +found himself first under the vaulted roof, and then in the central court +without having met a living soul. + +It was a square and fairly spacious court, surrounded by a porticus like +a cloister. Some remnants of statuary, marbles discovered in excavating, +an armless Apollo, and the trunk of a Venus, were ranged against the +walls under the dismal arcades; and some fine grass had sprouted between +the pebbles which paved the soil as with a black and white mosaic. It +seemed as if the sun-rays could never reach that paving, mouldy with +damp. A dimness and a silence instinct with departed grandeur and +infinite mournfulness reigned there. + +Surprised by the emptiness of this silent mansion, Pierre continued +seeking somebody, a porter, a servant; and, fancying that he saw a shadow +flit by, he decided to pass through another arch which led to a little +garden fringing the Tiber. On this side the facade of the building was +quite plain, displaying nothing beyond its three rows of symmetrically +disposed windows. However, the abandonment reigning in the garden brought +Pierre yet a keener pang. In the centre some large box-plants were +growing in the basin of a fountain which had been filled up; while among +the mass of weeds, some orange-trees with golden, ripening fruit alone +indicated the tracery of the paths which they had once bordered. Between +two huge laurel-bushes, against the right-hand wall, there was a +sarcophagus of the second century--with fauns offering violence to +nymphs, one of those wild _baccanali_, those scenes of eager passion +which Rome in its decline was wont to depict on the tombs of its dead; +and this marble sarcophagus, crumbling with age and green with moisture, +served as a tank into which a streamlet of water fell from a large tragic +mask incrusted in the wall. Facing the Tiber there had formerly been a +sort of colonnaded loggia, a terrace whence a double flight of steps +descended to the river. For the construction of the new quays, however, +the river bank was being raised, and the terrace was already lower than +the new ground level, and stood there crumbling and useless amidst piles +of rubbish and blocks of stone, all the wretched chalky confusion of the +improvements which were ripping up and overturning the district. + +Pierre, however, was suddenly convinced that he could see somebody +crossing the court. So he returned thither and found a woman somewhat +short of stature, who must have been nearly fifty, though as yet she had +not a white hair, but looked very bright and active. At sight of the +priest, however, an expression of distrust passed over her round face and +clear eyes. + +Employing the few words of broken Italian which he knew, Pierre at once +sought to explain matters: "I am Abbe Pierre Froment, madame--" he began. + +However, she did not let him continue, but exclaimed in fluent French, +with the somewhat thick and lingering accent of the province of the +Ile-de-France: "Ah! yes, Monsieur l'Abbe, I know, I know--I was expecting +you, I received orders about you." And then, as he gazed at her in +amazement, she added: "Oh! I'm a Frenchwoman! I've been here for five and +twenty years, but I haven't yet been able to get used to their horrible +lingo!" + +Pierre thereupon remembered that Viscount Philibert de la Choue had +spoken to him of this servant, one Victorine Bosquet, a native of Auneau +in La Beauce, who, when two and twenty, had gone to Rome with a +consumptive mistress. The latter's sudden death had left her in as much +terror and bewilderment as if she had been alone in some land of savages; +and so she had gratefully devoted herself to the Countess Ernesta +Brandini, a Boccanera by birth, who had, so to say, picked her up in the +streets. The Countess had at first employed her as a nurse to her +daughter Benedetta, hoping in this way to teach the child some French; +and Victorine--remaining for some five and twenty years with the same +family--had by degrees raised herself to the position of housekeeper, +whilst still remaining virtually illiterate, so destitute indeed of any +linguistic gift that she could only jabber a little broken Italian, just +sufficient for her needs in her intercourse with the other servants. + +"And is Monsieur le Vicomte quite well?" she resumed with frank +familiarity. "He is so very pleasant, and we are always so pleased to see +him. He stays here, you know, each time he comes to Rome. I know that the +Princess and the Contessina received a letter from him yesterday +announcing you." + +It was indeed Viscount Philibert de la Choue who had made all the +arrangements for Pierre's sojourn in Rome. Of the ancient and once +vigorous race of the Boccaneras, there now only remained Cardinal Pio +Boccanera, the Princess his sister, an old maid who from respect was +called "Donna" Serafina, their niece Benedetta--whose mother Ernesta had +followed her husband, Count Brandini, to the tomb--and finally their +nephew, Prince Dario Boccanera, whose father, Prince Onofrio, was +likewise dead, and whose mother, a Montefiori, had married again. It so +chanced that the Viscount de la Choue was connected with the family, his +younger brother having married a Brandini, sister to Benedetta's father; +and thus, with the courtesy rank of uncle, he had, in Count Brandini's +time, frequently sojourned at the mansion in the Via Giulia. He had also +become attached to Benedetta, especially since the advent of a private +family drama, consequent upon an unhappy marriage which the young woman +had contracted, and which she had petitioned the Holy Father to annul. +Since Benedetta had left her husband to live with her aunt Serafina and +her uncle the Cardinal, M. de la Choue had often written to her and sent +her parcels of French books. Among others he had forwarded her a copy of +Pierre's book, and the whole affair had originated in that wise. Several +letters on the subject had been exchanged when at last Benedetta sent +word that the work had been denounced to the Congregation of the Index, +and that it was advisable the author should at once repair to Rome, where +she graciously offered him the hospitality of the Boccanera mansion. + +The Viscount was quite as much astonished as the young priest at these +tidings, and failed to understand why the book should be threatened at +all; however, he prevailed on Pierre to make the journey as a matter of +good policy, becoming himself impassioned for the achievement of a +victory which he counted in anticipation as his own. And so it was easy +to understand the bewildered condition of Pierre, on tumbling into this +unknown mansion, launched into an heroic adventure, the reasons and +circumstances of which were beyond him. + +Victorine, however, suddenly resumed: "But I am leaving you here, +Monsieur l'Abbe. Let me conduct you to your rooms. Where is your +luggage?" + +Then, when he had shown her his valise which he had placed on the ground +beside him, and explained that having no more than a fortnight's stay in +view he had contented himself with bringing a second cassock and some +linen, she seemed very much surprised. + +"A fortnight! You only expect to remain here a fortnight? Well, well, +you'll see." + +And then summoning a big devil of a lackey who had ended by making his +appearance, she said: "Take that up into the red room, Giacomo. Will you +kindly follow me, Monsieur l'Abbe?" + +Pierre felt quite comforted and inspirited by thus unexpectedly meeting +such a lively, good-natured compatriot in this gloomy Roman "palace." +Whilst crossing the court he listened to her as she related that the +Princess had gone out, and that the Contessina--as Benedetta from motives +of affection was still called in the house, despite her marriage--had not +yet shown herself that morning, being rather poorly. However, added +Victorine, she had her orders. + +The staircase was in one corner of the court, under the porticus. It was +a monumental staircase with broad, low steps, the incline being so gentle +that a horse might easily have climbed it. The stone walls, however, were +quite bare, the landings empty and solemn, and a death-like mournfulness +fell from the lofty vault above. + +As they reached the first floor, noticing Pierre's emotion, Victorine +smiled. The mansion seemed to be uninhabited; not a sound came from its +closed chambers. Simply pointing to a large oaken door on the right-hand, +the housekeeper remarked: "The wing overlooking the court and the river +is occupied by his Eminence. But he doesn't use a quarter of the rooms. +All the reception-rooms on the side of the street have been shut. How +could one keep up such a big place, and what, too, would be the use of +it? We should need somebody to lodge." + +With her lithe step she continued ascending the stairs. She had remained +essentially a foreigner, a Frenchwoman, too different from those among +whom she lived to be influenced by her environment. On reaching the +second floor she resumed: "There, on the left, are Donna Serafina's +rooms; those of the Contessina are on the right. This is the only part of +the house where there's a little warmth and life. Besides, it's Monday +to-day, the Princess will be receiving visitors this evening. You'll +see." + +Then, opening a door, beyond which was a second and very narrow +staircase, she went on: "We others have our rooms on the third floor. I +must ask Monsieur l'Abbe to let me go up before him." + +The grand staircase ceased at the second floor, and Victorine explained +that the third story was reached exclusively by this servants' staircase, +which led from the lane running down to the Tiber on one side of the +mansion. There was a small private entrance in this lane, which was very +convenient. + +At last, reaching the third story, she hurried along a passage, again +calling Pierre's attention to various doors. "These are the apartments of +Don Vigilio, his Eminence's secretary. These are mine. And these will be +yours. Monsieur le Vicomte will never have any other rooms when he comes +to spend a few days in Rome. He says that he enjoys more liberty up here, +as he can come in and go out as he pleases. I gave him a key to the door +in the lane, and I'll give you one too. And, besides, you'll see what a +nice view there is from here!" + +Whilst speaking she had gone in. The apartments comprised two rooms: a +somewhat spacious _salon_, with wall-paper of a large scroll pattern on a +red ground, and a bed-chamber, where the paper was of a flax grey, +studded with faded blue flowers. The sitting-room was in one corner of +the mansion overlooking the lane and the Tiber, and Victorine at once +went to the windows, one of which afforded a view over the distant lower +part of the river, while the other faced the Trastevere and the Janiculum +across the water. + +"Ah! yes, it's very pleasant!" said Pierre, who had followed and stood +beside her. + +Giaccomo, who did not hurry, came in behind them with the valise. It was +now past eleven o'clock; and seeing that the young priest looked tired, +and realising that he must be hungry after such a journey, Victorine +offered to have some breakfast served at once in the sitting-room. He +would then have the afternoon to rest or go out, and would only meet the +ladies in the evening at dinner. At the mere suggestion of resting, +however, Pierre began to protest, declaring that he should certainly go +out, not wishing to lose an entire afternoon. The breakfast he readily +accepted, for he was indeed dying of hunger. + +However, he had to wait another full half hour. Giaccomo, who served him +under Victorine's orders, did everything in a most leisurely way. And +Victorine, lacking confidence in the man, remained with the young priest +to make sure that everything he might require was provided. + +"Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe," said she, "what people! What a country! You can't +have an idea of it. I should never get accustomed to it even if I were to +live here for a hundred years. Ah! if it were not for the Contessina, but +she's so good and beautiful." + +Then, whilst placing a dish of figs on the table, she astonished Pierre +by adding that a city where nearly everybody was a priest could not +possibly be a good city. Thereupon the presence of this gay, active, +unbelieving servant in the queer old palace again scared him. + +"What! you are not religious?" he exclaimed. + +"No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe, the priests don't suit me," said Victorine; "I +knew one in France when I was very little, and since I've been here I've +seen too many of them. It's all over. Oh! I don't say that on account of +his Eminence, who is a holy man worthy of all possible respect. And +besides, everybody in the house knows that I've nothing to reproach +myself with. So why not leave me alone, since I'm fond of my employers +and attend properly to my duties?" + +She burst into a frank laugh. "Ah!" she resumed, "when I was told that +another priest was coming, just as if we hadn't enough already, I +couldn't help growling to myself. But you look like a good young man, +Monsieur l'Abbe, and I feel sure we shall get on well together.... I +really don't know why I'm telling you all this--probably it's because +you've come from yonder, and because the Contessina takes an interest in +you. At all events, you'll excuse me, won't you, Monsieur l'Abbe? And +take my advice, stay here and rest to-day; don't be so foolish as to go +running about their tiring city. There's nothing very amusing to be seen +in it, whatever they may say to the contrary." + +When Pierre found himself alone, he suddenly felt overwhelmed by all the +fatigue of his journey coupled with the fever of enthusiasm that had +consumed him during the morning. And as though dazed, intoxicated by the +hasty meal which he had just made--a couple of eggs and a cutlet--he +flung himself upon the bed with the idea of taking half an hour's rest. +He did not fall asleep immediately, but for a time thought of those +Boccaneras, with whose history he was partly acquainted, and of whose +life in that deserted and silent palace, instinct with such dilapidated +and melancholy grandeur, he began to dream. But at last his ideas grew +confused, and by degrees he sunk into sleep amidst a crowd of shadowy +forms, some tragic and some sweet, with vague faces which gazed at him +with enigmatical eyes as they whirled before him in the depths of +dreamland. + +The Boccaneras had supplied two popes to Rome, one in the thirteenth, the +other in the fifteenth century, and from those two favoured ones, those +all-powerful masters, the family had formerly derived its vast +fortune--large estates in the vicinity of Viterbo, several palaces in +Rome, enough works of art to fill numerous spacious galleries, and a pile +of gold sufficient to cram a cellar. The family passed as being the most +pious of the Roman _patriziato_, a family of burning faith whose sword +had always been at the service of the Church; but if it were the most +believing family it was also the most violent, the most disputatious, +constantly at war, and so fiercely savage that the anger of the +Boccaneras had become proverbial. And thence came their arms, the winged +dragon spitting flames, and the fierce, glowing motto, with its play on +the name "_Bocca sera, Alma rossa_" (black mouth, red soul), the mouth +darkened by a roar, the soul flaming like a brazier of faith and love. + +Legends of endless passion, of terrible deeds of justice and vengeance +still circulated. There was the duel fought by Onfredo, the Boccanera by +whom the present palazzo had been built in the sixteenth century on the +site of the demolished antique residence of the family. Onfredo, learning +that his wife had allowed herself to be kissed on the lips by young Count +Costamagna, had caused the Count to be kidnapped one evening and brought +to the palazzo bound with cords. And there in one of the large halls, +before freeing him, he compelled him to confess himself to a monk. Then +he severed the cords with a stiletto, threw the lamps over and +extinguished them, calling to the Count to keep the stiletto and defend +himself. During more than an hour, in complete obscurity, in this hall +full of furniture, the two men sought one another, fled from one another, +seized hold of one another, and pierced one another with their blades. +And when the doors were broken down and the servants rushed in they found +among the pools of blood, among the overturned tables and broken seats, +Costamagna with his nose sliced off and his hips pierced with two and +thirty wounds, whilst Onfredo had lost two fingers of his right hand, and +had both shoulders riddled with holes! The wonder was that neither died +of the encounter. + +A century later, on that same bank of the Tiber, a daughter of the +Boccaneras, a girl barely sixteen years of age, the lovely and passionate +Cassia, filled all Rome with terror and admiration. She loved Flavio +Corradini, the scion of a rival and hated house, whose alliance her +father, Prince Boccanera, roughly rejected, and whom her elder brother, +Ercole, swore to slay should he ever surprise him with her. Nevertheless +the young man came to visit her in a boat, and she joined him by the +little staircase descending to the river. But one evening Ercole, who was +on the watch, sprang into the boat and planted his dagger full in +Flavio's heart. Later on the subsequent incidents were unravelled; it was +understood that Cassia, wrathful and frantic with despair, unwilling to +survive her love and bent on wreaking justice, had thrown herself upon +her brother, had seized both murderer and victim with the same grasp +whilst overturning the boat; for when the three bodies were recovered +Cassia still retained her hold upon the two men, pressing their faces one +against the other with her bare arms, which had remained as white as +snow. + +But those were vanished times. Nowadays, if faith remained, blood +violence seemed to be departing from the Boccaneras. Their huge fortune +also had been lost in the slow decline which for a century past has been +ruining the Roman _patriziato_. It had been necessary to sell the +estates; the palace had emptied, gradually sinking to the mediocrity and +bourgeois life of the new times. For their part the Boccaneras +obstinately declined to contract any alien alliances, proud as they were +of the purity of their Roman blood. And poverty was as nothing to them; +they found contentment in their immense pride, and without a plaint +sequestered themselves amidst the silence and gloom in which their race +was dwindling away. + +Prince Ascanio, dead since 1848, had left four children by his wife, a +Corvisieri; first Pio, the Cardinal; then Serafina, who, in order to +remain with her brother, had not married; and finally Ernesta and +Onofrio, both of whom were deceased. As Ernesta had merely left a +daughter, Benedetta, behind her, it followed that the only male heir, the +only possible continuator of the family name was Onofrio's son, young +Prince Dario, now some thirty years of age. Should he die without +posterity, the Boccaneras, once so full of life and whose deeds had +filled Roman history in papal times, must fatally disappear. + +Dario and his cousin Benedetta had been drawn together by a deep, +smiling, natural passion ever since childhood. They seemed born one for +the other; they could not imagine that they had been brought into the +world for any other purpose than that of becoming husband and wife as +soon as they should be old enough to marry. When Prince Onofrio--an +amiable man of forty, very popular in Rome, where he spent his modest +fortune as his heart listed--espoused La Montefiori's daughter, the +little Marchesa Flavia, whose superb beauty, suggestive of a youthful +Juno, had maddened him, he went to reside at the Villa Montefiori, the +only property, indeed the only belonging, that remained to the two +ladies. It was in the direction of St'. Agnese-fuori-le-Mura,* and there +were vast grounds, a perfect park in fact, planted with centenarian +trees, among which the villa, a somewhat sorry building of the +seventeenth century, was falling into ruins. + + * St. Agnes-without-the-walls, N.E. of Rome. + +Unfavourable reports were circulated about the ladies, the mother having +almost lost caste since she had become a widow, and the girl having too +bold a beauty, too conquering an air. Thus the marriage had not met with +the approval of Serafina, who was very rigid, or of Onofrio's elder +brother Pio, at that time merely a _Cameriere segreto_ of the Holy Father +and a Canon of the Vatican basilica. Only Ernesta kept up a regular +intercourse with Onofrio, fond of him as she was by reason of his gaiety +of disposition; and thus, later on, her favourite diversion was to go +each week to the Villa Montefiori with her daughter Benedetta, there to +spend the day. And what a delightful day it always proved to Benedetta +and Dario, she ten years old and he fifteen, what a fraternal loving day +in that vast and almost abandoned garden with its parasol pines, its +giant box-plants, and its clumps of evergreen oaks, amidst which one lost +oneself as in a virgin forest. + +The poor stifled soul of Ernesta was a soul of pain and passion. Born +with a mighty longing for life, she thirsted for the sun--for a free, +happy, active existence in the full daylight. She was noted for her large +limpid eyes and the charming oval of her gentle face. Extremely ignorant, +like all the daughters of the Roman nobility, having learnt the little +she knew in a convent of French nuns, she had grown up cloistered in the +black Boccanera palace, having no knowledge of the world than by those +daily drives to the Corso and the Pincio on which she accompanied her +mother. Eventually, when she was five and twenty, and was already weary +and desolate, she contracted the customary marriage of her caste, +espousing Count Brandini, the last-born of a very noble, very numerous +and poor family, who had to come and live in the Via Giulia mansion, +where an entire wing of the second floor was got ready for the young +couple. And nothing changed, Ernesta continued to live in the same cold +gloom, in the midst of the same dead past, the weight of which, like that +of a tombstone, she felt pressing more and more heavily upon her. + +The marriage was, on either side, a very honourable one. Count Brandini +soon passed as being the most foolish and haughty man in Rome. A strict, +intolerant formalist in religious matters, he became quite triumphant +when, after innumerable intrigues, secret plottings which lasted ten long +years, he at last secured the appointment of grand equerry to the Holy +Father. With this appointment it seemed as if all the dismal majesty of +the Vatican entered his household. However, Ernesta found life still +bearable in the time of Pius IX--that is until the latter part of +1870--for she might still venture to open the windows overlooking the +street, receive a few lady friends otherwise than in secrecy, and accept +invitations to festivities. But when the Italians had conquered Rome and +the Pope declared himself a prisoner, the mansion in the Via Giulia +became a sepulchre. The great doors were closed and bolted, even nailed +together in token of mourning; and during ten years the inmates only went +out and came in by the little staircase communicating with the lane. It +was also forbidden to open the window shutters of the facade. This was +the sulking, the protest of the black world, the mansion sinking into +death-like immobility, complete seclusion; no more receptions, barely a +few shadows, the intimates of Donna Serafina who on Monday evenings +slipped in by the little door in the lane which was scarcely set ajar. +And during those ten lugubrious years, overcome by secret despair, the +young woman wept every night, suffered untold agony at thus being buried +alive. + +Ernesta had given birth to her daughter Benedetta rather late in life, +when three and thirty years of age. At first the little one helped to +divert her mind. But afterwards her wonted existence, like a grinding +millstone, again seized hold of her, and she had to place the child in +the charge of the French nuns, by whom she herself had been educated, at +the convent of the Sacred Heart of La Trinita de' Monti. When Benedetta +left the convent, grown up, nineteen years of age, she was able to speak +and write French, knew a little arithmetic and her catechism, and +possessed a few hazy notions of history. Then the life of the two women +was resumed, the life of a _gynoeceum_, suggestive of the Orient; never +an excursion with husband or father, but day after day spent in closed, +secluded rooms, with nought to cheer one but the sole, everlasting, +obligatory promenade, the daily drive to the Corso and the Pincio. + +At home, absolute obedience was the rule; the tie of relationship +possessed an authority, a strength, which made both women bow to the will +of the Count, without possible thought of rebellion; and to the Count's +will was added that of Donna Serafina and that of Cardinal Pio, both of +whom were stern defenders of the old-time customs. Since the Pope had +ceased to show himself in Rome, the post of grand equerry had left the +Count considerable leisure, for the number of equipages in the pontifical +stables had been very largely reduced; nevertheless, he was constant in +his attendance at the Vatican, where his duties were now a mere matter of +parade, and ever increased his devout zeal as a mark of protest against +the usurping monarchy installed at the Quirinal. However, Benedetta had +just attained her twentieth year, when one evening her father returned +coughing and shivering from some ceremony at St. Peter's. A week later he +died, carried off by inflammation of the lungs. And despite their +mourning, the loss was secretly considered a deliverance by both women, +who now felt that they were free. + +Thenceforward Ernesta had but one thought, that of saving her daughter +from that awful life of immurement and entombment. She herself had +sorrowed too deeply: it was no longer possible for her to remount the +current of existence; but she was unwilling that Benedetta should in her +turn lead a life contrary to nature, in a voluntary grave. Moreover, +similar lassitude and rebellion were showing themselves among other +patrician families, which, after the sulking of the first years, were +beginning to draw nearer to the Quirinal. Why indeed should the children, +eager for action, liberty, and sunlight, perpetually keep up the quarrel +of the fathers? And so, though no reconciliation could take place between +the black world and the white world,* intermediate tints were already +appearing, and some unexpected matrimonial alliances were contracted. + + * The "blacks" are the supporters of the papacy, the "whites" + those of the King of Italy.--Trans. + +Ernesta for her part was indifferent to the political question; she knew +next to nothing about it; but that which she passionately desired was +that her race might at last emerge from that hateful sepulchre, that +black, silent Boccanera mansion, where her woman's joys had been frozen +by so long a death. She had suffered very grievously in her heart, as +girl, as lover, and as wife, and yielded to anger at the thought that her +life should have been so spoiled, so lost through idiotic resignation. +Then, too, her mind was greatly influenced by the choice of a new +confessor at this period; for she had remained very religious, practising +all the rites of the Church, and ever docile to the advice of her +spiritual director. To free herself the more, however, she now quitted +the Jesuit father whom her husband had chosen for her, and in his stead +took Abbe Pisoni, the rector of the little church of Sta. Brigida, on the +Piazza Farnese, close by. He was a man of fifty, very gentle, and very +good-hearted, of a benevolence seldom found in the Roman world; and +archaeology, a passion for the old stones of the past, had made him an +ardent patriot. Humble though his position was, folks whispered that he +had on several occasions served as an intermediary in delicate matters +between the Vatican and the Quirinal. And, becoming confessor not only of +Ernesta but of Benedetta also, he was fond of discoursing to them about +the grandeur of Italian unity, the triumphant sway that Italy would +exercise when the Pope and the King should agree together. + +Meantime Benedetta and Dario loved as on the first day, patiently, with +the strong tranquil love of those who know that they belong to one +another. But it happened that Ernesta threw herself between them and +stubbornly opposed their marriage. No, no! her daughter must not espouse +that Dario, that cousin, the last of the name, who in his turn would +immure his wife in the black sepulchre of the Boccanera palace! Their +union would be a prolongation of entombment, an aggravation of ruin, a +repetition of the haughty wretchedness of the past, of the everlasting +peevish sulking which depressed and benumbed one! She was well acquainted +with the young man's character; she knew that he was egotistical and +weak, incapable of thinking and acting, predestined to bury his race with +a smile on his lips, to let the last remnant of the house crumble about +his head without attempting the slightest effort to found a new family. +And that which she desired was fortune in another guise, a new birth for +her daughter with wealth and the florescence of life amid the victors and +powerful ones of to-morrow. + +From that moment the mother did not cease her stubborn efforts to ensure +her daughter's happiness despite herself. She told her of her tears, +entreated her not to renew her own deplorable career. Yet she would have +failed, such was the calm determination of the girl who had for ever +given her heart, if certain circumstances had not brought her into +connection with such a son-in-law as she dreamt of. At that very Villa +Montefiori where Benedetta and Dario had plighted their troth, she met +Count Prada, son of Orlando, one of the heroes of the reunion of Italy. +Arriving in Rome from Milan, with his father, when eighteen years of age, +at the time of the occupation of the city by the Italian Government, +Prada had first entered the Ministry of Finances as a mere clerk, whilst +the old warrior, his sire, created a senator, lived scantily on a petty +income, the last remnant of a fortune spent in his country's service. The +fine war-like madness of the former comrade of Garibaldi had, however, in +the son turned into a fierce appetite for booty, so that the young man +became one of the real conquerors of Rome, one of those birds of prey +that dismembered and devoured the city. Engaged in vast speculations on +land, already wealthy according to popular report, he had--at the time of +meeting Ernesta--just become intimate with Prince Onofrio, whose head he +had turned by suggesting to him the idea of selling the far-spreading +grounds of the Villa Montefiori for the erection of a new suburban +district on the site. Others averred that he was the lover of the +princess, the beautiful Flavia, who, although nine years his senior, was +still superb. And, truth to tell, he was certainly a man of violent +desires, with an eagerness to rush on the spoils of conquest which +rendered him utterly unscrupulous with regard either to the wealth or to +the wives of others. + +From the first day that he beheld Benedetta he desired her. But she, at +any rate, could only become his by marriage. And he did not for a moment +hesitate, but broke off all connection with Flavia, eager as he was for +the pure virgin beauty, the patrician youth of the other. When he +realised that Ernesta, the mother, favoured him, he asked her daughter's +hand, feeling certain of success. And the surprise was great, for he was +some fifteen years older than the girl. However, he was a count, he bore +a name which was already historical, he was piling up millions, he was +regarded with favour at the Quirinal, and none could tell to what heights +he might not attain. All Rome became impassioned. + +Never afterwards was Benedetta able to explain to herself how it happened +that she had eventually consented. Six months sooner, six months later, +such a marriage would certainly have been impossible, given the fearful +scandal which it raised in the black world. A Boccanera, the last maiden +of that antique papal race, given to a Prada, to one of the despoilers of +the Church! Was it credible? In order that the wild project might prove +successful it had been necessary that it should be formed at a particular +brief moment--a moment when a supreme effort was being made to conciliate +the Vatican and the Quirinal. A report circulated that an agreement was +on the point of being arrived at, that the King consented to recognise +the Pope's absolute sovereignty over the Leonine City,* and a narrow band +of territory extending to the sea. And if such were the case would not +the marriage of Benedetta and Prada become, so to say, a symbol of union, +of national reconciliation? That lovely girl, the pure lily of the black +world, was she not the acquiescent sacrifice, the pledge granted to the +whites? + + * The Vatican suburb of Rome, called the _Civitas Leonina_, + because Leo IV, to protect it from the Saracens and Arabs, + enclosed it with walls in the ninth century.--Trans. + +For a fortnight nothing else was talked of; people discussed the +question, allowed their emotion rein, indulged in all sorts of hopes. The +girl, for her part, did not enter into the political reasons, but simply +listened to her heart, which she could not bestow since it was hers no +more. From morn till night, however, she had to encounter her mother's +prayers entreating her not to refuse the fortune, the life which offered. +And she was particularly exercised by the counsels of her confessor, good +Abbe Pisoni, whose patriotic zeal now burst forth. He weighed upon her +with all his faith in the Christian destinies of Italy, and returned +heartfelt thanks to Providence for having chosen one of his penitents as +the instrument for hastening the reconciliation which would work God's +triumph throughout the world. And her confessor's influence was certainly +one of the decisive factors in shaping Benedetta's decision, for she was +very pious, very devout, especially with regard to a certain Madonna +whose image she went to adore every Sunday at the little church on the +Piazza Farnese. One circumstance in particular struck her: Abbe Pisoni +related that the flame of the lamp before the image in question whitened +each time that he himself knelt there to beg the Virgin to incline his +penitent to the all-redeeming marriage. And thus superior forces +intervened; and she yielded in obedience to her mother, whom the Cardinal +and Donna Serafina had at first opposed, but whom they left free to act +when the religious question arose. + +Benedetta had grown up in such absolute purity and ignorance, knowing +nothing of herself, so shut off from existence, that marriage with +another than Dario was to her simply the rupture of a long-kept promise +of life in common. It was not the violent wrenching of heart and flesh +that it would have been in the case of a woman who knew the facts of +life. She wept a good deal, and then in a day of self-surrender she +married Prada, lacking the strength to continue resisting everybody, and +yielding to a union which all Rome had conspired to bring about. + +But the clap of thunder came on the very night of the nuptials. Was it +that Prada, the Piedmontese, the Italian of the North, the man of +conquest, displayed towards his bride the same brutality that he had +shown towards the city he had sacked? Or was it that the revelation of +married life filled Benedetta with repulsion since nothing in her own +heart responded to the passion of this man? On that point she never +clearly explained herself; but with violence she shut the door of her +room, locked it and bolted it, and refused to admit her husband. For a +month Prada was maddened by her scorn. He felt outraged; both his pride +and his passion bled; and he swore to master her, even as one masters a +colt, with the whip. But all his virile fury was impotent against the +indomitable determination which had sprung up one evening behind +Benedetta's small and lovely brow. The spirit of the Boccaneras had awoke +within her; nothing in the world, not even the fear of death, would have +induced her to become her husband's wife.* And then, love being at last +revealed to her, there came a return of her heart to Dario, a conviction +that she must reserve herself for him alone, since it was to him that she +had promised herself. + + * Many readers will doubtless remember that the situation as + here described is somewhat akin to that of the earlier part + of M. George Ohnet's _Ironmaster_, which, in its form as a + novel, I translated into English many years ago. However, + all resemblance between _Rome_ and the _Ironmaster_ is confined + to this one point.--Trans. + +Ever since that marriage, which he had borne like a bereavement, the +young man had been travelling in France. She did not hide the truth from +him, but wrote to him, again vowing that she would never be another's. +And meantime her piety increased, her resolve to reserve herself for the +lover she had chosen mingled in her mind with constancy of religious +faith. The ardent heart of a great _amorosa_ had ignited within her, she +was ready for martyrdom for faith's sake. And when her despairing mother +with clasped hands entreated her to resign herself to her conjugal +duties, she replied that she owed no duties, since she had known nothing +when she married. Moreover, the times were changing; the attempts to +reconcile the Quirinal and the Vatican had failed, so completely, indeed, +that the newspapers of the rival parties had, with renewed violence, +resumed their campaign of mutual insult and outrage; and thus that +triumphal marriage, to which every one had contributed as to a pledge of +peace, crumbled amid the general smash-up, became but a ruin the more +added to so many others. + +Ernesta died of it. She had made a mistake. Her spoilt life--the life of +a joyless wife--had culminated in this supreme maternal error. And the +worst was that she alone had to bear all the responsibility of the +disaster, for both her brother, the Cardinal, and her sister, Donna +Serafina, overwhelmed her with reproaches. For consolation she had but +the despair of Abbe Pisoni, whose patriotic hopes had been destroyed, and +who was consumed with grief at having contributed to such a catastrophe. +And one morning Ernesta was found, icy white and cold, in her bed. Folks +talked of the rupture of a blood-vessel, but grief had been sufficient, +for she had suffered frightfully, secretly, without a plaint, as indeed +she had suffered all her life long. + +At this time Benedetta had been married about a twelvemonth: still strong +in her resistance to her husband, but remaining under the conjugal roof +in order to spare her mother the terrible blow of a public scandal. +However, her aunt Serafina had brought influence to bear on her, by +opening to her the hope of a possible nullification of her marriage, +should she throw herself at the feet of the Holy Father and entreat his +intervention. And Serafina ended by persuading her of this, when, +deferring to certain advice, she removed her from the spiritual control +of Abbe Pisoni, and gave her the same confessor as herself. This was a +Jesuit father named Lorenza, a man scarce five and thirty, with bright +eyes, grave and amiable manners, and great persuasive powers. However, it +was only on the morrow of her mother's death that Benedetta made up her +mind, and returned to the Palazzo Boccanera, to occupy the apartments +where she had been born, and where her mother had just passed away. + +Immediately afterwards proceedings for annulling the marriage were +instituted, in the first instance, for inquiry, before the Cardinal Vicar +charged with the diocese of Rome. It was related that the Contessina had +only taken this step after a secret audience with his Holiness, who had +shown her the most encouraging sympathy. Count Prada at first spoke of +applying to the law courts to compel his wife to return to the conjugal +domicile; but, yielding to the entreaties of his old father Orlando, whom +the affair greatly grieved, he eventually consented to accept the +ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He was infuriated, however, to find that the +nullification of the marriage was solicited on the ground of its +non-consummation through _impotentia mariti_; this being one of the most +valid and decisive pleas on which the Church of Rome consents to part +those whom she has joined. And far more unhappy marriages than might be +imagined are severed on these grounds, though the world only gives +attention to those cases in which people of title or renown are +concerned, as it did, for instance, with the famous Martinez Campos suit. + +In Benedetta's case, her counsel, Consistorial-Advocate Morano, one of +the leading authorities of the Roman bar, simply neglected to mention, in +his memoir, that if she was still merely a wife in name, this was +entirely due to herself. In addition to the evidence of friends and +servants, showing on what terms the husband and wife had lived since +their marriage, the advocate produced a certificate of a medical +character, showing that the non-consummation of the union was certain. +And the Cardinal Vicar, acting as Bishop of Rome, had thereupon remitted +the case to the Congregation of the Council. This was a first success for +Benedetta, and matters remained in this position. She was waiting for the +Congregation to deliver its final pronouncement, hoping that the +ecclesiastical dissolution of the marriage would prove an irresistible +argument in favour of the divorce which she meant to solicit of the civil +courts. And meantime, in the icy rooms where her mother Ernesta, +submissive and desolate, had lately died, the Contessina resumed her +girlish life, showing herself calm, yet very firm in her passion, having +vowed that she would belong to none but Dario, and that she would not +belong to him until the day when a priest should have joined them +together in God's holy name. + +As it happened, some six months previously, Dario also had taken up his +abode at the Boccanera palace in consequence of the death of his father +and the catastrophe which had ruined him. Prince Onofrio, after adopting +Prada's advice and selling the Villa Montefiori to a financial company +for ten million _lire_,* had, instead of prudently keeping his money in +his pockets, succumbed to the fever of speculation which was consuming +Rome. He began to gamble, buying back his own land, and ending by losing +everything in the formidable _krach_ which was swallowing up the wealth +of the entire city. Totally ruined, somewhat deeply in debt even, the +Prince nevertheless continued to promenade the Corso, like the handsome, +smiling, popular man he was, when he accidentally met his death through +falling from his horse; and four months later his widow, the ever +beautiful Flavia--who had managed to save a modern villa and a personal +income of forty thousand _lire_* from the disaster--was remarried to a +man of magnificent presence, her junior by some ten years. This was a +Swiss named Jules Laporte, originally a sergeant in the Papal Swiss +Guard, then a traveller for a shady business in "relics," and finally +Marchese Montefiore, having secured that title in securing his wife, +thanks to a special brief of the Holy Father. Thus the Princess Boccanera +had again become the Marchioness Montefiori. + + * 400,000 pounds. + ** 1,800 pounds. + +It was then that Cardinal Boccanera, feeling greatly hurt, insisted on +his nephew Dario coming to live with him, in a small apartment on the +first floor of the palazzo. In the heart of that holy man, who seemed +dead to the world, there still lingered pride of name and lineage, with a +feeling of affection for his young, slightly built nephew, the last of +the race, the only one by whom the old stock might blossom anew. +Moreover, he was not opposed to Dario's marriage with Benedetta, whom he +also loved with a paternal affection; and so proud was he of the family +honour, and so convinced of the young people's pious rectitude that, in +taking them to live with him, he absolutely scorned the abominable +rumours which Count Prada's friends in the white world had begun to +circulate ever since the two cousins had resided under the same roof. +Donna Serafina guarded Benedetta, as he, the Cardinal, guarded Dario, and +in the silence and the gloom of the vast deserted mansion, ensanguined of +olden time by so many tragic deeds of violence, there now only remained +these four with their restrained, stilled passions, last survivors of a +crumbling world upon the threshold of a new one. + +When Abbe Pierre Froment all at once awoke from sleep, his head heavy +with painful dreams, he was worried to find that the daylight was already +waning. His watch, which he hastened to consult, pointed to six o'clock. +Intending to rest for an hour at the utmost, he had slept on for nearly +seven hours, overcome beyond power of resistance. And even on awaking he +remained on the bed, helpless, as though he were conquered before he had +fought. Why, he wondered, did he experience this prostration, this +unreasonable discouragement, this quiver of doubt which had come he knew +not whence during his sleep, and which was annihilating his youthful +enthusiasm of the morning? Had the Boccaneras any connection with this +sudden weakening of his powers? He had espied dim disquieting figures in +the black night of his dreams; and the anguish which they had brought him +continued, and he again evoked them, scared as he was at thus awaking in +a strange room, full of uneasiness in presence of the unknown. Things no +longer seemed natural to him. He could not understand why Benedetta +should have written to Viscount Philibert de la Choue to tell him that +his, Pierre's, book had been denounced to the Congregation of the Index. +What interest too could she have had in his coming to Rome to defend +himself; and with what object had she carried her amiability so far as to +desire that he should take up his quarters in the mansion? Pierre's +stupefaction indeed arose from his being there, on that bed in that +strange room, in that palace whose deep, death-like silence encompassed +him. As he lay there, his limbs still overpowered and his brain seemingly +empty, a flash of light suddenly came to him, and he realised that there +must be certain circumstances that he knew nothing of that, simple though +things appeared, they must really hide some complicated intrigue. +However, it was only a fugitive gleam of enlightenment; his suspicions +faded; and he rose up shaking himself and accusing the gloomy twilight of +being the sole cause of the shivering and the despondency of which he +felt ashamed. + +In order to bestir himself, Pierre began to examine the two rooms. They +were furnished simply, almost meagrely, in mahogany, there being scarcely +any two articles alike, though all dated from the beginning of the +century. Neither the bed nor the windows nor the doors had any hangings. +On the floor of bare tiles, coloured red and polished, there were merely +some little foot-mats in front of the various seats. And at sight of this +middle-class bareness and coldness Pierre ended by remembering a room +where he had slept in childhood--a room at Versailles, at the abode of +his grandmother, who had kept a little grocer's shop there in the days of +Louis Philippe. However, he became interested in an old painting which +hung in the bed-room, on the wall facing the bed, amidst some childish +and valueless engravings. But partially discernible in the waning light, +this painting represented a woman seated on some projecting stone-work, +on the threshold of a great stern building, whence she seemed to have +been driven forth. The folding doors of bronze had for ever closed behind +her, yet she remained there in a mere drapery of white linen; whilst +scattered articles of clothing, thrown forth chance-wise with a violent +hand, lay upon the massive granite steps. Her feet were bare, her arms +were bare, and her hands, distorted by bitter agony, were pressed to her +face--a face which one saw not, veiled as it was by the tawny gold of her +rippling, streaming hair. What nameless grief, what fearful shame, what +hateful abandonment was thus being hidden by that rejected one, that +lingering victim of love, of whose unknown story one might for ever dream +with tortured heart? It could be divined that she was adorably young and +beautiful in her wretchedness, in the shred of linen draped about her +shoulders; but a mystery enveloped everything else--her passion, possibly +her misfortune, perhaps even her transgression--unless, indeed, she were +there merely as a symbol of all that shivers and that weeps visageless +before the ever closed portals of the unknown. For a long time Pierre +looked at her, and so intently that he at last imagined he could +distinguish her profile, divine in its purity and expression of +suffering. But this was only an illusion; the painting had greatly +suffered, blackened by time and neglect; and he asked himself whose work +it might be that it should move him so intensely. On the adjoining wall a +picture of a Madonna, a bad copy of an eighteenth-century painting, +irritated him by the banality of its smile. + +Night was falling faster and faster, and, opening the sitting-room +window, Pierre leant out. On the other bank of the Tiber facing him arose +the Janiculum, the height whence he had gazed upon Rome that morning. But +at this dim hour Rome was no longer the city of youth and dreamland +soaring into the early sunshine. The night was raining down, grey and +ashen; the horizon was becoming blurred, vague, and mournful. Yonder, to +the left, beyond the sea of roofs, Pierre could still divine the presence +of the Palatine; and yonder, to the right, there still arose the Dome of +St. Peter's, now grey like slate against the leaden sky; whilst behind +him the Quirinal, which he could not see, must also be fading away into +the misty night. A few minutes went by, and everything became yet more +blurred; he realised that Rome was fading, departing in its immensity of +which he knew nothing. Then his causeless doubt and disquietude again +came on him so painfully that he could no longer remain at the window. He +closed it and sat down, letting the darkness submerge him with its flood +of infinite sadness. And his despairing reverie only ceased when the door +gently opened and the glow of a lamp enlivened the room. + +It was Victorine who came in quietly, bringing the light. "Ah! so you are +up, Monsieur l'Abbe," said she; "I came in at about four o'clock but I +let you sleep on. You have done quite right to take all the rest you +required." + +Then, as he complained of pains and shivering, she became anxious. "Don't +go catching their nasty fevers," she said. "It isn't at all healthy near +their river, you know. Don Vigilio, his Eminence's secretary, is always +having the fever, and I assure you that it isn't pleasant." + +She accordingly advised him to remain upstairs and lie down again. She +would excuse his absence to the Princess and the Contessina. And he ended +by letting her do as she desired, for he was in no state to have any will +of his own. By her advice he dined, partaking of some soup, a wing of a +chicken, and some preserves, which Giaccomo, the big lackey, brought up +to him. And the food did him a great deal of good; he felt so restored +that he refused to go to bed, desiring, said he, to thank the ladies that +very evening for their kindly hospitality. As Donna Serafina received on +Mondays he would present himself before her. + +"Very good," said Victorine approvingly. "As you are all right again it +can do you no harm, it will even enliven you. The best thing will be for +Don Vigilio to come for you at nine o'clock and accompany you. Wait for +him here." + +Pierre had just washed and put on the new cassock he had brought with +him, when, at nine o'clock precisely, he heard a discreet knock at his +door. A little priest came in, a man scarcely thirty years of age, but +thin and debile of build, with a long, seared, saffron-coloured face. For +two years past attacks of fever, coming on every day at the same hour, +had been consuming him. Nevertheless, whenever he forgot to control the +black eyes which lighted his yellow face, they shone out ardently with +the glow of his fiery soul. He bowed, and then in fluent French +introduced himself in this simple fashion: "Don Vigilio, Monsieur l'Abbe, +who is entirely at your service. If you are willing, we will go down." + +Pierre immediately followed him, expressing his thanks, and Don Vigilio, +relapsing into silence, answered his remarks with a smile. Having +descended the small staircase, they found themselves on the second floor, +on the spacious landing of the grand staircase. And Pierre was surprised +and saddened by the scanty illumination, which, as in some dingy +lodging-house, was limited to a few gas-jets, placed far apart, their +yellow splotches but faintly relieving the deep gloom of the lofty, +endless corridors. All was gigantic and funereal. Even on the landing, +where was the entrance to Donna Serafina's apartments, facing those +occupied by her niece, nothing indicated that a reception was being held +that evening. The door remained closed, not a sound came from the rooms, +a death-like silence arose from the whole palace. And Don Vigilio did not +even ring, but, after a fresh bow, discreetly turned the door-handle. + +A single petroleum lamp, placed on a table, lighted the ante-room, a +large apartment with bare fresco-painted walls, simulating hangings of +red and gold, draped regularly all around in the antique fashion. A few +men's overcoats and two ladies' mantles lay on the chairs, whilst a pier +table was littered with hats, and a servant sat there dozing, with his +back to the wall. + +However, as Don Vigilio stepped aside to allow Pierre to enter a first +reception-room, hung with red _brocatelle_, a room but dimly lighted and +which he imagined to be empty, the young priest found himself face to +face with an apparition in black, a woman whose features he could not at +first distinguish. Fortunately he heard his companion say, with a low +bow, "Contessina, I have the honour to present to you Monsieur l'Abbe +Pierre Froment, who arrived from France this morning." + +Then, for a moment, Pierre remained alone with Benedetta in that deserted +_salon_, in the sleepy glimmer of two lace-veiled lamps. At present, +however, a sound of voices came from a room beyond, a larger apartment +whose doorway, with folding doors thrown wide open, described a +parallelogram of brighter light. + +The young woman at once showed herself very affable, with perfect +simplicity of manner: "Ah! I am happy to see you, Monsieur l'Abbe. I was +afraid that your indisposition might be serious. You are quite recovered +now, are you not?" + +Pierre listened to her, fascinated by her slow and rather thick voice, in +which restrained passion seemed to mingle with much prudent good sense. +And at last he saw her, with her hair so heavy and so dark, her skin so +white, the whiteness of ivory. She had a round face, with somewhat full +lips, a small refined nose, features as delicate as a child's. But it was +especially her eyes that lived, immense eyes, whose infinite depths none +could fathom. Was she slumbering? Was she dreaming? Did her motionless +face conceal the ardent tension of a great saint and a great _amorosa_? +So white, so young, and so calm, her every movement was harmonious, her +appearance at once very staid, very noble, and very rhythmical. In her +ears she wore two large pearls of matchless purity, pearls which had come +from a famous necklace of her mother's, known throughout Rome. + +Pierre apologised and thanked her. "You see me in confusion, madame," +said he; "I should have liked to express to you this morning my gratitude +for your great kindness." + +He had hesitated to call her madame, remembering the plea brought forward +in the suit for the dissolution of her marriage. But plainly enough +everybody must call her madame. Moreover, her face had retained its calm +and kindly expression. + +"Consider yourself at home here, Monsieur l'Abbe," she responded, wishing +to put him at his ease. "It is sufficient that our relative, Monsieur de +la Choue, should be fond of you, and take interest in your work. I have, +you know, much affection for him." Then her voice faltered slightly, for +she realised that she ought to speak of the book, the one reason of +Pierre's journey and her proffered hospitality. "Yes," she added, "the +Viscount sent me your book. I read it and found it very beautiful. It +disturbed me. But I am only an ignoramus, and certainly failed to +understand everything in it. We must talk it over together; you will +explain your ideas to me, won't you, Monsieur l'Abbe?" + +In her large clear eyes, which did not know how to lie, Pierre then read +the surprise and emotion of a child's soul when confronted by disquieting +and undreamt-of problems. So it was not she who had become impassioned +and had desired to have him near her that she might sustain him and +assist his victory. Once again, and this time very keenly, he suspected a +secret influence, a hidden hand which was directing everything towards +some unknown goal. However, he was charmed by so much simplicity and +frankness in so beautiful, young, and noble a creature; and he gave +himself to her after the exchange of those few words, and was about to +tell her that she might absolutely dispose of him, when he was +interrupted by the advent of another woman, whose tall, slight figure, +also clad in black, stood out strongly against the luminous background of +the further reception-room as seen through the open doorway. + +"Well, Benedetta, have you sent Giaccomo up to see?" asked the newcomer. +"Don Vigilio has just come down and he is quite alone. It is improper." + +"No, no, aunt. Monsieur l'Abbe is here," was the reply of Benedetta, +hastening to introduce the young priest. "Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre +Froment--The Princess Boccanera." + +Ceremonious salutations were exchanged. The Princess must have been +nearly sixty, but she laced herself so tightly that from behind one might +have taken her for a young woman. This tight lacing, however, was her +last coquetry. Her hair, though still plentiful, was quite white, her +eyebrows alone remaining black in her long, wrinkled face, from which +projected the large obstinate nose of the family. She had never been +beautiful, and had remained a spinster, wounded to the heart by the +selection of Count Brandini, who had preferred her younger sister, +Ernesta. From that moment she had resolved to seek consolation and +satisfaction in family pride alone, the hereditary pride of the great +name which she bore. The Boccaneras had already supplied two Popes to the +Church, and she hoped that before she died her brother would become the +third. She had transformed herself into his housekeeper, as it were, +remaining with him, watching over him, and advising him, managing all the +household affairs herself, and accomplishing miracles in order to conceal +the slow ruin which was bringing the ceilings about their heads. If every +Monday for thirty years past she had continued receiving a few intimates, +all of them folks of the Vatican, it was from high political +considerations, so that her drawing-room might remain a meeting-place of +the black world, a power and a threat. + +And Pierre divined by her greeting that she deemed him of little account, +petty foreign priest that he was, not even a prelate. This too again +surprised him, again brought the puzzling question to the fore: Why had +he been invited, what was expected of him in this society from which the +humble were usually excluded? Knowing the Princess to be austerely +devout, he at last fancied that she received him solely out of regard for +her kinsman, the Viscount, for in her turn she only found these words of +welcome: "We are so pleased to receive good news of Monsieur de la Choue! +He brought us such a beautiful pilgrimage two years ago." + +Passing the first through the doorway, she at last ushered the young +priest into the adjoining reception-room. It was a spacious square +apartment, hung with old yellow _brocatelle_ of a flowery Louis XIV +pattern. The lofty ceiling was adorned with a very fine panelling, carved +and coloured, with gilded roses in each compartment. The furniture, +however, was of all sorts. There were some high mirrors, a couple of +superb gilded pier tables, and a few handsome seventeenth-century +arm-chairs; but all the rest was wretched. A heavy round table of +first-empire style, which had come nobody knew whence, caught the eye +with a medley of anomalous articles picked up at some bazaar, and a +quantity of cheap photographs littered the costly marble tops of the pier +tables. No interesting article of _virtu_ was to be seen. The old +paintings on the walls were with two exceptions feebly executed. There +was a delightful example of an unknown primitive master, a +fourteenth-century Visitation, in which the Virgin had the stature and +pure delicacy of a child of ten, whilst the Archangel, huge and superb, +inundated her with a stream of dazzling, superhuman love; and in front of +this hung an antique family portrait, depicting a very beautiful young +girl in a turban, who was thought to be Cassia Boccanera, the _amorosa_ +and avengeress who had flung herself into the Tiber with her brother +Ercole and the corpse of her lover, Flavio Corradini. Four lamps threw a +broad, peaceful glow over the faded room, and, like a melancholy sunset, +tinged it with yellow. It looked grave and bare, with not even a flower +in a vase to brighten it. + +In a few words Donna Serafina at once introduced Pierre to the company; +and in the silence, the pause which ensued in the conversation, he felt +that every eye was fixed upon him as upon a promised and expected +curiosity. There were altogether some ten persons present, among them +being Dario, who stood talking with little Princess Celia Buongiovanni, +whilst the elderly relative who had brought the latter sat whispering to +a prelate, Monsignor Nani, in a dim corner. Pierre, however, had been +particularly struck by the name of Consistorial-Advocate Morano, of whose +position in the house Viscount de la Choue had thought proper to inform +him in order to avert any unpleasant blunder. For thirty years past +Morano had been Donna Serafina's _amico_. Their connection, formerly a +guilty one, for the advocate had wife and children of his own, had in +course of time, since he had been left a widower, become one of those +_liaisons_ which tolerant people excuse and except. Both parties were +extremely devout and had certainly assured themselves of all needful +"indulgences." And thus Morano was there in the seat which he had always +taken for a quarter of a century past, a seat beside the chimney-piece, +though as yet the winter fire had not been lighted, and when Donna +Serafina had discharged her duties as mistress of the house, she returned +to her own place in front of him, on the other side of the chimney. + +When Pierre in his turn had seated himself near Don Vigilio, who, silent +and discreet, had already taken a chair, Dario resumed in a louder voice +the story which he had been relating to Celia. Dario was a handsome man, +of average height, slim and elegant. He wore a full beard, dark and +carefully tended, and had the long face and pronounced nose of the +Boccaneras, but the impoverishment of the family blood over a course of +centuries had attenuated, softened as it were, any sharpness or undue +prominence of feature. + +"Oh! a beauty, an astounding beauty!" he repeated emphatically. + +"Whose beauty?" asked Benedetta, approaching him. + +Celia, who resembled the little Virgin of the primitive master hanging +above her head, began to laugh. "Oh! Dario's speaking of a poor girl, a +work-girl whom he met to-day," she explained. + +Thereupon Dario had to begin his narrative again. It appeared that while +passing along a narrow street near the Piazza Navona, he had perceived a +tall, shapely girl of twenty, who was weeping and sobbing violently, +prone upon a flight of steps. Touched particularly by her beauty, he had +approached her and learnt that she had been working in the house outside +which she was, a manufactory of wax beads, but that, slack times having +come, the workshops had closed and she did not dare to return home, so +fearful was the misery there. Amidst the downpour of her tears she raised +such beautiful eyes to his that he ended by drawing some money from his +pocket. But at this, crimson with confusion, she sprang to her feet, +hiding her hands in the folds of her skirt, and refusing to take +anything. She added, however, that he might follow her if it so pleased +him, and give the money to her mother. And then she hurried off towards +the Ponte St'. Angelo.* + + * Bridge of St. Angelo. + +"Yes, she was a beauty, a perfect beauty," repeated Dario with an air of +ecstasy. "Taller than I, and slim though sturdy, with the bosom of a +goddess. In fact, a real antique, a Venus of twenty, her chin rather +bold, her mouth and nose of perfect form, and her eyes wonderfully pure +and large! And she was bare-headed too, with nothing but a crown of heavy +black hair, and a dazzling face, gilded, so to say, by the sun." + +They had all begun to listen to him, enraptured, full of that passionate +admiration for beauty which, in spite of every change, Rome still retains +in her heart. + +"Those beautiful girls of the people are becoming very rare," remarked +Morano. "You might scour the Trastevere without finding any. However, +this proves that there is at least one of them left." + +"And what was your goddess's name?" asked Benedetta, smiling, amused and +enraptured like the others. + +"Pierina," replied Dario, also with a laugh. + +"And what did you do with her?" + +At this question the young man's excited face assumed an expression of +discomfort and fear, like the face of a child on suddenly encountering +some ugly creature amidst its play. + +"Oh! don't talk of it," said he. "I felt very sorry afterwards. I saw +such misery--enough to make one ill." + +Yielding to his curiosity, it seemed, he had followed the girl across the +Ponte St'. Angelo into the new district which was being built over the +former castle meadows*; and there, on the first floor of an abandoned +house which was already falling into ruins, though the plaster was +scarcely dry, he had come upon a frightful spectacle which still stirred +his heart: a whole family, father and mother, children, and an infirm old +uncle, dying of hunger and rotting in filth! He selected the most +dignified words he could think of to describe the scene, waving his hand +the while with a gesture of fright, as if to ward off some horrible +vision. + + * The meadows around the Castle of St. Angelo. The district, now + covered with buildings, is quite flat and was formerly greatly + subject to floods. It is known as the Quartiere dei Prati.--Trans. + +"At last," he concluded, "I ran away, and you may be sure that I shan't +go back again." + +A general wagging of heads ensued in the cold, irksome silence which fell +upon the room. Then Morano summed up the matter in a few bitter words, in +which he accused the despoilers, the men of the Quirinal, of being the +sole cause of all the frightful misery of Rome. Were not people even +talking of the approaching nomination of Deputy Sacco as Minister of +Finances--Sacco, that intriguer who had engaged in all sorts of underhand +practices? His appointment would be the climax of impudence; bankruptcy +would speedily and infallibly ensue. + +Meantime Benedetta, who had fixed her eyes on Pierre, with his book in +her mind, alone murmured: "Poor people, how very sad! But why not go back +to see them?" + +Pierre, out of his element and absent-minded during the earlier moments, +had been deeply stirred by the latter part of Dario's narrative. His +thoughts reverted to his apostolate amidst the misery of Paris, and his +heart was touched with compassion at being confronted by the story of +such fearful sufferings on the very day of his arrival in Rome. +Unwittingly, impulsively, he raised his voice, and said aloud: "Oh! we +will go to see them together, madame; you will take me. These questions +impassion me so much." + +The attention of everybody was then again turned upon the young priest. +The others questioned him, and he realised that they were all anxious +about his first impressions, his opinion of their city and of themselves. +He must not judge Rome by mere outward appearances, they said. What +effect had the city produced on him? How had he found it, and what did he +think of it? Thereupon he politely apologised for his inability to answer +them. He had not yet gone out, said he, and had seen nothing. But this +answer was of no avail; they pressed him all the more keenly, and he +fully understood that their object was to gain him over to admiration and +love. They advised him, adjured him not to yield to any fatal +disillusion, but to persist and wait until Rome should have revealed to +him her soul. + +"How long do you expect to remain among us, Monsieur l'Abbe?" suddenly +inquired a courteous voice, with a clear but gentle ring. + +It was Monsignor Nani, who, seated in the gloom, thus raised his voice +for the first time. On several occasions it had seemed to Pierre that the +prelate's keen blue eyes were steadily fixed upon him, though all the +while he pretended to be attentively listening to the drawling chatter of +Celia's aunt. And before replying Pierre glanced at him. In his +crimson-edged cassock, with a violet silk sash drawn tightly around his +waist, Nani still looked young, although he was over fifty. His hair had +remained blond, he had a straight refined nose, a mouth very firm yet +very delicate of contour, and beautifully white teeth. + +"Why, a fortnight or perhaps three weeks, Monsignor," replied Pierre. + +The whole _salon_ protested. What, three weeks! It was his pretension to +know Rome in three weeks! Why, six weeks, twelve months, ten years were +required! The first impression was always a disastrous one, and a long +sojourn was needed for a visitor to recover from it. + +"Three weeks!" repeated Donna Serafina with her disdainful air. "Is it +possible for people to study one another and get fond of one another in +three weeks? Those who come back to us are those who have learned to know +us." + +Instead of launching into exclamations like the others, Nani had at first +contented himself with smiling, and gently waving his shapely hand, which +bespoke his aristocratic origin. Then, as Pierre modestly explained +himself, saying that he had come to Rome to attend to certain matters and +would leave again as soon as those matters should have been concluded, +the prelate, still smiling, summed up the argument with the remark: "Oh! +Monsieur l'Abbe will stay with us for more than three weeks; we shall +have the happiness of his presence here for a long time, I hope." + +These words, though spoken with quiet cordiality, strangely disturbed the +young priest. What was known, what was meant? He leant towards Don +Vigilio, who had remained near him, still and ever silent, and in a +whisper inquired: "Who is Monsignor Nani?" + +The secretary, however, did not at once reply. His feverish face became +yet more livid. Then his ardent eyes glanced round to make sure that +nobody was watching him, and in a breath he responded: "He is the +Assessor of the Holy Office."* + + * Otherwise the Inquisition. + +This information sufficed, for Pierre was not ignorant of the fact that +the assessor, who was present in silence at the meetings of the Holy +Office, waited upon his Holiness every Wednesday evening after the +sitting, to render him an account of the matters dealt with in the +afternoon. This weekly audience, this hour spent with the Pope in a +privacy which allowed of every subject being broached, gave the assessor +an exceptional position, one of considerable power. Moreover the office +led to the cardinalate; the only "rise" that could be given to the +assessor was his promotion to the Sacred College. + +Monsignor Nani, who seemed so perfectly frank and amiable, continued to +look at the young priest with such an encouraging air that the latter +felt obliged to go and occupy the seat beside him, which Celia's old aunt +at last vacated. After all, was there not an omen of victory in meeting, +on the very day of his arrival, a powerful prelate whose influence would +perhaps open every door to him? He therefore felt very touched when +Monsignor Nani, immediately after the first words, inquired in a tone of +deep interest, "And so, my dear child, you have published a book?" + +After this, gradually mastered by his enthusiasm and forgetting where he +was, Pierre unbosomed himself, and recounted the birth and progress of +his burning love amidst the sick and the humble, gave voice to his dream +of a return to the olden Christian community, and triumphed with the +rejuvenescence of Catholicism, developing into the one religion of the +universal democracy. Little by little he again raised his voice, and +silence fell around him in the stern, antique reception-room, every one +lending ear to his words with increasing surprise, with a growing +coldness of which he remained unconscious. + +At last Nani gently interrupted him, still wearing his perpetual smile, +the faint irony of which, however, had departed. "No doubt, no doubt, my +dear child," he said, "it is very beautiful, oh! very beautiful, well +worthy of the pure and noble imagination of a Christian. But what do you +count on doing now?" + +"I shall go straight to the Holy Father to defend myself," answered +Pierre. + +A light, restrained laugh went round, and Donna Serafina expressed the +general opinion by exclaiming: "The Holy Father isn't seen as easily as +that." + +Pierre, however, was quite impassioned. "Well, for my part," he rejoined, +"I hope I shall see him. Have I not expressed his views? Have I not +defended his policy? Can he let my book be condemned when I believe that +I have taken inspiration from all that is best in him?" + +"No doubt, no doubt," Nani again hastily replied, as if he feared that +the others might be too brusque with the young enthusiast. "The Holy +Father has such a lofty mind. And of course it would be necessary to see +him. Only, my dear child, you must not excite yourself so much; reflect a +little; take your time." And, turning to Benedetta, he added, "Of course +his Eminence has not seen Abbe Froment yet. It would be well, however, +that he should receive him to-morrow morning to guide him with his wise +counsel." + +Cardinal Boccanera never attended his sister's Monday-evening receptions. +Still, he was always there in the spirit, like some absent sovereign +master. + +"To tell the truth," replied the Contessina, hesitating, "I fear that my +uncle does not share Monsieur l'Abbe's views." + +Nani again smiled. "Exactly; he will tell him things which it is good he +should hear." + +Thereupon it was at once settled with Don Vigilio that the latter would +put down the young priest's name for an audience on the following morning +at ten o'clock. + +However, at that moment a cardinal came in, clad in town costume--his +sash and his stockings red, but his simar black, with a red edging and +red buttons. It was Cardinal Sarno, a very old intimate of the +Boccaneras; and whilst he apologised for arriving so late, through press +of work, the company became silent and deferentially clustered round him. +This was the first cardinal Pierre had seen, and he felt greatly +disappointed, for the newcomer had none of the majesty, none of the fine +port and presence to which he had looked forward. On the contrary, he was +short and somewhat deformed, with the left shoulder higher than the +right, and a worn, ashen face with lifeless eyes. To Pierre he looked +like some old clerk of seventy, half stupefied by fifty years of office +work, dulled and bent by incessantly leaning over his writing desk ever +since his youth. And indeed that was Sarno's story. The puny child of a +petty middle-class family, he had been educated at the Seminario Romano. +Then later he had for ten years professed Canon Law at that same +seminary, afterwards becoming one of the secretaries of the Congregation +for the Propagation of the Faith. Finally, five and twenty years ago, he +had been created a cardinal, and the jubilee of his cardinalate had +recently been celebrated. Born in Rome, he had always lived there; he was +the perfect type of the prelate who, through growing up in the shade of +the Vatican, has become one of the masters of the world. Although he had +never occupied any diplomatic post, he had rendered such important +services to the Propaganda, by his methodical habits of work, that he had +become president of one of the two commissions which furthered the +interests of the Church in those vast countries of the west which are not +yet Catholic. And thus, in the depths of his dim eyes, behind his low, +dull-looking brow, the huge map of Christendom was stored away. + +Nani himself had risen, full of covert respect for the unobtrusive but +terrible man whose hand was everywhere, even in the most distant corners +of the earth, although he had never left his office. As Nani knew, +despite his apparent nullity, Sarno, with his slow, methodical, ably +organised work of conquest, possessed sufficient power to set empires in +confusion. + +"Has your Eminence recovered from that cold which distressed us so much?" +asked Nani. + +"No, no, I still cough. There is a most malignant passage at the offices. +I feel as cold as ice as soon as I leave my room." + +From that moment Pierre felt quite little, virtually lost. He was not +even introduced to the Cardinal. And yet he had to remain in the room for +nearly another hour, looking around and observing. That antiquated world +then seemed to him puerile, as though it had lapsed into a mournful +second childhood. Under all the apparent haughtiness and proud reserve he +could divine real timidity, unacknowledged distrust, born of great +ignorance. If the conversation did not become general, it was because +nobody dared to speak out frankly; and what he heard in the corners was +simply so much childish chatter, the petty gossip of the week, the +trivial echoes of sacristies and drawing-rooms. People saw but little of +one another, and the slightest incidents assumed huge proportions. At +last Pierre ended by feeling as though he were transported into some +_salon_ of the time of Charles X, in one of the episcopal cities of the +French provinces. No refreshments were served. Celia's old aunt secured +possession of Cardinal Sarno; but, instead of replying to her, he simply +wagged his head from time to time. Don Vigilio had not opened his mouth +the whole evening. However, a conversation in a very low tone was started +by Nani and Morano, to whom Donna Serafina listened, leaning forward and +expressing her approval by slowly nodding her head. They were doubtless +speaking of the dissolution of Benedetta's marriage, for they glanced at +the young woman gravely from time to time. And in the centre of the +spacious room, in the sleepy glow of the lamps, there was only the young +people, Benedetta, Dario, and Celia who seemed to be at all alive, +chattering in undertones and occasionally repressing a burst of laughter. + +All at once Pierre was struck by the great resemblance between Benedetta +and the portrait of Cassia hanging on the wall. Each displayed the same +delicate youth, the same passionate mouth, the same large, unfathomable +eyes, set in the same round, sensible, healthy-looking face. In each +there was certainly the same upright soul, the same heart of flame. Then +a recollection came to Pierre, that of a painting by Guido Reni, the +adorable, candid head of Beatrice Cenci, which, at that moment and to his +thinking, the portrait of Cassia closely resembled. This resemblance +stirred him and he glanced at Benedetta with anxious sympathy, as if all +the fierce fatality of race and country were about to fall on her. But +no, it could not be; she looked so calm, so resolute, and so patient! +Besides, ever since he had entered that room he had noticed none other +than signs of gay fraternal tenderness between her and Dario, especially +on her side, for her face ever retained the bright serenity of a love +which may be openly confessed. At one moment, it is true, Dario in a +joking way had caught hold of her hands and pressed them; but while he +began to laugh rather nervously, with a brighter gleam darting from his +eyes, she on her side, all composure, slowly freed her hands, as though +theirs was but the play of old and affectionate friends. She loved him, +though, it was visible, with her whole being and for her whole life. + +At last when Dario, after stifling a slight yawn and glancing at his +watch, had slipped off to join some friends who were playing cards at a +lady's house, Benedetta and Celia sat down together on a sofa near +Pierre; and the latter, without wishing to listen, overheard a few words +of their confidential chat. The little Princess was the eldest daughter +of Prince Matteo Buongiovanni, who was already the father of five +children by an English wife, a Mortimer, to whom he was indebted for a +dowry of two hundred thousand pounds. Indeed, the Buongiovannis were +known as one of the few patrician families of Rome that were still rich, +still erect among the ruins of the past, now crumbling on every side. +They also numbered two popes among their forerunners, yet this had not +prevented Prince Matteo from lending support to the Quirinal without +quarrelling with the Vatican. Son of an American woman, no longer having +the pure Roman blood in his veins, he was a more supple politician than +other aristocrats, and was also, folks said, extremely grasping, +struggling to be one of the last to retain the wealth and power of olden +times, which he realised were condemned to death. Yet it was in his +family, renowned for its superb pride and its continued magnificence, +that a love romance had lately taken birth, a romance which was the +subject of endless gossip: Celia had suddenly fallen in love with a young +lieutenant to whom she had never spoken; her love was reciprocated, and +the passionate attachment of the officer and the girl only found vent in +the glances they exchanged on meeting each day during the usual drive +through the Corso. Nevertheless Celia displayed a tenacious will, and +after declaring to her father that she would never take any other +husband, she was waiting, firm and resolute, in the certainty that she +would ultimately secure the man of her choice. The worst of the affair +was that the lieutenant, Attilio Sacco, happened to be the son of Deputy +Sacco, a parvenu whom the black world looked down upon, as upon one sold +to the Quirinal and ready to undertake the very dirtiest job. + +"It was for me that Morano spoke just now," Celia murmured in Benedetta's +ear. "Yes, yes, when he spoke so harshly of Attilio's father and that +ministerial appointment which people are talking about. He wanted to give +me a lesson." + +The two girls had sworn eternal affection in their school-days, and +Benedetta, the elder by five years, showed herself maternal. "And so," +she said, "you've not become a whit more reasonable. You still think of +that young man?" + +"What! are you going to grieve me too, dear?" replied Celia. "I love +Attilio and mean to have him. Yes, him and not another! I want him and +I'll have him, because I love him and he loves me. It's simple enough." + +Pierre glanced at her, thunderstruck. With her gentle virgin face she was +like a candid, budding lily. A brow and a nose of blossom-like purity; a +mouth all innocence with its lips closing over pearly teeth, and eyes +like spring water, clear and fathomless. And not a quiver passed over her +cheeks of satiny freshness, no sign, however faint, of anxiety or +inquisitiveness appeared in her candid glance. Did she think? Did she +know? Who could have answered? She was virginity personified with all its +redoubtable mystery. + +"Ah! my dear," resumed Benedetta, "don't begin my sad story over again. +One doesn't succeed in marrying the Pope and the King." + +All tranquillity, Celia responded: "But you didn't love Prada, whereas I +love Attilio. Life lies in that: one must love." + +These words, spoken so naturally by that ignorant child, disturbed Pierre +to such a point that he felt tears rising to his eyes. Love! yes, therein +lay the solution of every quarrel, the alliance between the nations, the +reign of peace and joy throughout the world! However, Donna Serafina had +now risen, shrewdly suspecting the nature of the conversation which was +impassioning the two girls. And she gave Don Vigilio a glance, which the +latter understood, for he came to tell Pierre in an undertone that it was +time to retire. Eleven o'clock was striking, and Celia went off with her +aunt. Advocate Morano, however, doubtless desired to retain Cardinal +Sarno and Nani for a few moments in order that they might privately +discuss some difficulty which had arisen in the divorce proceedings. On +reaching the outer reception-room, Benedetta, after kissing Celia on both +cheeks, took leave of Pierre with much good grace. + +"In answering the Viscount to-morrow morning," said she, "I shall tell +him how happy we are to have you with us, and for longer than you think. +Don't forget to come down at ten o'clock to see my uncle, the Cardinal." + +Having climbed to the third floor again, Pierre and Don Vigilio, each +carrying a candlestick which the servant had handed to them, were about +to part for the night, when the former could not refrain from asking the +secretary a question which had been worrying him for hours: "Is Monsignor +Nani a very influential personage?" + +Don Vigilio again became quite scared, and simply replied by a gesture, +opening his arms as if to embrace the world. Then his eyes flashed, and +in his turn he seemed to yield to inquisitiveness. "You already knew him, +didn't you?" he inquired. + +"I? not at all!" + +"Really! Well, he knows you very well. Last Monday I heard him speak of +you in such precise terms that he seemed to be acquainted with the +slightest particulars of your career and your character." + +"Why, I never even heard his name before." + +"Then he must have procured information." + +Thereupon Don Vigilio bowed and entered his room; whilst Pierre, +surprised to find his door open, saw Victorine come out with her calm +active air. + +"Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe, I wanted to make sure that you had everything you +were likely to want. There are candles, water, sugar, and matches. And +what do you take in the morning, please? Coffee? No, a cup of milk with a +roll. Very good; at eight o'clock, eh? And now rest and sleep well. I was +awfully afraid of ghosts during the first nights I spent in this old +palace! But I never saw a trace of one. The fact is, when people are +dead, they are too well pleased, and don't want to break their rest!" + +Then off she went, and Pierre at last found himself alone, glad to be +able to shake off the strain imposed on him, to free himself from the +discomfort which he had felt in that reception-room, among those people +who in his mind still mingled and vanished like shadows in the sleepy +glow of the lamps. Ghosts, thought he, are the old dead ones of long ago +whose distressed spirits return to love and suffer in the breasts of the +living of to-day. And, despite his long afternoon rest, he had never felt +so weary, so desirous of slumber, confused and foggy as was his mind, +full of the fear that he had hitherto not understood things aright. When +he began to undress, his astonishment at being in that room returned to +him with such intensity that he almost fancied himself another person. +What did all those people think of his book? Why had he been brought to +this cold dwelling whose hostility he could divine? Was it for the +purpose of helping him or conquering him? And again in the yellow +glimmer, the dismal sunset of the drawing-room, he perceived Donna +Serafina and Advocate Morano on either side of the chimney-piece, whilst +behind the calm yet passionate visage of Benedetta appeared the smiling +face of Monsignor Nani, with cunning eyes and lips bespeaking indomitable +energy. + +He went to bed, but soon got up again, stifling, feeling such a need of +fresh, free air that he opened the window wide in order to lean out. But +the night was black as ink, the darkness had submerged the horizon. A +mist must have hidden the stars in the firmament; the vault above seemed +opaque and heavy like lead; and yonder in front the houses of the +Trastevere had long since been asleep. Not one of all their windows +glittered; there was but a single gaslight shining, all alone and far +away, like a lost spark. In vain did Pierre seek the Janiculum. In the +depths of that ocean of nihility all sunk and vanished, Rome's four and +twenty centuries, the ancient Palatine and the modern Quirinal, even the +giant dome of St. Peter's, blotted out from the sky by the flood of +gloom. And below him he could not see, he could not even hear the Tiber, +the dead river flowing past the dead city. + + + + +III. + +AT a quarter to ten o'clock on the following morning Pierre came down to +the first floor of the mansion for his audience with Cardinal Boccanera. +He had awoke free of all fatigue and again full of courage and candid +enthusiasm; nothing remaining of his strange despondency of the previous +night, the doubts and suspicions which had then come over him. The +morning was so fine, the sky so pure and so bright, that his heart once +more palpitated with hope. + +On the landing he found the folding doors of the first ante-room wide +open. While closing the gala saloons which overlooked the street, and +which were rotting with old age and neglect, the Cardinal still used the +reception-rooms of one of his grand-uncles, who in the eighteenth century +had risen to the same ecclesiastical dignity as himself. There was a +suite of four immense rooms, each sixteen feet high, with windows facing +the lane which sloped down towards the Tiber; and the sun never entered +them, shut off as it was by the black houses across the lane. Thus the +installation, in point of space, was in keeping with the display and pomp +of the old-time princely dignitaries of the Church. But no repairs were +ever made, no care was taken of anything, the hangings were frayed and +ragged, and dust preyed on the furniture, amidst an unconcern which +seemed to betoken some proud resolve to stay the course of time. + +Pierre experienced a slight shock as he entered the first room, the +servants' ante-chamber. Formerly two pontifical _gente d'armi_ in full +uniform had always stood there amidst a stream of lackeys; and the single +servant now on duty seemed by his phantom-like appearance to increase the +melancholiness of the vast and gloomy hall. One was particularly struck +by an altar facing the windows, an altar with red drapery surmounted by a +_baldacchino_ with red hangings, on which appeared the escutcheon of the +Boccaneras, the winged dragon spitting flames with the device, _Bocca +nera, Alma rossa_. And the grand-uncle's red hat, the old huge ceremonial +hat, was also there, with the two cushions of red silk, and the two +antique parasols which were taken in the coach each time his Eminence +went out. And in the deep silence it seemed as if one could almost hear +the faint noise of the moths preying for a century past upon all this +dead splendour, which would have fallen into dust at the slightest touch +of a feather broom. + +The second ante-room, that was formerly occupied by the secretary, was +also empty, and it was only in the third one, the _anticamera nobile_, +that Pierre found Don Vigilio. With his retinue reduced to what was +strictly necessary, the Cardinal had preferred to have his secretary near +him--at the door, so to say, of the old throne-room, where he gave +audience. And Don Vigilio, so thin and yellow, and quivering with fever, +sat there like one lost, at a small, common, black table covered with +papers. Raising his head from among a batch of documents, he recognised +Pierre, and in a low voice, a faint murmur amidst the silence, he said, +"His Eminence is engaged. Please wait." + +Then he again turned to his reading, doubtless to escape all attempts at +conversation. + +Not daring to sit down, Pierre examined the apartment. It looked perhaps +yet more dilapidated than the others, with its hangings of green damask +worn by age and resembling the faded moss on ancient trees. The ceiling, +however, had remained superb. Within a frieze of gilded and coloured +ornaments was a fresco representing the Triumph of Amphitrite, the work +of one of Raffaelle's pupils. And, according to antique usage, it was +here that the _berretta_, the red cap, was placed, on a credence, below a +large crucifix of ivory and ebony. + +As Pierre grew used to the half-light, however, his attention was more +particularly attracted by a recently painted full-length portrait of the +Cardinal in ceremonial costume--cassock of red moire, rochet of lace, and +_cappa_ thrown like a royal mantle over his shoulders. In these vestments +of the Church the tall old man of seventy retained the proud bearing of a +prince, clean shaven, but still boasting an abundance of white hair which +streamed in curls over his shoulders. He had the commanding visage of the +Boccaneras, a large nose and a large thin-lipped mouth in a long face +intersected by broad lines; and the eyes which lighted his pale +countenance were indeed the eyes of his race, very dark, yet sparkling +with ardent life under bushy brows which had remained quite black. With +laurels about his head he would have resembled a Roman emperor, very +handsome and master of the world, as though indeed the blood of Augustus +pulsated in his veins. + +Pierre knew his story which this portrait recalled. Educated at the +College of the Nobles, Pio Boccanera had but once absented himself from +Rome, and that when very young, hardly a deacon, but nevertheless +appointed oblegate to convey a _berretta_ to Paris. On his return his +ecclesiastical career had continued in sovereign fashion. Honours had +fallen on him naturally, as by right of birth. Ordained by Pius IX +himself, afterwards becoming a Canon of the Vatican Basilica, and +_Cameriere segreto_, he had risen to the post of Majordomo about the time +of the Italian occupation, and in 1874 had been created a Cardinal. For +the last four years, moreover, he had been Papal Chamberlain +(_Camerlingo_), and folks whispered that Leo XIII had appointed him to +that post, even as he himself had been appointed to it by Pius IX, in +order to lessen his chance of succeeding to the pontifical throne; for +although the conclave in choosing Leo had set aside the old tradition +that the Camerlingo was ineligible for the papacy, it was not probable +that it would again dare to infringe that rule. Moreover, people asserted +that, even as had been the case in the reign of Pius, there was a secret +warfare between the Pope and his Camerlingo, the latter remaining on one +side, condemning the policy of the Holy See, holding radically different +opinions on all things, and silently waiting for the death of Leo, which +would place power in his hands with the duty of summoning the conclave, +and provisionally watching over the affairs and interests of the Church +until a new Pope should be elected. Behind Cardinal Pio's broad, stern +brow, however, in the glow of his dark eyes, might there not also be the +ambition of actually rising to the papacy, of repeating the career of +Gioachino Pecci, Camerlingo and then Pope, all tradition notwithstanding? +With the pride of a Roman prince Pio knew but Rome; he almost gloried in +being totally ignorant of the modern world; and verily he showed himself +very pious, austerely religious, with a full firm faith into which the +faintest doubt could never enter. + +But a whisper drew Pierre from his reflections. Don Vigilio, in his +prudent way, invited him to sit down: "You may have to wait some time: +take a stool." + +Then he began to cover a large sheet of yellowish paper with fine +writing, while Pierre seated himself on one of the stools ranged +alongside the wall in front of the portrait. And again the young man fell +into a reverie, picturing in his mind a renewal of all the princely pomp +of the old-time cardinals in that antique room. To begin with, as soon as +nominated, a cardinal gave public festivities, which were sometimes very +splendid. During three days the reception-rooms remained wide open, all +could enter, and from room to room ushers repeated the names of those who +came--patricians, people of the middle class, poor folks, all Rome +indeed, whom the new cardinal received with sovereign kindliness, as a +king might receive his subjects. Then there was quite a princely retinue; +some cardinals carried five hundred people about with them, had no fewer +than sixteen distinct offices in their households, lived, in fact, amidst +a perfect court. Even when life subsequently became simplified, a +cardinal, if he were a prince, still had a right to a gala train of four +coaches drawn by black horses. Four servants preceded him in liveries, +emblazoned with his arms, and carried his hat, cushion, and parasols. He +was also attended by a secretary in a mantle of violet silk, a +train-bearer in a gown of violet woollen stuff, and a gentleman in +waiting, wearing an Elizabethan style of costume, and bearing the +_berretta_ with gloved hands. Although the household had then become +smaller, it still comprised an _auditore_ specially charged with the +congregational work, a secretary employed exclusively for correspondence, +a chief usher who introduced visitors, a gentleman in attendance for the +carrying of the _berretta_, a train-bearer, a chaplain, a majordomo and a +_valet-de-chambre_, to say nothing of a flock of underlings, lackeys, +cooks, coachmen, grooms, quite a population, which filled the vast +mansions with bustle. And with these attendants Pierre mentally sought to +fill the three spacious ante-rooms now so deserted; the stream of lackeys +in blue liveries broidered with emblazonry, the world of abbes and +prelates in silk mantles appeared before him, again setting magnificent +and passionate life under the lofty ceilings, illumining all the +semi-gloom with resuscitated splendour. + +But nowadays--particularly since the Italian occupation of Rome--nearly +all the great fortunes of the Roman princes have been exhausted, and the +pomp of the great dignitaries of the Church has disappeared. The ruined +patricians have kept aloof from badly remunerated ecclesiastical offices +to which little renown attaches, and have left them to the ambition of +the petty _bourgeoisie_. Cardinal Boccanera, the last prince of ancient +nobility invested with the purple, received scarcely more than 30,000 +_lire_* a year to enable him to sustain his rank, that is 22,000 +_lire_,** the salary of his post as Camerlingo, and various small sums +derived from other functions. And he would never have made both ends meet +had not Donna Serafina helped him with the remnants of the former family +fortune which he had long previously surrendered to his sisters and his +brother. Donna Serafina and Benedetta lived apart, in their own rooms, +having their own table, servants, and personal expenses. The Cardinal +only had his nephew Dario with him, and he never gave a dinner or held a +public reception. His greatest source of expense was his carriage, the +heavy pair-horse coach, which ceremonial usage compelled him to retain, +for a cardinal cannot go on foot through the streets of Rome. However, +his coachman, an old family servant, spared him the necessity of keeping +a groom by insisting on taking entire charge of the carriage and the two +black horses, which, like himself, had grown old in the service of the +Boccaneras. There were two footmen, father and son, the latter born in +the house. And the cook's wife assisted in the kitchen. However, yet +greater reductions had been made in the ante-rooms, where the staff, once +so brilliant and numerous, was now simply composed of two petty priests, +Don Vigilio, who was at once secretary, auditore, and majordomo, and Abbe +Paparelli, who acted as train-bearer, chaplain, and chief usher. There, +where a crowd of salaried people of all ranks had once moved to and fro, +filling the vast halls with bustle and colour, one now only beheld two +little black cassocks gliding noiselessly along, two unobtrusive shadows +flitting about amidst the deep gloom of the lifeless rooms. + + * 1,200 pounds. + + ** 880 pounds. + +And Pierre now fully understood the haughty unconcern of the Cardinal, +who suffered time to complete its work of destruction in that ancestral +mansion, to which he was powerless to restore the glorious life of former +times! Built for that shining life, for the sovereign display of a +sixteenth-century prince, it was now deserted and empty, crumbling about +the head of its last master, who had no servants left him to fill it, and +would not have known how to pay for the materials which repairs would +have necessitated. And so, since the modern world was hostile, since +religion was no longer sovereign, since men had changed, and one was +drifting into the unknown, amidst the hatred and indifference of new +generations, why not allow the old world to collapse in the stubborn, +motionless pride born of its ancient glory? Heroes alone died standing, +without relinquishing aught of their past, preserving the same faith +until their final gasp, beholding, with pain-fraught bravery and infinite +sadness, the slow last agony of their divinity. And the Cardinal's tall +figure, his pale, proud face, so full of sovereign despair and courage, +expressed that stubborn determination to perish beneath the ruins of the +old social edifice rather than change a single one of its stones. + +Pierre was roused by a rustling of furtive steps, a little mouse-like +trot, which made him raise his head. A door in the wall had just opened, +and to his surprise there stood before him an abbe of some forty years, +fat and short, looking like an old maid in a black skirt, a very old maid +in fact, so numerous were the wrinkles on his flabby face. It was Abbe +Paparelli, the train-bearer and usher, and on seeing Pierre he was about +to question him, when Don Vigilio explained matters. + +"Ah! very good, very good, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment. His Eminence will +condescend to receive you, but you must wait, you must wait." + +Then, with his silent rolling walk, he returned to the second ante-room, +where he usually stationed himself. + +Pierre did not like his face--the face of an old female devotee, whitened +by celibacy, and ravaged by stern observance of the rites; and so, as Don +Vigilio--his head weary and his hands burning with fever--had not resumed +his work, the young man ventured to question him. Oh! Abbe Paparelli, he +was a man of the liveliest faith, who from simple humility remained in a +modest post in his Eminence's service. On the other hand, his Eminence +was pleased to reward him for his devotion by occasionally condescending +to listen to his advice. + +As Don Vigilio spoke, a faint gleam of irony, a kind of veiled anger +appeared in his ardent eyes. However, he continued to examine Pierre, and +gradually seemed reassured, appreciating the evident frankness of this +foreigner who could hardly belong to any clique. And so he ended by +departing somewhat from his continual sickly distrust, and even engaged +in a brief chat. + +"Yes, yes," he said, "there is a deal of work sometimes, and rather hard +work too. His Eminence belongs to several Congregations, the +Consistorial, the Holy Office, the Index, the Rites. And all the +documents concerning the business which falls to him come into my hands. +I have to study each affair, prepare a report on it, clear the way, so to +say. Besides which all the correspondence is carried on through me. +Fortunately his Eminence is a holy man, and intrigues neither for himself +nor for others, and this enables us to taste a little peace." + +Pierre took a keen interest in these particulars of the life led by a +prince of the Church. He learnt that the Cardinal rose at six o'clock, +summer and winter alike. He said his mass in his chapel, a little room +which simply contained an altar of painted wood, and which nobody but +himself ever entered. His private apartments were limited to three +rooms--a bed-room, dining-room, and study--all very modest and small, +contrived indeed by partitioning off portions of one large hall. And he +led a very retired life, exempt from all luxury, like one who is frugal +and poor. At eight in the morning he drank a cup of cold milk for his +breakfast. Then, when there were sittings of the Congregations to which +he belonged, he attended them; otherwise he remained at home and gave +audience. Dinner was served at one o'clock, and afterwards came the +siesta, lasting until five in summer and until four at other seasons--a +sacred moment when a servant would not have dared even to knock at the +door. On awaking, if it were fine, his Eminence drove out towards the +ancient Appian Way, returning at sunset when the _Ave Maria_ began to +ring. And finally, after again giving audience between seven and nine, he +supped and retired into his room, where he worked all alone or went to +bed. The cardinals wait upon the Pope on fixed days, two or three times +each month, for purposes connected with their functions. For nearly a +year, however, the Camerlingo had not been received in private audience +by his Holiness, and this was a sign of disgrace, a proof of secret +warfare, of which the entire black world spoke in prudent whispers. + +"His Eminence is sometimes a little rough," continued Don Vigilio in a +soft voice. "But you should see him smile when his niece the Contessina, +of whom he is very fond, comes down to kiss him. If you have a good +reception, you know, you will owe it to the Contessina." + +At this moment the secretary was interrupted. A sound of voices came from +the second ante-room, and forthwith he rose to his feet, and bent very +low at sight of a stout man in a black cassock, red sash, and black hat, +with twisted cord of red and gold, whom Abbe Paparelli was ushering in +with a great display of deferential genuflections. Pierre also had risen +at a sign from Don Vigilio, who found time to whisper to him, "Cardinal +Sanguinetti, Prefect of the Congregation of the Index." + +Meantime Abbe Paparelli was lavishing attentions on the prelate, +repeating with an expression of blissful satisfaction: "Your most +reverend Eminence was expected. I have orders to admit your most reverend +Eminence at once. His Eminence the Grand Penitentiary is already here." + +Sanguinetti, loud of voice and sonorous of tread, spoke out with sudden +familiarity, "Yes, yes, I know. A number of importunate people detained +me! One can never do as one desires. But I am here at last." + +He was a man of sixty, squat and fat, with a round and highly coloured +face distinguished by a huge nose, thick lips, and bright eyes which were +always on the move. But he more particularly struck one by his active, +almost turbulent, youthful vivacity, scarcely a white hair as yet showing +among his brown and carefully tended locks, which fell in curls about his +temples. Born at Viterbo, he had studied at the seminary there before +completing his education at the Universita Gregoriana in Rome. His +ecclesiastical appointments showed how rapidly he had made his way, how +supple was his mind: first of all secretary to the nunciature at Lisbon; +then created titular Bishop of Thebes, and entrusted with a delicate +mission in Brazil; on his return appointed nuncio first at Brussels and +next at Vienna; and finally raised to the cardinalate, to say nothing of +the fact that he had lately secured the suburban episcopal see of +Frascati.* Trained to business, having dealt with every nation in Europe, +he had nothing against him but his ambition, of which he made too open a +display, and his spirit of intrigue, which was ever restless. It was said +that he was now one of the irreconcilables who demanded that Italy should +surrender Rome, though formerly he had made advances to the Quirinal. In +his wild passion to become the next Pope he rushed from one opinion to +the other, giving himself no end of trouble to gain people from whom he +afterwards parted. He had twice already fallen out with Leo XIII, but had +deemed it politic to make his submission. In point of fact, given that he +was an almost openly declared candidate to the papacy, he was wearing +himself out by his perpetual efforts, dabbling in too many things, and +setting too many people agog. + + * Cardinals York and Howard were Bishops of Frascati.--Trans. + +Pierre, however, had only seen in him the Prefect of the Congregation of +the Index; and the one idea which struck him was that this man would +decide the fate of his book. And so, when the Cardinal had disappeared +and Abbe Paparelli had returned to the second ante-room, he could not +refrain from asking Don Vigilio, "Are their Eminences Cardinal +Sanguinetti and Cardinal Boccanera very intimate, then?" + +An irrepressible smile contracted the secretary's lips, while his eyes +gleamed with an irony which he could no longer subdue: "Very +intimate--oh! no, no--they see one another when they can't do otherwise." + +Then he explained that considerable deference was shown to Cardinal +Boccanera's high birth, and that his colleagues often met at his +residence, when, as happened to be the case that morning, any grave +affair presented itself, requiring an interview apart from the usual +official meetings. Cardinal Sanguinetti, he added, was the son of a petty +medical man of Viterbo. "No, no," he concluded, "their Eminences are not +at all intimate. It is difficult for men to agree when they have neither +the same ideas nor the same character, especially too when they are in +each other's way." + +Don Vigilio spoke these last words in a lower tone, as if talking to +himself and still retaining his sharp smile. But Pierre scarcely +listened, absorbed as he was in his own worries. "Perhaps they have met +to discuss some affair connected with the Index?" said he. + +Don Vigilio must have known the object of the meeting. However, he merely +replied that, if the Index had been in question, the meeting would have +taken place at the residence of the Prefect of that Congregation. +Thereupon Pierre, yielding to his impatience, was obliged to put a +straight question. "You know of my affair--the affair of my book," he +said. "Well, as his Eminence is a member of the Congregation, and all the +documents pass through your hands, you might be able to give me some +useful information. I know nothing as yet and am so anxious to know!" + +At this Don Vigilio relapsed into scared disquietude. He stammered, +saying that he had not seen any documents, which was true. "Nothing has +yet reached us," he added; "I assure you I know nothing." + +Then, as the other persisted, he signed to him to keep quiet, and again +turned to his writing, glancing furtively towards the second ante-room as +if he believed that Abbe Paparelli was listening. He had certainly said +too much, he thought, and he made himself very small, crouching over the +table, and melting, fading away in his dim corner. + +Pierre again fell into a reverie, a prey to all the mystery which +enveloped him--the sleepy, antique sadness of his surroundings. Long +minutes went by; it was nearly eleven when the sound of a door opening +and a buzz of voices roused him. Then he bowed respectfully to Cardinal +Sanguinetti, who went off accompanied by another cardinal, a very thin +and tall man, with a grey, bony, ascetic face. Neither of them, however, +seemed even to see the petty foreign priest who bent low as they went by. +They were chatting aloud in familiar fashion. + +"Yes! the wind is falling; it is warmer than yesterday." + +"We shall certainly have the sirocco to-morrow." + +Then solemn silence again fell on the large, dim room. Don Vigilio was +still writing, but his pen made no noise as it travelled over the stiff +yellow paper. However, the faint tinkle of a cracked bell was suddenly +heard, and Abbe Paparelli, after hastening into the throne-room for a +moment, returned to summon Pierre, whom he announced in a restrained +voice: "Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre Froment." + +The spacious throne-room was like the other apartments, a virtual ruin. +Under the fine ceiling of carved and gilded wood-work, the red +wall-hangings of _brocatelle_, with a large palm pattern, were falling +into tatters. A few holes had been patched, but long wear had streaked +the dark purple of the silk--once of dazzling magnificence--with pale +hues. The curiosity of the room was its old throne, an arm-chair +upholstered in red silk, on which the Holy Father had sat when visiting +Cardinal Pio's grand-uncle. This chair was surmounted by a canopy, +likewise of red silk, under which hung the portrait of the reigning Pope. +And, according to custom, the chair was turned towards the wall, to show +that none might sit on it. The other furniture of the apartment was made +up of sofas, arm-chairs, and chairs, with a marvellous Louis Quatorze +table of gilded wood, having a top of mosaic-work representing the rape +of Europa. + +But at first Pierre only saw Cardinal Boccanera standing by the table +which he used for writing. In his simple black cassock, with red edging +and red buttons, the Cardinal seemed to him yet taller and prouder than +in the portrait which showed him in ceremonial costume. There was the +same curly white hair, the same long, strongly marked face, with large +nose and thin lips, and the same ardent eyes, illumining the pale +countenance from under bushy brows which had remained black. But the +portrait did not express the lofty tranquil faith which shone in this +handsome face, a complete certainty of what truth was, and an absolute +determination to abide by it for ever. + +Boccanera had not stirred, but with black, fixed glance remained watching +his visitor's approach; and the young priest, acquainted with the usual +ceremonial, knelt and kissed the large ruby which the prelate wore on his +hand. However, the Cardinal immediately raised him. + +"You are welcome here, my dear son. My niece spoke to me about you with +so much sympathy that I am happy to receive you." With these words Pio +seated himself near the table, as yet not telling Pierre to take a chair, +but still examining him whilst speaking slowly and with studied +politeness: "You arrived yesterday morning, did you not, and were very +tired?" + +"Your Eminence is too kind--yes, I was worn out, as much through emotion +as fatigue. This journey is one of such gravity for me." + +The Cardinal seemed indisposed to speak of serious matters so soon. "No +doubt; it is a long way from Paris to Rome," he replied. "Nowadays the +journey may be accomplished with fair rapidity, but formerly how +interminable it was!" Then speaking yet more slowly: "I went to Paris +once--oh! a long time ago, nearly fifty years ago--and then for barely a +week. A large and handsome city; yes, yes, a great many people in the +streets, extremely well-bred people, a nation which has accomplished +great and admirable things. Even in these sad times one cannot forget +that France was the eldest daughter of the Church. But since that one +journey I have not left Rome--" + +Then he made a gesture of quiet disdain, expressive of all he left +unsaid. What was the use of journeying to a land of doubt and rebellion? +Did not Rome suffice--Rome, which governed the world--the Eternal City +which, when the times should be accomplished, would become the capital of +the world once more? + +Silently glancing at the Cardinal's lofty stature, the stature of one of +the violent war-like princes of long ago, now reduced to wearing that +simple cassock, Pierre deemed him superb with his proud conviction that +Rome sufficed unto herself. But that stubborn resolve to remain in +ignorance, that determination to take no account of other nations +excepting to treat them as vassals, disquieted him when he reflected on +the motives that had brought him there. And as silence had again fallen +he thought it politic to approach the subject he had at heart by words of +homage. + +"Before taking any other steps," said he, "I desired to express my +profound respect for your Eminence; for in your Eminence I place my only +hope; and I beg your Eminence to be good enough to advise and guide me." + +With a wave of the hand Boccanera thereupon invited Pierre to take a +chair in front of him. "I certainly do not refuse you my counsel, my dear +son," he replied. "I owe my counsel to every Christian who desires to do +well. But it would be wrong for you to rely on my influence. I have none. +I live entirely apart from others; I cannot and will not ask for +anything. However, this will not prevent us from chatting." Then, +approaching the question in all frankness, without the slightest +artifice, like one of brave and absolute mind who fears no responsibility +however great, he continued: "You have written a book, have you +not?--'New Rome,' I believe--and you have come to defend this book which +has been denounced to the Congregation of the Index. For my own part I +have not yet read it. You will understand that I cannot read everything. +I only see the works that are sent to me by the Congregation which I have +belonged to since last year; and, besides, I often content myself with +the reports which my secretary draws up for me. However, my niece +Benedetta has read your book, and has told me that it is not lacking in +interest. It first astonished her somewhat, and then greatly moved her. +So I promise you that I will go through it and study the incriminated +passages with the greatest care." + +Pierre profited by the opportunity to begin pleading his cause. And it +occurred to him that it would be best to give his references at once. +"Your Eminence will realise how stupefied I was when I learnt that +proceedings were being taken against my book," he said. "Monsieur le +Vicomte Philibert de la Choue, who is good enough to show me some +friendship, does not cease repeating that such a book is worth the best +of armies to the Holy See." + +"Oh! De la Choue, De la Choue!" repeated the Cardinal with a pout of +good-natured disdain. "I know that De la Choue considers himself a good +Catholic. He is in a slight degree our relative, as you know. And when he +comes to Rome and stays here, I willingly see him, on condition however +that no mention is made of certain subjects on which it would be +impossible for us to agree. To tell the truth, the Catholicism preached +by De la Choue--worthy, clever man though he is--his Catholicism, I say, +with his corporations, his working-class clubs, his cleansed democracy +and his vague socialism, is after all merely so much literature!" + +This pronouncement struck Pierre, for he realised all the disdainful +irony contained in it--an irony which touched himself. And so he hastened +to name his other reference, whose authority he imagined to be above +discussion: "His Eminence Cardinal Bergerot has been kind enough to +signify his full approval of my book." + +At this Boccanera's face suddenly changed. It no longer wore an +expression of derisive blame, tinged with the pity that is prompted by a +child's ill-considered action fated to certain failure. A flash of anger +now lighted up the Cardinal's dark eyes, and a pugnacious impulse +hardened his entire countenance. "In France," he slowly resumed, +"Cardinal Bergerot no doubt has a reputation for great piety. We know +little of him in Rome. Personally, I have only seen him once, when he +came to receive his hat. And I would not therefore allow myself to judge +him if his writings and actions had not recently saddened my believing +soul. Unhappily, I am not the only one; you will find nobody here, of the +Sacred College, who approves of his doings." Boccanera paused, then in a +firm voice concluded: "Cardinal Bergerot is a Revolutionary!" + +This time Pierre's surprise for a moment forced him to silence. A +Revolutionary--good heavens! a Revolutionary--that gentle pastor of +souls, whose charity was inexhaustible, whose one dream was that Jesus +might return to earth to ensure at last the reign of peace and justice! +So words did not have the same signification in all places; into what +religion had he now tumbled that the faith of the poor and the humble +should be looked upon as a mere insurrectional, condemnable passion? As +yet unable to understand things aright, Pierre nevertheless realised that +discussion would be both discourteous and futile, and his only remaining +desire was to give an account of his book, explain and vindicate it. But +at his first words the Cardinal interposed. + +"No, no, my dear son. It would take us too long and I wish to read the +passages. Besides, there is an absolute rule. All books which meddle with +the faith are condemnable and pernicious. Does your book show perfect +respect for dogma?" + +"I believe so, and I assure your Eminence that I have had no intention of +writing a work of negation." + +"Good: I may be on your side if that is true. Only, in the contrary case, +I have but one course to advise you, which is to withdraw your work, +condemn it, and destroy it without waiting until a decision of the Index +compels you to do so. Whosoever has given birth to scandal must stifle it +and expiate it, even if he have to cut into his own flesh. The only +duties of a priest are humility and obedience, the complete annihilation +of self before the sovereign will of the Church. And, besides, why write +at all? For there is already rebellion in expressing an opinion of one's +own. It is always the temptation of the devil which puts a pen in an +author's hand. Why, then, incur the risk of being for ever damned by +yielding to the pride of intelligence and domination? Your book again, my +dear son--your book is literature, literature!" + +This expression again repeated was instinct with so much contempt that +Pierre realised all the wretchedness that would fall upon the poor pages +of his apostolate on meeting the eyes of this prince who had become a +saintly man. With increasing fear and admiration he listened to him, and +beheld him growing greater and greater. + +"Ah! faith, my dear son, everything is in faith--perfect, disinterested +faith--which believes for the sole happiness of believing! How restful it +is to bow down before the mysteries without seeking to penetrate them, +full of the tranquil conviction that, in accepting them, one possesses +both the certain and the final! Is not the highest intellectual +satisfaction that which is derived from the victory of the divine over +the mind, which it disciplines, and contents so completely that it knows +desire no more? And apart from that perfect equilibrium, that explanation +of the unknown by the divine, no durable peace is possible for man. If +one desires that truth and justice should reign upon earth, it is in God +that one must place them. He that does not believe is like a battlefield, +the scene of every disaster. Faith alone can tranquillise and deliver." + +For an instant Pierre remained silent before the great figure rising up +in front of him. At Lourdes he had only seen suffering humanity rushing +thither for health of the body and consolation of the soul; but here was +the intellectual believer, the mind that needs certainty, finding +satisfaction, tasting the supreme enjoyment of doubting no more. He had +never previously heard such a cry of joy at living in obedience without +anxiety as to the morrow of death. He knew that Boccanera's youth had +been somewhat stormy, traversed by acute attacks of sensuality, a flaring +of the red blood of his ancestors; and he marvelled at the calm majesty +which faith had at last implanted in this descendant of so violent a +race, who had no passion remaining in him but that of pride. + +"And yet," Pierre at last ventured to say in a timid, gentle voice, "if +faith remains essential and immutable, forms change. From hour to hour +evolution goes on in all things--the world changes." + +"That is not true!" exclaimed the Cardinal, "the world does not change. +It continually tramps over the same ground, loses itself, strays into the +most abominable courses, and it continually has to be brought back into +the right path. That is the truth. In order that the promises of Christ +may be fulfilled, is it not necessary that the world should return to its +starting point, its original innocence? Is not the end of time fixed for +the day when men shall be in possession of the full truth of the Gospel? +Yes, truth is in the past, and it is always to the past that one must +cling if one would avoid the pitfalls which evil imaginations create. All +those fine novelties, those mirages of that famous so-called progress, +are simply traps and snares of the eternal tempter, causes of perdition +and death. Why seek any further, why constantly incur the risk of error, +when for eighteen hundred years the truth has been known? Truth! why it +is in Apostolic and Roman Catholicism as created by a long succession of +generations! What madness to desire to change it when so many lofty +minds, so many pious souls have made of it the most admirable of +monuments, the one instrument of order in this world, and of salvation in +the next!" + +Pierre, whose heart had contracted, refrained from further protest, for +he could no longer doubt that he had before him an implacable adversary +of his most cherished ideas. Chilled by a covert fear, as though he felt +a faint breath, as of a distant wind from a land of ruins, pass over his +face, bringing with it the mortal cold of a sepulchre, he bowed +respectfully whilst the Cardinal, rising to his full height, continued in +his obstinate voice, resonant with proud courage: "And if Catholicism, as +its enemies pretend, be really stricken unto death, it must die standing +and in all its glorious integrality. You hear me, Monsieur l'Abbe--not +one concession, not one surrender, not a single act of cowardice! +Catholicism is such as it is, and cannot be otherwise. No modification of +the divine certainty, the entire truth, is possible. The removal of the +smallest stone from the edifice could only prove a cause of instability. +Is this not evident? You cannot save old houses by attacking them with +the pickaxe under pretence of decorating them. You only enlarge the +fissures. Even if it were true that Rome were on the eve of falling into +dust, the only result of all the repairing and patching would be to +hasten the catastrophe. And instead of a noble death, met unflinchingly, +we should then behold the basest of agonies, the death throes of a coward +who struggles and begs for mercy! For my part I wait. I am convinced that +all that people say is but so much horrible falsehood, that Catholicism +has never been firmer, that it imbibes eternity from the one and only +source of life. But should the heavens indeed fall, on that day I should +be here, amidst these old and crumbling walls, under these old ceilings +whose beams are being devoured by the worms, and it is here, erect, among +the ruins, that I should meet my end, repeating my _credo_ for the last +time." + +His final words fell more slowly, full of haughty sadness, whilst with a +sweeping gesture he waved his arms towards the old, silent, deserted +palace around him, whence life was withdrawing day by day. Had an +involuntary presentiment come to him, did the faint cold breath from the +ruins also fan his own cheeks? All the neglect into which the vast rooms +had fallen was explained by his words; and a superb, despondent grandeur +enveloped this prince and cardinal, this uncompromising Catholic who, +withdrawing into the dim half-light of the past, braved with a soldier's +heart the inevitable downfall of the olden world. + +Deeply impressed, Pierre was about to take his leave when, to his +surprise, a little door opened in the hangings. "What is it? Can't I be +left in peace for a moment?" exclaimed Boccanera with sudden impatience. + +Nevertheless, Abbe Paparelli, fat and sleek, glided into the room without +the faintest sign of emotion. And he whispered a few words in the ear of +the Cardinal, who, on seeing him, had become calm again. "What curate?" +asked Boccanera. "Oh! yes, Santobono, the curate of Frascati. I +know--tell him I cannot see him just now." + +Paparelli, however, again began whispering in his soft voice, though not +in so low a key as previously, for some of his words could be overheard. +The affair was urgent, the curate was compelled to return home, and had +only a word or two to say. And then, without awaiting consent, the +train-bearer ushered in the visitor, a _protege_ of his, whom he had left +just outside the little door. And for his own part he withdrew with the +tranquillity of a retainer who, whatever the modesty of his office, knows +himself to be all powerful. + +Pierre, who was momentarily forgotten, looked at the visitor--a big +fellow of a priest, the son of a peasant evidently, and still near to the +soil. He had an ungainly, bony figure, huge feet and knotted hands, with +a seamy tanned face lighted by extremely keen black eyes. Five and forty +and still robust, his chin and cheeks bristling, and his cassock, +overlarge, hanging loosely about his big projecting bones, he suggested a +bandit in disguise. Still there was nothing base about him; the +expression of his face was proud. And in one hand he carried a small +wicker basket carefully covered over with fig-leaves. + +Santobono at once bent his knees and kissed the Cardinal's ring, but with +hasty unconcern, as though only some ordinary piece of civility were in +question. Then, with that commingling of respect and familiarity which +the little ones of the world often evince towards the great, he said, "I +beg your most reverend Eminence's forgiveness for having insisted. But +there were people waiting, and I should not have been received if my old +friend Paparelli had not brought me by way of that door. Oh! I have a +very great service to ask of your Eminence, a real service of the heart. +But first of all may I be allowed to offer your Eminence a little +present?" + +The Cardinal listened with a grave expression. He had been well +acquainted with Santobono in the years when he had spent the summer at +Frascati, at a princely residence which the Boccaneras had possessed +there--a villa rebuilt in the seventeenth century, surrounded by a +wonderful park, whose famous terrace overlooked the Campagna, stretching +far and bare like the sea. This villa, however, had since been sold, and +on some vineyards, which had fallen to Benedetta's share, Count Prada, +prior to the divorce proceedings, had begun to erect quite a district of +little pleasure houses. In former times, when walking out, the Cardinal +had condescended to enter and rest in the dwelling of Santobono, who +officiated at an antique chapel dedicated to St. Mary of the Fields, +without the town. The priest had his home in a half-ruined building +adjoining this chapel, and the charm of the place was a walled garden +which he cultivated himself with the passion of a true peasant. + +"As is my rule every year," said he, placing his basket on the table, "I +wished that your Eminence might taste my figs. They are the first of the +season. I gathered them expressly this morning. You used to be so fond of +them, your Eminence, when you condescended to gather them from the tree +itself. You were good enough to tell me that there wasn't another tree in +the world that produced such fine figs." + +The Cardinal could not help smiling. He was indeed very fond of figs, and +Santobono spoke truly: his fig-tree was renowned throughout the district. +"Thank you, my dear Abbe," said Boccanera, "you remember my little +failings. Well, and what can I do for you?" + +Again he became grave, for, in former times, there had been unpleasant +discussions between him and the curate, a lack of agreement which had +angered him. Born at Nemi, in the core of a fierce district, Santobono +belonged to a violent family, and his eldest brother had died of a stab. +He himself had always professed ardently patriotic opinions. It was said +that he had all but taken up arms for Garibaldi; and, on the day when the +Italians had entered Rome, force had been needed to prevent him from +raising the flag of Italian unity above his roof. His passionate dream +was to behold Rome mistress of the world, when the Pope and the King +should have embraced and made cause together. Thus the Cardinal looked on +him as a dangerous revolutionary, a renegade who imperilled Catholicism. + +"Oh! what your Eminence can do for me, what your Eminence can do if only +condescending and willing!" repeated Santobono in an ardent voice, +clasping his big knotty hands. And then, breaking off, he inquired, "Did +not his Eminence Cardinal Sanguinetti explain my affair to your most +reverend Eminence?" + +"No, the Cardinal simply advised me of your visit, saying that you had +something to ask of me." + +Whilst speaking Boccanera's face had clouded over, and it was with +increased sternness of manner that he again waited. He was aware that the +priest had become Sanguinetti's "client" since the latter had been in the +habit of spending weeks together at his suburban see of Frascati. Walking +in the shadow of every cardinal who is a candidate to the papacy, there +are familiars of low degree who stake the ambition of their life on the +possibility of that cardinal's election. If he becomes Pope some day, if +they themselves help him to the throne, they enter the great pontifical +family in his train. It was related that Sanguinetti had once already +extricated Santobono from a nasty difficulty: the priest having one day +caught a marauding urchin in the act of climbing his wall, had beaten the +little fellow with such severity that he had ultimately died of it. +However, to Santobono's credit it must be added that his fanatical +devotion to the Cardinal was largely based upon the hope that he would +prove the Pope whom men awaited, the Pope who would make Italy the +sovereign nation of the world. + +"Well, this is my misfortune," he said. "Your Eminence knows my brother +Agostino, who was gardener at the villa for two years in your Eminence's +time. He is certainly a very pleasant and gentle young fellow, of whom +nobody has ever complained. And so it is hard to understand how such an +accident can have happened to him, but it seems that he has killed a man +with a knife at Genzano, while walking in the street in the evening. I am +dreadfully distressed about it, and would willingly give two fingers of +my right hand to extricate him from prison. However, it occurred to me +that your Eminence would not refuse me a certificate stating that +Agostino was formerly in your Eminence's service, and that your Eminence +was always well pleased with his quiet disposition." + +But the Cardinal flatly protested: "I was not at all pleased with +Agostino. He was wildly violent, and I had to dismiss him precisely +because he was always quarrelling with the other servants." + +"Oh! how grieved I am to hear your Eminence say that! So it is true, +then, my poor little Agostino's disposition has really changed! Still +there is always a way out of a difficulty, is there not? You can still +give me a certificate, first arranging the wording of it. A certificate +from your Eminence would have such a favourable effect upon the law +officers." + +"No doubt," replied Boccanera; "I can understand that, but I will give no +certificate." + +"What! does your most reverend Eminence refuse my prayer?" + +"Absolutely! I know that you are a priest of perfect morality, that you +discharge the duties of your ministry with strict punctuality, and that +you would be deserving of high commendation were it not for your +political fancies. Only your fraternal affection is now leading you +astray. I cannot tell a lie to please you." + +Santobono gazed at him in real stupefaction, unable to understand that a +prince, an all-powerful cardinal, should be influenced by such petty +scruples, when the entire question was a mere knife thrust, the most +commonplace and frequent of incidents in the yet wild land of the old +Roman castles. + +"A lie! a lie!" he muttered; "but surely it isn't lying just to say what +is good of a man, leaving out all the rest, especially when a man has +good points as Agostino certainly has. In a certificate, too, everything +depends on the words one uses." + +He stubbornly clung to that idea; he could not conceive that a person +should refuse to soften the rigour of justice by an ingenious +presentation of the facts. However, on acquiring a certainty that he +would obtain nothing, he made a gesture of despair, his livid face +assuming an expression of violent rancour, whilst his black eyes flamed +with restrained passion. + +"Well, well! each looks on truth in his own way," he said. "I shall go +back to tell his Eminence Cardinal Sanguinetti. And I beg your Eminence +not to be displeased with me for having disturbed your Eminence to no +purpose. By the way, perhaps the figs are not yet quite ripe; but I will +take the liberty to bring another basketful towards the end of the +season, when they will be quite nice and sweet. A thousand thanks and a +thousand felicities to your most reverend Eminence." + +Santobono went off backwards, his big bony figure bending double with +repeated genuflections. Pierre, whom the scene had greatly interested, in +him beheld a specimen of the petty clergy of Rome and its environs, of +whom people had told him before his departure from Paris. This was not +the _scagnozzo_, the wretched famished priest whom some nasty affair +brings from the provinces, who seeks his daily bread on the pavements of +Rome; one of the herd of begowned beggars searching for a livelihood +among the crumbs of Church life, voraciously fighting for chance masses, +and mingling with the lowest orders in taverns of the worst repute. Nor +was this the country priest of distant parts, a man of crass ignorance +and superstition, a peasant among the peasants, treated as an equal by +his pious flock, which is careful not to mistake him for the Divinity, +and which, whilst kneeling in all humility before the parish saint, does +not bend before the man who from that saint derives his livelihood. At +Frascati the officiating minister of a little church may receive a +stipend of some nine hundred _lire_ a year,* and he has only bread and +meat to buy if his garden yields him wine and fruit and vegetables. This +one, Santobono, was not without education; he knew a little theology and +a little history, especially the history of the past grandeur of Rome, +which had inflamed his patriotic heart with the mad dream that universal +domination would soon fall to the portion of renascent Rome, the capital +of united Italy. But what an insuperable distance still remained between +this petty Roman clergy, often very worthy and intelligent, and the high +clergy, the high dignitaries of the Vatican! Nobody that was not at least +a prelate seemed to count. + + * About 36 pounds. One is reminded of Goldsmith's line: "And + passing rich with forty pounds a year."--Trans. + +"A thousand thanks to your most reverend Eminence, and may success attend +all your Eminence's desires." + +With these words Santobono finally disappeared, and the Cardinal returned +to Pierre, who also bowed preparatory to taking his leave. + +"To sum up the matter, Monsieur l'Abbe," said Boccanera, "the affair of +your book presents certain difficulties. As I have told you, I have no +precise information, I have seen no documents. But knowing that my niece +took an interest in you, I said a few words on the subject to Cardinal +Sanguinetti, the Prefect of the Index, who was here just now. And he +knows little more than I do, for nothing has yet left the Secretary's +hands. Still he told me that the denunciation emanated from personages of +rank and influence, and applied to numerous pages of your work, in which +it was said there were passages of the most deplorable character as +regards both discipline and dogma." + +Greatly moved by the idea that he had hidden foes, secret adversaries who +pursued him in the dark, the young priest responded: "Oh! denounced, +denounced! If your Eminence only knew how that word pains my heart! And +denounced, too, for offences which were certainly involuntary, since my +one ardent desire was the triumph of the Church! All I can do, then, is +to fling myself at the feet of the Holy Father and entreat him to hear my +defence." + +Boccanera suddenly became very grave again. A stern look rested on his +lofty brow as he drew his haughty figure to its full height. "His +Holiness," said he, "can do everything, even receive you, if such be his +good pleasure, and absolve you also. But listen to me. I again advise you +to withdraw your book yourself, to destroy it, simply and courageously, +before embarking in a struggle in which you will reap the shame of being +overwhelmed. Reflect on that." + +Pierre, however, had no sooner spoken of the Pope than he had regretted +it, for he realised that an appeal to the sovereign authority was +calculated to wound the Cardinal's feelings. Moreover, there was no +further room for doubt. Boccanera would be against his book, and the +utmost that he could hope for was to gain his neutrality by bringing +pressure to bear on him through those about him. At the same time he had +found the Cardinal very plain spoken, very frank, far removed from all +the secret intriguing in which the affair of his book was involved, as he +now began to realise; and so it was with deep respect and genuine +admiration for the prelate's strong and lofty character that he took +leave of him. + +"I am infinitely obliged to your Eminence," he said, "and I promise that +I will carefully reflect upon all that your Eminence has been kind enough +to say to me." + +On returning to the ante-room, Pierre there found five or six persons who +had arrived during his audience, and were now waiting. There was a +bishop, a domestic prelate, and two old ladies, and as he drew near to +Don Vigilio before retiring, he was surprised to find him conversing with +a tall, fair young fellow, a Frenchman, who, also in astonishment, +exclaimed, "What! are you here in Rome, Monsieur l'Abbe?" + +For a moment Pierre had hesitated. "Ah! I must ask your pardon, Monsieur +Narcisse Habert," he replied, "I did not at first recognise you! It was +the less excusable as I knew that you had been an _attache_ at our +embassy here ever since last year." + +Tall, slim, and elegant of appearance, Narcisse Habert had a clear +complexion, with eyes of a bluish, almost mauvish, hue, a fair frizzy +beard, and long curling fair hair cut short over the forehead in the +Florentine fashion. Of a wealthy family of militant Catholics, chiefly +members of the bar or bench, he had an uncle in the diplomatic +profession, and this had decided his own career. Moreover, a place at +Rome was marked out for him, for he there had powerful connections. He +was a nephew by marriage of Cardinal Sarno, whose sister had married +another of his uncles, a Paris notary; and he was also cousin german of +Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo, a _Cameriere segreto_, and son of one of his +aunts, who had married an Italian colonel. And in some measure for these +reasons he had been attached to the embassy to the Holy See, his +superiors tolerating his somewhat fantastic ways, his everlasting passion +for art which sent him wandering hither and thither through Rome. He was +moreover very amiable and extremely well-bred; and it occasionally +happened, as was the case that morning, that with his weary and somewhat +mysterious air he came to speak to one or another of the cardinals on +some real matter of business in the ambassador's name. + +So as to converse with Pierre at his ease, he drew him into the deep +embrasure of one of the windows. "Ah! my dear Abbe, how pleased I am to +see you!" said he. "You must remember what pleasant chats we had when we +met at Cardinal Bergerot's! I told you about some paintings which you +were to see for your book, some miniatures of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries. And now, you know, I mean to take possession of you. +I'll show you Rome as nobody else could show it to you. I've seen and +explored everything. Ah! there are treasures, such treasures! But in +truth there is only one supreme work; one always comes back to one's +particular passion. The Botticelli in the Sixtine Chapel--ah, the +Botticelli!" + +His voice died away, and he made a faint gesture as if overcome by +admiration. Then Pierre had to promise that he would place himself in his +hands and accompany him to the Sixtine Chapel. "You know why I am here," +at last said the young priest. "Proceedings have been taken against my +book; it has been denounced to the Congregation of the Index." + +"Your book! is it possible?" exclaimed Narcisse: "a book like that with +pages recalling the delightful St. Francis of Assisi!" And thereupon he +obligingly placed himself at Pierre's disposal. "But our ambassador will +be very useful to you," he said. "He is the best man in the world, of +charming affability, and full of the old French spirit. I will present +you to him this afternoon or to-morrow morning at the latest; and since +you desire an immediate audience with the Pope, he will endeavour to +obtain one for you. His position naturally designates him as your +intermediary. Still, I must confess that things are not always easily +managed. Although the Holy Father is very fond of him, there are times +when his Excellency fails, for the approaches are so extremely +intricate." + +Pierre had not thought of employing the ambassador's good offices, for he +had naively imagined that an accused priest who came to defend himself +would find every door open. However, he was delighted with Narcisse's +offer, and thanked him as warmly as if the audience were already +obtained. + +"Besides," the young man continued, "if we encounter any difficulties I +have relatives at the Vatican, as you know. I don't mean my uncle the +Cardinal, who would be of no use to us, for he never stirs out of his +office at the Propaganda, and will never apply for anything. But my +cousin, Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo, is very obliging, and he lives in +intimacy with the Pope, his duties requiring his constant attendance on +him. So, if necessary, I will take you to see him, and he will no doubt +find a means of procuring you an interview, though his extreme prudence +keeps him perpetually afraid of compromising himself. However, it's +understood, you may rely on me in every respect." + +"Ah! my dear sir," exclaimed Pierre, relieved and happy, "I heartily +accept your offer. You don't know what balm your words have brought me; +for ever since my arrival everybody has been discouraging me, and you are +the first to restore my strength by looking at things in the true French +way." + +Then, lowering his voice, he told the _attache_ of his interview with +Cardinal Boccanera, of his conviction that the latter would not help him, +of the unfavourable information which had been given by Cardinal +Sanguinetti, and of the rivalry which he had divined between the two +prelates. Narcisse listened, smiling, and in his turn began to gossip +confidentially. The rivalry which Pierre had mentioned, the premature +contest for the tiara which Sanguinetti and Boccanera were waging, +impelled to it by a furious desire to become the next Pope, had for a +long time been revolutionising the black world. There was incredible +intricacy in the depths of the affair; none could exactly tell who was +pulling the strings, conducting the vast intrigue. As regards +generalities it was simply known that Boccanera represented +absolutism--the Church freed from all compromises with modern society, +and waiting in immobility for the Deity to triumph over Satan, for Rome +to be restored to the Holy Father, and for repentant Italy to perform +penance for its sacrilege; whereas Sanguinetti, extremely politic and +supple, was reported to harbour bold and novel ideas: permission to vote +to be granted to all true Catholics,* a majority to be gained by this +means in the Legislature; then, as a fatal corollary, the downfall of the +House of Savoy, and the proclamation of a kind of republican federation +of all the former petty States of Italy under the august protectorate of +the Pope. On the whole, the struggle was between these two antagonistic +elements--the first bent on upholding the Church by a rigorous +maintenance of the old traditions, and the other predicting the fall of +the Church if it did not follow the bent of the coming century. But all +was steeped in so much mystery that people ended by thinking that, if the +present Pope should live a few years longer, his successor would +certainly be neither Boccanera nor Sanguinetti. + + * Since the occupation of Rome by the Italian authorities, the + supporters of the Church, obedient to the prohibition of the + Vatican, have abstained from taking part in the political + elections, this being their protest against the new order of + things which they do not recognise. Various attempts have been + made, however, to induce the Pope to give them permission to + vote, many members of the Roman aristocracy considering the + present course impolitic and even harmful to the interests of + the Church.--Trans. + +All at once Pierre interrupted Narcisse: "And Monsignor Nani, do you know +him? I spoke with him yesterday evening. And there he is coming in now!" + +Nani was indeed just entering the ante-room with his usual smile on his +amiable pink face. His cassock of fine texture, and his sash of violet +silk shone with discreet soft luxury. And he showed himself very amiable +to Abbe Paparelli, who, accompanying him in all humility, begged him to +be kind enough to wait until his Eminence should be able to receive him. + +"Oh! Monsignor Nani," muttered Narcisse, becoming serious, "he is a man +whom it is advisable to have for a friend." + +Then, knowing Nani's history, he related it in an undertone. Born at +Venice, of a noble but ruined family which had produced heroes, Nani, +after first studying under the Jesuits, had come to Rome to perfect +himself in philosophy and theology at the Collegio Romano, which was then +also under Jesuit management. Ordained when three and twenty, he had at +once followed a nuncio to Bavaria as private secretary; and then had gone +as _auditore_ to the nunciatures of Brussels and Paris, in which latter +city he had lived for five years. Everything seemed to predestine him to +diplomacy, his brilliant beginnings and his keen and encyclopaedical +intelligence; but all at once he had been recalled to Rome, where he was +soon afterwards appointed Assessor to the Holy Office. It was asserted at +the time that this was done by the Pope himself, who, being well +acquainted with Nani, and desirous of having a person he could depend +upon at the Holy Office, had given instructions for his recall, saying +that he could render far more services at Rome than abroad. Already a +domestic prelate, Nani had also lately become a Canon of St. Peter's and +an apostolic prothonotary, with the prospect of obtaining a cardinal's +hat whenever the Pope should find some other favourite who would please +him better as assessor. + +"Oh, Monsignor Nani!" continued Narcisse. "He's a superior man, +thoroughly well acquainted with modern Europe, and at the same time a +very saintly priest, a sincere believer, absolutely devoted to the +Church, with the substantial faith of an intelligent politician--a belief +different, it is true, from the narrow gloomy theological faith which we +know so well in France. And this is one of the reasons why you will +hardly understand things here at first. The Roman prelates leave the +Deity in the sanctuary and reign in His name, convinced that Catholicism +is the human expression of the government of God, the only perfect and +eternal government, beyond the pales of which nothing but falsehood and +social danger can be found. While we in our country lag behind, furiously +arguing whether there be a God or not, they do not admit that God's +existence can be doubted, since they themselves are his delegated +ministers; and they entirely devote themselves to playing their parts as +ministers whom none can dispossess, exercising their power for the +greatest good of humanity, and devoting all their intelligence, all their +energy to maintaining themselves as the accepted masters of the nations. +As for Monsignor Nani, after being mixed up in the politics of the whole +world, he has for ten years been discharging the most delicate functions +in Rome, taking part in the most varied and most important affairs. He +sees all the foreigners who come to Rome, knows everything, has a hand in +everything. Add to this that he is extremely discreet and amiable, with a +modesty which seems perfect, though none can tell whether, with his light +silent footstep, he is not really marching towards the highest ambition, +the purple of sovereignty." + +"Another candidate for the tiara," thought Pierre, who had listened +passionately; for this man Nani interested him, caused him an instinctive +disquietude, as though behind his pink and smiling face he could divine +an infinity of obscure things. At the same time, however, the young +priest but ill understood his friend, for he again felt bewildered by all +this strange Roman world, so different from what he had expected. + +Nani had perceived the two young men and came towards them with his hand +cordially outstretched "Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, I am happy to meet +you again. I won't ask you if you have slept well, for people always +sleep well at Rome. Good-day, Monsieur Habert; your health has kept good +I hope, since I met you in front of Bernini's Santa Teresa, which you +admire so much.* I see that you know one another. That is very nice. I +must tell you, Monsieur l'Abbe, that Monsieur Habert is a passionate +lover of our city; he will be able to show you all its finest sights." + + * The allusion is to a statue representing St. Theresa in ecstasy, + with the Angel of Death descending to transfix her with his dart. + It stands in a transept of Sta. Maria della Vittoria.--Trans. + +Then, in his affectionate way, he at once asked for information +respecting Pierre's interview with the Cardinal. He listened attentively +to the young man's narrative, nodding his head at certain passages, and +occasionally restraining his sharp smile. The Cardinal's severity and +Pierre's conviction that he would accord him no support did not at all +astonish Nani. It seemed as if he had expected that result. However, on +hearing that Cardinal Sanguinetti had been there that morning, and had +pronounced the affair of the book to be very serious, he appeared to lose +his self-control for a moment, for he spoke out with sudden vivacity: + +"It can't be helped, my dear child, my intervention came too late. +Directly I heard of the proceedings I went to his Eminence Cardinal +Sanguinetti to tell him that the result would be an immense advertisement +for your book. Was it sensible? What was the use of it? We know that you +are inclined to be carried away by your ideas, that you are an +enthusiast, and are prompt to do battle. So what advantage should we gain +by embarrassing ourselves with the revolt of a young priest who might +wage war against us with a book of which some thousands of copies have +been sold already? For my part I desired that nothing should be done. And +I must say that the Cardinal, who is a man of sense, was of the same +mind. He raised his arms to heaven, went into a passion, and exclaimed +that he was never consulted, that the blunder was already committed +beyond recall, and that it was impossible to prevent process from taking +its course since the matter had already been brought before the +Congregation, in consequence of denunciations from authoritative sources, +based on the gravest motives. Briefly, as he said, the blunder was +committed, and I had to think of something else." + +All at once Nani paused. He had just noticed that Pierre's ardent eyes +were fixed upon his own, striving to penetrate his meaning. A faint flush +then heightened the pinkiness of his complexion, whilst in an easy way he +continued, unwilling to reveal how annoyed he was at having said too +much: "Yes, I thought of helping you with all the little influence I +possess, in order to extricate you from the worries in which this affair +will certainly land you." + +An impulse of revolt was stirring Pierre, who vaguely felt that he was +perhaps being made game of. Why should he not be free to declare his +faith, which was so pure, so free from personal considerations, so full +of glowing Christian charity? "Never," said he, "will I withdraw; never +will I myself suppress my book, as I am advised to do. It would be an act +of cowardice and falsehood, for I regret nothing, I disown nothing. If I +believe that my book brings a little truth to light I cannot destroy it +without acting criminally both towards myself and towards others. No, +never! You hear me--never!" + +Silence fell. But almost immediately he resumed: "It is at the knees of +the Holy Father that I desire to make that declaration. He will +understand me, he will approve me." + +Nani no longer smiled; henceforth his face remained as it were closed. He +seemed to be studying the sudden violence of the young priest with +curiosity; then sought to calm him with his own tranquil kindliness. "No +doubt, no doubt," said he. "There is certainly great sweetness in +obedience and humility. Still I can understand that, before anything +else, you should desire to speak to his Holiness. And afterwards you will +see--is that not so?--you will see--" + +Then he evinced a lively interest in the suggested application for an +audience. He expressed keen regret that Pierre had not forwarded that +application from Paris, before even coming to Rome: in that course would +have rested the best chance of a favourable reply. Bother of any kind was +not liked at the Vatican, and if the news of the young priest's presence +in Rome should only spread abroad, and the motives of his journey be +discussed, all would be lost. Then, on learning that Narcisse had offered +to present Pierre to the French ambassador, Nani seemed full of anxiety, +and deprecated any such proceeding: "No, no! don't do that--it would be +most imprudent. In the first place you would run the risk of embarrassing +the ambassador, whose position is always delicate in affairs of this +kind. And then, too, if he failed--and my fear is that he might +fail--yes, if he failed it would be all over; you would no longer have +the slightest chance of obtaining an audience by any other means. For the +Vatican would not like to hurt the ambassador's feelings by yielding to +other influence after resisting his." + +Pierre anxiously glanced at Narcisse, who wagged his head, embarrassed +and hesitating. "The fact is," the _attache_ at last murmured, "we lately +solicited an audience for a high French personage and it was refused, +which was very unpleasant for us. Monsignor is right. We must keep our +ambassador in reserve, and only utilise him when we have exhausted all +other means." Then, noticing Pierre's disappointment, he added +obligingly: "Our first visit therefore shall be for my cousin at the +Vatican." + +Nani, his attention again roused, looked at the young man in +astonishment. "At the Vatican? You have a cousin there?" + +"Why, yes--Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo." + +"Gamba! Gamba! Yes, yes, excuse me, I remember now. Ah! so you thought of +Gamba to bring influence to bear on his Holiness? That's an idea, no +doubt; one must see--one must see." + +He repeated these words again and again as if to secure time to see into +the matter himself, to weigh the pros and cons of the suggestion. +Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo was a worthy man who played no part at the +Papal Court, whose nullity indeed had become a byword at the Vatican. His +childish stories, however, amused the Pope, whom he greatly flattered, +and who was fond of leaning on his arm while walking in the gardens. It +was during these strolls that Gamba easily secured all sorts of little +favours. However, he was a remarkable poltroon, and had such an intense +fear of losing his influence that he never risked a request without +having convinced himself by long meditation that no possible harm could +come to him through it. + +"Well, do you know, the idea is not a bad one," Nani at last declared. +"Yes, yes, Gamba can secure the audience for you, if he is willing. I +will see him myself and explain the matter." + +At the same time Nani did not cease advising extreme caution. He even +ventured to say that it was necessary to be on one's guard with the papal +_entourage_, for, alas! it was a fact his Holiness was so good, and had +such a blind faith in the goodness of others, that he had not always +chosen his familiars with the critical care which he ought to have +displayed. Thus one never knew to what sort of man one might be applying, +or in what trap one might be setting one's foot. Nani even allowed it to +be understood that on no account ought any direct application to be made +to his Eminence the Secretary of State, for even his Eminence was not a +free agent, but found himself encompassed by intrigues of such intricacy +that his best intentions were paralysed. And as Nani went on discoursing +in this fashion, in a very gentle, extremely unctuous manner, the Vatican +appeared like some enchanted castle, guarded by jealous and treacherous +dragons--a castle where one must not take a step, pass through a doorway, +risk a limb, without having carefully assured oneself that one would not +leave one's whole body there to be devoured. + +Pierre continued listening, feeling colder and colder at heart, and again +sinking into uncertainty. "_Mon Dieu_!" he exclaimed, "I shall never know +how to act. You discourage me, Monsignor." + +At this Nani's cordial smile reappeared. "I, my dear child? I should be +sorry to do so. I only want to repeat to you that you must wait and do +nothing. Avoid all feverishness especially. There is no hurry, I assure +you, for it was only yesterday that a _consultore_ was chosen to report +upon your book, so you have a good full month before you. Avoid +everybody, live in such a way that people shall be virtually ignorant of +your existence, visit Rome in peace and quietness--that is the best +course you can adopt to forward your interests." Then, taking one of the +priest's hands between both his own, so aristocratic, soft, and plump, he +added: "You will understand that I have my reasons for speaking to you +like this. I should have offered my own services; I should have made it a +point of honour to take you straight to his Holiness, had I thought it +advisable. But I do not wish to mix myself up in the matter at this +stage; I realise only too well that at the present moment we should +simply make sad work of it. Later on--you hear me--later on, in the event +of nobody else succeeding, I myself will obtain you an audience; I +formally promise it. But meanwhile, I entreat you, refrain from using +those words 'a new religion,' which, unfortunately, occur in your book, +and which I heard you repeat again only last night. There can be no new +religion, my dear child; there is but one eternal religion, which is +beyond all surrender and compromise--the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman +religion. And at the same time leave your Paris friends to themselves. +Don't rely too much on Cardinal Bergerot, whose lofty piety is not +sufficiently appreciated in Rome. I assure you that I am speaking to you +as a friend." + +Then, seeing how disabled Pierre appeared to be, half overcome already, +no longer knowing in what direction to begin his campaign, he again +strove to comfort him: "Come, come, things will right themselves; +everything will end for the best, both for the welfare of the Church and +your own. And now you must excuse me, I must leave you; I shall not be +able to see his Eminence to-day, for it is impossible for me to wait any +longer." + +Abbe Paparelli, whom Pierre had noticed prowling around with his ears +cocked, now hastened forward and declared to Monsignor Nani that there +were only two persons to be received before him. But the prelate very +graciously replied that he would come back again at another time, for the +affair which he wished to lay before his Eminence was in no wise +pressing. Then he withdrew, courteously bowing to everybody. + +Narcisse Habert's turn came almost immediately afterwards. However, +before entering the throne-room he pressed Pierre's hand, repeating, "So +it is understood. I will go to see my cousin at the Vatican to-morrow, +and directly I get a reply I will let you know. We shall meet again soon +I hope." + +It was now past twelve o'clock, and the only remaining visitor was one of +the two old ladies who seemed to have fallen asleep. At his little +secretarial table Don Vigilio still sat covering huge sheets of yellow +paper with fine handwriting, from which he only lifted his eyes at +intervals to glance about him distrustfully, and make sure that nothing +threatened him. + +In the mournful silence which fell around, Pierre lingered for yet +another moment in the deep embrasure of the window. Ah! what anxiety +consumed his poor, tender, enthusiastic heart! On leaving Paris things +had seemed so simple, so natural to him! He was unjustly accused, and he +started off to defend himself, arrived and flung himself at the feet of +the Holy Father, who listened to him indulgently. Did not the Pope +personify living religion, intelligence to understand, justice based upon +truth? And was he not, before aught else, the Father, the delegate of +divine forgiveness and mercy, with arms outstretched towards all the +children of the Church, even the guilty ones? Was it not meet, then, that +he should leave his door wide open so that the humblest of his sons might +freely enter to relate their troubles, confess their transgressions, +explain their conduct, imbibe comfort from the source of eternal loving +kindness? And yet on the very first day of his, Pierre's, arrival, the +doors closed upon him with a bang; he felt himself sinking into a hostile +sphere, full of traps and pitfalls. One and all cried out to him +"Beware!" as if he were incurring the greatest dangers in setting one +foot before the other. His desire to see the Pope became an extraordinary +pretension, so difficult of achievement that it set the interests and +passions and influences of the whole Vatican agog. And there was endless +conflicting advice, long-discussed manoeuvring, all the strategy of +generals leading an army to victory, and fresh complications ever arising +in the midst of a dim stealthy swarming of intrigues. Ah! good Lord! how +different all this was from the charitable reception that Pierre had +anticipated: the pastor's house standing open beside the high road for +the admission of all the sheep of the flock, both those that were docile +and those that had gone astray. + +That which began to frighten Pierre, however, was the evil, the +wickedness, which he could divine vaguely stirring in the gloom: Cardinal +Bergerot suspected, dubbed a Revolutionary, deemed so compromising that +he, Pierre, was advised not to mention his name again! The young priest +once more saw Cardinal Boccanera's pout of disdain while speaking of his +colleague. And then Monsignor Nani had warned him not to repeat those +words "a new religion," as if it were not clear to everybody that they +simply signified the return of Catholicism to the primitive purity of +Christianity! Was that one of the crimes denounced to the Congregation of +the Index? He had begun to suspect who his accusers were, and felt +alarmed, for he was now conscious of secret subterranean plotting, a +great stealthy effort to strike him down and suppress his work. All that +surrounded him became suspicious. If he listened to advice and +temporised, it was solely to follow the same politic course as his +adversaries, to learn to know them before acting. He would spend a few +days in meditation, in surveying and studying that black world of Rome +which to him had proved so unexpected. But, at the same time, in the +revolt of his apostle-like faith, he swore, even as he had said to Nani, +that he would never yield, never change either a page or a line of his +book, but maintain it in its integrity in the broad daylight as the +unshakable testimony of his belief. Even were the book condemned by the +Index, he would not tender submission, withdraw aught of it. And should +it become necessary he would quit the Church, he would go even as far as +schism, continuing to preach the new religion and writing a new book, +_Real Rome_, such as he now vaguely began to espy. + +However, Don Vigilio had ceased writing, and gazed so fixedly at Pierre +that the latter at last stepped up to him politely in order to take +leave. And then the secretary, yielding, despite his fears, to a desire +to confide in him, murmured, "He came simply on your account, you know; +he wanted to ascertain the result of your interview with his Eminence." + +It was not necessary for Don Vigilio to mention Nani by name; Pierre +understood. "Really, do you think so?" he asked. + +"Oh! there is no doubt of it. And if you take my advice you will do what +he desires with a good grace, for it is absolutely certain that you will +do it later on." + +These words brought Pierre's disquietude and exasperation to a climax. He +went off with a gesture of defiance. They would see if he would ever +yield. + +The three ante-rooms which he again crossed appeared to him blacker, +emptier, more lifeless than ever. In the second one Abbe Paparelli +saluted him with a little silent bow; in the first the sleepy lackey did +not even seem to see him. A spider was weaving its web between the +tassels of the great red hat under the _baldacchino_. Would not the +better course have been to set the pick at work amongst all that rotting +past, now crumbling into dust, so that the sunlight might stream in +freely and restore to the purified soil the fruitfulness of youth? + + + + + +PART II. + + + + +IV. + +ON the afternoon of that same day Pierre, having leisure before him, at +once thought of beginning his peregrinations through Rome by a visit on +which he had set his heart. Almost immediately after the publication of +"New Rome" he had been deeply moved and interested by a letter addressed +to him from the Eternal City by old Count Orlando Prada, the hero of +Italian independence and reunion, who, although unacquainted with him, +had written spontaneously after a first hasty perusal of his book. And +the letter had been a flaming protest, a cry of the patriotic faith still +young in the heart of that aged man, who accused him of having forgotten +Italy and claimed Rome, the new Rome, for the country which was at last +free and united. Correspondence had ensued, and the priest, while +clinging to his dream of Neo-Catholicism saving the world, had from afar +grown attached to the man who wrote to him with such glowing love of +country and freedom. He had eventually informed him of his journey, and +promised to call upon him. But the hospitality which he had accepted at +the Boccanera mansion now seemed to him somewhat of an impediment; for +after Benedetta's kindly, almost affectionate, greeting, he felt that he +could not, on the very first day and with out warning her, sally forth to +visit the father of the man from whom she had fled and from whom she now +asked the Church to part her for ever. Moreover, old Orlando was actually +living with his son in a little palazzo which the latter had erected at +the farther end of the Via Venti Settembre. + +Before venturing on any step Pierre resolved to confide in the Contessina +herself; and this seemed the easier as Viscount Philibert de la Choue had +told him that the young woman still retained a filial feeling, mingled +with admiration, for the old hero. And indeed, at the very first words +which he uttered after lunch, Benedetta promptly retorted: "But go, +Monsieur l'Abbe, go at once! Old Orlando, you know, is one of our +national glories--you must not be surprised to hear me call him by his +Christian name. All Italy does so, from pure affection and gratitude. For +my part I grew up among people who hated him, who likened him to Satan. +It was only later that I learned to know him, and then I loved him, for +he is certainly the most just and gentle man in the world." + +She had begun to smile, but timid tears were moistening her eyes at the +recollection, no doubt, of the year of suffering she had spent in her +husband's house, where her only peaceful hours had been those passed with +the old man. And in a lower and somewhat tremulous voice she added: "As +you are going to see him, tell him from me that I still love him, and, +whatever happens, shall never forget his goodness." + +So Pierre set out, and whilst he was driving in a cab towards the Via +Venti Settembre, he recalled to mind the heroic story of old Orlando's +life which had been told him in Paris. It was like an epic poem, full of +faith, bravery, and the disinterestedness of another age. + +Born of a noble house of Milan, Count Orlando Prada had learnt to hate +the foreigner at such an early age that, when scarcely fifteen, he +already formed part of a secret society, one of the ramifications of the +antique Carbonarism. This hatred of Austrian domination had been +transmitted from father to son through long years, from the olden days of +revolt against servitude, when the conspirators met by stealth in +abandoned huts, deep in the recesses of the forests; and it was rendered +the keener by the eternal dream of Italy delivered, restored to herself, +transformed once more into a great sovereign nation, the worthy daughter +of those who had conquered and ruled the world. Ah! that land of whilom +glory, that unhappy, dismembered, parcelled Italy, the prey of a crowd of +petty tyrants, constantly invaded and appropriated by neighbouring +nations--how superb and ardent was that dream to free her from such long +opprobrium! To defeat the foreigner, drive out the despots, awaken the +people from the base misery of slavery, to proclaim Italy free and Italy +united--such was the passion which then inflamed the young with +inextinguishable ardour, which made the youthful Orlando's heart leap +with enthusiasm. He spent his early years consumed by holy indignation, +proudly and impatiently longing for an opportunity to give his blood for +his country, and to die for her if he could not deliver her. + +Quivering under the yoke, wasting his time in sterile conspiracies, he +was living in retirement in the old family residence at Milan, when, +shortly after his marriage and his twenty-fifth birthday, tidings came to +him of the flight of Pius IX and the Revolution of Rome.* And at once he +quitted everything, wife and hearth, and hastened to Rome as if summoned +thither by the call of destiny. This was the first time that he set out +scouring the roads for the attainment of independence; and how +frequently, yet again and again, was he to start upon fresh campaigns, +never wearying, never disheartened! And now it was that he became +acquainted with Mazzini, and for a moment was inflamed with enthusiasm +for that mystical unitarian Republican. He himself indulged in an ardent +dream of a Universal Republic, adopted the Mazzinian device, "_Dio e +popolo_" (God and the people), and followed the procession which wended +its way with great pomp through insurrectionary Rome. The time was one of +vast hopes, one when people already felt a need of renovated religion, +and looked to the coming of a humanitarian Christ who would redeem the +world yet once again. But before long a man, a captain of the ancient +days, Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose epic glory was dawning, made Orlando +entirely his own, transformed him into a soldier whose sole cause was +freedom and union. Orlando loved Garibaldi as though the latter were a +demi-god, fought beside him in defence of Republican Rome, took part in +the victory of Rieti over the Neapolitans, and followed the stubborn +patriot in his retreat when he sought to succour Venice, compelled as he +was to relinquish the Eternal City to the French army of General Oudinot, +who came thither to reinstate Pius IX. And what an extraordinary and +madly heroic adventure was that of Garibaldi and Venice! Venice, which +Manin, another great patriot, a martyr, had again transformed into a +republican city, and which for long months had been resisting the +Austrians! And Garibaldi starts with a handful of men to deliver the +city, charters thirteen fishing barks, loses eight in a naval engagement, +is compelled to return to the Roman shores, and there in all wretchedness +is bereft of his wife, Anita, whose eyes he closes before returning to +America, where, once before, he had awaited the hour of insurrection. Ah! +that land of Italy, which in those days rumbled from end to end with the +internal fire of patriotism, where men of faith and courage arose in +every city, where riots and insurrections burst forth on all sides like +eruptions--it continued, in spite of every check, its invincible march to +freedom! + + * It was on November 24, 1848, that the Pope fled to Gaeta, + consequent upon the insurrection which had broken out nine + days previously.--Trans. + +Orlando returned to his young wife at Milan, and for two years lived +there, almost in concealment, devoured by impatience for the glorious +morrow which was so long in coming. Amidst his fever a gleam of happiness +softened his heart; a son, Luigi, was born to him, but the birth killed +the mother, and joy was turned into mourning. Then, unable to remain any +longer at Milan, where he was spied upon, tracked by the police, +suffering also too grievously from the foreign occupation, Orlando +decided to realise the little fortune remaining to him, and to withdraw +to Turin, where an aunt of his wife took charge of the child. Count di +Cavour, like a great statesman, was then already seeking to bring about +independence, preparing Piedmont for the decisive _role_ which it was +destined to play. It was the time when King Victor Emmanuel evinced +flattering cordiality towards all the refugees who came to him from every +part of Italy, even those whom he knew to be Republicans, compromised and +flying the consequences of popular insurrection. The rough, shrewd House +of Savoy had long been dreaming of bringing about Italian unity to the +profit of the Piedmontese monarchy, and Orlando well knew under what +master he was taking service; but in him the Republican already went +behind the patriot, and indeed he had begun to question the possibility +of a united Republican Italy, placed under the protectorate of a liberal +Pope, as Mazzini had at one time dreamed. Was that not indeed a chimera +beyond realisation which would devour generation after generation if one +obstinately continued to pursue it? For his part, he did not wish to die +without having slept in Rome as one of the conquerors. Even if liberty +was to be lost, he desired to see his country united and erect, returning +once more to life in the full sunlight. And so it was with feverish +happiness that he enlisted at the outset of the war of 1859; and his +heart palpitated with such force as almost to rend his breast, when, +after Magenta, he entered Milan with the French army--Milan which he had +quitted eight years previously, like an exile, in despair. The treaty of +Villafranca which followed Solferino proved a bitter deception: Venetia +was not secured, Venice remained enthralled. Nevertheless the Milanese +was conquered from the foe, and then Tuscany and the duchies of Parma and +Modena voted for annexation. So, at all events, the nucleus of the +Italian star was formed; the country had begun to build itself up afresh +around victorious Piedmont. + +Then, in the following year, Orlando plunged into epopoeia once more. +Garibaldi had returned from his two sojourns in America, with the halo of +a legend round him--paladin-like feats in the pampas of Uruguay, an +extraordinary passage from Canton to Lima--and he had returned to take +part in the war of 1859, forestalling the French army, overthrowing an +Austrian marshal, and entering Como, Bergamo, and Brescia. And now, all +at once, folks heard that he had landed at Marsala with only a thousand +men--the Thousand of Marsala, the ever illustrious handful of braves! +Orlando fought in the first rank, and Palermo after three days' +resistance was carried. Becoming the dictator's favourite lieutenant, he +helped him to organise a government, then crossed the straits with him, +and was beside him on the triumphal entry into Naples, whose king had +fled. There was mad audacity and valour at that time, an explosion of the +inevitable; and all sorts of supernatural stories were current--Garibaldi +invulnerable, protected better by his red shirt than by the strongest +armour, Garibaldi routing opposing armies like an archangel, by merely +brandishing his flaming sword! The Piedmontese on their side had defeated +General Lamoriciere at Castelfidardo, and were invading the States of the +Church. And Orlando was there when the dictator, abdicating power, signed +the decree which annexed the Two Sicilies to the Crown of Italy; even as +subsequently he took part in that forlorn attempt on Rome, when the +rageful cry was "Rome or Death!"--an attempt which came to a tragic issue +at Aspromonte, when the little army was dispersed by the Italian troops, +and Garibaldi, wounded, was taken prisoner, and sent back to the solitude +of his island of Caprera, where he became but a fisherman and a tiller of +the rocky soil.* + + * M. Zola's brief but glowing account of Garibaldi's glorious + achievements has stirred many memories in my mind. My uncle, + Frank Vizetelly, the war artist of the _Illustrated London + News_, whose bones lie bleaching somewhere in the Soudan, was + one of Garibaldi's constant companions throughout the memorable + campaign of the Two Sicilies, and afterwards he went with him + to Caprera. Later, in 1870, my brother, Edward Vizetelly, acted + as orderly-officer to the general when he offered the help of + his sword to France.--Trans. + +Six years of waiting again went by, and Orlando still dwelt at Turin, +even after Florence had been chosen as the new capital. The Senate had +acclaimed Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; and Italy was indeed almost +built, it lacked only Rome and Venice. But the great battles seemed all +over, the epic era was closed; Venice was to be won by defeat. Orlando +took part in the unlucky battle of Custozza, where he received two +wounds, full of furious grief at the thought that Austria should be +triumphant. But at that same moment the latter, defeated at Sadowa, +relinquished Venetia, and five months later Orlando satisfied his desire +to be in Venice participating in the joy of triumph, when Victor Emmanuel +made his entry amidst the frantic acclamations of the people. Rome alone +remained to be won, and wild impatience urged all Italy towards the city; +but friendly France had sworn to maintain the Pope, and this acted as a +check. Then, for the third time, Garibaldi dreamt of renewing the feats +of the old-world legends, and threw himself upon Rome like a soldier of +fortune illumined by patriotism and free from every tie. And for the +third time Orlando shared in that fine heroic madness destined to be +vanquished at Mentana by the Pontifical Zouaves supported by a small +French corps. Again wounded, he came back to Turin in almost a dying +condition. But, though his spirit quivered, he had to resign himself; the +situation seemed to have no outlet; only an upheaval of the nations could +give Rome to Italy. + +All at once the thunderclap of Sedan, of the downfall of France, +resounded through the world; and then the road to Rome lay open, and +Orlando, having returned to service in the regular army, was with the +troops who took up position in the Campagna to ensure the safety of the +Holy See, as was said in the letter which Victor Emmanuel wrote to Pius +IX. There was, however, but the shadow of an engagement: General +Kanzler's Pontifical Zouaves were compelled to fall back, and Orlando was +one of the first to enter the city by the breach of the Porta Pia. Ah! +that twentieth of September--that day when he experienced the greatest +happiness of his life--a day of delirium, of complete triumph, which +realised the dream of so many years of terrible contest, the dream for +which he had sacrificed rest and fortune, and given both body and mind! + +Then came more than ten happy years in conquered Rome--in Rome adored, +flattered, treated with all tenderness, like a woman in whom one has +placed one's entire hope. From her he awaited so much national vigour, +such a marvellous resurrection of strength and glory for the endowment of +the young nation. Old Republican, old insurrectional soldier that he was, +he had been obliged to adhere to the monarchy, and accept a senatorship. +But then did not Garibaldi himself--Garibaldi his divinity--likewise call +upon the King and sit in parliament? Mazzini alone, rejecting all +compromises, was unwilling to rest content with a united and independent +Italy that was not Republican. Moreover, another consideration influenced +Orlando, the future of his son Luigi, who had attained his eighteenth +birthday shortly after the occupation of Rome. Though he, Orlando, could +manage with the crumbs which remained of the fortune he had expended in +his country's service, he dreamt of a splendid destiny for the child of +his heart. Realising that the heroic age was over, he desired to make a +great politician of him, a great administrator, a man who should be +useful to the mighty nation of the morrow; and it was on this account +that he had not rejected royal favour, the reward of long devotion, +desiring, as he did, to be in a position to help, watch, and guide Luigi. +Besides, was he himself so old, so used-up, as to be unable to assist in +organisation, even as he had assisted in conquest? Struck by his son's +quick intelligence in business matters, perhaps also instinctively +divining that the battle would now continue on financial and economic +grounds, he obtained him employment at the Ministry of Finances. And +again he himself lived on, dreaming, still enthusiastically believing in +a splendid future, overflowing with boundless hope, seeing Rome double +her population, grow and spread with a wild vegetation of new districts, +and once more, in his loving enraptured eyes, become the queen of the +world. + +But all at once came a thunderbolt. One morning, as he was going +downstairs, Orlando was stricken with paralysis. Both his legs suddenly +became lifeless, as heavy as lead. It was necessary to carry him up +again, and never since had he set foot on the street pavement. At that +time he had just completed his fifty-sixth year, and for fourteen years +since he had remained in his arm-chair, as motionless as stone, he who +had so impetuously trod every battlefield of Italy. It was a pitiful +business, the collapse of a hero. And worst of all, from that room where +he was for ever imprisoned, the old soldier beheld the slow crumbling of +all his hopes, and fell into dismal melancholy, full of unacknowledged +fear for the future. Now that the intoxication of action no longer dimmed +his eyes, now that he spent his long and empty days in thought, his +vision became clear. Italy, which he had desired to see so powerful, so +triumphant in her unity, was acting madly, rushing to ruin, possibly to +bankruptcy. Rome, which to him had ever been the one necessary capital, +the city of unparalleled glory, requisite for the sovereign people of +to-morrow, seemed unwilling to take upon herself the part of a great +modern metropolis; heavy as a corpse she weighed with all her centuries +on the bosom of the young nation. Moreover, his son Luigi distressed him. +Rebellious to all guidance, the young man had become one of the devouring +offsprings of conquest, eager to despoil that Italy, that Rome, which his +father seemed to have desired solely in order that he might pillage them +and batten on them. Orlando had vainly opposed Luigi's departure from the +ministry, his participation in the frantic speculations on land and house +property to which the mad building of the new districts had given rise. +But at the same time he loved his son, and was reduced to silence, +especially now when everything had succeeded with Luigi, even his most +risky financial ventures, such as the transformation of the Villa +Montefiori into a perfect town--a colossal enterprise in which many of +great wealth had been ruined, but whence he himself had emerged with +millions. And it was in part for this reason that Orlando, sad and +silent, had obstinately restricted himself to one small room on the third +floor of the little palazzo erected by Luigi in the Via Venti +Settembre--a room where he lived cloistered with a single servant, +subsisting on his own scanty income, and accepting nothing but that +modest hospitality from his son. + +As Pierre reached that new Via Venti Settembre* which climbs the side and +summit of the Viminal hill, he was struck by the heavy sumptuousness of +the new "palaces," which betokened among the moderns the same taste for +the huge that marked the ancient Romans. In the warm afternoon glow, +blent of purple and old gold, the broad, triumphant thoroughfare, with +its endless rows of white house-fronts, bore witness to new Rome's proud +hope of futurity and sovereign power. And Pierre fairly gasped when he +beheld the Palazzo delle Finanze, or Treasury, a gigantic erection, a +cyclopean cube with a profusion of columns, balconies, pediments, and +sculptured work, to which the building mania had given birth in a day of +immoderate pride. And on the other side of the street, a little higher +up, before reaching the Villa Bonaparte, stood Count Prada's little +palazzo. + + * The name--Twentieth September Street--was given to the + thoroughfare to commemorate the date of the occupation + of Rome by Victor Emmanuel's army.--Trans. + +After discharging his driver, Pierre for a moment remained somewhat +embarrassed. The door was open, and he entered the vestibule; but, as at +the mansion in the Via Giulia, no door porter or servant was to be seen. +So he had to make up his mind to ascend the monumental stairs, which with +their marble balustrades seemed to be copied, on a smaller scale, from +those of the Palazzo Boccanera. And there was much the same cold +bareness, tempered, however, by a carpet and red door-hangings, which +contrasted vividly with the white stucco of the walls. The +reception-rooms, sixteen feet high, were on the first floor, and as a +door chanced to be ajar he caught a glimpse of two _salons_, one +following the other, and both displaying quite modern richness, with a +profusion of silk and velvet hangings, gilt furniture, and lofty mirrors +reflecting a pompous assemblage of stands and tables. And still there was +nobody, not a soul, in that seemingly forsaken abode, which exhaled +nought of woman's presence. Indeed Pierre was on the point of going down +again to ring, when a footman at last presented himself. + +"Count Prada, if you please." + +The servant silently surveyed the little priest, and seemed to +understand. "The father or the son?" he asked. + +"The father, Count Orlando Prada." + +"Oh! that's on the third floor." And he condescended to add: "The little +door on the right-hand side of the landing. Knock loudly if you wish to +be admitted." + +Pierre indeed had to knock twice, and then a little withered old man of +military appearance, a former soldier who had remained in the Count's +service, opened the door and apologised for the delay by saying that he +had been attending to his master's legs. Immediately afterwards he +announced the visitor, and the latter, after passing through a dim and +narrow ante-room, was lost in amazement on finding himself in a +relatively small chamber, extremely bare and bright, with wall-paper of a +light hue studded with tiny blue flowers. Behind a screen was an iron +bedstead, the soldier's pallet, and there was no other furniture than the +arm-chair in which the cripple spent his days, with a table of black wood +placed near him, and covered with books and papers, and two old +straw-seated chairs which served for the accommodation of the infrequent +visitors. A few planks, fixed to one of the walls, did duty as +book-shelves. However, the broad, clear, curtainless window overlooked +the most admirable panorama of Rome that could be desired. + +Then the room disappeared from before Pierre's eyes, and with a sudden +shock of deep emotion he only beheld old Orlando, the old blanched lion, +still superb, broad, and tall. A forest of white hair crowned his +powerful head, with its thick mouth, fleshy broken nose, and large, +sparkling, black eyes. A long white beard streamed down with the vigour +of youth, curling like that of an ancient god. By that leonine muzzle one +divined what great passions had growled within; but all, carnal and +intellectual alike, had erupted in patriotism, in wild bravery, and +riotous love of independence. And the old stricken hero, his torso still +erect, was fixed there on his straw-seated arm-chair, with lifeless legs +buried beneath a black wrapper. Alone did his arms and hands live, and +his face beam with strength and intelligence. + +Orlando turned towards his servant, and gently said to him: "You can go +away, Batista. Come back in a couple of hours." Then, looking Pierre full +in the face, he exclaimed in a voice which was still sonorous despite his +seventy years: "So it's you at last, my dear Monsieur Froment, and we +shall be able to chat at our ease. There, take that chair, and sit down +in front of me." + +He had noticed the glance of surprise which the young priest had cast +upon the bareness of the room, and he gaily added: "You will excuse me +for receiving you in my cell. Yes, I live here like a monk, like an old +invalided soldier, henceforth withdrawn from active life. My son long +begged me to take one of the fine rooms downstairs. But what would have +been the use of it? I have no needs, and I scarcely care for feather +beds, for my old bones are accustomed to the hard ground. And then too I +have such a fine view up here, all Rome presenting herself to me, now +that I can no longer go to her." + +With a wave of the hand towards the window he sought to hide the +embarrassment, the slight flush which came to him each time that he thus +excused his son; unwilling as he was to tell the true reason, the scruple +of probity which had made him obstinately cling to his bare pauper's +lodging. + +"But it is very nice, the view is superb!" declared Pierre, in order to +please him. "I am for my own part very glad to see you, very glad to be +able to grasp your valiant hands, which accomplished so many great +things." + +Orlando made a fresh gesture, as though to sweep the past away. "Pooh! +pooh! all that is dead and buried. Let us talk about you, my dear +Monsieur Froment, you who are young and represent the present; and +especially about your book, which represents the future! Ah! if you only +knew how angry your book, your 'New Rome,' made me first of all." + +He began to laugh, and took the book from off the table near him; then, +tapping on its cover with his big, broad hand, he continued: "No, you +cannot imagine with what starts of protest I read your book. The Pope, +and again the Pope, and always the Pope! New Rome to be created by the +Pope and for the Pope, to triumph thanks to the Pope, to be given to the +Pope, and to fuse its glory in the glory of the Pope! But what about us? +What about Italy? What about all the millions which we have spent in +order to make Rome a great capital? Ah! only a Frenchman, and a Frenchman +of Paris, could have written such a book! But let me tell you, my dear +sir, if you are ignorant of it, that Rome has become the capital of the +kingdom of Italy, that we here have King Humbert, and the Italian people, +a whole nation which must be taken into account, and which means to keep +Rome--glorious, resuscitated Rome--for itself!" + +This juvenile ardour made Pierre laugh in turn. "Yes, yes," said he, "you +wrote me that. Only what does it matter from my point of view? Italy is +but one nation, a part of humanity, and I desire concord and fraternity +among all the nations, mankind reconciled, believing, and happy. Of what +consequence, then, is any particular form of government, monarchy or +republic, of what consequence is any question of a united and independent +country, if all mankind forms but one free people subsisting on truth and +justice?" + +To only one word of this enthusiastic outburst did Orlando pay attention. +In a lower tone, and with a dreamy air, he resumed: "Ah! a republic. In +my youth I ardently desired one. I fought for one; I conspired with +Mazzini, a saintly man, a believer, who was shattered by collision with +the absolute. And then, too, one had to bow to practical necessities; the +most obstinate ended by submitting. And nowadays would a republic save +us? In any case it would differ but little from our parliamentary +monarchy. Just think of what goes on in France! And so why risk a +revolution which would place power in the hands of the extreme +revolutionists, the anarchists? We fear all that, and this explains our +resignation. I know very well that a few think they can detect salvation +in a republican federation, a reconstitution of all the former little +states in so many republics, over which Rome would preside. The Vatican +would gain largely by any such transformation; still one cannot say that +it endeavours to bring it about; it simply regards the eventuality +without disfavour. But it is a dream, a dream!" + +At this Orlando's gaiety came back to him, with even a little gentle +irony: "You don't know, I suppose, what it was that took my fancy in your +book--for, in spite of all my protests, I have read it twice. Well, what +pleased me was that Mazzini himself might almost have written it at one +time. Yes! I found all my youth again in your pages, all the wild hope of +my twenty-fifth year, the new religion of a humanitarian Christ, the +pacification of the world effected by the Gospel! Are you aware that, +long before your time, Mazzini desired the renovation of Christianity? He +set dogma and discipline on one side and only retained morals. And it was +new Rome, the Rome of the people, which he would have given as see to the +universal Church, in which all the churches of the past were to be +fused--Rome, the eternal and predestined city, the mother and queen, +whose domination was to arise anew to ensure the definitive happiness of +mankind! Is it not curious that all the present-day Neo-Catholicism, the +vague, spiritualistic awakening, the evolution towards communion and +Christian charity, with which some are making so much stir, should be +simply a return of the mystical and humanitarian ideas of 1848? Alas! I +saw all that, I believed and burned, and I know in what a fine mess those +flights into the azure of mystery landed us! So it cannot be helped, I +lack confidence." + +Then, as Pierre on his side was growing impassioned and sought to reply, +he stopped him: "No, let me finish. I only want to convince you how +absolutely necessary it was that we should take Rome and make her the +capital of Italy. Without Rome new Italy could not have existed; Rome +represented the glory of ancient time; in her dust lay the sovereign +power which we wished to re-establish; she brought strength, beauty, +eternity to those who possessed her. Standing in the middle of our +country, she was its heart, and must assuredly become its life as soon as +she should be awakened from the long sleep of ruin. Ah! how we desired +her, amidst victory and amidst defeat, through years and years of +frightful impatience! For my part I loved her, and longed for her, far +more than for any woman, with my blood burning, and in despair that I +should be growing old. And when we possessed her, our folly was a desire +to behold her huge, magnificent, and commanding all at once, the equal of +the other great capitals of Europe--Berlin, Paris, and London. Look at +her! she is still my only love, my only consolation now that I am +virtually dead, with nothing alive in me but my eyes." + +With the same gesture as before, he directed Pierre's attention to the +window. Under the glowing sky Rome stretched out in its immensity, +empurpled and gilded by the slanting sunrays. Across the horizon, far, +far away, the trees of the Janiculum stretched a green girdle, of a +limpid emerald hue, whilst the dome of St. Peter's, more to the left, +showed palely blue, like a sapphire bedimmed by too bright a light. Then +came the low town, the old ruddy city, baked as it were by centuries of +burning summers, soft to the eye and beautiful with the deep life of the +past, an unbounded chaos of roofs, gables, towers, _campanili_, and +cupolas. But, in the foreground under the window, there was the new +city--that which had been building for the last five and twenty +years--huge blocks of masonry piled up side by side, still white with +plaster, neither the sun nor history having as yet robed them in purple. +And in particular the roofs of the colossal Palazzo delle Finanze had a +disastrous effect, spreading out like far, bare steppes of cruel +hideousness. And it was upon the desolation and abomination of all the +newly erected piles that the eyes of the old soldier of conquest at last +rested. + +Silence ensued. Pierre felt the faint chill of hidden, unacknowledged +sadness pass by, and courteously waited. + +"I must beg your pardon for having interrupted you just now," resumed +Orlando; "but it seems to me that we cannot talk about your book to any +good purpose until you have seen and studied Rome closely. You only +arrived yesterday, did you not? Well, stroll about the city, look at +things, question people, and I think that many of your ideas will change. +I shall particularly like to know your impression of the Vatican since +you have cone here solely to see the Pope and defend your book against +the Index. Why should we discuss things to-day, if facts themselves are +calculated to bring you to other views, far more readily than the finest +speeches which I might make? It is understood, you will come to see me +again, and we shall then know what we are talking about, and, maybe, +agree together." + +"Why certainly, you are too kind," replied Pierre. "I only came to-day to +express my gratitude to you for having read my book so attentively, and +to pay homage to one of the glories of Italy." + +Orlando was not listening, but remained for a moment absorbed in thought, +with his eyes still resting upon Rome. And overcome, despite himself, by +secret disquietude, he resumed in a low voice as though making an +involuntary confession: "We have gone too fast, no doubt. There were +expenses of undeniable utility--the roads, ports, and railways. And it +was necessary to arm the country also; I did not at first disapprove of +the heavy military burden. But since then how crushing has been the war +budget--a war which has never come, and the long wait for which has +ruined us. Ah! I have always been the friend of France. I only reproach +her with one thing, that she has failed to understand the position in +which we were placed, the vital reasons which compelled us to ally +ourselves with Germany. And then there are the thousand millions of +_lire_* swallowed up in Rome! That was the real madness; pride and +enthusiasm led us astray. Old and solitary as I've been for many years +now, given to deep reflection, I was one of the first to divine the +pitfall, the frightful financial crisis, the deficit which would bring +about the collapse of the nation. I shouted it from the housetops, to my +son, to all who came near me; but what was the use? They didn't listen; +they were mad, still buying and selling and building, with no thought but +for gambling booms and bubbles. But you'll see, you'll see. And the worst +is that we are not situated as you are; we haven't a reserve of men and +money in a dense peasant population, whose thrifty savings are always at +hand to fill up the gaps caused by big catastrophes. There is no social +rise among our people as yet; fresh men don't spring up out of the lower +classes to reinvigorate the national blood, as they constantly do in your +country. And, besides, the people are poor; they have no stockings to +empty. The misery is frightful, I must admit it. Those who have any money +prefer to spend it in the towns in a petty way rather than to risk it in +agricultural or manufacturing enterprise. Factories are but slowly built, +and the land is almost everywhere tilled in the same primitive manner as +it was two thousand years ago. And then, too, take Rome--Rome, which +didn't make Italy, but which Italy made its capital to satisfy an ardent, +overpowering desire--Rome, which is still but a splendid bit of scenery, +picturing the glory of the centuries, and which, apart from its +historical splendour, has only given us its degenerate papal population, +swollen with ignorance and pride! Ah! I loved Rome too well, and I still +love it too well to regret being now within its walls. But, good heavens! +what insanity its acquisition brought us, what piles of money it has cost +us, and how heavily and triumphantly it weighs us down! Look! look!" + + * 40,000,000 pounds. + +He waved his hand as he spoke towards the livid roofs of the Palazzo +delle Finanze, that vast and desolate steppe, as though he could see the +harvest of glory all stripped off and bankruptcy appear with its fearful, +threatening bareness. Restrained tears were dimming his eyes, and he +looked superbly pitiful with his expression of baffled hope and grievous +disquietude, with his huge white head, the muzzle of an old blanched lion +henceforth powerless and caged in that bare, bright room, whose +poverty-stricken aspect was instinct with so much pride that it seemed, +as it were, a protest against the monumental splendour of the whole +surrounding district! So those were the purposes to which the conquest +had been put! And to think that he was impotent, henceforth unable to +give his blood and his soul as he had done in the days gone by. + +"Yes, yes," he exclaimed in a final outburst; "one gave everything, heart +and brain, one's whole life indeed, so long as it was a question of +making the country one and independent. But, now that the country is +ours, just try to stir up enthusiasm for the reorganisation of its +finances! There's no ideality in that! And this explains why, whilst the +old ones are dying off, not a new man comes to the front among the young +ones--" + +All at once he stopped, looking somewhat embarrassed, yet smiling at his +feverishness. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm off again, I'm incorrigible. But +it's understood, we'll leave that subject alone, and you'll come back +here, and we'll chat together when you've seen everything." + +From that moment he showed himself extremely pleasant, and it was +apparent to Pierre that he regretted having said so much, by the +seductive affability and growing affection which he now displayed. He +begged the young priest to prolong his sojourn, to abstain from all hasty +judgments on Rome, and to rest convinced that, at bottom, Italy still +loved France. And he was also very desirous that France should love +Italy, and displayed genuine anxiety at the thought that perhaps she +loved her no more. As at the Boccanera mansion, on the previous evening, +Pierre realised that an attempt was being made to persuade him to +admiration and affection. Like a susceptible woman with secret misgivings +respecting the attractive power of her beauty, Italy was all anxiety with +regard to the opinion of her visitors, and strove to win and retain their +love. + +However, Orlando again became impassioned when he learnt that Pierre was +staying at the Boccanera mansion, and he made a gesture of extreme +annoyance on hearing, at that very moment, a knock at the outer door. +"Come in!" he called; but at the same time he detained Pierre, saying, +"No, no, don't go yet; I wish to know--" + +But a lady came in--a woman of over forty, short and extremely plump, and +still attractive with her small features and pretty smile swamped in fat. +She was a blonde, with green, limpid eyes; and, fairly well dressed in a +sober, nicely fitting mignonette gown, she looked at once pleasant, +modest, and shrewd. + +"Ah! it's you, Stefana," said the old man, letting her kiss him. + +"Yes, uncle, I was passing by and came up to see how you were getting +on." + +The visitor was the Signora Sacco, niece of Prada and a Neapolitan by +birth, her mother having quitted Milan to marry a certain Pagani, a +Neapolitan banker, who had afterwards failed. Subsequent to that disaster +Stefana had married Sacco, then merely a petty post-office clerk. He, +later on, wishing to revive his father-in-law's business, had launched +into all sorts of terrible, complicated, suspicious affairs, which by +unforeseen luck had ended in his election as a deputy. Since he had +arrived in Rome, to conquer the city in his turn, his wife had been +compelled to assist his devouring ambition by dressing well and opening a +_salon_; and, although she was still a little awkward, she rendered him +many real services, being very economical and prudent, a thorough good +housewife, with all the sterling, substantial qualities of Northern Italy +which she had inherited from her mother, and which showed conspicuously +beside the turbulence and carelessness of her husband, in whom flared +Southern Italy with its perpetual, rageful appetite. + +Despite his contempt for Sacco, old Orlando had retained some affection +for his niece, in whose veins flowed blood similar to his own. He thanked +her for her kind inquiries, and then at once spoke of an announcement +which he had read in the morning papers, for he suspected that the deputy +had sent his wife to ascertain his opinion. + +"Well, and that ministry?" he asked. + +The Signora had seated herself and made no haste to reply, but glanced at +the newspapers strewn over the table. "Oh! nothing is settled yet," she +at last responded; "the newspapers spoke out too soon. The Prime Minister +sent for Sacco, and they had a talk together. But Sacco hesitates a good +deal; he fears that he has no aptitude for the Department of Agriculture. +Ah! if it were only the Finances--However, in any case, he would not have +come to a decision without consulting you. What do you think of it, +uncle?" + +He interrupted her with a violent wave of the hand: "No, no, I won't mix +myself up in such matters!" + +To him the rapid success of that adventurer Sacco, that schemer and +gambler who had always fished in troubled waters, was an abomination, the +beginning of the end. His son Luigi certainly distressed him; but it was +even worse to think that--whilst Luigi, with his great intelligence and +many remaining fine qualities, was nothing at all--Sacco, on the other +hand, Sacco, blunderhead and ever-famished battener that he was, had not +merely slipped into parliament, but was now, it seemed, on the point of +securing office! A little, swarthy, dry man he was, with big, round eyes, +projecting cheekbones, and prominent chin. Ever dancing and chattering, +he was gifted with a showy eloquence, all the force of which lay in his +voice--a voice which at will became admirably powerful or gentle! And +withal an insinuating man, profiting by every opportunity, wheedling and +commanding by turn. + +"You hear, Stefana," said Orlando; "tell your husband that the only +advice I have to give him is to return to his clerkship at the +post-office, where perhaps he may be of use." + +What particularly filled the old soldier with indignation and despair was +that such a man, a Sacco, should have fallen like a bandit on Rome--on +that Rome whose conquest had cost so many noble efforts. And in his turn +Sacco was conquering the city, was carrying it off from those who had won +it by such hard toil, and was simply using it to satisfy his wild passion +for power and its attendant enjoyments. Beneath his wheedling air there +was the determination to devour everything. After the victory, while the +spoil lay there, still warm, the wolves had come. It was the North that +had made Italy, whereas the South, eager for the quarry, simply rushed +upon the country, preyed upon it. And beneath the anger of the old +stricken hero of Italian unity there was indeed all the growing +antagonism of the North towards the South--the North industrious, +economical, shrewd in politics, enlightened, full of all the great modern +ideas, and the South ignorant and idle, bent on enjoying life +immediately, amidst childish disorder in action, and an empty show of +fine sonorous words. + +Stefana had begun to smile in a placid way while glancing at Pierre, who +had approached the window. "Oh, you say that, uncle," she responded; "but +you love us well all the same, and more than once you have given me +myself some good advice, for which I'm very thankful to you. For +instance, there's that affair of Attilio's--" + +She was alluding to her son, the lieutenant, and his love affair with +Celia, the little Princess Buongiovanni, of which all the drawing-rooms, +white and black alike, were talking. + +"Attilio--that's another matter!" exclaimed Orlando. "He and you are both +of the same blood as myself, and it's wonderful how I see myself again in +that fine fellow. Yes, he is just the same as I was at his age, +good-looking and brave and enthusiastic! I'm paying myself compliments, +you see. But, really now, Attilio warms my heart, for he is the future, +and brings me back some hope. Well, and what about his affair?" + +"Oh! it gives us a lot of worry, uncle. I spoke to you about it before, +but you shrugged your shoulders, saying that in matters of that kind all +that the parents had to do was to let the lovers settle their affairs +between them. Still, we don't want everybody to repeat that we are urging +our son to get the little princess to elope with him, so that he may +afterwards marry her money and title." + +At this Orlando indulged in a frank outburst of gaiety: "That's a fine +scruple! Was it your husband who instructed you to tell me of it? I know, +however, that he affects some delicacy in this matter. For my own part, I +believe myself to be as honest as he is, and I can only repeat that, if I +had a son like yours, so straightforward and good, and candidly loving, I +should let him marry whomsoever he pleased in his own way. The +Buongiovannis--good heavens! the Buongiovannis--why, despite all their +rank and lineage and the money they still possess, it will be a great +honour for them to have a handsome young man with a noble heart as their +son-in-law!" + +Again did Stefana assume an expression of placid satisfaction. She had +certainly only come there for approval. "Very well, uncle," she replied, +"I'll repeat that to my husband, and he will pay great attention to it; +for if you are severe towards him he holds you in perfect veneration. And +as for that ministry--well, perhaps nothing will be done, Sacco will +decide according to circumstances." + +She rose and took her leave, kissing the old soldier very affectionately +as on her arrival. And she complimented him on his good looks, declaring +that she found him as handsome as ever, and making him smile by speaking +of a lady who was still madly in love with him. Then, after acknowledging +the young priest's silent salutation by a slight bow, she went off, once +more wearing her modest and sensible air. + +For a moment Orlando, with his eyes turned towards the door, remained +silent, again sad, reflecting no doubt on all the difficult, equivocal +present, so different from the glorious past. But all at once he turned +to Pierre, who was still waiting. "And so, my friend," said he, "you are +staying at the Palazzo Boccanera? Ah! what a grievous misfortune there +has been on that side too!" + +However, when the priest had told him of his conversation with Benedetta, +and of her message that she still loved him and would never forget his +goodness to her, no matter whatever happened, he appeared moved and his +voice trembled: "Yes, she has a good heart, she has no spite. But what +would you have? She did not love Luigi, and he was possibly violent. +There is no mystery about the matter now, and I can speak to you freely, +since to my great grief everybody knows what has happened." + +Then Orlando abandoned himself to his recollections, and related how keen +had been his delight on the eve of the marriage at the thought that so +lovely a creature would become his daughter, and set some youth and charm +around his invalid's arm-chair. He had always worshipped beauty, and +would have had no other love than woman, if his country had not seized +upon the best part of him. And Benedetta on her side loved him, revered +him, constantly coming up to spend long hours with him, sharing his poor +little room, which at those times became resplendent with all the divine +grace that she brought with her. With her fresh breath near him, the pure +scent she diffused, the caressing womanly tenderness with which she +surrounded him, he lived anew. But, immediately afterwards, what a +frightful drama and how his heart had bled at his inability to reconcile +the husband and the wife! He could not possibly say that his son was in +the wrong in desiring to be the loved and accepted spouse. At first +indeed he had hoped to soften Benedetta, and throw her into Luigi's arms. +But when she had confessed herself to him in tears, owning her old love +for Dario, and her horror of belonging to another, he realised that she +would never yield. And a whole year had then gone by; he had lived for a +whole year imprisoned in his arm-chair, with that poignant drama +progressing beneath him in those luxurious rooms whence no sound even +reached his ears. How many times had he not listened, striving to hear, +fearing atrocious quarrels, in despair at his inability to prove still +useful by creating happiness. He knew nothing by his son, who kept his +own counsel; he only learnt a few particulars from Benedetta at intervals +when emotion left her defenceless; and that marriage in which he had for +a moment espied the much-needed alliance between old and new Rome, that +unconsummated marriage filled him with despair, as if it were indeed the +defeat of every hope, the final collapse of the dream which had filled +his life. And he himself had ended by desiring the divorce, so unbearable +had become the suffering caused by such a situation. + +"Ah! my friend!" he said to Pierre; "never before did I so well +understand the fatality of certain antagonism, the possibility of working +one's own misfortune and that of others, even when one has the most +loving heart and upright mind!" + +But at that moment the door again opened, and this time, without +knocking, Count Luigi Prada came in. And after rapidly bowing to the +visitor, who had risen, he gently took hold of his father's hands and +felt them, as if fearing that they might be too warm or too cold. + +"I've just arrived from Frascati, where I had to sleep," said he; "for +the interruption of all that building gives me a lot of worry. And I'm +told that you spent a bad night!" + +"No, I assure you." + +"Oh! I knew you wouldn't own it. But why will you persist in living up +here without any comfort? All this isn't suited to your age. I should be +so pleased if you would accept a more comfortable room where you might +sleep better." + +"No, no--I know that you love me well, my dear Luigi. But let me do as my +old head tells me. That's the only way to make me happy." + +Pierre was much struck by the ardent affection which sparkled in the eyes +of the two men as they gazed at one another, face to face. This seemed to +him very touching and beautiful, knowing as he did how many contrary +ideas and actions, how many moral divergencies separated them. And he +next took an interest in comparing them physically. Count Luigi Prada, +shorter, more thick-set than his father, had, however, much the same +strong energetic head, crowned with coarse black hair, and the same frank +but somewhat stern eyes set in a face of clear complexion, barred by +thick moustaches. But his mouth differed--a sensual, voracious mouth it +was, with wolfish teeth--a mouth of prey made for nights of rapine, when +the only question is to bite, and tear, and devour others. And for this +reason, when some praised the frankness in his eyes, another would +retort: "Yes, but I don't like his mouth." His feet were large, his hands +plump and over-broad, but admirably cared for. + +And Pierre marvelled at finding him such as he had anticipated. He knew +enough of his story to picture in him a hero's son spoilt by conquest, +eagerly devouring the harvest garnered by his father's glorious sword. +And he particularly studied how the father's virtues had deflected and +become transformed into vices in the son--the most noble qualities being +perverted, heroic and disinterested energy lapsing into a ferocious +appetite for possession, the man of battle leading to the man of booty, +since the great gusts of enthusiasm no longer swept by, since men no +longer fought, since they remained there resting, pillaging, and +devouring amidst the heaped-up spoils. And the pity of it was that the +old hero, the paralytic, motionless father beheld it all--beheld the +degeneration of his son, the speculator and company promoter gorged with +millions! + +However, Orlando introduced Pierre. "This is Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre +Froment, whom I spoke to you about," he said, "the author of the book +which I gave you to read." + +Luigi Prada showed himself very amiable, at once talking of home with an +intelligent passion like one who wished to make the city a great modern +capital. He had seen Paris transformed by the Second Empire; he had seen +Berlin enlarged and embellished after the German victories; and, +according to him, if Rome did not follow the movement, if it did not +become the inhabitable capital of a great people, it was threatened with +prompt death: either a crumbling museum or a renovated, resuscitated +city--those were the alternatives.* + + * Personally I should have thought the example of Berlin a great + deterrent. The enlargement and embellishment of the Prussian + capital, after the war of 1870, was attended by far greater + roguery and wholesale swindling than even the previous + transformation of Paris. Thousands of people too were ruined, + and instead of an increase of prosperity the result was the + very reverse.--Trans. + +Greatly struck, almost gained over already, Pierre listened to this +clever man, charmed with his firm, clear mind. He knew how skilfully +Prada had manoeuvred in the affair of the Villa Montefiori, enriching +himself when every one else was ruined, having doubtless foreseen the +fatal catastrophe even while the gambling passion was maddening the +entire nation. However, the young priest could already detect marks of +weariness, precocious wrinkles and a fall of the lips, on that +determined, energetic face, as though its possessor were growing tired of +the continual struggle that he had to carry on amidst surrounding +downfalls, the shock of which threatened to bring the most firmly +established fortunes to the ground. It was said that Prada had recently +had grave cause for anxiety; and indeed there was no longer any solidity +to be found; everything might be swept away by the financial crisis which +day by day was becoming more and more serious. In the case of Luigi, +sturdy son though he was of Northern Italy, a sort of degeneration had +set in, a slow rot, caused by the softening, perversive influence of +Rome. He had there rushed upon the satisfaction of every appetite, and +prolonged enjoyment was exhausting him. This, indeed, was one of the +causes of the deep silent sadness of Orlando, who was compelled to +witness the swift deterioration of his conquering race, whilst Sacco, the +Italian of the South--served as it were by the climate, accustomed to the +voluptuous atmosphere, the life of those sun-baked cities compounded of +the dust of antiquity--bloomed there like the natural vegetation of a +soil saturated with the crimes of history, and gradually grasped +everything, both wealth and power. + +As Orlando spoke of Stefana's visit to his son, Sacco's name was +mentioned. Then, without another word, the two men exchanged a smile. A +rumour was current that the Minister of Agriculture, lately deceased, +would perhaps not be replaced immediately, and that another minister +would take charge of the department pending the next session of the +Chamber. + +Next the Palazzo Boccanera was mentioned, and Pierre, his interest +awakened, became more attentive. "Ah!" exclaimed Count Luigi, turning to +him, "so you are staying in the Via Giulia? All the Rome of olden time +sleeps there in the silence of forgetfulness." + +With perfect ease he went on to speak of the Cardinal and even of +Benedetta--"the Countess," as he called her. But, although he was careful +to let no sign of anger escape him, the young priest could divine that he +was secretly quivering, full of suffering and spite. In him the +enthusiastic energy of his father appeared in a baser, degenerate form. +Quitting the yet handsome Princess Flavia in his passion for Benedetta, +her divinely beautiful niece, he had resolved to make the latter his own +at any cost, determined to marry her, to struggle with her and overcome +her, although he knew that she loved him not, and that he would almost +certainly wreck his entire life. Rather than relinquish her, however, he +would have set Rome on fire. And thus his hopeless suffering was now +great indeed: this woman was but his wife in name, and so torturing was +the thought of her disdain, that at times, however calm his outward +demeanour, he was consumed by a jealous vindictive sensual madness that +did not even recoil from the idea of crime. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe is acquainted with the situation," sadly murmured old +Orlando. + +His son responded by a wave of the hand, as though to say that everybody +was acquainted with it. "Ah! father," he added, "but for you I should +never have consented to take part in those proceedings for annulling the +marriage! The Countess would have found herself compelled to return here, +and would not nowadays be deriding us with her lover, that cousin of +hers, Dario!" + +At this Orlando also waved his hand, as if in protest. + +"Oh! it's a fact, father," continued Luigi. "Why did she flee from here +if it wasn't to go and live with her lover? And indeed, in my opinion, +it's scandalous that a Cardinal's palace should shelter such goings-on!" + +This was the report which he spread abroad, the accusation which he +everywhere levelled against his wife, of publicly carrying on a shameless +_liaison_. In reality, however, he did not believe a word of it, being +too well acquainted with Benedetta's firm rectitude, and her +determination to belong to none but the man she loved, and to him only in +marriage. However, in Prada's eyes such accusations were not only fair +play but also very efficacious. + +And now, although he turned pale with covert exasperation, and laughed a +hard, vindictive, cruel laugh, he went on to speak in a bantering tone of +the proceedings for annulling the marriage, and in particular of the plea +put forward by Benedetta's advocate Morano. And at last his language +became so free that Orlando, with a glance towards the priest, gently +interposed: "Luigi! Luigi!" + +"Yes, you are right, father, I'll say no more," thereupon added the young +Count. "But it's really abominable and ridiculous. Lisbeth, you know, is +highly amused at it." + +Orlando again looked displeased, for when visitors were present he did +not like his son to refer to the person whom he had just named. Lisbeth +Kauffmann, very blonde and pink and merry, was barely thirty years of +age, and belonged to the Roman foreign colony. For two years past she had +been a widow, her husband having died at Rome whither he had come to +nurse a complaint of the lungs. Thenceforward free, and sufficiently well +off, she had remained in the city by taste, having a marked predilection +for art, and painting a little, herself. In the Via Principe Amadeo, in +the new Viminal district, she had purchased a little palazzo, and +transformed a large apartment on its second floor into a studio hung with +old stuffs, and balmy in every season with the scent of flowers. The +place was well known to tolerant and intellectual society. Lisbeth was +there found in perpetual jubilation, clad in a long blouse, somewhat of a +_gamine_ in her ways, trenchant too and often bold of speech, but +nevertheless capital company, and as yet compromised with nobody but +Prada. Their _liaison_ had begun some four months after his wife had left +him, and now Lisbeth was near the time of becoming a mother. This she in +no wise concealed, but displayed such candid tranquillity and happiness +that her numerous acquaintances continued to visit her as if there were +nothing in question, so facile and free indeed is the life of the great +cosmopolitan continental cities. Under the circumstances which his wife's +suit had created, Prada himself was not displeased at the turn which +events had taken with regard to Lisbeth, but none the less his incurable +wound still bled. + +There could be no compensation for the bitterness of Benedetta's disdain, +it was she for whom his heart burned, and he dreamt of one day wreaking +on her a tragic punishment. + +Pierre, knowing nothing of Lisbeth, failed to understand the allusions of +Orlando and his son. But realising that there was some embarrassment +between them, he sought to take countenance by picking from off the +littered table a thick book which, to his surprise, he found to be a +French educational work, one of those manuals for the _baccalaureat_,* +containing a digest of the knowledge which the official programmes +require. It was but a humble, practical, elementary work, yet it +necessarily dealt with all the mathematical, physical, chemical, and +natural sciences, thus broadly outlining the intellectual conquests of +the century, the present phase of human knowledge. + + * The examination for the degree of bachelor, which degree is + the necessary passport to all the liberal professions in France. + M. Zola, by the way, failed to secure it, being ploughed for + "insufficiency in literature"!--Trans. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Orlando, well pleased with the diversion, "you are +looking at the book of my old friend Theophile Morin. He was one of the +thousand of Marsala, you know, and helped us to conquer Sicily and +Naples. A hero! But for more than thirty years now he has been living in +France again, absorbed in the duties of his petty professorship, which +hasn't made him at all rich. And so he lately published that book, which +sells very well in France it seems; and it occurred to him that he might +increase his modest profits on it by issuing translations, an Italian one +among others. He and I have remained brothers, and thinking that my +influence would prove decisive, he wishes to utilise it. But he is +mistaken; I fear, alas! that I shall be unable to get anybody to take up +his book." + +At this Luigi Prada, who had again become very composed and amiable, +shrugged his shoulders slightly, full as he was of the scepticism of his +generation which desired to maintain things in their actual state so as +to derive the greatest profit from them. "What would be the good of it?" +he murmured; "there are too many books already!" + +"No, no!" the old man passionately retorted, "there can never be too many +books! We still and ever require fresh ones! It's by literature, not by +the sword, that mankind will overcome falsehood and injustice and attain +to the final peace of fraternity among the nations--Oh! you may smile; I +know that you call these ideas my fancies of '48, the fancies of a +greybeard, as people say in France. But it is none the less true that +Italy is doomed, if the problem be not attacked from down below, if the +people be not properly fashioned. And there is only one way to make a +nation, to create men, and that is to educate them, to develop by +educational means the immense lost force which now stagnates in ignorance +and idleness. Yes, yes, Italy is made, but let us make an Italian nation. +And give us more and more books, and let us ever go more and more forward +into science and into light, if we wish to live and to be healthy, good, +and strong!" + +With his torso erect, with his powerful leonine muzzle flaming with the +white brightness of his beard and hair, old Orlando looked superb. And in +that simple, candid chamber, so touching with its intentional poverty, he +raised his cry of hope with such intensity of feverish faith, that before +the young priest's eyes there arose another figure--that of Cardinal +Boccanera, erect and black save for his snow-white hair, and likewise +glowing with heroic beauty in his crumbling palace whose gilded ceilings +threatened to fall about his head! Ah! the magnificent stubborn men of +the past, the believers, the old men who still show themselves more +virile, more ardent than the young! Those two represented the opposite +poles of belief; they had not an idea, an affection in common, and in +that ancient city of Rome, where all was being blown away in dust, they +alone seemed to protest, indestructible, face to face like two parted +brothers, standing motionless on either horizon. And to have seen them +thus, one after the other, so great and grand, so lonely, so detached +from ordinary life, was to fill one's day with a dream of eternity. + +Luigi, however, had taken hold of the old man's hands to calm him by an +affectionate filial clasp. "Yes, yes, you are right, father, always +right, and I'm a fool to contradict you. Now, pray don't move about like +that, for you are uncovering yourself, and your legs will get cold +again." + +So saying, he knelt down and very carefully arranged the wrapper; and +then remaining on the floor like a child, albeit he was two and forty, he +raised his moist eyes, full of mute, entreating worship towards the old +man who, calmed and deeply moved, caressed his hair with a trembling +touch. + +Pierre had been there for nearly two hours, when he at last took leave, +greatly struck and affected by all that he had seen and heard. And again +he had to promise that he would return and have a long chat with Orlando. +Once out of doors he walked along at random. It was barely four o'clock, +and it was his idea to ramble in this wise, without any predetermined +programme, through Rome at that delightful hour when the sun sinks in the +refreshed and far blue atmosphere. Almost immediately, however, he found +himself in the Via Nazionale, along which he had driven on arriving the +previous day. And he recognised the huge livid Banca d'Italia, the green +gardens climbing to the Quirinal, and the heaven-soaring pines of the +Villa Aldobrandini. Then, at the turn of the street, as he stopped short +in order that he might again contemplate the column of Trajan which now +rose up darkly from its low piazza, already full of twilight, he was +surprised to see a victoria suddenly pull up, and a young man courteously +beckon to him. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe Froment! Monsieur l'Abbe Froment!" + +It was young Prince Dario Boccanera, on his way to his daily drive along +the Corso. He now virtually subsisted on the liberality of his uncle the +Cardinal, and was almost always short of money. But, like all the Romans, +he would, if necessary, have rather lived on bread and water than have +forgone his carriage, horse, and coachman. An equipage, indeed, is the +one indispensable luxury of Rome. + +"If you will come with me, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment," said the young +Prince, "I will show you the most interesting part of our city." + +He doubtless desired to please Benedetta, by behaving amiably towards her +protege. Idle as he was, too, it seemed to him a pleasant occupation to +initiate that young priest, who was said to be so intelligent, into what +he deemed the inimitable side, the true florescence of Roman life. + +Pierre was compelled to accept, although he would have preferred a +solitary stroll. Yet he was interested in this young man, the last born +of an exhausted race, who, while seemingly incapable of either thought or +action, was none the less very seductive with his high-born pride and +indolence. Far more a Roman than a patriot, Dario had never had the +faintest inclination to rally to the new order of things, being well +content to live apart and do nothing; and passionate though he was, he +indulged in no follies, being very practical and sensible at heart, as +are all his fellow-citizens, despite their apparent impetuosity. As soon +as his carriage, after crossing the Piazza di Venezia, entered the Corso, +he gave rein to his childish vanity, his desire to shine, his passion for +gay, happy life in the open under the lovely sky. All this, indeed, was +clearly expressed in the simple gesture which he made whilst exclaiming: +"The Corso!" + +As on the previous day, Pierre was filled with astonishment. The long +narrow street again stretched before him as far as the white dazzling +Piazza del Popolo, the only difference being that the right-hand houses +were now steeped in sunshine, whilst those on the left were black with +shadow. What! was that the Corso then, that semi-obscure trench, close +pressed by high and heavy house-fronts, that mean roadway where three +vehicles could scarcely pass abreast, and which serried shops lined with +gaudy displays? There was neither space, nor far horizon, nor refreshing +greenery such as the fashionable drives of Paris could boast! Nothing but +jostling, crowding, and stifling on the little footways under the narrow +strip of sky. And although Dario named the pompous and historical +palaces, Bonaparte, Doria, Odescalchi, Sciarra, and Chigi; although he +pointed out the column of Marcus Aurelius on the Piazza Colonna, the most +lively square of the whole city with its everlasting throng of lounging, +gazing, chattering people; although, all the way to the Piazza del +Popolo, he never ceased calling attention to churches, houses, and +side-streets, notably the Via dei Condotti, at the far end of which the +Trinity de' Monti, all golden in the glory of the sinking sun, appeared +above that famous flight of steps, the triumphal Scala di Spagna--Pierre +still and ever retained the impression of disillusion which the narrow, +airless thoroughfare had conveyed to him: the "palaces" looked to him +like mournful hospitals or barracks, the Piazza Colonna suffered terribly +from a lack of trees, and the Trinity de' Monti alone took his fancy by +its distant radiance of fairyland. + +But it was necessary to come back from the Piazza del Popolo to the +Piazza di Venezia, then return to the former square, and come back yet +again, following the entire Corso three and four times without wearying. +The delighted Dario showed himself and looked about him, exchanging +salutations. On either footway was a compact crowd of promenaders whose +eyes roamed over the equipages and whose hands could have shaken those of +the carriage folks. So great at last became the number of vehicles that +both lines were absolutely unbroken, crowded to such a point that the +coachmen could do no more than walk their horses. Perpetually going up +and coming down the Corso, people scrutinised and jostled one another. It +was open-air promiscuity, all Rome gathered together in the smallest +possible space, the folks who knew one another and who met here as in a +friendly drawing-room, and the folks belonging to adverse parties who did +not speak together but who elbowed each other, and whose glances +penetrated to each other's soul. Then a revelation came to Pierre, and he +suddenly understood the Corso, the ancient custom, the passion and glory +of the city. Its pleasure lay precisely in the very narrowness of the +street, in that forced elbowing which facilitated not only desired +meetings but the satisfaction of curiosity, the display of vanity, and +the garnering of endless tittle-tattle. All Roman society met here each +day, displayed itself, spied on itself, offering itself in spectacle to +its own eyes, with such an indispensable need of thus beholding itself +that the man of birth who missed the Corso was like one out of his +element, destitute of newspapers, living like a savage. And withal the +atmosphere was delightfully balmy, and the narrow strip of sky between +the heavy, rusty mansions displayed an infinite azure purity. + +Dario never ceased smiling, and slightly inclining his head while he +repeated to Pierre the names of princes and princesses, dukes and +duchesses--high-sounding names whose flourish had filled history, whose +sonorous syllables conjured up the shock of armour on the battlefield and +the splendour of papal pomp with robes of purple, tiaras of gold, and +sacred vestments sparkling with precious stones. And as Pierre listened +and looked he was pained to see merely some corpulent ladies or +undersized gentlemen, bloated or shrunken beings, whose ill-looks seemed +to be increased by their modern attire. However, a few pretty women went +by, particularly some young, silent girls with large, clear eyes. And +just as Dario had pointed out the Palazzo Buongiovanni, a huge +seventeenth-century facade, with windows encompassed by foliaged +ornamentation deplorably heavy in style, he added gaily: + +"Ah! look--that's Attilio there on the footway. Young Lieutenant +Sacco--you know, don't you?" + +Pierre signed that he understood. Standing there in uniform, Attilio, so +young, so energetic and brave of appearance, with a frank countenance +softly illumined by blue eyes like his mother's, at once pleased the +priest. He seemed indeed the very personification of youth and love, with +all their enthusiastic, disinterested hope in the future. + +"You'll see by and by, when we pass the palace again," said Dario. "He'll +still be there and I'll show you something." + +Then he began to talk gaily of the girls of Rome, the little princesses, +the little duchesses, so discreetly educated at the convent of the Sacred +Heart, quitting it for the most part so ignorant and then completing +their education beside their mothers, never going out but to accompany +the latter on the obligatory drive to the Corso, and living through +endless days, cloistered, imprisoned in the depths of sombre mansions. +Nevertheless what tempests raged in those mute souls to which none had +ever penetrated! what stealthy growth of will suddenly appeared from +under passive obedience, apparent unconsciousness of surroundings! How +many there were who stubbornly set their minds on carving out their lives +for themselves, on choosing the man who might please them, and securing +him despite the opposition of the entire world! And the lover was chosen +there from among the stream of young men promenading the Corso, the lover +hooked with a glance during the daily drive, those candid eyes speaking +aloud and sufficing for confession and the gift of all, whilst not a +breath was wafted from the lips so chastely closed. And afterwards there +came love letters, furtively exchanged in church, and the winning-over of +maids to facilitate stolen meetings, at first so innocent. In the end, a +marriage often resulted. + +Celia, for her part, had determined to win Attilio on the very first day +when their eyes had met. And it was from a window of the Palazzo +Buongiovanni that she had perceived him one afternoon of mortal +weariness. He had just raised his head, and she had taken him for ever +and given herself to him with those large, pure eyes of hers as they +rested on his own. She was but an _amorosa_--nothing more; he pleased +her; she had set her heart on him--him and none other. She would have +waited twenty years for him, but she relied on winning him at once by +quiet stubbornness of will. People declared that the terrible fury of the +Prince, her father, had proved impotent against her respectful, obstinate +silence. He, man of mixed blood as he was, son of an American woman, and +husband of an English woman, laboured but to retain his own name and +fortune intact amidst the downfall of others; and it was rumoured that as +the result of a quarrel which he had picked with his wife, whom he +accused of not sufficiently watching over their daughter, the Princess +had revolted, full not only of the pride of a foreigner who had brought a +huge dowry in marriage, but also of such plain, frank egotism that she +had declared she no longer found time enough to attend to herself, let +alone another. Had she not already done enough in bearing him five +children? She thought so; and now she spent her time in worshipping +herself, letting Celia do as she listed, and taking no further interest +in the household through which swept stormy gusts. + +However, the carriage was again about to pass the Buongiovanni mansion, +and Dario forewarned Pierre. "You see," said he, "Attilio has come back. +And now look up at the third window on the first floor." + +It was at once rapid and charming. Pierre saw the curtain slightly drawn +aside and Celia's gentle face appear. Closed, candid lily, she did not +smile, she did not move. Nothing could be read on those pure lips, or in +those clear but fathomless eyes of hers. Yet she was taking Attilio to +herself, and giving herself to him without reserve. And soon the curtain +fell once more. + +"Ah, the little mask!" muttered Dario. "Can one ever tell what there is +behind so much innocence?" + +As Pierre turned round he perceived Attilio, whose head was still raised, +and whose face was also motionless and pale, with closed mouth, and +widely opened eyes. And the young priest was deeply touched, for this was +love, absolute love in its sudden omnipotence, true love, eternal and +juvenescent, in which ambition and calculation played no part. + +Then Dario ordered the coachman to drive up to the Pincio; for, before or +after the Corso, the round of the Pincio is obligatory on fine, clear +afternoons. First came the Piazza del Popolo, the most airy and regular +square of Rome, with its conjunction of thoroughfares, its churches and +fountains, its central obelisk, and its two clumps of trees facing one +another at either end of the small white paving-stones, betwixt the +severe and sun-gilt buildings. Then, turning to the right, the carriage +began to climb the inclined way to the Pincio--a magnificent winding +ascent, decorated with bas-reliefs, statues, and fountains--a kind of +apotheosis of marble, a commemoration of ancient Rome, rising amidst +greenery. Up above, however, Pierre found the garden small, little better +than a large square, with just the four necessary roadways to enable the +carriages to drive round and round as long as they pleased. An +uninterrupted line of busts of the great men of ancient and modern Italy +fringed these roadways. But what Pierre most admired was the trees--trees +of the most rare and varied kinds, chosen and tended with infinite care, +and nearly always evergreens, so that in winter and summer alike the spot +was adorned with lovely foliage of every imaginable shade of verdure. And +beside these trees, along the fine, breezy roadways, Dario's victoria +began to turn, following the continuous, unwearying stream of the other +carriages. + +Pierre remarked one young woman of modest demeanour and attractive +simplicity who sat alone in a dark-blue victoria, drawn by a +well-groomed, elegantly harnessed horse. She was very pretty, short, with +chestnut hair, a creamy complexion, and large gentle eyes. Quietly robed +in dead-leaf silk, she wore a large hat, which alone looked somewhat +extravagant. And seeing that Dario was staring at her, the priest +inquired her name, whereat the young Prince smiled. Oh! she was nobody, +La Tonietta was the name that people gave her; she was one of the few +_demi-mondaines_ that Roman society talked of. Then, with the freeness +and frankness which his race displays in such matters, Dario added some +particulars. La Tonietta's origin was obscure; some said that she was the +daughter of an innkeeper of Tivoli, and others that of a Neapolitan +banker. At all events, she was very intelligent, had educated herself, +and knew thoroughly well how to receive and entertain people at the +little palazzo in the Via dei Mille, which had been given to her by old +Marquis Manfredi now deceased. She made no scandalous show, had but one +protector at a time, and the princesses and duchesses who paid attention +to her at the Corso every afternoon, considered her nice-looking. One +peculiarity had made her somewhat notorious. There was some one whom she +loved and from whom she never accepted aught but a bouquet of white +roses; and folks would smile indulgently when at times for weeks together +she was seen driving round the Pincio with those pure, white bridal +flowers on the carriage seat. + +Dario, however, suddenly paused in his explanations to address a +ceremonious bow to a lady who, accompanied by a gentleman, drove by in a +large landau. Then he simply said to the priest: "My mother." + +Pierre already knew of her. Viscount de la Choue had told him her story, +how, after Prince Onofrio Boccanera's death, she had married again, +although she was already fifty; how at the Corso, just like some young +girl, she had hooked with her eyes a handsome man to her liking--one, +too, who was fifteen years her junior. And Pierre also knew who that man +was, a certain Jules Laporte, an ex-sergeant of the papal Swiss Guard, an +ex-traveller in relics, compromised in an extraordinary "false relic" +fraud; and he was further aware that Laporte's wife had made a +fine-looking Marquis Montefiori of him, the last of the fortunate +adventurers of romance, triumphing as in the legendary lands where +shepherds are wedded to queens. + +At the next turn, as the large landau again went by, Pierre looked at the +couple. The Marchioness was really wonderful, blooming with all the +classical Roman beauty, tall, opulent, and very dark, with the head of a +goddess and regular if somewhat massive features, nothing as yet +betraying her age except the down upon her upper lip. And the Marquis, +the Romanised Swiss of Geneva, really had a proud bearing, with his solid +soldierly figure and long wavy moustaches. People said that he was in no +wise a fool but, on the contrary, very gay and very supple, just the man +to please women. His wife so gloried in him that she dragged him about +and displayed him everywhere, having begun life afresh with him as if she +were still but twenty, spending on him the little fortune which she had +saved from the Villa Montefiori disaster, and so completely forgetting +her son that she only saw the latter now and again at the promenade and +acknowledged his bow like that of some chance acquaintance. + +"Let us go to see the sun set behind St. Peter's," all at once said +Dario, conscientiously playing his part as a showman of curiosities. + +The victoria thereupon returned to the terrace, where a military band was +now playing with a terrific blare of brass instruments. In order that +their occupants might hear the music, a large number of carriages had +already drawn up, and a growing crowd of loungers on foot had assembled +there. And from that beautiful terrace, so broad and lofty, one of the +most wonderful views of Rome was offered to the gaze. Beyond the Tiber, +beyond the pale chaos of the new district of the castle meadows,* and +between the greenery of Monte Mario and the Janiculum arose St. Peter's. +Then on the left came all the olden city, an endless stretch of roofs, a +rolling sea of edifices as far as the eye could reach. But one's glances +always came back to St. Peter's, towering into the azure with pure and +sovereign grandeur. And, seen from the terrace, the slow sunsets in the +depths of the vast sky behind the colossus were sublime. + + * See _ante_ note on castle meadows. + +Sometimes there are topplings of sanguineous clouds, battles of giants +hurling mountains at one another and succumbing beneath the monstrous +ruins of flaming cities. Sometimes only red streaks or fissures appear on +the surface of a sombre lake, as if a net of light has been flung to fish +the submerged orb from amidst the seaweed. Sometimes, too, there is a +rosy mist, a kind of delicate dust which falls, streaked with pearls by a +distant shower, whose curtain is drawn across the mystery of the horizon. +And sometimes there is a triumph, a _cortege_ of gold and purple chariots +of cloud rolling along a highway of fire, galleys floating upon an azure +sea, fantastic and extravagant pomps slowly sinking into the less and +less fathomable abyss of the twilight. + +But that night the sublime spectacle presented itself to Pierre with a +calm, blinding, desperate grandeur. At first, just above the dome of St. +Peter's, the sun, descending in a spotless, deeply limpid sky, proved yet +so resplendent that one's eyes could not face its brightness. And in this +resplendency the dome seemed to be incandescent, you would have said a +dome of liquid silver; whilst the surrounding districts, the house-roofs +of the Borgo, were as though changed into a lake of live embers. Then, as +the sun was by degrees inclined, it lost some of its blaze, and one could +look; and soon afterwards sinking with majestic slowness it disappeared +behind the dome, which showed forth darkly blue, while the orb, now +entirely hidden, set an aureola around it, a glory like a crown of +flaming rays. And then began the dream, the dazzling symbol, the singular +illumination of the row of windows beneath the cupola which were +transpierced by the light and looked like the ruddy mouths of furnaces, +in such wise that one might have imagined the dome to be poised upon a +brazier, isolated, in the air, as though raised and upheld by the +violence of the fire. It all lasted barely three minutes. Down below the +jumbled roofs of the Borgo became steeped in violet vapour, sank into +increasing gloom, whilst from the Janiculum to Monte Mario the horizon +showed its firm black line. And it was the sky then which became all +purple and gold, displaying the infinite placidity of a supernatural +radiance above the earth which faded into nihility. Finally the last +window reflections were extinguished, the glow of the heavens departed, +and nothing remained but the vague, fading roundness of the dome of St. +Peter's amidst the all-invading night. + +And, by some subtle connection of ideas, Pierre at that moment once again +saw rising before him the lofty, sad, declining figures of Cardinal +Boccanera and old Orlando. On the evening of that day when he had learnt +to know them, one after the other, both so great in the obstinacy of +their hope, they seemed to be there, erect on the horizon above their +annihilated city, on the fringe of the heavens which death apparently was +about to seize. Was everything then to crumble with them? was everything +to fade away and disappear in the falling night following upon +accomplished Time? + + + + +V. + +ON the following day Narcisse Habert came in great worry to tell Pierre +that Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo complained of being unwell, and asked for +a delay of two or three days before receiving the young priest and +considering the matter of his audience. Pierre was thus reduced to +inaction, for he dared not make any attempt elsewhere in view of seeing +the Pope. He had been so frightened by Nani and others that he feared he +might jeopardise everything by inconsiderate endeavours. And so he began +to visit Rome in order to occupy his leisure. + +His first visit was for the ruins of the Palatine. Going out alone one +clear morning at eight o'clock, he presented himself at the entrance in +the Via San Teodoro, an iron gateway flanked by the lodges of the +keepers. One of the latter at once offered his services, and though +Pierre would have preferred to roam at will, following the bent of his +dream, he somehow did not like to refuse the offer of this man, who spoke +French very distinctly, and smiled in a very good-natured way. He was a +squatly built little man, a former soldier, some sixty years of age, and +his square-cut, ruddy face was barred by thick white moustaches. + +"Then will you please follow me, Monsieur l'Abbe," said he. "I can see +that you are French, Monsieur l'Abbe. I'm a Piedmontese myself, but I +know the French well enough; I was with them at Solferino. Yes, yes, +whatever people may say, one can't forget old friendships. Here, this +way, please, to the right." + +Raising his eyes, Pierre had just perceived the line of cypresses edging +the plateau of the Palatine on the side of the Tiber; and in the delicate +blue atmosphere the intense greenery of these trees showed like a black +fringe. They alone attracted the eye; the slope, of a dusty, dirty grey, +stretched out bare and devastated, dotted by a few bushes, among which +peeped fragments of ancient walls. All was instinct with the ravaged, +leprous sadness of a spot handed over to excavation, and where only men +of learning could wax enthusiastic. + +"The palaces of Tiberius, Caligula, and the Flavians are up above," +resumed the guide. "We must keep then for the end and go round." +Nevertheless he took a few steps to the left, and pausing before an +excavation, a sort of grotto in the hillside, exclaimed: "This is the +Lupercal den where the wolf suckled Romulus and Remus. Just here at the +entry used to stand the Ruminal fig-tree which sheltered the twins." + +Pierre could not restrain a smile, so convinced was the tone in which the +old soldier gave these explanations, proud as he was of all the ancient +glory, and wont to regard the wildest legends as indisputable facts. +However, when the worthy man pointed out some vestiges of Roma +Quadrata--remnants of walls which really seemed to date from the +foundation of the city--Pierre began to feel interested, and a first +touch of emotion made his heart beat. This emotion was certainly not due +to any beauty of scene, for he merely beheld a few courses of tufa +blocks, placed one upon the other and uncemented. But a past which had +been dead for seven and twenty centuries seemed to rise up before him, +and those crumbling, blackened blocks, the foundation of such a mighty +eclipse of power and splendour, acquired extraordinary majesty. + +Continuing their inspection, they went on, skirting the hillside. The +outbuildings of the palaces must have descended to this point; fragments +of porticoes, fallen beams, columns and friezes set up afresh, edged the +rugged path which wound through wild weeds, suggesting a neglected +cemetery; and the guide repeated the words which he had used day by day +for ten years past, continuing to enunciate suppositions as facts, and +giving a name, a destination, a history, to every one of the fragments. + +"The house of Augustus," he said at last, pointing towards some masses of +earth and rubbish. + +Thereupon Pierre, unable to distinguish anything, ventured to inquire: +"Where do you mean?" + +"Oh!" said the man, "it seems that the walls were still to be seen at the +end of the last century. But it was entered from the other side, from the +Sacred Way. On this side there was a huge balcony which overlooked the +Circus Maximus so that one could view the sports. However, as you can +see, the greater part of the palace is still buried under that big garden +up above, the garden of the Villa Mills. When there's money for fresh +excavations it will be found again, together with the temple of Apollo +and the shrine of Vesta which accompanied it." + +Turning to the left, he next entered the Stadium, the arena erected for +foot-racing, which stretched beside the palace of Augustus; and the +priest's interest was now once more awakened. It was not that he found +himself in presence of well-preserved and monumental remains, for not a +column had remained erect, and only the right-hand walls were still +standing. But the entire plan of the building had been traced, with the +goals at either end, the porticus round the course, and the colossal +imperial tribune which, after being on the left, annexed to the house of +Augustus, had afterwards opened on the right, fitting into the palace of +Septimius Severus. And while Pierre looked on all the scattered remnants, +his guide went on chattering, furnishing the most copious and precise +information, and declaring that the gentlemen who directed the +excavations had mentally reconstructed the Stadium in each and every +particular, and were even preparing a most exact plan of it, showing all +the columns in their proper order and the statues in their niches, and +even specifying the divers sorts of marble which had covered the walls. + +"Oh! the directors are quite at ease," the old soldier eventually added +with an air of infinite satisfaction. "There will be nothing for the +Germans to pounce on here. They won't be allowed to set things +topsy-turvy as they did at the Forum, where everybody's at sea since they +came along with their wonderful science!" + +Pierre--a Frenchman--smiled, and his interest increased when, by broken +steps and wooden bridges thrown over gaps, he followed the guide into the +great ruins of the palace of Severus. Rising on the southern point of the +Palatine, this palace had overlooked the Appian Way and the Campagna as +far as the eye could reach. Nowadays, almost the only remains are the +substructures, the subterranean halls contrived under the arches of the +terraces, by which the plateau of the hill was enlarged; and yet these +dismantled substructures suffice to give some idea of the triumphant +palace which they once upheld, so huge and powerful have they remained in +their indestructible massiveness. Near by arose the famous Septizonium, +the tower with the seven tiers of arcades, which only finally disappeared +in the sixteenth century. One of the palace terraces yet juts out upon +cyclopean arches and from it the view is splendid. But all the rest is a +commingling of massive yet crumbling walls, gaping depths whose ceilings +have fallen, endless corridors and vast halls of doubtful destination. +Well cared for by the new administration, swept and cleansed of weeds, +the ruins have lost their romantic wildness and assumed an aspect of bare +and mournful grandeur. However, flashes of living sunlight often gild the +ancient walls, penetrate by their breaches into the black halls, and +animate with their dazzlement the mute melancholy of all this dead +splendour now exhumed from the earth in which it slumbered for centuries. +Over the old ruddy masonry, stripped of its pompous marble covering, is +the purple mantle of the sunlight, draping the whole with imperial glory +once more. + +For more than two hours already Pierre had been walking on, and yet he +still had to visit all the earlier palaces on the north and east of the +plateau. "We must go back," said the guide, "the gardens of the Villa +Mills and the convent of San Bonaventura stop the way. We shall only be +able to pass on this side when the excavations have made a clearance. Ah! +Monsieur l'Abbe, if you had walked over the Palatine merely some fifty +years ago! I've seen some plans of that time. There were only some +vineyards and little gardens with hedges then, a real campagna, where not +a soul was to be met. And to think that all these palaces were sleeping +underneath!" + +Pierre followed him, and after again passing the house of Augustus, they +ascended the slope and reached the vast Flavian palace,* still half +buried by the neighbouring villa, and composed of a great number of halls +large and small, on the nature of which scholars are still arguing. The +aula regia, or throne-room, the basilica, or hall of justice, the +triclinium, or dining-room, and the peristylium seem certainties; but for +all the rest, and especially the small chambers of the private part of +the structure, only more or less fanciful conjectures can be offered. +Moreover, not a wall is entire; merely foundations peep out of the +ground, mutilated bases describing the plan of the edifice. The only ruin +preserved, as if by miracle, is the house on a lower level which some +assert to have been that of Livia,* a house which seems very small beside +all the huge palaces, and where are three halls comparatively intact, +with mural paintings of mythological scenes, flowers, and fruits, still +wonderfully fresh. As for the palace of Tiberius, not one of its stones +can be seen; its remains lie buried beneath a lovely public garden; +whilst of the neighbouring palace of Caligula, overhanging the Forum, +there are only some huge substructures, akin to those of the house of +Severus--buttresses, lofty arcades, which upheld the palace, vast +basements, so to say, where the praetorians were posted and gorged +themselves with continual junketings. And thus this lofty plateau +dominating the city merely offered some scarcely recognisable vestiges to +the view, stretches of grey, bare soil turned up by the pick, and dotted +with fragments of old walls; and it needed a real effort of scholarly +imagination to conjure up the ancient imperial splendour which once had +triumphed there. + + * Begun by Vespasian and finished by Domitian.--Trans. + + ** Others assert it to have been the house of Germanicus, + father of Caligula.--Trans. + +Nevertheless Pierre's guide, with quiet conviction, persisted in his +explanations, pointing to empty space as though the edifices still rose +before him. "Here," said he, "we are in the Area Palatina. Yonder, you +see, is the facade of Domitian's palace, and there you have that of +Caligula's palace, while on turning round the temple of Jupiter Stator is +in front of you. The Sacred Way came up as far as here, and passed under +the Porta Mugonia, one of the three gates of primitive Rome." + +He paused and pointed to the northwest portion of the height. "You will +have noticed," he resumed, "that the Caesars didn't build yonder. And +that was evidently because they had to respect some very ancient +monuments dating from before the foundation of the city and greatly +venerated by the people. There stood the temple of Victory built by +Evander and his Arcadians, the Lupercal grotto which I showed you, and +the humble hut of Romulus constructed of reeds and clay. Oh! everything +has been found again, Monsieur l'Abbe; and, in spite of all that the +Germans say there isn't the slightest doubt of it." + +Then, quite abruptly, like a man suddenly remembering the most +interesting thing of all, he exclaimed: "Ah! to wind up we'll just go to +see the subterranean gallery where Caligula was murdered." + +Thereupon they descended into a long crypto-porticus, through the +breaches of which the sun now casts bright rays. Some ornaments of stucco +and fragments of mosaic-work are yet to be seen. Still the spot remains +mournful and desolate, well fitted for tragic horror. The old soldier's +voice had become graver as he related how Caligula, on returning from the +Palatine games, had been minded to descend all alone into this gallery to +witness certain sacred dances which some youths from Asia were practising +there. And then it was that the gloom gave Cassius Chaereas, the chief of +the conspirators, an opportunity to deal him the first thrust in the +abdomen. Howling with pain, the emperor sought to flee; but the +assassins, his creatures, his dearest friends, rushed upon him, threw him +down, and dealt him blow after blow, whilst he, mad with rage and fright, +filled the dim, deaf gallery with the howling of a slaughtered beast. +When he had expired, silence fell once more, and the frightened murderers +fled. + +The classical visit to the Palatine was now over, and when Pierre came up +into the light again, he wished to rid himself of his guide and remain +alone in the pleasant, dreamy garden on the summit of the height. For +three hours he had been tramping about with the guide's voice buzzing in +his ears. The worthy man was now talking of his friendship for France and +relating the battle of Magenta in great detail. He smiled as he took the +piece of silver which Pierre offered him, and then started on the battle +of Solferino. Indeed, it seemed impossible to stop him, when fortunately +a lady came up to ask for some information. And, thereupon, he went off +with her. "Good-evening, Monsieur l'Abbe," he said; "you can go down by +way of Caligula's palace." + +Delightful was Pierre's relief when he was at last able to rest for a +moment on one of the marble seats in the garden. There were but few +clumps of trees, cypresses, box-trees, palms, and some fine evergreen +oaks; but the latter, sheltering the seat, cast a dark shade of exquisite +freshness around. The charm of the spot was also largely due to its +dreamy solitude, to the low rustle which seemed to come from that ancient +soil saturated with resounding history. Here formerly had been the +pleasure grounds of the Villa Farnese which still exists though greatly +damaged, and the grace of the Renascence seems to linger here, its breath +passing caressingly through the shiny foliage of the old evergreen oaks. +You are, as it were, enveloped by the soul of the past, an ethereal +conglomeration of visions, and overhead is wafted the straying breath of +innumerable generations buried beneath the sod. + +After a time, however, Pierre could no longer remain seated, so powerful +was the attraction of Rome, scattered all around that august summit. So +he rose and approached the balustrade of a terrace; and beneath him +appeared the Forum, and beyond it the Capitoline hill. To the eye the +latter now only presented a commingling of grey buildings, lacking both +grandeur and beauty. On the summit one saw the rear of the Palace of the +Senator, flat, with little windows, and surmounted by a high, square +campanile. The large, bare, rusty-looking walls hid the church of Santa +Maria in Ara Coeli and the spot where the temple of Capitoline Jove had +formerly stood, radiant in all its royalty. On the left, some ugly houses +rose terrace-wise upon the slope of Monte Caprino, where goats were +pastured in the middle ages; while the few fine trees in the grounds of +the Caffarelli palace, the present German embassy, set some greenery +above the ancient Tarpeian rock now scarcely to be found, lost, hidden as +it is, by buttress walls. Yet this was the Mount of the Capitol, the most +glorious of the seven hills, with its citadel and its temple, the temple +to which universal dominion was promised, the St. Peter's of pagan Rome; +this indeed was the hill--steep on the side of the Forum, and a precipice +on that of the Campus Martius--where the thunder of Jupiter fell, where +in the dimmest of the far-off ages the Asylum of Romulus rose with its +sacred oaks, a spot of infinite savage mystery. Here, later, were +preserved the public documents of Roman grandeur inscribed on tablets of +brass; hither climbed the heroes of the triumphs; and here the emperors +became gods, erect in statues of marble. And nowadays the eye inquires +wonderingly how so much history and so much glory can have had for their +scene so small a space, such a rugged, jumbled pile of paltry buildings, +a mole-hill, looking no bigger, no loftier than a hamlet perched between +two valleys. + +Then another surprise for Pierre was the Forum, starting from the Capitol +and stretching out below the Palatine: a narrow square, close pressed by +the neighbouring hills, a hollow where Rome in growing had been compelled +to rear edifice close to edifice till all stifled for lack of breathing +space. It was necessary to dig very deep--some fifty feet--to find the +venerable republican soil, and now all you see is a long, clean, livid +trench, cleared of ivy and bramble, where the fragments of paving, the +bases of columns, and the piles of foundations appear like bits of bone. +Level with the ground the Basilica Julia, entirely mapped out, looks like +an architect's ground plan. On that side the arch of Septimius Severus +alone rears itself aloft, virtually intact, whilst of the temple of +Vespasian only a few isolated columns remain still standing, as if by +miracle, amidst the general downfall, soaring with a proud elegance, with +sovereign audacity of equilibrium, so slender and so gilded, into the +blue heavens. The column of Phocas is also erect; and you see some +portions of the Rostra fitted together out of fragments discovered near +by. But if the eye seeks a sensation of extraordinary vastness, it must +travel beyond the three columns of the temple of Castor and Pollux, +beyond the vestiges of the house of the Vestals, beyond the temple of +Faustina, in which the Christian Church of San Lorenzo has so composedly +installed itself, and even beyond the round temple of Romulus, to light +upon the Basilica of Constantine with its three colossal, gaping +archways. From the Palatine they look like porches built for a nation of +giants, so massive that a fallen fragment resembles some huge rock hurled +by a whirlwind from a mountain summit. And there, in that illustrious, +narrow, overflowing Forum the history of the greatest of nations held for +centuries, from the legendary time of the Sabine women, reconciling their +relatives and their ravishers, to that of the proclamation of public +liberty, so slowly wrung from the patricians by the plebeians. Was not +the Forum at once the market, the exchange, the tribunal, the open-air +hall of public meeting? The Gracchi there defended the cause of the +humble; Sylla there set up the lists of those whom he proscribed; Cicero +there spoke, and there, against the rostra, his bleeding head was hung. +Then, under the emperors, the old renown was dimmed, the centuries buried +the monuments and temples with such piles of dust that all that the +middle ages could do was to turn the spot into a cattle market! Respect +has come back once more, a respect which violates tombs, which is full of +feverish curiosity and science, which is dissatisfied with mere +hypotheses, which loses itself amidst this historical soil where +generations rise one above the other, and hesitates between the fifteen +or twenty restorations of the Forum that have been planned on paper, each +of them as plausible as the other. But to the mere passer-by, who is not +a professional scholar and has not recently re-perused the history of +Rome, the details have no significance. All he sees on this searched and +scoured spot is a city's cemetery where old exhumed stones are whitening, +and whence rises the intense sadness that envelops dead nations. Pierre, +however, noting here and there fragments of the Sacred Way, now turning, +now running down, and now ascending with their pavement of silex indented +by the chariot-wheels, thought of the triumphs, of the ascent of the +triumpher, so sorely shaken as his chariot jolted over that rough +pavement of glory. + +But the horizon expanded towards the southeast, and beyond the arches of +Titus and Constantine he perceived the Colosseum. Ah! that colossus, only +one-half or so of which has been destroyed by time as with the stroke of +a mighty scythe, it rises in its enormity and majesty like a stone +lace-work with hundreds of empty bays agape against the blue of heaven! +There is a world of halls, stairs, landings, and passages, a world where +one loses oneself amidst death-like silence and solitude. The furrowed +tiers of seats, eaten into by the atmosphere, are like shapeless steps +leading down into some old extinct crater, some natural circus excavated +by the force of the elements in indestructible rock. The hot suns of +eighteen hundred years have baked and scorched this ruin, which has +reverted to a state of nature, bare and golden-brown like a +mountain-side, since it has been stripped of its vegetation, the flora +which once made it like a virgin forest. And what an evocation when the +mind sets flesh and blood and life again on all that dead osseous +framework, fills the circus with the 90,000 spectators which it could +hold, marshals the games and the combats of the arena, gathers a whole +civilisation together, from the emperor and the dignitaries to the +surging plebeian sea, all aglow with the agitation and brilliancy of an +impassioned people, assembled under the ruddy reflection of the giant +purple velum. And then, yet further, on the horizon, were other cyclopean +ruins, the baths of Caracalla, standing there like relics of a race of +giants long since vanished from the world: halls extravagantly and +inexplicably spacious and lofty; vestibules large enough for an entire +population; a _frigidarium_ where five hundred people could swim +together; a _tepidarium_ and a _calidarium_* on the same proportions, +born of a wild craving for the huge; and then the terrific massiveness of +the structures, the thickness of the piles of brick-work, such as no +feudal castle ever knew; and, in addition, the general immensity which +makes passing visitors look like lost ants; such an extraordinary riot of +the great and the mighty that one wonders for what men, for what +multitudes, this monstrous edifice was reared. To-day, you would say a +mass of rocks in the rough, thrown from some height for building the +abode of Titans. + + * Tepidarium, warm bath; calidarium, vapour bath.--Trans. + +And as Pierre gazed, he became more and more immersed in the limitless +past which encompassed him. On all sides history rose up like a surging +sea. Those bluey plains on the north and west were ancient Etruria; those +jagged crests on the east were the Sabine Mountains; while southward, the +Alban Mountains and Latium spread out in the streaming gold of the +sunshine. Alba Longa was there, and so was Monte Cavo, with its crown of +old trees, and the convent which has taken the place of the ancient +temple of Jupiter. Then beyond the Forum, beyond the Capitol, the greater +part of Rome stretched out, whilst behind Pierre, on the margin of the +Tiber, was the Janiculum. And a voice seemed to come from the whole city, +a voice which told him of Rome's eternal life, resplendent with past +greatness. He remembered just enough of what he had been taught at school +to realise where he was; he knew just what every one knows of Rome with +no pretension to scholarship, and it was more particularly his artistic +temperament which awoke within him and gathered warmth from the flame of +memory. The present had disappeared, and the ocean of the past was still +rising, buoying him up, carrying him away. + +And then his mind involuntarily pictured a resurrection instinct with +life. The grey, dismal Palatine, razed like some accursed city, suddenly +became animated, peopled, crowned with palaces and temples. There had +been the cradle of the Eternal City, founded by Romulus on that summit +overlooking the Tiber. There assuredly the seven kings of its two and a +half centuries of monarchical rule had dwelt, enclosed within high, +strong walls, which had but three gateways. Then the five centuries of +republican sway spread out, the greatest, the most glorious of all the +centuries, those which brought the Italic peninsula and finally the known +world under Roman dominion. During those victorious years of social and +war-like struggle, Rome grew and peopled the seven hills, and the +Palatine became but a venerable cradle with legendary temples, and was +even gradually invaded by private residences. But at last Caesar, the +incarnation of the power of his race, after Gaul and after Pharsalia +triumphed in the name of the whole Roman people, having completed the +colossal task by which the five following centuries of imperialism were +to profit, with a pompous splendour and a rush of every appetite. And +then Augustus could ascend to power; glory had reached its climax; +millions of gold were waiting to be filched from the depths of the +provinces; and the imperial gala was to begin in the world's capital, +before the eyes of the dazzled and subjected nations. Augustus had been +born on the Palatine, and after Actium had given him the empire, he set +his pride in reigning from the summit of that sacred mount, venerated by +the people. He bought up private houses and there built his palace with +luxurious splendour: an atrium upheld by four pilasters and eight +columns; a peristylium encompassed by fifty-six Ionic columns; private +apartments all around, and all in marble; a profusion of marble, brought +at great cost from foreign lands, and of the brightest hues, resplendent +like gems. And he lodged himself with the gods, building near his own +abode a large temple of Apollo and a shrine of Vesta in order to ensure +himself divine and eternal sovereignty. And then the seed of the imperial +palaces was sown; they were to spring up, grow and swarm, and cover the +entire mount. + +Ah! the all-powerfulness of Augustus, his four and forty years of total, +absolute, superhuman power, such as no despot has known even in his +dreams! He had taken to himself every title, united every magistracy in +his person. Imperator and consul, he commanded the armies and exercised +executive power; pro-consul, he was supreme in the provinces; perpetual +censor and princeps, he reigned over the senate; tribune, he was the +master of the people. And, formerly called Octavius, he had caused +himself to be declared Augustus, sacred, god among men, having his +temples and his priests, worshipped in his lifetime like a divinity +deigning to visit the earth. And finally he had resolved to be supreme +pontiff, annexing religious to civil power, and thus by a stroke of +genius attaining to the most complete dominion to which man can climb. As +the supreme pontiff could not reside in a private house, he declared his +abode to be State property. As the supreme pontiff could not leave the +vicinity of the temple of Vesta, he built a temple to that goddess near +his own dwelling, leaving the guardianship of the ancient altar below the +Palatine to the Vestal virgins. He spared no effort, for he well realised +that human omnipotence, the mastery of mankind and the world, lay in that +reunion of sovereignty, in being both king and priest, emperor and pope. +All the sap of a mighty race, all the victories achieved, and all the +favours of fortune yet to be garnered, blossomed forth in Augustus, in a +unique splendour which was never again to shed such brilliant radiance. +He was really the master of the world, amidst the conquered and pacified +nations, encompassed by immortal glory in literature and in art. In him +would seem to have been satisfied the old intense ambition of his people, +the ambition which it had pursued through centuries of patient conquest, +to become the people-king. The blood of Rome, the blood of Augustus, at +last coruscated in the sunlight, in the purple of empire. And the blood +of Augustus, of the divine, triumphant, absolute sovereign of bodies and +souls, of the man in whom seven centuries of national pride had +culminated, was to descend through the ages, through an innumerable +posterity with a heritage of boundless pride and ambition. For it was +fatal: the blood of Augustus was bound to spring into life once more and +pulsate in the veins of all the successive masters of Rome, ever haunting +them with the dream of ruling the whole world. And later on, after the +decline and fall, when power had once more become divided between the +king and the priest, the popes--their hearts burning with the red, +devouring blood of their great forerunner--had no other passion, no other +policy, through the centuries, than that of attaining to civil dominion, +to the totality of human power. + +But Augustus being dead, his palace having been closed and consecrated, +Pierre saw that of Tiberius spring up from the soil. It had stood where +his feet now rested, where the beautiful evergreen oaks sheltered him. He +pictured it with courts, porticoes, and halls, both substantial and +grand, despite the gloomy bent of the emperor who betook himself far from +Rome to live amongst informers and debauchees, with his heart and brain +poisoned by power to the point of crime and most extraordinary insanity. +Then the palace of Caligula followed, an enlargement of that of Tiberius, +with arcades set up to increase its extent, and a bridge thrown over the +Forum to the Capitol, in order that the prince might go thither at his +ease to converse with Jove, whose son he claimed to be. And sovereignty +also rendered this one ferocious--a madman with omnipotence to do as he +listed! Then, after Claudius, Nero, not finding the Palatine large +enough, seized upon the delightful gardens climbing the Esquiline in +order to set up his Golden House, a dream of sumptuous immensity which he +could not complete and the ruins of which disappeared in the troubles +following the death of this monster whom pride demented. Next, in +eighteen months, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius fell one upon the other, in +mire and in blood, the purple converting them also into imbeciles and +monsters, gorged like unclean beasts at the trough of imperial enjoyment. +And afterwards came the Flavians, at first a respite, with commonsense +and human kindness: Vespasian; next Titus, who built but little on the +Palatine; but then Domitian, in whom the sombre madness of omnipotence +burst forth anew amidst a _regime_ of fear and spying, idiotic atrocities +and crimes, debauchery contrary to nature, and building enterprises born +of insane vanity instinct with a desire to outvie the temples of the +gods. The palace of Domitian, parted by a lane from that of Tiberius, +arose colossal-like--a palace of fairyland. There was the hall of +audience, with its throne of gold, its sixteen columns of Phrygian and +Numidian marble and its eight niches containing colossal statues; there +were the hall of justice, the vast dining-room, the peristylium, the +sleeping apartments, where granite, porphyry, and alabaster overflowed, +carved and decorated by the most famous artists, and lavished on all +sides in order to dazzle the world. And finally, many years later, a last +palace was added to all the others--that of Septimius Severus: again a +building of pride, with arches supporting lofty halls, terraced storeys, +towers o'er-topping the roofs, a perfect Babylonian pile, rising up at +the extreme point of the mount in view of the Appian Way, so that the +emperor's compatriots--those from the province of Africa, where he was +born--might, on reaching the horizon, marvel at his fortune and worship +him in his glory. + +And now Pierre beheld all those palaces which he had conjured up around +him, resuscitated, resplendent in the full sunlight. They were as if +linked together, parted merely by the narrowest of passages. In order +that not an inch of that precious summit might be lost, they had sprouted +thickly like the monstrous florescence of strength, power, and unbridled +pride which satisfied itself at the cost of millions, bleeding the whole +world for the enjoyment of one man. And in truth there was but one palace +altogether, a palace enlarged as soon as one emperor died and was placed +among the deities, and another, shunning the consecrated pile where +possibly the shadow of death frightened him, experienced an imperious +need to build a house of his own and perpetuate in everlasting stone the +memory of his reign. All the emperors were seized with this building +craze; it was like a disease which the very throne seemed to carry from +one occupant to another with growing intensity, a consuming desire to +excel all predecessors by thicker and higher walls, by a more and more +wonderful profusion of marbles, columns, and statues. And among all these +princes there was the idea of a glorious survival, of leaving a testimony +of their greatness to dazzled and stupefied generations, of perpetuating +themselves by marvels which would not perish but for ever weigh heavily +upon the earth, when their own light ashes should long since have been +swept away by the winds. And thus the Palatine became but the venerable +base of a monstrous edifice, a thick vegetation of adjoining buildings, +each new pile being like a fresh eruption of feverish pride; while the +whole, now showing the snowy brightness of white marble and now the +glowing hues of coloured marble, ended by crowning Rome and the +world with the most extraordinary and most insolent abode of +sovereignty--whether palace, temple, basilica, or cathedral--that +omnipotence and dominion have ever reared under the heavens. + +But death lurked beneath this excess of strength and glory. Seven hundred +and thirty years of monarchy and republic had sufficed to make Rome +great; and in five centuries of imperial sway the people-king was to be +devoured down to its last muscles. There was the immensity of the +territory, the more distant provinces gradually pillaged and exhausted; +there was the fisc consuming everything, digging the pit of fatal +bankruptcy; and there was the degeneration of the people, poisoned by the +scenes of the circus and the arena, fallen to the sloth and debauchery of +their masters, the Caesars, while mercenaries fought the foe and tilled +the soil. Already at the time of Constantine, Rome had a rival, +Byzantium; disruption followed with Honorius; and then some ten emperors +sufficed for decomposition to be complete, for the bones of the dying +prey to be picked clean, the end coming with Romulus Augustulus, the +sorry creature whose name is, so to say, a mockery of the whole glorious +history, a buffet for both the founder of Rome and the founder of the +empire. + +The palaces, the colossal assemblage of walls, storeys, terraces, and +gaping roofs, still remained on the deserted Palatine; many ornaments and +statues, however, had already been removed to Byzantium. And the empire, +having become Christian, had afterwards closed the temples and +extinguished the fire of Vesta, whilst yet respecting the ancient +Palladium. But in the fifth century the barbarians rush upon Rome, sack +and burn it, and carry the spoils spared by the flames away in their +chariots. As long as the city was dependent on Byzantium a custodian of +the imperial palaces remained there watching over the Palatine. Then all +fades and crumbles in the night of the middle ages. It would really seem +that the popes then slowly took the place of the Caesars, succeeding them +both in their abandoned marble halls and their ever-subsisting passion +for domination. Some of them assuredly dwelt in the palace of Septimius +Severus; a council of the Church was held in the Septizonium; and, later +on, Gelasius II was elected in a neighbouring monastery on the sacred +mount. It was as if Augustus were again rising from the tomb, once more +master of the world, with a Sacred College of Cardinals resuscitating the +Roman Senate. In the twelfth century the Septizonium belonged to some +Benedictine monks, and was sold by them to the powerful Frangipani +family, who fortified it as they had already fortified the Colosseum and +the arches of Constantine and Titus, thus forming a vast fortress round +about the venerable cradle of the city. And the violent deeds of civil +war and the ravages of invasion swept by like whirlwinds, throwing down +the walls, razing the palaces and towers. And afterwards successive +generations invaded the ruins, installed themselves in them by right of +trover and conquest, turned them into cellars, store-places for forage, +and stables for mules. Kitchen gardens were formed, vines were planted on +the spots where fallen soil had covered the mosaics of the imperial +halls. All around nettles and brambles grew up, and ivy preyed on the +overturned porticoes, till there came a day when the colossal assemblage +of palaces and temples, which marble was to have rendered eternal, seemed +to dive beneath the dust, to disappear under the surging soil and +vegetation which impassive Nature threw over it. And then, in the hot +sunlight, among the wild flowerets, only big, buzzing flies remained, +whilst herds of goats strayed in freedom through the throne-room of +Domitian and the fallen sanctuary of Apollo. + +A great shudder passed through Pierre. To think of so much strength, +pride, and grandeur, and such rapid ruin--a world for ever swept away! He +wondered how entire palaces, yet peopled by admirable statuary, could +thus have been gradually buried without any one thinking of protecting +them. It was no sudden catastrophe which had swallowed up those +masterpieces, subsequently to be disinterred with exclamations of +admiring wonder; they had been drowned, as it were--caught progressively +by the legs, the waist, and the neck, till at last the head had sunk +beneath the rising tide. And how could one explain that generations had +heedlessly witnessed such things without thought of putting forth a +helping hand? It would seem as if, at a given moment, a black curtain +were suddenly drawn across the world, as if mankind began afresh, with a +new and empty brain which needed moulding and furnishing. Rome had become +depopulated; men ceased to repair the ruins left by fire and sword; the +edifices which by their very immensity had become useless were utterly +neglected, allowed to crumble and fall. And then, too, the new religion +everywhere hunted down the old one, stole its temples, overturned its +gods. Earthly deposits probably completed the disaster--there were, it is +said, both earthquakes and inundations--and the soil was ever rising, the +alluvia of the young Christian world buried the ancient pagan society. +And after the pillaging of the temples, the theft of the bronze roofs and +marble columns, the climax came with the filching of the stones torn from +the Colosseum and the Theatre of Marcellus, with the pounding of the +statuary and sculpture-work, thrown into kilns to procure the lime needed +for the new monuments of Catholic Rome. + +It was nearly one o'clock, and Pierre awoke as from a dream. The sun-rays +were streaming in a golden rain between the shiny leaves of the +ever-green oaks above him, and down below Rome lay dozing, overcome by +the great heat. Then he made up his mind to leave the garden, and went +stumbling over the rough pavement of the Clivus Victoriae, his mind still +haunted by blinding visions. To complete his day, he had resolved to +visit the old Appian Way during the afternoon, and, unwilling to return +to the Via Giulia, he lunched at a suburban tavern, in a large, dim room, +where, alone with the buzzing flies, he lingered for more than two hours, +awaiting the sinking of the sun. + +Ah! that Appian Way, that ancient queen of the high roads, crossing the +Campagna in a long straight line with rows of proud tombs on either +hand--to Pierre it seemed like a triumphant prolongation of the Palatine. +He there found the same passion for splendour and domination, the same +craving to eternise the memory of Roman greatness in marble and daylight. +Oblivion was vanquished; the dead refused to rest, and remained for ever +erect among the living, on either side of that road which was traversed +by multitudes from the entire world. The deified images of those who were +now but dust still gazed on the passers-by with empty eyes; the +inscriptions still spoke, proclaiming names and titles. In former times +the rows of sepulchres must have extended without interruption along all +the straight, level miles between the tomb of Caecilia Metella and that +of Casale Rotondo, forming an elongated cemetery where the powerful and +wealthy competed as to who should leave the most colossal and lavishly +decorated mausoleum: such, indeed, was the craving for survival, the +passion for pompous immortality, the desire to deify death by lodging it +in temples; whereof the present-day monumental splendour of the Genoese +Campo Santo and the Roman Campo Verano is, so to say, a remote +inheritance. And what a vision it was to picture all the tremendous tombs +on the right and left of the glorious pavement which the legions trod on +their return from the conquest of the world! That tomb of Caecilia +Metella, with its bond-stones so huge, its walls so thick that the middle +ages transformed it into the battlemented keep of a fortress! And then +all the tombs which follow, the modern structures erected in order that +the marble fragments discovered might be set in place, the old blocks of +brick and concrete, despoiled of their sculptured-work and rising up like +seared rocks, yet still suggesting their original shapes as shrines, +_cippi_, and _sarcophagi_. There is a wondrous succession of high reliefs +figuring the dead in groups of three and five; statues in which the dead +live deified, erect; seats contrived in niches in order that wayfarers +may rest and bless the hospitality of the dead; laudatory epitaphs +celebrating the dead, both the known and the unknown, the children of +Sextius Pompeius Justus, the departed Marcus Servilius Quartus, Hilarius +Fuscus, Rabirius Hermodorus; without counting the sepulchres venturously +ascribed to Seneca and the Horatii and Curiatii. And finally there is the +most extraordinary and gigantic of all the tombs, that known as Casale +Rotondo, which is so large that it has been possible to establish a +farmhouse and an olive garden on its substructures, which formerly upheld +a double rotunda, adorned with Corinthian pilasters, large candelabra, +and scenic masks.* + + * Some believe this tomb to have been that of Messalla Corvinus, + the historian and poet, a friend of Augustus and Horace; others + ascribe it to his son, Aurelius Messallinus Cotta.--Trans. + +Pierre, having driven in a cab as far as the tomb of Caecilia Metella, +continued his excursion on foot, going slowly towards Casale Rotondo. In +many places the old pavement appears--large blocks of basaltic lava, worn +into deep ruts that jolt the best-hung vehicles. Among the ruined tombs +on either hand run bands of grass, the neglected grass of cemeteries, +scorched by the summer suns and sprinkled with big violet thistles and +tall sulphur-wort. Parapets of dry stones, breast high, enclose the +russet roadsides, which resound with the crepitation of grasshoppers; +and, beyond, the Campagna stretches, vast and bare, as far as the eye can +see. A parasol pine, a eucalyptus, some olive or fig trees, white with +dust, alone rise up near the road at infrequent intervals. On the left +the ruddy arches of the Acqua Claudia show vigorously in the meadows, and +stretches of poorly cultivated land, vineyards, and little farms, extend +to the blue and lilac Sabine and Alban hills, where Frascati, Rocca di +Papa, and Albano set bright spots, which grow and whiten as one gets +nearer to them. Then, on the right, towards the sea, the houseless, +treeless plain grows and spreads with vast, broad ripples, extraordinary +ocean-like simplicity and grandeur, a long, straight line alone parting +it from the sky. At the height of summer all burns and flares on this +limitless prairie, then of a ruddy gold; but in September a green tinge +begins to suffuse the ocean of herbage, which dies away in the pink and +mauve and vivid blue of the fine sunsets. + +As Pierre, quite alone and in a dreary mood, slowly paced the endless, +flat highway, that resurrection of the past which he had beheld on the +Palatine again confronted his mind's eye. On either hand the tombs once +more rose up intact, with marble of dazzling whiteness. Had not the head +of a colossal statue been found, mingled with fragments of huge sphinxes, +at the foot of yonder vase-shaped mass of bricks? He seemed to see the +entire colossal statue standing again between the huge, crouching beasts. +Farther on a beautiful headless statue of a woman had been discovered in +the cella of a sepulchre, and he beheld it, again whole, with features +expressive of grace and strength smiling upon life. The inscriptions also +became perfect; he could read and understand them at a glance, as if +living among those dead ones of two thousand years ago. And the road, +too, became peopled: the chariots thundered, the armies tramped along, +the people of Rome jostled him with the feverish agitation of great +communities. It was a return of the times of the Flavians or the +Antonines, the palmy years of the empire, when the pomp of the Appian +Way, with its grand sepulchres, carved and adorned like temples, attained +its apogee. What a monumental Street of Death, what an approach to Rome, +that highway, straight as an arrow, where with the extraordinary pomp of +their pride, which had survived their dust, the great dead greeted the +traveller, ushered him into the presence of the living! He may well have +wondered among what sovereign people, what masters of the world, he was +about to find himself--a nation which had committed to its dead the duty +of telling strangers that it allowed nothing whatever to perish--that its +dead, like its city, remained eternal and glorious in monuments of +extraordinary vastness! To think of it--the foundations of a fortress, +and a tower sixty feet in diameter, that one woman might be laid to rest! +And then, far away, at the end of the superb, dazzling highway, bordered +with the marble of its funereal palaces, Pierre, turning round, +distinctly beheld the Palatine, with the marble of its imperial +palaces--the huge assemblage of palaces whose omnipotence had dominated +the world! + +But suddenly he started: two carabiniers had just appeared among the +ruins. The spot was not safe; the authorities watched over tourists even +in broad daylight. And later on came another meeting which caused him +some emotion. He perceived an ecclesiastic, a tall old man, in a black +cassock, edged and girt with red; and was surprised to recognise Cardinal +Boccanera, who had quitted the roadway, and was slowly strolling along +the band of grass, among the tall thistles and sulphur-wort. With his +head lowered and his feet brushing against the fragments of the tombs, +the Cardinal did not even see Pierre. The young priest courteously turned +aside, surprised to find him so far from home and alone. Then, on +perceiving a heavy coach, drawn by two black horses, behind a building, +he understood matters. A footman in black livery was waiting motionless +beside the carriage, and the coachman had not quitted his box. And Pierre +remembered that the Cardinals were not expected to walk in Rome, so that +they were compelled to drive into the country when they desired to take +exercise. But what haughty sadness, what solitary and, so to say, +ostracised grandeur there was about that tall, thoughtful old man, thus +forced to seek the desert, and wander among the tombs, in order to +breathe a little of the evening air! + +Pierre had lingered there for long hours; the twilight was coming on, and +once again he witnessed a lovely sunset. On his left the Campagna became +blurred, and assumed a slaty hue, against which the yellowish arcades of +the aqueduct showed very plainly, while the Alban hills, far away, faded +into pink. Then, on the right, towards the sea, the planet sank among a +number of cloudlets, figuring an archipelago of gold in an ocean of dying +embers. And excepting the sapphire sky, studded with rubies, above the +endless line of the Campagna, which was likewise changed into a sparkling +lake, the dull green of the herbage turning to a liquid emerald tint, +there was nothing to be seen, neither a hillock nor a flock--nothing, +indeed, but Cardinal Boccanera's black figure, erect among the tombs, and +looking, as it were, enlarged as it stood out against the last purple +flush of the sunset. + +Early on the following morning Pierre, eager to see everything, returned +to the Appian Way in order to visit the catacomb of St. Calixtus, the +most extensive and remarkable of the old Christian cemeteries, and one, +too, where several of the early popes were buried. You ascend through a +scorched garden, past olives and cypresses, reach a shanty of boards and +plaster in which a little trade in "articles of piety" is carried on, and +there a modern and fairly easy flight of steps enables you to descend. +Pierre fortunately found there some French Trappists, who guard these +catacombs and show them to strangers. One brother was on the point of +going down with two French ladies, the mother and daughter, the former +still comely and the other radiant with youth. They stood there smiling, +though already slightly frightened, while the monk lighted some long, +slim candles. He was a man with a bossy brow, the large, massive jaw of +an obstinate believer and pale eyes bespeaking an ingenuous soul. + +"Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe," he said to Pierre, "you've come just in time. If +the ladies are willing, you had better come with us; for three Brothers +are already below with people, and you would have a long time to wait. +This is the great season for visitors." + +The ladies politely nodded, and the Trappist handed a candle to the +priest. In all probability neither mother nor daughter was devout, for +both glanced askance at their new companion's cassock, and suddenly +became serious. Then they all went down and found themselves in a narrow +subterranean corridor. "Take care, mesdames," repeated the Trappist, +lighting the ground with his candle. "Walk slowly, for there are +projections and slopes." + +Then, in a shrill voice full of extraordinary conviction, he began his +explanations. Pierre had descended in silence, his heart beating with +emotion. Ah! how many times, indeed, in his innocent seminary days, had +he not dreamt of those catacombs of the early Christians, those asylums +of the primitive faith! Even recently, while writing his book, he had +often thought of them as of the most ancient and venerable remains of +that community of the lowly and simple, for the return of which he +called. But his brain was full of pages written by poets and great prose +writers. He had beheld the catacombs through the magnifying glass of +those imaginative authors, and had believed them to be vast, similar to +subterranean cities, with broad highways and spacious halls, fit for the +accommodation of vast crowds. And now how poor and humble the reality! + +"Well, yes," said the Trappist in reply to the ladies' questions, "the +corridor is scarcely more than a yard in width; two persons could not +pass along side by side. How they dug it? Oh! it was simple enough. A +family or a burial association needed a place of sepulchre. Well, a first +gallery was excavated with pickaxes in soil of this description--granular +tufa, as it is called--a reddish substance, as you can see, both soft and +yet resistant, easy to work and at the same time waterproof. In a word, +just the substance that was needed, and one, too, that has preserved the +remains of the buried in a wonderful way." He paused and brought the +flamelet of his candle near to the compartments excavated on either hand +of the passage. "Look," he continued, "these are the _loculi_. Well, a +subterranean gallery was dug, and on both sides these compartments were +hollowed out, one above the other. The bodies of the dead were laid in +them, for the most part simply wrapped in shrouds. Then the aperture was +closed with tiles or marble slabs, carefully cemented. So, as you can +see, everything explains itself. If other families joined the first one, +or the burial association became more numerous, fresh galleries were +added to those already filled. Passages were excavated on either hand, in +every sense; and, indeed, a second and lower storey, at times even a +third, was dug out. And here, you see, we are in a gallery which is +certainly thirteen feet high. Now, you may wonder how they raised the +bodies to place them in the compartments of the top tier. Well, they did +not raise them to any such height; in all their work they kept on going +lower and lower, removing more and more of the soil as the compartments +became filled. And in this wise, in these catacombs of St. Calixtus, in +less than four centuries, the Christians excavated more than ten miles of +galleries, in which more than a million of their dead must have been laid +to rest. Now, there are dozens of catacombs; the environs of Rome are +honeycombed with them. Think of that, and perhaps you will be able to +form some idea of the vast number of people who were buried in this +manner." + +Pierre listened, feeling greatly impressed. He had once visited a coal +pit in Belgium, and he here found the same narrow passages, the same +heavy, stifling atmosphere, the same nihility of darkness and silence. +The flamelets of the candles showed merely like stars in the deep gloom; +they shed no radiance around. And he at last understood the character of +this funereal, termite-like labour--these chance burrowings continued +according to requirements, without art, method, or symmetry. The rugged +soil was ever ascending and descending, the sides of the gallery snaked: +neither plumb-line nor square had been used. All this, indeed, had simply +been a work of charity and necessity, wrought by simple, willing +grave-diggers, illiterate craftsmen, with the clumsy handiwork of the +decline and fall. Proof thereof was furnished by the inscriptions and +emblems on the marble slabs. They reminded one of the childish drawings +which street urchins scrawl upon blank walls. + +"You see," the Trappist continued, "most frequently there is merely a +name; and sometimes there is no name, but simply the words _In Pace_. At +other times there is an emblem, the dove of purity, the palm of +martyrdom, or else the fish whose name in Greek is composed of five +letters which, as initials, signify: 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, +Saviour.'" + +He again brought his candle near to the marble slabs, and the palm could +be distinguished: a central stroke, whence started a few oblique lines; +and then came the dove or the fish, roughly outlined, a zigzag indicating +a tail, two bars representing the bird's feet, while a round point +simulated an eye. And the letters of the short inscriptions were all +askew, of various sizes, often quite misshapen, as in the coarse +handwriting of the ignorant and simple. + +However, they reached a crypt, a sort of little hall, where the graves of +several popes had been found; among others that of Sixtus II, a holy +martyr, in whose honour there was a superbly engraved metrical +inscription set up by Pope Damasus. Then, in another hall, a family vault +of much the same size, decorated at a later stage, with naive mural +paintings, the spot where St. Cecilia's body had been discovered was +shown. And the explanations continued. The Trappist dilated on the +paintings, drawing from them a confirmation of every dogma and belief, +baptism, the Eucharist, the resurrection, Lazarus arising from the tomb, +Jonas cast up by the whale, Daniel in the lions' den, Moses drawing water +from the rock, and Christ--shown beardless, as was the practice in the +early ages--accomplishing His various miracles. + +"You see," repeated the Trappist, "all those things are shown there; and +remember that none of the paintings was specially prepared: they are +absolutely authentic." + +At a question from Pierre, whose astonishment was increasing, he admitted +that the catacombs had been mere cemeteries at the outset, when no +religious ceremonies had been celebrated in them. It was only later, in +the fourth century, when the martyrs were honoured, that the crypts were +utilised for worship. And in the same way they only became places of +refuge during the persecutions, when the Christians had to conceal the +entrances to them. Previously they had remained freely and legally open. +This was indeed their true history: cemeteries four centuries old +becoming places of asylum, ravaged at times during the persecutions; +afterwards held in veneration till the eighth century; then despoiled of +their holy relics, and subsequently blocked up and forgotten, so that +they remained buried during more than seven hundred years, people +thinking of them so little that at the time of the first searches in the +fifteenth century they were considered an extraordinary discovery--an +intricate historical problem--one, moreover, which only our own age has +solved. + +"Please stoop, mesdames," resumed the Trappist. "In this compartment here +is a skeleton which has not been touched. It has been lying here for +sixteen or seventeen hundred years, and will show you how the bodies were +laid out. Savants say that it is the skeleton of a female, probably a +young girl. It was still quite perfect last spring; but the skull, as you +can see, is now split open. An American broke it with his walking stick +to make sure that it was genuine." + +The ladies leaned forward, and the flickering light illumined their pale +faces, expressive of mingled fright and compassion. Especially noticeable +was the pitiful, pain-fraught look which appeared on the countenance of +the daughter, so full of life with her red lips and large black eyes. +Then all relapsed into gloom, and the little candles were borne aloft and +went their way through the heavy darkness of the galleries. The visit +lasted another hour, for the Trappist did not spare a detail, fond as he +was of certain nooks and corners, and as zealous as if he desired to work +the redemption of his visitors. + +While Pierre followed the others, a complete evolution took place within +him. As he looked about him, and formed a more and more complete idea of +his surroundings, his first stupefaction at finding the reality so +different from the embellished accounts of story-tellers and poets, his +disillusion at being plunged into such rudely excavated mole-burrows, +gave way to fraternal emotion. It was not that he thought of the fifteen +hundred martyrs whose sacred bones had rested there. But how humble, +resigned, yet full of hope had been those who had chosen such a place of +sepulchre! Those low, darksome galleries were but temporary +sleeping-places for the Christians. If they did not burn the bodies of +their dead, as the Pagans did, it was because, like the Jews, they +believed in the resurrection of the body; and it was that lovely idea of +sleep, of tranquil rest after a just life, whilst awaiting the celestial +reward, which imparted such intense peacefulness, such infinite charm, to +the black, subterranean city. Everything there spoke of calm and silent +night; everything there slumbered in rapturous quiescence, patient until +the far-off awakening. What could be more touching than those terra-cotta +tiles, those marble slabs, which bore not even a name--nothing but the +words _In Pace_--at peace. Ah! to be at peace--life's work at last +accomplished; to sleep in peace, to hope in peace for the advent of +heaven! And the peacefulness seemed the more delightful as it was enjoyed +in such deep humility. Doubtless the diggers worked chance-wise and +clumsily; the craftsmen no longer knew how to engrave a name or carve a +palm or a dove. Art had vanished; but all the feebleness and ignorance +were instinct with the youth of a new humanity. Poor and lowly and meek +ones swarmed there, reposing beneath the soil, whilst up above the sun +continued its everlasting task. You found there charity and fraternity +and death; husband and wife often lying together with their offspring at +their feet; the great mass of the unknown submerging the personage, the +bishop, or the martyr; the most touching equality--that springing from +modesty--prevailing amidst all that dust, with compartments ever similar +and slabs destitute of ornament, so that rows and rows of the sleepers +mingled without distinctive sign. The inscriptions seldom ventured on a +word of praise, and then how prudent, how delicate it was: the men were +very worthy, very pious: the women very gentle, very beautiful, very +chaste. A perfume of infancy arose, unlimited human affection spread: +this was death as understood by the primitive Christians--death which hid +itself to await the resurrection, and dreamt no more of the empire of the +world! + +And all at once before Pierre's eyes arose a vision of the sumptuous +tombs of the Appian Way, displaying the domineering pride of a whole +civilisation in the sunlight--tombs of vast dimensions, with a profusion +of marbles, grandiloquent inscriptions, and masterpieces of +sculptured-work. Ah! what an extraordinary contrast between that pompous +avenue of death, conducting, like a highway of triumph, to the regal +Eternal City, when compared with the subterranean necropolis of the +Christians, that city of hidden death, so gentle, so beautiful, and so +chaste! Here only quiet slumber, desired and accepted night, resignation +and patience were to be found. Millions of human beings had here laid +themselves to rest in all humility, had slept for centuries, and would +still be sleeping here, lulled by the silence and the gloom, if the +living had not intruded on their desire to remain in oblivion so long as +the trumpets of the Judgment Day did not awaken them. Death had then +spoken of Life: nowhere had there been more intimate and touching life +than in these buried cities of the unknown, lowly dead. And a mighty +breath had formerly come from them--the breath of a new humanity destined +to renew the world. With the advent of meekness, contempt for the flesh, +terror and hatred of nature, relinquishment of terrestrial joys, and a +passion for death, which delivers and opens the portals of Paradise, +another world had begun. And the blood of Augustus, so proud of purpling +in the sunlight, so fired by the passion for sovereign dominion, seemed +for a moment to disappear, as if, indeed, the new world had sucked it up +in the depths of its gloomy sepulchres. + +However, the Trappist insisted on showing the ladies the steps of +Diocletian, and began to tell them the legend. "Yes," said he, "it was a +miracle. One day, under that emperor, some soldiers were pursuing several +Christians, who took refuge in these catacombs; and when the soldiers +followed them inside the steps suddenly gave way, and all the persecutors +were hurled to the bottom. The steps remain broken to this day. Come and +see them; they are close by." + +But the ladies were quite overcome, so affected by their prolonged +sojourn in the gloom and by the tales of death which the Trappist had +poured into their ears that they insisted on going up again. Moreover, +the candles were coming to an end. They were all dazzled when they found +themselves once more in the sunlight, outside the little hut where +articles of piety and souvenirs were sold. The girl bought a paper +weight, a piece of marble on which was engraved the fish symbolical of +"Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour of Mankind." + +On the afternoon of that same day Pierre decided to visit St. Peter's. He +had as yet only driven across the superb piazza with its obelisk and twin +fountains, encircled by Bernini's colonnades, those four rows of columns +and pilasters which form a girdle of monumental majesty. At the far end +rises the basilica, its facade making it look smaller and heavier than it +really is, but its sovereign dome nevertheless filling the heavens. + +Pebbled, deserted inclines stretched out, and steps followed steps, worn +and white, under the burning sun; but at last Pierre reached the door and +went in. It was three o'clock. Broad sheets of light streamed in through +the high square windows, and some ceremony--the vesper service, no +doubt--was beginning in the Capella Clementina on the left. Pierre, +however, heard nothing; he was simply struck by the immensity of the +edifice, as with raised eyes he slowly walked along. At the entrance came +the giant basins for holy water with their boy-angels as chubby as +Cupids; then the nave, vaulted and decorated with sunken coffers; then +the four cyclopean buttress-piers upholding the dome, and then again the +transepts and apsis, each as large as one of our churches. And the proud +pomp, the dazzling, crushing splendour of everything, also astonished +him: he marvelled at the cupola, looking like a planet, resplendent with +the gold and bright colours of its mosaic-work, at the sumptuous +_baldacchino_ of bronze, crowning the high altar raised above the very +tomb of St. Peter, and whence descend the double steps of the Confession, +illumined by seven and eighty lamps, which are always kept burning. And +finally he was lost in astonishment at the extraordinary profusion of +marble, both white and coloured. Oh! those polychromatic marbles, +Bernini's luxurious passion! The splendid pavement reflecting the entire +edifice, the facings of the pilasters with their medallions of popes, the +tiara and the keys borne aloft by chubby angels, the walls covered with +emblems, particularly the dove of Innocent X, the niches with their +colossal statues uncouth in taste, the _loggie_ and their balconies, the +balustrade and double steps of the Confession, the rich altars and yet +richer tombs--all, nave, aisles, transepts, and apsis, were in marble, +resplendent with the wealth of marble; not a nook small as the palm of +one's hand appearing but it showed the insolent opulence of marble. And +the basilica triumphed, beyond discussion, recognised and admired by +every one as the largest and most splendid church in the whole world--the +personification of hugeness and magnificence combined. + +Pierre still wandered on, gazing, overcome, as yet not distinguishing +details. He paused for a moment before the bronze statue of St. Peter, +seated in a stiff, hierarchical attitude on a marble pedestal. A few of +the faithful were there kissing the large toe of the Saint's right foot. +Some of them carefully wiped it before applying their lips; others, with +no thought of cleanliness, kissed it, pressed their foreheads to it, and +then kissed it again. Next, Pierre turned into the transept on the left, +where stand the confessionals. Priests are ever stationed there, ready to +confess penitents in every language. Others wait, holding long staves, +with which they lightly tap the heads of kneeling sinners, who thereby +obtain thirty days' indulgence. However, there were few people present, +and inside the small wooden boxes the priests occupied their leisure time +in reading and writing, as if they were at home. Then Pierre again found +himself before the Confession, and gazed with interest at the eighty +lamps, scintillating like stars. The high altar, at which the Pope alone +can officiate, seemed wrapped in the haughty melancholy of solitude under +its gigantic, flowery _baldacchino_, the casting and gilding of which +cost two and twenty thousand pounds. But suddenly Pierre remembered the +ceremony in the Capella Clementina, and felt astonished, for he could +hear nothing of it. As he drew near a faint breath, like the far-away +piping of a flute, was wafted to him. Then the volume of sound slowly +increased, but it was only on reaching the chapel that he recognised an +organ peal. The sunlight here filtered through red curtains drawn before +the windows, and thus the chapel glowed like a furnace whilst resounding +with the grave music. But in that huge pile all became so slight, so +weak, that at sixty paces neither voice nor organ could be distinguished. + +On entering the basilica Pierre had fancied that it was quite empty and +lifeless. There were, however, some people there, but so few and far +between that their presence was not noticed. A few tourists wandered +about wearily, guide-book in hand. In the grand nave a painter with his +easel was taking a view, as in a public gallery. Then a French seminary +went by, conducted by a prelate who named and explained the tombs. But in +all that space these fifty or a hundred people looked merely like a few +black ants who had lost themselves and were vainly seeking their way. And +Pierre pictured himself in some gigantic gala hall or tremendous +vestibule in an immeasurable palace of reception. The broad sheets of +sunlight streaming through the lofty square windows of plain white glass +illumined the church with blending radiance. There was not a single stool +or chair: nothing but the superb, bare pavement, such as you might find +in a museum, shining mirror-like under the dancing shower of sunrays. Nor +was there a single corner for solitary reflection, a nook of gloom and +mystery, where one might kneel and pray. In lieu thereof the sumptuous, +sovereign dazzlement of broad daylight prevailed upon every side. And, on +thus suddenly finding himself in this deserted opera-house, all aglow +with flaring gold and purple, Pierre could but remember the quivering +gloom of the Gothic cathedrals of France, where dim crowds sob and +supplicate amidst a forest of pillars. In presence of all this ceremonial +majesty--this huge, empty pomp, which was all Body--he recalled with a +pang the emaciate architecture and statuary of the middle ages, which +were all Soul. He vainly sought for some poor, kneeling woman, some +creature swayed by faith or suffering, yielding in a modest half-light to +thoughts of the unknown, and with closed lips holding communion with the +invisible. These he found not: there was but the weary wandering of the +tourists, and the bustle of the prelates conducting the young priests to +the obligatory stations; while the vesper service continued in the +left-hand chapel, nought of it reaching the ears of the visitors save, +perhaps, a confused vibration, as of the peal of a bell penetrating from +outside through the vaults above. + +And Pierre then understood that this was the splendid skeleton of a +colossus whence life was departing. To fill it, to animate it with a +soul, all the gorgeous display of great religious ceremonies was needed; +the eighty thousand worshippers which it could hold, the great pontifical +pomps, the festivals of Christmas and Easter, the processions and +_corteges_ displaying all the luxury of the Church amidst operatic +scenery and appointments. And he tried to conjure up a picture of the +past magnificence--the basilica overflowing with an idolatrous multitude, +and the superhuman _cortege_ passing along whilst every head was lowered; +the cross and the sword opening the march, the cardinals going two by +two, like twin divinities, in their rochets of lace and their mantles and +robes of red moire, which train-bearers held up behind them; and at last, +with Jove-like pomp, the Pope, carried on a stage draped with red velvet, +seated in an arm-chair of red velvet and gold, and dressed in white +velvet, with cope of gold, stole of gold, and tiara of gold. The bearers +of the _Sedia gestatoria_* shone bravely in red tunics broidered with +gold. Above the one and only Sovereign Pontiff of the world the +_flabelli_ waved those huge fans of feathers which formerly were waved +before the idols of pagan Rome. And around the seat of triumph what a +dazzling, glorious court there was! The whole pontifical family, the +stream of assistant prelates, the patriarchs, the archbishops, and the +bishops, with vestments and mitres of gold, the _Camerieri segreti +partecipanti_ in violet silk, the _Camerieri partecipanti_ of the cape +and the sword in black velvet Renascence costumes, with ruffs and golden +chains, the whole innumerable ecclesiastical and laical suite, which not +even a hundred pages of the "Gerarchia" can completely enumerate, the +prothonotaries, the chaplains, the prelates of every class and degree, +without mentioning the military household, the gendarmes with their +busbies, the Palatine Guards in blue trousers and black tunics, the Swiss +Guards costumed in red, yellow, and black, with breastplates of silver, +suggesting the men at arms of some drama of the Romantic school, and the +Noble Guards, superb in their high boots, white pigskins, red tunics, +gold lace, epaulets, and helmets! However, since Rome had become the +capital of Italy the doors were no longer thrown wide open; on the rare +occasions when the Pope yet came down to officiate, to show himself as +the supreme representative of the Divinity on earth, the basilica was +filled with chosen ones. To enter it you needed a card of invitation. You +no longer saw the people--a throng of fifty, even eighty, thousand +Christians--flocking to the Church and swarming within it promiscuously; +there was but a select gathering, a congregation of friends convened as +for a private function. Even when, by dint of effort, thousands were +collected together there, they formed but a picked audience invited to +the performance of a monster concert. + + * The chair and stage are known by that name.--Trans. + +And as Pierre strolled among the bright, crude marbles in that cold if +gorgeous museum, the feeling grew upon him that he was in some pagan +temple raised to the deity of Light and Pomp. The larger temples of +ancient Rome were certainly similar piles, upheld by the same precious +columns, with walls covered with the same polychromatic marbles and +vaulted ceilings having the same gilded panels. And his feeling was +destined to become yet more acute after his visits to the other +basilicas, which could but reveal the truth to him. First one found the +Christian Church quietly, audaciously quartering itself in a pagan +church, as, for instance, San Lorenzo in Miranda installed in the temple +of Antoninus and Faustina, and retaining the latter's rare porticus in +_cipollino_ marble and its handsome white marble entablature. Then there +was the Christian Church springing from the ruins of the destroyed pagan +edifice, as, for example, San Clemente, beneath which centuries of +contrary beliefs are stratified: a very ancient edifice of the time of +the kings or the republic, then another of the days of the empire +identified as a temple of Mithras, and next a basilica of the primitive +faith. Then, too, there was the Christian Church, typified by that of +Saint Agnes-beyond-the-walls which had been built on exactly the same +pattern as the Roman secular basilica--that Tribunal and Exchange which +accompanied every Forum. And, in particular, there was the Christian +Church erected with material stolen from the demolished pagan temples. To +this testified the sixteen superb columns of that same Saint Agnes, +columns of various marbles filched from various gods; the one and twenty +columns of Santa Maria in Trastevere, columns of all sorts of orders torn +from a temple of Isis and Serapis, who even now are represented on their +capitals; also the six and thirty white marble Ionic columns of Santa +Maria Maggiore derived from the temple of Juno Lucina; and the two and +twenty columns of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, these varying in substance, +size, and workmanship, and certain of them said to have been stolen from +Jove himself, from the famous temple of Jupiter Capitolinus which rose +upon the sacred summit. In addition, the temples of the opulent Imperial +period seemed to resuscitate in our times at San Giovanni in Laterano and +San Paolo-fuori-le-mura. Was not that Basilica of San Giovanni--"the +Mother and Head of all the churches of the city and the earth"--like the +abode of honour of some pagan divinity whose splendid kingdom was of this +world? It boasted five naves, parted by four rows of columns; it was a +profusion of bas-reliefs, friezes, and entablatures, and its twelve +colossal statues of the Apostles looked like subordinate deities lining +the approach to the master of the gods! And did not San Paolo, lately +completed, its new marbles shimmering like mirrors, recall the abode of +the Olympian immortals, typical temple as it was with its majestic +colonnade, its flat, gilt-panelled ceiling, its marble pavement +incomparably beautiful both in substance and workmanship, its violet +columns with white bases and capitals, and its white entablature with +violet frieze: everywhere, indeed, you found, the mingling of those two +colours so divinely carnal in their harmony. And there, as at St. +Peter's, not one patch of gloom, not one nook of mystery where one might +peer into the invisible, could be found! And, withal, St. Peter's +remained the monster, the colossus, larger than the largest of all +others, an extravagant testimony of what the mad passion for the huge can +achieve when human pride, by dint of spending millions, dreams of lodging +the divinity in an over-vast, over-opulent palace of stone, where in +truth that pride itself, and not the divinity, triumphs! + +And to think that after long centuries that gala colossus had been the +outcome of the fervour of primitive faith! You found there a blossoming +of that ancient sap, peculiar to the soil of Rome, which in all ages has +thrown up preposterous edifices, of exaggerated hugeness and dazzling and +ruinous luxury. It would seem as if the absolute masters successively +ruling the city brought that passion for cyclopean building with them, +derived it from the soil in which they grew, for they transmitted it one +to the other, without a pause, from civilisation to civilisation, however +diverse and contrary their minds. It has all been, so to say, a +continuous blossoming of human vanity, a passionate desire to set one's +name on an imperishable wall, and, after being master of the world, to +leave behind one an indestructible trace, a tangible proof of one's +passing glory, an eternal edifice of bronze and marble fit to attest that +glory until the end of time. At the bottom the spirit of conquest, the +proud ambition to dominate the world, subsists; and when all has +crumbled, and a new society has sprung up from the ruins of its +predecessor, men have erred in imagining it to be cured of the sin of +pride, steeped in humility once more, for it has had the old blood in its +veins, and has yielded to the same insolent madness as its ancestors, a +prey to all the violence of its heredity directly it has become great and +strong. Among the illustrious popes there has not been one that did not +seek to build, did not revert to the traditions of the Caesars, +eternising their reigns in stone and raising temples for resting-places, +so as to rank among the gods. Ever the same passion for terrestrial +immortality has burst forth: it has been a battle as to who should leave +the highest, most substantial, most gorgeous monument; and so acute has +been the disease that those who, for lack of means and opportunity, have +been unable to build, and have been forced to content themselves with +repairing, have, nevertheless, desired to bequeath the memory of their +modest achievements to subsequent generations by commemorative marble +slabs engraved with pompous inscriptions! These slabs are to be seen on +every side: not a wall has ever been strengthened but some pope has +stamped it with his arms, not a ruin has been restored, not a palace +repaired, not a fountain cleaned, but the reigning pope has signed the +work with his Roman and pagan title of "Pontifex Maximus." It is a +haunting passion, a form of involuntary debauchery, the fated florescence +of that compost of ruins, that dust of edifices whence new edifices are +ever arising. And given the perversion with which the old Roman soil +almost immediately tarnished the doctrines of Jesus, that resolute +passion for domination and that desire for terrestrial glory which +wrought the triumph of Catholicism in scorn of the humble and pure, the +fraternal and simple ones of the primitive Church, one may well ask +whether Rome has ever been Christian at all! + +And whilst Pierre was for the second time walking round the huge +basilica, admiring the tombs of the popes, truth, like a sudden +illumination, burst upon him and filled him with its glow. Ah! those +tombs! Yonder in the full sunlight, in the rosy Campagna, on either side +of the Appian Way--that triumphal approach to Rome, conducting the +stranger to the august Palatine with its crown of circling palaces--there +arose the gigantic tombs of the powerful and wealthy, tombs of +unparalleled artistic splendour, perpetuating in marble the pride and +pomp of a strong race that had mastered the world. Then, near at hand, +beneath the sod, in the shrouding night of wretched mole-holes, other +tombs were hidden--the tombs of the lowly, the poor, and the +suffering--tombs destitute of art or display, but whose very humility +proclaimed that a breath of affection and resignation had passed by, that +One had come preaching love and fraternity, the relinquishment of the +wealth of the earth for the everlasting joys of a future life, and +committing to the soil the good seed of His Gospel, sowing the new +humanity which was to transform the olden world. And, behold, from that +seed, buried in the soil for centuries, behold, from those humble, +unobtrusive tombs, where martyrs slept their last and gentle sleep whilst +waiting for the glorious call, yet other tombs had sprung, tombs as +gigantic and as pompous as the ancient, destroyed sepulchres of the +idolaters, tombs uprearing their marbles among a pagan-temple-like +splendour, proclaiming the same superhuman pride, the same mad passion +for universal sovereignty. At the time of the Renascence Rome became +pagan once more; the old imperial blood frothed up and swept Christianity +away with the greatest onslaught ever directed against it. Ah! those +tombs of the popes at St. Peter's, with their impudent, insolent +glorification of the departed, their sumptuous, carnal hugeness, defying +death and setting immortality upon this earth. There are giant popes of +bronze, allegorical figures and angels of equivocal character wearing the +beauty of lovely girls, of passion-compelling women with the thighs and +the breasts of pagan goddesses! Paul III is seated on a high pedestal, +Justice and Prudence are almost prostrate at his feet. Urban VIII is +between Prudence and Religion, Innocent XI between Religion and Justice, +Innocent XII between Justice and Charity, Gregory XIII between Religion +and Strength. Attended by Prudence and Justice, Alexander VII appears +kneeling, with Charity and Truth before him, and a skeleton rises up +displaying an empty hour-glass. Clement XIII, also on his knees, triumphs +above a monumental sarcophagus, against which leans Religion bearing the +Cross; while the Genius of Death, his elbow resting on the right-hand +corner, has two huge, superb lions, emblems of omnipotence, beneath him. +Bronze bespeaks the eternity of the figures, white marble describes +opulent flesh, and coloured marble winds around in rich draperies, +deifying the monuments under the bright, golden glow of nave and aisles. + +And Pierre passed from one tomb to the other on his way through the +magnificent, deserted, sunlit basilica. Yes, these tombs, so imperial in +their ostentation, were meet companions for those of the Appian Way. +Assuredly it was Rome, the soil of Rome, that soil where pride and +domination sprouted like the herbage of the fields that had transformed +the humble Christianity of primitive times, the religion of fraternity, +justice, and hope into what it now was: victorious Catholicism, allied to +the rich and powerful, a huge implement of government, prepared for the +conquest of every nation. The popes had awoke as Caesars. Remote heredity +had acted, the blood of Augustus had bubbled forth afresh, flowing +through their veins and firing their minds with immeasurable ambition. As +yet none but Augustus had held the empire of the world, had been both +emperor and pontiff, master of the body and the soul. And thence had come +the eternal dream of the popes in despair at only holding the spiritual +power, and obstinately refusing to yield in temporal matters, clinging +for ever to the ancient hope that their dream might at last be realised, +and the Vatican become another Palatine, whence they might reign with +absolute despotism over all the conquered nations. + + + + +VI. + +PIERRE had been in Rome for a fortnight, and yet the affair of his book +was no nearer solution. He was still possessed by an ardent desire to see +the Pope, but could in no wise tell how to satisfy it, so frequent were +the delays and so greatly had he been frightened by Monsignor Nani's +predictions of the dire consequences which might attend any imprudent +action. And so, foreseeing a prolonged sojourn, he at last betook himself +to the Vicariate in order that his "celebret" might be stamped, and +afterwards said his mass each morning at the Church of Santa Brigida, +where he received a kindly greeting from Abbe Pisoni, Benedetta's former +confessor. + +One Monday evening he resolved to repair early to Donna Serafina's +customary reception in the hope of learning some news and expediting his +affairs. Perhaps Monsignor Nani would look in; perhaps he might be lucky +enough to come across some cardinal or domestic prelate willing to help +him. It was in vain that he had tried to extract any positive information +from Don Vigilio, for, after a short spell of affability and willingness, +Cardinal Pio's secretary had relapsed into distrust and fear, and avoided +Pierre as if he were resolved not to meddle in a business which, all +considered, was decidedly suspicious and dangerous. Moreover, for a +couple of days past a violent attack of fever had compelled him to keep +his room. + +Thus the only person to whom Pierre could turn for comfort was Victorine +Bosquet, the old Beauceronne servant who had been promoted to the rank of +housekeeper, and who still retained a French heart after thirty years' +residence in Rome. She often spoke to the young priest of Auneau, her +native place, as if she had left it only the previous day; but on that +particular Monday even she had lost her wonted gay vivacity, and when she +heard that he meant to go down in the evening to see the ladies she +wagged her head significantly. "Ah! you won't find them very cheerful," +said she. "My poor Benedetta is greatly worried. Her divorce suit is not +progressing at all well." + +All Rome, indeed, was again talking of this affair. An extraordinary +revival of tittle-tattle had set both white and black worlds agog. And so +there was no need for reticence on Victorine's part, especially in +conversing with a compatriot. It appeared, then, that, in reply to +Advocate Morano's memoir setting forth that the marriage had not been +consummated, there had come another memoir, a terrible one, emanating +from Monsignor Palma, a doctor in theology, whom the Congregation of the +Council had selected to defend the marriage. As a first point, Monsignor +Palma flatly disputed the alleged non-consummation, questioned the +certificate put forward on Benedetta's behalf, and quoted instances +recorded in scientific text-books which showed how deceptive appearances +often were. He strongly insisted, moreover, on the narrative which Count +Prada supplied in another memoir, a narrative well calculated to inspire +doubt; and, further, he so turned and twisted the evidence of Benedetta's +own maid as to make that evidence also serve against her. Finally he +argued in a decisive way that, even supposing the marriage had not been +consummated, this could only be ascribed to the resistance of the +Countess, who had thus set at defiance one of the elementary laws of +married life, which was that a wife owed obedience to her husband. + +Next had come a fourth memoir, drawn up by the reporter of the +Congregation, who analysed and discussed the three others, and +subsequently the Congregation itself had dealt with the matter, opining +in favour of the dissolution of the marriage by a majority of one +vote--such a bare majority, indeed, that Monsignor Palma, exercising his +rights, had hastened to demand further inquiry, a course which brought +the whole _procedure_ again into question, and rendered a fresh vote +necessary. + +"Ah! the poor Contessina!" exclaimed Victorine, "she'll surely die of +grief, for, calm as she may seem, there's an inward fire consuming her. +It seems that Monsignor Palma is the master of the situation, and can +make the affair drag on as long as he likes. And then a deal of money had +already been spent, and one will have to spend a lot more. Abbe Pisoni, +whom you know, was very badly inspired when he helped on that marriage; +and though I certainly don't want to soil the memory of my good mistress, +Countess Ernesta, who was a real saint, it's none the less true that she +wrecked her daughter's life when she gave her to Count Prada." + +The housekeeper paused. Then, impelled by an instinctive sense of +justice, she resumed. "It's only natural that Count Prada should be +annoyed, for he's really being made a fool of. And, for my part, as there +is no end to all the fuss, and this divorce is so hard to obtain, I +really don't see why the Contessina shouldn't live with her Dario without +troubling any further. Haven't they loved one another ever since they +were children? Aren't they both young and handsome, and wouldn't they be +happy together, whatever the world might say? Happiness, _mon Dieu_! one +finds it so seldom that one can't afford to let it pass." + +Then, seeing how greatly surprised Pierre was at hearing such language, +she began to laugh with the quiet composure of one belonging to the +humble classes of France, whose only desire is a quiet and happy life, +irrespective of matrimonial ties. Next, in more discreet language, she +proceeded to lament another worry which had fallen on the household, +another result of the divorce affair. A rupture had come about between +Donna Serafina and Advocate Morano, who was very displeased with the ill +success of his memoir to the congregation, and accused Father +Lorenza--the confessor of the Boccanera ladies--of having urged them into +a deplorable lawsuit, whose only fruit could be a wretched scandal +affecting everybody. And so great had been Morano's annoyance that he had +not returned to the Boccanera mansion, but had severed a connection of +thirty years' standing, to the stupefaction of all the Roman +drawing-rooms, which altogether disapproved of his conduct. Donna +Serafina was, for her part, the more grieved as she suspected the +advocate of having purposely picked the quarrel in order to secure an +excuse for leaving her; his real motive, in her estimation, being a +sudden, disgraceful passion for a young and intriguing woman of the +middle classes. + +That Monday evening, when Pierre entered the drawing-room, hung with +yellow brocatelle of a flowery Louis XIV pattern, he at once realised +that melancholy reigned in the dim light radiating from the lace-veiled +lamps. Benedetta and Celia, seated on a sofa, were chatting with Dario, +whilst Cardinal Sarno, ensconced in an arm-chair, listened to the +ceaseless chatter of the old relative who conducted the little Princess +to each Monday gathering. And the only other person present was Donna +Serafina, seated all alone in her wonted place on the right-hand side of +the chimney-piece, and consumed with secret rage at seeing the chair on +the left-hand side unoccupied--that chair which Morano had always taken +during the thirty years that he had been faithful to her. Pierre noticed +with what anxious and then despairing eyes she observed his entrance, her +glance ever straying towards the door, as though she even yet hoped for +the fickle one's return. Withal her bearing was erect and proud; she +seemed to be more tightly laced than ever; and there was all the wonted +haughtiness on her hard-featured face, with its jet-black eyebrows and +snowy hair. + +Pierre had no sooner paid his respects to her than he allowed his own +worry to appear by inquiring whether they would not have the pleasure of +seeing Monsignor Nani that evening. Thereupon Donna Serafina could not +refrain from answering: "Oh! Monsignor Nani is forsaking us like the +others. People always take themselves off when they can be of service." + +She harboured a spite against the prelate for having done so little to +further the divorce in spite of his many promises. Beneath his outward +show of extreme willingness and caressing affability he doubtless +concealed some scheme of his own which he was tenaciously pursuing. +However, Donna Serafina promptly regretted the confession which anger had +wrung from her, and resumed: "After all, he will perhaps come. He is so +good-natured, and so fond of us." + +In spite of the vivacity of her temperament she really wished to act +diplomatically, so as to overcome the bad luck which had recently set in. +Her brother the Cardinal had told her how irritated he was by the +attitude of the Congregation of the Council; he had little doubt that the +frigid reception accorded to his niece's suit had been due in part to the +desire of some of his brother cardinals to be disagreeable to him. +Personally, he desired the divorce, as it seemed to him the only means of +ensuring the perpetuation of the family; for Dario obstinately refused to +marry any other woman than his cousin. And thus there was an accumulation +of disasters; the Cardinal was wounded in his pride, his sister shared +his sufferings and on her own side was stricken in the heart, whilst both +lovers were plunged in despair at finding their hopes yet again deferred. + +As Pierre approached the sofa where the young folks were chatting he +found that they were speaking of the catastrophe. "Why should you be so +despondent?" asked Celia in an undertone. "After all, there was a +majority of a vote in favour of annulling the marriage. Your suit hasn't +been rejected; there is only a delay." + +But Benedetta shook her head. "No, no! If Monsignor Palma proves +obstinate his Holiness will never consent. It's all over." + +"Ah! if one were only rich, very rich!" murmured Dario, with such an air +of conviction that no one smiled. And, turning to his cousin, he added in +a whisper: "I must really have a talk with you. We cannot go on living +like this." + +In a breath she responded: "Yes, you are right. Come down to-morrow +evening at five. I will be here alone." + +Then dreariness set in; the evening seemed to have no end. Pierre was +greatly touched by the evident despair of Benedetta, who as a rule was so +calm and sensible. The deep eyes which illumined her pure, delicate, +infantile face were now blurred as by restrained tears. He had already +formed a sincere affection for her, pleased as he was with her equable if +somewhat indolent disposition, the semblance of discreet good sense with +which she veiled her soul of fire. That Monday even she certainly tried +to smile while listening to the pretty secrets confided to her by Celia, +whose love affairs were prospering far more than her own. There was only +one brief interval of general conversation, and that was brought about by +the little Princess's aunt, who, suddenly raising her voice, began to +speak of the infamous manner in which the Italian newspapers referred to +the Holy Father. Never, indeed, had there been so much bad feeling +between the Vatican and the Quirinal. Cardinal Sarno felt so strongly on +the subject that he departed from his wonted silence to announce that on +the occasion of the sacrilegious festivities of the Twentieth of +September, celebrating the capture of Rome, the Pope intended to cast a +fresh letter of protest in the face of all the Christian powers, whose +indifference proved their complicity in the odious spoliation of the +Church. + +"Yes, indeed! what folly to try and marry the Pope and the King," +bitterly exclaimed Donna Serafina, alluding to her niece's deplorable +marriage. + +The old maid now seemed quite beside herself; it was already so late that +neither Monsignor Nani nor anybody else was expected. However, at the +unhoped-for sound of footsteps her eyes again brightened and turned +feverishly towards the door. But it was only to encounter a final +disappointment. The visitor proved to be Narcisse Habert, who stepped up +to her, apologising for making so late a call. It was Cardinal Sarno, his +uncle by marriage, who had introduced him into this exclusive _salon_, +where he had received a cordial reception on account of his religious +views, which were said to be most uncompromising. If, however, despite +the lateness of the hour, he had ventured to call there that evening, it +was solely on account of Pierre, whom he at once drew on one side. + +"I felt sure I should find you here," he said. "Just now I managed to see +my cousin, Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo, and I have some good news for you. +He will see us to-morrow at about eleven in his rooms at the Vatican." +Then, lowering his voice: "I think he will endeavour to conduct you to +the Holy Father. Briefly, the audience seems to me assured." + +Pierre was greatly delighted by this promised certainty, which came to +him so suddenly in that dreary drawing-room, where for a couple of hours +he had been gradually sinking into despair! So at last a solution was at +hand! + +Meantime Narcisse, after shaking hands with Dario and bowing to Benedetta +and Celia, approached his uncle the Cardinal, who, having rid himself of +the old relation, made up his mind to talk. But his conversation was +confined to the state of his health, and the weather, and sundry +insignificant anecdotes which he had lately heard. Not a word escaped him +respecting the thousand complicated matters with which he dealt at the +Propaganda. It was as though, once outside his office, he plunged into +the commonplace and the unimportant by way of resting from the anxious +task of governing the world. And after he had spoken for a time every one +got up, and the visitors took leave. + +"Don't forget," Narcisse repeated to Pierre, "you will find me at the +Sixtine Chapel to-morrow at ten. And I will show you the Botticellis +before we go to our appointment." + +At half-past nine on the following morning Pierre, who had come on foot, +was already on the spacious Piazza of St. Peter's; and before turning to +the right, towards the bronze gate near one corner of Bernini's +colonnade, he raised his eyes and lingered, gazing at the Vatican. +Nothing to his mind could be less monumental than the jumble of buildings +which, without semblance of architectural order or regularity of any +kind, had grown up in the shadow cast by the dome of the basilica. Roofs +rose one above the other and broad, flat walls stretched out chance-wise, +just as wings and storeys had been added. The only symmetry observable +above the colonnade was that of the three sides of the court of San +Damaso, where the lofty glass-work which now encloses the old _loggie_ +sparkled in the sun between the ruddy columns and pilasters, suggesting, +as it were, three huge conservatories. + +And this was the most beautiful palace in the world, the largest of all +palaces, comprising no fewer than eleven thousand apartments and +containing the most admirable masterpieces of human genius! But Pierre, +disillusioned as he was, had eyes only for the lofty facade on the right, +overlooking the piazza, for he knew that the second-floor windows there +were those of the Pope's private apartments. And he contemplated those +windows for a long time, and remembered having been told that the fifth +one on the right was that of the Pope's bed-room, and that a lamp could +always be seen burning there far into the night. + +What was there, too, behind that gate of bronze which he saw before +him--that sacred portal by which all the kingdoms of the world +communicated with the kingdom of heaven, whose august vicar had secluded +himself behind those lofty, silent walls? From where he stood Pierre +gazed on that gate with its metal panels studded with large square-headed +nails, and wondered what it defended, what it concealed, what it shut off +from the view, with its stern, forbidding air, recalling that of the gate +of some ancient fortress. What kind of world would he find behind it, +what treasures of human charity jealously preserved in yonder gloom, what +revivifying hope for the new nations hungering for fraternity and +justice? He took pleasure in fancying, in picturing the one holy pastor +of humanity, ever watching in the depths of that closed palace, and, +while the nations strayed into hatred, preparing all for the final reign +of Jesus, and at last proclaiming the advent of that reign by +transforming our democracies into the one great Christian community +promised by the Saviour. Assuredly the world's future was being prepared +behind that bronze portal; assuredly it was that future which would issue +forth. + +But all at once Pierre was amazed to find himself face to face with +Monsignor Nani, who had just left the Vatican on his way to the +neighbouring Palace of the Inquisition, where, as Assessor, he had his +residence. + +"Ah! Monsignor," said Pierre, "I am very pleased. My friend Monsieur +Habert is going to present me to his cousin, Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo, +and I think I shall obtain the audience I so greatly desire." + +Monsignor Nani smiled with his usual amiable yet keen expression. "Yes, +yes, I know." But, correcting himself as it were, he added: "I share your +satisfaction, my dear son. Only, you must be prudent." And then, as if +fearing that the young priest might have understood by his first words +that he had just seen Monsignor Gamba, the most easily terrified prelate +of the whole prudent pontifical family, he related that he had been +running about since an early hour on behalf of two French ladies, who +likewise were dying of a desire to see the Pope. However, he greatly +feared that the help he was giving them would not prove successful. + +"I will confess to you, Monsignor," replied Pierre, "that I myself was +getting very discouraged. Yes, it is high time I should find a little +comfort, for my sojourn here is hardly calculated to brace my soul." + +He went on in this strain, allowing it to be seen that the sights of Rome +were finally destroying his faith. Such days as those which he had spent +on the Palatine and along the Appian Way, in the Catacombs and at St. +Peter's, grievously disturbed him, spoilt his dream of Christianity +rejuvenated and triumphant. He emerged from them full of doubt and +growing lassitude, having already lost much of his usually rebellious +enthusiasm. + +Still smiling, Monsignor Nani listened and nodded approvingly. Yes, no +doubt that was the fatal result. He seemed to have foreseen it, and to be +well satisfied thereat. "At all events, my dear son," said he, +"everything is going on well, since you are now certain that you will see +his Holiness." + +"That is true, Monsignor; I have placed my only hope in the very just and +perspicacious Leo XIII. He alone can judge me, since he alone can +recognise in my book his own ideas, which I think I have very faithfully +set forth. Ah! if he be willing he will, in Jesus' name and by democracy +and science, save this old world of ours!" + +Pierre's enthusiasm was returning again, and Nani, smiling more and more +affably with his piercing eyes and thin lips, again expressed approval: +"Certainly; quite so, my dear son. You will speak to him, you will see." + +Then as they both raised their heads and looked towards the Vatican, Nani +carried his amiability so far as to undeceive Pierre with respect to the +Pope's bed-room. No, the window where a light was seen every evening was +simply that of a landing where the gas was kept burning almost all night. +The window of his Holiness's bed-chamber was the second one farther on. +Then both relapsed into silence, equally grave as they continued to gaze +at the facade. + +"Well, till we meet again, my dear son," said Nani at last. "You will +tell me of your interview, I hope." + +As soon as Pierre was alone he went in by the bronze portal, his heart +beating violently, as if he were entering some redoubtable sanctuary +where the future happiness of mankind was elaborated. A sentry was on +duty there, a Swiss guard, who walked slowly up and down in a grey-blue +cloak, below which one only caught a glimpse of his baggy red, black, and +yellow breeches; and it seemed as if this cloak of sober hue were +purposely cast over a disguise in order to conceal its strangeness, which +had become irksome. Then, on the right-hand, came the covered stairway +conducting to the Court of San Damaso; but to reach the Sixtine Chapel it +was necessary to follow a long gallery, with columns on either hand, and +ascend the royal staircase, the Scala Regia. And in this realm of the +gigantic, where every dimension is exaggerated and replete with +overpowering majesty, Pierre's breath came short as he ascended the broad +steps. + +He was much surprised on entering the Sixtine Chapel, for it at first +seemed to him small, a sort of rectangular and lofty hall, with a +delicate screen of white marble separating the part where guests +congregate on the occasion of great ceremonies from the choir where the +cardinals sit on simple oaken benches, while the inferior prelates remain +standing behind them. On a low platform to the right of the soberly +adorned altar is the pontifical throne; while in the wall on the left +opens the narrow singing gallery with its balcony of marble. And for +everything suddenly to spread out and soar into the infinite one must +raise one's head, allow one's eyes to ascend from the huge fresco of the +Last Judgment, occupying the whole of the end wall, to the paintings +which cover the vaulted ceiling down to the cornice extending between the +twelve windows of white glass, six on either hand. + +Fortunately there were only three or four quiet tourists there; and +Pierre at once perceived Narcisse Habert occupying one of the cardinals' +seats above the steps where the train-bearers crouch. Motionless, and +with his head somewhat thrown back, the young man seemed to be in +ecstasy. But it was not the work of Michael Angelo that he thus +contemplated. His eyes never strayed from one of the earlier frescoes +below the cornice; and on recognising the priest he contented himself +with murmuring: "Ah! my friend, just look at the Botticelli." Then, with +dreamy eyes, he relapsed into a state of rapture. + +Pierre, for his part, had received a great shock both in heart and in +mind, overpowered as he was by the superhuman genius of Michael Angelo. +The rest vanished; there only remained, up yonder, as in a limitless +heaven, the extraordinary creations of the master's art. That which at +first surprised one was that the painter should have been the sole +artisan of the mighty work. No marble cutters, no bronze workers, no +gilders, no one of another calling had intervened. The painter with his +brush had sufficed for all--for the pilasters, columns, and cornices of +marble, for the statues and the ornaments of bronze, for the _fleurons_ +and roses of gold, for the whole of the wondrously rich decorative work +which surrounded the frescoes. And Pierre imagined Michael Angelo on the +day when the bare vault was handed over to him, covered with plaster, +offering only a flat white surface, hundreds of square yards to be +adorned. And he pictured him face to face with that huge white page, +refusing all help, driving all inquisitive folks away, jealously, +violently shutting himself up alone with his gigantic task, spending four +and a half years in fierce solitude, and day by day adding to his +colossal work of creation. Ah! that mighty work, a task to fill a whole +lifetime, a task which he must have begun with quiet confidence in his +own will and power, drawing, as it were, an entire world from his brain +and flinging it there with the ceaseless flow of creative virility in the +full heyday of its omnipotence. + +And Pierre was yet more overcome when he began to examine these +presentments of humanity, magnified as by the eyes of a visionary, +overflowing in mighty sympathetic pages of cyclopean symbolisation. Royal +grace and nobility, sovereign peacefulness and power--every beauty shone +out like natural florescence. And there was perfect science, the most +audacious foreshortening risked with the certainty of success--an +everlasting triumph of technique over the difficulty which an arched +surface presented. And, in particular, there was wonderful simplicity of +medium; matter was reduced almost to nothingness; a few colours were used +broadly without any studied search for effect or brilliancy. Yet that +sufficed, the blood seethed freely, the muscles projected, the figures +became animated and stood out of their frames with such energy and dash +that it seemed as if a flame were flashing by aloft, endowing all those +beings with superhuman and immortal life. Life, aye, it was life, which +burst forth and triumphed--mighty, swarming life, miraculous life, the +creation of one sole hand possessed of the supreme gift--simplicity +blended with power. + +That a philosophical system, a record of the whole of human destiny, +should have been found therein, with the creation of the world, of man, +and of woman, the fall, the chastisement, then the redemption, and +finally God's judgment on the last day--this was a matter on which Pierre +was unable to dwell, at this first visit, in the wondering stupor into +which the paintings threw him. But he could not help noticing how the +human body, its beauty, its power, and its grace were exalted! Ah! that +regal Jehovah, at once terrible and paternal, carried off amid the +whirlwind of his creation, his arms outstretched and giving birth to +worlds! And that superb and nobly outlined Adam, with extended hand, whom +Jehovah, though he touch him not, animates with his finger--a wondrous +and admirable gesture, leaving a sacred space between the finger of the +Creator and that of the created--a tiny space, in which, nevertheless, +abides all the infinite of the invisible and the mysterious. And then +that powerful yet adorable Eve, that Eve with the sturdy flanks fit for +the bearing of humanity, that Eve with the proud, tender grace of a woman +bent on being loved even to perdition, that Eve embodying the whole of +woman with her fecundity, her seductiveness, her empire! Moreover, even +the decorative figures of the pilasters at the corners of the frescoes +celebrate the triumph of the flesh: there are the twenty young men +radiant in their nakedness, with incomparable splendour of torso and of +limb, and such intensity of life that a craze for motion seems to carry +them off, bend them, throw them over in superb attitudes. And between the +windows are the giants, the prophets and the sibyls--man and woman +deified, with inordinate wealth of muscle and grandeur of intellectual +expression. There is Jeremiah with his elbow resting on his knee and his +chin on his hand, plunged as he is in reflection--in the very depths of +his visions and his dreams; there is the Sibylla Erithraea, so pure of +profile, so young despite the opulence of her form, and with one finger +resting on the open book of destiny; there is Isaiah with the thick lips +of truth, virile and haughty, his head half turned and his hand raised +with a gesture of command; there is the Sibylla Cumaea, terrifying with +her science and her old age, her wrinkled countenance, her vulture's +nose, her square protruding chin; there is Jonah cast forth by the whale, +and wondrously foreshortened, his torso twisted, his arms bent, his head +thrown back, and his mouth agape and shouting: and there are the others, +all of the same full-blown, majestic family, reigning with the +sovereignty of eternal health and intelligence, and typifying the dream +of a broader, loftier, and indestructible humanity. Moreover, in the +lunettes and the arches over the windows other figures of grace, power, +and beauty appear and throng, the ancestors of the Christ, thoughtful +mothers with lovely nude infants, men with wondering eyes peering into +the future, representatives of the punished weary race longing for the +promised Redeemer; while in the pendentives of the four corners various +biblical episodes, the victories of Israel over the Spirit of Evil, +spring into life. And finally there is the gigantic fresco at the far +end, the Last Judgment with its swarming multitude, so numerous that days +and days are needed to see each figure aright, a distracted crowd, full +of the hot breath of life, from the dead rising in response to the +furious trumpeting of the angels, from the fearsome groups of the damned +whom the demons fling into hell, even to Jesus the justiciar, surrounded +by the saints and apostles, and to the radiant concourse of the blessed +who ascend upheld by angels, whilst higher and still higher other angels, +bearing the instruments of the Passion, triumph as in full glory. And +yet, above this gigantic composition, painted thirty years subsequently, +in the full ripeness of age, the ceiling retains its ethereality, its +unquestionable superiority, for on it the artist bestowed all his virgin +power, his whole youth, the first great flare of his genius. + +And Pierre found but one word to express his feelings: Michael Angelo was +the monster dominating and crushing all others. Beneath his immense +achievement you had only to glance at the works of Perugino, +Pinturicchio, Roselli, Signorelli, and Botticelli, those earlier +frescoes, admirable in their way, which below the cornice spread out +around the chapel. + +Narcisse for his part had not raised his eyes to the overpowering +splendour of the ceiling. Wrapt in ecstasy, he did not allow his gaze to +stray from one of the three frescoes of Botticelli. "Ah! Botticelli," he +at last murmured; "in him you have the elegance and the grace of the +mysterious; a profound feeling of sadness even in the midst of +voluptuousness, a divination of the whole modern soul, with the most +troublous charm that ever attended artist's work." + +Pierre glanced at him in amazement, and then ventured to inquire: "You +come here to see the Botticellis?" + +"Yes, certainly," the young man quietly replied; "I only come here for +him, and five hours every week I only look at his work. There, just study +that fresco, Moses and the daughters of Jethro. Isn't it the most +penetrating work that human tenderness and melancholy have produced?" + +Then, with a faint, devout quiver in his voice and the air of a priest +initiating another into the delightful but perturbing atmosphere of a +sanctuary, he went on repeating the praises of Botticelli's art; his +women with long, sensual, yet candid faces, supple bearing, and rounded +forms showing from under light drapery; his young men, his angels of +doubtful sex, blending stateliness of muscle with infinite delicacy of +outline; next the mouths he painted, fleshy, fruit-like mouths, at times +suggesting irony, at others pain, and often so enigmatical with their +sinuous curves that one knew not whether the words they left unuttered +were words of purity or filth; then, too, the eyes which he bestowed on +his figures, eyes of languor and passion, of carnal or mystical rapture, +their joy at times so instinct with grief as they peer into the nihility +of human things that no eyes in the world could be more impenetrable. And +finally there were Botticelli's hands, so carefully and delicately +painted, so full of life, wantoning so to say in a free atmosphere, now +joining, caressing, and even, as it were, speaking, the whole evincing +such intense solicitude for gracefulness that at times there seems to be +undue mannerism, though every hand has its particular expression, each +varying expression of the enjoyment or pain which the sense of touch can +bring. And yet there was nothing effeminate or false about the painter's +work: on all sides a sort of virile pride was apparent, an atmosphere of +superb passionate motion, absolute concern for truth, direct study from +life, conscientiousness, veritable realism, corrected and elevated by a +genial strangeness of feeling and character that imparted a +never-to-be-forgotten charm even to ugliness itself. + +Pierre's stupefaction, however, increased as he listened to Narcisse, +whose somewhat studied elegance, whose curly hair cut in the Florentine +fashion, and whose blue, mauvish eyes paling with enthusiasm he now for +the first time remarked. "Botticelli," he at last said, "was no doubt a +marvellous artist, only it seems to me that here, at any rate, Michael +Angelo--" + +But Narcisse interrupted him almost with violence. "No! no! Don't talk of +him! He spoilt everything, ruined everything! A man who harnessed himself +to his work like an ox, who laboured at his task like a navvy, at the +rate of so many square yards a day! And a man, too, with no sense of the +mysterious and the unknown, who saw everything so huge as to disgust one +with beauty, painting girls like the trunks of oak-trees, women like +giant butchers, with heaps and heaps of stupid flesh, and never a gleam +of a divine or infernal soul! He was a mason--a colossal mason, if you +like--but he was nothing more." + +Weary "modern" that Narcisse was, spoilt by the pursuit of the original +and the rare, he thus unconsciously gave rein to his fated hate of health +and power. That Michael Angelo who brought forth without an effort, who +had left behind him the most prodigious of all artistic creations, was +the enemy. And his crime precisely was that he had created life, produced +life in such excess that all the petty creations of others, even the most +delightful among them, vanished in presence of the overflowing torrent of +human beings flung there all alive in the sunlight. + +"Well, for my part," Pierre courageously declared, "I'm not of your +opinion. I now realise that life is everything in art; that real +immortality belongs only to those who create. The case of Michael Angelo +seems to me decisive, for he is the superhuman master, the monster who +overwhelms all others, precisely because he brought forth that +magnificent living flesh which offends your sense of delicacy. Those who +are inclined to the curious, those who have minds of a pretty turn, whose +intellects are ever seeking to penetrate things, may try to improve on +the equivocal and invisible, and set all the charm of art in some +elaborate stroke or symbolisation; but, none the less, Michael Angelo +remains the all-powerful, the maker of men, the master of clearness, +simplicity, and health." + +At this Narcisse smiled with indulgent and courteous disdain. And he +anticipated further argument by remarking: "It's already eleven. My +cousin was to have sent a servant here as soon as he could receive us. I +am surprised to have seen nobody as yet. Shall we go up to see the +_stanze_ of Raffaelle while we wait?" + +Once in the rooms above, he showed himself perfect, both lucid in his +remarks and just in his appreciations, having recovered all his easy +intelligence as soon as he was no longer upset by his hatred of colossal +labour and cheerful decoration. + +It was unfortunate that Pierre should have first visited the Sixtine +Chapel; for it was necessary he should forget what he had just seen and +accustom himself to what he now beheld in order to enjoy its pure beauty. +It was as if some potent wine had confused him, and prevented any +immediate relish of a lighter vintage of delicate fragrance. Admiration +did not here fall upon one with lightning speed; it was slowly, +irresistibly that one grew charmed. And the contrast was like that of +Racine beside Corneille, Lamartine beside Hugo, the eternal pair, the +masculine and feminine genius coupled through centuries of glory. With +Raffaelle it is nobility, grace, exquisiteness, and correctness of line, +and divineness of harmony that triumph. You do not find in him merely the +materialist symbolism so superbly thrown off by Michael Angelo; he +introduces psychological analysis of deep penetration into the painter's +art. Man is shown more purified, idealised; one sees more of that which +is within him. And though one may be in presence of an artist of +sentimental bent, a feminine genius whose quiver of tenderness one can +feel, it is also certain that admirable firmness of workmanship confronts +one, that the whole is very strong and very great. Pierre gradually +yielded to such sovereign masterliness, such virile elegance, such a +vision of supreme beauty set in supreme perfection. But if the "Dispute +on the Sacrament" and the so-called "School of Athens," both prior to the +paintings of the Sixtine Chapel, seemed to him to be Raffaelle's +masterpieces, he felt that in the "Burning of the Borgo," and +particularly in the "Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple," and "Pope +St. Leo staying Attila at the Gates of Rome," the artist had lost the +flower of his divine grace, through the deep impression which the +overwhelming grandeur of Michael Angelo had wrought upon him. How +crushing indeed had been the blow when the Sixtine Chapel was thrown open +and the rivals entered! The creations of the monster then appeared, and +the greatest of the humanisers lost some of his soul at sight of them, +thenceforward unable to rid himself of their influence. + +From the _stanze_ Narcisse took Pierre to the _loggie_, those glazed +galleries which are so high and so delicately decorated. But here you +only find work which pupils executed after designs left by Raffaelle at +his death. The fall was sudden and complete, and never had Pierre better +understood that genius is everything--that when it disappears the school +collapses. The man of genius sums up his period; at a given hour he +throws forth all the sap of the social soil, which afterwards remains +exhausted often for centuries. So Pierre became more particularly +interested in the fine view that the _loggie_ afford, and all at once he +noticed that the papal apartments were in front of him, just across the +Court of San Damaso. This court, with its porticus, fountain, and white +pavement, had an aspect of empty, airy, sunlit solemnity which surprised +him. There was none of the gloom or pent-up religious mystery that he had +dreamt of with his mind full of the surroundings of the old northern +cathedrals. Right and left of the steps conducting to the rooms of the +Pope and the Cardinal Secretary of State four or five carriages were +ranged, the coachmen stiffly erect and the horses motionless in the +brilliant light; and nothing else peopled that vast square desert of a +court which, with its bareness gilded by the coruscations of its +glass-work and the ruddiness of its stones, suggested a pagan temple +dedicated to the sun. But what more particularly struck Pierre was the +splendid panorama of Rome, for he had not hitherto imagined that the Pope +from his windows could thus behold the entire city spread out before him +as if he merely had to stretch forth his hand to make it his own once +more. + +While Pierre contemplated the scene a sound of voices caused him to turn; +and he perceived a servant in black livery who, after repeating a message +to Narcisse, was retiring with a deep bow. Looking much annoyed, the +_attache_ approached the young priest. "Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo," said +he, "has sent word that he can't see us this morning. Some unexpected +duties require his presence." However, Narcisse's embarrassment showed +that he did not believe in the excuse, but rather suspected some one of +having so terrified his cousin that the latter was afraid of compromising +himself. Obliging and courageous as Habert himself was, this made him +indignant. Still he smiled and resumed: "Listen, perhaps there's a means +of forcing an entry. If your time is your own we can lunch together and +then return to visit the Museum of Antiquities. I shall certainly end by +coming across my cousin and we may, perhaps, be lucky enough to meet the +Pope should he go down to the gardens." + +At the news that his audience was yet again postponed Pierre had felt +keenly disappointed. However, as the whole day was at his disposal, he +willingly accepted the _attache's_ offer. They lunched in front of St. +Peter's, in a little restaurant of the Borgo, most of whose customers +were pilgrims, and the fare, as it happened, was far from good. Then at +about two o'clock they set off for the museum, skirting the basilica by +way of the Piazza della Sagrestia. It was a bright, deserted, burning +district; and again, but in a far greater degree, did the young priest +experience that sensation of bare, tawny, sun-baked majesty which had +come upon him while gazing into the Court of San Damaso. Then, as he +passed the apse of St. Peter's, the enormity of the colossus was brought +home to him more strongly than ever: it rose like a giant bouquet of +architecture edged by empty expanses of pavement sprinkled with fine +weeds. And in all the silent immensity there were only two children +playing in the shadow of a wall. The old papal mint, the Zecca, now an +Italian possession, and guarded by soldiers of the royal army, is on the +left of the passage leading to the museums, while on the right, just in +front, is one of the entrances of honour to the Vatican where the papal +Swiss Guard keeps watch and ward; and this is the entrance by which, +according to etiquette, the pair-horse carriages convey the Pope's +visitors into the Court of San Damaso. + +Following the long lane which ascends between a wing of the palace and +its garden wall, Narcisse and Pierre at last reached the Museum of +Antiquities. Ah! what a museum it is, with galleries innumerable, a +museum compounded of three museums, the Pio-Clementino, Chiaramonti, and +the Braccio-Nuovo, and containing a whole world found beneath the soil, +then exhumed, and now glorified in full sunlight. For more than two hours +Pierre went from one hall to another, dazzled by the masterpieces, +bewildered by the accumulation of genius and beauty. It was not only the +celebrated examples of statuary, the Laocoon and the Apollo of the +cabinets of the Belvedere, the Meleager, or even the torso of +Hercules--that astonished him. He was yet more impressed by the +_ensemble_, by the innumerable quantities of Venuses, Bacchuses, and +deified emperors and empresses, by the whole superb growth of beautiful +or August flesh celebrating the immortality of life. Three days +previously he had visited the Museum of the Capitol, where he had admired +the Venus, the Dying Gaul,* the marvellous Centaurs of black marble, and +the extraordinary collection of busts, but here his admiration became +intensified into stupor by the inexhaustible wealth of the galleries. +And, with more curiosity for life than for art, perhaps, he again +lingered before the busts which so powerfully resuscitate the Rome of +history--the Rome which, whilst incapable of realising the ideal beauty +of Greece, was certainly well able to create life. The emperors, the +philosophers, the learned men, the poets are all there, and live such as +they really were, studied and portrayed in all scrupulousness with their +deformities, their blemishes, the slightest peculiarities of their +features. And from this extreme solicitude for truth springs a wonderful +wealth of character and an incomparable vision of the past. Nothing, +indeed, could be loftier: the very men live once more, and retrace the +history of their city, that history which has been so falsified that the +teaching of it has caused generations of school-boys to hold antiquity in +horror. But on seeing the men, how well one understands, how fully one +can sympathise! And indeed the smallest bits of marble, the maimed +statues, the bas-reliefs in fragments, even the isolated limbs--whether +the divine arm of a nymph or the sinewy, shaggy thigh of a satyr--evoke +the splendour of a civilisation full of light, grandeur, and strength. + + * Best known in England, through Byron's lines, as the + Dying Gladiator, though that appellation is certainly + erroneous.--Trans. + +At last Narcisse brought Pierre back into the Gallery of the Candelabra, +three hundred feet in length and full of fine examples of sculpture. +"Listen, my dear Abbe," said he. "It is scarcely more than four o'clock, +and we will sit down here for a while, as I am told that the Holy Father +sometimes passes this way to go down to the gardens. It would be really +lucky if you could see him, perhaps even speak to him--who can tell? At +all events, it will rest you, for you must be tired out." + +Narcisse was known to all the attendants, and his relationship to +Monsignor Gamba gave him the run of almost the entire Vatican, where he +was fond of spending his leisure time. Finding two chairs, they sat down, +and the _attache_ again began to talk of art. + +How astonishing had been the destiny of Rome, what a singular, borrowed +royalty had been hers! She seemed like a centre whither the whole world +converged, but where nothing grew from the soil itself, which from the +outset appeared to be stricken with sterility. The arts required to be +acclimatised there; it was necessary to transplant the genius of +neighbouring nations, which, once there, however, flourished +magnificently. Under the emperors, when Rome was the queen of the earth, +the beauty of her monuments and sculpture came to her from Greece. Later, +when Christianity arose in Rome, it there remained impregnated with +paganism; it was on another soil that it produced Gothic art, the +Christian Art _par excellence_. Later still, at the Renascence, it was +certainly at Rome that the age of Julius II and Leo X shone forth; but +the artists of Tuscany and Umbria prepared the evolution, brought it to +Rome that it might thence expand and soar. For the second time, indeed, +art came to Rome from without, and gave her the royalty of the world by +blossoming so triumphantly within her walls. Then occurred the +extraordinary awakening of antiquity, Apollo and Venus resuscitated +worshipped by the popes themselves, who from the time of Nicholas V +dreamt of making papal Rome the equal of the imperial city. After the +precursors, so sincere, tender, and strong in their art--Fra Angelico, +Perugino, Botticelli, and so many others--came the two sovereigns, +Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, the superhuman and the divine. Then the +fall was sudden, years elapsed before the advent of Caravaggio with power +of colour and modelling, all that the science of painting could achieve +when bereft of genius. And afterwards the decline continued until Bernini +was reached--Bernini, the real creator of the Rome of the present popes, +the prodigal child who at twenty could already show a galaxy of colossal +marble wenches, the universal architect who with fearful activity +finished the facade, built the colonnade, decorated the interior of St. +Peter's, and raised fountains, churches, and palaces innumerable. And +that was the end of all, for since then Rome has little by little +withdrawn from life, from the modern world, as though she, who always +lived on what she derived from others, were dying of her inability to +take anything more from them in order to convert it to her own glory. + +"Ah! Bernini, that delightful Bernini!" continued Narcisse with his +rapturous air. "He is both powerful and exquisite, his verve always +ready, his ingenuity invariably awake, his fecundity full of grace and +magnificence. As for their Bramante with his masterpiece, that cold, +correct Cancelleria, we'll dub him the Michael Angelo and Raffaelle of +architecture and say no more about it. But Bernini, that exquisite +Bernini, why, there is more delicacy and refinement in his pretended bad +taste than in all the hugeness and perfection of the others! Our own age +ought to recognise itself in his art, at once so varied and so deep, so +triumphant in its mannerisms, so full of a perturbing solicitude for the +artificial and so free from the baseness of reality. Just go to the Villa +Borghese to see the group of Apollo and Daphne which Bernini executed +when he was eighteen,* and in particular see his statue of Santa Teresa +in ecstasy at Santa Maria della Vittoria! Ah! that Santa Teresa! It is +like heaven opening, with the quiver that only a purely divine enjoyment +can set in woman's flesh, the rapture of faith carried to the point of +spasm, the creature losing breath and dying of pleasure in the arms of +the Divinity! I have spent hours and hours before that work without +exhausting the infinite scope of its precious, burning symbolisation." + + * There is also at the Villa Borghese Bernini's _Anchises carried + by Aeneas_, which he sculptured when only sixteen. No doubt his + faults were many; but it was his misfortune to belong to a + decadent period.--Trans. + +Narcisse's voice died away, and Pierre, no longer astonished at his +covert, unconscious hatred of health, simplicity, and strength, scarcely +listened to him. The young priest himself was again becoming absorbed in +the idea he had formed of pagan Rome resuscitating in Christian Rome and +turning it into Catholic Rome, the new political, sacerdotal, domineering +centre of earthly government. Apart from the primitive age of the +Catacombs, had Rome ever been Christian? The thoughts that had come to +him on the Palatine, in the Appian Way, and in St. Peter's were gathering +confirmation. Genius that morning had brought him fresh proof. No doubt +the paganism which reappeared in the art of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle +was tempered, transformed by the Christian spirit. But did it not still +remain the basis? Had not the former master peered across Olympus when +snatching his great nudities from the terrible heavens of Jehovah? Did +not the ideal figures of Raffaelle reveal the superb, fascinating flesh +of Venus beneath the chaste veil of the Virgin? It seemed so to Pierre, +and some embarrassment mingled with his despondency, for all those +beautiful forms glorifying the ardent passions of life, were in +opposition to his dream of rejuvenated Christianity giving peace to the +world and reviving the simplicity and purity of the early ages. + +All at once he was surprised to hear Narcisse, by what transition he +could not tell, speaking to him of the daily life of Leo XIII. "Yes, my +dear Abbe, at eighty-four* the Holy Father shows the activity of a young +man and leads a life of determination and hard work such as neither you +nor I would care for! At six o'clock he is already up, says his mass in +his private chapel, and drinks a little milk for breakfast. Then, from +eight o'clock till noon, there is a ceaseless procession of cardinals and +prelates, all the affairs of the congregations passing under his eyes, +and none could be more numerous or intricate. At noon the public and +collective audiences usually begin. At two he dines. Then comes the +siesta which he has well earned, or else a promenade in the gardens until +six o'clock. The private audiences then sometimes keep him for an hour or +two. He sups at nine and scarcely eats, lives on nothing, in fact, and is +always alone at his little table. What do you think, eh, of the etiquette +which compels him to such loneliness? There you have a man who for +eighteen years has never had a guest at his table, who day by day sits +all alone in his grandeur! And as soon as ten o'clock strikes, after +saying the Rosary with his familiars, he shuts himself up in his room. +But, although he may go to bed, he sleeps very little; he is frequently +troubled by insomnia, and gets up and sends for a secretary to dictate +memoranda or letters to him. When any interesting matter requires his +attention he gives himself up to it heart and soul, never letting it +escape his thoughts. And his life, his health, lies in all this. His mind +is always busy; his will and strength must always be exerting themselves. +You may know that he long cultivated Latin verse with affection; and I +believe that in his days of struggle he had a passion for journalism, +inspired the articles of the newspapers he subsidised, and even dictated +some of them when his most cherished ideas were in question." + + * The reader should remember that the period selected for this + narrative is the year 1894. Leo XIII was born in 1810.--Trans. + +Silence fell. At every moment Narcisse craned his neck to see if the +little papal _cortege_ were not emerging from the Gallery of the +Tapestries to pass them on its way to the gardens. "You are perhaps +aware," he resumed, "that his Holiness is brought down on a low chair +which is small enough to pass through every doorway. It's quite a +journey, more than a mile, through the _loggie_, the _stanze_ of +Raffaelle, the painting and sculpture galleries, not to mention the +numerous staircases, before he reaches the gardens, where a pair-horse +carriage awaits him. It's quite fine this evening, so he will surely +come. We must have a little patience." + +Whilst Narcisse was giving these particulars Pierre again sank into a +reverie and saw the whole extraordinary history pass before him. First +came the worldly, ostentatious popes of the Renascence, those who +resuscitated antiquity with so much passion and dreamt of draping the +Holy See with the purple of empire once more. There was Paul II, the +magnificent Venetian who built the Palazzo di Venezia; Sixtus IV, to whom +one owes the Sixtine Chapel; and Julius II and Leo X, who made Rome a +city of theatrical pomp, prodigious festivities, tournaments, ballets, +hunts, masquerades, and banquets. At that time the papacy had just +rediscovered Olympus amidst the dust of buried ruins, and as though +intoxicated by the torrent of life which arose from the ancient soil, it +founded the museums, thus reviving the superb temples of the pagan age, +and restoring them to the cult of universal admiration. Never had the +Church been in such peril of death, for if the Christ was still honoured +at St. Peter's, Jupiter and all the other gods and goddesses, with their +beauteous, triumphant flesh, were enthroned in the halls of the Vatican. +Then, however, another vision passed before Pierre, one of the modern +popes prior to the Italian occupation--notably Pius IX, who, whilst yet +free, often went into his good city of Rome. His huge red and gold coach +was drawn by six horses, surrounded by Swiss Guards and followed by Noble +Guards; but now and again he would alight in the Corso, and continue his +promenade on foot, and then the mounted men of the escort galloped +forward to give warning and stop the traffic. The carriages drew up, the +gentlemen had to alight and kneel on the pavement, whilst the ladies +simply rose and devoutly inclined their heads, as the Holy Father, +attended by his Court, slowly wended his way to the Piazza del Popolo, +smiling and blessing at every step. And now had come Leo XIII, the +voluntary prisoner, shut up in the Vatican for eighteen years, and he, +behind the high, silent walls, in the unknown sphere where each of his +days flowed by so quietly, had acquired a more exalted majesty, instinct +with sacred and redoubtable mysteriousness. + +Ah! that Pope whom you no longer meet or see, that Pope hidden from the +common of mankind like some terrible divinity whom the priests alone dare +to approach! It is in that sumptuous Vatican which his forerunners of the +Renascence built and adorned for giant festivities that he has secluded +himself; it is there he lives, far from the crowd, in prison with the +handsome men and the lovely women of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, with +the gods and goddesses of marble, with the whole of resplendent Olympus +celebrating around him the religion of life and light. With him the +entire Papacy is there steeped in paganism. What a spectacle when the +slender, weak old man, all soul, so purely white, passes along the +galleries of the Museum of Antiquities on his way to the gardens. Right +and left the statues behold him pass with all their bare flesh. There is +Jupiter, there is Apollo, there is Venus the _dominatrix_, there is Pan, +the universal god in whose laugh the joys of earth ring out. Nereids +bathe in transparent water. Bacchantes roll, unveiled, in the warm grass. +Centaurs gallop by carrying lovely girls, faint with rapture, on their +steaming haunches. Ariadne is surprised by Bacchus, Ganymede fondles the +eagle, Adonis fires youth and maiden with his flame. And on and on passes +the weak, white old man, swaying on his low chair, amidst that splendid +triumph, that display and glorification of the flesh, which shouts aloud +the omnipotence of Nature, of everlasting matter! Since they have found +it again, exhumed it, and honoured it, that it is which once more reigns +there imperishable; and in vain have they set vine leaves on the statues, +even as they have swathed the huge figures of Michael Angelo; sex still +flares on all sides, life overflows, its germs course in torrents through +the veins of the world. Near by, in that Vatican library of incomparable +wealth, where all human science lies slumbering, there lurks a yet more +terrible danger--the danger of an explosion which would sweep away +everything, Vatican and St. Peter's also, if one day the books in their +turn were to awake and speak aloud as speak the beauty of Venus and the +manliness of Apollo. But the white, diaphanous old man seems neither to +see nor to hear, and the huge heads of Jupiter, the trunks of Hercules, +the equivocal statues of Antinous continue to watch him as he passes on! + +However, Narcisse had become impatient, and, going in search of an +attendant, he learnt from him that his Holiness had already gone down. To +shorten the distance, indeed, the _cortege_ often passes along a kind of +open gallery leading towards the Mint. "Well, let us go down as well," +said Narcisse to Pierre; "I will try to show you the gardens." + +Down below, in the vestibule, a door of which opened on to a broad path, +he spoke to another attendant, a former pontifical soldier whom he +personally knew. The man at once let him pass with Pierre, but was unable +to tell him whether Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo had accompanied his +Holiness that day. + +"No matter," resumed Narcisse when he and his companion were alone in the +path; "I don't despair of meeting him--and these, you see, are the famous +gardens of the Vatican." + +They are very extensive grounds, and the Pope can go quite two and a half +miles by passing along the paths of the wood, the vineyard, and the +kitchen garden. Occupying the plateau of the Vatican hill, which the +medieval wall of Leo IV still girdles, the gardens are separated from the +neighbouring valleys as by a fortified rampart. The wall formerly +stretched to the castle of Sant' Angelo, thereby forming what was known +as the Leonine City. No inquisitive eyes can peer into the grounds +excepting from the dome of St. Peter's, which casts its huge shadow over +them during the hot summer weather. They are, too, quite a little world, +which each pope has taken pleasure in embellishing. There is a large +parterre with lawns of geometrical patterns, planted with handsome palms +and adorned with lemon and orange trees in pots; there is a less formal, +a shadier garden, where, amidst deep plantations of yoke-elms, you find +Giovanni Vesanzio's fountain, the Aquilone, and Pius IV's old Casino; +then, too, there are the woods with their superb evergreen oaks, their +thickets of plane-trees, acacias, and pines, intersected by broad +avenues, which are delightfully pleasant for leisurely strolls; and +finally, on turning to the left, beyond other clumps of trees, come the +kitchen garden and the vineyard, the last well tended. + +Whilst walking through the wood Narcisse told Pierre of the life led by +the Holy Father in these gardens. He strolls in them every second day +when the weather allows. Formerly the popes left the Vatican for the +Quirinal, which is cooler and healthier, as soon as May arrived; and +spent the dog days at Castle Gandolfo on the margins of the Lake of +Albano. But nowadays the only summer residence possessed by his Holiness +is a virtually intact tower of the old rampart of Leo IV. He here spends +the hottest days, and has even erected a sort of pavilion beside it for +the accommodation of his suite. Narcisse, like one at home, went in and +secured permission for Pierre to glance at the one room occupied by the +Pope, a spacious round chamber with semispherical ceiling, on which are +painted the heavens with symbolical figures of the constellations; one of +the latter, the lion, having two stars for eyes--stars which a system of +lighting causes to sparkle during the night. The walls of the tower are +so thick that after blocking up a window, a kind of room, for the +accommodation of a couch, has been contrived in the embrasure. Beside +this couch the only furniture is a large work-table, a dining-table with +flaps, and a large regal arm-chair, a mass of gilding, one of the gifts +of the Pope's episcopal jubilee. And you dream of the days of solitude +and perfect silence, spent in that low donjon hall, where the coolness of +a tomb prevails whilst the heavy suns of August are scorching overpowered +Rome. + +An astronomical observatory has been installed in another tower, +surmounted by a little white cupola, which you espy amidst the greenery; +and under the trees there is also a Swiss chalet, where Leo XIII is fond +of resting. He sometimes goes on foot to the kitchen garden, and takes +much interest in the vineyard, visiting it to see if the grapes are +ripening and if the vintage will be a good one. What most astonished +Pierre, however, was to learn that the Holy Father had been very fond of +"sport" before age had weakened him. He was indeed passionately addicted +to bird snaring. Broad-meshed nets were hung on either side of a path on +the fringe of a plantation, and in the middle of the path were placed +cages containing the decoys, whose songs soon attracted all the birds of +the neighbourhood--red-breasts, white-throats, black-caps, nightingales, +fig-peckers of all sorts. And when a numerous company of them was +gathered together Leo XIII, seated out of sight and watching, would +suddenly clap his hands and startle the birds, which flew up and were +caught by the wings in the meshes of the nets. All that then remained to +be done was to take them out of the nets and stifle them by a touch of +the thumb. Roast fig-peckers are delicious.* + + * Perhaps so; but what a delightful pastime for the Vicar of the + Divinity!--Trans. + +As Pierre came back through the wood he had another surprise. He suddenly +lighted on a "Grotto of Lourdes," a miniature imitation of the original, +built of rocks and blocks of cement. And such was his emotion at the +sight that he could not conceal it. "It's true, then!" said he. "I was +told of it, but I thought that the Holy Father was of loftier mind--free +from all such base superstitions!" + +"Oh!" replied Narcisse, "I fancy that the grotto dates from Pius IX, who +evinced especial gratitude to our Lady of Lourdes. At all events, it must +be a gift, and Leo XIII simply keeps it in repair." + +For a few moments Pierre remained motionless and silent before that +imitation grotto, that childish plaything. Some zealously devout visitors +had left their visiting cards in the cracks of the cement-work! For his +part, he felt very sad, and followed his companion with bowed head, +lamenting the wretched idiocy of the world. Then, on emerging from the +wood, on again reaching the parterre, he raised his eyes. + +Ah! how exquisite in spite of everything was that decline of a lovely +day, and what a victorious charm ascended from the soil in that part of +the gardens. There, in front of that bare, noble, burning parterre, far +more than under the languishing foliage of the wood or among the fruitful +vines, Pierre realised the strength of Nature. Above the grass growing +meagrely over the compartments of geometrical pattern which the pathways +traced there were barely a few low shrubs, dwarf roses, aloes, rare tufts +of withering flowers. Some green bushes still described the escutcheon of +Pius IX in accordance with the strange taste of former times. And amidst +the warm silence one only heard the faint crystalline murmur of the water +trickling from the basin of the central fountain. But all Rome, its +ardent heavens, sovereign grace, and conquering voluptuousness, seemed +with their own soul to animate this vast rectangular patch of decorative +gardening, this mosaic of verdure, which in its semi-abandonment and +scorched decay assumed an aspect of melancholy pride, instinct with the +ever returning quiver of a passion of fire that could not die. Some +antique vases and statues, whitely nude under the setting sun, skirted +the parterres. And above the aroma of eucalyptus and of pine, stronger +even than that of the ripening oranges, there rose the odour of the +large, bitter box-shrubs, so laden with pungent life that it disturbed +one as one passed as if indeed it were the very scent of the fecundity of +that ancient soil saturated with the dust of generations. + +"It's very strange that we have not met his Holiness," exclaimed +Narcisse. "Perhaps his carriage took the other path through the wood +while we were in the tower." + +Then, reverting to Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo, the _attache_ explained +that the functions of _Copiere_, or papal cup-bearer, which his cousin +should have discharged as one of the four _Camerieri segreti +partecipanti_ had become purely honorary since the dinners offered to +diplomatists or in honour of newly consecrated bishops had been given by +the Cardinal Secretary of State. Monsignor Gamba, whose cowardice and +nullity were legendary, seemed therefore to have no other _role_ than +that of enlivening Leo XIII, whose favour he had won by his incessant +flattery and the anecdotes which he was ever relating about both the +black and the white worlds. Indeed this fat, amiable man, who could even +be obliging when his interests were not in question, was a perfect +newspaper, brimful of tittle-tattle, disdaining no item of gossip +whatever, even if it came from the kitchens. And thus he was quietly +marching towards the cardinalate, certain of obtaining the hat without +other exertion than that of bringing a budget of gossip to beguile the +pleasant hours of the promenade. And Heaven knew that he was always able +to garner an abundant harvest of news in that closed Vatican swarming +with prelates of every kind, in that womanless pontifical family of old +begowned bachelors, all secretly exercised by vast ambitions, covert and +revolting rivalries, and ferocious hatreds, which, it is said, are still +sometimes carried as far as the good old poison of ancient days. + +All at once Narcisse stopped. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "I was certain of it. +There's the Holy Father! But we are not in luck. He won't even see us; he +is about to get into his carriage again." + +As he spoke a carriage drew up at the verge of the wood, and a little +_cortege_ emerging from a narrow path, went towards it. + +Pierre felt as if he had received a great blow in the heart. Motionless +beside his companion, and half hidden by a lofty vase containing a +lemon-tree, it was only from a distance that he was able to see the white +old man, looking so frail and slender in the wavy folds of his white +cassock, and walking so very slowly with short, gliding steps. The young +priest could scarcely distinguish the emaciated face of old diaphanous +ivory, emphasised by a large nose which jutted out above thin lips. +However, the Pontiff's black eyes were glittering with an inquisitive +smile, while his right ear was inclined towards Monsignor Gamba del +Zoppo, who was doubtless finishing some story at once rich and short, +flowery and dignified. And on the left walked a Noble Guard; and two +other prelates followed. + +It was but a familiar apparition; Leo XIII was already climbing into the +closed carriage. And Pierre, in the midst of that large, odoriferous, +burning garden, again experienced the singular emotion which had come +upon him in the Gallery of the Candelabra while he was picturing the Pope +on his way between the Apollos and Venuses radiant in their triumphant +nudity. There, however, it was only pagan art which had celebrated the +eternity of life, the superb, almighty powers of Nature. But here he had +beheld the Pontiff steeped in Nature itself, in Nature clad in the most +lovely, most voluptuous, most passionate guise. Ah! that Pope, that old +man strolling with his Divinity of grief, humility, and renunciation +along the paths of those gardens of love, in the languid evenings of the +hot summer days, beneath the caressing scents of pine and eucalyptus, +ripe oranges, and tall, acrid box-shrubs! The whole atmosphere around him +proclaimed the powers of the great god Pan. How pleasant was the thought +of living there, amidst that magnificence of heaven and of earth, of +loving the beauty of woman and of rejoicing in the fruitfulness of all! +And suddenly the decisive truth burst forth that from a land of such joy +and light it was only possible for a temporal religion of conquest and +political domination to rise; not the mystical, pain-fraught religion of +the North--the religion of the soul! + +However, Narcisse led the young priest away, telling him other anecdotes +as they went--anecdotes of the occasional _bonhomie_ of Leo XIII, who +would stop to chat with the gardeners, and question them about the health +of the trees and the sale of the oranges. And he also mentioned the +Pope's former passion for a pair of gazelles, sent him from Africa, two +graceful creatures which he had been fond of caressing, and at whose +death he had shed tears. But Pierre no longer listened. When they found +themselves on the Piazza of St. Peter's, he turned round and gazed at the +Vatican once more. + +His eyes had fallen on the gate of bronze, and he remembered having +wondered that morning what there might be behind these metal panels +ornamented with big nails. And he did not yet dare to answer the +question, and decide if the new nations thirsting for fraternity and +justice would really find there the religion necessary for the +democracies of to-morrow; for he had not been able to probe things, and +only carried a first impression away with him. But how keen it was, and +how ill it boded for his dreams! A gate of bronze! Yes, a hard, +impregnable gate, so completely shutting the Vatican off from the rest of +the world that nothing new had entered the palace for three hundred +years. Behind that portal the old centuries, as far as the sixteenth, +remained immutable. Time seemed to have stayed its course there for ever; +nothing more stirred; the very costumes of the Swiss Guards, the Noble +Guards, and the prelates themselves were unchanged; and you found +yourself in the world of three hundred years ago, with its etiquette, its +costumes, and its ideas. That the popes in a spirit of haughty protest +should for five and twenty years have voluntarily shut themselves up in +their palace was already regrettable; but this imprisonment of centuries +within the past, within the grooves of tradition, was far more serious +and dangerous. It was all Catholicism which was thus imprisoned, whose +dogmas and sacerdotal organisation were obstinately immobilised. Perhaps, +in spite of its apparent flexibility, Catholicism was really unable to +yield in anything, under peril of being swept away, and therein lay both +its weakness and its strength. And then what a terrible world was there, +how great the pride and ambition, how numerous the hatreds and rivalries! +And how strange the prison, how singular the company assembled behind the +bars--the Crucified by the side of Jupiter Capitolinus, all pagan +antiquity fraternising with the Apostles, all the splendours of the +Renascence surrounding the pastor of the Gospel who reigns in the name of +the humble and the poor! + +The sun was sinking, the gentle, luscious sweetness of the Roman evenings +was falling from the limpid heavens, and after that splendid day spent +with Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, the ancients, and the Pope, in the finest +palace of the world, the young priest lingered, distracted, on the Piazza +of St. Peter's. + +"Well, you must excuse me, my dear Abbe," concluded Narcisse. "But I will +now confess to you that I suspect my worthy cousin of a fear that he +might compromise himself by meddling in your affair. I shall certainly +see him again, but you will do well not to put too much reliance on him." + +It was nearly six o'clock when Pierre got back to the Boccanera mansion. +As a rule, he passed in all modesty down the lane, and entered by the +little side door, a key of which had been given him. But he had that +morning received a letter from M. de la Choue, and desired to communicate +it to Benedetta. So he ascended the grand staircase, and on reaching the +anteroom was surprised to find nobody there. As a rule, whenever the +man-servant went out Victorine installed herself in his place and busied +herself with some needlework. Her chair was there, and Pierre even +noticed some linen which she had left on a little table when probably +summoned elsewhere. Then, as the door of the first reception-room was +ajar, he at last ventured in. It was almost night there already, the +twilight was softly dying away, and all at once the young priest stopped +short, fearing to take another step, for, from the room beyond, the large +yellow _salon_, there came a murmur of feverish, distracted words, ardent +entreaties, fierce panting, a rustling and a shuffling of footsteps. And +suddenly Pierre no longer hesitated, urged on despite himself by the +conviction that the sounds he heard were those of a struggle, and that +some one was hard pressed. + +And when he darted into the further room he was stupefied, for Dario was +there, no longer showing the degenerate elegance of the last scion of an +exhausted race, but maddened by the hot, frantic blood of the Boccaneras +which had bubbled up within him. He had clasped Benedetta by the +shoulders in a frenzy of passion and was scorching her face with his hot, +entreating words: "But since you say, my darling, that it is all over, +that your marriage will never be dissolved--oh! why should we be wretched +for ever! Love me as you do love me, and let me love you--let me love +you!" + +But the Contessina, with an indescribable expression of tenderness and +suffering on her tearful face, repulsed him with her outstretched arms, +she likewise evincing a fierce energy as she repeated: "No, no; I love +you, but it must not, it must not be." + +At that moment, amidst the roar of his despair, Dario became conscious +that some one was entering the room. He turned and gazed at Pierre with +an expression of stupefied insanity, scarce able even to recognise him. +Then he carried his two hands to his face, to his bloodshot eyes and his +cheeks wet with scalding tears, and fled, heaving a terrible, +pain-fraught sigh in which baffled passion mingled with grief and +repentance. + +Benedetta seated herself, breathing hard, her strength and courage +wellnigh exhausted. But as Pierre, too much embarrassed to speak, turned +towards the door, she addressed him in a calmer voice: "No, no, Monsieur +l'Abbe, do not go away--sit down, I pray you; I should like to speak to +you for a moment." + +He thereupon thought it his duty to account for his sudden entrance, and +explained that he had found the door of the first _salon_ ajar, and that +Victorine was not in the ante-room, though he had seen her work lying on +the table there. + +"Yes," exclaimed the Contessina, "Victorine ought to have been there; I +saw her there but a short time ago. And when my poor Dario lost his head +I called her. Why did she not come?" Then, with sudden expansion, leaning +towards Pierre, she continued: "Listen, Monsieur l'Abbe, I will tell you +what happened, for I don't want you to form too bad an opinion of my poor +Dario. It was all in some measure my fault. Last night he asked me for an +appointment here in order that we might have a quiet chat, and as I knew +that my aunt would be absent at this time to-day I told him to come. It +was only natural--wasn't it?--that we should want to see one another and +come to an agreement after the grievous news that my marriage will +probably never be annulled. We suffer too much, and must form a decision. +And so when he came this evening we began to weep and embrace, mingling +our tears together. I kissed him again and again, telling him how I +adored him, how bitterly grieved I was at being the cause of his +sufferings, and how surely I should die of grief at seeing him so +unhappy. Ah! no doubt I did wrong; I ought not to have caught him to my +heart and embraced him as I did, for it maddened him, Monsieur l'Abbe; he +lost his head, and would have made me break my vow to the Blessed +Virgin." + +She spoke these words in all tranquillity and simplicity, without sign of +embarrassment, like a young and beautiful woman who is at once sensible +and practical. Then she resumed: "Oh! I know my poor Dario well, but it +does not prevent me from loving him; perhaps, indeed, it only makes me +love him the more. He looks delicate, perhaps rather sickly, but in truth +he is a man of passion. Yes, the old blood of my people bubbles up in +him. I know something of it myself, for when I was a child I sometimes +had fits of angry passion which left me exhausted on the floor, and even +now, when the gusts arise within me, I have to fight against myself and +torture myself in order that I may not act madly. But my poor Dario does +not know how to suffer. He is like a child whose fancies must be +gratified. And yet at bottom he has a good deal of common sense; he waits +for me because he knows that the only real happiness lies with the woman +who adores him." + +As Pierre listened he was able to form a more precise idea of the young +prince, of whose character he had hitherto had but a vague perception. +Whilst dying of love for his cousin, Dario had ever been a man of +pleasure. Though he was no doubt very amiable, the basis of his +temperament was none the less egotism. And, in particular, he was unable +to endure suffering; he loathed suffering, ugliness, and poverty, whether +they affected himself or others. Both his flesh and his soul required +gaiety, brilliancy, show, life in the full sunlight. And withal he was +exhausted, with no strength left him but for the idle life he led, so +incapable of thought and will that the idea of joining the new _regime_ +had not even occurred to him. Yet he had all the unbounded pride of a +Roman; sagacity--a keen, practical perception of the real--was mingled +with his indolence; while his inveterate love of woman, more frequently +displayed in charm of manner, burst forth at times in attacks of frantic +sensuality. + +"After all he is a man," concluded Benedetta in a low voice, "and I must +not ask impossibilities of him." Then, as Pierre gazed at her, his +notions of Italian jealousy quite upset, she exclaimed, aglow with +passionate adoration: "No, no. Situated as we are, I am not jealous. I +know very well that he will always return to me, and that he will be mine +alone whenever I please, whenever it may be possible." + +Silence followed; shadows were filling the room, the gilding of the large +pier tables faded away, and infinite melancholy fell from the lofty, dim +ceiling and the old hangings, yellow like autumn leaves. But soon, by +some chance play of the waning light, a painting stood out above the sofa +on which the Contessina was seated. It was the portrait of the beautiful +young girl with the turban--Cassia Boccanera the forerunner, the +_amorosa_ and avengeress. Again was Pierre struck by the portrait's +resemblance to Benedetta, and, thinking aloud, he resumed: "Passion +always proves the stronger; there invariably comes a moment when one +succumbs--" + +But Benedetta violently interrupted him: "I! I! Ah! you do not know me; I +would rather die!" And with extraordinary exaltation, all aglow with +love, as if her superstitious faith had fired her passion to ecstasy, she +continued: "I have vowed to the Madonna that I will belong to none but +the man I love, and to him only when he is my husband. And hitherto I +have kept that vow, at the cost of my happiness, and I will keep it +still, even if it cost me my life! Yes, we will die, my poor Dario and I, +if it be necessary; but the holy Virgin has my vow, and the angels shall +not weep in heaven!" + +She was all in those words, her nature all simplicity, intricate, +inexplicable though it might seem. She was doubtless swayed by that idea +of human nobility which Christianity has set in renunciation and purity; +a protest, as it were, against eternal matter, against the forces of +Nature, the everlasting fruitfulness of life. But there was more than +this; she reserved herself, like a divine and priceless gift, to be +bestowed on the one being whom her heart had chosen, he who would be her +lord and master when God should have united them in marriage. For her +everything lay in the blessing of the priest, in the religious +solemnisation of matrimony. And thus one understood her long resistance +to Prada, whom she did not love, and her despairing, grievous resistance +to Dario, whom she did love, but who was not her husband. And how +torturing it was for that soul of fire to have to resist her love; how +continual was the combat waged by duty in the Virgin's name against the +wild, passionate blood of her race! Ignorant, indolent though she might +be, she was capable of great fidelity of heart, and, moreover, she was +not given to dreaming: love might have its immaterial charms, but she +desired it complete. + +As Pierre looked at her in the dying twilight he seemed to see and +understand her for the first time. The duality of her nature appeared in +her somewhat full, fleshy lips, in her big black eyes, which suggested a +dark, tempestuous night illumined by flashes of lightning, and in the +calm, sensible expression of the rest of her gentle, infantile face. And, +withal, behind those eyes of flame, beneath that pure, candid skin, one +divined the internal tension of a superstitious, proud, and self-willed +woman, who was obstinately intent on reserving herself for her one love. +And Pierre could well understand that she should be adored, that she +should fill the life of the man she chose with passion, and that to his +own eyes she should appear like the younger sister of that lovely, tragic +Cassia who, unwilling to survive the blow that had rendered self-bestowal +impossible, had flung herself into the Tiber, dragging her brother Ercole +and the corpse of her lover Flavio with her. + +However, with a gesture of kindly affection Benedetta caught hold of +Pierre's hands. "You have been here a fortnight, Monsieur l'Abbe," said +she, "and I have come to like you very much, for I feel you to be a +friend. If at first you do not understand us, at least pray do not judge +us too severely. Ignorant as I may be, I always strive to act for the +best, I assure you." + +Pierre was greatly touched by her affectionate graciousness, and thanked +her whilst for a moment retaining her beautiful hands in his own, for he +also was becoming much attached to her. A fresh dream was carrying him +off, that of educating her, should he have the time, or, at all events, +of not returning home before winning her soul over to his own ideas of +future charity and fraternity. Did not that adorable, unoccupied, +indolent, ignorant creature, who only knew how to defend her love, +personify the Italy of yesterday? The Italy of yesterday, so lovely and +so sleepy, instinct with a dying grace, charming one even in her +drowsiness, and retaining so much mystery in the fathomless depths of her +black, passionate eyes! And what a _role_ would be that of awakening her, +instructing her, winning her over to truth, making her the rejuvenated +Italy of to-morrow such as he had dreamt of! Even in that disastrous +marriage with Count Prada he tried to see merely a first attempt at +revival which had failed, the modern Italy of the North being over-hasty, +too brutal in its eagerness to love and transform that gentle, belated +Rome which was yet so superb and indolent. But might he not take up the +task? Had he not noticed that his book, after the astonishment of the +first perusal, had remained a source of interest and reflection with +Benedetta amidst the emptiness of her days given over to grief? What! was +it really possible that she might find some appeasement for her own +wretchedness by interesting herself in the humble, in the happiness of +the poor? Emotion already thrilled her at the idea, and he, quivering at +the thought of all the boundless love that was within her and that she +might bestow, vowed to himself that he would draw tears of pity from her +eyes. + +But the night had now almost completely fallen, and Benedetta rose to ask +for a lamp. Then, as Pierre was about to take leave, she detained him for +another moment in the gloom. He could no longer see her; he only heard +her grave voice: "You will not go away with too bad an opinion of us, +will you, Monsieur l'Abbe? We love one another, Dario and I, and that is +no sin when one behaves as one ought. Ah! yes, I love him, and have loved +him for years. I was barely thirteen, he was eighteen, and we already +loved one another wildly in those big gardens of the Villa Montefiori +which are now all broken up. Ah! what days we spent there, whole +afternoons among the trees, hours in secret hiding-places, where we +kissed like little angels. When the oranges ripened their perfume +intoxicated us. And the large box-plants, ah, _Dio!_ how they enveloped +us, how their strong, acrid scent made our hearts beat! I can never smell +then nowadays without feeling faint!" + +A man-servant brought in the lamp, and Pierre ascended to his room. But +when half-way up the little staircase he perceived Victorine, who started +slightly, as if she had posted herself there to watch his departure from +the _salon_. And now, as she followed him up, talking and seeking for +information, he suddenly realised what had happened. "Why did you not go +to your mistress instead of running off," he asked, "when she called you, +while you were sewing in the ante-room?" + +At first she tried to feign astonishment and reply that she had heard +nothing. But her good-natured, frank face did not know how to lie, and +she ended by confessing, with a gay, courageous air. "Well," she said, +"it surely wasn't for me to interfere between lovers! Besides, my poor +little Benedetta is simply torturing herself to death with those ideas of +hers. Why shouldn't they be happy, since they love one another? Life +isn't so amusing as some may think. And how bitterly one regrets not +having seized hold of happiness when the time for it has gone!" + +Once alone in his room, Pierre suddenly staggered, quite overcome. The +great box-plants, the great box-plants with their acrid, perturbing +perfume! She, Benedetta, like himself, had quivered as she smelt them; +and he saw them once more in a vision of the pontifical gardens, the +voluptuous gardens of Rome, deserted, glowing under the August sun. And +now his whole day crystallised, assumed clear and full significance. It +spoke to him of the fruitful awakening, of the eternal protest of Nature +and life, Venus and Hercules, whom one may bury for centuries beneath the +soil, but who, nevertheless, one day arise from it, and though one may +seek to wall them up within the domineering, stubborn, immutable Vatican, +reign yet even there, and rule the whole, wide world with sovereign +power! + + + + + +PART III. + + + + +VII. + + +On the following day as Pierre, after a long ramble, once more found +himself in front of the Vatican, whither a harassing attraction ever led +him, he again encountered Monsignor Nani. It was a Wednesday evening, and +the Assessor of the Holy Office had just come from his weekly audience +with the Pope, whom he had acquainted with the proceedings of the +Congregation at its meeting that morning. "What a fortunate chance, my +dear sir," said he; "I was thinking of you. Would you like to see his +Holiness in public while you are waiting for a private audience?" + +Nani had put on his pleasant expression of smiling civility, beneath +which one would barely detect the faint irony of a superior man who knew +everything, prepared everything, and could do everything. + +"Why, yes, Monsignor," Pierre replied, somewhat astonished by the +abruptness of the offer. "Anything of a nature to divert one's mind is +welcome when one loses one's time in waiting." + +"No, no, you are not losing your time," replied the prelate. "You are +looking round you, reflecting, and enlightening yourself. Well, this is +the point. You are doubtless aware that the great international +pilgrimage of the Peter's Pence Fund will arrive in Rome on Friday, and +be received on Saturday by his Holiness. On Sunday, moreover, the Holy +Father will celebrate mass at the Basilica. Well, I have a few cards +left, and here are some very good places for both ceremonies." So saying +he produced an elegant little pocketbook bearing a gilt monogram and +handed Pierre two cards, one green and the other pink. "If you only knew +how people fight for them," he resumed. "You remember that I told you of +two French ladies who are consumed by a desire to see his Holiness. Well, +I did not like to support their request for an audience in too pressing a +way, and they have had to content themselves with cards like these. The +fact is, the Holy Father is somewhat fatigued at the present time. I +found him looking yellow and feverish just now. But he has so much +courage; he nowadays only lives by force of soul." Then Nani's smile came +back with its almost imperceptible touch of derision as he resumed: +"Impatient ones ought to find a great example in him, my dear son. I +heard that Monsignor Gamba del Zoppo had been unable to help you. But you +must not be too much distressed on that account. This long delay is +assuredly a grace of Providence in order that you may instruct yourself +and come to understand certain things which you French priests do not, +unfortunately, realise when you arrive in Rome. And perhaps it will +prevent you from making certain mistakes. Come, calm yourself, and +remember that the course of events is in the hands of God, who, in His +sovereign wisdom, fixes the hour for all things." + +Thereupon Nani offered Pierre his plump, supple, shapely hand, a hand +soft like a woman's but with the grasp of a vice. And afterwards he +climbed into his carriage, which was waiting for him. + +It so happened that the letter which Pierre had received from Viscount +Philibert de la Choue was a long cry of spite and despair in connection +with the great international pilgrimage of the Peter's Pence Fund. The +Viscount wrote from his bed, to which he was confined by a very severe +attack of gout, and his grief at being unable to come to Rome was the +greater as the President of the Committee, who would naturally present +the pilgrims to the Pope, happened to be Baron de Fouras, one of his most +bitter adversaries of the old conservative, Catholic party. M. de la +Choue felt certain that the Baron would profit by his opportunity to win +the Pope over to the theory of free corporations; whereas he, the +Viscount, believed that the salvation of Catholicism and the world could +only be worked by a system in which the corporations should be closed and +obligatory. And so he urged Pierre to exert himself with such cardinals +as were favourable, to secure an audience with the Holy Father whatever +the obstacles, and to remain in Rome until he should have secured the +Pontiff's approbation, which alone could decide the victory. The letter +further mentioned that the pilgrimage would be made up of a number of +groups headed by bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, and would +comprise three thousand people from France, Belgium, Spain, Austria, and +even Germany. Two thousand of these would come from France alone. An +international committee had assembled in Paris to organise everything and +select the pilgrims, which last had proved a delicate task, as a +representative gathering had been desired, a commingling of members of +the aristocracy, sisterhood of middle-class ladies, and associations of +the working classes, among whom all social differences would be forgotten +in the union of a common faith. And the Viscount added that the +pilgrimage would bring the Pope a large sum of money, and had settled the +date of its arrival in the Eternal City in such wise that it would figure +as a solemn protest of the Catholic world against the festivities of +September 20, by which the Quirinal had just celebrated the anniversary +of the occupation of Rome. + +The reception of the pilgrimage being fixed for noon, Pierre in all +simplicity thought that he would be sufficiently early if he reached St. +Peter's at eleven. The function was to take place in the Hall of +Beatifications, which is a large and handsome apartment over the portico, +and has been arranged as a chapel since 1890. One of its windows opens on +to the central balcony, whence the popes formerly blessed the people, the +city, and the world. To reach the apartment you pass through two other +halls of audience, the Sala Regia and Sala Ducale, and when Pierre wished +to gain the place to which his green card entitled him he found both +those rooms so extremely crowded that he could only elbow his way forward +with the greatest difficulty. For an hour already the three or four +thousand people assembled there had been stifling, full of growing +emotion and feverishness. At last the young priest managed to reach the +threshold of the third hall, but was so discouraged at sight of the +extraordinary multitude of heads before him that he did not attempt to go +any further. + +The apartment, which he could survey at a glance by rising on tip-toe, +appeared to him to be very rich of aspect, with walls gilded and painted +under a severe and lofty ceiling. On a low platform, where the altar +usually stood, facing the entry, the pontifical throne had now been set: +a large arm-chair upholstered in red velvet with glittering golden back +and arms; whilst the hangings of the _baldacchino_, also of red velvet, +fell behind and spread out on either side like a pair of huge purple +wings. However, what more particularly interested Pierre was the wildly +passionate concourse of people whose hearts he could almost hear beating +and whose eyes sought to beguile their feverish impatience by +contemplating and adoring the empty throne. As if it had been some golden +monstrance which the Divinity in person would soon deign to occupy, that +throne dazzled them, disturbed them, filled them all with devout rapture. +Among the throng were workmen rigged out in their Sunday best, with clear +childish eyes and rough ecstatic faces; ladies of the upper classes +wearing black, as the regulations required, and looking intensely pale +from the sacred awe which mingled with their excessive desire; and +gentlemen in evening dress, who appeared quite glorious, inflated with +the conviction that they were saving both the Church and the nations. One +cluster of dress-coats assembled near the throne, was particularly +noticeable; it comprised the members of the International Committee, +headed by Baron de Fouras, a very tall, stout, fair man of fifty, who +bestirred and exerted himself and issued orders like some commander on +the morning of a decisive victory. Then, amidst the general mass of grey, +neutral hue, there gleamed the violet silk of some bishop's cassock, for +each pastor had desired to remain with his flock; whilst members of +various religious orders, superiors in brown, black, and white habits, +rose up above all others with lofty bearded or shaven heads. Right and +left drooped banners which associations and congregations had brought to +present to the Pope. And the sea of pilgrims ever waved and surged with a +growing clamour: so much impatient love being exhaled by those perspiring +faces, burning eyes, and hungry mouths that the atmosphere, reeking with +the odour of the throng, seemed thickened and darkened. + +All at once, however, Pierre perceived Monsignor Nani standing near the +throne and beckoning him to approach; and although the young priest +replied by a modest gesture, implying that he preferred to remain where +he was, the prelate insisted and even sent an usher to make way for him. +Directly the usher had led him forward, Nani inquired: "Why did you not +come to take your place? Your card entitled you to be here, on the left +of the throne." + +"The truth is," answered the priest, "I did not like to disturb so many +people. Besides, this is an undue honour for me." + +"No, no; I gave you that place in order that you should occupy it. I want +you to be in the first rank, so that you may see everything of the +ceremony." + +Pierre could not do otherwise than thank him. Then, on looking round, he +saw that several cardinals and many other prelates were likewise waiting +on either side of the throne. But it was in vain that he sought Cardinal +Boccanera, who only came to St. Peter's and the Vatican on the days when +his functions required his presence there. However, he recognised +Cardinal Sanguinetti, who, broad and sturdy and red of face, was talking +in a loud voice to Baron de Fouras. And Nani, with his obliging air, +stepped up again to point out two other Eminences who were high and +mighty personages--the Cardinal Vicar, a short, fat man, with a feverish +countenance scorched by ambition, and the Cardinal Secretary, who was +robust and bony, fashioned as with a hatchet, suggesting a romantic type +of Sicilian bandit, who, to other courses, had preferred the discreet, +smiling diplomacy of the Church. A few steps further on, and quite alone, +the Grand Penitentiary, silent and seemingly suffering, showed his grey, +lean, ascetic profile. + +Noon had struck. There was a false alert, a burst of emotion, which swept +in like a wave from the other halls. But it was merely the ushers opening +a passage for the _cortege_. Then, all at once, acclamations arose in the +first hall, gathered volume, and drew nearer. This time it was the +_cortege_ itself. First came a detachment of the Swiss Guard in undress, +headed by a sergeant; then a party of chair-bearers in red; and next the +domestic prelates, including the four _Camerieri segreti partecipanti_. +And finally, between two rows of Noble Guards, in semi-gala uniforms, +walked the Holy Father, alone, smiling a pale smile, and slowly blessing +the pilgrims on either hand. In his wake the clamour which had risen in +the other apartments swept into the Hall of Beatifications with the +violence of delirious love; and, under his slender, white, benedictive +hand, all those distracted creatures fell upon both knees, nought +remaining but the prostration of a devout multitude, overwhelmed, as it +were, by the apparition of its god. + +Quivering, carried away, Pierre had knelt like the others. Ah! that +omnipotence, that irresistible contagion of faith, of the redoubtable +current from the spheres beyond, increased tenfold by a _scenario_ and a +pomp of sovereign grandeur! Profound silence fell when Leo XIII was +seated on the throne surrounded by the cardinals and his court; and then +the ceremony proceeded according to rite and usage. First a bishop spoke, +kneeling and laying the homage of the faithful of all Christendom at his +Holiness's feet. The President of the Committee, Baron de Fouras, +followed, remaining erect whilst he read a long address in which he +introduced the pilgrimage and explained its motive, investing it with all +the gravity of a political and religious protest. This stout man had a +shrill and piercing voice, and his words jarred like the grating of a +gimlet as he proclaimed the grief of the Catholic world at the spoliation +which the Holy See had endured for a quarter of a century, and the desire +of all the nations there represented by the pilgrims to console the +supreme and venerated Head of the Church by bringing him the offerings of +rich and poor, even to the mites of the humblest, in order that the +Papacy might retain the pride of independence and be able to treat its +enemies with contempt. And he also spoke of France, deplored her errors, +predicted her return to healthy traditions, and gave it to be understood +that she remained in spite of everything the most opulent and generous of +the Christian nations, the donor whose gold and presents flowed into Rome +in a never ending stream. At last Leo XIII arose to reply to the bishop +and the baron. His voice was full, with a strong nasal twang, and +surprised one coming from a man so slight of build. In a few sentences he +expressed his gratitude, saying how touched he was by the devotion of the +nations to the Holy See. Although the times might be bad, the final +triumph could not be delayed much longer. There were evident signs that +mankind was returning to faith, and that iniquity would soon cease under +the universal dominion of the Christ. As for France, was she not the +eldest daughter of the Church, and had she not given too many proofs of +her affection for the Holy See for the latter ever to cease loving her? +Then, raising his arm, he bestowed on all the pilgrims present, on the +societies and enterprises they represented, on their families and +friends, on France, on all the nations of the Catholic world, his +apostolic benediction, in gratitude for the precious help which they sent +him. And whilst he was again seating himself applause burst forth, +frantic salvoes of applause lasting for ten minutes and mingling with +vivats and inarticulate cries--a passionate, tempestuous outburst, which +made the very building shake. + +Amidst this blast of frantic adoration Pierre gazed at Leo XIII, now +again motionless on his throne. With the papal cap on his head and the +red cape edged with ermine about his shoulders, he retained in his long +white cassock the rigid, sacerdotal attitude of an idol venerated by two +hundred and fifty millions of Christians. Against the purple background +of the hangings of the _baldacchino_, between the wing-like drapery on +either side, enclosing, as it were, a brasier of glory, he assumed real +majesty of aspect. He was no longer the feeble old man with the slow, +jerky walk and the slender, scraggy neck of a poor ailing bird. The +simious ugliness of his face, the largeness of his nose, the long slit of +his mouth, the hugeness of his ears, the conflicting jumble of his +withered features disappeared. In that waxen countenance you only +distinguished the admirable, dark, deep eyes, beaming with eternal youth, +with extraordinary intelligence and penetration. And then there was a +resolute bracing of his entire person, a consciousness of the eternity +which he represented, a regal nobility, born of the very circumstance +that he was now but a mere breath, a soul set in so pellucid a body of +ivory that it became visible as though it were already freed from the +bonds of earth. And Pierre realised what such a man--the Sovereign +Pontiff, the king obeyed by two hundred and fifty millions of +subjects--must be for the devout and dolent creatures who came to adore +him from so far, and who fell at his feet awestruck by the splendour of +the powers incarnate in him. Behind him, amidst the purple of the +hangings, what a gleam was suddenly afforded of the spheres beyond, what +an Infinite of ideality and blinding glory! So many centuries of history +from the Apostle Peter downward, so much strength and genius, so many +struggles and triumphs to be summed up in one being, the Elect, the +Unique, the Superhuman! And what a miracle, incessantly renewed, was that +of Heaven deigning to descend into human flesh, of the Deity fixing His +abode in His chosen servant, whom He consecrated above and beyond all +others, endowing him with all power and all science! What sacred +perturbation, what emotion fraught with distracted love might one not +feel at the thought of the Deity being ever there in the depths of that +man's eyes, speaking with his voice and emanating from his hand each time +that he raised it to bless! Could one imagine the exorbitant absoluteness +of that sovereign who was infallible, who disposed of the totality of +authority in this world and of salvation in the next! At all events, how +well one understood that souls consumed by a craving for faith should fly +towards him, that those who at last found the certainty they had so +ardently sought should seek annihilation in him, the consolation of +self-bestowal and disappearance within the Deity Himself. + +Meantime, the ceremony was drawing to an end; Baron de Fouras was now +presenting the members of the committee and a few other persons of +importance. There was a slow procession with trembling genuflections and +much greedy kissing of the papal ring and slipper. Then the banners were +offered, and Pierre felt a pang on seeing that the finest and richest of +them was one of Lourdes, an offering no doubt from the Fathers of the +Immaculate Conception. On one side of the white, gold-bordered silk Our +Lady of Lourdes was painted, while on the other appeared a portrait of +Leo XIII. Pierre saw the Pope smile at the presentment of himself, and +was greatly grieved thereat, as though, indeed, his whole dream of an +intellectual, evangelical Pope, disentangled from all low superstition, +were crumbling away. And just then his eyes met those of Nani, who from +the outset had been watching him with the inquisitive air of a man who is +making an experiment. + +"That banner is superb, isn't it?" said Nani, drawing near. "How it must +please his Holiness to be so nicely painted in company with so pretty a +virgin." And as the young priest, turning pale, did not reply, the +prelate added, with an air of devout enjoyment: "We are very fond of +Lourdes in Rome; that story of Bernadette is so delightful." + +However, the scene which followed was so extraordinary that for a long +time Pierre remained overcome by it. He had beheld never-to-be-forgotten +idolatry at Lourdes, incidents of naive faith and frantic religious +passion which yet made him quiver with alarm and grief. But the crowds +rushing on the grotto, the sick dying of divine love before the Virgin's +statue, the multitudes delirious with the contagion of the +miraculous--nothing of all that gave an idea of the blast of madness +which suddenly inflamed the pilgrims at the feet of the Pope. Some +bishops, superiors of religious orders, and other delegates of various +kinds had stepped forward to deposit near the throne the offerings which +they brought from the whole Catholic world, the universal "collection" of +St. Peter's Pence. It was the voluntary tribute of the nations to their +sovereign: silver, gold, and bank notes in purses, bags, and cases. +Ladies came and fell on their knees to offer silk and velvet alms-bags +which they themselves had embroidered. Others had caused the note cases +which they tendered to be adorned with the monogram of Leo XIII in +diamonds. And at one moment the enthusiasm became so intense that several +women stripped themselves of their adornments, flung their own purses on +to the platform, and emptied their pockets even to the very coppers they +had about them. One lady, tall and slender, very beautiful and very dark, +wrenched her watch from about her neck, pulled off her rings, and threw +everything upon the carpet. Had it been possible, they would have torn +away their flesh to pluck out their love-burnt hearts and fling them +likewise to the demi-god. They would even have flung themselves, have +given themselves without reserve. It was a rain of presents, an explosion +of the passion which impels one to strip oneself for the object of one's +cult, happy at having nothing of one's own that shall not belong to him. +And meantime the clamour grew, vivats and shrill cries of adoration arose +amidst pushing and jostling of increased violence, one and all yielding +to the irresistible desire to kiss the idol! + +But a signal was given, and Leo XIII made haste to quit the throne and +take his place in the _cortege_ in order to return to his apartments. The +Swiss Guards energetically thrust back the throng, seeking to open a way +through the three halls. But at sight of his Holiness's departure a +lamentation of despair arose and spread, as if heaven had suddenly closed +again and shut out those who had not yet been able to approach. What a +frightful disappointment--to have beheld the living manifestation of the +Deity and to see it disappear before gaining salvation by just touching +it! So terrible became the scramble, so extraordinary the confusion, that +the Swiss Guards were swept away. And ladies were seen to dart after the +Pope, to drag themselves on all fours over the marble slabs and kiss his +footprints and lap up the dust of his steps! The tall dark lady suddenly +fell at the edge of the platform, raised a loud shriek, and fainted; and +two gentlemen of the committee had to hold her so that she might not do +herself an injury in the convulsions of the hysterical fit which had come +upon her. Another, a plump blonde, was wildly, desperately kissing one of +the golden arms of the throne-chair, on which the old man's poor, bony +elbow had just rested. And others, on seeing her, came to dispute +possession, seized both arms, gilding and velvet, and pressed their +mouths to wood-work or upholstery, their bodies meanwhile shaking with +their sobs. Force had to be employed in order to drag them away. + +When it was all over Pierre went off, emerging as it were from a painful +dream, sick at heart, and with his mind revolting. And again he +encountered Nani's glance, which never left him. "It was a superb +ceremony, was it not?" said the prelate. "It consoles one for many +iniquities." + +"Yes, no doubt; but what idolatry!" the young priest murmured despite +himself. + +Nani, however, merely smiled, as if he had not heard the last word. At +that same moment the two French ladies whom he had provided with tickets +came up to thank him, and. Pierre was surprised to recognise the mother +and daughter whom he had met at the Catacombs. Charming, bright, and +healthy as they were, their enthusiasm was only for the spectacle: they +declared that they were well pleased at having seen it--that it was +really astonishing, unique. + +As the crowd slowly withdrew Pierre all at once felt a tap on his +shoulder, and, on turning his head, perceived Narcisse Habert, who also +was very enthusiastic. "I made signs to you, my dear Abbe," said he, "but +you didn't see me. Ah! how superb was the expression of that dark woman +who fell rigid beside the platform with her arms outstretched. She +reminded me of a masterpiece of one of the primitives, Cimabue, Giotto, +or Fra Angelico. And the others, those who devoured the chair arms with +their kisses, what suavity, beauty, and love! I never miss these +ceremonies: there are always some fine scenes, perfect pictures, in which +souls reveal themselves." + +The long stream of pilgrims slowly descended the stairs, and Pierre, +followed by Nani and Narcisse, who had begun to chat, tried to bring the +ideas which were tumultuously throbbing in his brain into something like +order. There was certainly grandeur and beauty in that Pope who had shut +himself up in his Vatican, and who, the more he became a purely moral, +spiritual authority, freed from all terrestrial cares, had grown in the +adoration and awe of mankind. Such a flight into the ideal deeply stirred +Pierre, whose dream of rejuvenated Christianity rested on the idea of the +supreme Head of the Church exercising only a purified, spiritual +authority. He had just seen what an increase of majesty and power was in +that way gained by the Supreme Pontiff of the spheres beyond, at whose +feet the women fainted, and behind whom they beheld a vision of the +Deity. But at the same moment the pecuniary side of the question had +risen before him and spoilt his joy. If the enforced relinquishment of +the temporal power had exalted the Pope by freeing him from the worries +of a petty sovereignty which was ever threatened, the need of money still +remained like a chain about his feet tying him to earth. As he could not +accept the proffered subvention of the Italian Government,* there was +certainly in the Peter's Pence a means of placing the Holy See above all +material cares, provided, however, that this Peter's Pence were really +the Catholic _sou_, the mite of each believer, levied on his daily income +and sent direct to Rome. Such a voluntary tribute paid by the flock to +its pastor would, moreover, suffice for the wants of the Church if each +of the 250,000,000 of Catholics gave his or her _sou_ every week. In this +wise the Pope, indebted to each and all of his children, would be +indebted to none in particular. A _sou_ was so little and so easy to +give, and there was also something so touching about the idea. But, +unhappily, things were not worked in that way; the great majority of +Catholics gave nothing whatever, while the rich ones sent large sums from +motives of political passion; and a particular objection was that the +gifts were centralised in the hands of certain bishops and religious +orders, so that these became ostensibly the benefactors of the papacy, +the indispensable cashiers from whom it drew the sinews of life. The +lowly and humble whose mites filled the collection boxes were, so to say, +suppressed, and the Pope became dependent on the intermediaries, and was +compelled to act cautiously with them, listen to their remonstrances, and +even at times obey their passions, lest the stream of gifts should +suddenly dry up. And so, although he was disburdened of the dead weight +of the temporal power, he was not free; but remained the tributary of his +clergy, with interests and appetites around him which he must needs +satisfy. And Pierre remembered the "Grotto of Lourdes" in the Vatican +gardens, and the banner which he had just seen, and he knew that the +Lourdes fathers levied 200,000 francs a year on their receipts to send +them as a present to the Holy Father. Was not that the chief reason of +their great power? He quivered, and suddenly became conscious that, do +what he might, he would be defeated, and his book would be condemned. + + * 110,000 pounds per annum. It has never been accepted, and the + accumulations lapse to the Government every five years, and + cannot afterwards be recovered.--Trans. + +At last, as he was coming out on to the Piazza of St. Peter's, he heard +Narcisse asking Monsignor Nani: "Indeed! Do you really think that +to-day's gifts exceeded that figure?" + +"Yes, more than three millions,* I'm convinced of it," the prelate +replied. + + * All the amounts given on this and the following pages are + calculated in francs. The reader will bear in mind that a + million francs is equivalent to 40,000 pounds.--Trans. + +For a moment the three men halted under the right-hand colonnade and +gazed at the vast, sunlit piazza where the pilgrims were spreading out +like little black specks hurrying hither and thither--an ant-hill, as it +were, in revolution. + +Three millions! The words had rung in Pierre's ears. And, raising his +head, he gazed at the Vatican, all golden in the sunlight against the +expanse of blue sky, as if he wished to penetrate its walls and follow +the steps of Leo XIII returning to his apartments. He pictured him laden +with those millions, with his weak, slender arms pressed to his breast, +carrying the silver, the gold, the bank notes, and even the jewels which +the women had flung him. And almost unconsciously the young priest spoke +aloud: "What will he do with those millions? Where is he taking them?" + +Narcisse and even Nani could not help being amused by this strangely +expressed curiosity. It was the young _attache_ who replied. "Why, his +Holiness is taking them to his room; or, at least, is having them carried +there before him. Didn't you see two persons of his suite picking up +everything and filling their pockets? And now his Holiness has shut +himself up quite alone; and if you could see him you would find him +counting and recounting his treasure with cheerful care, ranging the +rolls of gold in good order, slipping the bank notes into envelopes in +equal quantities, and then putting everything away in hiding-places which +are only known to himself." + +While his companion was speaking Pierre again raised his eyes to the +windows of the Pope's apartments, as if to follow the scene. Moreover, +Narcisse gave further explanations, asserting that the money was put away +in a certain article of furniture, standing against the right-hand wall +in the Holy Father's bedroom. Some people, he added, also spoke of a +writing table or secretaire with deep drawers; and others declared that +the money slumbered in some big padlocked trunks stored away in the +depths of the alcove, which was very roomy. Of course, on the left side +of the passage leading to the Archives there was a large room occupied by +a general cashier and a monumental safe; but the funds kept there were +simply those of the Patrimony of St. Peter, the administrative receipts +of Rome; whereas the Peter's Pence money, the voluntary donations of +Christendom, remained in the hands of Leo XIII: he alone knew the exact +amount of that fund, and lived alone with its millions, which he disposed +of like an absolute master, rendering account to none. And such was his +prudence that he never left his room when the servants cleaned and set it +in order. At the utmost he would consent to remain on the threshold of +the adjoining apartment in order to escape the dust. And whenever he +meant to absent himself for a few hours, to go down into the gardens, for +instance, he double-locked the doors and carried the keys away with him, +never confiding them to another. + +At this point Narcisse paused and, turning to Nani, inquired: "Is not +that so, Monsignor? These are things known to all Rome." + +The prelate, ever smiling and wagging his head without expressing either +approval or disapproval, had begun to study on Pierre's face the effect +of these curious stories. "No doubt, no doubt," he responded; "so many +things are said! I know nothing myself, but you seem to be certain of it +all, Monsieur Habert." + +"Oh!" resumed the other, "I don't accuse his Holiness of sordid avarice, +such as is rumoured. Some fabulous stories are current, stories of +coffers full of gold in which the Holy Father is said to plunge his hands +for hours at a time; treasures which he has heaped up in corners for the +sole pleasure of counting them over and over again. Nevertheless, one may +well admit that his Holiness is somewhat fond of money for its own sake, +for the pleasure of handling it and setting it in order when he happens +to be alone--and after all that is a very excusable mania in an old man +who has no other pastime. But I must add that he is yet fonder of money +for the social power which it brings, the decisive help which it will +give to the Holy See in the future, if the latter desires to triumph." + +These words evoked the lofty figure of a wise and prudent Pope, conscious +of modern requirements, inclined to utilise the powers of the century in +order to conquer it, and for this reason venturing on business and +speculation. As it happened, the treasure bequeathed by Pius IX had +nearly been lost in a financial disaster, but ever since that time Leo +XIII had sought to repair the breach and make the treasure whole again, +in order that he might leave it to his successor intact and even +enlarged. Economical he certainly was, but he saved for the needs of the +Church, which, as he knew, increased day by day; and money was absolutely +necessary if Atheism was to be met and fought in the sphere of the +schools, institutions, and associations of all sorts. Without money, +indeed, the Church would become a vassal at the mercy of the civil +powers, the Kingdom of Italy and other Catholic states; and so, although +he liberally helped every enterprise which might contribute to the +triumph of the Faith, Leo XIII had a contempt for all expenditure without +an object, and treated himself and others with stern closeness. +Personally, he had no needs. At the outset of his pontificate he had set +his small private patrimony apart from the rich patrimony of St. Peter, +refusing to take aught from the latter for the purpose of assisting his +relatives. Never had pontiff displayed less nepotism: his three nephews +and his two nieces had remained poor--in fact, in great pecuniary +embarrassment. Still he listened neither to complaints nor accusations, +but remained inflexible, proudly resolved to bequeath the sinews of life, +the invincible weapon money, to the popes of future times, and therefore +vigorously defending the millions of the Holy See against the desperate +covetousness of one and all. + +"But, after all, what are the receipts and expenses of the Holy See?" +inquired Pierre. + +In all haste Nani again made his amiable, evasive gesture. "Oh! I am +altogether ignorant in such matters," he replied. "Ask Monsieur Habert, +who is so well informed." + +"For my part," responded the _attache_, "I simply know what is known to +all the embassies here, the matters which are the subject of common +report. With respect to the receipts there is, first of all, the treasure +left by Pius IX, some twenty millions, invested in various ways and +formerly yielding about a million a year in interest. But, as I said +before, a disaster happened, and there must then have been a falling off +in the income. Still, nowadays it is reported that nearly all +deficiencies have been made good. Well, besides the regular income from +the invested money, a few hundred thousand francs are derived every year +from chancellery dues, patents of nobility, and all sorts of little fees +paid to the Congregations. However, as the annual expenses exceed seven +millions, it has been necessary to find quite six millions every year; +and certainly it is the Peter's Pence Fund that has supplied, not the six +millions, perhaps, but three or four of them, and with these the Holy See +has speculated in the hope of doubling them and making both ends meet. It +would take me too long just now to relate the whole story of these +speculations, the first huge gains, then the catastrophe which almost +swept everything away, and finally the stubborn perseverance which is +gradually supplying all deficiencies. However, if you are anxious on the +subject, I will one day tell you all about it." + +Pierre had listened with deep interest. "Six millions--even four!" he +exclaimed, "what does the Peter's Pence Fund bring in, then?" + +"Oh! I can only repeat that nobody has ever known the exact figures. In +former times the Catholic Press published lists giving the amounts of +different offerings, and in this way one could frame an approximate +estimate. But the practice must have been considered unadvisable, for no +documents nowadays appear, and it is absolutely impossible for people to +form any real idea of what the Pope receives. He alone knows the correct +amount, keeps the money, and disposes of it with absolute authority. +Still I believe that in good years the offerings have amounted to between +four and five millions. Originally France contributed one-half of the +sum; but nowadays it certainly gives much less. Then come Belgium and +Austria, England and Germany. As for Spain and Italy--oh! Italy--" + +Narcisse paused and smiled at Monsignor Nani, who was wagging his head +with the air of a man delighted at learning some extremely curious things +of which he had previously had no idea. + +"Oh, you may proceed, you may proceed, my dear son," said he. + +"Well, then, Italy scarcely distinguishes itself. If the Pope had to +provide for his living out of the gifts of the Italian Catholics there +would soon be a famine at the Vatican. Far from helping him, indeed, the +Roman nobility has cost him dear; for one of the chief causes of his +pecuniary losses was his folly in lending money to the princes who +speculated. It is really only from France and England that rich people, +noblemen and so forth, have sent royal gifts to the imprisoned and +martyred Pontiff. Among others there was an English nobleman who came to +Rome every year with a large offering, the outcome of a vow which he had +made in the hope that Heaven would cure his unhappy idiot son. And, of +course, I don't refer to the extraordinary harvest garnered during the +sacerdotal and the episcopal jubilees--the forty millions which then fell +at his Holiness's feet." + +"And the expenses?" asked Pierre. + +"Well, as I told you, they amount to about seven millions. We may reckon +two of them for the pensions paid to former officials of the pontifical +government who were unwilling to take service under Italy; but I must add +that this source of expense is diminishing every year as people die off +and their pensions become extinguished. Then, broadly speaking, we may +put down one million for the Italian sees, another for the Secretariate +and the Nunciatures, and another for the Vatican. In this last sum I +include the expenses of the pontifical Court, the military establishment, +the museums, and the repair of the palace and the Basilica. Well, we have +reached five millions, and the two others may be set down for the various +subsidised enterprises, the Propaganda, and particularly the schools, +which Leo XIII, with great practical good sense, subsidises very +handsomely, for he is well aware that the battle and the triumph be in +that direction--among the children who will be men to-morrow, and who +will then defend their mother the Church, provided that they have been +inspired with horror for the abominable doctrines of the age." + +A spell of silence ensued, and the three men slowly paced the majestic +colonnade. The swarming crowd had gradually disappeared, leaving the +piazza empty, so that only the obelisk and the twin fountains now arose +from the burning desert of symmetrical paving; whilst on the entablature +of the porticus across the square a noble line of motionless statues +stood out in the bright sunlight. And Pierre, with his eyes still raised +to the Pope's windows, again fancied that he could see Leo XIII amidst +all the streaming gold that had been spoken of, his whole, white, pure +figure, his poor, waxen, transparent form steeped amidst those millions +which he hid and counted and expended for the glory of God alone. "And +so," murmured the young priest, "he has no anxiety, he is not in any +pecuniary embarrassment." + +"Pecuniary embarrassment!" exclaimed Monsignor Nani, his patience so +sorely tried by the remark that he could no longer retain his diplomatic +reserve. "Oh! my dear son! Why, when Cardinal Mocenni, the treasurer, +goes to his Holiness every month, his Holiness always gives him the sum +he asks for; he would give it, and be able to give it, however large it +might be! His Holiness has certainly had the wisdom to effect great +economies; the Treasure of St. Peter is larger than ever. Pecuniary +embarrassment, indeed! Why, if a misfortune should occur, and the +Sovereign Pontiff were to make a direct appeal to all his children, the +Catholics of the entire world, do you know that in that case a thousand +millions would fall at his feet just like the gold and the jewels which +you saw raining on the steps of his throne just now?" Then suddenly +calming himself and recovering his pleasant smile, Nani added: "At least, +that is what I sometimes hear said; for, personally, I know nothing, +absolutely nothing; and it is fortunate that Monsieur Habert should have +been here to give you information. Ah! Monsieur Habert, Monsieur Habert! +Why, I fancied that you were always in the skies absorbed in your passion +for art, and far removed from all base mundane interests! But you really +understand these things like a banker or a notary. Nothing escapes you, +nothing. It is wonderful." + +Narcisse must have felt the sting of the prelate's delicate sarcasm. At +bottom, beneath this make-believe Florentine all-angelicalness, with long +curly hair and mauve eyes which grew dim with rapture at sight of a +Botticelli, there was a thoroughly practical, business-like young man, +who took admirable care of his fortune and was even somewhat miserly. +However, he contented himself with lowering his eyelids and assuming a +languorous air. "Oh!" said he, "I'm all reverie; my soul is elsewhere." + +"At all events," resumed Nani, turning towards Pierre, "I am very glad +that you were able to see such a beautiful spectacle. A few more such +opportunities and you will understand things far better than you would +from all the explanations in the world. Don't miss the grand ceremony at +St. Peter's to-morrow. It will be magnificent, and will give you food for +useful reflection; I'm sure of it. And now allow me to leave you, +delighted at seeing you in such a fit frame of mind." + +Darting a last glance at Pierre, Nani seemed to have observed with +pleasure the weariness and uncertainty which were paling his face. And +when the prelate had gone off, and Narcisse also had taken leave with a +gentle hand-shake, the young priest felt the ire of protest rising within +him. What fit frame of mind did Nani mean? Did that man hope to weary him +and drive him to despair by throwing him into collision with obstacles, +so that he might afterwards overcome him with perfect ease? For the +second time Pierre became suddenly and briefly conscious of the stealthy +efforts which were being made to invest and crush him. But, believing as +he did in his own strength of resistance, pride filled him with disdain. +Again he swore that he would never yield, never withdraw his book, no +matter what might happen. And then, before crossing the piazza, he once +more raised his eyes to the windows of the Vatican, all his impressions +crystallising in the thought of that much-needed money which like a last +bond still attached the Pope to earth. Its chief evil doubtless lay in +the manner in which it was provided; and if indeed the only question were +to devise an improved method of collection, his dream of a pope who +should be all soul, the bond of love, the spiritual leader of the world, +would not be seriously affected. At this thought, Pierre felt comforted +and was unwilling to look on things otherwise than hopefully, moved as he +was by the extraordinary scene which he had just beheld, that feeble old +man shining forth like the symbol of human deliverance, obeyed and +venerated by the multitudes, and alone among all men endowed with the +moral omnipotence that might at last set the reign of charity and peace +on earth. + +For the ceremony on the following day, it was fortunate that Pierre held +a private ticket which admitted him to a reserved gallery, for the +scramble at the entrances to the Basilica proved terrible. The mass, +which the Pope was to celebrate in person, was fixed for ten o'clock, but +people began to pour into St. Peter's four hours earlier, as soon, +indeed, as the gates had been thrown open. The three thousand members of +the International Pilgrimage were increased tenfold by the arrival of all +the tourists in Italy, who had hastened to Rome eager to witness one of +those great pontifical functions which nowadays are so rare. Moreover, +the devotees and partisans whom the Holy See numbered in Rome itself and +in other great cities of the kingdom, helped to swell the throng, all +alacrity at the prospect of a demonstration. Judging by the tickets +distributed, there would be a concourse of 40,000 people. And, indeed, at +nine o'clock, when Pierre crossed the piazza on his way to the Canons' +Entrance in the Via Santa Marta, where the holders of pink tickets were +admitted, he saw the portico of the facade still thronged with people who +were but slowly gaining admittance, while several gentlemen in evening +dress, members of some Catholic association, bestirred themselves to +maintain order with the help of a detachment of Pontifical Guards. +Nevertheless, violent quarrels broke out in the crowd, and blows were +exchanged amidst the involuntary scramble. Some people were almost +stifled, and two women were carried off half crushed to death. + +A disagreeable surprise met Pierre on his entry into the Basilica. The +huge edifice was draped; coverings of old red damask with bands of gold +swathed the columns and pilasters, seventy-five feet high; even the +aisles were hung with the same old and faded silk; and the shrouding of +those pompous marbles, of all the superb dazzling ornamentation of the +church bespoke a very singular taste, a tawdry affectation of pomposity, +extremely wretched in its effect. However, he was yet more amazed on +seeing that even the statue of St. Peter was clad, costumed like a living +pope in sumptuous pontifical vestments, with a tiara on its metal head. +He had never imagined that people could garment statues either for their +glory or for the pleasure of the eyes, and the result seemed to him +disastrous. + +The Pope was to say mass at the papal altar of the Confession, the high +altar which stands under the dome. On a platform at the entrance of the +left-hand transept was the throne on which he would afterwards take his +place. Then, on either side of the nave, tribunes had been erected for +the choristers of the Sixtine Chapel, the Corps Diplomatique, the Knights +of Malta, the Roman nobility, and other guests of various kinds. And, +finally, in the centre, before the altar, there were three rows of +benches covered with red rugs, the first for the cardinals and the other +two for the bishops and the prelates of the pontifical court. All the +rest of the congregation was to remain standing. + +Ah! that huge concert-audience, those thirty, forty thousand believers +from here, there, and everywhere, inflamed with curiosity, passion, or +faith, bestirring themselves, jostling one another, rising on tip-toe to +see the better! The clamour of a human sea arose, the crowd was as gay +and familiar as if it had found itself in some heavenly theatre where it +was allowable for one to chat aloud and recreate oneself with the +spectacle of religious pomp! At first Pierre was thunderstruck, he who +only knew of nervous, silent kneeling in the depths of dim cathedrals, +who was not accustomed to that religion of light, whose brilliancy +transformed a religious celebration into a morning festivity. Around him, +in the same tribune as himself, were gentlemen in dress-coats and ladies +gowned in black, carrying glasses as in an opera-house. There were German +and English women, and numerous Americans, all more or less charming, +displaying the grace of thoughtless, chirruping birds. In the tribune of +the Roman nobility on the left he recognised Benedetta and Donna +Serafina, and there the simplicity of the regulation attire for ladies +was relieved by large lace veils rivalling one another in richness and +elegance. Then on the right was the tribune of the Knights of Malta, +where the Grand Master stood amidst a group of commanders: while across +the nave rose the diplomatic tribune where Pierre perceived the +ambassadors of all the Catholic nations, resplendent in gala uniforms +covered with gold lace. However, the young priest's eyes were ever +returning to the crowd, the great surging throng in which the three +thousand pilgrims were lost amidst the multitude of other spectators. And +yet as the Basilica was so vast that it could easily contain eighty +thousand people, it did not seem to be more than half full. People came +and went along the aisles and took up favourable positions without +impediment. Some could be seen gesticulating, and calls rang out above +the ceaseless rumble of voices. From the lofty windows of plain white +glass fell broad sheets of sunlight, which set a gory glow upon the faded +damask hangings, and these cast a reflection as of fire upon all the +tumultuous, feverish, impatient faces. The multitude of candles, and the +seven-and-eighty lamps of the Confession paled to such a degree that they +seemed but glimmering night-lights in the blinding radiance; and +everything proclaimed the worldly gala of the imperial Deity of Roman +pomp. + +All at once there came a premature shock of delight, a false alert. Cries +burst forth and circulated through the crowd: "Eccolo! eccolo! Here he +comes!" And then there was pushing and jostling, eddying which made the +human sea whirl and surge, all craning their necks, raising themselves to +their full height, darting forward in a frenzied desire to see the Holy +Father and the _cortege_. But only a detachment of Noble Guards marched +by and took up position right and left of the altar. A flattering murmur +accompanied them, their fine impassive bearing with its exaggerated +military stiffness, provoking the admiration of the throng. An American +woman declared that they were superb-looking fellows; and a Roman lady +gave an English friend some particulars about the select corps to which +they belonged. Formerly, said she, young men of the aristocracy had +greatly sought the honour of forming part of it, for the sake of wearing +its rich uniform and caracoling in front of the ladies. But recruiting +was now such a difficult matter that one had to content oneself with +good-looking young men of doubtful or ruined nobility, whose only care +was for the meagre "pay" which just enabled them to live. + +When another quarter of an hour of chatting and scrutinising had elapsed, +the papal _cortege_ at last made its appearance, and no sooner was it +seen than applause burst forth as in a theatre--furious applause it was +which rose and rolled along under the vaulted ceilings, suggesting the +acclamations which ring out when some popular, idolised actor makes his +entry on the stage. As in a theatre, too, everything had been very +skilfully contrived so as to produce all possible effect amidst the +magnificent scenery of the Basilica. The _cortege_ was formed in the +wings, that is in the Cappella della Pieta, the first chapel of the right +aisle, and in order to reach it, the Holy Father, coming from his +apartments by the way of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, had been +stealthily carried behind the hangings of the aisle which served the +purpose of a drop-scene. Awaiting him in all readiness in the Cappella +della Pieta were the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, the whole +pontifical prelacy, hierarchically classified and grouped. And then, as +at a signal from a ballet master, the _cortege_ made its entry, reaching +the nave and ascending it in triumph from the closed Porta Santa to the +altar of the Confession. On either hand were the rows of spectators whose +applause at the sight of so much magnificence grew louder and louder as +their delirious enthusiasm increased. + +It was the _cortege_ of the olden solemnities, the cross and sword, the +Swiss Guard in full uniform, the valets in scarlet simars, the Knights of +the Cape and the Sword in Renascence costumes, the Canons in rochets of +lace, the superiors of the religious communities, the apostolic +prothonotaries, the archbishops, and bishops, all the pontifical prelates +in violet silk, the cardinals, each wearing the _cappa magna_ and draped +in purple, walking solemnly two by two with long intervals between each +pair. Finally, around his Holiness were grouped the officers of the +military household, the chamber prelates, Monsignor the Majordomo, +Monsignor the Grand Chamberlain, and all the other high dignitaries of +the Vatican, with the Roman prince assistant of the throne, the +traditional, symbolical defender of the Church. And on the _sedia +gestatoria_, screened by the _flabelli_ with their lofty triumphal fans +of feathers and carried on high by the bearers in red tunics broidered +with silk, sat the Pope, clad in the sacred vestments which he had +assumed in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the amict, the alb, the +stole, and the white chasuble and white mitre enriched with gold, two +gifts of extraordinary sumptuousness that had come from France. And, as +his Holiness drew near, all hands were raised and clapped yet more loudly +amidst the waves of living sunlight which streamed from the lofty +windows. + +Then a new and different impression of Leo XIII came to Pierre. The Pope, +as he now beheld him, was no longer the familiar, tired, inquisitive old +man, leaning on the arm of a talkative prelate as he strolled through the +loveliest gardens in the world. He no longer recalled the Holy Father, in +red cape and papal cap, giving a paternal welcome to a pilgrimage which +brought him a fortune. He was here the Sovereign Pontiff, the +all-powerful Master whom Christendom adored. His slim waxen form seemed +to have stiffened within his white vestments, heavy with golden broidery, +as in a reliquary of precious metal; and he retained a rigid, haughty, +hieratic attitude, like that of some idol, gilded, withered for centuries +past by the smoke of sacrifices. Amidst the mournful stiffness of his +face only his eyes lived--eyes like black sparkling diamonds gazing afar, +beyond earth, into the infinite. He gave not a glance to the crowd, he +lowered his eyes neither to right nor to left, but remained soaring in +the heavens, ignoring all that took place at his feet. + +And as that seemingly embalmed idol, deaf and blind, in spite of the +brilliancy of his eyes, was carried through the frantic multitude which +it appeared neither to hear nor to see, it assumed fearsome majesty, +disquieting grandeur, all the rigidity of dogma, all the immobility of +tradition exhumed with its _fascioe_ which alone kept it erect. Still +Pierre fancied he could detect that the Pope was ill and weary, suffering +from the attack of fever which Nani had spoken of when glorifying the +courage of that old man of eighty-four, whom strength of soul alone now +kept alive. + +The service began. Alighting from the _sedia gestatoria_ before the altar +of the Confession, his Holiness slowly celebrated a low mass, assisted by +four prelates and the pro-prefect of the ceremonies. When the time came +for washing his fingers, Monsignor the Majordomo and Monsignor the Grand +Chamberlain, accompanied by two cardinals, poured the water on his august +hands; and shortly before the elevation of the host all the prelates of +the pontifical court, each holding a lighted taper, came and knelt around +the altar. There was a solemn moment, the forty thousand believers there +assembled shuddered as if they could feel the terrible yet delicious +blast of the invisible sweeping over them when during the elevation the +silver clarions sounded the famous chorus of angels which invariably +makes some women swoon. Almost immediately an aerial chant descended from +the cupola, from a lofty gallery where one hundred and twenty choristers +were concealed, and the enraptured multitude marvelled as though the +angels had indeed responded to the clarion call. The voices descended, +taking their flight under the vaulted ceilings with the airy sweetness of +celestial harps; then in suave harmony they died away, reascended to the +heavens as with a faint flapping of wings. And, after the mass, his +Holiness, still standing at the altar, in person started the _Te Deum_, +which the singers of the Sixtine Chapel and the other choristers took up, +each party chanting a verse alternately. But soon the whole congregation +joined them, forty thousand voices were raised, and a hymn of joy and +glory spread through the vast nave with incomparable splendour of effect. +And then the scene became one of extraordinary magnificence: there was +Bernini's triumphal, flowery, gilded _baldacchino_, surrounded by the +whole pontifical court with the lighted tapers showing like starry +constellations, there was the Sovereign Pontiff in the centre, radiant +like a planet in his gold-broidered chasuble, there were the benches +crowded with cardinals in purple and archbishops and bishops in violet +silk, there were the tribunes glittering with official finery, the gold +lace of the diplomatists, the variegated uniforms of foreign officers, +and then there was the throng flowing and eddying on all sides, rolling +billows after billows of heads from the most distant depths of the +Basilica. And the hugeness of the temple increased one's amazement; and +even the glorious hymn which the multitude repeated became colossal, +ascended like a tempest blast amidst the great marble tombs, the +superhuman statues and gigantic pillars, till it reached the vast vaulted +heavens of stone, and penetrated into the firmament of the cupola where +the Infinite seemed to open resplendent with the gold-work of the +mosaics. + +A long murmur of voices followed the _Te Deum_, whilst Leo XIII, after +donning the tiara in lieu of the mitre, and exchanging the chasuble for +the pontifical cope, went to occupy his throne on the platform at the +entry of the left transept. He thence dominated the whole assembly, +through which a quiver sped when after the prayers of the ritual, he once +more rose erect. Beneath the symbolic, triple crown, in the golden +sheathing of his cope, he seemed to have grown taller. Amidst sudden and +profound silence, which only feverish heart-beats interrupted, he raised +his arm with a very noble gesture and pronounced the papal benediction in +a slow, loud, full voice, which seemed, as it were, the very voice of the +Deity, so greatly did its power astonish one, coming from such waxen +lips, from such a bloodless, lifeless frame. And the effect was +prodigious: as soon as the _cortege_ reformed to return whence it had +come, applause again burst forth, a frenzy of enthusiasm which the +clapping of hands could no longer content. Acclamations resounded and +gradually gained upon the whole multitude. They began among a group of +ardent partisans stationed near the statue of St. Peter: _"Evviva il +Papa-Re! evviva il Papa-Re_! Long live the Pope-King!" as the _cortege_ +went by the shout rushed along like leaping fire, inflaming heart after +heart, and at last springing from every mouth in a thunderous protest +against the theft of the states of the Church. All the faith, all the +love of those believers, overexcited by the regal spectacle they had just +beheld, returned once more to the dream, to the rageful desire that the +Pope should be both King and Pontiff, master of men's bodies as he was of +their souls--in one word, the absolute sovereign of the earth. Therein +lay the only truth, the only happiness, the only salvation! Let all be +given to him, both mankind and the world! "_Evviva il Papa-Re! evviva il +Papa-Re_! Long live the Pope-King!" + +Ah! that cry, that cry of war which had caused so many errors and so much +bloodshed, that cry of self-abandonment and blindness which, realised, +would have brought back the old ages of suffering, it shocked Pierre, and +impelled him in all haste to quit the tribune where he was in order that +he might escape the contagion of idolatry. And while the _cortege_ still +went its way and the deafening clamour of the crowd continued, he for a +moment followed the left aisle amidst the general scramble. This, +however, made him despair of reaching the street, and anxious to escape +the crush of the general departure, it occurred to him to profit by a +door which he saw open and which led him into a vestibule, whence +ascended the steps conducting to the dome. A sacristan standing in the +doorway, both bewildered and delighted at the demonstration, looked at +him for a moment, hesitating whether he should stop him or not. However, +the sight of the young priest's cassock combined with his own emotion +rendered the man tolerant. Pierre was allowed to pass, and at once began +to climb the staircase as rapidly as he could, in order that he might +flee farther and farther away, ascend higher and yet higher into peace +and silence. + +And the silence suddenly became profound, the walls stifled the cry of +the multitude. The staircase was easy and light, with broad paved steps +turning within a sort of tower. When Pierre came out upon the roofs of +nave and aisles, he was delighted to find himself in the bright sunlight +and the pure keen air which blew there as in the open country. And it was +with astonishment that he gazed upon the huge expanse of lead, zinc, and +stone-work, a perfect aerial city living a life of its own under the blue +sky. He saw cupolas, spires, terraces, even houses and gardens, houses +bright with flowers, the residences of the workmen who live atop of the +Basilica, which is ever and ever requiring repair. A little population +here bestirs itself, labours, loves, eats, and sleeps. However, Pierre +desired to approach the balustrade so as to get a near view of the +colossal statues of the Saviour and the Apostles which surmount the +facade on the side of the piazza. These giants, some nineteen feet in +height, are constantly being mended; their arms, legs, and heads, into +which the atmosphere is ever eating, nowadays only hold together by the +help of cement, bars, and hooks. And having examined them, Pierre was +leaning forward to glance at the Vatican's jumble of ruddy roofs, when it +seemed to him that the shout from which he had fled was rising from the +piazza, and thereupon, in all haste, he resumed his ascent within the +pillar conducting to the dome. There was first a staircase, and then came +some narrow, oblique passages, inclines intersected by a few steps, +between the inner and outer walls of the cupola. Yielding to curiosity, +Pierre pushed a door open, and suddenly found himself inside the Basilica +again, at nearly 200 feet from the ground. A narrow gallery there ran +round the dome just above the frieze, on which, in letters five feet +high, appeared the famous inscription: _Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram +oedificabo ecclesiam meam et tibi dabo claves regni coelorum._* And then, +as Pierre leant over to gaze into the fearful cavity beneath him and the +wide openings of nave, and aisles, and transepts, the cry, the delirious +cry of the multitude, yet clamorously swarming below, struck him full in +the face. He fled once more; but, higher up, yet a second time he pushed +another door open and found another gallery, one perched above the +windows, just where the splendid mosaics begin, and whence the crowd +seemed to him lost in the depths of a dizzy abyss, altar and +_baldacchino_ alike looking no larger than toys. And yet the cry of +idolatry and warfare arose again, and smote him like the buffet of a +tempest which gathers increase of strength the farther it rushes. So to +escape it he had to climb higher still, even to the outer gallery which +encircles the lantern, hovering in the very heavens. + + * Thou art Peter (Petrus) and on that rock (Petram) will I build + my church, and to thee will I give the keys of the Kingdom of + Heaven. + +How delightful was the relief which that bath of air and sunlight at +first brought him! Above him now there only remained the ball of gilt +copper into which emperors and queens have ascended, as is testified by +the pompous inscriptions in the passages; a hollow ball it is, where the +voice crashes like thunder, where all the sounds of space reverberate. As +he emerged on the side of the apse, his eyes at first plunged into the +papal gardens, whose clumps of trees seemed mere bushes almost level with +the soil; and he could retrace his recent stroll among them, the broad +_parterre_ looking like a faded Smyrna rug, the large wood showing the +deep glaucous greenery of a stagnant pool. Then there were the kitchen +garden and the vineyard easily identified and tended with care. The +fountains, the observatory, the casino, where the Pope spent the hot days +of summer, showed merely like little white spots in those undulating +grounds, walled in like any other estate, but with the fearsome rampart +of the fourth Leo, which yet retained its fortress-like aspect. However, +Pierre took his way round the narrow gallery and abruptly found himself +in front of Rome, a sudden and immense expanse, with the distant sea on +the west, the uninterrupted mountain chains on the east and the south, +the Roman Campagna stretching to the horizon like a bare and greenish +desert, while the city, the Eternal City, was spread out at his feet. +Never before had space impressed him so majestically. Rome was there, as +a bird might see it, within the glance, as distinct as some geographical +plan executed in relief. To think of it, such a past, such a history, so +much grandeur, and Rome so dwarfed and contracted by distance! Houses as +lilliputian and as pretty as toys; and the whole a mere mouldy speck upon +the earth's face! What impassioned Pierre was that he could at a glance +understand the divisions of Rome: the antique city yonder with the +Capitol, the Forum, and the Palatine; the papal city in that Borgo which +he overlooked, with St. Peter's and the Vatican gazing across the city of +the middle ages--which was huddled together in the right angle described +by the yellow Tiber--towards the modern city, the Quirinal of the Italian +monarchy. And particularly did he remark the chalky girdle with which the +new districts encompassed the ancient, central, sun-tanned quarters, thus +symbolising an effort at rejuvenescence, the old heart but slowly mended, +whereas the outlying limbs were renewed as if by miracle. + +In that ardent noontide glow, however, Pierre no longer beheld the pure +ethereal Rome which had met his eyes on the morning of his arrival in the +delightfully soft radiance of the rising sun. That smiling, unobtrusive +city, half veiled by golden mist, immersed as it were in some dream of +childhood, now appeared to him flooded with a crude light, motionless, +hard of outline and silent like death. The distance was as if devoured by +too keen a flame, steeped in a luminous dust in which it crumbled. And +against that blurred background the whole city showed with violent +distinctness in great patches of light and shade, their tracery harshly +conspicuous. One might have fancied oneself above some very ancient, +abandoned stone quarry, which a few clumps of trees spotted with dark +green. Of the ancient city one could see the sunburnt tower of the +Capitol, the black cypresses of the Palatine, and the ruins of the palace +of Septimius Severus, suggesting the white osseous carcase of some fossil +monster, left there by a flood. In front, was enthroned the modern city +with the long, renovated buildings of the Quirinal, whose yellow walls +stood forth with wondrous crudity amidst the vigorous crests of the +garden trees. And to right and left on the Viminal, beyond the palace, +the new districts appeared like a city of chalk and plaster mottled by +innumerable windows as with a thousand touches of black ink. Then here +and there were the Pincio showing like a stagnant mere, the Villa Medici +uprearing its campanili, the castle of Sant' Angelo brown like rust, the +spire of Santa Maria Maggiore aglow like a burning taper, the three +churches of the Aventine drowsy amidst verdure, the Palazzo Farnese with +its summer-baked tiles showing like old gold, the domes of the Gesu, of +Sant' Andrea della Valle, of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, and yet other +domes and other domes, all in fusion, incandescent in the brazier of the +heavens. And Pierre again felt a heart-pang in presence of that harsh, +stern Rome, so different from the Rome of his dream, the Rome of +rejuvenescence and hope, which he had fancied he had found on his first +morning, but which had now faded away to give place to the immutable city +of pride and domination, stubborn under the sun even unto death. + +And there on high, all alone with his thoughts, Pierre suddenly +understood. It was as if a dart of flaming light fell on him in that +free, unbounded expanse where he hovered. Had it come from the ceremony +which he had just beheld, from the frantic cry of servitude still ringing +in his ears? Had it come from the spectacle of that city beneath him, +that city which suggested an embalmed queen still reigning amidst the +dust of her tomb? He knew not; but doubtless both had acted as factors, +and at all events the light which fell upon his mind was complete: he +felt that Catholicism could not exist without the temporal power, that it +must fatally disappear whenever it should no longer be king over this +earth. A first reason of this lay in heredity, in the forces of history, +the long line of the heirs of the Caesars, the popes, the great pontiffs, +in whose veins the blood of Augustus, demanding the empire of the world, +had never ceased to flow. Though they might reside in the Vatican they +had come from the imperial abodes on the Palatine, from the palace of +Septimius Severus, and throughout the centuries their policy had ever +pursued the dream of Roman mastery, of all the nations vanquished, +submissive, and obedient to Rome. If its sovereignty were not universal, +extending alike over bodies and over souls, Catholicism would lose its +_raison d'etre_; for the Church cannot recognise any empire or kingdom +otherwise than politically--the emperors and the kings being purely and +simply so many temporary delegates placed in charge of the nations +pending the time when they shall be called upon to relinquish their +trust. All the nations, all humanity, and the whole world belong to the +Church to whom they have been given by God. And if real and effective +possession is not hers to-day, this is only because she yields to force, +compelled to face accomplished facts, but with the formal reserve that +she is in presence of guilty usurpation, that her possessions are +unjustly withheld from her, and that she awaits the realisation of the +promises of the Christ, who, when the time shall be accomplished, will +for ever restore to her both the earth and mankind. Such is the real +future city which time is to bring: Catholic Rome, sovereign of the world +once more. And Rome the city forms a substantial part of the dream, Rome +whose eternity has been predicted, Rome whose soil has imparted to +Catholicism the inextinguishable thirst of absolute power. And thus the +destiny of the papacy is linked to that of Rome, to such a point indeed +that a pope elsewhere than at Rome would no longer be a Catholic pope. +The thought of all this frightened Pierre; a great shudder passed through +him as he leant on the light iron balustrade, gazing down into the abyss +where the stern mournful city was even now crumbling away under the +fierce sun. + +There was, however, evidence of the facts which had dawned on him. If +Pius IX and Leo XIII had resolved to imprison themselves in the Vatican, +it was because necessity bound them to Rome. A pope is not free to leave +the city, to be the head of the Church elsewhere; and in the same way a +pope, however well he may understand the modern world, has not the right +to relinquish the temporal power. This is an inalienable inheritance +which he must defend, and it is moreover a question of life, peremptory, +above discussion. And thus Leo XIII has retained the title of Master of +the temporal dominions of the Church, and this he has done the more +readily since as a cardinal--like all the members of the Sacred College +when elected--he swore that he would maintain those dominions intact. +Italy may hold Rome as her capital for another century or more, but the +coming popes will never cease to protest and claim their kingdom. If ever +an understanding should be arrived at, it must be based on the gift of a +strip of territory. Formerly, when rumours of reconciliation were +current, was it not said that the papacy exacted, as a formal condition, +the possession of at least the Leonine City with the neutralisation of a +road leading to the sea? Nothing is not enough, one cannot start from +nothing to attain to everything, whereas that Civitas Leonina, that bit +of a city, would already be a little royal ground, and it would then only +be necessary to conquer the rest, first Rome, next Italy, then the +neighbouring states, and at last the whole world. Never has the Church +despaired, even when, beaten and despoiled, she seemed to be at the last +gasp. Never will she abdicate, never will she renounce the promises of +the Christ, for she believes in a boundless future and declares herself +to be both indestructible and eternal. Grant her but a pebble on which to +rest her head, and she will hope to possess, first the field in which +that pebble lies, and then the empire in which the field is situated. If +one pope cannot achieve the recovery of the inheritance, another pope, +ten, twenty other popes will continue the work. The centuries do not +count. And this explains why an old man of eighty-four has undertaken +colossal enterprises whose achievement requires several lives, certain as +he is that his successors will take his place, and that the work will +ever and ever be carried forward and completed. + +As these thoughts coursed through his mind, Pierre, overlooking that +ancient city of glory and domination, so stubbornly clinging to its +purple, realised that he was an imbecile with his dream of a purely +spiritual pope. The notion seemed to him so different from the reality, +so out of place, that he experienced a sort of shame-fraught despair. The +new pope, consonant to the teachings of the Gospel, such as a purely +spiritual pope reigning over souls alone, would be, was virtually beyond +the ken of a Roman prelate. At thought of that papal court congealed in +ritual, pride, and authority, Pierre suddenly understood what horror and +repugnance such a pastor would inspire. How great must be the +astonishment and contempt of the papal prelates for that singular notion +of the northern mind, a pope without dominions or subjects, military +household or royal honours, a pope who would be, as it were, a spirit, +exercising purely moral authority, dwelling in the depths of God's +temple, and governing the world solely with gestures of benediction and +deeds of kindliness and love! All that was but a misty Gothic invention +for this Latin clergy, these priests of light and magnificence, who were +certainly pious and even superstitious, but who left the Deity well +sheltered within the tabernacle in order to govern in His name, according +to what they considered the interests of Heaven. Thence it arose that +they employed craft and artifice like mere politicians, and lived by dint +of expedients amidst the great battle of human appetites, marching with +the prudent, stealthy steps of diplomatists towards the final terrestrial +victory of the Christ, who, in the person of the Pope, was one day to +reign over all the nations. And how stupefied must a French prelate have +been--a prelate like Monseigneur Bergerot, that apostle of renunciation +and charity--when he lighted amidst that world of the Vatican! How +difficult must it have been for him to understand and focus things, and +afterwards how great his grief at finding himself unable to come to any +agreement with those men without country, without fatherland, those +"internationals," who were ever poring over the maps of both hemispheres, +ever absorbed in schemes which were to bring them empire. Days and days +were necessary, one needed to live in Rome, and he, Pierre himself, had +only seen things clearly after a month's sojourn, whilst labouring under +the violent shock of the royal pomp of St. Peter's, and standing face to +face with the ancient city as it slumbered heavily in the sunlight and +dreamt its dream of eternity. + +But on lowering his eyes to the piazza in front of the Basilica he +perceived the multitude, the 40,000 believers streaming over the pavement +like insects. And then he thought that he could hear the cry again +rising: "_Evviva il Papa-Re! evviva il Papa-Re_! Long live the +Pope-King!" Whilst ascending those endless staircases a moment previously +it had seemed to him as if the colossus of stone were quivering with the +frantic shout raised beneath its ceilings. And now that he had climbed +even into cloudland that shout apparently was traversing space. If the +colossal pile beneath him still vibrated with it, was it not as with a +last rise of sap within its ancient walls, a reinvigoration of that +Catholic blood which formerly had demanded that the pile should be a +stupendous one, the veritable king of temples, and which now was striving +to reanimate it with the powerful breath of life, and this at the very +hour when death was beginning to fall upon its over-vast, deserted nave +and aisles? The crowd was still streaming forth, filling the piazza, and +Pierre's heart was wrung by frightful anguish, for that throng with its +shout had just swept his last hope away. On the previous afternoon, after +the reception of the pilgrimage, he had yet been able to deceive himself +by overlooking the necessity for money which bound the Pope to earth in +order that he might see nought but the feeble old man, all spirituality, +resplendent like the symbol of moral authority. But his faith in such a +pastor of the Gospel, free from all considerations of earthly wealth, and +king of none other than a heavenly kingdom, had fled. Not only did the +Peter's Pence impose hard servitude upon Leo XIII but he was also the +prisoner of papal tradition--the eternal King of Rome, riveted to the +soil of Rome, unable either to quit the city or to renounce the temporal +power. The fatal end would be collapse on the spot, the dome of St. +Peter's falling even as the temple of Olympian Jupiter had fallen, +Catholicism strewing the grass with its ruins whilst elsewhere schism +burst forth: a new faith for the new nations. Of this Pierre had a +grandiose and tragical vision: he beheld his dream destroyed, his book +swept away amidst that cry which spread around him as if flying to the +four corners of the Catholic world "_Evviva il Papa-Re! evviva il +Papa-Re!_ Long live the Pope-King!" But even in that hour of the papacy's +passing triumph he already felt that the giant of gold and marble on +which he stood was oscillating, even as totter all old and rotten +societies. + +At last he took his way down again, and a fresh shock of emotion came to +him as he reached the roofs, that sunlit expanse of lead and zinc, large +enough for the site of a town. Monsignor Nani was there, in company with +the two French ladies, the mother and the daughter, both looking very +happy and highly amused. No doubt the prelate had good-naturedly offered +to conduct them to the dome. However, as soon as he recognised the young +priest he went towards him: "Well, my dear son," he inquired, "are you +pleased? Have you been impressed, edified?" As he spoke, his searching +eyes dived into Pierre's soul, as if to ascertain the present result of +his experiments. Then, satisfied with what he detected, he began to laugh +softly: "Yes, yes, I see--come, you are a sensible fellow after all. I +begin to think that the unfortunate affair which brought you here will +have a happy ending." + + + + +VIII. + +WHEN Pierre remained in the morning at the Boccanera mansion he often +spent some hours in the little neglected garden which had formerly ended +with a sort of colonnaded _loggia_, whence two flights of steps descended +to the Tiber. This garden was a delightful, solitary nook, perfumed by +the ripe fruit of the centenarian orange-trees, whose symmetrical lines +were the only indication of the former pathways, now hidden beneath rank +weeds. And Pierre also found there the acrid scent of the large +box-shrubs growing in the old central fountain basin, which had been +filled up with loose earth and rubbish. + +On those luminous October mornings, full of such tender and penetrating +charm, the spot was one where all the joy of living might well be +savoured, but Pierre brought thither his northern dreaminess, his concern +for suffering, his steadfast feeling of compassion, which rendered yet +sweeter the caress of the sunlight pervading that atmosphere of love. He +seated himself against the right-hand wall on a fragment of a fallen +column over which a huge laurel cast a deep-black shadow, fresh and +aromatic. In the antique greenish sarcophagus beside him, on which fauns +offered violence to nymphs, the streamlet of water trickling from the +mask incrusted in the wall, set the unchanging music of its crystal note, +whilst he read the newspapers and the letters which he received, all the +communications of good Abbe Rose, who kept him informed of his mission +among the wretched ones of gloomy Paris, now already steeped in fog and +mud. + +One morning however, Pierre unexpectedly found Benedetta seated on the +fallen column which he usually made his chair. She raised a light cry of +surprise on seeing him, and for a moment remained embarrassed, for she +had with her his book "New Rome," which she had read once already, but +had then imperfectly understood. And overcoming her embarrassment she now +hastened to detain him, making him sit down beside her, and frankly +owning that she had come to the garden in order to be alone and apply +herself to an attentive study of the book, in the same way as some +ignorant school-girl. Then they began to chat like a pair of friends, and +the young priest spent a delightful hour. Although Benedetta did not +speak of herself, he realised that it was her grief alone which brought +her nearer to him, as if indeed her own sufferings enlarged her heart and +made her think of all who suffered in the world. Patrician as she was, +regarding social hierarchy as a divine law, she had never previously +thought of such things, and some pages of Pierre's book greatly +astonished her. What! one ought to take interest in the lowly, realise +that they had the same souls and the same griefs as oneself, and seek in +brotherly or sisterly fashion to make them happy? She certainly sought to +acquire such an interest, but with no great success, for she secretly +feared that it might lead her into sin, as it could not be right to alter +aught of the social system which had been established by God and +consecrated by the Church. Charitable she undoubtedly was, wont to bestow +small sums in alms, but she did not give her heart, she felt no true +sympathy for the humble, belonging as she did to such a different race, +which looked to a throne in heaven high above the seats of all the +plebeian elect. + +She and Pierre, however, found themselves on other mornings side by side +in the shade of the laurels near the trickling, singing water; and he, +lacking occupation, weary of waiting for a solution which seemed to +recede day by day, fervently strove to animate this young and beautiful +woman with some of his own fraternal feelings. He was impassioned by the +idea that he was catechising Italy herself, the queen of beauty, who was +still slumbering in ignorance, but who would recover all her past glory +if she were to awake to the new times with soul enlarged, swelling with +pity for men and things. Reading good Abbe Rose's letters to Benedetta, +he made her shudder at the frightful wail of wretchedness which ascends +from all great cities. With such deep tenderness in her eyes, with the +happiness of love reciprocated emanating from her whole being, why should +she not recognise, even as he did, that the law of love was the sole +means of saving suffering humanity, which, through hatred, incurred the +danger of death? And to please him she did try to believe in democracy, +in the fraternal remodelling of society, but among other nations +only--not at Rome, for an involuntary, gentle laugh came to her lips +whenever his words evoked the idea of the poor still remaining in the +Trastevere district fraternising with those who yet dwelt in the old +princely palaces. No, no, things had been as they were so long; they +could not, must not, be altered! And so, after all, Pierre's pupil made +little progress: she was, in reality, simply touched by the wealth of +ardent love which the young priest had chastely transferred from one +alone to the whole of human kind. And between him and her, as those +sunlit October mornings went by, a tie of exquisite sweetness was formed; +they came to love one another with deep, pure, fraternal affection, +amidst the great glowing passion which consumed them both. + +Then, one day, Benedetta, her elbow resting on the sarcophagus, spoke of +Dario, whose name she had hitherto refrained from mentioning. Ah! poor +_amico_, how circumspect and repentant he had shown himself since that +fit of brutal insanity! At first, to conceal his embarrassment, he had +gone to spend three days at Naples, and it was said that La Tonietta, the +sentimental _demi-mondaine_, had hastened to join him there, wildly in +love with him. Since his return to the mansion he had avoided all private +meetings with his cousin, and scarcely saw her except at the Monday +receptions, when he wore a submissive air, and with his eyes silently +entreated forgiveness. + +"Yesterday, however," continued Benedetta, "I met him on the staircase +and gave him my hand. He understood that I was no longer angry with him +and was very happy. What else could I have done? One must not be severe +for ever. Besides, I do not want things to go too far between him and +that woman. I want him to remember that I still love him, and am still +waiting for him. Oh! he is mine, mine alone. But alas! I cannot say the +word: our affairs are in such sorry plight." + +She paused, and two big tears welled into her eyes. The divorce +proceedings to which she alluded had now come to a standstill, fresh +obstacles ever arising to stay their course. + +Pierre was much moved by her tears, for she seldom wept. She herself +sometimes confessed, with her calm smile, that she did not know how to +weep. But now her heart was melting, and for a moment she remained +overcome, leaning on the mossy, crumbling sarcophagus, whilst the clear +water falling from the gaping mouth of the tragic mask still sounded its +flutelike note. And a sudden thought of death came to the priest as he +saw her, so young and so radiant with beauty, half fainting beside that +marble resting-place where fauns were rushing upon nymphs in a frantic +bacchanal which proclaimed the omnipotence of love--that omnipotence +which the ancients were fond of symbolising on their tombs as a token of +life's eternity. And meantime a faint, warm breeze passed through the +sunlit, silent garden, wafting hither and thither the penetrating scent +of box and orange. + +"One has so much strength when one loves," Pierre at last murmured. + +"Yes, yes, you are right," she replied, already smiling again. "I am +childish. But it is the fault of your book. It is only when I suffer that +I properly understand it. But all the same I am making progress, am I +not? Since you desire it, let all the poor, all those who suffer, as I +do, be my brothers and sisters." + +Then for a while they resumed their chat. + +On these occasions Benedetta was usually the first to return to the +house, and Pierre would linger alone under the laurels, vaguely dreaming +of sweet, sad things. Often did he think how hard life proved for poor +creatures whose only thirst was for happiness! + +One Monday evening, at a quarter-past ten, only the young folks remained +in Donna Serafina's reception-room. Monsignor Nani had merely put in an +appearance that night, and Cardinal Sarno had just gone off. + +Even Donna Serafina, in her usual seat by the fireplace, seemed to have +withdrawn from the others, absorbed as she was in contemplation of the +chair which the absent Morano still stubbornly left unoccupied. Chatting +and laughing in front of the sofa on which sat Benedetta and Celia were +Dario, Pierre, and Narcisse Habert, the last of whom had begun to twit +the young Prince, having met him, so he asserted, a few days previously, +in the company of a very pretty girl. + +"Oh! don't deny it, my dear fellow," continued Narcisse, "for she was +really superb. She was walking beside you, and you turned into a lane +together--the Borgo Angelico, I think." + +Dario listened smiling, quite at his ease and incapable of denying his +passionate predilection for beauty. "No doubt, no doubt; it was I, I +don't deny it," he responded. "Only the inferences you draw are not +correct." And turning towards Benedetta, who, without a thought of +jealous anxiety, wore as gay a look as himself, as though delighted that +he should have enjoyed that passing pleasure of the eyes, he went on: "It +was the girl, you know, whom I found in tears six weeks ago. Yes, that +bead-worker who was sobbing because the workshop was shut up, and who +rushed along, all blushing, to conduct me to her parents when I offered +her a bit of silver. Pierina her name is, as you, perhaps, remember." + +"Oh! yes, Pierina." + +"Well, since then I've met her in the street on four or five occasions. +And, to tell the truth, she is so very beautiful that I've stopped and +spoken to her. The other day, for instance, I walked with her as far as a +manufacturer's. But she hasn't yet found any work, and she began to cry, +and so, to console her a little, I kissed her. She was quite taken aback +at it, but she seemed very well pleased." + +At this all the others began to laugh. But suddenly Celia desisted and +said very gravely, "You know, Dario, she loves you; you must not be hard +on her." + +Dario, no doubt, was of Celia's opinion, for he again looked at +Benedetta, but with a gay toss of the head, as if to say that, although +the girl might love him, he did not love her. A bead-worker indeed, a +girl of the lowest classes, pooh! She might be a Venus, but she could be +nothing to him. And he himself made merry over his romantic adventure, +which Narcisse sought to arrange in a kind of antique sonnet: A beautiful +bead-worker falling madly in love with a young prince, as fair as +sunlight, who, touched by her misfortune, hands her a silver crown; then +the beautiful bead-worker, quite overcome at finding him as charitable as +handsome, dreaming of him incessantly, and following him everywhere, +chained to his steps by a link of flame; and finally the beautiful +bead-worker, who has refused the silver crown, so entreating the handsome +prince with her soft, submissive eyes, that he at last deigns to grant +her the alms of his heart. This pastime greatly amused Benedetta; but +Celia, with her angelic face and the air of a little girl who ought to +have been ignorant of everything, remained very grave and repeated sadly, +"Dario, Dario, she loves you; you must not make her suffer." + +Then the Contessina, in her turn, was moved to pity. "And those poor +folks are not happy!" said she. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the Prince, "it's misery beyond belief. On the day she +took me to the Quartiere dei Prati* I was quite overcome; it was awful, +astonishingly awful!" + + * The district of the castle meadows--see _ante_ note.--Trans. + +"But I remember that we promised to go to see the poor people," resumed +Benedetta, "and we have done wrong in delaying our visit so long. For +your studies, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, you greatly desired to accompany +us and see the poor of Rome--was that not so?" + +As she spoke she raised her eyes to Pierre, who for a moment had been +silent. He was much moved by her charitable thought, for he realised, by +the faint quiver of her voice, that she desired to appear a docile pupil, +progressing in affection for the lowly and the wretched. Moreover, his +passion for his apostolate had at once returned to him. "Oh!" said he, "I +shall not quit Rome without having seen those who suffer, those who lack +work and bread. Therein lies the malady which affects every nation; +salvation can only be attained by the healing of misery. When the roots +of the tree cannot find sustenance the tree dies." + +"Well," resumed the Contessina, "we will fix an appointment at once; you +shall come with us to the Quartiere dei Prati--Dario will take us there." + +At this the Prince, who had listened to the priest with an air of +stupefaction, unable to understand the simile of the tree and its roots, +began to protest distressfully, "No, no, cousin, take Monsieur l'Abbe for +a stroll there if it amuses you. But I've been, and don't want to go +back. Why, when I got home the last time I was so upset that I almost +took to my bed. No, no; such abominations are too awful--it isn't +possible." + +At this moment a voice, bitter with displeasure, arose from the chimney +corner. Donna Serafina was emerging from her long silence. "Dario is +quite right! Send your alms, my dear, and I will gladly add mine. There +are other places where you might take Monsieur l'Abbe, and which it would +be far more useful for him to see. With that idea of yours you would send +him away with a nice recollection of our city." + +Roman pride rang out amidst the old lady's bad temper. Why, indeed, show +one's sores to foreigners, whose visit is possibly prompted by hostile +curiosity? One always ought to look beautiful; Rome should not be shown +otherwise than in the garb of glory. + +Narcisse, however, had taken possession of Pierre. "It's true, my dear +Abbe," said he; "I forgot to recommend that stroll to you. You really +must visit the new district built over the castle meadows. It's typical, +and sums up all the others. And you won't lose your time there, I'll +warrant you, for nowhere can you learn more about the Rome of the present +day. It's extraordinary, extraordinary!" Then, addressing Benedetta, he +added, "Is it decided? Shall we say to-morrow morning? You'll find the +Abbe and me over there, for I want to explain matters to him beforehand, +in order that he may understand them. What do you say to ten o'clock?" + +Before answering him the Contessina turned towards her aunt and +respectfully opposed her views. "But Monsieur l'Abbe, aunt, has met +enough beggars in our streets already, so he may well see everything. +Besides, judging by his book, he won't see worse things than he has seen +in Paris. As he says in one passage, hunger is the same all the world +over." Then, with her sensible air, she gently laid siege to Dario. "You +know, Dario," said she, "you would please me very much by taking me +there. We can go in the carriage and join these gentlemen. It will be a +very pleasant outing for us. It is such a long time since we went out +together." + +It was certainly that idea of going out with Dario, of having a pretext +for a complete reconciliation with him, that enchanted her; he himself +realised it, and, unable to escape, he tried to treat the matter as a +joke. "Ah! cousin," he said, "it will be your fault; I shall have the +nightmare for a week. An excursion like that spoils all the enjoyment of +life for days and days." + +The mere thought made him quiver with revolt. However, laughter again +rang out around him, and, in spite of Donna Serafina's mute disapproval, +the appointment was finally fixed for the following morning at ten +o'clock. Celia as she went off expressed deep regret that she could not +form one of the party; but, with the closed candour of a budding lily, +she really took interest in Pierina alone. As she reached the ante-room +she whispered in her friend's ear: "Take a good look at that beauty, my +dear, so as to tell me whether she is so very beautiful--beautiful beyond +compare." + +When Pierre met Narcisse near the Castle of Sant' Angelo on the morrow, +at nine o'clock, he was surprised to find him again languid and +enraptured, plunged anew in artistic enthusiasm. At first not a word was +said of the excursion. Narcisse related that he had risen at sunrise in +order that he might spend an hour before Bernini's "Santa Teresa." It +seemed that when he did not see that statue for a week he suffered as +acutely as if he were parted from some cherished mistress. And his +adoration varied with the time of day, according to the light in which he +beheld the figure: in the morning, when the pale glow of dawn steeped it +in whiteness, he worshipped it with quite a mystical transport of the +soul, whilst in the afternoon, when the glow of the declining sun's +oblique rays seemed to permeate the marble, his passion became as fiery +red as the blood of martyrs. "Ah! my friend," said he with a weary air +whilst his dreamy eyes faded to mauve, "you have no idea how delightful +and perturbing her awakening was this morning--how languorously she +opened her eyes, like a pure, candid virgin, emerging from the embrace of +the Divinity. One could die of rapture at the sight!" + +Then, growing calm again when he had taken a few steps, he resumed in the +voice of a practical man who does not lose his balance in the affairs of +life: "We'll walk slowly towards the castle-fields district--the +buildings yonder; and on our way I'll tell you what I know of the things +we shall see there. It was the maddest affair imaginable, one of those +delirious frenzies of speculation which have a splendour of their own, +just like the superb, monstrous masterpiece of a man of genius whose mind +is unhinged. I was told of it all by some relatives of mine, who took +part in the gambling, and, in point of fact, made a good deal of money by +it." + +Thereupon, with the clearness and precision of a financier, employing +technical terms with perfect ease, he recounted the extraordinary +adventure. That all Italy, on the morrow of the occupation of Rome, +should have been delirious with enthusiasm at the thought of at last +possessing the ancient and glorious city, the eternal capital to which +the empire of the world had been promised, was but natural. It was, so to +say, a legitimate explosion of the delight and the hopes of a young +nation anxious to show its power. The question was to make Rome a modern +capital worthy of a great kingdom, and before aught else there were +sanitary requirements to be dealt with: the city needed to be cleansed of +all the filth which disgraced it. One cannot nowadays imagine in what +abominable putrescence the city of the popes, the _Roma sporca_ which +artists regret, was then steeped: the vast majority of the houses lacked +even the most primitive arrangements, the public thoroughfares were used +for all purposes, noble ruins served as store-places for sewage, the +princely palaces were surrounded by filth, and the streets were perfect +manure beds which fostered frequent epidemics. Thus vast municipal works +were absolutely necessary, the question was one of health and life +itself. And in much the same way it was only right to think of building +houses for the newcomers, who would assuredly flock into the city. There +had been a precedent at Berlin, whose population, after the establishment +of the German empire, had suddenly increased by some hundreds of +thousands. In the same way the population of Rome would certainly be +doubled, tripled, quadrupled, for as the new centre of national life the +city would necessarily attract all the _vis viva_ of the provinces. And +at this thought pride stepped in: the fallen government of the Vatican +must be shown what Italy was capable of achieving, what splendour she +would bestow on the new and third Rome, which, by the magnificence of its +thoroughfares and the multitude of its people, would far excel either the +imperial or the papal city. + +True, during the early years some prudence was observed; wisely enough, +houses were only built in proportion as they were required. The +population had doubled at one bound, rising from two to four hundred +thousand souls, thanks to the arrival of the little world of employees +and officials of the public services--all those who live on the State or +hope to live on it, without mentioning the idlers and enjoyers of life +whom a Court always carries in its train. However, this influx of +newcomers was a first cause of intoxication, for every one imagined that +the increase would continue, and, in fact, become more and more rapid. +And so the city of the day before no longer seemed large enough; it was +necessary to make immediate preparations for the morrow's need by +enlarging Rome on all sides. Folks talked, too, of the Paris of the +second empire, which had been so extended and transformed into a city of +light and health. But unfortunately on the banks of the Tiber there was +neither any preconcerted general plan nor any clear-seeing man, master of +the situation, supported by powerful financial organisations. And the +work, begun by pride, prompted by the ambition of surpassing the Rome of +the Caesars and the Popes, the determination to make the eternal, +predestined city the queen and centre of the world once more, was +completed by speculation, one of those extraordinary gambling frenzies, +those tempests which arise, rage, destroy, and carry everything away +without premonitory warning or possibility of arresting their course. All +at once it was rumoured that land bought at five francs the metre had +been sold again for a hundred francs the metre; and thereupon the fever +arose--the fever of a nation which is passionately fond of gambling. A +flight of speculators descending from North Italy swooped down upon Rome, +the noblest and easiest of preys. Those needy, famished mountaineers +found spoils for every appetite in that voluptuous South where life is so +benign, and the very delights of the climate helped to corrupt and hasten +moral gangrene. At first, too; it was merely necessary to stoop; money +was to be found by the shovelful among the rubbish of the first districts +which were opened up. People who were clever enough to scent the course +which the new thoroughfares would take and purchase buildings threatened +with demolition increased their capital tenfold in a couple of years. And +after that the contagion spread, infecting all classes--the princes, +burgesses, petty proprietors, even the shop-keepers, bakers, grocers, and +boot-makers; the delirium rising to such a pitch that a mere baker +subsequently failed for forty-five millions.* Nothing, indeed, was left +but rageful gambling, in which the stakes were millions, whilst the lands +and the houses became mere fictions, mere pretexts for stock-exchange +operations. And thus the old hereditary pride, which had dreamt of +transforming Rome into the capital of the world, was heated to madness by +the high fever of speculation--folks buying, and building, and selling +without limit, without a pause, even as one might throw shares upon the +market as fast and as long as presses can be found to print them. + + * 1,800,000 pounds. See _ante_ note.--Trans. + +No other city in course of evolution has ever furnished such a spectacle. +Nowadays, when one strives to penetrate things one is confounded. The +population had increased to five hundred thousand, and then seemingly +remained stationary; nevertheless, new districts continued to sprout up +more thickly than ever. Yet what folly it was not to wait for a further +influx of inhabitants! Why continue piling up accommodation for thousands +of families whose advent was uncertain? The only excuse lay in having +beforehand propounded the proposition that the third Rome, the triumphant +capital of Italy, could not count less than a million souls, and in +regarding that proposition as indisputable fact. The people had not come, +but they surely would come: no patriot could doubt it without being +guilty of treason. And so houses were built and built without a pause, +for the half-million citizens who were coming. There was no anxiety as to +the date of their arrival; it was sufficient that they should be +expected. Inside Rome the companies which had been formed in connection +with the new thoroughfares passing through the old, demolished, +pestiferous districts, certainly sold or let their house property, and +thereby realised large profits. But, as the craze increased, other +companies were established for the purpose of erecting yet more and more +districts outside Rome--veritable little towns, of which there was no +need whatever. Beyond the Porta San Giovanni and the Porta San Lorenzo, +suburbs sprang up as by miracle. A town was sketched out over the vast +estate of the Villa Ludovisi, from the Porta Pia to the Porta Salaria and +even as far as Sant' Agnese. And then came an attempt to make quite a +little city, with church, school, and market, arise all at once on the +fields of the Castle of Sant' Angelo. And it was no question of small +dwellings for labourers, modest flats for employees, and others of +limited means; no, it was a question of colossal mansions three and four +storeys high, displaying uniform and endless facades which made these new +excentral quarters quite Babylonian, such districts, indeed, as only +capitals endowed with intense life, like Paris and London, could contrive +to populate. However, such were the monstrous products of pride and +gambling; and what a page of history, what a bitter lesson now that Rome, +financially ruined, is further disgraced by that hideous girdle of empty, +and, for the most part, uncompleted carcases, whose ruins already strew +the grassy streets! + +The fatal collapse, the disaster proved a frightful one. Narcisse +explained its causes and recounted its phases so clearly that Pierre +fully understood. Naturally enough, numerous financial companies had +sprouted up: the Immobiliere, the Society d'Edilizia e Construzione, the +Fondaria, the Tiberiana, and the Esquilino. Nearly all of them built, +erected huge houses, entire streets of them, for purposes of sale; but +they also gambled in land, selling plots at large profit to petty +speculators, who also dreamt of making large profits amidst the +continuous, fictitious rise brought about by the growing fever of +agiotage. And the worst was that the petty speculators, the middle-class +people, the inexperienced shop-keepers without capital, were crazy enough +to build in their turn by borrowing of the banks or applying to the +companies which had sold them the land for sufficient cash to enable them +to complete their structures. As a general rule, to avoid the loss of +everything, the companies were one day compelled to take back both land +and buildings, incomplete though the latter might be, and from the +congestion which resulted they were bound to perish. If the expected +million of people had arrived to occupy the dwellings prepared for them +the gains would have been fabulous, and in ten years Rome might have +become one of the most flourishing capitals of the world. But the people +did not come, and the dwellings remained empty. Moreover, the buildings +erected by the companies were too large and costly for the average +investor inclined to put his money into house property. Heredity had +acted, the builders had planned things on too huge a scale, raising a +series of magnificent piles whose purpose was to dwarf those of all other +ages; but, as it happened, they were fated to remain lifeless and +deserted, testifying with wondrous eloquence to the impotence of pride. + +So there was no private capital that dared or could take the place of +that of the companies. Elsewhere, in Paris for instance, new districts +have been erected and embellishments have been carried out with the +capital of the country--the money saved by dint of thrift. But in Rome +all was built on the credit system, either by means of bills of exchange +at ninety days, or--and this was chiefly the case--by borrowing money +abroad. The huge sum sunk in these enterprises is estimated at a +milliard, four-fifths of which was French money. The bankers did +everything; the French ones lent to the Italian bankers at 3 1-2 or 4 per +cent.; and the Italian bankers accommodated the speculators, the Roman +builders, at 6, 7, and even 8 per cent. And thus the disaster was great +indeed when France, learning of Italy's alliance with Germany, withdrew +her 800,000,000 francs in less than two years. The Italian banks were +drained of their specie, and the land and building companies, being +likewise compelled to reimburse their loans, were compelled to apply to +the banks of issue, those privileged to issue notes. At the same time +they intimidated the Government, threatening to stop all work and throw +40,000 artisans and labourers starving on the pavement of Rome if it did +not compel the banks of issue to lend them the five or six millions of +paper which they needed. And this the Government at last did, appalled by +the possibility of universal bankruptcy. Naturally, however, the five or +six millions could not be paid back at maturity, as the newly built +houses found neither purchasers nor tenants; and so the great fall began, +and continued with a rush, heaping ruin upon ruin. The petty speculators +fell on the builders, the builders on the land companies, the land +companies on the banks of issue, and the latter on the public credit, +ruining the nation. And that was how a mere municipal crisis became a +frightful disaster: a whole milliard sunk to no purpose, Rome disfigured, +littered with the ruins of the gaping and empty dwellings which had been +prepared for the five or six hundred thousand inhabitants for whom the +city yet waits in vain! + +Moreover, in the breeze of glory which swept by, the state itself took a +colossal view of things. It was a question of at once making Italy +triumphant and perfect, of accomplishing in five and twenty years what +other nations have required centuries to effect. So there was feverish +activity and a prodigious outlay on canals, ports, roads, railway lines, +and improvements in all the great cities. Directly after the alliance +with Germany, moreover, the military and naval estimates began to devour +millions to no purpose. And the ever growing financial requirements were +simply met by the issue of paper, by a fresh loan each succeeding year. +In Rome alone, too, the building of the Ministry of War cost ten +millions, that of the Ministry of Finances fifteen, whilst a hundred was +spent on the yet unfinished quays, and two hundred and fifty were sunk on +works of defence around the city. And all this was a flare of the old +hereditary pride, springing from that soil whose sap can only blossom in +extravagant projects; the determination to dazzle and conquer the world +which comes as soon as one has climbed to the Capitol, even though one's +feet rest amidst the accumulated dust of all the forms of human power +which have there crumbled one above the other. + +"And, my dear friend," continued Narcisse, "if I could go into all the +stories that are current, that are whispered here and there, you would be +stupefied at the insanity which overcame the whole city amidst the +terrible fever to which the gambling passion gave rise. Folks of small +account, and fools and ignorant people were not the only ones to be +ruined; nearly all the Roman nobles lost their ancient fortunes, their +gold and their palaces and their galleries of masterpieces, which they +owed to the munificence of the popes. The colossal wealth which it had +taken centuries of nepotism to pile up in the hands of a few melted away +like wax, in less than ten years, in the levelling fire of modern +speculation." Then, forgetting that he was speaking to a priest, he went +on to relate one of the whispered stories to which he had alluded: +"There's our good friend Dario, Prince Boccanera, the last of the name, +reduced to live on the crumbs which fall to him from his uncle the +Cardinal, who has little beyond his stipend left him. Well, Dario would +be a rich man had it not been for that extraordinary affair of the Villa +Montefiori. You have heard of it, no doubt; how Prince Onofrio, Dario's +father, speculated, sold the villa grounds for ten millions, then bought +them back and built on them, and how, at last, not only the ten millions +were lost, but also all that remained of the once colossal fortune of the +Boccaneras. What you haven't been told, however, is the secret part which +Count Prada--our Contessina's husband--played in the affair. He was the +lover of Princess Boccanera, the beautiful Flavia Montefiori, who had +brought the villa as dowry to the old Prince. She was a very fine woman, +much younger than her husband, and it is positively said that it was +through her that Prada mastered the Prince--for she held her old doting +husband at arm's length whenever he hesitated to give a signature or go +farther into the affair of which he scented the danger. And in all this +Prada gained the millions which he now spends, while as for the beautiful +Flavia, you are aware, no doubt, that she saved a little fortune from the +wreck and bought herself a second and much younger husband, whom she +turned into a Marquis Montefiori. In the whole affair the only victim is +our good friend Dario, who is absolutely ruined, and wishes to marry his +cousin, who is as poor as himself. It's true that she's determined to +have him, and that it's impossible for him not to reciprocate her love. +But for that he would have already married some American girl with a +dowry of millions, like so many of the ruined princes, on the verge of +starvation, have done; that is, unless the Cardinal and Donna Serafina +had opposed such a match, which would not have been surprising, proud and +stubborn as they are, anxious to preserve the purity of their old Roman +blood. However, let us hope that Dario and the exquisite Benedetta will +some day be happy together." + +Narcisse paused; but, after taking a few steps in silence, he added in a +lower tone: "I've a relative who picked up nearly three millions in that +Villa Montefiori affair. Ah! I regret that I wasn't here in those heroic +days of speculation. It must have been very amusing; and what strokes +there were for a man of self-possession to make!" + +However, all at once, as he raised his head, he saw before him the +Quartiere dei Prati--the new district of the castle fields; and his face +thereupon changed: he again became an artist, indignant with the modern +abominations with which old Rome had been disfigured. His eyes paled, and +a curl of his lips expressed the bitter disdain of a dreamer whose +passion for the vanished centuries was sorely hurt: "Look, look at it +all!" he exclaimed. "To think of it, in the city of Augustus, the city of +Leo X, the city of eternal power and eternal beauty!" + +Pierre himself was thunderstruck. The meadows of the Castle of Sant' +Angelo, dotted with a few poplar trees, had here formerly stretched +alongside the Tiber as far as the first slopes of Monte Mario, thus +supplying, to the satisfaction of artists, a foreground or greenery to +the Borgo and the dome of St. Peter's. But now, amidst the white, +leprous, overturned plain, there stood a town of huge, massive houses, +cubes of stone-work, invariably the same, with broad streets intersecting +one another at right angles. From end to end similar facades appeared, +suggesting series of convents, barracks, or hospitals. Extraordinary and +painful was the impression produced by this town so suddenly immobilised +whilst in course of erection. It was as if on some accursed morning a +wicked magician had with one touch of his wand stopped the works and +emptied the noisy stone-yards, leaving the buildings in mournful +abandonment. Here on one side the soil had been banked up; there deep +pits dug for foundations had remained gaping, overrun with weeds. There +were houses whose halls scarcely rose above the level of the soil; others +which had been raised to a second or third floor; others, again, which +had been carried as high as was intended, and even roofed in, suggesting +skeletons or empty cages. Then there were houses finished excepting that +their walls had not been plastered, others which had been left without +window frames, shutters, or doors; others, again, which had their doors +and shutters, but were nailed up like coffins with not a soul inside +them; and yet others which were partly, and in a few cases fully, +inhabited--animated by the most unexpected of populations. And no words +could describe the fearful mournfulness of that City of the Sleeping +Beauty, hushed into mortal slumber before it had even lived, lying +annihilated beneath the heavy sun pending an awakening which, likely +enough, would never come. + +Following his companion, Pierre walked along the broad, deserted streets, +where all was still as in a cemetery. Not a vehicle nor a pedestrian +passed by. Some streets had no foot ways; weeds were covering the unpaved +roads, turning them once more into fields; and yet there were temporary +gas lamps, mere leaden pipes bound to poles, which had been there for +years. To avoid payment of the door and window tax, the house owners had +generally closed all apertures with planks; while some houses, of which +little had been built, were surrounded by high palings for fear lest +their cellars should become the dens of all the bandits of the district. +But the most painful sight of all was that of the young ruins, the proud, +lofty structures, which, although unfinished, were already cracking on +all sides, and required the support of an intricate arrangement of +timbers to prevent them from falling in dust upon the ground. A pang came +to one's heart as though one was in a city which some scourge had +depopulated--pestilence, war, or bombardment, of which these gaping +carcases seem to retain the mark. Then at the thought that this was +abortment, not death--that destruction would complete its work before the +dreamt-of, vainly awaited denizens would bring life to the still-born +houses, one's melancholy deepened to hopeless discouragement. And at each +corner, moreover, there was the frightful irony of the magnificent marble +slabs which bore the names of the streets, illustrious historical names, +Gracchus, Scipio, Pliny, Pompey, Julius Caesar, blazing forth on those +unfinished, crumbling walls like a buffet dealt by the Past to modern +incompetency. + +Then Pierre was once more struck by this truth--that whosoever possesses +Rome is consumed by the building frenzy, the passion for marble, the +boastful desire to build and leave his monument of glory to future +generations. After the Caesars and the Popes had come the Italian +Government, which was no sooner master of the city than it wished to +reconstruct it, make it more splendid, more huge than it had ever been +before. It was the fatal suggestion of the soil itself--the blood of +Augustus rushing to the brain of these last-comers and urging them to a +mad desire to make the third Rome the queen of the earth. Thence had come +all the vast schemes such as the cyclopean quays and the mere ministries +struggling to outvie the Colosseum; and thence had come all the new +districts of gigantic houses which had sprouted like towns around the +ancient city. It was not only on the castle fields, but at the Porta San +Giovanni, the Porta San Lorenzo, the Villa Ludovisi, and on the heights +of the Viminal and the Esquiline that unfinished, empty districts were +already crumbling amidst the weeds of their deserted streets. After two +thousand years of prodigious fertility the soil really seemed to be +exhausted. Even as in very old fruit gardens newly planted plum and +cherry trees wither and die, so the new walls, no doubt, found no life in +that old dust of Rome, impoverished by the immemorial growth of so many +temples, circuses, arches, basilicas, and churches. And thus the modern +houses, which men had sought to render fruitful, the useless, over-huge +houses, swollen with hereditary ambition, had been unable to attain +maturity, and remained there sterile like dry bushes on a plot of land +exhausted by over-cultivation. And the frightful sadness that one felt +arose from the fact that so creative and great a past had culminated in +such present-day impotency--Rome, who had covered the world with +indestructible monuments, now so reduced that she could only generate +ruins. + +"Oh, they'll be finished some day!" said Pierre. + +Narcisse gazed at him in astonishment: "For whom?" + +That was the cruel question! Only by dint of patriotic enthusiasm on the +morrow of the conquest had one been able to indulge in the hope of a +mighty influx of population, and now singular blindness was needed for +the belief that such an influx would ever take place. The past +experiments seemed decisive; moreover, there was no reason why the +population should double: Rome offered neither the attraction of pleasure +nor that of gain to be amassed in commerce and industry for those she had +not, nor of intensity of social and intellectual life, since of this she +seemed no longer capable. In any case, years and years would be +requisite. And, meantime, how could one people those houses which were +finished; and for whom was one to finish those which had remained mere +skeletons, falling to pieces under sun and rain? Must they all remain +there indefinitely, some gaunt and open to every blast and others closed +and silent like tombs, in the wretched hideousness of their inutility and +abandonment? What a terrible proof of error they offered under the +radiant sky! The new masters of Rome had made a bad start, and even if +they now knew what they ought to have done would they have the courage to +undo what they had done? Since the milliard sunk there seemed to be +definitely lost and wasted, one actually hoped for the advent of a Nero, +endowed with mighty, sovereign will, who would take torch and pick and +burn and raze everything in the avenging name of reason and beauty. + +"Ah!" resumed Narcisse, "here are the Contessina and the Prince." + +Benedetta had told the coachman to pull up in one of the open spaces +intersecting the deserted streets, and now along the broad, quiet, grassy +road--well fitted for a lovers' stroll--she was approaching on Dario's +arm, both of them delighted with their outing, and no longer thinking of +the sad things which they had come to see. "What a nice day it is!" the +Contessina gaily exclaimed as she reached Pierre and Narcisse. "How +pleasant the sunshine is! It's quite a treat to be able to walk about a +little as if one were in the country!" + +Dario was the first to cease smiling at the blue sky, all the delight of +his stroll with his cousin on his arm suddenly departing. "My dear," said +he, "we must go to see those people, since you are bent on it, though it +will certainly spoil our day. But first I must take my bearings. I'm not +particularly clever, you know, in finding my way in places where I don't +care to go. Besides, this district is idiotic with all its dead streets +and dead houses, and never a face or a shop to serve as a reminder. Still +I think the place is over yonder. Follow me; at all events, we shall +see." + +The four friends then wended their way towards the central part of the +district, the part facing the Tiber, where a small nucleus of a +population had collected. The landlords turned the few completed houses +to the best advantage they could, letting the rooms at very low rentals, +and waiting patiently enough for payment. Some needy employees, some +poverty-stricken families--had thus installed themselves there, and in +the long run contrived to pay a trifle for their accommodation. In +consequence, however, of the demolition of the ancient Ghetto and the +opening of the new streets by which air had been let into the Trastevere +district, perfect hordes of tatterdemalions, famished and homeless, and +almost without garments, had swooped upon the unfinished houses, filling +them with wretchedness and vermin; and it had been necessary to tolerate +this lawless occupation lest all the frightful misery should remain +displayed in the public thoroughfares. And so it was to those frightful +tenants that had fallen the huge four and five storeyed palaces, entered +by monumental doorways flanked by lofty statues and having carved +balconies upheld by caryatides all along their fronts. Each family had +made its choice, often closing the frameless windows with boards and the +gaping doorways with rags, and occupying now an entire princely flat and +now a few small rooms, according to its taste. Horrid-looking linen hung +drying from the carved balconies, foul stains already degraded the white +walls, and from the magnificent porches, intended for sumptuous +equipages, there poured a stream of filth which rotted in stagnant pools +in the roads, where there was neither pavement nor footpath. + +On two occasions already Dario had caused his companions to retrace their +steps. He was losing his way and becoming more and more gloomy. "I ought +to have taken to the left," said he, "but how is one to know amidst such +a set as that!" + +Parties of verminous children were now to be seen rolling in the dust; +they were wondrously dirty, almost naked, with black skins and tangled +locks as coarse as horsehair. There were also women in sordid skirts and +with their loose jackets unhooked. Many stood talking together in yelping +voices, whilst others, seated on old chairs with their hands on their +knees, remained like that idle for hours. Not many men were met; but a +few lay on the scorched grass, sleeping heavily in the sunlight. However, +the stench was becoming unbearable--a stench of misery as when the human +animal eschews all cleanliness to wallow in filth. And matters were made +worse by the smell from a small, improvised market--the emanations of the +rotting fruit, cooked and sour vegetables, and stale fried fish which a +few poor women had set out on the ground amidst a throng of famished, +covetous children. + +"Ah! well, my dear, I really don't know where it is," all at once +exclaimed the Prince, addressing his cousin. "Be reasonable; we've surely +seen enough; let's go back to the carriage." + +He was really suffering, and, as Benedetta had said, he did not know how +to suffer. It seemed to him monstrous that one should sadden one's life +by such an excursion as this. Life ought to be buoyant and benign under +the clear sky, brightened by pleasant sights, by dance and song. And he, +with his naive egotism, had a positive horror of ugliness, poverty, and +suffering, the sight of which caused him both mental and physical pain. + +Benedetta shuddered even as he did, but in presence of Pierre she desired +to be brave. Glancing at him, and seeing how deeply interested and +compassionate he looked, she desired to persevere in her effort to +sympathise with the humble and the wretched. "No, no, Dario, we must +stay. These gentlemen wish to see everything--is it not so?" + +"Oh, the Rome of to-day is here," exclaimed Pierre; "this tells one more +about it than all the promenades among the ruins and the monuments." + +"You exaggerate, my dear Abbe," declared Narcisse. "Still, I will admit +that it is very interesting. Some of the old women are particularly +expressive." + +At this moment Benedetta, seeing a superbly beautiful girl in front of +her, could not restrain a cry of enraptured admiration: "_O che +bellezza!_" + +And then Dario, having recognised the girl, exclaimed with the same +delight: "Why, it's La Pierina; she'll show us the way." + +The girl had been following the party for a moment already without daring +to approach. Her eyes, glittering with the joy of a loving slave, had at +first darted towards the Prince, and then had hastily scrutinised the +Contessina--not, however, with any show of jealous anger, but with an +expression of affectionate submission and resigned happiness at seeing +that she also was very beautiful. And the girl fully answered to the +Prince's description of her--tall, sturdy, with the bust of a goddess, a +real antique, a Juno of twenty, her chin somewhat prominent, her mouth +and nose perfect in contour, her eyes large and full like a heifer's, and +her whole face quite dazzling--gilded, so to say, by a sunflash--beneath +her casque of heavy jet-black hair. + +"So you will show us the way?" said Benedetta, familiar and smiling, +already consoled for all the surrounding ugliness by the thought that +there should be such beautiful creatures in the world. + +"Oh yes, signora, yes, at once!" And thereupon Pierina ran off before +them, her feet in shoes which at any rate had no holes, whilst the old +brown woollen dress which she wore appeared to have been recently washed +and mended. One seemed to divine in her a certain coquettish care, a +desire for cleanliness, which none of the others displayed; unless, +indeed, it were simply that her great beauty lent radiance to her humble +garments and made her appear a goddess. + +"_Che bellezza! the bellezza!_" the Contessina repeated without wearying. +"That girl, Dario _mio_, is a real feast for the eyes!" + +"I knew she would please you," he quietly replied, flattered at having +discovered such a beauty, and no longer talking of departure, since he +could at last rest his eyes on something pleasant. + +Behind them came Pierre, likewise full of admiration, whilst Narcisse +spoke to him of the scrupulosity of his own tastes, which were for the +rare and the subtle. "She's beautiful, no doubt," said he; "but at bottom +nothing can be more gross than the Roman style of beauty; there's no +soul, none of the infinite in it. These girls simply have blood under +their skins without ever a glimpse of heaven." + +Meantime Pierina had stopped, and with a wave of the hand directed +attention to her mother, who sat on a broken box beside the lofty doorway +of an unfinished mansion. She also must have once been very beautiful, +but at forty she was already a wreck, with dim eyes, drawn mouth, black +teeth, broadly wrinkled countenance, and huge fallen bosom. And she was +also fearfully dirty, her grey wavy hair dishevelled and her skirt and +jacket soiled and slit, revealing glimpses of grimy flesh. On her knees +she held a sleeping infant, her last-born, at whom she gazed like one +overwhelmed and courageless, like a beast of burden resigned to her fate. + +"_Bene, bene,_" said she, raising her head, "it's the gentleman who came +to give me a crown because he saw you crying. And he's come back to see +us with some friends. Well, well, there are some good hearts in the world +after all." + +Then she related their story, but in a spiritless way, without seeking to +move her visitors. She was called Giacinta, it appeared, and had married +a mason, one Tomaso Gozzo, by whom she had had seven children, Pierina, +then Tito, a big fellow of eighteen, then four more girls, each at an +interval of two years, and finally the infant, a boy, whom she now had on +her lap. They had long lived in the Trastevere district, in an old house +which had lately been pulled down; and their existence seemed to have +then been shattered, for since they had taken refuge in the Quartiere dei +Prati the crisis in the building trade had reduced Tomaso and Tito to +absolute idleness, and the bead factory where Pierina had earned as much +as tenpence a day--just enough to prevent them from dying of hunger--had +closed its doors. At present not one of them had any work; they lived +purely by chance. + +"If you like to go up," the woman added, "you'll find Tomaso there with +his brother Ambrogio, whom we've taken to live with us. They'll know +better than I what to say to you. Tomaso is resting; but what else can he +do? It's like Tito--he's dozing over there." + +So saying she pointed towards the dry grass amidst which lay a tall young +fellow with a pronounced nose, hard mouth, and eyes as admirable as +Pierina's. He had raised his head to glance suspiciously at the visitors, +a fierce frown gathering on his forehead when he remarked how rapturously +his sister contemplated the Prince. Then he let his head fall again, but +kept his eyes open, watching the pair stealthily. + +"Take the lady and gentlemen upstairs, Pierina, since they would like to +see the place," said the mother. + +Other women had now drawn near, shuffling along with bare feet in old +shoes; bands of children, too, were swarming around; little girls but +half clad, amongst whom, no doubt, were Giacinta's four. However, with +their black eyes under their tangled mops they were all so much alike +that only their mothers could identify them. And the whole resembled a +teeming camp of misery pitched on that spot of majestic disaster, that +street of palaces, unfinished yet already in ruins. + +With a soft, loving smile, Benedetta turned to her cousin. "Don't you +come up," she gently said; "I don't desire your death, Dario _mio_. It +was very good of you to come so far. Wait for me here in the pleasant +sunshine: Monsieur l'Abbe and Monsieur Habert will go up with me." + +Dario began to laugh, and willingly acquiesced. Then lighting a +cigarette, he walked slowly up and down, well pleased with the mildness +of the atmosphere. + +La Pierina had already darted into the spacious porch whose lofty, +vaulted ceiling was adorned with coffers displaying a rosaceous pattern. +However, a veritable manure heap covered such marble slabs as had already +been laid in the vestibule, whilst the steps of the monumental stone +staircase with sculptured balustrade were already cracked and so grimy +that they seemed almost black. On all sides appeared the greasy stains of +hands; the walls, whilst awaiting the painter and gilder, had been +smeared with repulsive filth. + +On reaching the spacious first-floor landing Pierina paused, and +contented herself with calling through a gaping portal which lacked both +door and framework: "Father, here's a lady and two gentlemen to see you." +Then to the Contessina she added: "It's the third room at the end." And +forthwith she herself rapidly descended the stairs, hastening back to her +passion. + +Benedetta and her companions passed through two large rooms, bossy with +plaster under foot and having frameless windows wide open upon space; and +at last they reached a third room, where the whole Gozzo family had +installed itself with the remnants it used as furniture. On the floor, +where the bare iron girders showed, no boards having been laid down, were +five or six leprous-looking palliasses. A long table, which was still +strong, occupied the centre of the room, and here and there were a few +old, damaged, straw-seated chairs mended with bits of rope. The great +business had been to close two of the three windows with boards, whilst +the third one and the door were screened with some old mattress ticking +studded with stains and holes. + +Tomaso's face expressed the surprise of a man who is unaccustomed to +visits of charity. Seated at the table, with his elbows resting on it and +his chin supported by his hands, he was taking repose, as his wife +Giacinta had said. He was a sturdy fellow of five and forty, bearded and +long-haired; and, in spite of all his misery and idleness, his large face +had remained as serene as that of a Roman senator. However, the sight of +the two foreigners--for such he at once judged Pierre and Narcisse to be, +made him rise to his feet with sudden distrust. But he smiled on +recognising Benedetta, and as she began to speak of Dario, and to explain +the charitable purpose of their visit, he interrupted her: "Yes, yes, I +know, Contessina. Oh! I well know who you are, for in my father's time I +once walled up a window at the Palazzo Boccanera." + +Then he complaisantly allowed himself to be questioned, telling Pierre, +who was surprised, that although they were certainly not happy they would +have found life tolerable had they been able to work two days a week. And +one could divine that he was, at heart, fairly well content to go on +short commons, provided that he could live as he listed without fatigue. +His narrative and his manner suggested the familiar locksmith who, on +being summoned by a traveller to open his trunk, the key of which was +lost, sent word that he could not possibly disturb himself during the +hour of the siesta. In short, there was no rent to pay, as there were +plenty of empty mansions open to the poor, and a few coppers would have +sufficed for food, easily contented and sober as one was. + +"But oh, sir," Tomaso continued, "things were ever so much better under +the Pope. My father, a mason like myself, worked at the Vatican all his +life, and even now, when I myself get a job or two, it's always there. We +were spoilt, you see, by those ten years of busy work, when we never left +our ladders and earned as much as we pleased. Of course, we fed ourselves +better, and bought ourselves clothes, and took such pleasure as we cared +for; so that it's all the harder nowadays to have to stint ourselves. But +if you'd only come to see us in the Pope's time! No taxes, everything to +be had for nothing, so to say--why, one merely had to let oneself live." + +At this moment a growl arose from one of the palliasses lying in the +shade of the boarded windows, and the mason, in his slow, quiet way, +resumed: "It's my brother Ambrogio, who isn't of my opinion. + +"He was with the Republicans in '49, when he was fourteen. But it doesn't +matter; we took him with us when we heard that he was dying of hunger and +sickness in a cellar." + +The visitors could not help quivering with pity. Ambrogio was the elder +by some fifteen years; and now, though scarcely sixty, he was already a +ruin, consumed by fever, his legs so wasted that he spent his days on his +palliasse without ever going out. Shorter and slighter, but more +turbulent than his brother, he had been a carpenter by trade. And, +despite his physical decay, he retained an extraordinary head--the head +of an apostle and martyr, at once noble and tragic in its expression, and +encompassed by bristling snowy hair and beard. + +"The Pope," he growled; "I've never spoken badly of the Pope. Yet it's +his fault if tyranny continues. He alone in '49 could have given us the +Republic, and then we shouldn't have been as we are now." + +Ambrogio had known Mazzini, whose vague religiosity remained in him--the +dream of a Republican pope at last establishing the reign of liberty and +fraternity. But later on his passion for Garibaldi had disturbed these +views, and led him to regard the papacy as worthless, incapable of +achieving human freedom. And so, between the dream of his youth and the +stern experience of his life, he now hardly knew in which direction the +truth lay. Moreover, he had never acted save under the impulse of violent +emotion, but contented himself with fine words--vague, indeterminate +wishes. + +"Brother Ambrogio," replied Tomaso, all tranquillity, "the Pope is the +Pope, and wisdom lies in putting oneself on his side, because he will +always be the Pope--that is to say, the stronger. For my part, if we had +to vote to-morrow I'd vote for him." + +Calmed by the shrewd prudence characteristic of his race, the old +carpenter made no haste to reply. At last he said, "Well, as for me, +brother Tomaso, I should vote against him--always against him. And you +know very well that we should have the majority. The Pope-king indeed! +That's all over. The very Borgo would revolt. Still, I won't say that we +oughtn't to come to an understanding with him, so that everybody's +religion may be respected." + +Pierre listened, deeply interested, and at last ventured to ask: "Are +there many socialists among the Roman working classes?" + +This time the answer came after a yet longer pause. "Socialists? Yes, +there are some, no doubt, but much fewer than in other places. All those +things are novelties which impatient fellows go in for without +understanding much about them. We old men, we were for liberty; we don't +believe in fire and massacre." + +Then, fearing to say too much in presence of that lady and those +gentlemen, Ambrogio began to moan on his pallet, whilst the Contessina, +somewhat upset by the smell of the place, took her departure, after +telling the young priest that it would be best for them to leave their +alms with the wife downstairs. Meantime Tomaso resumed his seat at the +table, again letting his chin rest on his hands as he nodded to his +visitors, no more impressed by their departure than he had been by their +arrival: "To the pleasure of seeing you again, and am happy to have been +able to oblige you." + +On the threshold, however, Narcisse's enthusiasm burst forth; he turned +to cast a final admiring glance at old Ambrogio's head, "a perfect +masterpiece," which he continued praising whilst he descended the stairs. + +Down below Giacinta was still sitting on the broken box with her infant +across her lap, and a few steps away Pierina stood in front of Dario, +watching him with an enchanted air whilst he finished his cigarette. +Tito, lying low in the grass like an animal on the watch for prey, did +not for a moment cease to gaze at them. + +"Ah, signora!" resumed the woman, in her resigned, doleful voice, "the +place is hardly inhabitable, as you must have seen. The only good thing +is that one gets plenty of room. But there are draughts enough to kill +me, and I'm always so afraid of the children falling down some of the +holes." + +Thereupon she related a story of a woman who had lost her life through +mistaking a window for a door one evening and falling headlong into the +street. Then, too, a little girl had broken both arms by tumbling from a +staircase which had no banisters. And you could die there without anybody +knowing how bad you were and coming to help you. Only the previous day +the corpse of an old man had been found lying on the plaster in a lonely +room. Starvation must have killed him quite a week previously, yet he +would still have been stretched there if the odour of his remains had not +attracted the attention of neighbours. + +"If one only had something to eat things wouldn't be so bad!" continued +Giacinta. "But it's dreadful when there's a baby to suckle and one gets +no food, for after a while one has no milk. This little fellow wants his +titty and gets angry with me because I can't give him any. But it isn't +my fault. He has sucked me till the blood came, and all I can do is to +cry." + +As she spoke tears welled into her poor dim eyes. But all at once she +flew into a tantrum with Tito, who was still wallowing in the grass like +an animal instead of rising by way of civility towards those fine people, +who would surely leave her some alms. "Eh! Tito, you lazy fellow, can't +you get up when people come to see you?" she called. + +After some pretence of not hearing, the young fellow at last rose with an +air of great ill-humour; and Pierre, feeling interested in him, tried to +draw him out as he had done with the father and uncle upstairs. But Tito +only returned curt answers, as if both bored and suspicious. Since there +was no work to be had, said he, the only thing was to sleep. It was of no +use to get angry; that wouldn't alter matters. So the best was to live as +one could without increasing one's worry. As for socialists--well, yes, +perhaps there were a few, but he didn't know any. And his weary, +indifferent manner made it quite clear that, if his father was for the +Pope and his uncle for the Republic, he himself was for nothing at all. +In this Pierre divined the end of a nation, or rather the slumber of a +nation in which democracy has not yet awakened. However, as the priest +continued, asking Tito his age, what school he had attended, and in what +district he had been born, the young man suddenly cut the questions short +by pointing with one finger to his breast and saying gravely, "_Io son' +Romano di Roma_." + +And, indeed, did not that answer everything? "I am a Roman of Rome." +Pierre smiled sadly and spoke no further. Never had he more fully +realised the pride of that race, the long-descending inheritance of glory +which was so heavy to bear. The sovereign vanity of the Caesars lived +anew in that degenerate young fellow who was scarcely able to read and +write. Starveling though he was, he knew his city, and could +instinctively have recounted the grand pages of its history. The names of +the great emperors and great popes were familiar to him. And why should +men toil and moil when they had been the masters of the world? Why not +live nobly and idly in the most beautiful of cities, under the most +beautiful of skies? "_Io son' Romano di Roma_!" + +Benedetta had slipped her alms into the mother's hand, and Pierre and +Narcisse were following her example when Dario, who had already done so, +thought of Pierina. He did not like to offer her money, but a pretty, +fanciful idea occurred to him. Lightly touching his lips with his +finger-tips, he said, with a faint laugh, "For beauty!" + +There was something really pretty and pleasing in the kiss thus wafted +with a slightly mocking laugh by that familiar, good-natured young Prince +who, as in some love story of the olden time, was touched by the +beautiful bead-worker's mute adoration. Pierina flushed with pleasure, +and, losing her head, darted upon Dario's hand and pressed her warm lips +to it with unthinking impulsiveness, in which there was as much divine +gratitude as tender passion. But Tito's eyes flashed with anger at the +sight, and, brutally seizing his sister by the skirt, he threw her back, +growling between his teeth, "None of that, you know, or I'll kill you, +and him too!" + +It was high time for the visitors to depart, for other women, scenting +the presence of money, were now coming forward with outstretched hands, +or despatching tearful children in their stead. The whole wretched, +abandoned district was in a flutter, a distressful wail ascended from +those lifeless streets with high resounding names. But what was to be +done? One could not give to all. So the only course lay in flight--amidst +deep sadness as one realised how powerless was charity in presence of +such appalling want. + +When Benedetta and Dario had reached their carriage they hastened to take +their seats and nestle side by side, glad to escape from all such +horrors. Still the Contessina was well pleased with her bravery in the +presence of Pierre, whose hand she pressed with the emotion of a pupil +touched by the master's lesson, after Narcisse had told her that he meant +to take the young priest to lunch at the little restaurant on the Piazza +of St. Peter's whence one obtained such an interesting view of the +Vatican. + +"Try some of the light white wine of Genzano," said Dario, who had become +quite gay again. "There's nothing better to drive away the blues." + +However, Pierre's curiosity was insatiable, and on the way he again +questioned Narcisse about the people of modern Rome, their life, habits, +and manners. There was little or no education, he learnt; no large +manufactures and no export trade existed. The men carried on the few +trades that were current, all consumption being virtually limited to the +city itself. Among the women there were bead-workers and embroiderers; +and the manufacture of religious articles, such as medals and chaplets, +and of certain popular jewellery had always occupied a fair number of +hands. But after marriage the women, invariably burdened with numerous +offspring, attempted little beyond household work. Briefly, the +population took life as it came, working just sufficiently to secure +food, contenting itself with vegetables, pastes, and scraggy mutton, +without thought of rebellion or ambition. The only vices were gambling +and a partiality for the red and white wines of the Roman province--wines +which excited to quarrel and murder, and on the evenings of feast days, +when the taverns emptied, strewed the streets with groaning men, slashed +and stabbed with knives. The girls, however, but seldom went wrong; one +could count those who allowed themselves to be seduced; and this arose +from the great union prevailing in each family, every member of which +bowed submissively to the father's absolute authority. Moreover, the +brothers watched over their sisters even as Tito did over Pierina, +guarding them fiercely for the sake of the family honour. And amidst all +this there was no real religion, but simply a childish idolatry, all +hearts going forth to Madonna and the Saints, who alone were entreated +and regarded as having being: for it never occurred to anybody to think +of God. + +Thus the stagnation of the lower orders could easily be understood. +Behind them were the many centuries during which idleness had been +encouraged, vanity flattered, and nerveless life willingly accepted. When +they were neither masons, nor carpenters, nor bakers, they were servants +serving the priests, and more or less directly in the pay of the Vatican. +Thence sprang the two antagonistic parties, on the one hand the more +numerous party composed of the old Carbonari, Mazzinians, and +Garibaldians, the _elite_ of the Trastevere; and on the other the +"clients" of the Vatican, all who lived on or by the Church and regretted +the Pope-King. But, after all, the antagonism was confined to opinions; +there was no thought of making an effort or incurring a risk. For that, +some sudden flare of passion, strong enough to overcome the sturdy +calmness of the race, would have been needed. But what would have been +the use of it? The wretchedness had lasted for so many centuries, the sky +was so blue, the siesta preferable to aught else during the hot hours! +And only one thing seemed positive--that the majority was certainly in +favour of Rome remaining the capital of Italy. Indeed, rebellion had +almost broken out in the Leonine City when the cession of the latter to +the Holy See was rumoured. As for the increase of want and poverty, this +was largely due to the circumstance that the Roman workman had really +gained nothing by the many works carried on in his city during fifteen +years. First of all, over 40,000 provincials, mostly from the North, more +spirited and resistant than himself, and working at cheaper rates, had +invaded Rome; and when he, the Roman, had secured his share of the +labour, he had lived in better style, without thought of economy; so that +after the crisis, when the 40,000 men from the provinces were sent home +again, he had found himself once more in a dead city where trade was +always slack. And thus he had relapsed into his antique indolence, at +heart well pleased at no longer being hustled by press of work, and again +accommodating himself as best he could to his old mistress, Want, empty +in pocket yet always a _grand seigneur_. + +However, Pierre was struck by the great difference between the want and +wretchedness of Rome and Paris. In Rome the destitution was certainly +more complete, the food more loathsome, the dirt more repulsive. Yet at +the same time the Roman poor retained more ease of manner and more real +gaiety. The young priest thought of the fireless, breadless poor of +Paris, shivering in their hovels at winter time; and suddenly he +understood. The destitution of Rome did not know cold. What a sweet and +eternal consolation; a sun for ever bright, a sky for ever blue and +benign out of charity to the wretched! And what mattered the vileness of +the dwelling if one could sleep under the sky, fanned by the warm breeze! +What mattered even hunger if the family could await the windfall of +chance in sunlit streets or on the scorched grass! The climate induced +sobriety; there was no need of alcohol or red meat to enable one to face +treacherous fogs. Blissful idleness smiled on the golden evenings, +poverty became like the enjoyment of liberty in that delightful +atmosphere where the happiness of living seemed to be all sufficient. +Narcisse told Pierre that at Naples, in the narrow odoriferous streets of +the port and Santa Lucia districts, the people spent virtually their +whole lives out-of-doors, gay, childish, and ignorant, seeking nothing +beyond the few pence that were needed to buy food. And it was certainly +the climate which fostered the prolonged infancy of the nation, which +explained why such a democracy did not awaken to social ambition and +consciousness of itself. No doubt the poor of Naples and Rome suffered +from want; but they did not know the rancour which cruel winter implants +in men's hearts, the dark rancour which one feels on shivering with cold +while rich people are warming themselves before blazing fires. They did +not know the infuriated reveries in snow-swept hovels, when the guttering +dip burns low, the passionate need which then comes upon one to wreak +justice, to revolt, as from a sense of duty, in order that one may save +wife and children from consumption, in order that they also may have a +warm nest where life shall be a possibility! Ah! the want that shivers +with the bitter cold--therein lies the excess of social injustice, the +most terrible of schools, where the poor learn to realise their +sufferings, where they are roused to indignation, and swear to make those +sufferings cease, even if in doing so they annihilate all olden society! + +And in that same clemency of the southern heavens Pierre also found an +explanation of the life of St. Francis,* that divine mendicant of love +who roamed the high roads extolling the charms of poverty. Doubtless he +was an unconscious revolutionary, protesting against the overflowing +luxury of the Roman court by his return to the love of the humble, the +simplicity of the primitive Church. But such a revival of innocence and +sobriety would never have been possible in a northern land. The +enchantment of Nature, the frugality of a people whom the sunlight +nourished, the benignity of mendicancy on roads for ever warm, were +needed to effect it. And yet how was it possible that a St. Francis, +glowing with brotherly love, could have appeared in a land which nowadays +so seldom practises charity, which treats the lowly so harshly and +contemptuously, and cannot even bestow alms on its own Pope? Is it +because ancient pride ends by hardening all hearts, or because the +experience of very old races leads finally to egotism, that one now +beholds Italy seemingly benumbed amidst dogmatic and pompous Catholicism, +whilst the return to the ideals of the Gospel, the passionate interest in +the poor and the suffering comes from the woeful plains of the North, +from the nations whose sunlight is so limited? Yes, doubtless all that +has much to do with the change, and the success of St. Francis was in +particular due to the circumstance that, after so gaily espousing his +lady, Poverty, he was able to lead her, bare-footed and scarcely clad, +during endless and delightful spring-tides, among communities whom an +ardent need of love and compassion then consumed. + + * St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the famous order of + mendicant friars.--Trans. + +While conversing, Pierre and Narcisse had reached the Piazza of St. +Peter's, and they sat down at one of the little tables skirting the +pavement outside the restaurant where they had lunched once before. The +linen was none too clean, but the view was splendid. The Basilica rose up +in front of them, and the Vatican on the right, above the majestic curve +of the colonnade. Just as the waiter was bringing the _hors-d'oeuvre_, +some _finocchio_* and anchovies, the young priest, who had fixed his eyes +on the Vatican, raised an exclamation to attract Narcisse's attention: +"Look, my friend, at that window, which I am told is the Holy Father's. +Can't you distinguish a pale figure standing there, quite motionless?" + + * Fennel-root, eaten raw, a favourite "appetiser" in Rome during + the spring and autumn.--Trans. + +The young man began to laugh. "Oh! well," said he, "it must be the Holy +Father in person. You are so anxious to see him that your very anxiety +conjures him into your presence." + +"But I assure you," repeated Pierre, "that he is over there behind the +window-pane. There is a white figure looking this way." + +Narcisse, who was very hungry, began to eat whilst still indulging in +banter. All at once, however, he exclaimed: "Well, my dear Abbe, as the +Pope is looking at us, this is the moment to speak of him. I promised to +tell you how he sunk several millions of St. Peter's Patrimony in the +frightful financial crisis of which you have just seen the ruins; and, +indeed, your visit to the new district of the castle fields would not be +complete without this story by way of appendix." + +Thereupon, without losing a mouthful, Narcisse spoke at considerable +length. At the death of Pius IX the Patrimony of St. Peter, it seemed, +had exceeded twenty millions of francs. Cardinal Antonelli, who +speculated, and whose ventures were usually successful, had for a long +time left a part of this money with the Rothschilds and a part in the +hands of different nuncios, who turned it to profit abroad. After +Antonelli's death, however, his successor, Cardinal Simeoni, withdrew the +money from the nuncios to invest it at Rome; and Leo XIII on his +accession entrusted the administration of the Patrimony to a commission +of cardinals, of which Monsignor Folchi was appointed secretary. This +prelate, who for twelve years played such an important _role_, was the +son of an employee of the Dataria, who, thanks to skilful financial +operations, had left a fortune of a million francs. Monsignor Folchi +inherited his father's cleverness, and revealed himself to be a financier +of the first rank in such wise that the commission gradually relinquished +its powers to him, letting him act exactly as he pleased and contenting +itself with approving the reports which he laid before it at each +meeting. The Patrimony, however, yielded scarcely more than a million +francs per annum, and, as the expenditure amounted to seven millions, six +had to be found. Accordingly, from that other source of income, the +Peter's Pence, the Pope annually gave three million francs to Monsignor +Folchi, who, by skilful speculations and investments, was able to double +them every year, and thus provide for all disbursements without ever +breaking into the capital of the Patrimony. In the earlier times he +realised considerable profit by gambling in land in and about Rome. He +took shares also in many new enterprises, speculated in mills, omnibuses, +and water-services, without mentioning all the gambling in which he +participated with the Banca di Roma, a Catholic institution. Wonderstruck +by his skill, the Pope, who, on his own side, had hitherto speculated +through the medium of a confidential employee named Sterbini, dismissed +the latter, and entrusted Monsignor Folchi with the duty of turning his +money to profit in the same way as he turned that of the Holy See. This +was the climax of the prelate's favour, the apogee of his power. Bad days +were dawning, things were tottering already, and the great collapse was +soon to come, sudden and swift like lightning. One of Leo XIII's +practices was to lend large sums to the Roman princes who, seized with +the gambling frenzy, and mixed up in land and building speculations, were +at a loss for money. To guarantee the Pope's advances they deposited +shares with him, and thus, when the downfall came, he was left with heaps +of worthless paper on his hands. Then another disastrous affair was an +attempt to found a house of credit in Paris in view of working off the +shares which could not be disposed of in Italy among the French +aristocracy and religious people. To egg these on it was said that the +Pope was interested in the venture; and the worst was that he dropped +three millions of francs in it.* The situation then became the more +critical as he had gradually risked all the money he disposed of in the +terrible agiotage going on in Rome, tempted thereto by the prospect of +huge profits and perhaps indulging in the hope that he might win back by +money the city which had been torn from him by force. His own +responsibility remained complete, for Monsignor Folchi never made an +important venture without consulting him; and he must have been therefore +the real artisan of the disaster, mastered by his passion for gain, his +desire to endow the Church with a huge capital, that great source of +power in modern times. As always happens, however, the prelate was the +only victim. He had become imperious and difficult to deal with; and was +no longer liked by the cardinals of the commission, who were merely +called together to approve such transactions as he chose to entrust to +them. So, when the crisis came, a plot was laid; the cardinals terrified +the Pope by telling him of all the evil rumours which were current, and +then forced Monsignor Folchi to render a full account of his +speculations. The situation proved to be very bad; it was no longer +possible to avoid heavy losses. And so Monsignor Folchi was disgraced, +and since then has vainly solicited an audience of Leo XIII, who has +always refused to receive him, as if determined to punish him for their +common fault--that passion for lucre which blinded them both. Very pious +and submissive, however, Monsignor Folchi has never complained, but has +kept his secrets and bowed to fate. Nobody can say exactly how many +millions the Patrimony of St. Peter lost when Rome was changed into a +gambling-hell, but if some prelates only admit ten, others go as far as +thirty. The probability is that the loss was about fifteen millions.** + + * The allusion is evidently to the famous Union Generale, on + which the Pope bestowed his apostolic benediction, and with + which M. Zola deals at length in his novel _Money_. Certainly + a very brilliant idea was embodied in the Union Generale, that + of establishing a great international Catholic bank which + would destroy the Jewish financial autocracy throughout Europe, + and provide both the papacy and the Legitimist cause in several + countries with the sinews of war. But in the battle which + ensued the great Jew financial houses proved the stronger, and + the disaster which overtook the Catholic speculators was a + terrible one.--Trans. + + ** That is 600,000 pounds. + +Whilst Narcisse was giving this account he and Pierre had despatched +their cutlets and tomatoes, and the waiter was now serving them some +fried chicken. "At the present time," said Narcisse by way of conclusion, +"the gap has been filled up; I told you of the large sums yielded by the +Peter's Pence Fund, the amount of which is only known by the Pope, who +alone fixes its employment. And, by the way, he isn't cured of +speculating: I know from a good source that he still gambles, though with +more prudence. Moreover, his confidential assistant is still a prelate. +And, when all is said, my dear Abbe, he's in the right: a man must belong +to his times--dash it all!" + +Pierre had listened with growing surprise, in which terror and sadness +mingled. Doubtless such things were natural, even legitimate; yet he, in +his dream of a pastor of souls free from all terrestrial cares, had never +imagined that they existed. What! the Pope--the spiritual father of the +lowly and the suffering--had speculated in land and in stocks and shares! +He had gambled, placed funds in the hands of Jew bankers, practised +usury, extracted hard interest from money--he, the successor of the +Apostle, the Pontiff of Christ, the representative of Jesus, of the +Gospel, that divine friend of the poor! And, besides, what a painful +contrast: so many millions stored away in those rooms of the Vatican, and +so many millions working and fructifying, constantly being diverted from +one speculation to another in order that they might yield the more gain; +and then down below, near at hand, so much want and misery in those +abominable unfinished buildings of the new districts, so many poor folks +dying of hunger amidst filth, mothers without milk for their babes, men +reduced to idleness by lack of work, old ones at the last gasp like +beasts of burden who are pole-axed when they are of no more use! Ah! God +of Charity, God of Love, was it possible! The Church doubtless had +material wants; she could not live without money; prudence and policy had +dictated the thought of gaining for her such a treasure as would enable +her to fight her adversaries victoriously. But how grievously this +wounded one's feelings, how it soiled the Church, how she descended from +her divine throne to become nothing but a party, a vast international +association organised for the purpose of conquering and possessing the +world! + +And the more Pierre thought of the extraordinary adventure the greater +was his astonishment. Could a more unexpected, startling drama be +imagined? That Pope shutting himself up in his palace--a prison, no +doubt, but one whose hundred windows overlooked immensity; that Pope who, +at all hours of the day and night, in every season, could from his window +see his capital, the city which had been stolen from him, and the +restitution of which he never ceased to demand; that Pope who, day by +day, beheld the changes effected in the city--the opening of new streets, +the demolition of ancient districts, the sale of land, and the gradual +erection of new buildings which ended by forming a white girdle around +the old ruddy roofs; that Pope who, in presence of this daily spectacle, +this building frenzy, which he could follow from morn till eve, was +himself finally overcome by the gambling passion, and, secluded in his +closed chamber, began to speculate on the embellishments of his old +capital, seeking wealth in the spurt of work and trade brought about by +that very Italian Government which he reproached with spoliation; and +finally that Pope losing millions in a catastrophe which he ought to have +desired, but had been unable to foresee! No, never had dethroned monarch +yielded to a stranger idea, compromised himself in a more tragical +venture, the result of which fell upon him like divine punishment. And it +was no mere king who had done this, but the delegate of God, the man who, +in the eyes of idolatrous Christendom, was the living manifestation of +the Deity! + +Dessert had now been served--a goat's cheese and some fruit--and Narcisse +was just finishing some grapes when, on raising his eyes, he in turn +exclaimed: "Well, you are quite right, my dear Abbe, I myself can see a +pale figure at the window of the Holy Father's room." + +Pierre, who scarcely took his eyes from the window, answered slowly: +"Yes, yes, it went away, but has just come back, and stands there white +and motionless." + +"Well, after all, what would you have the Pope do?" resumed Narcisse with +his languid air. "He's like everybody else; he looks out of the window +when he wants a little distraction, and certainly there's plenty for him +to look at." + +The same idea had occurred to Pierre, and was filling him with emotion. +People talked of the Vatican being closed, and pictured a dark, gloomy +palace, encompassed by high walls, whereas this palace overlooked all +Rome, and the Pope from his window could see the world. Pierre himself +had viewed the panorama from the summit of the Janiculum, the _loggie_ of +Raffaelle, and the dome of St. Peter's, and so he well knew what it was +that Leo XIII was able to behold. In the centre of the vast desert of the +Campagna, bounded by the Sabine and Alban mountains, the seven +illustrious hills appeared to him with their trees and edifices. His eyes +ranged also over all the basilicas, Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in +Laterano, the cradle of the papacy, San Paolo-fuori-le-Mura, Santa Croce +in Gerusalemme, Sant' Agnese, and the others; they beheld, too, the domes +of the Gesu of Sant' Andrea della Valle, San Carlo and San Giovanni dei +Fiorentini, and indeed all those four hundred churches of Rome which make +the city like a _campo santo_ studded with crosses. And Leo XIII could +moreover see the famous monuments testifying to the pride of successive +centuries--the Castle of Sant' Angelo, that imperial mausoleum which was +transformed into a papal fortress, the distant white line of the tombs of +the Appian Way, the scattered ruins of the baths of Caracalla and the +abode of Septimius Severus; and then, after the innumerable columns, +porticoes, and triumphal arches, there were the palaces and villas of the +sumptuous cardinals of the Renascence, the Palazzo Farnese, the Palazzo +Borghese, the Villa Medici, and others, amidst a swarming of facades and +roofs. But, in particular, just under his window, on the left, the Pope +was able to see the abominations of the unfinished district of the castle +fields. In the afternoon, when he strolled through his gardens, bastioned +by the wall of the fourth Leo like the plateau of a citadel, his view +stretched over the ravaged valley at the foot of Monte Mario, where so +many brick-works were established during the building frenzy. The green +slopes are still ripped up, yellow trenches intersect them in all +directions, and the closed works and factories have become wretched ruins +with lofty, black, and smokeless chimneys. And at any other hour of the +day Leo XIII could not approach his window without beholding the +abandoned houses for which all those brick-fields had worked, those +houses which had died before they even lived, and where there was now +nought but the swarming misery of Rome, rotting there like some +decomposition of olden society. + +However, Pierre more particularly thought of Leo XIII, forgetting the +rest of the city to let his thoughts dwell on the Palatine, now bereft of +its crown of palaces and rearing only its black cypresses towards the +blue heavens. Doubtless in his mind he rebuilt the palaces of the +Caesars, whilst before him rose great shadowy forms arrayed in purple, +visions of his real ancestors, those emperors and Supreme Pontiffs who +alone could tell him how one might reign over every nation and be the +absolute master of the world. Then, however, his glances strayed to the +Quirinal, and there he could contemplate the new and neighbouring +royalty. How strange the meeting of those two palaces, the Quirinal and +the Vatican, which rise up and gaze at one another across the Rome of the +middle ages and the Renascence, whose roofs, baked and gilded by the +burning sun, are jumbled in confusion alongside the Tiber. When the Pope +and the King go to their windows they can with a mere opera-glass see +each other quite distinctly. True, they are but specks in the boundless +immensity, and what a gulf there is between them--how many centuries of +history, how many generations that battled and suffered, how much +departed greatness, and how much new seed for the mysterious future! +Still, they can see one another, and they are yet waging the eternal +fight, the fight as to which of them--the pontiff and shepherd of the +soul or the monarch and master of the body--shall possess the people +whose stream rolls beneath them, and in the result remain the absolute +sovereign. And Pierre wondered also what might be the thoughts and dreams +of Leo XIII behind those window-panes where he still fancied he could +distinguish his pale, ghostly figure. On surveying new Rome, the ravaged +olden districts and the new ones laid waste by the blast of disaster, the +Pope must certainly rejoice at the colossal failure of the Italian +Government. His city had been stolen from him; the newcomers had +virtually declared that they would show him how a great capital was +created, and their boast had ended in that catastrophe--a multitude of +hideous and useless buildings which they did not even know how to finish! +He, the Pope, could moreover only be delighted with the terrible worries +into which the usurping _regime_ had fallen, the political crisis, and +the financial crisis, the whole growing national unrest amidst which that +_regime_ seemed likely to sink some day; and yet did not he himself +possess a patriotic soul? was he not a loving son of that Italy whose +genius and ancient ambition coursed in the blood of his veins? Ah! no, +nothing against Italy; rather everything that would enable her to become +once more the mistress of the world. And so, even amidst the joy of hope, +he must have been grieved to see her thus ruined, threatened with +bankruptcy, displaying like a sore that overturned, unfinished Rome which +was a confession of her impotency. But, on the other hand, if the House +of Savoy were to be swept away, would he not be there to take its place, +and at last resume possession of his capital, which, from his window, for +fifteen years past, he had beheld in the grip of masons and demolishers? +And then he would again be the master and reign over the world, enthroned +in the predestined city to which prophecy has ensured eternity and +universal dominion. + +But the horizon spread out, and Pierre wondered what Leo XIII beheld +beyond Rome, beyond the Campagna and the Sabine and Alban mountains. What +had he seen for eighteen years past from that window whence he obtained +his only view of the world? What echoes of modern society, its truths and +certainties, had reached his ears? From the heights of the Viminal, where +the railway terminus stands, the prolonged whistling of engines must have +occasionally been carried towards him, suggesting our scientific +civilisation, the nations brought nearer together, free humanity marching +on towards the future. Did he himself ever dream of liberty when, on +turning to the right, he pictured the sea over yonder, past the tombs of +the Appian Way? Had he ever desired to go off, quit Rome and her +traditions, and found the Papacy of the new democracies elsewhere? As he +was said to possess so clear and penetrating a mind he ought to have +understood and trembled at the far-away stir and noise that came from +certain lands of battle, from those United States of America, for +instance, where revolutionary bishops were conquering, winning over the +people. Were they working for him or for themselves? If he could not +follow them, if he remained stubborn within his Vatican, bound on every +side by dogma and tradition, might not rupture some day become +unavoidable? And, indeed, the fear of a blast of schism, coming from +afar, must have filled him with growing anguish. It was assuredly on that +account that he had practised the diplomacy of conciliation, seeking to +unite in his hands all the scattered forces of the Church, overlooking +the audacious proceedings of certain bishops as far as possible, and +himself striving to gain the support of the people by putting himself on +its side against the fallen monarchies. But would he ever go any farther? +Shut up in that Vatican, behind that bronze portal, was he not bound to +the strict formulas of Catholicism, chained to them by the force of +centuries? There obstinacy was fated; it was impossible for him to resign +himself to that which was his real and surpassing power, the purely +spiritual power, the moral authority which brought mankind to his feet, +made thousands of pilgrims kneel and women swoon. Departure from Rome and +the renunciation of the temporal power would not displace the centre of +the Catholic world, but would transform him, the head of the Catholic +Church, into the head of something else. And how anxious must have been +his thoughts if the evening breeze ever brought him a vague presentiment +of that something else, a fear of the new religion which was yet dimly, +confusedly dawning amidst the tramp of the nations on the march, and the +sound of which must have reached him at one and the same time from every +point of the compass. + +At this precise moment, however, Pierre felt that the white and +motionless shadow behind those windowpanes was held erect by pride, by +the ever present conviction of victory. If man could not achieve it, a +miracle would intervene. He, the Pope, was absolutely convinced that he +or some successor would recover possession of Rome. Had not the Church +all eternity before it? And, moreover, why should not the victor be +himself? Could not God accomplish the impossible? Why, if it so pleased +God, on the very morrow his city would be restored to him, in spite of +all the objections of human reason, all the apparent logic of facts. Ah! +how he would welcome the return of that prodigal daughter whose equivocal +adventures he had ever watched with tears bedewing his paternal eyes! He +would soon forget the excesses which he had beheld during eighteen years +at all hours and in all seasons. Perhaps he dreamt of what he would do +with those new districts with which the city had been soiled. Should they +be razed, or left as evidence of the insanity of the usurpers? At all +events, Rome would again become the august and lifeless city, disdainful +of such vain matters as material cleanliness and comfort, and shining +forth upon the world like a pure soul encompassed by the traditional +glory of the centuries. And his dream continued, picturing the course +which events would take on the very morrow, no doubt. Anything, even a +republic was preferable to that House of Savoy. Why not a federal +republic, reviving the old political divisions of Italy, restoring Rome +to the Church, and choosing him, the Pope, as the natural protector of +the country thus reorganised? But his eyes travelled beyond Rome and +Italy, and his dream expanded, embracing republican France, Spain which +might become republican again, Austria which would some day be won, and +indeed all the Catholic nations welded into the United States of Europe, +and fraternising in peace under his high presidency as Sovereign Pontiff. +And then would follow the supreme triumph, all the other churches at last +vanishing, and all the dissident communities coming to him as to the one +and only pastor, who would reign in the name of Jesus over the universal +democracy. + +However, whilst Pierre was immersed in this dream which he attributed to +Leo XIII, he was all at once interrupted by Narcisse, who exclaimed: "Oh! +my dear Abbe, just look at those statues on the colonnade." The young +fellow had ordered a cup of coffee and was languidly smoking a cigar, +deep once more in the subtle aesthetics which were his only +preoccupation. "They are rosy, are they not?" he continued; "rosy, with a +touch of mauve, as if the blue blood of angels circulated in their stone +veins. It is the sun of Rome which gives them that supra-terrestrial +life; for they live, my friend; I have seen them smile and hold out their +arms to me during certain fine sunsets. Ah! Rome, marvellous, delicious +Rome! One could live here as poor as Job, content with the very +atmosphere, and in everlasting delight at breathing it!" + +This time Pierre could not help feeling surprised at Narcisse's language, +for he remembered his incisive voice and clear, precise, financial acumen +when speaking of money matters. And, at this recollection, the young +priest's mind reverted to the castle fields, and intense sadness filled +his heart as for the last time all the want and suffering rose before +him. Again he beheld the horrible filth which was tainting so many human +beings, that shocking proof of the abominable social injustice which +condemns the greater number to lead the joyless, breadless lives of +accursed beasts. And as his glance returned yet once more to the window +of the Vatican, and he fancied he could see a pale hand uplifted behind +the glass panes, he thought of that papal benediction which Leo XIII gave +from that height, over Rome, and over the plain and the hills, to the +faithful of all Christendom. And that papal benediction suddenly seemed +to him a mockery, destitute of all power, since throughout such a +multitude of centuries it had not once been able to stay a single one of +the sufferings of mankind, and could not even bring a little justice for +those poor wretches who were agonising yonder beneath the very window. + + + + +IX. + +THAT evening at dusk, as Benedetta had sent Pierre word that she desired +to see him, he went down to her little _salon_, and there found her +chatting with Celia. + +"I've seen your Pierina, you know," exclaimed the latter, just as the +young priest came in. "And with Dario, too. Or rather, she must have been +watching for him; he found her waiting in a path on the Pincio and smiled +at her. I understood at once. What a beauty she is!" + +Benedetta smiled at her friend's enthusiasm; but her lips twitched +somewhat painfully, for, however sensible she might be, this passion, +which she realised to be so naive and so strong, was beginning to make +her suffer. She certainly made allowances for Dario, but the girl was too +much in love with him, and she feared the consequences. Even in turning +the conversation she allowed the secret of her heart to escape her. "Pray +sit down, Monsieur l'Abbe," she said, "we are talking scandal, you see. +My poor Dario is accused of making love to every pretty woman in Rome. +People say that it's he who gives La Tonietta those white roses which she +has been exhibiting at the Corso every afternoon for a fortnight past." + +"That's certain, my dear," retorted Celia impetuously. "At first people +were in doubt, and talked of little Pontecorvo and Lieutenant Moretta. +But every one now knows that La Tonietta's caprice is Dario. Besides, he +joined her in her box at the Costanzi the other evening." + +Pierre remembered that the young Prince had pointed out La Tonietta at +the Pincio one afternoon. She was one of the few _demi-mondaines_ that +the higher-class society of Rome took an interest in. For a month or so +the rich Englishman to whom she owed her means had been absent, +travelling. + +"Ah!" resumed Benedetta, whose budding jealousy was entirely confined to +La Pierina, "so my poor Dario is ruining himself in white roses! Well, I +shall have to twit him about it. But one or another of these beauties +will end by robbing me of him if our affairs are not soon settled. +Fortunately, I have had some better news. Yes, my suit is to be taken in +hand again, and my aunt has gone out to-day on that very account." + +Then, as Victorine came in with a lamp, and Celia rose to depart, +Benedetta turned towards Pierre, who also was rising from his chair: +"Please stay," said she; "I wish to speak to you." + +However, Celia still lingered, interested by the mention of the divorce +suit, and eager to know if the cousins would soon be able to marry. And +at last throwing her arms round Benedetta, she kissed her passionately. +"So you are hopeful, my dear," she exclaimed. "You think that the Holy +Father will give you back your liberty? Oh! I am so pleased; it will be +so nice for you to marry Dario! And I'm well pleased on my own account, +for my father and mother are beginning to yield. Only yesterday I said to +them with that quiet little air of mine, 'I want Attilio, and you must +give him me.' And then my father flew into a furious passion and +upbraided me, and shook his fist at me, saying that if he'd made my head +as hard as his own he would know how to break it. My mother was there +quite silent and vexed, and all at once he turned to her and said: 'Here, +give her that Attilio she wants, and then perhaps we shall have some +peace!' Oh yes! I'm well pleased, very well pleased indeed!" + +As she spoke her pure virginal face beamed with so much innocent, +celestial joy that Pierre and Benedetta could not help laughing. And at +last she went off attended by a maid who had waited for her in the first +_salon_. + +When they were alone Benedetta made the priest sit down again: "I have +been asked to give you some important advice, my friend," she said. "It +seems that the news of your presence in Rome is spreading, and that bad +reports of you are circulated. Your book is said to be a fierce appeal to +schism, and you are spoken of as a mere ambitious, turbulent schismatic. +After publishing your book in Paris you have come to Rome, it is said, to +raise a fearful scandal over it in order to make it sell. Now, if you +still desire to see his Holiness, so as to plead your cause before him, +you are advised to make people forget you, to disappear altogether for a +fortnight or three weeks." + +Pierre was stupefied. Why, they would end by maddening him with all the +obstacles they raised to exhaust his patience; they would actually +implant in him an idea of schism, of an avenging, liberating scandal! He +wished to protest and refuse the advice, but all at once he made a +gesture of weariness. What would be the good of it, especially with that +young woman, who was certainly sincere and affectionate. "Who asked you +to give me this advice?" he inquired. She did not answer, but smiled, and +with sudden intuition he resumed: "It was Monsignor Nani, was it not?" + +Thereupon, still unwilling to give a direct reply, she began to praise +the prelate. He had at last consented to guide her in her divorce affair; +and Donna Serafina had gone to the Palace of the Inquisition that very +afternoon in order to acquaint him with the result of certain steps she +had taken. Father Lorenza, the confessor of both the Boccanera ladies, +was to be present at the interview, for the idea of the divorce was in +reality his own. He had urged the two women to it in his eagerness to +sever the bond which the patriotic priest Pisoni had tied full of such +fine illusions. Benedetta became quite animated as she explained the +reasons of her hopefulness. "Monsignor Nani can do everything," she said, +"and I am very happy that my affair should be in his hands. You must be +reasonable also, my friend; do as you are requested. I'm sure you will +some day be well pleased at having taken this advice." + +Pierre had bowed his head and remained thoughtful. There was nothing +unpleasant in the idea of remaining for a few more weeks in Rome, where +day by day his curiosity found so much fresh food. Of course, all these +delays were calculated to discourage him and bend his will. Yet what did +he fear, since he was still determined to relinquish nothing of his book, +and to see the Holy Father for the sole purpose of proclaiming his new +faith? Once more, in silence, he took that oath, then yielded to +Benedetta's entreaties. And as he apologised for being a source of +embarrassment in the house she exclaimed: "No, no, I am delighted to have +you here. I fancy that your presence will bring us good fortune now that +luck seems to be changing in our favour." + +It was then agreed that he would no longer prowl around St. Peter's and +the Vatican, where his constant presence must have attracted attention. +He even promised that he would virtually spend a week indoors, desirous +as he was of reperusing certain books, certain pages of Rome's history. +Then he went on chatting for a moment, lulled by the peacefulness which +reigned around him, since the lamp had illumined the _salon_ with its +sleepy radiance. Six o'clock had just struck, and outside all was dark. + +"Wasn't his Eminence indisposed to-day?" the young man asked. + +"Yes," replied the Contessina. "But we are not anxious: it is only a +little fatigue. He sent Don Vigilio to tell me that he intended to shut +himself up in his room and dictate some letters. So there can be nothing +much the matter, you see." + +Silence fell again. For a while not a sound came from the deserted street +or the old empty mansion, mute and dreamy like a tomb. But all at once +the soft somnolence, instinct with all the sweetness of a dream of hope, +was disturbed by a tempestuous entry, a whirl of skirts, a gasp of +terror. It was Victorine, who had gone off after bringing the lamp, but +now returned, scared and breathless: "Contessina! Contessina!" + +Benedetta had risen, suddenly quite white and cold, as at the advent of a +blast of misfortune. "What, what is it? Why do you run and tremble?" she +asked. + +"Dario, Monsieur Dario--down below. I went down to see if the lantern in +the porch were alight, as it is so often forgotten. And in the dark, in +the porch, I stumbled against Monsieur Dario. He is on the ground; he has +a knife-thrust somewhere." + +A cry leapt from the _amorosa's_ heart: "Dead!" + +"No, no, wounded." + +But Benedetta did not hear; in a louder and louder voice she cried: +"Dead! dead!" + +"No, no, I tell you, he spoke to me. And for Heaven's sake, be quiet. He +silenced me because he did not want any one to know; he told me to come +and fetch you--only you. However, as Monsieur l'Abbe is here, he had +better help us. We shall be none too many." + +Pierre listened, also quite aghast. And when Victorine wished to take the +lamp her trembling hand, with which she had no doubt felt the prostrate +body, was seen to be quite bloody. The sight filled Benedetta with so +much horror that she again began to moan wildly. + +"Be quiet, be quiet!" repeated Victorine. "We ought not to make any noise +in going down. I shall take the lamp, because we must at all events be +able to see. Now, quick, quick!" + +Across the porch, just at the entrance of the vestibule, Dario lay prone +upon the slabs, as if, after being stabbed in the street, he had only had +sufficient strength to take a few steps before falling. And he had just +fainted, and lay there with his face very pale, his lips compressed, and +his eyes closed. Benedetta, recovering the energy of her race amidst her +excessive grief, no longer lamented or cried out, but gazed at him with +wild, tearless, dilated eyes, as though unable to understand. The horror +of it all was the suddenness and mysteriousness of the catastrophe, the +why and wherefore of this murderous attempt amidst the silence of the old +deserted palace, black with the shades of night. The wound had as yet +bled but little, for only the Prince's clothes were stained. + +"Quick, quick!" repeated Victorine in an undertone after lowering the +lamp and moving it around. "The porter isn't there--he's always at the +carpenter's next door--and you see that he hasn't yet lighted the +lantern. Still he may come back at any moment. So the Abbe and I will +carry the Prince into his room at once." She alone retained her head, +like a woman of well-balanced mind and quiet activity. The two others, +whose stupor continued, listened to her and obeyed her with the docility +of children. "Contessina," she continued, "you must light us. Here, take +the lamp and lower it a little so that we may see the steps. You, Abbe, +take the feet; I'll take hold of him under the armpits. And don't be +alarmed, the poor dear fellow isn't heavy." + +Ah! that ascent of the monumental staircase with its low steps and its +landings as spacious as guardrooms. They facilitated the cruel journey, +but how lugubrious looked the little _cortege_ under the flickering +glimmer of the lamp which Benedetta held with arm outstretched, stiffened +by determination! And still not a sound came from the old lifeless +dwelling, nothing but the silent crumbling of the walls, the slow decay +which was making the ceilings crack. Victorine continued to whisper words +of advice whilst Pierre, afraid of slipping on the shiny slabs, put forth +an excess of strength which made his breath come short. Huge, wild +shadows danced over the big expanse of bare wall up to the very vaults +decorated with sunken panels. So endless seemed the ascent that at last a +halt became necessary; but the slow march was soon resumed. Fortunately +Dario's apartments--bed-chamber, dressing-room, and sitting-room--were on +the first floor adjoining those of the Cardinal in the wing facing the +Tiber; so, on reaching the landing, they only had to walk softly along +the corridor, and at last, to their great relief, laid the wounded man +upon his bed. + +Victorine vented her satisfaction in a light laugh. "That's done," said +she; "put the lamp on that table, Contessina. I'm sure nobody heard us. +It's lucky that Donna Serafina should have gone out, and that his +Eminence should have shut himself up with Don Vigilio. I wrapped my skirt +round Monsieur Dario's shoulders, you know, so I don't think any blood +fell on the stairs. By and by, too, I'll go down with a sponge and wipe +the slabs in the porch--" She stopped short, looked at Dario, and then +quickly added: "He's breathing--now I'll leave you both to watch over him +while I go for good Doctor Giordano, who saw you come into the world, +Contessina. He's a man to be trusted." + +Alone with the unconscious sufferer in that dim chamber, which seemed to +quiver with the frightful horror that filled their hearts, Benedetta and +Pierre remained on either side of the bed, as yet unable to exchange a +word. The young woman first opened her arms and wrung her hands whilst +giving vent to a hollow moan, as if to relieve and exhale her grief; and +then, leaning forward, she watched for some sign of life on that pale +face whose eyes were closed. Dario was certainly breathing, but his +respiration was slow and very faint, and some time went by before a touch +of colour returned to his cheeks. At last, however, he opened his eyes, +and then she at once took hold of his hand and pressed it, instilling +into the pressure all the anguish of her heart. Great was her happiness +on feeling that he feebly returned the clasp. + +"Tell me," she said, "you can see me and hear me, can't you? What has +happened, good God?" + +He did not at first answer, being worried by the presence of Pierre. On +recognising the young priest, however, he seemed content that he should +be there, and then glanced apprehensively round the room to see if there +were anybody else. And at last he murmured: "No one saw me, no one +knows?" + +"No, no; be easy. We carried you up with Victorine without meeting a +soul. Aunt has just gone out, uncle is shut up in his rooms." + +At this Dario seemed relieved, and he even smiled. "I don't want anybody +to know, it is so stupid," he murmured. + +"But in God's name what has happened?" she again asked him. + +"Ah! I don't know, I don't know," was his response, as he lowered his +eyelids with a weary air as if to escape the question. But he must have +realised that it was best for him to confess some portion of the truth at +once, for he resumed: "A man was hidden in the shadow of the porch--he +must have been waiting for me. And so, when I came in, he dug his knife +into my shoulder, there." + +Forthwith she again leant over him, quivering, and gazing into the depths +of his eyes: "But who was the man, who was he?" she asked. Then, as he, +in a yet more weary way, began to stammer that he didn't know, that the +man had fled into the darkness before he could recognise him, she raised +a terrible cry: "It was Prada! it was Prada, confess it, I know it +already!" And, quite delirious, she went on: "I tell you that I know it! +Ah! I would not be his, and he is determined that we shall never belong +to one another. Rather than have that he will kill you on the day when I +am free to be your wife! Oh! I know him well; I shall never, never be +happy. Yes, I know it well, it was Prada, Prada!" + +But sudden energy upbuoyed the wounded man, and he loyally protested: +"No, no, it was not Prada, nor was it any one working for him. That I +swear to you. I did not recognise the man, but it wasn't Prada--no, no!" + +There was such a ring of truth in Dario's words that Benedetta must have +been convinced by them. But terror once more overpowered her, for the +hand she held was suddenly growing soft, moist, and powerless. Exhausted +by his effort, Dario had fallen back, again fainting, his face quite +white and his eyes closed. And it seemed to her that he was dying. +Distracted by her anguish, she felt him with trembling, groping hands: +"Look, look, Monsieur l'Abbe!" she exclaimed. "But he is dying, he is +dying; he is already quite cold. Ah! God of heaven, he is dying!" + +Pierre, terribly upset by her cries, sought to reassure her, saying: "He +spoke too much; he has lost consciousness, as he did before. But I assure +you that I can feel his heart beating. Here, put your hand here, +Contessina. For mercy's sake don't distress yourself like that; the +doctor will soon be here, and everything will be all right." + +But she did not listen to him, and all at once he was lost in amazement, +for she flung herself upon the body of the man she adored, caught it in a +frantic embrace, bathed it with tears and covered it with kisses whilst +stammering words of fire: "Ah! if I were to lose you, if I were to lose +you! And to think that I repulsed you, that I would not accept happiness +when it was yet possible! Yes, that idea of mine, that vow I made to the +Madonna! Yet how could she be offended by our happiness? And then, and +then, if she has deceived me, if she takes you from me, ah! then I can +have but one regret--that I did not damn myself with you--yes, yes, +damnation rather than that we should never, never be each other's!" + +Was this the woman who had shown herself so calm, so sensible, so patient +the better to ensure her happiness? Pierre was terrified, and no longer +recognised her. He had hitherto seen her so reserved, so modest, with a +childish charm that seemed to come from her very nature! But under the +threatening blow she feared, the terrible blood of the Boccaneras had +awoke within her with a long heredity of violence, pride, frantic and +exasperated longings. She wished for her share of life, her share of +love! And she moaned and she clamoured, as if death, in taking her lover +from her, were tearing away some of her own flesh. + +"Calm yourself, I entreat you, madame," repeated the priest. "He is +alive, his heart beats. You are doing yourself great harm." + +But she wished to die with her lover: "O my darling! if you must go, take +me, take me with you. I will lay myself on your heart, I will clasp you +so tightly with my arms that they shall be joined to yours, and then we +must needs be buried together. Yes, yes, we shall be dead, and we shall +be wedded all the same--wedded in death! I promised that I would belong +to none but you, and I will be yours in spite of everything, even in the +grave. O my darling, open your eyes, open your mouth, kiss me if you +don't want me to die as soon as you are dead!" + +A blaze of wild passion, full of blood and fire, had passed through that +mournful chamber with old, sleepy walls. But tears were now overcoming +Benedetta, and big gasping sobs at last threw her, blinded and +strengthless, on the edge of the bed. And fortunately an end was put to +the terrible scene by the arrival of the doctor whom Victorine had +fetched. + +Doctor Giordano was a little old man of over sixty, with white curly +hair, and fresh-looking, clean-shaven countenance. By long practice among +Churchmen he had acquired the paternal appearance and manner of an +amiable prelate. And he was said to be a very worthy man, tending the +poor for nothing, and displaying ecclesiastical reserve and discretion in +all delicate cases. For thirty years past the whole Boccanera family, +children, women, and even the most eminent Cardinal himself, had in all +cases of sickness been placed in the hands of this prudent practitioner. +Lighted by Victorine and helped by Pierre, he undressed Dario, who was +roused from his swoon by pain; and after examining the wound he declared +with a smile that it was not at all dangerous. The young Prince would at +the utmost have to spend three weeks in bed, and no complications were to +be feared. Then, like all the doctors of Rome, enamoured of the fine +thrusts and cuts which day by day they have to dress among chance +patients of the lower classes, he complacently lingered over the wound, +doubtless regarding it as a clever piece of work, for he ended by saying +to the Prince in an undertone: "That's what we call a warning. The man +didn't want to kill, the blow was dealt downwards so that the knife might +slip through the flesh without touching the bone. Ah! a man really needs +to be skilful to deal such a stab; it was very neatly done." + +"Yes, yes," murmured Dario, "he spared me; had he chosen he could have +pierced me through." + +Benedetta did not hear. Since the doctor had declared the case to be free +from danger, and had explained that the fainting fits were due to nervous +shock, she had fallen in a chair, quite prostrated. Gradually, however, +some gentle tears coursed from her eyes, bringing relief after her +frightful despair, and then, rising to her feet, she came and kissed +Dario with mute and passionate delight. + +"I say, my dear doctor," resumed the Prince, "it's useless for people to +know of this. It's so ridiculous. Nobody has seen anything, it seems, +excepting Monsieur l'Abbe, whom I ask to keep the matter secret. And in +particular I don't want anybody to alarm the Cardinal or my aunt, or +indeed any of our friends." + +Doctor Giordano indulged in one of his placid smiles. "_Bene, bene_," +said he, "that's natural; don't worry yourself. We will say that you have +had a fall on the stairs and have dislocated your shoulder. And now that +the wound is dressed you must try to sleep, and don't get feverish. I +will come back to-morrow morning." + +That evening of excitement was followed by some very tranquil days, and a +new life began for Pierre, who at first remained indoors, reading and +writing, with no other recreation than that of spending his afternoons in +Dario's room, where he was certain to find Benedetta. After a somewhat +intense fever lasting for eight and forty hours, cure took its usual +course, and the story of the dislocated shoulder was so generally +believed, that the Cardinal insisted on Donna Serafina departing from her +habits of strict economy, to have a second lantern lighted on the landing +in order that no such accident might occur again. And then the monotonous +peacefulness was only disturbed by a final incident, a threat of trouble, +as it were, with which Pierre found himself mixed up one evening when he +was lingering beside the convalescent patient. + +Benedetta had absented herself for a few minutes, and as Victorine, who +had brought up some broth, was leaning towards the Prince to take the +empty cup from him, she said in a low voice: "There's a girl, Monsieur, +La Pierina, who comes here every day, crying and asking for news of you. +I can't get rid of her, she's always prowling about the place, so I +thought it best to tell you of it." + +Unintentionally, Pierre heard her and understood everything. Dario, who +was looking at him, at once guessed his thoughts, and without answering +Victorine exclaimed: "Yes, Abbe, it was that brute Tito! How idiotic, +eh?" At the same time, although the young man protested that he had done +nothing whatever for the girl's brother to give him such a "warning," he +smiled in an embarrassed way, as if vexed and even somewhat ashamed of +being mixed up in an affair of the kind. And he was evidently relieved +when the priest promised that he would see the girl, should she come +back, and make her understand that she ought to remain at home. + +"It was such a stupid affair!" the Prince repeated, with an exaggerated +show of anger. "Such things are not of our times." + +But all at once he ceased speaking, for Benedetta entered the room. She +sat down again beside her dear patient, and the sweet, peaceful evening +then took its course in the old sleepy chamber, the old, lifeless palace, +whence never a sound arose. + +When Pierre began to go out again he at first merely took a brief airing +in the district. The Via Giulia interested him, for he knew how splendid +it had been in the time of Julius II, who had dreamt of lining it with +sumptuous palaces. Horse and foot races then took place there during the +carnival, the Palazzo Farnese being the starting-point, and the Piazza of +St. Peter's the goal. Pierre had also lately read that a French +ambassador, D'Estree, Marquis de Coure, had resided at the Palazzo +Sacchetti, and in 1638 had given some magnificent entertainments in +honour of the birth of the Dauphin,* when on three successive days there +had been racing from the Ponte Sisto to San Giovanni dei Fiorentini +amidst an extraordinary display of sumptuosity: the street being strewn +with flowers, and rich hangings adorning every window. On the second +evening there had been fireworks on the Tiber, with a machine +representing the ship Argo carrying Jason and his companions to the +recovery of the Golden Fleece; and, on another occasion, the Farnese +fountain, the Mascherone, had flowed with wine. Nowadays, however, all +was changed. The street, bright with sunshine or steeped in shadow +according to the hour, was ever silent and deserted. The heavy, ancient +palatial houses, their old doors studded with plates and nails, their +windows barred with huge iron gratings, always seemed to be asleep, whole +storeys showing nothing but closed shutters as if to keep out the +daylight for evermore. Now and again, when a door was open, you espied +deep vaults, damp, cold courts, green with mildew, and encompassed by +colonnades like cloisters. Then, in the outbuildings of the mansions, the +low structures which had collected more particularly on the side of the +Tiber, various small silent shops had installed themselves. There was a +baker's, a tailor's, and a bookbinder's, some fruiterers' shops with a +few tomatoes and salad plants set out on boards, and some wine-shops +which claimed to sell the vintages of Frascati and Genzano, but whose +customers seemed to be dead. Midway along the street was a modern prison, +whose horrid yellow wall in no wise enlivened the scene, whilst, +overhead, a flight of telegraph wires stretched from the arcades of the +Farnese palace to the distant vista of trees beyond the river. With its +infrequent traffic the street, even in the daytime, was like some +sepulchral corridor where the past was crumbling into dust, and when +night fell its desolation quite appalled Pierre. You did not meet a soul, +you did not see a light in any window, and the glimmering gas lamps, few +and far between, seemed powerless to pierce the gloom. On either hand the +doors were barred and bolted, and not a sound, not a breath came from +within. Even when, after a long interval, you passed a lighted wine-shop, +behind whose panes of frosted glass a lamp gleamed dim and motionless, +not an exclamation, not a suspicion of a laugh ever reached your ear. +There was nothing alive save the two sentries placed outside the prison, +one before the entrance and the other at the corner of the right-hand +lane, and they remained erect and still, coagulated, as it were, in that +dead street. + + * Afterwards Louis XIV.--Trans. + +Pierre's interest, however, was not merely confined to the Via Giulia; it +extended to the whole district, once so fine and fashionable, but now +fallen into sad decay, far removed from modern life, and exhaling a faint +musty odour of monasticism. Towards San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, where +the new Corso Vittorio Emanuele has ripped up every olden district, the +lofty five-storeyed houses with their dazzling sculptured fronts +contrasted violently with the black sunken dwellings of the neighbouring +lanes. In the evening the globes of the electric lamps on the Corso shone +out with such dazzling whiteness that the gas lamps of the Via Giulia and +other streets looked like smoky lanterns. There were several old and +famous thoroughfares, the Via Banchi Vecchi, the Via del Pellegrino, the +Via di Monserrato, and an infinity of cross-streets which intersected and +connected the others, all going towards the Tiber, and for the most part +so narrow that vehicles scarcely had room to pass. And each street had +its church, a multitude of churches all more or less alike, highly +decorated, gilded, and painted, and open only at service time when they +were full of sunlight and incense. In the Via Giulia, in addition to San +Giovanni dei Fiorentini, San Biagio della Pagnotta, San Eligio degli +Orefici, and three or four others, there was the so-called Church of the +Dead, Santa Maria dell' Orazione; and this church, which is at the lower +end behind the Farnese palace, was often visited by Pierre, who liked to +dream there of the wild life of Rome, and of the pious brothers of the +Confraternita della Morte, who officiate there, and whose mission is to +search for and bury such poor outcasts as die in the Campagna. One +evening he was present at the funeral of two unknown men, whose bodies, +after remaining unburied for quite a fortnight, had been discovered in a +field near the Appian Way. + +However, Pierre's favourite promenade soon became the new quay of the +Tiber beyond the Palazzo Boccanera. He had merely to take the narrow lane +skirting the mansion to reach a spot where he found much food for +reflection. Although the quay was not yet finished, the work seemed to be +quite abandoned. There were heaps of rubbish, blocks of stone, broken +fences, and dilapidated tool-sheds all around. To such a height had it +been necessary to carry the quay walls--designed to protect the city from +floods, for the river bed has been rising for centuries past--that the +old terrace of the Boccanera gardens, with its double flight of steps to +which pleasure boats had once been moored, now lay in a hollow, +threatened with annihilation whenever the works should be finished. But +nothing had yet been levelled; the soil, brought thither for making up +the bank, lay as it had fallen from the carts, and on all sides were pits +and mounds interspersed with the abandoned building materials. Wretched +urchins came to play there, workmen without work slept in the sunshine, +and women after washing ragged linen spread it out to dry upon the +stones. Nevertheless the spot proved a happy, peaceful refuge for Pierre, +one fruitful in inexhaustible reveries when for hours at a time he +lingered gazing at the river, the quays, and the city, stretching in +front of him and on either hand. + +At eight in the morning the sun already gilded the vast opening. On +turning to the left he perceived the roofs of the Trastevere, of a misty, +bluish grey against the dazzling sky. Then, just beyond the apse of San +Giovanni, on the right, the river curved, and on its other bank the +poplars of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito formed a green curtain, while +the castle of Sant' Angelo showed brightly in the distance. But Pierre's +eyes dwelt more particularly on the bank just in front of him, for there +he found some lingering vestiges of old Rome. On that side indeed between +the Ponte Sisto and the Ponte Sant' Angelo, the quays, which were to +imprison the river within high, white, fortress-like walls, had not yet +been raised, and the bank with its remnants of the old papal city +conjured up an extraordinary vision of the middle ages. The houses, +descending to the river brink, were cracked, scorched, rusted by +innumerable burning summers, like so many antique bronzes. Down below +there were black vaults into which the water flowed, piles upholding +walls, and fragments of Roman stone-work plunging into the river bed; +then, rising from the shore, came steep, broken stairways, green with +moisture, tiers of terraces, storeys with tiny windows pierced here and +their in hap-hazard fashion, houses perched atop of other houses, and the +whole jumbled together with a fantastic commingling of balconies and +wooden galleries, footbridges spanning courtyards, clumps of trees +growing apparently on the very roofs, and attics rising from amidst pinky +tiles. The contents of a drain fell noisily into the river from a worn +and soiled gorge of stone; and wherever the houses stood back and the +bank appeared, it was covered with wild vegetation, weeds, shrubs, and +mantling ivy, which trailed like a kingly robe of state. And in the glory +of the sun the wretchedness and dirt vanished, the crooked, jumbled +houses seemed to be of gold, draped with the purple of the red petticoats +and the dazzling white of the shifts which hung drying from their +windows; while higher still, above the district, the Janiculum rose into +all the luminary's dazzlement, uprearing the slender profile of Sant' +Onofrio amidst cypresses and pines. + +Leaning on the parapet of the quay wall, Pierre sadly gazed at the Tiber +for hours at a time. Nothing could convey an idea of the weariness of +those old waters, the mournful slowness of their flow along that +Babylonian trench where they were confined within huge, bare, livid +prison-like walls. In the sunlight their yellowness was gilded, and the +faint quiver of the current brought ripples of green and blue; but as +soon as the shade spread over it the stream became opaque like mud, so +turbid in its venerable old age that it no longer even gave back a +reflection of the houses lining it. And how desolate was its abandonment, +what a stream of silence and solitude it was! After the winter rains it +might roll furiously and threateningly, but during the long months of +bright weather it traversed Rome without a sound, and Pierre could remain +there all day long without seeing either a skiff or a sail. The two or +three little steam-boats which arrived from the coast, the few tartanes +which brought wine from Sicily, never came higher than the Aventine, +beyond which there was only a watery desert in which here and there, at +long intervals, a motionless angler let his line dangle. All that Pierre +ever saw in the way of shipping was a sort of ancient, covered pinnace, a +rotting Noah's ark, moored on the right beside the old bank, and he +fancied that it might be used as a washhouse, though on no occasion did +he see any one in it. And on a neck of mud there also lay a stranded boat +with one side broken in, a lamentable symbol of the impossibility and the +relinquishment of navigation. Ah! that decay of the river, that decay of +father Tiber, as dead as the famous ruins whose dust he is weary of +laving! And what an evocation! all the centuries of history, so many +things, so many men, that those yellow waters have reflected till, full +of lassitude and disgust, they have grown heavy, silent and deserted, +longing only for annihilation. + +One morning on the river bank Pierre found La Pierina standing behind an +abandoned tool-shed. With her neck extended, she was looking fixedly at +the window of Dario's room, at the corner of the quay and the lane. +Doubtless she had been frightened by Victorine's severe reception, and +had not dared to return to the mansion; but some servant, possibly, had +told her which was the young Prince's window, and so she now came to this +spot, where without wearying she waited for a glimpse of the man she +loved, for some sign of life and salvation, the mere hope of which made +her heart leap. Deeply touched by the way in which she hid herself, all +humility and quivering with adoration, the priest approached her, and +instead of scolding her and driving her away as he had been asked to do, +spoke to her in a gentle, cheerful manner, asking her for news of her +people as though nothing had happened, and at last contriving to mention +Dario's name in order that she might understand that he would be up and +about again within a fortnight. On perceiving Pierre, La Pierina had +started with timidity and distrust as if anxious to flee; but when she +understood him, tears of happiness gushed from her eyes, and with a +bright smile she kissed her hand to him, calling: "_Grazie, grazie_, +thanks, thanks!" And thereupon she darted away, and he never saw her +again. + +On another morning at an early hour, as Pierre was going to say mass at +Santa Brigida on the Piazza Farnese, he was surprised to meet Benedetta +coming out of the church and carrying a small phial of oil. She evinced +no embarrassment, but frankly told him that every two or three days she +went thither to obtain from the beadle a few drops of the oil used for +the lamp that burnt before an antique wooden statue of the Madonna, in +which she had perfect confidence. She even confessed that she had never +had confidence in any other Madonna, having never obtained anything from +any other, though she had prayed to several of high repute, Madonnas of +marble and even of silver. And so her heart was full of ardent devotion +for the holy image which refused her nothing. And she declared in all +simplicity, as though the matter were quite natural and above discussion, +that the few drops of oil which she applied, morning and evening, to +Dario's wound, were alone working his cure, so speedy a cure as to be +quite miraculous. Pierre, fairly aghast, distressed indeed to find such +childish, superstitious notions in one so full of sense and grace and +passion, did not even venture to smile. + +In the evenings, when he came back from his strolls and spent an hour or +so in Dario's room, he would for a time divert the patient by relating +what he had done and seen and thought of during the day. And when he +again ventured to stray beyond the district, and became enamoured of the +lovely gardens of Rome, which he visited as soon as they opened in the +morning in order that he might be virtually alone, he delighted the young +prince and Benedetta with his enthusiasm, his rapturous passion for the +splendid trees, the plashing water, and the spreading terraces whence the +views were so sublime. It was not the most extensive of these gardens +which the more deeply impressed his heart. In the grounds of the Villa +Borghese, the little Roman Bois de Boulogne, there were certainly some +majestic clumps of greenery, some regal avenues where carriages took a +turn in the afternoon before the obligatory drive to the Pincio; but +Pierre was more touched by the reserved garden of the villa--that villa +dazzling with marble and now containing one of the finest museums in the +world. There was a simple lawn of fine grass with a vast central basin +surmounted by a figure of Venus, nude and white; and antique fragments, +vases, statues, columns, and _sarcophagi_ were ranged symmetrically all +around the deserted, sunlit yet melancholy, sward. On returning on one +occasion to the Pincio Pierre spent a delightful morning there, +penetrated by the charm of this little nook with its scanty evergreens, +and its admirable vista of all Rome and St. Peter's rising up afar off in +the soft limpid radiance. At the Villa Albani and the Villa Pamphili he +again came upon superb parasol pines, tall, stately, and graceful, and +powerful elm-trees with twisted limbs and dusky foliage. In the Pamphili +grounds, the elm-trees steeped the paths in a delicious half-light, the +lake with its weeping willows and tufts of reeds had a dreamy aspect, +while down below the _parterre_ displayed a fantastic floral mosaic +bright with the various hues of flowers and foliage. That which most +particularly struck Pierre, however, in this, the noblest, most spacious, +and most carefully tended garden of Rome, was the novel and unexpected +view that he suddenly obtained of St. Peter's, whilst skirting a low +wall: a view whose symbolism for ever clung to him. Rome had completely +vanished, and between the slopes of Monte Mario and another wooded height +which hid the city, there only appeared the colossal dome which seemed to +be poised on an infinity of scattered blocks, now white, now red. These +were the houses of the Borgo, the jumbled piles of the Vatican and the +Basilica which the huge dome surmounted and annihilated, showing greyly +blue in the light blue of the heavens, whilst far away stretched a +delicate, boundless vista of the Campagna, likewise of a bluish tint. + +It was, however, more particularly in the less sumptuous gardens, those +of a more homely grace, that Pierre realised that even things have souls. +Ah! that Villa Mattei on one side of the Coelius with its terraced +grounds, its sloping alleys edged with laurel, aloe, and spindle tree, +its box-plants forming arbours, its oranges, its roses, and its +fountains! Pierre spent some delicious hours there, and only found a +similar charm on visiting the Aventine, where three churches are +embowered in verdure. The little garden of Santa Sabina, the birthplace +of the Dominican order, is closed on all sides and affords no view: it +slumbers in quiescence, warm and perfumed by its orange-trees, amongst +which that planted by St. Dominic stands huge and gnarled but still laden +with ripe fruit. At the adjoining Priorato, however, the garden, perched +high above the Tiber, overlooks a vast expanse, with the river and the +buildings on either bank as far as the summit of the Janiculum. And in +these gardens of Rome Pierre ever found the same clipped box-shrubs, the +same eucalypti with white trunks and pale leaves long like hair, the same +ilex-trees squat and dusky, the same giant pines, the same black +cypresses, the same marbles whitening amidst tufts of roses, and the same +fountains gurgling under mantling ivy. Never did he enjoy more gentle, +sorrow-tinged delight than at the Villa of Pope Julius, where all the +life of a gay and sensual period is suggested by the semi-circular +porticus opening on the gardens, a porticus decorated with paintings, +golden trellis-work laden with flowers, amidst which flutter flights of +smiling Cupids. Then, on the evening when he returned from the Farnesina, +he declared that he had brought all the dead soul of ancient Rome away +with him, and it was not the paintings executed after Raffaelle's designs +that had touched him, it was rather the pretty hall on the river side +decorated in soft blue and pink and lilac, with an art devoid of genius +yet so charming and so Roman; and in particular it was the abandoned +garden once stretching down to the Tiber, and now shut off from it by the +new quay, and presenting an aspect of woeful desolation, ravaged, bossy +and weedy like a cemetery, albeit the golden fruit of orange and citron +tree still ripened there. + +And for the last time a shock came to Pierre's heart on the lovely +evening when he visited the Villa Medici. There he was on French soil.* +And again what a marvellous garden he found with box-plants, and pines, +and avenues full of magnificence and charm! What a refuge for antique +reverie was that wood of ilex-trees, so old and so sombre, where the sun +in declining cast fiery gleams of red gold amidst the sheeny bronze of +the foliage. You ascend by endless steps, and from the crowning belvedere +on high you embrace all Rome at a glance as though by opening your arms +you could seize it in its entirety. From the villa's dining-room, +decorated with portraits of all the artists who have successfully +sojourned there, and from the spacious peaceful library one beholds the +same splendid, broad, all-conquering panorama, a panorama of unlimited +ambition, whose infinite ought to set in the hearts of the young men +dwelling there a determination to subjugate the world. Pierre, who came +thither opposed to the principle of the "Prix de Rome," that traditional, +uniform education so dangerous for originality, was for a moment charmed +by the warm peacefulness, the limpid solitude of the garden, and the +sublime horizon where the wings of genius seemed to flutter. Ah! how +delightful, to be only twenty and to live for three years amidst such +infinite sweetness, encompassed by the finest works of man; to say to +oneself that one is as yet too young to produce, and to reflect, and +seek, and learn how to enjoy, suffer, and love! But Pierre afterwards +reflected that this was not a fit task for youth, and that to appreciate +the divine enjoyment of such a retreat, all art and blue sky, ripe age +was needed, age with victories already gained and weariness following +upon the accomplishment of work. He chatted with some of the young +pensioners, and remarked that if those who were inclined to dreaminess +and contemplation, like those who could merely claim mediocrity, +accommodated themselves to this life cloistered in the art of the past, +on the other hand artists of active bent and personal temperament pined +with impatience, their eyes ever turned towards Paris, their souls eager +to plunge into the furnace of battle and production. + + * Here is the French Academy, where winners of the "Prix de + Rome" in painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, and + music are maintained by the French Government for three + years. The creation dates from Louis XIV.--Trans. + +All those gardens of which Pierre spoke to Dario and Benedetta with so +much rapture, awoke within them the memory of the garden of the Villa +Montefiori, now a waste, but once so green, planted with the finest +orange-trees of Rome, a grove of centenarian orange-trees where they had +learnt to love one another. And the memory of their early love brought +thoughts of their present situation and their future prospects. To these +the conversation always reverted, and evening after evening Pierre +witnessed their delight, and heard them talk of coming happiness like +lovers transported to the seventh heaven. The suit for the dissolution of +Benedetta's marriage was now assuming a more and more favourable aspect. +Guided by a powerful hand, Donna Serafina was apparently acting very +vigorously, for almost every day she had some further good news to +report. She was indeed anxious to finish the affair both for the +continuity and for the honour of the name, for on the one hand Dario +refused to marry any one but his cousin, and on the other this marriage +would explain everything and put an end to an intolerable situation. The +scandalous rumours which circulated both in the white and the black world +quite incensed her, and a victory was the more necessary as Leo XIII, +already so aged, might be snatched away at any moment, and in the +Conclave which would follow she desired that her brother's name should +shine forth with untarnished, sovereign radiance. Never had the secret +ambition of her life, the hope that her race might give a third pope to +the Church, filled her with so much passion. It was as if she therein +sought a consolation for the harsh abandonment of Advocate Morano. +Invariably clad in sombre garb, ever active and slim, so tightly laced +that from behind one might have taken her for a young girl, she was so to +say the black soul of that old palace; and Pierre, who met her +everywhere, prowling and inspecting like a careful house-keeper, and +jealously watching over her brother the Cardinal, bowed to her in +silence, chilled to the heart by the stern look of her withered wrinkled +face in which was set the large, opiniative nose of her family. However +she barely returned his bows, for she still disdained that paltry foreign +priest, and only tolerated him in order to please Monsignor Nani and +Viscount Philibert de la Choue. + +A witness every evening of the anxious delight and impatience of +Benedetta and Dario, Pierre by degrees became almost as impassioned as +themselves, as desirous for an early solution. Benedetta's suit was about +to come before the Congregation of the Council once more. Monsignor +Palma, the defender of the marriage, had demanded a supplementary inquiry +after the favourable decision arrived at in the first instance by a bare +majority of one vote--a majority which the Pope would certainly not have +thought sufficient had he been asked for his ratification. So the +question now was to gain votes among the ten cardinals who formed the +Congregation, to persuade and convince them, and if possible ensure an +almost unanimous pronouncement. The task was arduous, for, instead of +facilitating matters, Benedetta's relationship to Cardinal Boccanera +raised many difficulties, owing to the intriguing spirit rife at the +Vatican, the spite of rivals who, by perpetuating the scandal, hoped to +destroy Boccanera's chance of ever attaining to the papacy. Every +afternoon, however, Donna Serafina devoted herself to the task of winning +votes under the direction of her confessor, Father Lorenza, whom she saw +daily at the Collegio Germanico, now the last refuge of the Jesuits in +Rome, for they have ceased to be masters of the Gesu. The chief hope of +success lay in Prada's formal declaration that he would not put in an +appearance. The whole affair wearied and irritated him; the imputations +levelled against him as a man, seemed to him supremely odious and +ridiculous; and he no longer even took the trouble to reply to the +assignations which were sent to him. He acted indeed as if he had never +been married, though deep in his heart the wound dealt to his passion and +his pride still lingered, bleeding afresh whenever one or another of the +scandalous rumours in circulation reached his ears. However, as their +adversary desisted from all action, one can understand that the hopes of +Benedetta and Dario increased, the more so as hardly an evening passed +without Donna Serafina telling them that she believed she had gained the +support of another cardinal. + +But the man who terrified them all was Monsignor Palma, whom the +Congregation had appointed to defend the sacred ties of matrimony. His +rights and privileges were almost unlimited, he could appeal yet again, +and in any case would make the affair drag on as long as it pleased him. +His first report, in reply to Morano's memoir, had been a terrible blow, +and it was now said that a second one which he was preparing would prove +yet more pitiless, establishing as a fundamental principle of the Church +that it could not annul a marriage whose nonconsummation was purely and +simply due to the action of the wife in refusing obedience to her +husband. In presence of such energy and logic, it was unlikely that the +cardinals, even if sympathetic, would dare to advise the Holy Father to +dissolve the marriage. And so discouragement was once more overcoming +Benedetta when Donna Serafina, on returning from a visit to Monsignor +Nani, calmed her somewhat by telling her that a mutual friend had +undertaken to deal with Monsignor Palma. However, said she, even if they +succeeded, it would doubtless cost them a large sum. + +Monsignor Palma, a theologist expert in all canonical affairs, and a +perfectly honest man in pecuniary matters, had met with a great +misfortune in his life. He had a niece, a poor and lovely girl, for whom, +unhappily, in his declining years he conceived an insensate passion, with +the result that to avoid a scandal he was compelled to marry her to a +rascal who now preyed upon her and even beat her. And the prelate was now +passing through a fearful crisis, weary of reducing himself to beggary, +and indeed no longer having the money necessary to extricate his nephew +by marriage from a very nasty predicament, the result of cheating at +cards. So the idea was to save the young man by a considerable pecuniary +payment, and then to procure him employment without asking aught of his +uncle, who, as if offering complicity, came in tears one evening, when +night had fallen, to thank Donna Serafina for her exceeding goodness. + +Pierre was with Dario that evening when Benedetta entered the room, +laughing and joyfully clapping her bands. "It's done, it's done!" she +said, "he has just left aunt, and vowed eternal gratitude to her. He will +now be obliged to show himself amiable." + +However Dario distrustfully inquired: "But was he made to sign anything, +did he enter into a formal engagement?" + +"Oh! no; how could one do that? It's such a delicate matter," replied +Benedetta. "But people say that he is a very honest man." Nevertheless, +in spite of these words, she herself became uneasy. What if Monsignor +Palma should remain incorruptible in spite of the great service which had +been rendered him? Thenceforth this idea haunted them, and their suspense +began once more. + +Dario, eager to divert his mind, was imprudent enough to get up before he +was perfectly cured, and, his wound reopening, he was obliged to take to +his bed again for a few days. Every evening, as previously, Pierre strove +to enliven him with an account of his strolls. The young priest was now +getting bolder, rambling in turn through all the districts of Rome, and +discovering the many "classical" curiosities catalogued in the +guide-books. One evening he spoke with a kind of affection of the +principal squares of the city which he had first thought commonplace, but +which now seemed to him very varied, each with original features of its +own. There was the noble Piazza del Popolo of such monumental symmetry +and so full of sunlight; there was the Piazza di Spagna, the lively +meeting-place of foreigners, with its double flight of a hundred and +thirty steps gilded by the sun; there was the vast Piazza Colonna, always +swarming with people, and the most Italian of all the Roman squares from +the presence of the idle, careless crowd which ever lounged round the +column of Marcus Aurelius as if waiting for fortune to fall from heaven; +there was also the long and regular Piazza Navona, deserted since the +market was no longer held there, and retaining a melancholy recollection +of its former bustling life; and there was the Campo dei Fiori, which was +invaded each morning by the tumultuous fruit and vegetable markets, quite +a plantation of huge umbrellas sheltering heaps of tomatoes, pimentoes, +and grapes amidst a noisy stream of dealers and housewives. Pierre's +great surprise, however, was the Piazza del Campidoglio--the "Square of +the Capitol"--which to him suggested a summit, an open spot overlooking +the city and the world, but which he found to be small and square, and on +three sides enclosed by palaces, whilst on the fourth side the view was +of little extent.* There are no passers-by there; visitors usually come +up by a flight of steps bordered by a few palm-trees, only foreigners +making use of the winding carriage-ascent. The vehicles wait, and the +tourists loiter for a while with their eyes raised to the admirable +equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, in antique bronze, which occupies +the centre of the piazza. Towards four o'clock, when the sun gilds the +left-hand palace, and the slender statues of its entablature show vividly +against the blue sky, you might think yourself in some warm cosy square +of a little provincial town, what with the women of the neighbourhood who +sit knitting under the arcade, and the bands of ragged urchins who +disport themselves on all sides like school-boys in a playground. + + * The Piazza del Campidoglio is really a depression between the + Capitolium proper and the northern height called the Arx. It is + supposed to have been the exact site of Romulus's traditional + Asylum.--Trans. + +Then, on another evening Pierre told Benedetta and Dario of his +admiration for the Roman fountains, for in no other city of the world +does water flow so abundantly and magnificently in fountains of bronze +and marble, from the boat-shaped Fontana della Barcaccia on the Piazza di +Spagna, the Triton on the Piazza Barberini, and the Tortoises which give +their name to the Piazza delle Tartarughe, to the three fountains of the +Piazza Navona where Bernini's vast central composition of rock and +river-gods rises so triumphantly, and to the colossal and pompous +fountain of Trevi, where King Neptune stands on high attended by lofty +figures of Health and Fruitfulness. And on yet another evening Pierre +came home quite pleased, relating that he had at last discovered why it +was that the old streets around the Capitol and along the Tiber seemed to +him so strange: it was because they had no footways, and pedestrians, +instead of skirting the walls, invariably took the middle of the road, +leisurely wending their way among the vehicles. Pierre was very fond of +those old districts with their winding lanes, their tiny squares so +irregular in shape, and their huge square mansions swamped by a +multitudinous jumble of little houses. He found a charm, too, in the +district of the Esquiline, where, besides innumerable flights of +ascending steps, each of grey pebbles edged with white stone, there were +sudden sinuous slopes, tiers of terraces, seminaries and convents, +lifeless, with their windows ever closed, and lofty, blank walls above +which a superb palm-tree would now and again soar into the spotless blue +of the sky. And on yet another evening, having strolled into the Campagna +beside the Tiber and above the Ponte Molle, he came back full of +enthusiasm for a form of classical art which hitherto he had scarcely +appreciated. Along the river bank, however, he had found the very scenery +that Poussin so faithfully depicted: the sluggish, yellow stream fringed +with reeds; low riven cliffs, whose chalky whiteness showed against the +ruddy background of a far-stretching, undulating plain, bounded by blue +hills; a few spare trees with a ruined porticus opening on to space atop +of the bank, and a line of pale-hued sheep descending to drink, whilst +the shepherd, with an elbow resting on the trunk of an ilex-tree, stood +looking on. It was a special kind of beauty, broad and ruddy, made up of +nothing, sometimes simplified into a series of low, horizontal lines, but +ever ennobled by the great memories it evoked: the Roman legions marching +along the paved highways across the bare Campagna; the long slumber of +the middle ages; and then the awakening of antique nature in the midst of +Catholicism, whereby, for the second time, Rome became ruler of the +world. + +One day when Pierre came back from seeing the great modern cemetery, the +Campo Verano, he found Celia, as well as Benedetta, by the side of +Dario's bed. "What, Monsieur l'Abbe!" exclaimed the little Princess when +she learnt where he had been; "it amuses you to visit the dead?" + +"Oh those Frenchmen," remarked Dario, to whom the mere idea of a cemetery +was repulsive; "those Frenchmen seem to take a pleasure in making their +lives wretched with their partiality for gloomy scenes." + +"But there is no escaping the reality of death," gently replied Pierre; +"the best course is to look it in the face." + +This made the Prince quite angry. "Reality, reality," said he, "when +reality isn't pleasant I don't look at it; I try never to think of it +even." + +In spite of this rejoinder, Pierre, with his smiling, placid air, went on +enumerating the things which had struck him: first, the admirable manner +in which the cemetery was kept, then the festive appearance which it +derived from the bright autumn sun, and the wonderful profusion in which +marble was lavished in slabs, statues, and chapels. The ancient atavism +had surely been at work, the sumptuous mausoleums of the Appian Way had +here sprung up afresh, making death a pretext for the display of pomp and +pride. In the upper part of the cemetery the Roman nobility had a +district of its own, crowded with veritable temples, colossal statues, +groups of several figures; and if at times the taste shown in these +monuments was deplorable, it was none the less certain that millions had +been expended on them. One charming feature of the place, said Pierre, +was that the marbles, standing among yews and cypresses were remarkably +well preserved, white and spotless; for, if the summer sun slowly gilded +them, there were none of those stains of moss and rain which impart an +aspect of melancholy decay to the statues of northern climes. + +Touched by the discomfort of Dario, Benedetta, hitherto silent, ended by +interrupting Pierre. "And was the hunt interesting?" she asked, turning +to Celia. + +The little Princess had been taken by her mother to see a fox-hunt, and +had been speaking of it when the priest entered the room. + +"Yes, it was very interesting, my dear," she replied; "the meet was at +noon near the tomb of Caecilia Metella, where a buffet had been arranged +under a tent. And there was such a number of people--the foreign colony, +the young men of the embassies, and some officers, not to mention +ourselves--all the men in scarlet and a great many ladies in habits. The +'throw-off' was at one o'clock, and the gallop lasted more than two hours +and a half, so that the fox had a very long run. I wasn't able to follow, +but all the same I saw some extraordinary things--a great wall which the +whole hunt had to leap, and then ditches and hedges--a mad race indeed in +the rear of the hounds. There were two accidents, but nothing serious; +one gentleman, who was unseated, sprained his wrist badly, and another +broke his leg."* + + * The Roman Hunt, which counts about one hundred subscribers, + has flourished since 1840. There is a kennel of English + hounds, an English huntsman and whip, and a stable of + English hunters.--Trans. + +Dario had listened to Celia with passionate interest, for fox-hunting is +one of the great pleasures of Rome, and the Campagna, flat and yet +bristling with obstacles, is certainly well adapted to the sport. "Ah!" +said the young Prince in a despairing tone, "how idiotic it is to be +riveted to this room! I shall end by dying of _ennui_!" + +Benedetta contented herself with smiling; neither reproach nor expression +of sadness came from her at this candid display of egotism. Her own +happiness at having him all to herself in the room where she nursed him +was great indeed; still her love, at once full of youth and good sense, +included a maternal element, and she well understood that he hardly +amused himself, deprived as he was of his customary pleasures and severed +from his friends, few of whom he was willing to receive, for he feared +that they might think the story of the dislocated shoulder suspicious. Of +course there were no more _fetes_, no more evenings at the theatre, no +more flirtations. But above everything else Dario missed the Corso, and +suffered despairingly at no longer seeing or learning anything by +watching the procession of Roman society from four to five each +afternoon. Accordingly, as soon as an intimate called, there were endless +questions: Had the visitor seen so and so? Had such a one reappeared? How +had a certain friend's love affair ended? Was any new adventure setting +the city agog? And so forth; all the petty frivolities, nine days' +wonders, and puerile intrigues in which the young Prince had hitherto +expended his manly energy. + +After a pause Celia, who was fond of coming to him with innocent gossip, +fixed her candid eyes on him--the fathomless eyes of an enigmatical +virgin, and resumed: "How long it takes to set a shoulder right!" + +Had she, child as she was, with love her only business, divined the +truth? Dario in his embarrassment glanced at Benedetta, who still smiled. +However, the little Princess was already darting to another subject: "Ah! +you know, Dario, at the Corso yesterday I saw a lady--" Then she stopped +short, surprised and embarrassed that these words should have escaped +her. However, in all bravery she resumed like one who had been a friend +since childhood, sharing many a little love secret: "Yes, a very pretty +person whom you know. Well, she had a bouquet of white roses with her all +the same." + +At this Benedetta indulged in a burst of frank merriment, and Dario, +still looking at her, also laughed. She had twitted him during the early +days because no young woman ever sent to make inquiries about him. For +his part, he was not displeased with the rupture, for the continuance of +the connection might have proved embarrassing; and so, although his +vanity may have been slightly hurt, the news that he was already replaced +in La Tonietta's affections was welcome rather than otherwise. "Ah!" he +contented himself with saying, "the absent are always in the wrong." + +"The man one loves is never absent," declared Celia with her grave, +candid air. + +However, Benedetta had stepped up to the bed to raise the young man's +pillows: "Never mind, Dario _mio_," said she, "all those things are over; +I mean to keep you, and you will only have me to love." + +He gave her a passionate glance and kissed her hair. She spoke the truth: +he had never loved any one but her, and she was not mistaken in her +anticipation of keeping him always to herself alone, as soon as they +should be wedded. To her great delight, since she had been nursing him he +had become quite childish again, such as he had been when she had learnt +to love him under the orange-trees of the Villa Montefiori. He retained a +sort of puerility, doubtless the outcome of impoverished blood, that +return to childhood which one remarks amongst very ancient races; and he +toyed on his bed with pictures, gazed for hours at photographs, which +made him laugh. Moreover, his inability to endure suffering had yet +increased; he wished Benedetta to be gay and sing, and amused her with +his petty egotism which led him to dream of a life of continual joy with +her. Ah! how pleasant it would be to live together and for ever in the +sunlight, to do nothing and care for nothing, and even if the world +should crumble somewhere to heed it not! + +"One thing which greatly pleases me," suddenly said the young Prince, "is +that Monsieur l'Abbe has ended by falling in love with Rome." + +Pierre admitted it with a good grace. + +"We told you so," remarked Benedetta. "A great deal of time is needed for +one to understand and love Rome. If you had only stayed here for a +fortnight you would have gone off with a deplorable idea of us, but now +that you have been here for two full months we are quite at ease, for you +will never think of us without affection." + +She looked exceedingly charming as she spoke these words, and Pierre +again bowed. However, he had already given thought to the phenomenon, and +fancied he could explain it. When a stranger comes to Rome he brings with +him a Rome of his own, a Rome such as he dreams of, so ennobled by +imagination that the real Rome proves a terrible disenchantment. And so +it is necessary to wait for habituation, for the mediocrity of the +reality to soften, and for the imagination to have time to kindle again, +and only behold things such as they are athwart the prodigious splendour +of the past. + +However, Celia had risen and was taking leave. "Good-bye, dear," she +said; "I hope the wedding will soon take place. You know, Dario, that I +mean to be betrothed before the end of the month. Oh yes, I intend to +make my father give a grand entertainment. And how nice it would be if +the two weddings could take place at the same time!" + +Two days later, after a long ramble through the Trastevere district, +followed by a visit to the Palazzo Farnese, Pierre felt that he could at +last understand the terrible, melancholy truth about Rome. He had several +times already strolled through the Trastevere, attracted towards its +wretched denizens by his compassion for all who suffered. Ah! that +quagmire of wretchedness and ignorance! He knew of abominable nooks in +the faubourgs of Paris, frightful "rents" and "courts" where people +rotted in heaps, but there was nothing in France to equal the listless, +filthy stagnation of the Trastevere. On the brightest days a dank gloom +chilled the sinuous, cellar-like lanes, and the smell of rotting +vegetables, rank oil, and human animality brought on fits of nausea. +Jumbled together in a confusion which artists of romantic turn would +admire, the antique, irregular houses had black, gaping entrances diving +below ground, outdoor stairways conducting to upper floors, and wooden +balconies which only a miracle upheld. There were crumbling fronts, +shored up with beams; sordid lodgings whose filth and bareness could be +seen through shattered windows; and numerous petty shops, all the +open-air cook-stalls of a lazy race which never lighted a fire at home: +you saw frying-shops with heaps of polenta, and fish swimming in stinking +oil, and dealers in cooked vegetables displaying huge turnips, celery, +cauliflowers, and spinach, all cold and sticky. The butcher's meat was +black and clumsily cut up; the necks of the animals bristled with bloody +clots, as though the heads had simply been torn away. The baker's loaves, +piled on planks, looked like little round paving stones; at the beggarly +greengrocers' merely a few pimentoes and fir-apples were shown under the +strings of dry tomatoes which festooned the doorways; and the only shops +which were at all attractive were those of the pork butchers with their +salted provisions and their cheese, whose pungent smell slightly +attenuated the pestilential reek of the gutters. Lottery offices, +displaying lists of winning numbers, alternated with wine-shops, of which +latter there was a fresh one every thirty yards with large inscriptions +setting forth that the best wines of Genzano, Marino, and Frascati were +to be found within. And the whole district teemed with ragged, grimy +denizens, children half naked and devoured by vermin, bare-headed, +gesticulating and shouting women, whose skirts were stiff with grease, +old men who remained motionless on benches amidst swarms of hungry flies; +idleness and agitation appearing on all sides, whilst cobblers sat on the +sidewalks quietly plying their trade, and little donkeys pulled carts +hither and thither, and men drove turkeys along, whip in hand, and hands +of beggars rushed upon the few anxious tourists who had timorously +ventured into the district. At the door of a little tailor's shop an old +house-pail dangled full of earth, in which a succulent plant was +flowering. And from every window and balcony, as from the many cords +which stretched across the street from house to house, all the household +washing hung like bunting, nameless drooping rags, the symbolical banners +of abominable misery. + +Pierre's fraternal, soul filled with pity at the sight. Ah! yes, it was +necessary to demolish all those pestilential districts where the populace +had wallowed for centuries as in a poisonous gaol! He was for demolition +and sanitary improvement, even if old Rome were killed and artists +scandalised. Doubtless the Trastevere was already greatly changed, +pierced with several new thoroughfares which let the sun stream in. And +amidst the _abattis_ of rubbish and the spacious clearings, where nothing +new had yet been erected, the remaining portions of the old district +seemed even blacker and more loathsome. Some day, no doubt, it would all +be rebuilt, but how interesting was this phase of the city's evolution: +old Rome expiring and new Rome just dawning amidst countless +difficulties! To appreciate the change it was necessary to have known the +filthy Rome of the past, swamped by sewage in every form. The recently +levelled Ghetto had, over a course of centuries, so rotted the soil on +which it stood that an awful pestilential odour yet arose from its bare +site. It was only fitting that it should long remain waste, so that it +might dry and become purified in the sun. In all the districts on either +side of the Tiber where extensive improvements have been undertaken you +find the same scenes. You follow some narrow, damp, evil-smelling street +with black house-fronts and overhanging roofs, and suddenly come upon a +clearing as in a forest of ancient leprous hovels. There are squares, +broad footways; lofty white carved buildings yet in the rough, littered +with rubbish and fenced off. On every side you find as it were a huge +building yard, which the financial crisis perpetuates; the city of +to-morrow arrested in its growth, stranded there in its monstrous, +precocious, surprising infancy. Nevertheless, therein lies good and +healthful work, such as was and is absolutely necessary if Rome is to +become a great modern city, instead of being left to rot, to dwindle into +a mere ancient curiosity, a museum show-piece. + +That day, as Pierre went from the Trastevere to the Palazzo Farnese, +where he was expected, he chose a roundabout route, following the Via di +Pettinari and the Via dei Giubbonari, the former so dark and narrow with +a great hospital wall on one side and a row of wretched houses on the +other, and the latter animated by a constant stream of people and +enlivened by the jewellers' windows, full of big gold chains, and the +displays of the drapers' shops, where stuffs hung in bright red, blue, +green, and yellow lengths. And the popular district through which he had +roamed and the trading district which he was now crossing reminded him of +the castle fields with their mass of workpeople reduced to mendicity by +lack of employment and forced to camp in the superb, unfinished, +abandoned mansions. Ah! the poor, sad people, who were yet so childish, +kept in the ignorance and credulity of a savage race by centuries of +theocracy, so habituated to mental night and bodily suffering that even +to-day they remained apart from the social awakening, simply desirous of +enjoying their pride, indolence, and sunlight in peace! They seemed both +blind and deaf in their decadence, and whilst Rome was being overturned +they continued to lead the stagnant life of former times, realising +nought but the worries of the improvements, the demolition of the old +favourite districts, the consequent change in habits, and the rise in the +cost of food, as if indeed they would rather have gone without light, +cleanliness, and health, since these could only be secured by a great +financial and labour crisis. And yet, at bottom, it was solely for the +people, the populace, that Rome was being cleansed and rebuilt with the +idea of making it a great modern capital, for democracy lies at the end +of these present day transformations; it is the people who will inherit +the cities whence dirt and disease are being expelled, and where the law +of labour will end by prevailing and killing want. And so, though one may +curse the dusting and repairing of the ruins and the stripping of all the +wild flora from the Colosseum, though one may wax indignant at sight of +the hideous fortress like ramparts which imprison the Tiber, and bewail +the old romantic banks with their greenery and their antique dwellings +dipping into the stream, one must at the same time acknowledge that life +springs from death, and that to-morrow must perforce blossom in the dust +of the past. + +While thinking of all these things Pierre had reached the deserted, +stern-looking Piazza Farnese, and for a moment he looked up at the bare +monumental facade of the heavy square Palazzo, its lofty entrance where +hung the tricolour, its rows of windows and its famous cornice sculptured +with such marvellous art. Then he went in. A friend of Narcisse Habert, +one of the _attaches_ of the embassy to the King of Italy, was waiting +for him, having offered to show him over the huge pile, the finest palace +in Rome, which France had leased as a lodging for her ambassador.* Ah! +that colossal, sumptuous, deadly dwelling, with its vast court whose +porticus is so dark and damp, its giant staircase with low steps, its +endless corridors, its immense galleries and halls. All was sovereign +pomp blended with death. An icy, penetrating chill fell from the walls. +With a discreet smile the _attache_ owned that the embassy was frozen in +winter and baked in summer. The only part of the building which was at +all lively and pleasant was the first storey, overlooking the Tiber, +which the ambassador himself occupied. From the gallery there, containing +the famous frescoes of Annibale Caracci, one can see the Janiculum, the +Corsini gardens, and the Acqua Paola above San Pietro in Montorio. Then, +after a vast drawing-room comes the study, peaceful and pleasant, and +enlivened by sunshine. But the dining-room, the bed-chambers, and other +apartments occupied by the _personnel_ look out on to the mournful gloom +of a side street. All these vast rooms, twenty and four-and-twenty feet +high, have admirable carved or painted ceilings, bare walls, a few of +them decorated with frescoes, and incongruous furniture, superb pier +tables mingling with modern _bric-a-brac_. And things become abominable +when you enter the gala reception-rooms overlooking the piazza, for there +you no longer find an article of furniture, no longer a hanging, nothing +but disaster, a series of magnificent deserted halls given over to rats +and spiders. The embassy occupies but one of them, where it heaps up its +dusty archives. Near by is a huge hall occupying the height of two +floors, and thus sixty feet in elevation. Reserved by the owner of the +palace, the ex-King of Naples, it has become a mere lumber-room where +_maquettes_, unfinished statues, and a very fine sarcophagus are stowed +away amidst all kinds of remnants. And this is but a part of the palace. +The ground floor is altogether uninhabited; the French "Ecole de Rome" +occupies a corner of the second floor; while the embassy huddles in +chilly fashion in the most habitable corner of the first floor, compelled +to abandon everything else and lock the doors to spare itself the useless +trouble of sweeping. No doubt it is grand to live in the Palazzo Farnese, +built by Pope Paul III and for more than a century inhabited by +cardinals; but how cruel the discomfort and how frightful the melancholy +of this huge ruin, three-fourths of whose rooms are dead, useless, +impossible, cut off from life. And the evenings, oh! the evenings, when +porch, court, stairs, and corridors are invaded by dense gloom, against +which a few smoky gas lamps struggle in vain, when a long, long journey +lies before one through the lugubrious desert of stone, before one +reaches the ambassador's warm and cheerful drawing-room! + + * The French have two embassies at Rome: one at the Palazzo + Farnese, to the Italian Court, and the other at the Palazzo + Rospigliosi, to the Vatican.--Trans. + +Pierre came away quite aghast. And, as he walked along, the many other +grand palaces which he had seen during his strolls rose before him, one +and all of them stripped of their splendour, shorn of their princely +establishments, let out in uncomfortable flats! What could be done with +those grandiose galleries and halls now that no fortune could defray the +cost of the pompous life for which they had been built, or even feed the +retinue needed to keep them up? Few indeed were the nobles who, like +Prince Aldobrandini, with his numerous progeny, still occupied their +entire mansions. Almost all of them let the antique dwellings of their +forefathers to companies or individual tenants, reserving only a storey, +and at times a mere lodging in some dark corner, for themselves. The +Palazzo Chigi was let: the ground floor to bankers and the first floor to +the Austrian ambassador, while the Prince and his family divided the +second floor with a cardinal. The Palazzo Sciarra was let: the first +floor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second to a senator, +while the Prince and his mother merely occupied the ground floor. The +Palazzo Barberini was let: its ground floor, first floor, and second +floor to various families, whilst the Prince found a refuge on the third +floor in the rooms which had been occupied by his ancestors' lackeys. The +Palazzo Borghese was let: the ground floor to a dealer in antiquities, +the first floor to a Lodge of Freemasons, and the rest to various +households, whilst the Prince only retained the use of a small suite of +apartments. And the Palazzo Odescalchi, the Palazzo Colonna, the Palazzo +Doria were let: their Princes reduced to the position of needy landlords +eager to derive as much profit as possible from their property in order +to make both ends meet. A blast of ruin was sweeping over the Roman +patriziato, the greatest fortunes had crumbled in the financial crisis, +very few remained wealthy, and what a wealth it was, stagnant and dead, +which neither commerce nor industry could renew. The numerous princes who +had tried speculation were stripped of their fortunes. The others, +terrified, called upon to pay enormous taxes, amounting to nearly +one-third of their incomes, could henceforth only wait and behold their +last stagnant millions dwindle away till they were exhausted or +distributed according to the succession laws. Such wealth as remained to +these nobles must perish, for, like everything else, wealth perishes when +it lacks a soil in which it may fructify. In all this there was solely a +question of time: eventual ruin was a foregone and irremediable +conclusion, of absolute, historical certainty. Those who resigned +themselves to the course of letting their deserted mansions still +struggled for life, seeking to accommodate themselves to present-day +exigencies; whilst death already dwelt among the others, those stubborn, +proud ones who immured themselves in the tombs of their race, like that +appalling Palazzo Boccanera, which was falling into dust amidst such +chilly gloom and silence, the latter only broken at long intervals when +the Cardinal's old coach rumbled over the grassy court. + +The point which most struck Pierre, however, was that his visits to the +Trastevere and the Palazzo Farnese shed light one on the other, and led +him to a conclusion which had never previously seemed so manifest. As yet +no "people," and soon no aristocracy. He had found the people so +wretched, ignorant, and resigned in its long infancy induced by historic +and climatic causes that many years of instruction and culture were +necessary for it to become a strong, healthy, and laborious democracy, +conscious of both its rights and its duties. As for the aristocracy, it +was dwindling to death in its crumbling palaces, no longer aught than a +finished, degenerate race, with such an admixture also of American, +Austrian, Polish, and Spanish blood that pure Roman blood became a rare +exception; and, moreover, it had ceased to belong either to sword or +gown, unwilling to serve constitutional Italy and forsaking the Sacred +College, where only _parvenus_ now donned the purple. And between the +lowly and the aristocracy there was as yet no firmly seated middle class, +with the vigour of fresh sap and sufficient knowledge, and good sense to +act as the transitional educator of the nation. The middle class was made +up in part of the old servants and clients of the princes, the farmers +who rented their lands, the stewards, notaries, and solicitors who +managed their fortunes; in part, too, of all the employees, the +functionaries of every rank and class, the deputies and senators, whom +the new Government had brought from the provinces; and, in particular, of +the voracious hawks who had swooped down upon Rome, the Pradas, the men +of prey from all parts of the kingdom, who with beak and talon devoured +both people and aristocracy. For whom, then, had one laboured? For whom +had those gigantic works of new Rome been undertaken? A shudder of fear +sped by, a crack as of doom was heard, arousing pitiful disquietude in +every fraternal heart. Yes, a threat of doom and annihilation: as yet no +people, soon no aristocracy, and only a ravenous middle class, quarrying, +vulture-like, among the ruins. + +On the evening of that day, when all was dark, Pierre went to spend an +hour on the river quay beyond the Boccanera mansion. He was very fond of +meditating on that deserted spot in spite of the warnings of Victorine, +who asserted that it was not safe. And, indeed, on such inky nights as +that one, no cutthroat place ever presented a more tragic aspect. Not a +soul, not a passer-by; a dense gloom, a void in front and on either hand. +At a corner of the mansion, now steeped in darkness, there was a gas lamp +which stood in a hollow since the river margin had been banked up, and +this lamp cast an uncertain glimmer upon the quay, level with the +latter's bossy soil. Thus long vague shadows stretched from the various +materials, piles of bricks and piles of stone, which were strewn around. +On the right a few lights shone upon the bridge near San Giovanni and in +the windows of the hospital of the Santo Spirito. On the left, amidst the +dim recession of the river, the distant districts were blotted out. Then +yonder, across the stream, was the Trastevere, the houses on the bank +looking like vague, pale phantoms, with infrequent window-panes showing a +blurred yellow glimmer, whilst on high only a dark band shadowed the +Janiculum, near whose summit the lamps of some promenade scintillated +like a triangle of stars. But it was the Tiber which impassioned Pierre; +such was its melancholy majesty during those nocturnal hours. Leaning +over the parapet, he watched it gliding between the new walls, which +looked like those of some black and monstrous prison built for a giant. +So long as lights gleamed in the windows of the houses opposite he saw +the sluggish water flow by, showing slow, moire-like ripples there where +the quivering reflections endowed it with a mysterious life. And he often +mused on the river's famous past and evoked the legends which assert that +fabulous wealth lies buried in its muddy bed. At each fresh invasion of +the barbarians, and particularly when Rome was sacked, the treasures of +palaces and temples are said to have been cast into the water to prevent +them from falling into the hands of the conquerors. Might not those +golden bars trembling yonder in the glaucous stream be the branches of +the famous candelabrum which Titus brought from Jerusalem? Might not +those pale patches whose shape remained uncertain amidst the frequent +eddies indicate the white marble of statues and columns? And those deep +moires glittering with little flamelets, were they not promiscuous heaps +of precious metal, cups, vases, ornaments enriched with gems? What a +dream was that of the swarming riches espied athwart the old river's +bosom, of the hidden life of the treasures which were said to have +slumbered there for centuries; and what a hope for the nation's pride and +enrichment centred in the miraculous finds which might be made in the +Tiber if one could some day dry it up and search its bed, as had already +been suggested! Therein, perchance, lay Rome's new fortune. + +However, on that black night, whilst Pierre leant over the parapet, it +was stern reality alone which occupied his mind. He was still pursuing +the train of thought suggested by his visits to the Trastevere and the +Farnese palace, and in presence of that lifeless water was coming to the +conclusion that the selection of Rome for transformation into a modern +capital was the great misfortune to which the sufferings of young Italy +were due. He knew right well that the selection had been inevitable: Rome +being the queen of glory, the antique ruler of the world to whom eternity +had been promised, and without whom the national unity had always seemed +an impossibility. And so the problem was a terrible one, since without +Rome Italy could not exist, and with Rome it seemed difficult for it to +exist. Ah! that dead river, how it symbolised disaster! Not a boat upon +its surface, not a quiver of the commercial and industrial activity of +those waters which bear life to the very hearts of great modern cities! +There had been fine schemes, no doubt--Rome a seaport, gigantic works, +canalisation to enable vessels of heavy tonnage to come up to the +Aventine; but these were mere delusions; the authorities would scarcely +be able to clear the river mouth, which deposits were continually +choking. And there was that other cause of mortal languishment, the +Campagna--the desert of death which the dead river crossed and which +girdled Rome with sterility. There was talk of draining and planting it; +much futile discussion on the question whether it had been fertile in the +days of the old Romans; and even a few experiments were made; but, all +the same, Rome remained in the midst of a vast cemetery like a city of +other times, for ever separated from the modern world by that _lande_ or +moor where the dust of centuries had accumulated. The geographical +considerations which once gave the city the empire of the world no longer +exist. The centre of civilisation has been displaced. The basin of the +Mediterranean has been divided among powerful nations. In Italy all roads +now lead to Milan, the city of industry and commerce, and Rome is but a +town of passage. And so the most valiant efforts have failed to rouse it +from its invincible slumber. The capital which the newcomers sought to +improvise with such extreme haste has remained unfinished, and has almost +ruined the nation. The Government, legislators, and functionaries only +camp there, fleeing directly the warm weather sets in so as to escape the +pernicious climate. The hotels and shops even put up their shutters, and +the streets and promenades become deserts, the city having failed to +acquire any life of its own, and relapsing into death as soon as the +artificial life instilled into it is withdrawn. So all remains in +suspense in this purely decorative capital, where only a fresh growth of +men and money can finish and people the huge useless piles of the new +districts. If it be true that to-morrow always blooms in the dust of the +past, one ought to force oneself to hope; but Pierre asked himself if the +soil were not exhausted, and since mere buildings could no longer grow on +it, if it were not for ever drained of the sap which makes a race +healthy, a nation powerful. + +As the night advanced the lights in the houses of the Trastevere went out +one by one: yet Pierre for a long time lingered on the quay, leaning over +the blackened river and yielding to hopelessness. There was now no +distance to the gloom; all had become dense; no longer did any +reflections set a moire-like, golden quiver in the water, or reveal +beneath its mystery-concealing current a fantastic, dancing vision of +fabulous wealth. Gone was the legend, gone the seven-branched golden +candelabrum, gone the golden vases, gone the golden jewellery, the whole +dream of antique treasure that had vanished into night, even like the +antique glory of Rome. Not a glimmer, nothing but slumber, disturbed +solely by the heavy fall of sewage from the drain on the right-hand, +which could not be seen. The very water had disappeared, and Pierre no +longer espied its leaden flow through the darkness, no longer had any +perception of the sluggish senility, the long-dating weariness, the +intense sadness of that ancient and glorious Tiber, whose waters now +rolled nought but death. Only the vast, opulent sky, the eternal, pompous +sky displayed the dazzling life of its milliards of planets above that +river of darkness, bearing away the ruins of wellnigh three thousand +years. + +Before returning to his own chamber that evening Pierre entered Dario's +room, and found Victorine there preparing things for the night. And as +soon as she heard where he had been she raised her voice in protest: +"What! you have again been to the quay at this time of night, Monsieur +l'Abbe? You want to get a good knife thrust yourself, it seems. Well, for +my part, I certainly wouldn't take the air at such a late hour in this +dangerous city." Then, with her wonted familiarity, she turned and spoke +to the Prince, who was lying back in an arm-chair and smiling: "That +girl, La Pierina," she said, "hasn't been back here, but all the same +I've lately seen her prowling about among the building materials." + +Dario raised his hand to silence her, and, addressing Pierre, exclaimed: +"But you spoke to her, didn't you? It's becoming idiotic! Just fancy that +brute Tito coming back to dig his knife into my other shoulder--" + +All at once he paused, for he had just perceived Benedetta standing there +and listening to him; she had slipped into the room a moment previously +in order to wish him good-night. At sight of her his embarrassment was +great indeed; he wished to speak, explain his words, and swear that he +was wholly innocent in the affair. But she, with a smiling face, +contented herself with saying, "I knew all about it, Dario _mio_. I am +not so foolish as not to have thought it all over and understood the +truth. If I ceased questioning you it was because I knew, and loved you +all the same." + +The young woman looked very happy as she spoke, and for this she had good +cause, for that very evening she had learnt that Monsignor Palma had +shown himself grateful for the service rendered to his nephew by laying a +fresh and favourable memoir on the marriage affair before the +Congregation of the Council. He had been unwilling to recall his previous +opinions so far as to range himself completely on the Contessina's side, +but the certificates of two doctors whom she had recently seen had +enabled him to conclude that her own declarations were accurate. And +gliding over the question of wifely obedience, on which he had previously +laid stress, he had skilfully set forth the reasons which made a +dissolution of the marriage desirable. No hope of reconciliation could be +entertained, so it was certain that both parties were constantly exposed +to temptation and sin. He discreetly alluded to the fact that the husband +had already succumbed to this danger, and praised the wife's lofty +morality and piety, all the virtues which she displayed, and which +guaranteed her veracity. Then, without formulating any conclusion of his +own, he left the decision to the wisdom of the Congregation. And as he +virtually repeated Advocate Morano's arguments, and Prada stubbornly +refused to enter an appearance, it now seemed certain that the +Congregation would by a great majority pronounce itself in favour of +dissolution, a result which would enable the Holy Father to act +benevolently. + +"Ah! Dario _mio_!" said Benedetta, "we are at the end of our worries. But +what a lot of money, what a lot of money it all costs! Aunt says that +they will scarcely leave us water to drink." + +So speaking she laughed with the happy heedlessness of an impassioned +_amorosa_. It was not that the jurisdiction of the Congregations was in +itself ruinous; indeed, in principle, it was gratuitous. Still there were +a multitude of petty expenses, payments to subaltern employees, payments +for medical consultations and certificates, copies of documents, and the +memoirs and addresses of counsel. And although the votes of the cardinals +were certainly not bought direct, some of them ended by costing +considerable sums, for it often became necessary to win over dependants, +to induce quite a little world to bring influence to bear upon their +Eminences; without mentioning that large pecuniary gifts, when made with +tact, have a decisive effect in clearing away the greatest difficulties +in that sphere of the Vatican. And, briefly, Monsignor Palma's nephew by +marriage had cost the Boccaneras a large sum. + +"But it doesn't matter, does it, Dario _mio_?" continued Benedetta. +"Since you are now cured, they must make haste to give us permission to +marry. That's all we ask of them. And if they want more, well, I'll give +them my pearls, which will be all I shall have left me." + +He also laughed, for money had never held any place in his life. He had +never had it at his pleasure, and simply hoped that he would always live +with his uncle the cardinal, who would certainly not leave him and his +young wife in the streets. Ruined as the family was, one or two hundred +thousand francs represented nothing to his mind, and he had heard that +certain dissolutions of marriage had cost as much as half a million. So, +by way of response, he could only find a jest: "Give them my ring as +well," said he; "give them everything, my dear, and we shall still be +happy in this old palace even if we have to sell the furniture!" + +His words filled her with enthusiasm; she took his head between both +hands and kissed him madly on the eyes in an extraordinary transport of +passion. Then, suddenly turning to Pierre, she said: "Oh! excuse me, +Monsieur l'Abbe. I was forgetting that I have a commission for you. Yes, +Monsignor Nani, who brought us that good news, bade me tell you that you +are making people forget you too much, and that you ought to set to work +to defend your book." + +The priest listened in astonishment; then replied: "But it was he who +advised me to disappear." + +"No doubt--only it seems that the time has now come for you to see people +and plead your cause. And Monsignor Nani has been able to learn that the +reporter appointed to examine your book is Monsignor Fornaro, who lives +on the Piazza Navona." + +Pierre's stupefaction was increasing, for a reporter's name is never +divulged, but kept quite secret, in order to ensure a free exercise of +judgment. Was a new phase of his sojourn in Rome about to begin then? His +mind was all wonderment. However, he simply answered: "Very good, I will +set to work and see everybody." + + + + + +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-à-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. + + + + + +PART V. + + + + +XIV. + + +THAT evening, when Pierre emerged from the Borgo in front of the Vatican, +a sonorous stroke rang out from the clock amidst the deep silence of the +dark and sleepy district. It was only half-past eight, and being in +advance the young priest resolved to wait some twenty minutes in order to +reach the doors of the papal apartments precisely at nine, the hour fixed +for his audience. + +This respite brought him some relief amidst the infinite emotion and +grief which gripped his heart. That tragic afternoon which he had spent +in the chamber of death, where Dario and Benedetta now slept the eternal +sleep in one another's arms, had left him very weary. He was haunted by a +wild, dolorous vision of the two lovers, and involuntary sighs came from +his lips whilst tears continually moistened his eyes. He had been +altogether unable to eat that evening. Ah! how he would have liked to +hide himself and weep at his ease! His heart melted at each fresh +thought. The pitiful death of the lovers intensified the grievous feeling +with which his book was instinct, and impelled him to yet greater +compassion, a perfect anguish of charity for all who suffered in the +world. And he was so distracted by the thought of the many physical and +moral sores of Paris and of Rome, where he had beheld so much unjust and +abominable suffering, that at each step he took he feared lest he should +burst into sobs with arms upstretched towards the blackness of heaven. + +In the hope of somewhat calming himself he began to walk slowly across +the Piazza of St. Peter's, now all darkness and solitude. On arriving he +had fancied that he was losing himself in a murky sea, but by degrees his +eyes grew accustomed to the dimness. The vast expanse was only lighted by +the four candelabra at the corners of the obelisk and by infrequent lamps +skirting the buildings which run on either hand towards the Basilica. +Under the colonnade, too, other lamps threw yellow gleams across the +forest of pillars, showing up their stone trunks in fantastic fashion; +while on the piazza only the pale, ghostly obelisk was at all distinctly +visible. Pierre could scarcely perceive the dim, silent facade of St. +Peter's; whilst of the dome he merely divined a gigantic, bluey roundness +faintly shadowed against the sky. In the obscurity he at first heard the +plashing of the fountains without being at all able to see them, but on +approaching he at last distinguished the slender phantoms of the ever +rising jets which fell again in spray. And above the vast square +stretched the vast and moonless sky of a deep velvety blue, where the +stars were large and radiant like carbuncles; Charles's Wain, with golden +wheels and golden shaft tilted back as it were, over the roof of the +Vatican, and Orion, bedizened with the three bright stars of his belt, +showing magnificently above Rome, in the direction of the Via Giulia. + +At last Pierre raised his eyes to the Vatican, but facing the piazza +there was here merely a confused jumble of walls, amidst which only two +gleams of light appeared on the floor of the papal apartments. The Court +of San Damaso was, however, lighted, for the conservatory-like glass-work +of two of its sides sparkled as with the reflection of gas lamps which +could not be seen. For a time there was not a sound or sign of movement, +but at last two persons crossed the expanse of the piazza, and then came +a third who in his turn disappeared, nothing remaining but a rhythmical +far-away echo of steps. The spot was indeed a perfect desert, there were +neither promenaders nor passers-by, nor was there even the shadow of a +prowler in the pillared forest of the colonnade, which was as empty as +the wild primeval forests of the world's infancy. And what a solemn +desert it was, full of the silence of haughty desolation. Never had so +vast and black a presentment of slumber, so instinct with the sovereign +nobility of death, appeared to Pierre. + +At ten minutes to nine he at last made up his mind and went towards the +bronze portal. Only one of the folding doors was now open at the end of +the right-hand porticus, where the increasing density of the gloom +steeped everything in night. Pierre remembered the instructions which +Monsignor Nani had given him; at each door that he reached he was to ask +for Signor Squadra without adding a word, and thereupon each door would +open and he would have nothing to do but to let himself be guided on. No +one but the prelate now knew that he was there, since Benedetta, the only +being to whom he had confided the secret, was dead. When he had crossed +the threshold of the bronze doors and found himself in presence of the +motionless, sleeping Swiss Guard, who was on duty there, he simply spoke +the words agreed upon: "Signor Squadra." And as the Guard did not stir, +did not seek to bar his way, he passed on, turning into the vestibule of +the Scala Pia, the stone stairway which ascends to the Court of San +Damaso. And not a soul was to be seen: there was but the faint sound of +his own light footsteps and the sleepy glow of the gas jets whose light +was softly whitened by globes of frosted glass. Up above, on reaching the +courtyard he found it a solitude, whose slumber seemed sepulchral amidst +the mournful gleams of the gas lamps which cast a pallid reflection on +the lofty glass-work of the facades. And feeling somewhat nervous, +affected by the quiver which pervaded all that void and silence, Pierre +hastened on, turning to the right, towards the low flight of steps which +leads to the staircase of the Pope's private apartments. + +Here stood a superb gendarme in full uniform. "Signor Squadra," said +Pierre, and without a word the gendarme pointed to the stairs. + +The young man went up. It was a broad stairway, with low steps, +balustrade of white marble, and walls covered with yellowish stucco. The +gas, burning in globes of round glass, seemed to have been already turned +down in a spirit of prudent economy. And in the glimmering light nothing +could have been more mournfully solemn than that cold and pallid +staircase. On each landing there was a Swiss Guard, halbard in hand, and +in the heavy slumber spreading through the palace one only heard the +regular monotonous footsteps of these men, ever marching up and down, in +order no doubt that they might not succumb to the benumbing influence of +their surroundings. + +Amidst the invading dimness and the quivering silence the ascent of the +stairs seemed interminable to Pierre, who by the time he reached the +second-floor landing imagined that he had been climbing for ages. There, +outside the glass door of the Sala Clementina, only the right-hand half +of which was open, a last Swiss Guard stood watching. + +"Signor Squadra," Pierre said again, and the Guard drew back to let him +pass. + +The Sala Clementina, spacious enough by daylight, seemed immense at that +nocturnal hour, in the twilight glimmer of its lamps. All the opulent +decorative-work, sculpture, painting, and gilding became blended, the +walls assuming a tawny vagueness amidst which appeared bright patches +like the sparkle of precious stones. There was not an article of +furniture, nothing but the endless pavement stretching away into the +semi-darkness. At last, however, near a door at the far end Pierre espied +some men dozing on a bench. They were three Swiss Guards. "Signor +Squadra," he said to them. + +One of the Guards thereupon slowly rose and left the hall, and Pierre +understood that he was to wait. He did not dare to move, disturbed as he +was by the sound of his own footsteps on the paved floor, so he contented +himself with gazing around and picturing the crowds which at times +peopled that vast apartment, the first of the many papal ante-chambers. +But before long the Guard returned, and behind him, on the threshold of +the adjoining room, appeared a man of forty or thereabouts, who was clad +in black from head to foot and suggested a cross between a butler and a +beadle. He had a good-looking, clean-shaven face, with somewhat +pronounced nose and large, clear, fixed eyes. "Signor Squadra," said +Pierre for the last time. + +The man bowed as if to say that he was Signor Squadra, and then, with a +fresh reverence, he invited the priest to follow him. Thereupon at a +leisurely step, one behind the other, they began to thread the +interminable suite of waiting-rooms. Pierre, who was acquainted with the +ceremonial, of which he had often spoken with Narcisse, recognised the +different apartments as he passed through them, recalling their names and +purpose, and peopling them in imagination with the various officials of +the papal retinue who have the right to occupy them. These according to +their rank cannot go beyond certain doors, so that the persons who are to +have audience of the Pope are passed on from the servants to the Noble +Guards, from the Noble Guards to the honorary _Camerieri_, and from the +latter to the _Camerieri segreti_, until they at last reach the presence +of the Holy Father. At eight o'clock, however, the ante-rooms empty and +become both deserted and dim, only a few lamps being left alight upon the +pier tables standing here and there against the walls. + +And first Pierre came to the ante-room of the _bussolanti_, mere ushers +clad in red velvet broidered with the papal arms, who conduct visitors to +the door of the ante-room of honour. At that late hour only one of them +was left there, seated on a bench in such a dark corner that his purple +tunic looked quite black. Then the Hall of the Gendarmes was crossed, +where according to the regulations the secretaries of cardinals and other +high personages await their masters' return; and this was now completely +empty, void both of the handsome blue uniforms with white shoulder belts +and the cassocks of fine black cloth which mingled in it during the +brilliant reception hours. Empty also was the following room, a smaller +one reserved to the Palatine Guards, who are recruited among the Roman +middle class and wear black tunics with gold epaulets and shakoes +surmounted by red plumes. Then Pierre and his guide turned into another +series of apartments, and again was the first one empty. This was the +Hall of the Arras, a superb waiting-room with lofty painted ceiling and +admirable Gobelins tapestry designed by Audran and representing the +miracles of Jesus. And empty also was the ante-chamber of the Noble +Guards which followed, with its wooden stools, its pier table on the +right-hand surmounted by a large crucifix standing between two lamps, and +its large door opening at the far end into another but smaller room, a +sort of alcove indeed, where there is an altar at which the Holy Father +says mass by himself whilst those privileged to be present remain +kneeling on the marble slabs of the outer apartment which is resplendent +with the dazzling uniforms of the Guards. And empty likewise was the +ensuing ante-room of honour, otherwise the grand throne-room, where the +Pope receives two or three hundred people at a time in public audience. +The throne, an arm-chair of elaborate pattern, gilded, and upholstered +with red velvet, stands under a velvet canopy of the same hue, in front +of the windows. Beside it is the cushion on which the Pope rests his foot +in order that it may be kissed. Then facing one another, right and left +of the room, there are two pier tables, on one of which is a clock and on +the other a crucifix between lofty candelabra with feet of gilded wood. +The wall hangings, of red silk damask with a Louis XIV palm pattern, are +topped by a pompous frieze, framing a ceiling decorated with allegorical +figures and attributes, and it is only just in front of the throne that a +Smyrna carpet covers the magnificent marble pavement. On the days of +private audience, when the Pope remains in the little throne-room or at +times in his bed-chamber, the grand throne-room becomes simply the +ante-room of honour, where high dignitaries of the Church, ambassadors, +and great civilian personages, wait their turns. Two _Camerieri_, one in +violet coat, the other of the Cape and the Sword, here do duty, receiving +from the _bussolanti_ the persons who are to be honoured with audiences +and conducting them to the door of the next room, the secret or private +ante-chamber, where they hand them over to the _Camerieri segreti_. + +Signor Squadra who, walking on with slow and silent steps, had not yet +once turned round, paused for a moment on reaching the door of the +_anticamera segreta_ so as to give Pierre time to breathe and recover +himself somewhat before crossing the threshold of the sanctuary. The +_Camerieri segreti_ alone had the right to occupy that last ante-chamber, +and none but the cardinals might wait there till the Pope should +condescend to receive them. And so when Signor Squadra made up his mind +to admit Pierre, the latter could not restrain a slight nervous shiver as +if he were passing into some redoubtable mysterious sphere beyond the +limits of the lower world. In the daytime a Noble Guard stood on sentry +duty before the door, but the latter was now free of access, and the room +within proved as empty as all the others. It was rather narrow, almost +like a passage, with two windows overlooking the new district of the +castle fields and a third one facing the Piazza of St. Peter's. Near the +last was a door conducting to the little throne-room, and between this +door and the window stood a small table at which a secretary, now absent, +usually sat. And here again, as in all the other rooms, one found a +gilded pier table surmounted by a crucifix flanked by a pair of lamps. In +a corner too there was a large clock, loudly ticking in its ebony case +incrusted with brass-work. Still there was nothing to awaken curiosity +under the panelled and gilded ceiling unless it were the wall-hangings of +red damask, on which yellow scutcheons displaying the Keys and the Tiara +alternated with armorial lions, each with a paw resting on a globe. + +Signor Squadra, however, now noticed that Pierre still carried his hat in +his hand, whereas according to etiquette he should have left it in the +hall of the _bussolanti_, only cardinals being privileged to carry their +hats with them into the Pope's presence. Accordingly he discreetly took +the young priest's from him, and deposited it on the pier table to +indicate that it must at least remain there. Then, without a word, by a +simple bow he gave Pierre to understand that he was about to announce him +to his Holiness, and that he must be good enough to wait for a few +minutes in that room. + +On being left to himself Pierre drew a long breath. He was stifling; his +heart was beating as though it would burst. Nevertheless his mind +remained clear, and in spite of the semi-obscurity he had been able to +form some idea of the famous and magnificent apartments of the Pope, a +suite of splendid _salons_ with tapestried or silken walls, gilded or +painted friezes, and frescoed ceilings. By way of furniture, however, +there were only pier table, stools,* and thrones. And the lamps and the +clocks, and the crucifixes, even the thrones, were all presents brought +from the four quarters of the world in the great fervent days of jubilee. +There was no sign of comfort, everything was pompous, stiff, cold, and +inconvenient. All olden Italy was there, with its perpetual display and +lack of intimate, cosy life. It had been necessary to lay a few carpets +over the superb marble slabs which froze one's feet; and some +_caloriferes_ had even lately been installed, but it was not thought +prudent to light them lest the variations of temperature should give the +Pope a cold. However, that which more particularly struck Pierre now that +he stood there waiting was the extraordinary silence which prevailed all +around, silence so deep that it seemed as if all the dark quiescence of +that huge, somniferous Vatican were concentrated in that one suite of +lifeless, sumptuous rooms, which the motionless flamelets of the lamps as +dimly illumined. + + * M. Zola seems to have fallen into error here. Many of the seats, + which are of peculiar antique design, do, in the lower part, + resemble stools, but they have backs, whereas a stool proper has + none. Briefly, these seats, which are entirely of wood, are not + unlike certain old-fashioned hall chairs.--Trans. + +All at once the ebony clock struck nine and the young man felt +astonished. What! had only ten minutes elapsed since he had crossed the +threshold of the bronze doors below? He felt as if he had been walking on +for days and days. Then, desiring to overcome the nervous feeling which +oppressed him--for he ever feared lest his enforced calmness should +collapse amidst a flood of tears--he began to walk up and down, passing +in front of the clock, glancing at the crucifix on the pier table, and +the globe of the lamp on which had remained the mark of a servant's +greasy fingers. And the light was so faint and yellow that he felt +inclined to turn the lamp up, but did not dare. Then he found himself +with his brow resting against one of the panes of the window facing the +Piazza of St. Peter's, and for a moment he was thunderstruck, for between +the imperfectly closed shutters he could see all Rome, as he had seen it +one day from the _loggie_ of Raffaelle, and as he had pictured Leo XIII +contemplating it from the window of his bed-room. However, it was now +Rome by night, Rome spreading out into the depths of the gloom, as +limitless as the starry sky. And in that sea of black waves one could +only with certainty identify the larger thoroughfares which the white +brightness of electric lights turned, as it were, into Milky Ways. All +the rest showed but a swarming of little yellow sparks, the crumbs, as it +were, of a half-extinguished heaven swept down upon the earth. Occasional +constellations of bright stars, tracing mysterious figures, vainly +endeavoured to show forth distinctly, but they were submerged, blotted +out by the general chaos which suggested the dust of some old planet that +had crumbled there, losing its splendour and reduced to mere +phosphorescent sand. And how immense was the blackness thus sprinkled +with light, how huge the mass of obscurity and mystery into which the +Eternal City with its seven and twenty centuries, its ruins, its +monuments, its people, its history seemed to have been merged. You could +no longer tell where it began or where it ended, whether it spread to the +farthest recesses of the gloom, or whether it were so reduced that the +sun on rising would illumine but a little pile of ashes. + +However, in spite of all Pierre's efforts, his nervous anguish increased +each moment, even in presence of that ocean of darkness which displayed +such sovereign quiescence. He drew away from the window and quivered from +head to foot on hearing a faint footfall and thinking it was that of +Signor Squadra approaching to fetch him. The sound came from an adjacent +apartment, the little throne-room, whose door, he now perceived, had +remained ajar. And at last, as he heard nothing further, he yielded to +his feverish impatience and peeped into this room which he found to be +fairly spacious, again hung with red damask, and containing a gilded +arm-chair, covered with red velvet under a canopy of the same material. +And again there was the inevitable pier table, with a tall ivory +crucifix, a clock, a pair of lamps, a pair of candelabra, a pair of large +vases on pedestals, and two smaller ones of Sevres manufacture decorated +with the Holy Father's portrait. At the same time, however, the room +displayed rather more comfort, for a Smyrna carpet covered the whole of +the marble floor, while a few arm-chairs stood against the walls, and an +imitation chimney-piece, draped with damask, served as counterpart to the +pier table. As a rule the Pope, whose bed-chamber communicated with this +little throne-room, received in the latter such persons as he desired to +honour. And Pierre's shiver became more pronounced at the idea that in +all likelihood he would merely have the throne-room to cross and that Leo +XIII was yonder behind its farther door. Why was he kept waiting, he +wondered? He had been told of mysterious audiences granted at a similar +hour to personages who had been received in similar silent fashion, great +personages whose names were only mentioned in the lowest whispers. With +regard to himself no doubt, it was because he was considered compromising +that there was a desire to receive him in this manner unknown to the +personages of the Court, and so as to speak with him at ease. Then, all +at once, he understood the cause of the noise he had recently heard, for +beside the lamp on the pier table of the little throne-room he saw a kind +of butler's tray containing some soiled plates, knives, forks, and +spoons, with a bottle and a glass, which had evidently just been removed +from a supper table. And he realised that Signor Squadra, having seen +these things in the Pope's room, had brought them there, and had then +gone in again, perhaps to tidy up. He knew also of the Pope's frugality, +how he took his meals all alone at a little round table, everything being +brought to him in that tray, a plate of meat, a plate of vegetables, a +little Bordeaux claret as prescribed by his doctor, and a large allowance +of beef broth of which he was very fond. In the same way as others might +offer a cup of tea, he was wont to offer cups of broth to the old +cardinals his friends and favourites, quite an invigorating little treat +which these old bachelors much enjoyed. And, O ye orgies of Alexander VI, +ye banquets and _galas_ of Julius II and Leo X, only eight _lire_ a +day--six shillings and fourpence--were allowed to defray the cost of Leo +XIII's table! However, just as that recollection occurred to Pierre, he +again heard a slight noise, this time in his Holiness's bed-chamber, and +thereupon, terrified by his indiscretion, he hastened to withdraw from +the entrance of the throne-room which, lifeless and quiescent though it +was, seemed in his agitation to flare as with sudden fire. + +Then, quivering too violently to be able to remain still, he began to +walk up and down the ante-chamber. He remembered that Narcisse had spoken +to him of that Signor Squadra, his Holiness's cherished valet, whose +importance and influence were so great. He alone, on reception days, was +able to prevail on the Pope to don a clean cassock if the one he was +wearing happened to be soiled by snuff. And though his Holiness +stubbornly shut himself up alone in his bed-room every night from a +spirit of independence, which some called the anxiety of a miser +determined to sleep alone with his treasure, Signor Squadra at all events +occupied an adjoining chamber, and was ever on the watch, ready to +respond to the faintest call. Again, it was he who respectfully +intervened whenever his Holiness sat up too late or worked too long. But +on this point it was difficult to induce the Pope to listen to reason. +During his hours of insomnia he would often rise and send Squadra to +fetch a secretary in order that he might detail some memoranda or sketch +out an encyclical letter. When the drafting of one of the latter +impassioned him he would have spent days and nights over it, just as +formerly, when claiming proficiency in Latin verse, he had often let the +dawn surprise him whilst he was polishing a line. But, indeed, he slept +very little, his brain ever being at work, ever scheming out the +realisation of some former ideas. His memory alone seemed to have +slightly weakened during recent times. + +Pierre, as he slowly paced to and fro, gradually became absorbed in his +thoughts of that lofty and sovereign personality. From the petty details +of the Pope's daily existence, he passed to his intellectual life, to the +_role_ which he was certainly bent on playing as a great pontiff. And +Pierre asked himself which of his two hundred and fifty-seven +predecessors, the long line of saints and criminals, men of mediocrity +and men of genius, he most desired to resemble. Was it one of the first +humble popes, those who followed on during the first three centuries, +mere heads of burial guilds, fraternal pastors of the Christian +community? Was it Pope Damasus, the first great builder, the man of +letters who took delight in intellectual matters, the ardent believer who +is said to have opened the Catacombs to the piety of the faithful? Was it +Leo III, who by crowning Charlemagne boldly consummated the rupture with +the schismatic East and conveyed the Empire to the West by the +all-powerful will of God and His Church, which thenceforth disposed of +the crowns of monarchs? Was it the terrible Gregory VII, the purifier of +the temple, the sovereign of kings; was it Innocent III or Boniface VIII, +those masters of souls, nations, and thrones, who, armed with the fierce +weapon of excommunication, reigned with such despotism over the terrified +middle ages that Catholicism was never nearer the attainment of its dream +of universal dominion? Was it Urban II or Gregory IX or another of those +popes in whom flared the red Crusading passion which urged the nations on +to the conquest of the unknown and the divine? Was it Alexander III, who +defended the Holy See against the Empire, and at last conquered and set +his foot on the neck of Frederick Barbarossa? Was it, long after the +sorrows of Avignon, Julius II, who wore the cuirass and once more +strengthened the political power of the papacy? Was it Leo X, the +pompous, glorious patron of the Renascence, of a whole great century of +art, whose mind, however, was possessed of so little penetration and +foresight that he looked on Luther as a mere rebellious monk? Was it Pius +V, who personified dark and avenging reaction, the fire of the stakes +that punished the heretic world? Was it some other of the popes who +reigned after the Council of Trent with faith absolute, belief +re-established in its full integrity, the Church saved by pride and the +stubborn upholding of every dogma? Or was it a pope of the decline, such +as Benedict XIV, the man of vast intelligence, the learned theologian +who, as his hands were tied, and he could not dispose of the kingdoms of +the world, spent a worthy life in regulating the affairs of heaven? + +In this wise, in Pierre's mind there spread out the whole history of the +popes, the most prodigious of all histories, showing fortune in every +guise, the lowest, the most wretched, as well as the loftiest and most +dazzling; whilst an obstinate determination to live enabled the papacy to +survive everything--conflagrations, massacres, and the downfall of many +nations, for always did it remain militant and erect in the persons of +its popes, that most extraordinary of all lines of absolute, conquering, +and domineering sovereigns, every one of them--even the puny and +humble--masters of the world, every one of them glorious with the +imperishable glory of heaven when they were thus evoked in that ancient +Vatican, where their spirits assuredly awoke at night and prowled about +the endless galleries and spreading halls in that tomb-like silence whose +quiver came no doubt from the light touch of their gliding steps over the +marble slabs. + +However, Pierre was now thinking that he indeed knew which of the great +popes Leo XIII most desired to resemble. It was first Gregory the Great, +the conqueror and organiser of the early days of Catholic power. He had +come of ancient Roman stock, and in his heart there was a little of the +blood of the emperors. He administered Rome after it had been saved from +the Goths, cultivated the ecclesiastical domains, and divided earthly +wealth into thirds, one for the poor, one for the clergy, and one for the +Church. Then too he was the first to establish the Propaganda, sending +his priests forth to civilise and pacify the nations, and carrying his +conquests so far as to win Great Britain over to the divine law of +Christ. And the second pope whom Leo XIII took as model was one who had +arisen after a long lapse of centuries, Sixtus V, the pope financier and +politician, the vine-dresser's son, who, when he had donned the tiara, +revealed one of the most extensive and supple minds of a period fertile +in great diplomatists. He heaped up treasure and displayed stern avarice, +in order that he might ever have in his coffers all the money needful for +war or for peace. He spent years and years in negotiations with kings, +never despairing of his own triumph; and never did he display open +hostility for his times, but took them as they were and then sought to +modify them in accordance with the interests of the Holy See, showing +himself conciliatory in all things and with every one, already dreaming +of an European balance of power which he hoped to control. And withal a +very saintly pope, a fervent mystic, yet a pope of the most absolute and +domineering mind blended with a politician ready for whatever courses +might most conduce to the rule of God's Church on earth. + +And, after all, Pierre amidst his rising enthusiasm, which despite his +efforts at calmness was sweeping away all prudence and doubt, Pierre +asked himself why he need question the past. Was not Leo XIII the pope +whom he had depicted in his book, the great pontiff, who was desired and +expected? No doubt the portrait which he had sketched was not accurate in +every detail, but surely its main lines must be correct if mankind were +to retain a hope of salvation. Whole pages of that book of his arose +before him, and he again beheld the Leo XIII that he had portrayed, the +wise and conciliatory politician, labouring for the unity of the Church +and so anxious to make it strong and invincible against the day of the +inevitable great struggle. He again beheld him freed from the cares of +the temporal power, elevated, radiant with moral splendour, the only +authority left erect above the nations; he beheld him realising what +mortal danger would be incurred if the solution of the social question +were left to the enemies of Christianity, and therefore resolving to +intervene in contemporary quarrels for the defence of the poor and the +lowly, even as Jesus had intervened once before. And he again beheld him +putting himself on the side of the democracies, accepting the Republic in +France, leaving the dethroned kings in exile, and verifying the +prediction which promised the empire of the world to Rome once more when +the papacy should have unified belief and have placed itself at the head +of the people. The times indeed were near accomplishment, Caesar was +struck down, the Pope alone remained, and would not the people, the great +silent multitude, for whom the two powers had so long contended, give +itself to its Father now that it knew him to be both just and charitable, +with heart aglow and hand outstretched to welcome all the penniless +toilers and beggars of the roads! Given the catastrophe which threatened +our rotten modern societies, the frightful misery which ravaged every +city, there was surely no other solution possible: Leo XIII, the +predestined, necessary redeemer, the pastor sent to save the flock from +coming disaster by re-establishing the true Christian community, the +forgotten golden age of primitive Christianity. The reign of justice +would at last begin, all men would be reconciled, there would be but one +nation living in peace and obeying the equalising law of work, under the +high patronage of the Pope, sole bond of charity and love on earth! + +And at this thought Pierre was upbuoyed by fiery enthusiasm. At last he +was about to see the Holy Father, empty his heart and open his soul to +him! He had so long and so passionately looked for the advent of that +moment! To secure it he had fought with all his courage through ever +recurring obstacles, and the length and difficulty of the struggle and +the success now at last achieved, increased his feverishness, his desire +for final victory. Yes, yes, he would conquer, he would confound his +enemies. As he had said to Monsignor Fornaro, could the Pope disavow him? +Had he not expressed the Holy Father's secret ideas? Perhaps he might +have done so somewhat prematurely, but was not that a fault to be +forgiven? And then too, he remembered his declaration to Monsignor Nani, +that he himself would never withdraw and suppress his book, for he +neither regretted nor disowned anything that was in it. At this very +moment he again questioned himself, and felt that all his valour and +determination to defend his book, all his desire to work the triumph of +his belief, remained intact. Yet his mental perturbation was becoming +great, he had to seek for ideas, wondering how he should enter the Pope's +presence, what he should say, what precise terms he should employ. +Something heavy and mysterious which he could hardly account for seemed +to weigh him down. At bottom he was weary, already exhausted, only held +up by his dream, his compassion for human misery. However, he would enter +in all haste, he would fall upon his knees and speak as he best could, +letting his heart flow forth. And assuredly the Holy Father would smile +on him, and dismiss him with a promise that he would not sign the +condemnation of a work in which he had found the expression of his own +most cherished thoughts. + +Then, again, such an acute sensation as of fainting came over Pierre that +he went up to the window to press his burning brow against the cold +glass. His ears were buzzing, his legs staggering, whilst his brain +throbbed violently. And he was striving to forget his thoughts by gazing +upon the black immensity of Rome, longing to be steeped in night himself, +total, healing night, the night in which one sleeps on for ever, knowing +neither pain nor wretchedness, when all at once he became conscious that +somebody was standing behind him; and thereupon, with a start, he turned +round. + +And there, indeed, stood Signor Squadra in his black livery. Again he +made one of his customary bows to invite the visitor to follow him, and +again he walked on in front, crossing the little throne-room, and slowly +opening the farther door. Then he drew aside, allowed Pierre to enter, +and noiselessly closed the door behind him. + +Pierre was in his Holiness's bed-room. He had feared one of those +overwhelming attacks of emotion which madden or paralyse one. He had been +told of women reaching the Pope's presence in a fainting condition, +staggering as if intoxicated, while others came with a rush, as though +upheld and borne along by invisible pinions. And suddenly the anguish of +his own spell of waiting, his intense feverishness, ceased in a sort of +astonishment, a reaction which rendered him very calm and so restored his +clearness of vision, that he could see everything. As he entered he +distinctly realised the decisive importance of such an audience, he, a +mere petty priest in presence of the Supreme Pontiff, the Head of the +Church. All his religious and moral life would depend on it; and possibly +it was this sudden thought that thus chilled him on the threshold of the +redoubtable sanctuary, which he had approached with such quivering steps, +and which he would not have thought to enter otherwise than with +distracted heart and loss of senses, unable to do more than stammer the +simple prayers of childhood. + +Later on, when he sought to classify his recollections he remembered that +his eyes had first lighted on Leo XIII, not, however, to the exclusion of +his surroundings, but in conjunction with them, that spacious room hung +with yellow damask whose alcove, adorned with fluted marble columns, was +so deep that the bed was quite hidden away in it, as well as other +articles of furniture, a couch, a wardrobe, and some trunks, those famous +trunks in which the treasure of the Peter's Pence was said to be securely +locked. A sort of Louis XIV writing-desk with ornaments of engraved brass +stood face to face with a large gilded and painted Louis XV pier table on +which a lamp was burning beside a lofty crucifix. The room was virtually +bare, only three arm-chairs and four or five other chairs, upholstered in +light silk, being disposed here and there over the well-worn carpet. And +on one of the arm-chairs sat Leo XIII, near a small table on which +another lamp with a shade had been placed. Three newspapers, moreover, +lay there, two of them French and one Italian, and the last was half +unfolded as if the Pope had momentarily turned from it to stir a glass of +syrup, standing beside him, with a long silver-gilt spoon. + +In the same way as Pierre saw the Pope's room, he saw his costume, his +cassock of white cloth with white buttons, his white skull-cap, his white +cape and his white sash fringed with gold and broidered at either end +with golden keys. His stockings were white, his slippers were of red +velvet, and these again were broidered with golden keys. What surprised +the young priest, however, was his Holiness's face and figure, which now +seemed so shrunken that he scarcely recognised them. This was his fourth +meeting with the Pope. He had seen him walking in the Vatican gardens, +enthroned in the Hall of Beatifications, and pontifying at St. Peter's, +and now he beheld him on that arm-chair, in privacy, and looking so +slight and fragile that he could not restrain a feeling of affectionate +anxiety. Leo's neck was particularly remarkable, slender beyond belief, +suggesting the neck of some little, aged, white bird. And his face, of +the pallor of alabaster, was characteristically transparent, to such a +degree, indeed, that one could see the lamplight through his large +commanding nose, as if the blood had entirely withdrawn from that organ. +A mouth of great length, with white bloodless lips, streaked the lower +part of the papal countenance, and the eyes alone had remained young and +handsome. Superb eyes they were, brilliant like black diamonds, endowed +with sufficient penetration and strength to lay souls open and force them +to confess the truth aloud. Some scanty white curls emerged from under +the white skull-cap, thus whitely crowning the thin white face, whose +ugliness was softened by all this whiteness, this spiritual whiteness in +which Leo XIII's flesh seemed as it were but pure lily-white florescence. + +At the first glance, however, Pierre noticed that if Signor Squadra had +kept him waiting, it had not been in order to compel the Holy Father to +don a clean cassock, for the one he was wearing was badly soiled by +snuff. A number of brown stains had trickled down the front of the +garment beside the buttons, and just like any good _bourgeois_, his +Holiness had a handkerchief on his knees to wipe himself. Apart from all +this he seemed in good health, having recovered from his recent +indisposition as easily as he usually recovered from such passing +illnesses, sober, prudent old man that he was, quite free from organic +disease, and simply declining by reason of progressive natural +exhaustion. + +Immediately on entering Pierre had felt that the Pope's sparkling eyes, +those two black diamonds, were fixed upon him. The silence was profound, +and the lamps burned with motionless, pallid flames. He had to approach, +and after making the three genuflections prescribed by etiquette, he +stooped over one of the Pope's feet resting on a cushion in order to kiss +the red velvet slipper. And on the Pope's side there was not a word, not +a gesture, not a movement. When the young man drew himself up again he +found the two black diamonds, those two eyes which were all brightness +and intelligence, still riveted on him. + +But at last Leo XIII, who had been unwilling to spare the young priest +the humble duty of kissing his foot and who now left him standing, began +to speak, whilst still examining him, probing, as it were, his very soul. +"My son," he said, "you greatly desired to see me, and I consented to +afford you that satisfaction." + +He spoke in French, somewhat uncertain French, pronounced after the +Italian fashion, and so slowly did he articulate each sentence that one +could have written it down like so much dictation. And his voice, as +Pierre had previously noticed, was strong and nasal, one of those full +voices which people are surprised to hear coming from debile and +apparently bloodless and breathless frames. + +In response to the Holy Father's remark Pierre contented himself with +bowing, knowing that respect required him to wait for a direct answer +before speaking. However, this question promptly came. "You live in +Paris?" asked Leo XIII. + +"Yes, Holy Father." + +"Are you attached to one of the great parishes of the city?" + +"No, Holy Father. I simply officiate at the little church of Neuilly." + +"Ah, yes, Neuilly, that is in the direction of the Bois de Boulogne, is +it not? And how old are you, my son?" + +"Thirty-four, Holy Father." + +A short interval followed. Leo XIII had at last lowered his eyes. With +frail, ivory hand he took up the glass beside him, again stirred the +syrup with the long spoon, and then drank a little of it. And all this he +did gently and slowly, with a prudent, judicious air, as was his wont no +doubt in everything. "I have read your book, my son," he resumed. "Yes, +the greater part of it. As a rule only fragments are submitted to me. But +a person who is interested in you handed me the volume, begging me to +glance through it. And that is how I was able to look into it." + +As he spoke he made a slight gesture in which Pierre fancied he could +detect a protest against the isolation in which he was kept by those +surrounding him, who, as Monsignor Nani had said, maintained a strict +watch in order that nothing they objected to might reach him. And +thereupon the young priest ventured to say: "I thank your Holiness for +having done me so much honour. No greater or more desired happiness could +have befallen me." He was indeed so happy! On seeing the Pope so calm, so +free from all signs of anger, and on hearing him speak in that way of his +book, like one well acquainted with it, he imagined that his cause was +won. + +"You are in relations with Monsieur le Vicomte Philibert de la Choue, are +you not, my son?" continued Leo XIII. "I was struck by the resemblance +between some of your ideas and those of that devoted servant of the +Church, who has in other ways given us previous testimony of his good +feelings." + +"Yes, indeed, Holy Father, Monsieur de la Choue is kind enough to show me +some affection. We have often talked together, so it is not surprising +that I should have given expression to some of his most cherished ideas." + +"No doubt, no doubt. For instance, there is that question of the +working-class guilds with which he largely occupies himself--with which, +in fact, he occupies himself rather too much. At the time of his last +journey to Rome he spoke to me of it in the most pressing manner. And in +the same way, quite recently, another of your compatriots, one of the +best and worthiest of men, Monsieur le Baron de Fouras, who brought us +that superb pilgrimage of the St. Peter's Pence Fund, never ceased his +efforts until I consented to receive him, when he spoke to me on the same +subject during nearly an hour. Only it must be said that they do not +agree in the matter, for one begs me to do things which the other will +not have me do on any account." + +Pierre realised that the conversation was straying away from his book, +but he remembered having promised the Viscount that if he should see the +Pope he would make an attempt to obtain from him a decisive expression of +opinion on the famous question as to whether the working-class guilds or +corporations should be free or obligatory, open or closed. And the +unhappy Viscount, kept in Paris by the gout, had written the young priest +letter after letter on the subject, whilst his rival the Baron, availing +himself of the opportunity offered by the international pilgrimage, +endeavoured to wring from the Pope an approval of his own views, with +which he would have returned in triumph to France. Pierre conscientiously +desired to keep his promise, and so he answered: "Your Holiness knows +better than any of us in which direction true wisdom lies. Monsieur de +Fouras is of opinion that salvation, the solution of the labour question, +lies simply in the re-establishment of the old free corporations, whilst +Monsieur de la Choue desires the corporations to be obligatory, protected +by the state and governed by new regulations. This last conception is +certainly more in agreement with the social ideas now prevalent in +France. Should your Holiness condescend to express a favourable opinion +in that sense, the young French Catholic party would certainly know how +to turn it to good result, by producing quite a movement of the working +classes in favour of the Church." + +In his quiet way Leo XIII responded: "But I cannot. Frenchmen always ask +things of me which I cannot, will not do. What I will allow you to say on +my behalf to Monsieur de la Choue is, that though I cannot content him I +have not contented Monsieur de Fouras. He obtained from me nothing beyond +the expression of my sincere good-will for the French working classes, +who are so dear to me and who can do so much for the restoration of the +faith. You must surely understand, however, that among you Frenchmen +there are questions of detail, of mere organisation, so to say, into +which I cannot possibly enter without imparting to them an importance +which they do not have, and at the same time greatly discontenting some +people should I please others." + +As the Pope pronounced these last words he smiled a pale smile, in which +the shrewd, conciliatory politician, who was determined not to allow his +infallibility to be compromised in useless and risky ventures, was fully +revealed. And then he drank a little more syrup and wiped his mouth with +his handkerchief, like a sovereign whose Court day is over and who takes +his ease, having chosen this hour of solitude and silence to chat as long +as he may be so inclined. + +Pierre, however, sought to bring him back to the subject of his book. +"Monsieur de la Choue," said he, "has shown me so much kindness and is so +anxious to know the fate reserved to my book--as if, indeed, it were his +own--that I should have been very happy to convey to him an expression of +your Holiness's approval." + +However, the Pope continued wiping his mouth and did not reply. + +"I became acquainted with the Viscount," continued Pierre, "at the +residence of his Eminence Cardinal Bergerot, another great heart whose +ardent charity ought to suffice to restore the faith in France." + +This time the effect was immediate. "Ah! yes, Monsieur le Cardinal +Bergerot!" said Leo XIII. "I read that letter of his which is printed at +the beginning of your book. He was very badly inspired in writing it to +you; and you, my son, acted very culpably on the day you published it. I +cannot yet believe that Monsieur le Cardinal Bergerot had read some of +your pages when he sent you an expression of his complete and full +approval. I prefer to charge him with ignorance and thoughtlessness. How +could he approve of your attacks on dogma, your revolutionary theories +which tend to the complete destruction of our holy religion? If it be a +fact that he had read your book, the only excuse he can invoke is sudden +and inexplicable aberration. It is true that a very bad spirit prevails +among a small portion of the French clergy. What are called Gallican +ideas are ever sprouting up like noxious weeds; there is a malcontent +Liberalism rebellious to our authority which continually hungers for free +examination and sentimental adventures." + +The Pope grew animated as he spoke. Italian words mingled with his +hesitating French, and every now and again his full nasal voice resounded +with the sonority of a brass instrument. "Monsieur le Cardinal Bergerot," +he continued, "must be given to understand that we shall crush him on the +day when we see in him nothing but a rebellious son. He owes the example +of obedience; we shall acquaint him with our displeasure, and we hope +that he will submit. Humility and charity are great virtues doubtless, +and we have always taken pleasure in recognising them in him. But they +must not be the refuge of a rebellious heart, for they are as nothing +unless accompanied by obedience--obedience, obedience, the finest +adornment of the great saints!" + +Pierre listened thunderstruck, overcome. He forgot himself to think of +the apostle of kindliness and tolerance upon whose head he had drawn this +all-powerful anger. So Don Vigilio had spoken the truth: over and above +his--Pierre's--head the denunciations of the Bishops of Evreux and +Poitiers were about to fall on the man who opposed their Ultramontane +policy, that worthy and gentle Cardinal Bergerot, whose heart was open to +all the woes of the lowly and the poor. This filled the young priest with +despair; he could accept the denunciation of the Bishop of Tarbes acting +on behalf of the Fathers of the Grotto, for that only fell on himself, as +a reprisal for what he had written about Lourdes; but the underhand +warfare of the others exasperated him, filled him with dolorous +indignation. And from that puny old man before him with the slender, +scraggy neck of an aged bird, he had suddenly seen such a wrathful, +formidable Master arise that he trembled. How could he have allowed +himself to be deceived by appearances on entering? How could he have +imagined that he was simply in presence of a poor old man, worn out by +age, desirous of peace, and ready for every concession? A blast had swept +through that sleepy chamber, and all his doubts and his anguish awoke +once more. Ah! that Pope, how thoroughly he answered to all the accounts +that he, Pierre, had heard but had refused to believe; so many people had +told him in Rome that he would find Leo XIII a man of intellect rather +than of sentiment, a man of the most unbounded pride, who from his very +youth had nourished the supreme ambition, to such a point indeed that he +had promised eventual triumph to his relatives in order that they might +make the necessary sacrifices for him, while since he had occupied the +pontifical throne his one will and determination had been to reign, to +reign in spite of all, to be the sole absolute and omnipotent master of +the world! And now here was reality arising with irresistible force and +confirming everything. And yet Pierre struggled, stubbornly clutching at +his dream once more. + +"Oh! Holy Father," said he, "I should be grieved indeed if his Eminence +should have a moment's worry on account of my unfortunate book. If I be +guilty I can answer for my error, but his Eminence only obeyed the +dictates of his heart and can only have transgressed by excess of love +for the disinherited of the world!" + +Leo XIII made no reply. He had again raised his superb eyes, those eyes +of ardent life, set, as it were, in the motionless countenance of an +alabaster idol; and once more he was fixedly gazing at the young priest. + +And Pierre, amidst his returning feverishness, seemed to behold him +growing in power and splendour, whilst behind him arose a vision of the +ages, a vision of that long line of popes whom the young priest had +previously evoked, the saintly and the proud ones, the warriors and the +ascetics, the theologians and the diplomatists, those who had worn +armour, those who had conquered by the Cross, those who had disposed of +empires as of mere provinces which God had committed to their charge. And +in particular Pierre beheld the great Gregory, the conqueror and founder, +and Sixtus V, the negotiator and politician, who had first foreseen the +eventual victory of the papacy over all the vanquished monarchies. Ah! +what a throng of magnificent princes, of sovereign masters with powerful +brains and arms, there was behind that pale, motionless, old man! What an +accumulation of inexhaustible determination, stubborn genius, and +boundless domination! The whole history of human ambition, the whole +effort of the ages to subject the nations to the pride of one man, the +greatest force that has ever conquered, exploited, and fashioned mankind +in the name of its happiness! And even now, when territorial sovereignty +had come to an end, how great was the spiritual sovereignty of that pale +and slender old man, in whose presence women fainted, as if overcome by +the divine splendour radiating from his person. Not only did all the +resounding glories, the masterful triumphs of history spread out behind +him, but heaven opened, the very spheres beyond life shone out in their +dazzling mystery. He--the Pope--stood at the portals of heaven, holding +the keys and opening those portals to human souls; all the ancient +symbolism was revived, freed at last from the stains of royalty here +below. + +"Oh! I beg you, Holy Father," resumed Pierre, "if an example be needed +strike none other than myself. I have come, and am here; decide my fate, +but do not aggravate my punishment by filling me with remorse at having +brought condemnation on the innocent." + +Leo XIII still refrained from replying, though he continued to look at +the young priest with burning eyes. And he, Pierre, no longer beheld Leo +XIII, the last of a long line of popes, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the +Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, the Supreme Pontiff of the +Universal Church, Patriarch of the East, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and +Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Temporal Domains of +the Holy Church; he saw the Leo XIII that he had dreamt of, the awaited +saviour who would dispel the frightful cataclysm in which rotten society +was sinking. He beheld him with his supple, lofty intelligence and +fraternal, conciliatory tactics, avoiding friction and labouring to bring +about unity whilst with his heart overflowing with love he went straight +to the hearts of the multitude, again giving the best of his blood in +sign of the new alliance. He raised him aloft as the sole remaining moral +authority, the sole possible bond of charity and peace--as the Father, in +fact, who alone could stamp out injustice among his children, destroy +misery, and re-establish the liberating Law of Work by bringing the +nations back to the faith of the primitive Church, the gentleness and the +wisdom of the true Christian community. And in the deep silence of that +room the great figure which he thus set up assumed invincible +all-powerfulness, extraordinary majesty. + +"Oh, I beseech you, Holy Father, listen to me," he said. "Do not even +strike me, strike no one, neither a being nor a thing, anything that can +suffer under the sun. Show kindness and indulgence to all, show all the +kindness and indulgence which the sight of the world's sufferings must +have set in you!" + +And then, seeing that Leo XIII still remained silent and still left him +standing there, he sank down upon his knees, as if felled by the growing +emotion which rendered his heart so heavy. And within him there was a +sort of _debacle_; all his doubts, all his anguish and sadness burst +forth in an irresistible stream. There was the memory of the frightful +day that he had just spent, the tragic death of Dario and Benedetta, +which weighed on him like lead; there were all the sufferings that he had +experienced since his arrival in Rome, the destruction of his illusions, +the wounds dealt to his delicacy, the buffets with which men and things +had responded to his young enthusiasm; and, lying yet more deeply within +his heart, there was the sum total of human wretchedness, the thought of +famished ones howling for food, of mothers whose breasts were drained and +who sobbed whilst kissing their hungry babes, of fathers without work, +who clenched their fists and revolted--indeed, the whole of that hateful +misery which is as old as mankind itself, which has preyed upon mankind +since its earliest hour, and which he now had everywhere found increasing +in horror and havoc, without a gleam of hope that it would ever be +healed. And withal, yet more immense and more incurable, he felt within +him a nameless sorrow to which he could assign no precise cause or +name--an universal, an illimitable sorrow with which he melted +despairingly, and which was perhaps the very sorrow of life. + +"O Holy Father!" he exclaimed, "I myself have no existence and my book +has no existence. I desired, passionately desired to see your Holiness +that I might explain and defend myself. But I no longer know, I can no +longer recall a single one of the things that I wished to say, I can only +weep, weep the tears which are stifling me. Yes, I am but a poor man, and +the only need I feel is to speak to you of the poor. Oh! the poor ones, +oh! the lowly ones, whom for two years past I have seen in our faubourgs +of Paris, so wretched and so full of pain; the poor little children that +I have picked out of the snow, the poor little angels who had eaten +nothing for two days; the women too, consumed by consumption, without +bread or fire, shivering in filthy hovels; and the men thrown on the +street by slackness of trade, weary of begging for work as one begs for +alms, sinking back into night, drunken with rage and harbouring the sole +avenging thought of setting the whole city afire! And that night too, +that terrible night, when in a room of horror I beheld a mother who had +just killed herself with her five little ones, she lying on a palliasse +suckling her last-born, and two little girls, two pretty little blondes, +sleeping the last sleep beside her, while the two boys had succumbed +farther away, one of them crouching against a wall, and the other lying +upon the floor, distorted as though by a last effort to avoid death!... +O Holy Father! I am but an ambassador, the messenger of those who suffer +and who sob, the humble delegate of the humble ones who die of want +beneath the hateful harshness, the frightful injustice of our present-day +social system! And I bring your Holiness their tears, and I lay their +tortures at your Holiness's feet, I raise their cry of woe, like a cry +from the abyss, that cry which demands justice unless indeed the very +heavens are to fall! Oh! show your loving kindness, Holy Father, show +compassion!" + +The young man had stretched out his arms and implored Leo XIII with a +gesture as of supreme appeal to the divine compassion. Then he continued: +"And here, Holy Father, in this splendid and eternal Rome, is not the +want and misery as frightful! During the weeks that I have roamed hither +and thither among the dust of famous ruins, I have never ceased to come +in contact with evils which demand cure. Ah! to think of all that is +crumbling, all that is expiring, the agony of so much glory, the fearful +sadness of a world which is dying of exhaustion and hunger! Yonder, under +your Holiness's windows, have I not seen a district of horrors, a +district of unfinished palaces stricken like rickety children who cannot +attain to full growth, palaces which are already in ruins and have become +places of refuge for all the woeful misery of Rome? And here, as in +Paris, what a suffering multitude, what a shameless exhibition too of the +social sore, the devouring cancer openly tolerated and displayed in utter +heedlessness! There are whole families leading idle and hungry lives in +the splendid sunlight; fathers waiting for work to fall to them from +heaven; sons listlessly spending their days asleep on the dry grass; +mothers and daughters, withered before their time, shuffling about in +loquacious idleness. O Holy Father, already to-morrow at dawn may your +Holiness open that window yonder and with your benediction awaken that +great childish people, which still slumbers in ignorance and poverty! May +your Holiness give it the soul it lacks, a soul with the consciousness of +human dignity, of the necessary law of work, of free and fraternal life +regulated by justice only! Yes, may your Holiness make a people out of +that heap of wretches, whose excuse lies in all their bodily suffering +and mental night, who live like the beasts that go by and die, never +knowing nor understanding, yet ever lashed onward with the whip!" + +Pierre's sobs were gradually choking him, and it was only the impulse of +his passion which still enabled him to speak. "And, Holy Father," he +continued, "is it not to you that I ought to address myself in the name +of all these wretched ones? Are you not the Father, and is it not before +the Father that the messenger of the poor and the lowly should kneel as I +am kneeling now? And is it not to the Father that he should bring the +huge burden of their sorrows and ask for pity and help and justice? Yes, +particularly for justice! And since you are the Father throw the doors +wide open so that all may enter, even the humblest of your children, the +faithful, the chance passers, even the rebellious ones and those who have +gone astray but who will perhaps enter and whom you will save from the +errors of abandonment! Be as the house of refuge on the dangerous road, +the loving greeter of the wayfarer, the lamp of hospitality which ever +burns, and is seen afar off and saves one in the storm! And since, O +Father, you are power be salvation also! You can do all; you have +centuries of domination behind you; you have nowadays risen to a moral +authority which has rendered you the arbiter of the world; you are there +before me like the very majesty of the sun which illumines and +fructifies! Oh! be the star of kindness and charity, be the redeemer; +take in hand once more the purpose of Jesus, which has been perverted by +being left in the hands of the rich and the powerful who have ended by +transforming the work of the Gospel into the most hateful of all +monuments of pride and tyranny! And since the work has been spoilt, take +it in hand, begin it afresh, place yourself on the side of the little +ones, the lowly ones, the poor ones, and bring them back to the peace, +the fraternity, and the justice of the original Christian communion. And +say, O Father, that I have understood you, that I have sincerely +expressed in this respect your most cherished ideas, the sole living +desire of your reign! The rest, oh! the rest, my book, myself, what +matter they! I do not defend myself, I only seek your glory and the +happiness of mankind. Say that from the depths of this Vatican you have +heard the rending of our corrupt modern societies! Say that you have +quivered with loving pity, say that you desire to prevent the awful +impending catastrophe by recalling the Gospel to the hearts of your +children who are stricken with madness, and by bringing them back to the +age of simplicity and purity when the first Christians lived together in +innocent brotherhood! Yes, it is for that reason, is it not, that you +have placed yourself, Father, on the side of the poor, and for that +reason I am here and entreat you for pity and kindness and justice with +my whole soul!" + +Then the young man gave way beneath his emotion, and fell all of a heap +upon the floor amidst a rush of sobs--loud, endless sobs, which flowed +forth in billows, coming as it were not only from himself but from all +the wretched, from the whole world in whose veins sorrow coursed mingled +with the very blood of life. He was there as the ambassador of suffering, +as he had said. And indeed, at the foot of that mute and motionless pope, +he was like the personification of the whole of human woe. + +Leo XIII, who was extremely fond of talking and could only listen to +others with an effort, had twice raised one of his pallid hands to +interrupt the young priest. Then, gradually overcome by astonishment, +touched by emotion himself, he had allowed him to continue, to go on to +the end of his outburst. A little blood even had suffused the snowy +whiteness of the Pontiff's face whilst his eyes shone out yet more +brilliantly. And as soon as he saw the young man speechless at his feet, +shaken by those sobs which seemed to be wrenching away his heart, he +became anxious and leant forward: "Calm yourself, my son, raise +yourself," he said. + +But the sobs still continued, still flowed forth, all reason and respect +being swept away amidst that distracted plaint of a wounded soul, that +moan of suffering, dying flesh. + +"Raise yourself, my son, it is not proper," repeated Leo XIII. "There, +take that chair." And with a gesture of authority he at last invited the +young man to sit down. + +Pierre rose with pain, and at once seated himself in order that he might +not fall. He brushed his hair back from his forehead, and wiped his +scalding tears away with his hands, unable to understand what had just +happened, but striving to regain his self-possession. + +"You appeal to the Holy Father," said Leo XIII. "Ah! rest assured that +his heart is full of pity and affection for those who are unfortunate. +But that is not the point, it is our holy religion which is in question. +I have read your book, a bad book, I tell you so at once, the most +dangerous and culpable of books, precisely on account of its qualities, +the pages in which I myself felt interested. Yes, I was often fascinated, +I should not have continued my perusal had I not felt carried away, +transported by the ardent breath of your faith and enthusiasm. The +subject 'New Rome' is such a beautiful one and impassions me so much! and +certainly there is a book to be written under that title, but in a very +different spirit to yours. You think that you have understood me, my son, +that you have so penetrated yourself with my writings and actions that +you simply express my most cherished ideas. But no, no, you have not +understood me, and that is why I desired to see you, explain things to +you, and convince you." + +It was now Pierre who sat listening, mute and motionless. Yet he had only +come thither to defend himself; for three months past he had been +feverishly desiring this interview, preparing his arguments and feeling +confident of victory; and now although he heard his book spoken of as +dangerous and culpable he did not protest, did not reply with any one of +those good reasons which he had deemed so irresistible. But the fact was +that intense weariness had come upon him, the appeal that he had made, +the tears that he had shed had left him utterly exhausted. By and by, +however, he would be brave and would say what he had resolved to say. + +"People do not understand me, do not understand me!" resumed Leo XIII +with an air of impatient irritation. "It is incredible what trouble I +have to make myself understood, in France especially! Take the temporal +power for instance; how can you have fancied that the Holy See would ever +enter into any compromise on that question? Such language is unworthy of +a priest, it is the chimerical dream of one who is ignorant of the +conditions in which the papacy has hitherto lived and in which it must +still live if it does not desire to disappear. Cannot you see the +sophistry of your argument that the Church becomes the loftier the more +it frees itself from the cares of terrestrial sovereignty? A purely +spiritual royalty, a sway of charity and love, indeed, 'tis a fine +imaginative idea! But who will ensure us respect? Who will grant us the +alms of a stone on which to rest our head if we are ever driven forth and +forced to roam the highways? Who will guarantee our independence when we +are at the mercy of every state?... No, no! this soil of Rome is ours, +we have inherited it from the long line of our ancestors, and it is the +indestructible, eternal soil on which the Church is built, so that any +relinquishment would mean the downfall of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and +Roman Church. And, moreover, we could not relinquish it; we are bound by +our oath to God and man." + +He paused for a moment to allow Pierre to answer him. But the latter to +his stupefaction could say nothing, for he perceived that this pope spoke +as he was bound to speak. All the heavy mysterious things which had +weighed the young priest down whilst he was waiting in the ante-room, now +became more and more clearly defined. They were, indeed, the things which +he had seen and learnt since his arrival in Rome, the disillusions, the +rebuffs which he had experienced, all the many points of difference +between existing reality and imagination, whereby his dream of a return +to primitive Christianity was already half shattered. And in particular +he remembered the hour which he had spent on the dome of St. Peter's, +when, in presence of the old city of glory so stubbornly clinging to its +purple, he had realised that he was an imbecile with his idea of a purely +spiritual pope. He had that day fled from the furious shouts of the +pilgrims acclaiming the Pope-King. He had only accepted the necessity for +money, that last form of servitude still binding the Pope to earth. But +all had crumbled afterwards, when he had beheld the real Rome, the +ancient city of pride and domination where the papacy can never be +complete without the temporal power. Too many bonds, dogma, tradition, +environment, the very soil itself rendered the Church for ever immutable. +It was only in appearances that she could make concessions, and a time +would even arrive when her concessions would cease, in presence of the +impossibility of going any further without committing suicide. If his, +Pierre's, dream of a New Rome were ever to be realised, it would only be +faraway from ancient Rome. Only in some distant region could the new +Christianity arise, for Catholicism was bound to die on the spot when the +last of the popes, riveted to that land of ruins, should disappear +beneath the falling dome of St. Peter's, which would fall as surely as +the temple of Jupiter had fallen! And, as for that pope of the present +day, though he might have no kingdom, though age might have made him weak +and fragile, though his bloodless pallor might be that of some ancient +idol of wax, he none the less flared with the red passion for universal +sovereignty, he was none the less the stubborn scion of his ancestry, the +Pontifex Maximus, the Caesar Imperator in whose veins flowed the blood of +Augustus, master of the world. + +"You must be fully aware," resumed Leo XIII, "of the ardent desire for +unity which has always possessed us. We were very happy on the day when +we unified the rite, by imposing the Roman rite throughout the whole +Catholic world. This is one of our most cherished victories, for it can +do much to uphold our authority. And I hope that our efforts in the East +will end by bringing our dear brethren of the dissident communions back +to us, in the same way as I do not despair of convincing the Anglican +sects, without speaking of the other so-called Protestant sects who will +be compelled to return to the bosom of the only Church, the Catholic, +Apostolic, and Roman Church, when the times predicted by the Christ shall +be accomplished. But a thing which you did not say in your book is that +the Church can relinquish nothing whatever of dogma. On the contrary, you +seem to fancy that an agreement might be effected, concessions made on +either side, and that, my son, is a culpable thought, such language as a +priest cannot use without being guilty of a crime. No, the truth is +absolute, not a stone of the edifice shall be changed. Oh! in matters of +form, we will do whatever may be asked. We are ready to adopt the most +conciliatory courses if it be only a question of turning certain +difficulties and weighing expressions in order to facilitate agreement.. +.. Again, there is the part we have taken in contemporary socialism, and +here too it is necessary that we should be understood. Those whom you +have so well called the disinherited of the world, are certainly the +object of our solicitude. If socialism be simply a desire for justice, +and a constant determination to come to the help of the weak and the +suffering, who can claim to give more thought to the matter and work with +more energy than ourselves? Has not the Church always been the mother of +the afflicted, the helper and benefactress of the poor? We are for all +reasonable progress, we admit all new social forms which will promote +peace and fraternity.... Only we can but condemn that socialism which +begins by driving away God as a means of ensuring the happiness of +mankind. Therein lies simple savagery, an abominable relapse into the +primitive state in which there can only be catastrophe, conflagration, +and massacre. And that again is a point on which you have not laid +sufficient stress, for you have not shown in your book that there can be +no progress outside the pale of the Church, that she is really the only +initiatory and guiding power to whom one may surrender oneself without +fear. Indeed, and in this again you have sinned, it seemed to me as if +you set God on one side, as if for you religion lay solely in a certain +bent of the soul, a florescence of love and charity, which sufficed one +to work one's salvation. But that is execrable heresy. God is ever +present, master of souls and bodies; and religion remains the bond, the +law, the very governing power of mankind, apart from which there can only +be barbarism in this world and damnation in the next. And, once again, +forms are of no importance; it is sufficient that dogma should remain. +Thus our adhesion to the French Republic proves that we in no wise mean +to link the fate of religion to that of any form of government, however +august and ancient the latter may be. Dynasties may have done their time, +but God is eternal. Kings may perish, but God lives! And, moreover, there +is nothing anti-Christian in the republican form of government; indeed, +on the contrary, it would seem like an awakening of that Christian +commonwealth to which you have referred in some really charming pages. +The worst is that liberty at once becomes license, and that our desire +for conciliation is often very badly requited.... But ah! what a +wicked book you have written, my son,--with the best intentions, I am +willing to believe,--and how your silence shows that you are beginning to +recognise the disastrous consequences of your error." + +Pierre still remained silent, overcome, feeling as if his arguments would +fall against some deaf, blind, and impenetrable rock, which it was +useless to assail since nothing could enter it. And only one thing now +preoccupied him; he wondered how it was that a man of such intelligence +and such ambition had not formed a more distinct and exact idea of the +modern world. He could divine that the Pope possessed much information +and carried the map of Christendom with many of the needs, deeds, and +hopes of the nations, in his mind amidst his complicated diplomatic +enterprises; but at the same time what gaps there were in his knowledge! +The truth, no doubt, was that his personal acquaintance with the world +was confined to his brief nunciature at Brussels.* + + * That too, was in 1843-44, and the world is now utterly unlike + what it was then!--Trans. + +During his occupation of the see of Perugia, which had followed, he had +only mingled with the dawning life of young Italy. And for eighteen years +now he had been shut up in the Vatican, isolated from the rest of mankind +and communicating with the nations solely through his _entourage_, which +was often most unintelligent, most mendacious, and most treacherous. +Moreover, he was an Italian priest, a superstitious and despotic High +Pontiff, bound by tradition, subjected to the influences of race +environment, pecuniary considerations, and political necessities, not to +speak of his great pride, the conviction that he ought to be implicitly +obeyed in all things as the one sole legitimate power upon earth. Therein +lay fatal causes of mental deformity, of errors and gaps in his +extraordinary brain, though the latter certainly possessed many admirable +qualities, quickness of comprehension and patient stubbornness of will +and strength to draw conclusions and act. Of all his powers, however, +that of intuition was certainly the most wonderful, for was it not this +alone which, owing to his voluntary imprisonment, enabled him to divine +the vast evolution of humanity at the present day? He was thus keenly +conscious of the dangers surrounding him, of the rising tide of democracy +and the boundless ocean of science which threatened to submerge the +little islet where the dome of St. Peter's yet triumphed. And the object +of all his policy, of all his labour, was to conquer so that he might +reign. If he desired the unity of the Church it was in order that the +latter might become strong and inexpugnable in the contest which he +foresaw. If he preached conciliation, granting concessions in matters of +form, tolerating audacious actions on the part of American bishops, it +was because he deeply and secretly feared the dislocation of the Church, +some sudden schism which might hasten disaster. And this fear explained +his returning affection for the people, the concern which he displayed +respecting socialism, and the Christian solution which he offered to the +woes of earthly life. As Caesar was stricken low, was not the long +contest for possession of the people over, and would not the people, the +great silent multitude, speak out, and give itself to him, the Pope? He +had begun experiments with France, forsaking the lost cause of the +monarchy and recognising the Republic which he hoped might prove strong +and victorious, for in spite of everything France remained the eldest +daughter of the Church, the only Catholic nation which yet possessed +sufficient strength to restore the temporal power at some propitious +moment. And briefly Leo's desire was to reign. To reign by the support of +France since it seemed impossible to do so by the support of Germany! To +reign by the support of the people, since the people was now becoming the +master, the bestower of thrones! To reign by means even of an Italian +Republic, if only that Republic could wrest Rome from the House of Savoy +and restore her to him, a federal Republic which would make him President +of the United States of Italy pending the time when he should be +President of the United States of Europe! To reign in spite of everybody +and everything, such was his ambition, to reign over the world, even as +Augustus had reigned, Augustus whose devouring blood alone upheld this +expiring old man, yet so stubbornly clinging to power! + +"And another crime of yours, my son," resumed Leo XIII, "is that you have +dared to ask for a new religion. That is impious, blasphemous, +sacrilegious. There is but one religion in the world, our Holy Catholic +Apostolic and Roman Religion, apart from which there can be but darkness +and damnation. I quite understand that what you mean to imply is a return +to early Christianity. But the error of so-called Protestantism, so +culpable and so deplorable in its consequences, never had any other +pretext. As soon as one departs from the strict observance of dogma and +absolute respect for tradition one sinks into the most frightful +precipices.... Ah! schism, schism, my son, is a crime beyond +forgiveness, an assassination of the true God, a device of the loathsome +Beast of Temptation which Hell sends into the world to work the ruin of +the faithful! If your book contained nothing beyond those words 'a new +religion,' it would be necessary to destroy and burn it like so much +poison fatal in its effects upon the human soul." + +He continued at length on this subject, while Pierre recalled what Don +Vigilio had told him of those all-powerful Jesuits who at the Vatican as +elsewhere remained in the background, secretly but none the less +decisively governing the Church. Was it true then that this pope, whose +opportunist tendencies were so freely displayed, was one of them, a mere +docile instrument in their hands, though he fancied himself penetrated +with the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas? In any case, like them he +compounded with the century, made approaches to the world, and was +willing to flatter it in order that he might possess it. Never before had +Pierre so cruelly realised that the Church was now so reduced that she +could only live by dint of concessions and diplomacy. And he could at +last distinctly picture that Roman clergy which at first is so difficult +of comprehension to a French priest, that Government of the Church, +represented by the pope, the cardinals, and the prelates, whom the Deity +has appointed to govern and administer His mundane possessions--mankind +and the earth. They begin by setting that very Deity on one side, in the +depths of the tabernacle, and impose whatever dogmas they please as so +many essential truths. That the Deity exists is evident, since they +govern in His name which is sufficient for everything. And being by +virtue of their charge the masters, if they consent to sign covenants, +Concordats, it is only as matters of form; they do not observe them, and +never yield to anything but force, always reserving the principle of +their absolute sovereignty which must some day finally triumph. Pending +that day's arrival, they act as diplomatists, slowly carrying on their +work of conquest as the Deity's functionaries; and religion is but the +public homage which they pay to the Deity, and which they organise with +all the pomp and magnificence that is likely to influence the multitude. +Their only object is to enrapture and conquer mankind in order that the +latter may submit to the rule of the Deity, that is the rule of +themselves, since they are the Deity's visible representatives, expressly +delegated to govern the world. In a word, they straightway descend from +Roman law, they are still but the offspring of the old pagan soul of +Rome, and if they have lasted until now and if they rely on lasting for +ever, until the awaited hour when the empire of the world shall be +restored to them, it is because they are the direct heirs of the +purple-robed Caesars, the uninterrupted and living progeny of the blood +of Augustus. + +And thereupon Pierre felt ashamed of his tears. Ah! those poor nerves of +his, that outburst of sentiment and enthusiasm to which he had given way! +His very modesty was appalled, for he felt as if he had exhibited his +soul in utter nakedness. And so uselessly too, in that room where nothing +similar had ever been said before, and in presence of that Pontiff-King +who could not understand him. His plan of the popes reigning by means of +the poor and lowly now horrified him. His idea of the papacy going to the +people, at last rid of its former masters, seemed to him a suggestion +worthy of a wolf, for if the papacy should go to the people it would only +be to prey upon it as the others had done. And really he, Pierre, must +have been mad when he had imagined that a Roman prelate, a cardinal, a +pope, was capable of admitting a return to the Christian commonwealth, a +fresh florescence of primitive Christianity to pacify the aged nations +whom hatred consumed. Such a conception indeed was beyond the +comprehension of men who for centuries had regarded themselves as masters +of the world, so heedless and disdainful of the lowly and the suffering, +that they had at last become altogether incapable of either love or +charity.* + + * The reader should bear in mind that these remarks apply to the + Italian cardinals and prelates, whose vanity and egotism are + remarkable.--Trans. + +Leo XIII, however, was still holding forth in his full, unwearying voice. +And the young priest heard him saying: "Why did you write that page on +Lourdes which shows such a thoroughly bad spirit? Lourdes, my son, has +rendered great services to religion. To the persons who have come and +told me of the touching miracles which are witnessed at the Grotto almost +daily, I have often expressed my desire to see those miracles confirmed, +proved by the most rigorous scientific tests. And, indeed, according to +what I have read, I do not think that the most evilly disposed minds can +entertain any further doubt on the matter, for the miracles _are_ proved +scientifically in the most irrefutable manner. Science, my son, must be +God's servant. It can do nothing against Him, it is only by His grace +that it arrives at the truth. All the solutions which people nowadays +pretend to discover and which seemingly destroy dogma will some day be +recognised as false, for God's truth will remain victorious when the +times shall be accomplished. That is a very simple certainty, known even +to little children, and it would suffice for the peace and salvation of +mankind, if mankind would content itself with it. And be convinced, my +son, that faith and reason are not incompatible. Have we not got St. +Thomas who foresaw everything, explained everything, regulated +everything? Your faith has been shaken by the onslaught of the spirit of +examination, you have known trouble and anguish which Heaven has been +pleased to spare our priests in this land of ancient belief, this city of +Rome which the blood of so many martyrs has sanctified. However, we have +no fear of the spirit of examination, study St. Thomas, read him +thoroughly and your faith will return, definitive and triumphant, firmer +than ever." + +These remarks caused Pierre as much dismay as if fragments of the +celestial vault were raining on his head. O God of truth, miracles--the +miracles of Lourdes!--proved scientifically, faith in the dogmas +compatible with reason, and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas sufficient +to instil certainty into the minds of this present generation! How could +one answer that, and indeed why answer it at all? + +"Yes, yours is a most culpable and dangerous book," concluded Leo XIII; +"its very title 'New Rome' is mendacious and poisonous, and the work is +the more to be condemned as it offers every fascination of style, every +perversion of generous fancy. Briefly it is such a book that a priest, if +he conceived it in an hour of error, can have no other duty than that of +burning it in public with the very hand which traced the pages of error +and scandal." + +All at once Pierre rose up erect. He was about to exclaim: "'Tis true, I +had lost my faith, but I thought I had found it again in the compassion +which the woes of the world set in my heart. You were my last hope, the +awaited saviour. But, behold, that again is a dream, you cannot take the +work of Jesus in hand once more and pacify mankind so as to avert the +frightful fratricidal war which is preparing. You cannot leave your +throne and come along the roads with the poor and the humble to carry out +the supreme work of fraternity. Well, it is all over with you, your +Vatican and your St. Peter's. All is falling before the onslaught of the +rising multitude and growing science. You no longer exist, there are only +ruins and remnants left here." + +However, he did not speak those words. He simply bowed and said: "Holy +Father, I make my submission and reprobate my book." And as he thus +replied his voice trembled with disgust, and his open hands made a +gesture of surrender as though he were yielding up his soul. The words he +had chosen were precisely those of the required formula: _Auctor +laudabiliter se subjecit et opus reprobavit_. "The author has laudably +made his submission and reprobated his work." No error could have been +confessed, no hope could have accomplished self-destruction with loftier +despair, more sovereign grandeur. But what frightful irony: that book +which he had sworn never to withdraw, and for whose triumph he had fought +so passionately, and which he himself now denied and suppressed, not +because he deemed it guilty, but because he had just realised that it was +as futile, as chimerical as a lover's desire, a poet's dream. Ah! yes, +since he had been mistaken, since he had merely dreamed, since he had +found there neither the Deity nor the priest that he had desired for the +happiness of mankind, why should he obstinately cling to the illusion of +an awakening which was impossible! 'Twere better to fling his book on the +ground like a dead leaf, better to deny it, better to cut it away like a +dead limb that could serve no purpose whatever! + +Somewhat surprised by such a prompt victory Leo XIII raised a slight +exclamation of content. "That is well said, my son, that is well said! +You have spoken the only words that can become a priest." + +And in his evident satisfaction, he who left nothing to chance, who +carefully prepared each of his audiences, deciding beforehand what words +he would say, what gestures even he would make, unbent somewhat and +displayed real _bonhomie_. Unable to understand, mistaking the real +motives of this rebellious priest's submission, he tasted positive +delight in having so easily reduced him to silence, the more so as report +had stated the young man to be a terrible revolutionary. And thus his +Holiness felt quite proud of such a conversion. "Moreover, my son," he +said, "I did not expect less of one of your distinguished mind. There can +be no loftier enjoyment than that of owning one's error, doing penance, +and submitting." + +He had again taken the glass off the little table beside him and was +stirring the last spoonful of syrup before drinking it. And Pierre was +amazed at again finding him as he had found him at the outset, shrunken, +bereft of sovereign majesty, and simply suggestive of some aged +_bourgeois_ drinking his glass of sugared water before getting into bed. +It was as if after growing and radiating, like a planet ascending to the +zenith, he had again sunk to the level of the soil in all human +mediocrity. Again did Pierre find him puny and fragile, with the slender +neck of a little sick bird, and all those marks of senile ugliness which +rendered him so exacting with regard to his portraits, whether they were +oil paintings or photographs, gold medals, or marble busts, for of one +and the other he would say that the artist must not portray "Papa Pecci" +but Leo XIII, the great Pope, of whom he desired to leave such a lofty +image to posterity. And Pierre, after momentarily ceasing to see them, +was again embarrassed by the handkerchief which lay on the Pope's lap, +and the dirty cassock soiled by snuff. His only feelings now were +affectionate pity for such white old age, deep admiration for the +stubborn power of life which had found a refuge in those dark black eyes, +and respectful deference, such as became a worker, for that large brain +which harboured such vast projects and overflowed with such innumerable +ideas and actions. + +The audience was over, and the young man bowed low: "I thank your +Holiness for having deigned to give me such a fatherly reception," he +said. + +However, Leo XIII detained him for a moment longer, speaking to him of +France and expressing his sincere desire to see her prosperous, calm, and +strong for the greater advantage of the Church. And Pierre, during that +last moment, had a singular vision, a strange haunting fancy. As he gazed +at the Holy Father's ivory brow and thought of his great age and of his +liability to be carried off by the slightest chill, he involuntarily +recalled the scene instinct with a fierce grandeur which is witnessed +each time a pope dies. He recalled Pius IX, Giovanni Mastai, two hours +after death, his face covered by a white linen cloth, while the +pontifical family surrounded him in dismay; and then Cardinal Pecci, the +_Camerlingo_, approaching the bed, drawing aside the veil and dealing +three taps with his silver hammer on the forehead of the deceased, +repeating at each tap the call, "Giovanni! Giovanni! Giovanni!" And as +the corpse made no response, turning, after an interval of a few seconds, +and saying: "The Pope is dead!" And at the same time, yonder in the Via +Giulia Pierre pictured Cardinal Boccanera, the present _Camerlingo_, +awaiting his turn with his silver hammer, and he imagined Leo XIII, +otherwise Gioachino Pecci, dead, like his predecessor, his face covered +by a white linen cloth and his corpse surrounded by his prelates in that +very room. And he saw the _Camerlingo_ approach, draw the veil aside and +tap the ivory forehead, each time repeating the call: "Gioachino! +Gioachino! Gioachino!" Then, as the corpse did not answer, he waited for +a few seconds and turned and said "The Pope is dead!" Did Leo XIII +remember how he had thrice tapped the forehead of Pius IX, and did he +ever feel on the brow an icy dread of the silver hammer with which he had +armed his own _Camerlingo_, the man whom he knew to be his implacable +adversary, Cardinal Boccanera? + +"Go in peace, my son," at last said his Holiness by way of parting +benediction. "Your transgression will be forgiven you since you have +confessed and testify your horror for it." + +With distressful spirit, accepting humiliation as well-deserved +chastisement for his chimerical fancies, Pierre retired, stepping +backwards according to the customary ceremonial. He made three deep bows +and crossed the threshold without turning, followed by the black eyes of +Leo XIII, which never left him. Still he saw the Pope stretch his arm +towards the table to take up the newspaper which he had been reading +prior to the audience, for Leo retained a great fancy for newspapers, and +was very inquisitive as to news, though in the isolation in which he +lived he frequently made mistakes respecting the relative importance of +articles. And once more the chamber sank into deep quietude, whilst the +two lamps continued to diffuse a soft and steady light. + +In the centre of the _anticamera segreta_ Signor Squadra stood waiting +black and motionless. And on noticing that Pierre in his flurry forgot to +take his hat from the pier table, he himself discreetly fetched it and +handed it to the young priest with a silent bow. Then without any +appearance of haste, he walked ahead to conduct the visitor back to the +Sala Clementina. The endless promenade through the interminable +ante-rooms began once more, and there was still not a soul, not a sound, +not a breath. In each empty room stood the one solitary lamp, burning low +amidst a yet deeper silence than before. The wilderness seemed also to +have grown larger as the night advanced, casting its gloom over the few +articles of furniture scattered under the lofty gilded ceilings, the +thrones, the stools, the pier tables, the crucifixes, and the candelabra +which recurred in each succeeding room. And at last the Sala Clementina +which the Swiss Guards had just quitted was reached again, and Signor +Squadra, who hitherto had not turned his head, thereupon drew aside +without word or gesture, and, saluting Pierre with a last bow, allowed +him to pass on. Then he himself disappeared. + +And Pierre descended the two flights of the monumental staircase where +the gas jets in their globes of ground glass glimmered like night lights +amidst a wondrously heavy silence now that the footsteps of the sentries +no longer resounded on the landings. And he crossed the Court of St. +Damasus, empty and lifeless in the pale light of the lamps above the +steps, and descended the Scala Pia, that other great stairway as dim, +deserted, and void of life as all the rest, and at last passed beyond the +bronze door which a porter slowly shut behind him. And with what a +rumble, what a fierce roar did the hard metal close upon all that was +within; all the accumulated darkness and silence; the dead, motionless +centuries perpetuated by tradition; the indestructible idols, the dogmas, +bound round for preservation like mummies; every chain which may weigh on +one or hamper one, the whole apparatus of bondage and sovereign +domination, with whose formidable clang all the dark, deserted halls +re-echoed. + +Once more the young man found himself alone on the gloomy expanse of the +Piazza of St. Peter's. Not a single belated pedestrian was to be seen. +There was only the lofty, livid, ghost-like obelisk, emerging between its +four candelabra, from the mosaic pavement of red and serpentine porphyry. +The facade of the Basilica also showed vaguely, pale as a vision, whilst +from it on either side like a pair of giant arms stretched the quadruple +colonnade, a thicket of stone, steeped in obscurity. The dome was but a +huge roundness scarcely discernible against the moonless sky; and only +the jets of the fountains, which could at last be detected rising like +slim phantoms ever on the move, lent a voice to the silence, the endless +murmur of a plaint of sorrow coming one knew not whence. Ah! how great +was the melancholy grandeur of that slumber, that famous square, the +Vatican and St. Peter's, thus seen by night when wrapped in silence and +darkness! But suddenly the clock struck ten with so slow and loud a chime +that never, so it seemed, had more solemn and decisive an hour rung out +amidst blacker and more unfathomable gloom. All Pierre's poor weary frame +quivered at the sound as he stood motionless in the centre of the +expanse. What! had he spent barely three-quarters of an hour, chatting up +yonder with that white old man who had just wrenched all his soul away +from him! Yes, it was the final wrench; his last belief had been torn +from his bleeding heart and brain. The supreme experiment had been made, +a world had collapsed within him. And all at once he thought of Monsignor +Nani, and reflected that he alone had been right. He, Pierre, had been +told that in any case he would end by doing what Monsignor Nani might +desire, and he was now stupefied to find that he had done so. + +But sudden despair seized upon him, such atrocious distress of spirit +that, from the depths of the abyss of darkness where he stood, he raised +his quivering arms into space and spoke aloud: "No, no, Thou art not +here, O God of life and love, O God of Salvation! But come, appear since +Thy children are perishing because they know neither who Thou art, nor +where to find Thee amidst the Infinite of the worlds!" + +Above the vast square spread the vast sky of dark-blue velvet, the silent +disturbing Infinite, where the constellations palpitated. Over the roofs +of the Vatican, Charles's Wain seemed yet more tilted, its golden wheels +straying from the right path, its golden shaft upreared in the air; +whilst yonder, over Rome towards the Via Giulia, Orion was about to +disappear and already showed but one of the three golden stars which +bedecked his belt. + + + + +XV. + +IT was nearly daybreak when Pierre fell asleep, exhausted by emotion and +hot with fever. And at nine o'clock, when he had risen and breakfasted, +he at once wished to go down into Cardinal Boccanera's rooms where the +bodies of Dario and Benedetta had been laid in state in order that the +members of the family, its friends and clients, might bring them their +tears and prayers. + +Whilst he breakfasted, Victorine who, showing an active bravery amidst +her despair, had not been to bed at all, told him of what had taken place +in the house during the night and early morning. Donna Serafina, prude +that she was, had again made an attempt to have the bodies separated; but +this had proved an impossibility, as _rigor mortis_ had set in, and to +part the lovers it would have been necessary to break their limbs. +Moreover, the Cardinal, who had interposed once before, almost quarrelled +with his sister on the subject, unwilling as he was that any one should +disturb the lovers' last slumber, their union of eternity. Beneath his +priestly garb there coursed the blood of his race, a pride in the +passions of former times; and he remarked that if the family counted two +popes among its forerunners, it had also been rendered illustrious by +great captains and ardent lovers. Never would he allow any one to touch +those two children, whose dolorous lives had been so pure and whom the +grave alone had united. He was the master in his house, and they should +be sewn together in the same shroud, and nailed together in the same +coffin. Then too the religious service should take place at the +neighbouring church of San Carlo, of which he was Cardinal-priest and +where again he was the master. And if needful he would address himself to +the Pope. And such being his sovereign will, so authoritatively +expressed, everybody in the house had to bow submissively. + +Donna Serafina at once occupied herself with the laying-out. According to +the Roman custom the servants were present, and Victorine as the oldest +and most appreciated of them, assisted the relatives. All that could be +done in the first instance was to envelop both corpses in Benedetta's +unbound hair, thick and odorous hair, which spread out into a royal +mantle; and they were then laid together in one shroud of white silk, +fastened about their necks in such wise that they formed but one being in +death. And again the Cardinal imperatively ordered that they should be +brought into his apartments and placed on a state bed in the centre of +the throne-room, so that a supreme homage might be rendered to them as to +the last scions of the name, the two tragic lovers with whom the once +resounding glory of the Boccaneras was about to return to earth. The +story which had been arranged was already circulating through Rome; folks +related how Dario had been carried off in a few hours by infectious +fever, and how Benedetta, maddened by grief, had expired whilst clasping +him in her arms to bid him a last farewell; and there was talk too of the +royal honours which the bodies were to receive, the superb funeral +nuptials which were to be accorded them as they lay clasped on their bed +of eternal rest. All Rome, quite overcome by this tragic story of love +and death, would talk of nothing else for several weeks. + +Pierre would have started for France that same night, eager as he was to +quit the city of disaster where he had lost the last shreds of his faith, +but he desired to attend the obsequies, and therefore postponed his +departure until the following evening. And thus he would spend one more +day in that old crumbling palace, near the corpse of that unhappy young +woman to whom he had been so much attached and for whom he would try to +find some prayers in the depths of his empty and lacerated heart. + +When he reached the threshold of the Cardinal's reception-rooms, he +suddenly remembered his first visit to them. They still presented the +same aspect of ancient princely pomp falling into decay and dust. The +doors of the three large ante-rooms were wide open, and the rooms +themselves were at that early hour still empty. In the first one, the +servants' anteroom, there was nobody but Giacomo who stood motionless in +his black livery in front of the old red hat hanging under the +_baldacchino_ where spiders spun their webs between the crumbling +tassels. In the second room, which the secretary formerly had occupied, +Abbe Paparelli, the train-bearer, was softly walking up and down whilst +waiting for visitors; and with his conquering humility, his all-powerful +obsequiousness, he had never before so closely resembled an old maid, +whitened and wrinkled by excess of devout observances. Finally, in the +third ante-room, the _anticamera nobile_, where the red cap lay on a +credence facing the large imperious portrait of the Cardinal in +ceremonial costume, there was Don Vigilio who had left his little +work-table to station himself at the door of the throne-room and there +bow to those who crossed the threshold. And on that gloomy winter morning +the rooms appeared more mournful and dilapidated than ever, the hangings +frayed and ragged, the few articles of furniture covered with dust, the +old wood-work crumbling beneath the continuous onslaught of worms, and +the ceilings alone retaining their pompous show of gilding and painting. + +However, Pierre, to whom Abbe Paparelli addressed a profound bow, in +which one divined the irony of a sort of dismissal given to one who was +vanquished, felt more impressed by the mournful grandeur which those +three dilapidated rooms presented that day, conducting as they did to the +old throne-room, now a chamber of death, where the two last children of +the house slept their last sleep. What a superb and sorrowful _gala_ of +death! Every door wide open and all the emptiness of those over-spacious +rooms, void of the throngs of ancient days and leading to the supreme +affliction--the end of a race! The Cardinal had shut himself up in his +little work-room where he received the relatives and intimates who +desired to present their condolences to him, whilst Donna Serafina had +chosen an adjoining apartment to await her lady friends who would come in +procession until evening. And Pierre, informed of the ceremonial by +Victorine, had in the first place to enter the throne-room, greeted as he +passed by a deep bow from Don Vigilio who, pale and silent, did not seem +to recognise him. + +A surprise awaited the young priest. He had expected such a +lying-in-state as is seen in France and elsewhere, all windows closed so +as to steep the room in night, and hundreds of candles burning round a +_catafalco_, whilst from ceiling to floor the walls were hung with black +drapery. He had been told that the bodies would lie in the throne-room +because the antique chapel on the ground floor of the palazzo had been +shut up for half a century and was in no condition to be used, whilst the +Cardinal's little private chapel was altogether too small for any such +ceremony. And thus it had been necessary to improvise an altar in the +throne-room, an altar at which masses had been said ever since dawn. +Masses and other religious services were moreover to be celebrated all +day long in the private chapel; and two additional altars had even been +set up, one in a small room adjoining the _anticamera nobile_ and the +other in a sort of alcove communicating with the second anteroom: and in +this wise priests, Franciscans, and members of other Orders bound by the +vow of poverty, would simultaneously and without intermission celebrate +the divine sacrifice on those four altars. The Cardinal, indeed, had +desired that the Divine Blood should flow without pause under his roof +for the redemption of those two dear souls which had flown away together. +And thus in that mourning mansion, through those funeral halls the bells +scarcely stopped tinkling for the elevation of the host, whilst the +quivering murmur of Latin words ever continued, and consecrated wafers +were continually broken and chalices drained, in such wise that the +Divine Presence could not for a moment quit the heavy atmosphere all +redolent of death. + +On the other hand, however, Pierre, to his great astonishment, found the +throne-room much as it had been on the day of his first visit. The +curtains of the four large windows had not even been drawn, and the grey, +cold, subdued light of the gloomy winter morning freely entered. Under +the ceiling of carved and gilded wood-work there were the customary red +wall-hangings of _brocatelle_, worn away by long usage; and there was the +old throne with the arm-chair turned to the wall, uselessly waiting for a +visit from the Pope which would never more come. The principal changes in +the aspect of the room were that its seats and tables had been removed, +and that, in addition to the improvised altar arranged beside the throne, +it now contained the state bed on which lay the bodies of Benedetta and +Dario, amidst a profusion of flowers. The bed stood in the centre of the +room on a low platform, and at its head were two lighted candles, one on +either side. There was nothing else, nothing but that wealth of flowers, +such a harvest of white roses that one wondered in what fairy garden they +had been culled, sheaves of them on the bed, sheaves of them toppling +from the bed, sheaves of them covering the step of the platform, and +falling from that step on to the magnificent marble paving of the room. + +Pierre drew near to the bed, his heart faint with emotion. Those tapers +whose little yellow flamelets scarcely showed in the pale daylight, that +continuous low murmur of the mass being said at the altar, that +penetrating perfume of roses which rendered the atmosphere so heavy, +filled the antiquated, dusty room with a spirit of infinite woe, a +lamentation of boundless mourning. And there was not a gesture, not a +word spoken, save by the priest officiating at the altar, nothing but an +occasional faint sound of stifled sobbing among the few persons present. +Servants of the house constantly relieved one another, four always +standing erect and motionless at the head of the bed, like faithful, +familiar guards. From time to time Consistorial-Advocate Morano who, +since early morning had been attending to everything, crossed the room +with a silent step and the air of a man in a hurry. And at the edge of +the platform all who entered, knelt, prayed, and wept. Pierre perceived +three ladies there, their faces hidden by their handkerchiefs; and there +was also an old priest who trembled with grief and hung his head in such +wise that his face could not be distinguished. However, the young man was +most moved by the sight of a poorly clad girl, whom he took for a +servant, and whom sorrow had utterly prostrated on the marble slabs. + +Then in his turn he knelt down, and with the professional murmur of the +lips sought to repeat the Latin prayers which, as a priest, he had so +often said at the bedside of the departed. But his growing emotion +confused his memory, and he became wrapt in contemplation of the lovers +whom his eyes were unable to quit. Under the wealth of flowers which +covered them the clasped bodies could scarcely be distinguished, but the +two heads emerged from the silken shroud, and lying there on the same +cushion, with their hair mingling, they were still beautiful, beautiful +as with satisfied passion. Benedetta had kept her divinely gay, loving, +and faithful face for eternity, transported with rapture at having +rendered up her last breath in a kiss of love; whilst Dario retained a +more dolorous expression amidst his final joy. And their eyes were still +wide open, gazing at one another with a persistent and caressing +sweetness which nothing would ever more disturb. + +Oh! God, was it true that yonder lay that Benedetta whom he, Pierre, had +loved with such pure, brotherly affection? He was stirred to the very +depths of his soul by the recollection of the delightful hours which he +had spent with her. She had been so beautiful, so sensible, yet so full +of passion! And he had indulged in so beautiful a dream, that of +animating with his own liberating fraternal feelings that admirable +creature with soul of fire and indolent air, in whom he had pictured all +ancient Rome, and whom he would have liked to awaken and win over to the +Italy of to-morrow. He had dreamt of enlarging her brain and heart by +filling her with love for the lowly and the poor, with all present-day +compassion for things and beings. How he would now have smiled at such a +dream had not his tears been flowing! Yet how charming she had shown +herself in striving to content him despite the invincible obstacles of +race, education, and environment. She had been a docile pupil, but was +incapable of any real progress. One day she had certainly seemed to draw +nearer to him, as though her own sufferings had opened her soul to every +charity; but the illusion of happiness had come back, and then she had +lost all understanding of the woes of others, and had gone off in the +egotism of her own hope and joy. Did that mean then that this Roman race +must finish in that fashion, beautiful as it still often is, and fondly +adored but so closed to all love for others, to those laws of charity and +justice which, by regulating labour, can henceforth alone save this world +of ours? + +Then there came another great sorrow to Pierre which left him stammering, +unable to speak any precise prayer. He thought of the overwhelming +reassertion of Nature's powers which had attended the death of those two +poor children. Was it not awful? To have taken that vow to the Virgin, to +have endured torment throughout life, and to end by plunging into death, +on the loved one's neck, distracted by vain regret and eager for +self-bestowal! The brutal fact of impending separation had sufficed for +Benedetta to realise how she had duped herself, and to revert to the +universal instinct of love. And therein, again once more, was the Church +vanquished; therein again appeared the great god Pan, mating the sexes +and scattering life around! If in the days of the Renascence the Church +did not fall beneath the assault of the Venuses and Hercules then exhumed +from the old soil of Rome, the struggle at all events continued as +bitterly as ever; and at each and every hour new nations, overflowing +with sap, hungering for life, and warring against a religion which was +nothing more than an appetite for death, threatened to sweep away that +old Holy Apostolic Roman and Catholic edifice whose walls were already +tottering on all sides. + +And at that moment Pierre felt that the death of that adorable Benedetta +was for him the supreme disaster. He was still looking at her and tears +were scorching his eyes. She was carrying off his chimera. This time +'twas really the end. Rome the Catholic and the Princely was dead, lying +there like marble on that funeral bed. She had been unable to go to the +humble, the suffering ones of the world, and had just expired amidst the +impotent cry of her egotistical passion when it was too late either to +love or to create. Never more would children be born of her, the old +Roman house was henceforth empty, sterile, beyond possibility of +awakening. Pierre whose soul mourned such a splendid dream, was so +grieved at seeing her thus motionless and frigid, that he felt himself +fainting. He feared lest he might fall upon the step beside the bed, and +so struggled to his feet and drew aside. + +Then, as he sought refuge in a window recess in order that he might try +to recover self-possession, he was astonished to perceive Victorine +seated there on a bench which the hangings half concealed. She had come +thither by Donna Serafina's orders, and sat watching her two dear +children as she called them, whilst keeping an eye upon all who came in +and went out. And, on seeing the young priest so pale and nearly +swooning, she at once made room for him to sit down beside her. "Ah!" he +murmured after drawing a long breath, "may they at least have the joy of +being together elsewhere, of living a new life in another world." + +Victorine, however, shrugged her shoulders, and in an equally low voice +responded, "Oh! live again, Monsieur l'Abbe, why? When one's dead the +best is to remain so and to sleep. Those poor children had enough +torments on earth, one mustn't wish that they should begin again +elsewhere." + +This naive yet deep remark on the part of an ignorant unbelieving woman +sent a shudder through Pierre's very bones. To think that his own teeth +had chattered with fear at night time at the sudden thought of +annihilation. He deemed her heroic at remaining so undisturbed by any +ideas of eternity and the infinite. And she, as she felt he was +quivering, went on: "What can you suppose there should be after death? +We've deserved a right to sleep, and nothing to my thinking can be more +desirable and consoling." + +"But those two did not live," murmured Pierre, "so why not allow oneself +the joy of believing that they now live elsewhere, recompensed for all +their torments?" + +Victorine, however, again shook her head; "No, no," she replied. "Ah! I +was quite right in saying that my poor Benedetta did wrong in torturing +herself with all those superstitious ideas of hers when she was really so +fond of her lover. Yes, happiness is rarely found, and how one regrets +having missed it when it's too late to turn back! That's the whole story +of those poor little ones. It's too late for them, they are dead." Then +in her turn she broke down and began to sob. "Poor little ones! poor +little ones! Look how white they are, and think what they will be when +only the bones of their heads lie side by side on the cushion, and only +the bones of their arms still clasp one another. Ah! may they sleep, may +they sleep; at least they know nothing and feel nothing now." + +A long interval of silence followed. Pierre, amidst the quiver of his own +doubts, the anxious desire which in common with most men he felt for a +new life beyond the grave, gazed at this woman who did not find priests +to her fancy, and who retained all her Beauceronne frankness of speech, +with the tranquil, contented air of one who has ever done her duty in her +humble station as a servant, lost though she had been for five and twenty +years in a land of wolves, whose language she had not even been able to +learn. Ah! yes, tortured as the young man was by his doubts, he would +have liked to be as she was, a well-balanced, healthy, ignorant creature +who was quite content with what the world offered, and who, when she had +accomplished her daily task, went fully satisfied to bed, careless as to +whether she might never wake again! + +However, as Pierre's eyes once more sought the state bed, he suddenly +recognised the old priest, who was kneeling on the step of the platform, +and whose features he had hitherto been unable to distinguish. "Isn't +that Abbe Pisoni, the priest of Santa Brigida, where I sometimes said +mass?" he inquired. "The poor old man, how he weeps!" + +In her quiet yet desolate voice Victorine replied, "He has good reason to +weep. He did a fine thing when he took it into his head to marry my poor +Benedetta to Count Prada. All those abominations would never have +happened if the poor child had been given her Dario at once. But in this +idiotic city they are all mad with their politics; and that old priest, +who is none the less a very worthy man, thought he had accomplished a +real miracle and saved the world by marrying the Pope and the King as he +said with a soft laugh, poor old _savant_ that he is, who for his part +has never been in love with anything but old stones--you know, all that +antiquated rubbish of theirs of a hundred thousand years ago. And now, +you see, he can't keep from weeping. The other one too came not twenty +minutes ago, Father Lorenza, the Jesuit who became the Contessina's +confessor after Abbe Pisoni, and who undid what the other had done. Yes, +a handsome man he is, but a fine bungler all the same, a perfect killjoy +with all the crafty hindrances which he brought into that divorce affair. +I wish you had been here to see what a big sign of the cross he made +after he had knelt down. He didn't cry, he didn't: he seemed to be saying +that as things had ended so badly it was evident that God had withdrawn +from all share in the business. So much the worse for the dead!" + +Victorine spoke gently and without a pause, as it relieved her, to empty +her heart after the terrible hours of bustle and suffocation which she +had spent since the previous day. "And that one yonder," she resumed in a +lower voice, "don't you recognise her?" + +She glanced towards the poorly clad girl whom Pierre had taken for a +servant, and whom intensity of grief had prostrated beside the bed. With +a gesture of awful suffering this girl had just thrown back her head, a +head of extraordinary beauty, enveloped by superb black hair. + +"La Pierina!" said Pierre. "Ah! poor girl." + +Victorine made a gesture of compassion and tolerance. + +"What would you have?" said she, "I let her come up. I don't know how she +heard of the trouble, but it's true that she is always prowling round the +house. She sent and asked me to come down to her, and you should have +heard her sob and entreat me to let her see her Prince once more! Well, +she does no harm to anybody there on the floor, looking at them both with +her beautiful loving eyes full of tears. She's been there for half an +hour already, and I had made up my mind to turn her out if she didn't +behave properly. But since she's so quiet and doesn't even move, she may +well stop and fill her heart with the sight of them for her whole life +long." + +It was really sublime to see that ignorant, passionate, beautiful Pierina +thus overwhelmed below the nuptial couch on which the lovers slept for +all eternity. She had sunk down on her heels, her arms hanging heavily +beside her, and her hands open. And with raised face, motionless as in an +ecstasy of suffering, she did not take her eyes from that adorable and +tragic pair. Never had human face displayed such beauty, such a dazzling +splendour of suffering and love; never had there been such a portrayal of +ancient Grief, not however cold like marble but quivering with life. What +was she thinking of, what were her sufferings, as she thus fixedly gazed +at her Prince now and for ever locked in her rival's arms? Was it some +jealousy which could have no end that chilled the blood of her veins? Or +was it mere suffering at having lost him, at realising that she was +looking at him for the last time, without thought of hatred for that +other woman who vainly sought to warm him with her arms as icy cold as +his own? There was still a soft gleam in the poor girl's blurred eyes, +and her lips were still lips of love though curved in bitterness by +grief. She found the lovers so pure and beautiful as they lay there +amidst that profusion of flowers! And beautiful herself, beautiful like a +queen, ignorant of her own charms, she remained there breathless, a +humble servant, a loving slave as it were, whose heart had been wrenched +away and carried off by her dying master. + +People were now constantly entering the room, slowly approaching with +mournful faces, then kneeling and praying for a few minutes, and +afterwards retiring with the same mute, desolate mien. A pang came to +Pierre's heart when he saw Dario's mother, the ever beautiful Flavia, +enter, accompanied by her husband, the handsome Jules Laporte, that +ex-sergeant of the Swiss Guard whom she had turned into a Marquis +Montefiori. Warned of the tragedy directly it had happened, she had +already come to the mansion on the previous evening; but now she returned +in grand ceremony and full mourning, looking superb in her black garments +which were well suited to her massive, Juno-like style of beauty. When +she had approached the bed with a queenly step, she remained for a moment +standing with two tears at the edges of her eyelids, tears which did not +fall. Then, at the moment of kneeling, she made sure that Jules was +beside her, and glanced at him as if to order him to kneel as well. They +both sank down beside the platform and remained in prayer for the proper +interval, she very dignified in her grief and he even surpassing her, +with the perfect sorrow-stricken bearing of a man who knew how to conduct +himself in every circumstance of life, even the gravest. And afterwards +they rose together, and slowly betook themselves to the entrance of the +private apartments where the Cardinal and Donna Serafina were receiving +their relatives and friends. + +Five ladies then came in one after the other, while two Capuchins and the +Spanish ambassador to the Holy See went off. And Victorine, who for a few +minutes had remained silent, suddenly resumed. "Ah! there's the little +Princess, she's much afflicted too, and, no wonder, she was so fond of +our Benedetta." + +Pierre himself had just noticed Celia coming in. She also had attired +herself in full mourning for this abominable visit of farewell. Behind +her was a maid, who carried on either arm a huge sheaf of white roses. + +"The dear girl!" murmured Victorine, "she wanted her wedding with her +Attilio to take place on the same day as that of the poor lovers who lie +there. And they, alas! have forestalled her, their wedding's over; there +they sleep in their bridal bed." + +Celia had at once crossed herself and knelt down beside the bed, but it +was evident that she was not praying. She was indeed looking at the +lovers with desolate stupefaction at finding them so white and cold with +a beauty as of marble. What! had a few hours sufficed, had life departed, +would those lips never more exchange a kiss! She could again see them at +the ball of that other night, so resplendent and triumphant with their +living love. And a feeling of furious protest rose from her young heart, +so open to life, so eager for joy and sunlight, so angry with the hateful +idiocy of death. And her anger and affright and grief, as she thus found +herself face to face with the annihilation which chills every passion, +could be read on her ingenuous, candid, lily-like face. She herself stood +on the threshold of a life of passion of which she yet knew nothing, and +behold! on that very threshold she encountered the corpses of those +dearly loved ones, the loss of whom racked her soul with grief. + +She gently closed her eyes and tried to pray, whilst big tears fell from +under her lowered eyelids. Some time went by amidst the quivering +silence, which only the murmur of the mass near by disturbed. At last she +rose and took the sheaves of flowers from her maid; and standing on the +platform she hesitated for a moment, then placed the roses to the right +and left of the cushion on which the lovers' heads were resting, as if +she wished to crown them with those blossoms, perfume their young brows +with that sweet and powerful aroma. Then, though her hands remained empty +she did not retire, but remained there leaning over the dead ones, +trembling and seeking what she might yet say to them, what she might +leave them of herself for ever more. An inspiration came to her, and she +stooped forward, and with her whole, deep, loving soul set a long, long +kiss on the brow of either spouse. + +"Ah! the dear girl!" said Victorine, whose tears were again flowing. "You +saw that she kissed them, and nobody had yet thought of that, not even +the poor young Prince's mother. Ah! the dear little heart, she surely +thought of her Attilio." + +However, as Celia turned to descend from the platform she perceived La +Pierina, whose figure was still thrown back in an attitude of mute and +dolorous adoration. And she recognised the girl and melted with pity on +seeing such a fit of sobbing come over her that her whole body, her +goddess-like hips and bosom, shook as with frightful anguish. That agony +of love quite upset the little Princess, and she could be heard murmuring +in a tone of infinite compassion, "Calm yourself, my dear, calm yourself. +Be reasonable, my dear, I beg you." + +Then as La Pierina, thunderstruck at thus being pitied and succoured, +began to sob yet more loudly so as to create quite a stir in the room, +Celia raised her and held her up with both arms, for fear lest she should +fall again. And she led her away in a sisterly clasp, like a sister of +affection and despair, lavishing the most gentle, consoling words upon +her as they went. + +"Follow them, go and see what becomes of them," Victorine said to Pierre. +"I do not want to stir from here, it quiets me to watch over my two poor +children." + +A Capuchin was just beginning a fresh mass at the improvised altar, and +the low Latin psalmody went on again, while in the adjoining +ante-chamber, where another mass was being celebrated, a bell was heard +tinkling for the elevation of the host. The perfume of the flowers was +becoming more violent and oppressive amidst the motionless and mournful +atmosphere of the spacious throne-room. The four servants standing at the +head of the bed, as for a _gala_ reception, did not stir, and the +procession of visitors ever continued, men and women entering in silence, +suffocating there for a moment, and then withdrawing, carrying away with +them the never-to-be-forgotten vision of the two tragic lovers sleeping +their eternal sleep. + +Pierre joined Celia and La Pierina in the _anticamera nobile_, where +stood Don Vigilio. The few seats belonging to the throne-room had there +been placed in a corner, and the little Princess had just compelled the +work-girl to sit down in an arm-chair, in order that she might recover +self-possession. Celia was in ecstasy before her, enraptured at finding +her so beautiful, more beautiful than any other, as she said. Then she +spoke of the two dead ones, who also had seemed to her very beautiful, +endowed with an extraordinary beauty, at once superb and sweet; and +despite all her tears, she still remained in a transport of admiration. +On speaking with La Pierina, Pierre learnt that her brother Tito was at +the hospital in great danger from the effects of a terrible knife thrust +dealt him in the side; and since the beginning of the winter, said the +girl, the misery in the district of the castle fields had become +frightful. It was a source of great suffering to every one, and those +whom death carried off had reason to rejoice. + +Celia, however, with a gesture of invincible hopefulness, brushed all +idea of suffering, even of death, aside. "No, no, we must live," she +said. "And beauty is sufficient for life. Come, my dear, do not remain +here, do not weep any more; live for the delight of being beautiful." + +Then she led La Pierina away, and Pierre remained seated in one of the +arm-chairs, overcome by such sorrow and weariness that he would have +liked to remain there for ever. Don Vigilio was still bowing to each +fresh visitor that arrived. A severe attack of fever had come on him +during the night, and he was shivering from it, with his face very +yellow, and his eyes ablaze and haggard. He constantly glanced at Pierre, +as if anxious to speak to him, but his dread lest he should be seen by +Abbe Paparelli, who stood in the next ante-room, the door of which was +wide open, doubtless restrained him, for he did not cease to watch the +train-bearer. At last the latter was compelled to absent himself for a +moment, and the secretary thereupon approached the young Frenchman. + +"You saw his Holiness last night," he said; and as Pierre gazed at him in +stupefaction he added: "Oh! everything gets known, I told you so before. +Well, and you purely and simply withdrew your book, did you not?" The +young priest's increasing stupor was sufficient answer, and without +leaving him time to reply, Don Vigilio went on: "I suspected it, but I +wished to make certain. Ah! that's just the way they work! Do you believe +me now, have you realised that they stifle those whom they don't poison?" + +He was no doubt referring to the Jesuits. However, after glancing into +the adjoining room to make sure that Abbe Paparelli had not returned +thither, he resumed: "And what has Monsignor Nani just told you?" + +"But I have not yet seen Monsignor Nani," was Pierre's reply. + +"Oh! I thought you had. He passed through before you arrived. If you did +not see him in the throne-room he must have gone to pay his respects to +Donna Serafina and his Eminence. However, he will certainly pass this way +again; you will see him by and by." Then with the bitterness of one who +was weak, ever terror-smitten and vanquished, Don Vigilio added: "I told +you that you would end by doing what Monsignor Nani desired." + +With these words, fancying that he heard the light footfall of Abbe +Paparelli, he hastily returned to his place and bowed to two old ladies +who just then walked in. And Pierre, still seated, overcome, his eyes +wearily closing, at last saw the figure of Nani arise before him in all +its reality so typical of sovereign intelligence and address. He +remembered what Don Vigilio, on the famous night of his revelations, had +told him of this man who was far too shrewd to have labelled himself, so +to say, with an unpopular robe, and who, withal, was a charming prelate +with thorough knowledge of the world, acquired by long experience at +different nunciatures and at the Holy Office, mixed up in everything, +informed with regard to everything, one of the heads, one of the chief +minds in fact of that modern black army, which by dint of Opportunism +hopes to bring this century back to the Church. And all at once, full +enlightenment fell on Pierre, he realised by what supple, clever strategy +that man had led him to the act which he desired of him, the pure and +simple withdrawal of his book, accomplished with every appearance of free +will. First there had been great annoyance on Nani's part on learning +that the book was being prosecuted, for he feared lest its excitable +author might be prompted to some dangerous revolt; then plans had at once +been formed, information had been collected concerning this young priest +who seemed so capable of schism, he had been urged to come to Rome, +invited to stay in an ancient mansion whose very walls would chill and +enlighten him. And afterwards had come the ever recurring obstacles, the +system of prolonging his sojourn in Rome by preventing him from seeing +the Pope, but promising him the much-desired interview when the proper +time should come, that is after he had been sent hither and thither and +brought into collision with one and all. And finally, when every one and +everything had shaken, wearied, and disgusted him, and he was restored +once more to his old doubts, there had come the audience for which he had +undergone all this preparation, that visit to the Pope which was destined +to shatter whatever remained to him of his dream. Pierre could picture +Nani smiling at him and speaking to him, declaring that the repeated +delays were a favour of Providence, which would enable him to visit Rome, +study and understand things, reflect, and avoid blunders. How delicate +and how profound had been the prelate's diplomacy in thus crushing his +feelings beneath his reason, appealing to his intelligence to suppress +his work without any scandalous struggle as soon as his knowledge of the +real Rome should have shown him how supremely ridiculous it was to dream +of a new one! + +At that moment Pierre perceived Nani in person just coming from the +throne-room, and did not feel the irritation and rancour which he had +anticipated. On the contrary he was glad when the prelate, in his turn +seeing him, drew near and held out his hand. Nani, however, did not wear +his wonted smile, but looked very grave, quite grief-stricken. "Ah! my +dear son," he said, "what a frightful catastrophe! I have just left his +Eminence, he is in tears. It is horrible, horrible!" + +He seated himself on one of the chairs, inviting the young priest, who +had risen, to do the same; and for a moment he remained silent, weary +with emotion no doubt, and needing a brief rest to free himself of the +weight of thoughts which visibly darkened his usually bright face. Then, +with a gesture, he strove to dismiss that gloom, and recover his amiable +cordiality. "Well, my dear son," he began, "you saw his Holiness?" + +"Yes, Monseigneur, yesterday evening; and I thank you for your great +kindness in satisfying my desire." + +Nani looked at him fixedly, and his invincible smile again returned to +his lips. "You thank me.... I can well see that you behaved sensibly +and laid your full submission at his Holiness's feet. I was certain of +it, I did not expect less of your fine intelligence. But, all the same, +you render me very happy, for I am delighted to find that I was not +mistaken concerning you." And then, setting aside his reserve, the +prelate went on: "I never discussed things with you. What would have been +the good of it, since facts were there to convince you? And now that you +have withdrawn your book a discussion would be still more futile. +However, just reflect that if it were possible for you to bring the +Church back to her early period, to that Christian community which you +have sketched so delightfully, she could only again follow the same +evolutions as those in which God the first time guided her; so that, at +the end of a similar number of centuries, she would find herself exactly +in the position which she occupies to-day. No, what God has done has been +well done, the Church such as she is must govern the world, such as it +is; it is for her alone to know how she will end by firmly establishing +her reign here below. And this is why your attack upon the temporal power +was an unpardonable fault, a crime even, for by dispossessing the papacy +of her domains you hand her over to the mercy of the nations. Your new +religion is but the final downfall of all religion, moral anarchy, the +liberty of schism, in a word, the destruction of the divine edifice, that +ancient Catholicism which has shown such prodigious wisdom and solidity, +which has sufficed for the salvation of mankind till now, and will alone +be able to save it to-morrow and always." + +Pierre felt that Nani was sincere, pious even, and really unshakable in +his faith, loving the Church like a grateful son, and convinced that she +was the only social organisation which could render mankind happy. And if +he were bent on governing the world, it was doubtless for the pleasure of +governing, but also in the conviction that no one could do so better than +himself. + +"Oh! certainly," said he, "methods are open to discussion. I desire them +to be as affable and humane as possible, as conciliatory as can be with +this present century, which seems to be escaping us, precisely because +there is a misunderstanding between us. But we shall bring it back, I am +sure of it. And that is why, my dear son, I am so pleased to see you +return to the fold, thinking as we think, and ready to battle on our +side, is that not so?" + +In Nani's words the young priest once more found the arguments of Leo +XIII. Desiring to avoid a direct reply, for although he now felt no anger +the wrenching away of his dream had left him a smarting wound, he bowed, +and replied slowly in order to conceal the bitter tremble of his voice: +"I repeat, Monseigneur, that I deeply thank you for having amputated my +vain illusions with the skill of an accomplished surgeon. A little later, +when I shall have ceased to suffer, I shall think of you with eternal +gratitude." + +Monsignor Nani still looked at him with a smile. He fully understood that +this young priest would remain on one side, that as an element of +strength he was lost to the Church. What would he do now? Something +foolish no doubt. However, the prelate had to content himself with having +helped him to repair his first folly; he could not foresee the future. +And he gracefully waved his hand as if to say that sufficient unto the +day was the evil thereof. + +"Will you allow me to conclude, my dear son?" he at last exclaimed. "Be +sensible, your happiness as a priest and a man lies in humility. You will +be terribly unhappy if you use the great intelligence which God has given +you against Him." + +Then with another gesture he dismissed this affair, which was all over, +and with which he need busy himself no more. And thereupon the other +affair came back to make him gloomy, that other affair which also was +drawing to a close, but so tragically, with those two poor children +slumbering in the adjoining room. "Ah!" he resumed, "that poor Princess +and that poor Cardinal quite upset my heart! Never did catastrophe fall +so cruelly on a house. No, no, it is indeed too much, misfortune goes too +far--it revolts one's soul!" + +Just as he finished a sound of voices came from the second ante-room, and +Pierre was thunderstruck to see Cardinal Sanguinetti go by, escorted with +the greatest obsequiousness by Abbe Paparelli. + +"If your most Reverend Eminence will have the extreme kindness to follow +me," the train-bearer was saying, "I will conduct your most Reverend +Eminence myself." + +"Yes," replied Sanguinetti, "I arrived yesterday evening from Frascati, +and when I heard the sad news, I at once desired to express my sorrow and +offer consolation." + +"Your Eminence will perhaps condescend to remain for a moment near the +bodies. I will afterwards escort your Eminence to the private +apartments." + +"Yes, by all means. I desire every one to know how greatly I participate +in the sorrow which has fallen on this illustrious house." + +Then Sanguinetti entered the throne-room, leaving Pierre quite aghast at +his quiet audacity. The young priest certainly did not accuse him of +direct complicity with Santobono, he did not even dare to measure how far +his moral complicity might go. But on seeing him pass by like that, his +brow so lofty, his speech so clear, he had suddenly felt convinced that +he knew the truth. How or through whom, he could not have told; but +doubtless crimes become known in those shady spheres by those whose +interest it is to know of them. And Pierre remained quite chilled by the +haughty fashion in which that man presented himself, perhaps to stifle +suspicion and certainly to accomplish an act of good policy by giving his +rival a public mark of esteem and affection. + +"The Cardinal! Here!" Pierre murmured despite himself. + +Nani, who followed the young man's thoughts in his childish eyes, in +which all could be read, pretended to mistake the sense of his +exclamation. "Yes," said he, "I learnt that the Cardinal returned to Rome +yesterday evening. He did not wish to remain away any longer; the Holy +Father being so much better that he might perhaps have need of him." + +Although these words were spoken with an air of perfect innocence, Pierre +was not for a moment deceived by them. And having in his turn glanced at +the prelate, he was convinced that the latter also knew the truth. Then, +all at once, the whole affair appeared to him in its intricacy, in the +ferocity which fate had imparted to it. Nani, an old intimate of the +Palazzo Boccanera, was not heartless, he had surely loved Benedetta with +affection, charmed by so much grace and beauty. One could thus explain +the victorious manner in which he had at last caused her marriage to be +annulled. But if Don Vigilio were to be believed, that divorce, obtained +by pecuniary outlay, and under pressure of the most notorious influences, +was simply a scandal which he, Nani, had in the first instance spun out, +and then precipitated towards a resounding finish with the sole object of +discrediting the Cardinal and destroying his chances of the tiara on the +eve of the Conclave which everybody thought imminent. It seemed certain, +too, that the Cardinal, uncompromising as he was, could not be the +candidate of Nani, who was so desirous of universal agreement, and so the +latter's long labour in that house, whilst conducing to the happiness of +the Contessina, had been designed to frustrate Donna Serafina and +Cardinal Pio in their burning ambition, that third triumphant elevation +to the papacy which they sought to secure for their ancient family. +However, if Nani had always desired to baulk this ambition, and had even +at one moment placed his hopes in Sanguinetti and fought for him, he had +never imagined that Boccanera's foes would go to the point of crime, to +such an abomination as poison which missed its mark and killed the +innocent. No, no, as he himself said, that was too much, and made one's +soul rebel. He employed more gentle weapons; such brutality filled him +with indignation; and his face, so pinky and carefully tended, still wore +the grave expression of his revolt in presence of the tearful Cardinal +and those poor lovers stricken in his stead. + +Believing that Sanguinetti was still the prelate's secret candidate, +Pierre was worried to know how far their moral complicity in this baleful +affair might go. So he resumed the conversation by saying: "It is +asserted that his Holiness is on bad terms with his Eminence Cardinal +Sanguinetti. Of course the reigning pope cannot look on the future pope +with a very kindly eye." + +At this, Nani for a moment became quite gay in all frankness. "Oh," said +he, "the Cardinal has quarrelled and made things up with the Vatican +three or four times already. And, in any event, the Holy Father has no +motive for posthumous jealousy; he knows very well that he can give his +Eminence a good greeting." Then, regretting that he had thus expressed a +certainty, he added: "I am joking, his Eminence is altogether worthy of +the high fortune which perhaps awaits him." + +Pierre knew what to think however; Sanguinetti was certainly Nani's +candidate no longer. It was doubtless considered that he had used himself +up too much by his impatient ambition, and was too dangerous by reason of +the equivocal alliances which in his feverishness he had concluded with +every party, even that of patriotic young Italy. And thus the situation +became clearer. Cardinals Sanguinetti and Boccanera devoured and +suppressed one another; the first, ever intriguing, accepting every +compromise, dreaming of winning Rome back by electoral methods; and the +other, erect and motionless in his stern maintenance of the past, +excommunicating the century, and awaiting from God alone the miracle +which would save the Church. And, indeed, why not leave the two theories, +thus placed face to face, to destroy one another, including all the +extreme, disquieting views which they respectively embodied? If Boccanera +had escaped the poison, he had none the less become an impossible +candidate, killed by all the stories which had set Rome buzzing; while if +Sanguinetti could say that he was rid of a rival, he had at the same time +dealt a mortal blow to his own candidature, by displaying such passion +for power, and such unscrupulousness with regard to the methods he +employed, as to be a danger for every one. Monsignor Nani was visibly +delighted with this result; neither candidate was left, it was like the +legendary story of the two wolves who fought and devoured one another so +completely that nothing of either of them was found left, not even their +tails! And in the depths of the prelate's pale eyes, in the whole of his +discreet person, there remained nothing but redoubtable mystery: the +mystery of the yet unknown, but definitively selected candidate who would +be patronised by the all-powerful army of which he was one of the most +skilful leaders. A man like him always had a solution ready. Who, then, +who would be the next pope? + +However, he now rose and cordially took leave of the young priest. "I +doubt if I shall see you again, my dear son," he said; "I wish you a good +journey." + +Still he did not go off, but continued to look at Pierre with his +penetrating eyes, and finally made him sit down again and did the same +himself. "I feel sure," he said, "that you will go to pay your respects +to Cardinal Bergerot as soon as you have returned to France. Kindly tell +him that I respectfully desired to be reminded to him. I knew him a +little at the time when he came here for his hat. He is one of the great +luminaries of the French clergy. Ah! a man of such intelligence would +only work for a good understanding in our holy Church. Unfortunately I +fear that race and environment have instilled prejudices into him, for he +does not always help us." + +Pierre, who was surprised to hear Nani speak of the Cardinal for the +first time at this moment of farewell, listened with curiosity. Then in +all frankness he replied: "Yes, his Eminence has very decided ideas about +our old Church of France. For instance, he professes perfect horror of +the Jesuits." + +With a light exclamation Nani stopped the young man. And he wore the most +sincerely, frankly astonished air that could be imagined. "What! horror +of the Jesuits! In what way can the Jesuits disquiet him? The Jesuits, +there are none, that's all over! Have you seen any in Rome? Have they +troubled you in any way, those poor Jesuits who haven't even a stone of +their own left here on which to lay their heads? No, no, that bogey +mustn't be brought up again, it's childish." + +Pierre in his turn looked at him, marvelling at his perfect ease, his +quiet courage in dealing with this burning subject. He did not avert his +eyes, but displayed an open face like a book of truth. "Ah!" he +continued, "if by Jesuits you mean the sensible priests who, instead of +entering into sterile and dangerous struggles with modern society, seek +by human methods to bring it back to the Church, why, then of course we +are all of us more or less Jesuits, for it would be madness not to take +into account the times in which one lives. And besides, I won't haggle +over words; they are of no consequence! Jesuits, well, yes, if you like, +Jesuits!" He was again smiling with that shrewd smile of his in which +there was so much raillery and so much intelligence. "Well, when you see +Cardinal Bergerot tell him that it is unreasonable to track the Jesuits +and treat them as enemies of the nation. The contrary is the truth. The +Jesuits are for France, because they are for wealth, strength, and +courage. France is the only great Catholic country which has yet remained +erect and sovereign, the only one on which the papacy can some day lean. +Thus the Holy Father, after momentarily dreaming of obtaining support +from victorious Germany, has allied himself with France, the vanquished, +because he has understood that apart from France there can be no +salvation for the Church. And in this he has only followed the policy of +the Jesuits, those frightful Jesuits, whom your Parisians execrate. And +tell Cardinal Bergerot also that it would be grand of him to work for +pacification by making people understand how wrong it is for your +Republic to help the Holy Father so little in his conciliatory efforts. +It pretends to regard him as an element in the world's affairs that may +be neglected; and that is dangerous, for although he may seem to have no +political means of action he remains an immense moral force, and can at +any moment raise consciences in rebellion and provoke a religious +agitation of the most far-reaching consequences. It is still he who +disposes of the nations, since he disposes of their souls, and the +Republic acts most inconsiderately, from the standpoint of its own +interests, in showing that it no longer even suspects it. And tell the +Cardinal too, that it is really pitiful to see in what a wretched way +your Republic selects its bishops, as though it intentionally desired to +weaken its episcopacy. Leaving out a few fortunate exceptions, your +bishops are men of small brains, and as a result your cardinals, likewise +mere mediocrities, have no influence, play no part here in Rome. Ah! what +a sorry figure you Frenchmen will cut at the next Conclave! And so why do +you show such blind and foolish hatred of those Jesuits, who, +politically, are your friends? Why don't you employ their intelligent +zeal, which is ready to serve you, so that you may assure yourselves the +help of the next, the coming pope? It is necessary for you that he should +be on your side, that he should continue the work of Leo XIII, which is +so badly judged and so much opposed, but which cares little for the petty +results of to-day, since its purpose lies in the future, in the union of +all the nations under their holy mother the Church. Tell Cardinal +Bergerot, tell him plainly that he ought to be with us, that he ought to +work for his country by working for us. The coming pope, why the whole +question lies in that, and woe to France if in him she does not find a +continuator of Leo XIII!" + +Nani had again risen, and this time he was going off. Never before had he +unbosomed himself at such length. But most assuredly he had only said +what he desired to say, for a purpose that he alone knew of, and in a +firm, gentle, and deliberate voice by which one could tell that each word +had been weighed and determined beforehand. "Farewell, my dear son," he +said, "and once again think over all you have seen and heard in Rome. Be +as sensible as you can, and do not spoil your life." + +Pierre bowed, and pressed the small, plump, supple hand which the prelate +offered him. "Monseigneur," he replied, "I again thank you for all your +kindness; you may be sure that I shall forget nothing of my journey." + +Then he watched Nani as he went off, with a light and conquering step as +if marching to all the victories of the future. No, no, he, Pierre, would +forget nothing of his journey! He well knew that union of all the nations +under their holy mother the Church, that temporal bondage in which the +law of Christ would become the dictatorship of Augustus, master of the +world! And as for those Jesuits, he had no doubt that they did love +France, the eldest daughter of the Church, and the only daughter that +could yet help her mother to reconquer universal sovereignty, but they +loved her even as the black swarms of locusts love the harvests which +they swoop upon and devour. Infinite sadness had returned to the young +man's heart as he dimly realised that in that sorely-stricken mansion, in +all that mourning and downfall, it was they, they again, who must have +been the artisans of grief and disaster. + +As this thought came to him he turned round and perceived Don Vigilio +leaning against the credence in front of the large portrait of the +Cardinal. Holding his hands to his face as if he desired to annihilate +himself, the secretary was shivering in every limb as much with fear as +with fever. At a moment when no fresh visitors were arriving he had +succumbed to an attack of terrified despair. + +"_Mon Dieu_! What is the matter with you?" asked Pierre stepping forward, +"are you ill, can I help you?" + +But Don Vigilio, suffocating and still hiding his face, could only gasp +between his close-pressed hands "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" + +"What is it? What has he done to you?" asked the other astonished. + +Then the secretary disclosed his face, and again yielded to his quivering +desire to confide in some one. "Eh? what he has done to me? Can't you +feel anything, can't you see anything then? Didn't you notice the manner +in which he took possession of Cardinal Sanguinetti so as to conduct him +to his Eminence? To impose that suspected, hateful rival on his Eminence +at such a moment as this, what insolent audacity! And a few minutes +previously did you notice with what wicked cunning he bowed out an old +lady, a very old family friend, who only desired to kiss his Eminence's +hand and show a little real affection which would have made his Eminence +so happy! Ah! I tell you that he's the master here, he opens or closes +the door as he pleases, and holds us all between his fingers like a pinch +of dust which one throws to the wind!" + +Pierre became anxious, seeing how yellow and feverish Don Vigilio was: +"Come, come, my dear fellow," he said, "you are exaggerating!" + +"Exaggerating? Do you know what happened last night, what I myself +unwillingly witnessed? No, you don't know it; well, I will tell you." + +Thereupon he related that Donna Serafina, on returning home on the +previous day to face the terrible catastrophe awaiting her, had already +been overcome by the bad news which she had learnt when calling on the +Cardinal Secretary and various prelates of her acquaintance. She had then +acquired a certainty that her brother's position was becoming extremely +bad, for he had made so many fresh enemies among his colleagues of the +Sacred College, that his election to the pontifical throne, which a year +previously had seemed probable, now appeared an impossibility. Thus, all +at once, the dream of her life collapsed, the ambition which she had so +long nourished lay in dust at her feet. On despairingly seeking the why +and wherefore of this change, she had been told of all sorts of blunders +committed by the Cardinal, acts of rough sternness, unseasonable +manifestations of opinion, inconsiderate words or actions which had +sufficed to wound people, in fact such provoking demeanour that one might +have thought it adopted with the express intention of spoiling +everything. And the worst was that in each of the blunders she had +recognised errors of judgment which she herself had blamed, but which her +brother had obstinately insisted on perpetrating under the unacknowledged +influence of Abbe Paparelli, that humble and insignificant train-bearer, +in whom she detected a baneful and powerful adviser who destroyed her own +vigilant and devoted influence. And so, in spite of the mourning in which +the house was plunged, she did not wish to delay the punishment of the +traitor, particularly as his old friendship with that terrible Santobono, +and the story of that basket of figs which had passed from the hands of +the one to those of the other, chilled her blood with a suspicion which +she even recoiled from elucidating. However, at the first words she +spoke, directly she made a formal request that the traitor should be +immediately turned out of the house, she was confronted by invincible +resistance on her brother's part. He would not listen to her, but flew +into one of those hurricane-like passions which swept everything away, +reproaching her for laying blame on so modest, pious, and saintly a man, +and accusing her of playing into the hands of his enemies, who, after +killing Monsignor Gallo, were seeking to poison his sole remaining +affection for that poor, insignificant priest. He treated all the stories +he was told as abominable inventions, and swore that he would keep the +train-bearer in his service if only to show his disdain for calumny. And +she was thereupon obliged to hold her peace. + +However, Don Vigilio's shuddering fit had again come back; he carried his +hands to his face stammering: "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" And muttered +invectives followed: the train-bearer was an artful hypocrite who feigned +modesty and humility, a vile spy appointed to pry into everything, listen +to everything, and pervert everything that went on in the palace; he was +a loathsome, destructive insect, feeding on the most noble prey, +devouring the lion's mane, a Jesuit--the Jesuit who is at once lackey and +tyrant, in all his base horror as he accomplishes the work of vermin. + +"Calm yourself, calm yourself," repeated Pierre, who whilst allowing for +foolish exaggeration on the secretary's part could not help shivering at +thought of all the threatening things which he himself could divine astir +in the gloom. + +However, since Don Vigilio had so narrowly escaped eating those horrible +figs, his fright was such that nothing could calm it. Even when he was +alone at night, in bed, with his door locked and bolted, sudden terror +fell on him and made him hide his head under the sheet and vent stifled +cries as if he thought that men were coming through the wall to strangle +him. In a faint, breathless voice, as if just emerging from a struggle, +he now resumed: "I told you what would happen on the evening when we had +a talk together in your room. Although all the doors were securely shut, +I did wrong to speak of them to you, I did wrong to ease my heart by +telling you all that they were capable of. I was sure they would learn +it, and you see they did learn it, since they tried to kill me.... Why +it's even wrong of me to tell you this, for it will reach their ears and +they won't miss me the next time. Ah! it's all over, I'm as good as dead; +this house which I thought so safe will be my tomb." + +Pierre began to feel deep compassion for this ailing man, whose feverish +brain was haunted by nightmares, and whose life was being finally wrecked +by the anguish of persecution mania. "But you must run away in that +case!" he said. "Don't stop here; come to France." + +Don Vigilio looked at him, momentarily calmed by surprise. "Run away, +why? Go to France? Why, they are there! No matter where I might go, they +would be there. They are everywhere, I should always be surrounded by +them! No, no, I prefer to stay here and would rather die at once if his +Eminence can no longer defend me." With an expression of ardent entreaty +in which a last gleam of hope tried to assert itself, he raised his eyes +to the large painting in which the Cardinal stood forth resplendent in +his cassock of red moire; but his attack came back again and overwhelmed +him with increased intensity of fever. "Leave me, I beg you, leave me," +he gasped. "Don't make me talk any more. Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli! If he +should come back and see us and hear me speak.... Oh! I'll never say +anything again. I'll tie up my tongue, I'll cut it off. Leave me, you are +killing me, I tell you, he'll be coming back and that will mean my death. +Go away, oh! for mercy's sake, go away!" + +Thereupon Don Vigilio turned towards the wall as if to flatten his face +against it, and immure his lips in tomb-like silence; and Pierre resolved +to leave him to himself, fearing lest he should provoke a yet more +serious attack if he went on endeavouring to succour him. + +On returning to the throne-room the young priest again found himself +amidst all the frightful mourning. Mass was following mass; without +cessation murmured prayers entreated the divine mercy to receive the two +dear departed souls with loving kindness. And amidst the dying perfume of +the fading roses, in front of the pale stars of the lighted candles, +Pierre thought of that supreme downfall of the Boccaneras. Dario was the +last of the name, and one could well understand that the Cardinal, whose +only sin was family pride, should have loved that one remaining scion by +whom alone the old stock might yet blossom afresh. And indeed, if he and +Donna Serafina had desired the divorce, and then the marriage of the +cousins, it had been less with the view of putting an end to scandal than +with the hope of seeing a new line of Boccaneras spring up. But the +lovers were dead, and the last remains of a long series of dazzling +princes of sword and of gown lay there on that bed, soon to rot in the +grave. It was all over; that old maid and that aged Cardinal could leave +no posterity. They remained face to face like two withered oaks, sole +remnants of a vanished forest, and their fall would soon leave the plain +quite clear. And how terrible the grief of surviving in impotence, what +anguish to have to tell oneself that one is the end of everything, that +with oneself all life, all hope for the morrow will depart! Amidst the +murmur of the prayers, the dying perfume of the roses, the pale gleams of +the two candies, Pierre realised what a downfall was that bereavement, +how heavy was the gravestone which fell for ever on an extinct house, a +vanished world. + +He well understood that as one of the familiars of the mansion he must +pay his respects to Donna Serafina and the Cardinal, and he at once +sought admission to the neighbouring room where the Princess was +receiving her friends. He found her robed in black, very slim and very +erect in her arm-chair, whence she rose with slow dignity to respond to +the bow of each person that entered. She listened to the condolences but +answered never a word, overcoming her physical pain by rigidity of +bearing. Pierre, who had learnt to know her, could divine, however, by +the hollowness of her cheeks, the emptiness of her eyes, and the bitter +twinge of her mouth, how frightful was the collapse within her. Not only +was her race ended, but her brother would never be pope, never secure the +elevation which she had so long fancied she was winning for him by dint +of devotion, dint of feminine renunciation, giving brain and heart, care +and money, foregoing even wifehood and motherhood, spoiling her whole +life, in order to realise that dream. And amidst all the ruin of hope, it +was perhaps the nonfulfilment of that ambition which most made her heart +bleed. She rose for the young priest, her guest, as she rose for the +other persons who presented themselves; but she contrived to introduce +shades of meaning into the manner in which she quitted her chair, and +Pierre fully realised that he had remained in her eyes a mere petty +French priest, an insignificant domestic of the Divinity who had not +known how to acquire even the title of prelate. When she had again seated +herself after acknowledging his compliment with a slight inclination of +the head, he remained for a moment standing, out of politeness. Not a +word, not a sound disturbed the mournful quiescence of the room, for +although there were four or five lady visitors seated there they remained +motionless and silent as with grief. Pierre was most struck, however, by +the sight of Cardinal Sarno, who was lying back in an arm-chair with his +eyes closed. The poor puny lopsided old man had lingered there +forgetfully after expressing his condolences, and, overcome by the heavy +silence and close atmosphere, had just fallen asleep. And everybody +respected his slumber. Was he dreaming as he dozed of that map of +Christendom which he carried behind his low obtuse-looking brow? Was he +continuing in dreamland his terrible work of conquest, that task of +subjecting and governing the earth which he directed from his dark room +at the Propaganda? The ladies glanced at him affectionately and +deferentially; he was gently scolded at times for over-working himself, +the sleepiness which nowadays frequently overtook him in all sorts of +places being attributed to excess of genius and zeal. And of this +all-powerful Eminence Pierre was destined to carry off only this last +impression: an exhausted old man, resting amidst the emotion of a +mourning-gathering, sleeping there like a candid child, without any one +knowing whether this were due to the approach of senile imbecility, or to +the fatigues of a night spent in organising the reign of God over some +distant continent. + +Two ladies went off and three more arrived. Donna Serafina rose, bowed, +and then reseated herself, reverting to her rigid attitude, her bust +erect, her face stern and full of despair. Cardinal Sarno was still +asleep. Then Pierre felt as if he would stifle, a kind of vertigo came on +him, and his heart beat violently. So he bowed and withdrew: and on +passing through the dining-room on his way to the little study where +Cardinal Boccanera received his visitors, he found himself in the +presence of Paparelli who was jealously guarding the door. When the +train-bearer had sniffed at the young man, he seemed to realise that he +could not refuse him admittance. Moreover, as this intruder was going +away the very next day, defeated and covered with shame, there was +nothing to be feared from him. + +"You wish to see his Eminence?" said Paparelli. "Good, good. By and by, +wait." And opining that Pierre was too near the door, he pushed him back +to the other end of the room, for fear no doubt lest he should overhear +anything. "His Eminence is still engaged with his Eminence Cardinal +Sanguinetti. Wait, wait there!" + +Sanguinetti indeed had made a point of kneeling for a long time in front +of the bodies in the throne-room, and had then spun out his visit to +Donna Serafina in order to mark how largely he shared the family sorrow. +And for more than ten minutes now he had been closeted with Cardinal +Boccanera, nothing but an occasional murmur of their voices being heard +through the closed door. + +Pierre, however, on finding Paparelli there, was again haunted by all +that Don Vigilio had told him. He looked at the train-bearer, so fat and +short, puffed out with bad fat in his dirty cassock, his face flabby and +wrinkled, and his whole person at forty years of age suggestive of that +of a very old maid: and he felt astonished. How was it that Cardinal +Boccanera, that superb prince who carried his head so high, and who was +so supremely proud of his name, had allowed himself to be captured and +swayed by such a frightful creature reeking of baseness and abomination? +Was it not the man's very physical degradation and profound humility that +had struck him, disturbed him, and finally fascinated him, as wondrous +gifts conducing to salvation, which he himself lacked? Paparelli's person +and disposition were like blows dealt to his own handsome presence and +his own pride. He, who could not be so deformed, he who could not +vanquish his passion for glory, must, by an effort of faith, have grown +jealous of that man who was so extremely ugly and so extremely +insignificant, he must have come to admire him as a superior force of +penitence and human abasement which threw the portals of heaven wide +open. Who can ever tell what ascendency is exercised by the monster over +the hero; by the horrid-looking saint covered with vermin over the +powerful of this world in their terror at having to endure everlasting +flames in payment of their terrestrial joys? And 'twas indeed the lion +devoured by the insect, vast strength and splendour destroyed by the +invisible. Ah! to have that fine soul which was so certain of paradise, +which for its welfare was enclosed in such a disgusting body, to possess +the happy humility of that wide intelligence, that remarkable theologian, +who scourged himself with rods each morning on rising, and was content to +be the lowest of servants. + +Standing there a heap of livid fat, Paparelli on his side watched Pierre +with his little grey eyes blinking amidst the myriad wrinkles of his +face. And the young priest began to feel uneasy, wondering what their +Eminences could be saying to one another, shut up together like that for +so long a time. And what an interview it must be if Boccanera suspected +Sanguinetti of counting Santobono among his clients. What serene audacity +it was on Sanguinetti's part to have dared to present himself in that +house, and what strength of soul there must be on Boccanera's part, what +empire over himself, to prevent all scandal by remaining silent and +accepting the visit as a simple mark of esteem and affection! What could +they be saying to one another, however? How interesting it would have +been to have seen them face to face, and have heard them exchange the +diplomatic phrases suited to such an interview, whilst their souls were +raging with furious hatred! + +All at once the door opened and Cardinal Sanguinetti appeared with calm +face, no ruddier than usual, indeed a trifle paler, and retaining the +fitting measure of sorrow which he had thought it right to assume. His +restless eyes alone revealed his delight at being rid of a difficult +task. And he was going off, all hope, in the conviction that he was the +only eligible candidate to the papacy that remained. + +Abbe Paparelli had darted forward: "If your Eminence will kindly follow +me--I will escort your Eminence to the door." Then, turning towards +Pierre, he added: "You may go in now." + +Pierre watched them walk away, the one so humble behind the other, who +was so triumphant. Then he entered the little work-room, furnished simply +with a table and three chairs, and in the centre of it he at once +perceived Cardinal Boccanera still standing in the lofty, noble attitude +which he had assumed to take leave of Sanguinetti, his hated rival to the +pontifical throne. And, visibly, Boccanera also believed himself the only +possible pope, the one whom the coming Conclave would elect. + +However, when the door had been closed, and the Cardinal beheld that +young priest, his guest, who had witnessed the death of those two dear +children lying in the adjoining room, he was again mastered by emotion, +an unexpected attack of weakness in which all his energy collapsed. His +human feelings were taking their revenge now that his rival was no longer +there to see him. He staggered like an old tree smitten with the axe, and +sank upon a chair, stifling with sobs. + +And as Pierre, according to usage, was about to stoop and kiss his ring, +he raised him and at once made him sit down, stammering in a halting +voice: "No, no, my dear son! Seat yourself there, wait--Excuse me, leave +me to myself for a moment, my heart is bursting." + +He sobbed with his hands to his face, unable to master himself, unable to +drive back his grief with those yet vigorous fingers which were pressed +to his cheeks and temples. + +Tears came into Pierre's eyes, for he also lived through all that woe +afresh, and was much upset by the weeping of that tall old man, that +saint and prince, usually so haughty, so fully master of himself, but now +only a poor, suffering, agonising man, as weak and as lost as a child. +However, although the young priest was likewise stifling with grief, he +desired to present his condolences, and sought for kindly words by which +he might soothe the other's despair. "I beg your Eminence to believe in +my profound grief," he said. "I have been overwhelmed with kindness here, +and desired at once to tell your Eminence how much that irreparable +loss--" + +But with a brave gesture the Cardinal silenced him. "No, no, say nothing, +for mercy's sake say nothing!" + +And silence reigned while he continued weeping, shaken by the struggle he +was waging, his efforts to regain sufficient strength to overcome +himself. At last he mastered his quiver and slowly uncovered his face, +which had again become calm, like that of a believer strong in his faith, +and submissive to the will of God. In refusing a miracle, in dealing so +hard a blow to that house, God had doubtless had His reasons, and he, the +Cardinal, one of God's ministers, one of the high dignitaries of His +terrestrial court, was in duty bound to bow to it. The silence lasted for +another moment, and then, in a voice which he managed to render natural +and cordial, Boccanera said: "You are leaving us, you are going back to +France to-morrow, are you not, my dear son?" + +"Yes, I shall have the honour to take leave of your Eminence to-morrow, +again thanking your Eminence for your inexhaustible kindness." + +"And you have learnt that the Congregation of the Index has condemned +your book, as was inevitable?" + +"Yes, I obtained the signal favour of being received by his Holiness, and +in his presence made my submission and reprobated my book." + +The Cardinal's moist eyes again began to sparkle. "Ah! you did that, ah! +you did well, my dear son," he said. "It was only your strict duty as a +priest, but there are so many nowadays who do not even do their duty! As +a member of the Congregation I kept the promise I gave you to read your +book, particularly the incriminated pages. And if I afterwards remained +neutral, to such a point even as to miss the sitting in which judgment +was pronounced, it was only to please my poor, dear niece, who was so +fond of you, and who pleaded your cause to me." + +Tears were coming into his eyes again, and he paused, feeling that he +would once more be overcome if he evoked the memory of that adored and +lamented Benedetta. And so it was with a pugnacious bitterness that he +resumed: "But what an execrable book it was, my dear son, allow me to +tell you so. You told me that you had shown respect for dogma, and I +still wonder what aberration can have come over you that you should have +been so blind to all consciousness of your offences. Respect for +dogma--good Lord! when the entire work is the negation of our holy +religion! Did you not realise that by asking for a new religion you +absolutely condemned the old one, the only true one, the only good one, +the only one that can be eternal? And that sufficed to make your book the +most deadly of poisons, one of those infamous books which in former times +were burnt by the hangman, and which one is nowadays compelled to leave +in circulation after interdicting them and thereby designating them to +evil curiosity, which explains the contagious rottenness of the century. +Ah! I well recognised there some of the ideas of our distinguished and +poetical relative, that dear Viscount Philibert de la Choue. A man of +letters, yes! a man of letters! Literature, mere literature! I beg God to +forgive him, for he most surely does not know what he is doing, or +whither he is going with his elegiac Christianity for talkative working +men and young persons of either sex, to whom scientific notions have +given vagueness of soul. And I only feel angry with his Eminence Cardinal +Bergerot, for he at any rate knows what he does, and does as he pleases. +No, say nothing, do not defend him. He personifies Revolution in the +Church, and is against God." + +Although Pierre had resolved that he would not reply or argue, he had +allowed a gesture of protest to escape him on hearing this furious attack +upon the man whom he most respected in the whole world. However, he +yielded to Cardinal Boccanera's injunction and again bowed. + +"I cannot sufficiently express my horror," the Cardinal roughly +continued; "yes, my horror for all that hollow dream of a new religion! +That appeal to the most hideous passions which stir up the poor against +the rich, by promising them I know not what division of wealth, what +community of possession which is nowadays impossible! That base flattery +shown to the lower orders to whom equality and justice are promised but +never given, for these can come from God alone, it is only He who can +finally make them reign on the day appointed by His almighty power! And +there is even that interested charity which people abuse of to rail +against Heaven itself and accuse it of iniquity and indifference, that +lackadaisical weakening charity and compassion, unworthy of strong firm +hearts, for it is as if human suffering were not necessary for salvation, +as if we did not become more pure, greater and nearer to the supreme +happiness, the more and more we suffer!" + +He was growing excited, full of anguish, and superb. It was his +bereavement, his heart wound, which thus exasperated him, the great blow +which had felled him for a moment, but against which he again rose erect, +defying grief, and stubborn in his stoic belief in an omnipotent God, who +was the master of mankind, and reserved felicity to those whom He +selected. Again, however, he made an effort to calm himself, and resumed +in a more gentle voice: "At all events the fold is always open, my dear +son, and here you are back in it since you have repented. You cannot +imagine how happy it makes me." + +In his turn Pierre strove to show himself conciliatory in order that he +might not further ulcerate that violent, grief-stricken soul: "Your +Eminence," said he, "may be sure that I shall endeavour to remember every +one of the kind words which your Eminence has spoken to me, in the same +way as I shall remember the fatherly greeting of his Holiness Leo XIII." + +This sentence seemed to throw Boccanera into agitation again. At first +only murmured, restrained words came from him, as if he were struggling +against a desire to question the young priest. "Ah yes! you saw his +Holiness, you spoke to him, and he told you I suppose, as he tells all +the foreigners who go to pay their respects to him, that he desires +conciliation and peace. For my part I now only see him when it is +absolutely necessary; for more than a year I have not been received in +private audience." + +This proof of disfavour, of the covert struggle which as in the days of +Pius IX kept the Holy Father and the _Camerlingo_ at variance, filled the +latter with bitterness. He was unable to restrain himself and spoke out, +reflecting no doubt that he had a familiar before him, one whose +discretion was certain, and who moreover was leaving Rome on the morrow. +"One may go a long way," said he, "with those fine words, peace and +conciliation, which are so often void of real wisdom and courage. The +terrible truth is that Leo XIII's eighteen years of concessions have +shaken everything in the Church, and should he long continue to reign +Catholicism would topple over and crumble into dust like a building whose +pillars have been undermined." + +Interested by this remark, Pierre in his desire for knowledge began to +raise objections. "But hasn't his Holiness shown himself very prudent?" +he asked; "has he not placed dogma on one side in an impregnable +fortress? If he seems to have made concessions on many points, have they +not always been concessions in mere matters of form?" + +"Matters of form; ah, yes!" the Cardinal resumed with increasing passion. +"He told you, no doubt, as he tells others, that whilst in substance he +will make no surrender, he will readily yield in matters of form! It's a +deplorable axiom, an equivocal form of diplomacy even when it isn't so +much low hypocrisy! My soul revolts at the thought of that Opportunism, +that Jesuitism which makes artifice its weapon, and only serves to cast +doubt among true believers, the confusion of a _sauve-qui-peut_, which by +and by must lead to inevitable defeat. It is cowardice, the worst form of +cowardice, abandonment of one's weapons in order that one may retreat the +more speedily, shame of oneself, assumption of a mask in the hope of +deceiving the enemy, penetrating into his camp, and overcoming him by +treachery! No, no, form is everything in a traditional and immutable +religion, which for eighteen hundred years has been, is now, and till the +end of time will be the very law of God!" + +The Cardinal's feelings so stirred him that he was unable to remain +seated, and began to walk about the little room. And it was the whole +reign, the whole policy of Leo XIII which he discussed and condemned. +"Unity too," he continued, "that famous unity of the Christian Church +which his Holiness talks of bringing about, and his desire for which +people turn to his great glory, why, it is only the blind ambition of a +conqueror enlarging his empire without asking himself if the new nations +that he subjects may not disorganise, adulterate, and impregnate his old +and hitherto faithful people with every error. What if all the +schismatical nations on returning to the Catholic Church should so +transform it as to kill it and make it a new Church? There is only one +wise course, which is to be what one is, and that firmly. Again, isn't +there both shame and danger in that pretended alliance with the democracy +which in itself gives the lie to the ancient spirit of the papacy? The +right of kings is divine, and to abandon the monarchical principle is to +set oneself against God, to compound with revolution, and harbour a +monstrous scheme of utilising the madness of men the better to establish +one's power over them. All republics are forms of anarchy, and there can +be no more criminal act, one which must for ever shake the principle of +authority, order, and religion itself, than that of recognising a +republic as legitimate for the sole purpose of indulging a dream of +impossible conciliation. And observe how this bears on the question of +the temporal power. He continues to claim it, he makes a point of no +surrender on that question of the restoration of Rome; but in reality, +has he not made the loss irreparable, has he not definitively renounced +Rome, by admitting that nations have the right to drive away their kings +and live like wild beasts in the depths of the forest?" + +All at once the Cardinal stopped short and raised his arms to Heaven in a +burst of holy anger. "Ah! that man, ah! that man who by his vanity and +craving for success will have proved the ruin of the Church, that man who +has never ceased corrupting everything, dissolving everything, crumbling +everything in order to reign over the world which he fancies he will +reconquer by those means, why, Almighty God, why hast Thou not already +called him to Thee?" + +So sincere was the accent in which that appeal to Death was raised, to +such a point was hatred magnified by a real desire to save the Deity +imperilled here below, that a great shudder swept through Pierre also. He +now understood that Cardinal Boccanera who religiously and passionately +hated Leo XIII; he saw him in the depths of his black palace, waiting and +watching for the Pope's death, that death which as _Camerlingo_ he must +officially certify. How feverishly he must wait, how impatiently he must +desire the advent of the hour, when with his little silver hammer he +would deal the three symbolic taps on the skull of Leo XIII, while the +latter lay cold and rigid on his bed surrounded by his pontifical Court. +Ah! to strike that wall of the brain, to make sure that nothing more +would answer from within, that nothing beyond night and silence was left +there. And the three calls would ring out: "Gioachino! Gioachino! +Gioachino!" And, the corpse making no answer, the _Camerlingo_ after +waiting for a few seconds would turn and say: "The Pope is dead!" + +"Conciliation, however, is the weapon of the times," remarked Pierre, +wishing to bring the Cardinal back to the present, "and it is in order to +make sure of conquering that the Holy Father yields in matters of form." + +"He will not conquer, he will be conquered," cried Boccanera. "Never has +the Church been victorious save in stubbornly clinging to its +integrality, the immutable eternity of its divine essence. And it would +for a certainty fall on the day when it should allow a single stone of +its edifice to be touched. Remember the terrible period through which it +passed at the time of the Council of Trent. The Reformation had just +deeply shaken it, laxity of discipline and morals was everywhere +increasing, there was a rising tide of novelties, ideas suggested by the +spirit of evil, unhealthy projects born of the pride of man, running riot +in full license. And at the Council itself many members were disturbed, +poisoned, ready to vote for the wildest changes, a fresh schism added to +all the others. Well, if Catholicism was saved at that critical period, +under the threat of such great danger, it was because the majority, +enlightened by God, maintained the old edifice intact, it was because +with divinely inspired obstinacy it kept itself within the narrow limits +of dogma, it was because it made no concession, none, whether in +substance or in form! Nowadays the situation is certainly not worse than +it was at the time of the Council of Trent. Let us suppose it to be much +the same, and tell me if it is not nobler, braver, and safer for the +Church to show the courage which she showed before and declare aloud what +she is, what she has been, and what she will be. There is no salvation +for her otherwise than in her complete, indisputable sovereignty; and +since she has always conquered by non-surrender, all attempts to +conciliate her with the century are tantamount to killing her!" + +The Cardinal had again begun to walk to and fro with thoughtful step. +"No, no," said he, "no compounding, no surrender, no weakness! Rather the +wall of steel which bars the road, the block of granite which marks the +limit of a world! As I told you, my dear son, on the day of your arrival, +to try to accommodate Catholicism to the new times is to hasten its end, +if really it be threatened, as atheists pretend. And in that way it would +die basely and shamefully instead of dying erect, proud, and dignified in +its old glorious royalty! Ah! to die standing, denying nought of the +past, braving the future and confessing one's whole faith!" + +That old man of seventy seemed to grow yet loftier as he spoke, free from +all dread of final annihilation, and making the gesture of a hero who +defies futurity. Faith had given him serenity of peace; he believed, he +knew, he had neither doubt nor fear of the morrow of death. Still his +voice was tinged with haughty sadness as he resumed, "God can do all, +even destroy His own work should it seem evil in His eyes. But though all +should crumble to-morrow, though the Holy Church should disappear among +the ruins, though the most venerated sanctuaries should be crushed by the +falling stars, it would still be necessary for us to bow and adore God, +who after creating the world might thus annihilate it for His own glory. +And I wait, submissive to His will, for nothing happens unless He wills +it. If really the temples be shaken, if Catholicism be fated to fall +to-morrow into dust, I shall be here to act as the minister of death, +even as I have been the minister of life! It is certain, I confess it, +that there are hours when terrible signs appear to me. Perhaps, indeed, +the end of time is nigh, and we shall witness that fall of the old world +with which others threaten us. The worthiest, the loftiest are struck +down as if Heaven erred, and in them punished the crimes of the world. +Have I not myself felt the blast from the abyss into which all must sink, +since my house, for transgressions that I am ignorant of, has been +stricken with that frightful bereavement which precipitates it into the +gulf which casts it back into night everlasting!" + +He again evoked those two dear dead ones who were always present in his +mind. Sobs were once more rising in his throat, his hands trembled, his +lofty figure quivered with the last revolt of grief. Yes, if God had +stricken him so severely by suppressing his race, if the greatest and +most faithful were thus punished, it must be that the world was +definitively condemned. Did not the end of his house mean the approaching +end of all? And in his sovereign pride as priest and as prince, he found +a cry of supreme resignation, once more raising his hands on high: +"Almighty God, Thy will be done! May all die, all fall, all return to the +night of chaos! I shall remain standing in this ruined palace, waiting to +be buried beneath its fragments. And if Thy will should summon me to bury +Thy holy religion, be without fear, I shall do nothing unworthy to +prolong its life for a few days! I will maintain it erect, like myself, +as proud, as uncompromising as in the days of all its power. I will yield +nothing, whether in discipline, or in rite, or in dogma. And when the day +shall come I will bury it with myself, carrying it whole into the grave +rather than yielding aught of it, encompassing it with my cold arms to +restore it to Thee, even as Thou didst commit it to the keeping of Thy +Church. O mighty God and sovereign Master, dispose of me, make me if such +be Thy good pleasure the pontiff of destruction, the pontiff of the death +of the world." + +Pierre, who was thunderstruck, quivered with fear and admiration at the +extraordinary vision this evoked: the last of the popes interring +Catholicism. He understood that Boccanera must at times have made that +dream; he could see him in the Vatican, in St. Peter's which the +thunderbolts had riven asunder, he could see him erect and alone in the +spacious halls whence his terrified, cowardly pontifical Court had fled. +Clad in his white cassock, thus wearing white mourning for the Church, he +once more descended to the sanctuary, there to wait for heaven to fall on +the evening of Time's accomplishment and annihilate the earth. Thrice he +raised the large crucifix, overthrown by the supreme convulsions of the +soil. Then, when the final crack rent the steps apart, he caught it in +his arms and was annihilated with it beneath the falling vaults. And +nothing could be more instinct with fierce and kingly grandeur. + +Voiceless, but without weakness, his lofty stature invincible and erect +in spite of all, Cardinal Boccanera made a gesture dismissing Pierre, who +yielding to his passion for truth and beauty found that he alone was +great and right, and respectfully kissed his hand. + +It was in the throne-room, with closed doors, at nightfall, after the +visits had ceased, that the two bodies were laid in their coffin. The +religious services had come to an end, and in the close silent atmosphere +there only lingered the dying perfume of the roses and the warm odour of +the candles. As the latter's pale stars scarcely lighted the spacious +room, some lamps had been brought, and servants held them in their hands +like torches. According to custom, all the servants of the house were +present to bid a last farewell to the departed. + +There was a little delay. Morano, who had been giving himself no end of +trouble ever since morning, was forced to run off again as the triple +coffin did not arrive. At last it came, some servants brought it up, and +then they were able to begin. The Cardinal and Donna Serafina stood side +by side near the bed. Pierre also was present, as well as Don Vigilio. It +was Victorine who sewed the lovers up in the white silk shroud, which +seemed like a bridal robe, the gay pure robe of their union. Then two +servants came forward and helped Pierre and Don Vigilio to lay the bodies +in the first coffin, of pine wood lined with pink satin. It was scarcely +broader than an ordinary coffin, so young and slim were the lovers and so +tightly were they clasped in their last embrace. When they were stretched +inside they there continued their eternal slumber, their heads half +hidden by their odorous, mingling hair. And when this first coffin had +been placed in the second one, a leaden shell, and the second had been +enclosed in the third, of stout oak, and when the three lids had been +soldered and screwed down, the lovers' faces could still be seen through +the circular opening, covered with thick glass, which in accordance with +the Roman custom had been left in each of the coffins. And then, for ever +parted from the living, alone together, they still gazed at one another +with their eyes obstinately open, having all eternity before them wherein +to exhaust their infinite love. + + + + +XVI. + +ON the following day, on his return from the funeral Pierre lunched alone +in his room, having decided to take leave of the Cardinal and Donna +Serafina during the afternoon. He was quitting Rome that evening by the +train which started at seventeen minutes past ten. There was nothing to +detain him any longer; there was only one visit which he desired to make, +a visit to old Orlando, with whom he had promised to have a long chat +prior to his departure. And so a little before two o'clock he sent for a +cab which took him to the Via Venti Settembre. A fine rain had fallen all +night, its moisture steeping the city in grey vapour; and though this +rain had now ceased the sky remained very dark, and the huge new mansions +of the Via Venti Settembre were quite livid, interminably mournful with +their balconies ever of the same pattern and their regular and endless +rows of windows. The Ministry of Finances, that colossal pile of masonry +and sculpture, looked in particular like a dead town, a huge bloodless +body whence all life had withdrawn. On the other hand, although all was +so gloomy the rain had made the atmosphere milder, in fact it was almost +warm, damply and feverishly warm. + +In the hall of Prada's little palazzo Pierre was surprised to find four +or five gentlemen taking off their overcoats; however he learnt from a +servant that Count Luigi had a meeting that day with some contractors. As +he, Pierre, wished to see the Count's father he had only to ascend to the +third floor, added the servant. He must knock at the little door on the +right-hand side of the landing there. + +On the very first landing, however, the priest found himself face to face +with the young Count who was there receiving the contractors, and who on +recognising him became frightfully pale. They had not met since the +tragedy at the Boccanera mansion, and Pierre well realised how greatly +his glance disturbed that man, what a troublesome recollection of moral +complicity it evoked, and what mortal dread lest he should have guessed +the truth. + +"Have you come to see me, have you something to tell me?" the Count +inquired. + +"No, I am leaving Rome, I have come to wish your father good-bye." + +Prada's pallor increased at this, and his whole face quivered: "Ah! it is +to see my father. He is not very well, be gentle with him," he replied, +and as he spoke, his look of anguish clearly proclaimed what he feared +from Pierre, some imprudent word, perhaps even a final mission, the +malediction of that man and woman whom he had killed. And surely if his +father knew, he would die as well. "Ah! how annoying it is," he resumed, +"I can't go up with you! There are gentlemen waiting for me. Yes, how +annoyed I am. As soon as possible, however, I will join you, yes, as soon +as possible." + +He knew not how to stop the young priest, whom he must evidently allow to +remain with his father, whilst he himself stayed down below, kept there +by his pecuniary worries. But how distressful were the eyes with which he +watched Pierre climb the stairs, how he seemed to supplicate him with his +whole quivering form. His father, good Lord, the only true love, the one +great, pure, faithful passion of his life! + +"Don't make him talk too much, brighten him, won't you?" were his parting +words. + +Up above it was not Batista, the devoted ex-soldier, who opened the door, +but a very young fellow to whom Pierre did not at first pay any +attention. The little room was bare and light as on previous occasions, +and from the broad curtainless window there was the superb view of Rome, +Rome crushed that day beneath a leaden sky and steeped in shade of +infinite mournfulness. Old Orlando, however, had in no wise changed, but +still displayed the superb head of an old blanched lion, a powerful +muzzle and youthful eyes, which yet sparkled with the passions which had +growled in a soul of fire. Pierre found the stricken hero in the same +arm-chair as previously, near the same table littered with newspapers, +and with his legs buried in the same black wrapper, as if he were there +immobilised in a sheath of stone, to such a point that after months and +years one was sure to perceive him quite unchanged, with living bust, and +face glowing with strength and intelligence. + +That grey day, however, he seemed gloomy, low in spirits. "Ah! so here +you are, my dear Monsieur Froment," he exclaimed, "I have been thinking +of you these three days past, living the awful days which you must have +lived in that tragic Palazzo Boccanera. Ah, God! What a frightful +bereavement! My heart is quite overwhelmed, these newspapers have again +just upset me with the fresh details they give!" He pointed as he spoke +to the papers scattered over the table. Then with a gesture he strove to +brush aside the gloomy story, and banish that vision of Benedetta dead, +which had been haunting him. "Well, and yourself?" he inquired. + +"I am leaving this evening," replied Pierre, "but I did not wish to quit +Rome without pressing your brave hands." + +"You are leaving? But your book?" + +"My book--I have been received by the Holy Father, I have made my +submission and reprobated my book." + +Orlando looked fixedly at the priest. There was a short interval of +silence, during which their eyes told one another all that they had to +tell respecting the affair. Neither felt the necessity of any longer +explanation. The old man merely spoke these concluding words: "You have +done well, your book was a chimera." + +"Yes, a chimera, a piece of childishness, and I have condemned it myself +in the name of truth and reason." + +A smile appeared on the dolorous lips of the impotent hero. "Then you +have seen things, you understand and know them now?" + +"Yes, I know them; and that is why I did not wish to go off without +having that frank conversation with you which we agreed upon." + +Orlando was delighted, but all at once he seemed to remember the young +fellow who had opened the door to Pierre, and who had afterwards modestly +resumed his seat on a chair near the window. This young fellow was a +youth of twenty, still beardless, of a blonde handsomeness such as +occasionally flowers at Naples, with long curly hair, a lily-like +complexion, a rosy mouth, and soft eyes full of a dreamy languor. The old +man presented him in fatherly fashion, Angiolo Mascara his name was, and +he was the grandson of an old comrade in arms, the epic Mascara of the +Thousand, who had died like a hero, his body pierced by a hundred wounds. + +"I sent for him to scold him," continued Orlando with a smile. "Do you +know that this fine fellow with his girlish airs goes in for the new +ideas? He is an Anarchist, one of the three or four dozen Anarchists that +we have in Italy. He's a good little lad at bottom, he has only his +mother left him, and supports her, thanks to the little berth which he +holds, but which he'll lose one of these fine days if he is not careful. +Come, come, my child, you must promise me to be reasonable." + +Thereupon Angiolo, whose clean but well-worn garments bespoke decent +poverty, made answer in a grave and musical voice: "I am reasonable, it +is the others, all the others who are not. When all men are reasonable +and desire truth and justice, the world will be happy." + +"Ah! if you fancy that he'll give way!" cried Orlando. "But, my poor +child, just ask Monsieur l'Abbe if one ever knows where truth and justice +are. Well, well, one must leave you the time to live, and see, and +understand things." + +Then, paying no more attention to the young man, he returned to Pierre, +while Angiolo, remaining very quiet in his corner, kept his eyes ardently +fixed on them, and with open, quivering ears lost not a word they said. + +"I told you, my dear Monsieur Froment," resumed Orlando, "that your ideas +would change, and that acquaintance with Rome would bring you to accurate +views far more readily than any fine speeches I could make to you. So I +never doubted but what you would of your own free will withdraw your book +as soon as men and things should have enlightened you respecting the +Vatican at the present day. But let us leave the Vatican on one side, +there is nothing to be done but to let it continue falling slowly and +inevitably into ruin. What interests me is our Italian Rome, which you +treated as an element to be neglected, but which you have now seen and +studied, so that we can both speak of it with the necessary knowledge!" + +He thereupon at once granted a great many things, acknowledged that +blunders had been committed, that the finances were in a deplorable +state, and that there were serious difficulties of all kinds. They, the +Italians, had sinned by excess of legitimate pride, they had proceeded +too hastily with their attempt to improvise a great nation, to change +ancient Rome into a great modern capital as by the mere touch of a wand. +And thence had come that mania for erecting new districts, that mad +speculation in land and shares, which had brought the country within a +hair's breadth of bankruptcy. + +At this Pierre gently interrupted him to tell him of the view which he +himself had arrived at after his peregrinations and studies through Rome. +"That fever of the first hour, that financial _debacle_," said he, "is +after all nothing. All pecuniary sores can be healed. But the grave point +is that your Italy still remains to be created. There is no aristocracy +left, and as yet there is no people, nothing but a devouring middle +class, dating from yesterday, which preys on the rich harvest of the +future before it is ripe." + +Silence fell. Orlando sadly wagged his old leonine head. The cutting +harshness of Pierre's formula struck him in the heart. "Yes, yes," he +said at last, "that is so, you have seen things plainly; and why say no +when facts are there, patent to everybody? I myself had already spoken to +you of that middle class which hungers so ravenously for place and +office, distinctions and plumes, and which at the same time is so +avaricious, so suspicious with regard to its money which it invests in +banks, never risking it in agriculture or manufactures or commerce, +having indeed the one desire to enjoy life without doing anything, and so +unintelligent that it cannot see it is killing its country by its +loathing for labour, its contempt for the poor, its one ambition to live +in a petty way with the barren glory of belonging to some official +administration. And, as you say, the aristocracy is dying, discrowned, +ruined, sunk into the degeneracy which overtakes races towards their +close, most of its members reduced to beggary, the others, the few who +have clung to their money, crushed by heavy imposts, possessing nought +but dead fortunes which constant sharing diminishes and which must soon +disappear with the princes themselves. And then there is the people, +which has suffered so much and suffers still, but is so used to suffering +that it can seemingly conceive no idea of emerging from it, blind and +deaf as it is, almost regretting its ancient bondage, and so ignorant, so +abominably ignorant, which is the one cause of its hopeless, morrowless +misery, for it has not even the consolation of understanding that if we +have conquered and are trying to resuscitate Rome and Italy in their +ancient glory, it is for itself, the people, alone. Yes, yes, no +aristocracy left, no people as yet, and a middle class which really +alarms one. How can one therefore help yielding at times to the terrors +of the pessimists, who pretend that our misfortunes are as yet nothing, +that we are going forward to yet more awful catastrophes, as though, +indeed, what we now behold were but the first symptoms of our race's end, +the premonitory signs of final annihilation!" + +As he spoke he raised his long quivering arms towards the window, towards +the light, and Pierre, deeply moved, remembered how Cardinal Boccanera on +the previous day had made a similar gesture of supplicant distress when +appealing to the divine power. And both men, Cardinal and patriot, so +hostile in their beliefs, were instinct with the same fierce and +despairing grandeur. + +"As I told you, however, on the first day," continued Orlando, "we only +sought to accomplish logical and inevitable things. As for Rome, with her +past history of splendour and domination which weighs so heavily upon us, +we could not do otherwise than take her for capital, for she alone was +the bond, the living symbol of our unity at the same time as the promise +of eternity, the renewal offered to our great dream of resurrection and +glory." + +He went on, recognising the disastrous conditions under which Rome +laboured as a capital. She was a purely decorative city with exhausted +soil, she had remained apart from modern life, she was unhealthy, she +offered no possibility of commerce or industry, she was invincibly preyed +upon by death, standing as she did amidst that sterile desert of the +Campagna. Then he compared her with the other cities which are jealous of +her; first Florence, which, however, has become so indifferent and so +sceptical, impregnated with a happy heedlessness which seems inexplicable +when one remembers the frantic passions, and the torrents of blood +rolling through her history; next Naples, which yet remains content with +her bright sun, and whose childish people enjoy their ignorance and +wretchedness so indolently that one knows not whether one ought to pity +them; next Venice, which has resigned herself to remaining a marvel of +ancient art, which one ought to put under glass so as to preserve her +intact, slumbering amid the sovereign pomp of her annals; next Genoa, +which is absorbed in trade, still active and bustling, one of the last +queens of that Mediterranean, that insignificant lake which was once the +opulent central sea, whose waters carried the wealth of the world; and +then particularly Turin and Milan, those industrial and commercial +centres, which are so full of life and so modernised that tourists +disdain them as not being "Italian" cities, both of them having saved +themselves from ruin by entering into that Western evolution which is +preparing the next century. Ah! that old land of Italy, ought one to +leave it all as a dusty museum for the pleasure of artistic souls, leave +it to crumble away, even as its little towns of Magna Graecia, Umbria, +and Tuscany are already crumbling, like exquisite _bibelots_ which one +dares not repair for fear that one might spoil their character. At all +events, there must either be death, death soon and inevitable, or else +the pick of the demolisher, the tottering walls thrown to the ground, and +cities of labour, science, and health created on all sides; in one word, +a new Italy really rising from the ashes of the old one, and adapted to +the new civilisation into which humanity is entering. + +"However, why despair?" Orlando continued energetically. "Rome may weigh +heavily on our shoulders, but she is none the less the summit we coveted. +We are here, and we shall stay here awaiting events. Even if the +population does not increase it at least remains stationary at a figure +of some 400,000 souls, and the movement of increase may set in again when +the causes which stopped it shall have ceased. Our blunder was to think +that Rome would become a Paris or Berlin; but, so far, all sorts of +social, historical, even ethnical considerations seem opposed to it; yet +who can tell what may be the surprises of to-morrow? Are we forbidden to +hope, to put faith in the blood which courses in our veins, the blood of +the old conquerors of the world? I, who no longer stir from this room, +impotent as I am, even I at times feel my madness come back, believe in +the invincibility and immortality of Rome, and wait for the two millions +of people who must come to populate those dolorous new districts which +you have seen so empty and already falling into ruins! And certainly they +will come! Why not? You will see, you will see, everything will be +populated, and even more houses will have to be built. Moreover, can you +call a nation poor, when it possesses Lombardy? Is there not also +inexhaustible wealth in our southern provinces? Let peace settle down, +let the South and the North mingle together, and a new generation of +workers grow up. Since we have the soil, such a fertile soil, the great +harvest which is awaited will surely some day sprout and ripen under the +burning sun!" + +Enthusiasm was upbuoying him, all the _furia_ of youth inflamed his eyes. +Pierre smiled, won over; and as soon as he was able to speak, he said: +"The problem must be tackled down below, among the people. You must make +men!" + +"Exactly!" cried Orlando. "I don't cease repeating it, one must make +Italy. It is as if a wind from the East had blown the seed of humanity, +the seed which makes vigorous and powerful nations, elsewhere. Our people +is not like yours in France, a reservoir of men and money from which one +can draw as plentifully as one pleases. It is such another inexhaustible +reservoir that I wish to see created among us. And one must begin at the +bottom. There must be schools everywhere, ignorance must be stamped out, +brutishness and idleness must be fought with books, intellectual and +moral instruction must give us the industrious people which we need if we +are not to disappear from among the great nations. And once again for +whom, if not for the democracy of to-morrow, have we worked in taking +possession of Rome? And how easily one can understand that all should +collapse here, and nothing grow up vigorously since such a democracy is +absolutely absent. Yes, yes, the solution of the problem does not lie +elsewhere; we must make a people, make an Italian democracy." + +Pierre had grown calm again, feeling somewhat anxious yet not daring to +say that it is by no means easy to modify a nation, that Italy is such as +soil, history, and race have made her, and that to seek to transform her +so radically and all at once might be a dangerous enterprise. Do not +nations like beings have an active youth, a resplendent prime, and a more +or less prolonged old age ending in death? A modern democratic Rome, good +heavens! The modern Romes are named Paris, London, Chicago. So he +contented himself with saying: "But pending this great renovation of the +people, don't you think that you ought to be prudent? Your finances are +in such a bad condition, you are passing through such great social and +economic difficulties, that you run the risk of the worst catastrophes +before you secure either men or money. Ah! how prudent would that +minister be who should say in your Chamber: 'Our pride has made a +mistake, it was wrong of us to try to make ourselves a great nation in +one day; more time, labour, and patience are needed; and we consent to +remain for the present a young nation, which will quietly reflect and +labour at self-formation, without, for a long time yet, seeking to play a +dominant part. So we intend to disarm, to strike out the war and naval +estimates, all the estimates intended for display abroad, in order to +devote ourselves to our internal prosperity, and to build up by +education, physically and morally, the great nation which we swear we +will be fifty years hence!' Yes, yes, strike out all needless +expenditure, your salvation lies in that!" + +But Orlando, while listening, had become gloomy again, and with a vague, +weary gesture he replied in an undertone: "No, no, the minister who +should use such language would be hooted. It would be too hard a +confession, such as one cannot ask a nation to make. Every heart would +bound, leap forth at the idea. And, besides, would not the danger perhaps +be even greater if all that has been done were allowed to crumble? How +many wrecked hopes, how much discarded, useless material there would be! +No, we can now only save ourselves by patience and courage--and forward, +ever forward! We are a very young nation, and in fifty years we desired +to effect the unity which others have required two hundred years to +arrive at. Well, we must pay for our haste, we must wait for the harvest +to ripen, and fill our barns." Then, with another and more sweeping wave +of the arm, he stubbornly strengthened himself in his hopes. "You know," +said he, "that I was always against the alliance with Germany. As I +predicted, it has ruined us. We were not big enough to march side by side +with such a wealthy and powerful person, and it is in view of a war, +always near at hand and inevitable, that we now suffer so cruelly from +having to support the budgets of a great nation. Ah! that war which has +never come, it is that which has exhausted the best part of our blood and +sap and money without the slightest profit. To-day we have nothing before +us but the necessity of breaking with our ally, who speculated on our +pride, who has never helped us in any way, who has never given us +anything but bad advice, and treated us otherwise than with suspicion. +But it was all inevitable, and that's what people won't admit in France. +I can speak freely of it all, for I am a declared friend of France, and +people even feel some spite against me on that account. However, explain +to your compatriots, that on the morrow of our conquest of Rome, in our +frantic desire to resume our ancient rank, it was absolutely necessary +that we should play our part in Europe and show that we were a power with +whom the others must henceforth count. And hesitation was not allowable, +all our interests impelled us toward Germany, the evidence was so binding +as to impose itself. The stern law of the struggle for life weighs as +heavily on nations as on individuals, and this it is which explains and +justifies the rupture between the two sisters, France and Italy, the +forgetting of so many ties, race, commercial intercourse, and, if you +like, services also. The two sisters, ah! they now pursue each other with +so much hatred that all common sense even seems at an end. My poor old +heart bleeds when I read the articles which your newspapers and ours +exchange like poisoned darts. When will this fratricidal massacre cease, +which of the two will first realise the necessity of peace, the necessity +of the alliance of the Latin races, if they are to remain alive amidst +those torrents of other races which more and more invade the world?" Then +gaily, with the _bonhomie_ of a hero disarmed by old age, and seeking a +refuge in his dreams, Orlando added: "Come, you must promise to help me +as soon as you are in Paris. However small your field of action may be, +promise me you will do all you can to promote peace between France and +Italy; there can be no more holy task. Relate all you have seen here, all +you have heard, oh! as frankly as possible. If we have faults, you +certainly have faults as well. And, come, family quarrels can't last for +ever!" + +"No doubt," Pierre answered in some embarrassment. "Unfortunately they +are the most tenacious. In families, when blood becomes exasperated with +blood, hate goes as far as poison and the knife. And pardon becomes +impossible." + +He dared not fully express his thoughts. Since he had been in Rome, +listening, and considering things, the quarrel between Italy and France +had resumed itself in his mind in a fine tragic story. Once upon a time +there were two princesses, daughters of a powerful queen, the mistress of +the world. The elder one, who had inherited her mother's kingdom, was +secretly grieved to see her sister, who had established herself in a +neighbouring land, gradually increase in wealth, strength, and +brilliancy, whilst she herself declined as if weakened by age, +dismembered, so exhausted, and so sore, that she already felt defeated on +the day when she attempted a supreme effort to regain universal power. +And so how bitter were her feelings, how hurt she always felt on seeing +her sister recover from the most frightful shocks, resume her dazzling +_gala_, and continue to reign over the world by dint of strength and +grace and wit. Never would she forgive it, however well that envied and +detested sister might act towards her. Therein lay an incurable wound, +the life of one poisoned by that of the other, the hatred of old blood +for young blood, which could only be quieted by death. And even if peace, +as was possible, should soon be restored between them in presence of the +younger sister's evident triumph, the other would always harbour deep +within her heart an endless grief at being the elder yet the vassal. + +"However, you may rely on me," Pierre affectionately resumed. "This +quarrel between the two countries is certainly a great source of grief +and a great peril. And assuredly I will only say what I think to be the +truth about you. At the same time I fear that you hardly like the truth, +for temperament and custom have hardly prepared you for it. The poets of +every nation who at various times have written on Rome have intoxicated +you with so much praise that you are scarcely fitted to hear the real +truth about your Rome of to-day. No matter how superb a share of praise +one may accord you, one must all the same look at the reality of things, +and this reality is just what you won't admit, lovers of the beautiful as +you ever are, susceptible too like women, whom the slightest hint of a +wrinkle sends into despair." + +Orlando began to laugh. "Well, certainly, one must always beautify things +a little," said he. "Why speak of ugly faces at all? We in our theatres +only care for pretty music, pretty dancing, pretty pieces which please +one. As for the rest, whatever is disagreeable let us hide it, for +mercy's sake!" + +"On the other hand," the priest continued, "I will cheerfully confess the +great error of my book. The Italian Rome which I neglected and sacrificed +to papal Rome not only exists but is already so powerful and triumphant +that it is surely the other one which is bound to disappear in course of +time. However much the Pope may strive to remain immutable within his +Vatican, a steady evolution goes on around him, and the black world, by +mingling with the white, has already become a grey world. I never +realised that more acutely than at the _fete_ given by Prince +Buongiovanni for the betrothal of his daughter to your grand-nephew. I +came away quite enchanted, won over to the cause of your resurrection." + +The old man's eyes sparkled. "Ah! you were present?" said he, "and you +witnessed a never-to-be-forgotten scene, did you not, and you no longer +doubt our vitality, our growth into a great people when the difficulties +of to-day are overcome? What does a quarter of a century, what does even +a century matter! Italy will again rise to her old glory, as soon as the +great people of to-morrow shall have sprung from the soil. And if I +detest that man Sacco it is because to my mind he is the incarnation of +all the enjoyers and intriguers whose appetite for the spoils of our +conquest has retarded everything. But I live again in my dear +grand-nephew Attilio, who represents the future, the generation of brave +and worthy men who will purify and educate the country. Ah! may some of +the great ones of to-morrow spring from him and that adorable little +Princess Celia, whom my niece Stefana, a sensible woman at bottom, +brought to see me the other day. If you had seen that child fling her +arms about me, call me endearing names, and tell me that I should be +godfather to her first son, so that he might bear my name and once again +save Italy! Yes, yes, may peace be concluded around that coming cradle; +may the union of those dear children be the indissoluble marriage of Rome +and the whole nation, and may all be repaired, and all blossom anew in +their love!" + +Tears came to his eyes, and Pierre, touched by his inextinguishable +patriotism, sought to please him. "I myself," said he, "expressed to your +son much the same wish on the evening of the betrothal _fete_, when I +told him I trusted that their nuptials might be definitive and fruitful, +and that from them and all the others there might arise the great nation +which, now that I begin to know you, I hope you will soon become!" + +"You said that!" exclaimed Orlando. "Well, I forgive your book, for you +have understood at last; and new Rome, there she is, the Rome which is +ours, which we wish to make worthy of her glorious past, and for the +third time the queen of the world." + +With one of those broad gestures into which he put all his remaining +life, he pointed to the curtainless window where Rome spread out in +solemn majesty from one horizon to the other. But, suddenly he turned his +head and in a fit of paternal indignation began to apostrophise young +Angiolo Mascara. "You young rascal!" said he, "it's our Rome which you +dream of destroying with your bombs, which you talk of razing like a +rotten, tottering house, so as to rid the world of it for ever!" + +Angiolo had hitherto remained silent, passionately listening to the +others. His pretty, girlish, beardless face reflected the slightest +emotion in sudden flashes; and his big blue eyes also had glowed on +hearing what had been said of the people, the new people which it was +necessary to create. "Yes!" he slowly replied in his pure and musical +voice, "we mean to raze it and not leave a stone of it, but raze it in +order to build it up again." + +Orlando interrupted him with a soft, bantering laugh: "Oh! you would +build it up again; that's fortunate!" he said. + +"I would build it up again," the young man replied, in the trembling +voice of an inspired prophet. "I would build it up again oh, so vast, so +beautiful, and so noble! Will not the universal democracy of to-morrow, +humanity when it is at last freed, need an unique city, which shall be +the ark of alliance, the very centre of the world? And is not Rome +designated, Rome which the prophecies have marked as eternal and +immortal, where the destinies of the nations are to be accomplished? But +in order that it may become the final definitive sanctuary, the capital +of the destroyed kingdoms, where the wise men of all countries shall meet +once every year, one must first of all purify it by fire, leave nothing +of its old stains remaining. Then, when the sun shall have absorbed all +the pestilence of the old soil, we will rebuild the city ten times more +beautiful and ten times larger than it has ever been. And what a city of +truth and justice it will at last be, the Rome that has been announced +and awaited for three thousand years, all in gold and all in marble, +filling the Campagna from the sea to the Sabine and the Alban mountains, +and so prosperous and so sensible that its twenty millions of inhabitants +after regulating the law of labour will live with the unique joy of +being. Yes, yes, Rome the Mother, Rome the Queen, alone on the face of +the earth and for all eternity!" + +Pierre listened to him, aghast. What! did the blood of Augustus go to +such a point as this? The popes had not become masters of Rome without +feeling impelled to rebuild it in their passion to rule over the world; +young Italy, likewise yielding to the hereditary madness of universal +domination, had in its turn sought to make the city larger than any +other, erecting whole districts for people who had never come, and now +even the Anarchists were possessed by the same stubborn dream of the +race, a dream beyond all measure this time, a fourth and monstrous Rome, +whose suburbs would invade continents in order that liberated humanity, +united in one family, might find sufficient lodging! This was the climax. +Never could more extravagant proof be given of the blood of pride and +sovereignty which had scorched the veins of that race ever since Augustus +had bequeathed it the inheritance of his absolute empire, with the +furious instinct that the world legally belonged to it, and that its +mission was to conquer it again. This idea had intoxicated all the +children of that historic soil, impelling all of them to make their city +The City, the one which had reigned and which would reign again in +splendour when the days predicted by the oracles should arrive. And +Pierre remembered the four fatidical letters, the S.P.Q.R. of old and +glorious Rome, which like an order of final triumph given to Destiny he +had everywhere found in present-day Rome, on all the walls, on all the +insignia, even on the municipal dust-carts! And he understood the +prodigious vanity of these people, haunted by the glory of their +ancestors, spellbound by the past of their city, declaring that she +contains everything, that they themselves cannot know her thoroughly, +that she is the sphinx who will some day explain the riddle of the +universe, that she is so great and noble that all within her acquires +increase of greatness and nobility, in such wise that they demand for her +the idolatrous respect of the entire world, so vivacious in their minds +is the illusive legend which clings to her, so incapable are they of +realising that what was once great may be so no longer. + +"But I know your fourth Rome," resumed Orlando, again enlivened. "It's +the Rome of the people, the capital of the Universal Republic, which +Mazzini dreamt of. Only he left the pope in it. Do you know, my lad, that +if we old Republicans rallied to the monarchy, it was because we feared +that in the event of revolution the country might fall into the hands of +dangerous madmen such as those who have upset your brain? Yes, that was +why we resigned ourselves to our monarchy, which is not much different +from a parliamentary republic. And now, goodbye and be sensible, remember +that your poor mother would die of it if any misfortune should befall +you. Come, let me embrace you all the same." + +On receiving the hero's affectionate kiss Angiolo coloured like a girl. +Then he went off with his gentle, dreamy air, never adding a word but +politely inclining his head to the priest. Silence continued till +Orlando's eyes encountered the newspapers scattered on the table, when he +once more spoke of the terrible bereavement of the Boccaneras. He had +loved Benedetta like a dear daughter during the sad days when she had +dwelt near him; and finding the newspaper accounts of her death somewhat +singular, worried in fact by the obscure points which he could divine in +the tragedy, he was asking Pierre for particulars, when his son Luigi +suddenly entered the room, breathless from having climbed the stairs so +quickly and with his face full of anxious fear. He had just dismissed his +contractors with impatient roughness, giving no thought to his serious +financial position, the jeopardy in which his fortune was now placed, so +anxious was he to be up above beside his father. And when he was there +his first uneasy glance was for the old man, to make sure whether the +priest by some imprudent word had not dealt him his death blow. + +He shuddered on noticing how Orlando quivered, moved to tears by the +terrible affair of which he was speaking; and for a moment he thought he +had arrived too late, that the harm was done. "Good heavens, father!" he +exclaimed, "what is the matter with you, why are you crying?" And as he +spoke he knelt at the old man's feet, taking hold of his hands and giving +him such a passionate, loving glance that he seemed to be offering all +the blood of his heart to spare him the slightest grief. + +"It is about the death of that poor woman," Orlando sadly answered. "I +was telling Monsieur Froment how it grieved me, and I added that I could +not yet understand it all. The papers talk of a sudden death which is +always so extraordinary." + +The young Count rose again looking very pale. The priest had not yet +spoken. But what a frightful moment was this! What if he should reply, +what if he should speak out? + +"You were present, were you not?" continued the old man addressing +Pierre. "You saw everything. Tell me then how the thing happened." + +Luigi Prada looked at Pierre. Their eyes met fixedly, plunging into one +another's souls. All began afresh in their minds, Destiny on the march, +Santobono encountered with his little basket, the drive across the +melancholy Campagna, the conversation about poison while the little +basket was gently rocked on the priest's knees; then, in particular, the +sleepy _osteria_, and the little black hen, so suddenly killed, lying on +the ground with a tiny streamlet of violet blood trickling from her beak. +And next there was that splendid ball at the Buongiovanni mansion, with +all its _odore di femina_ and its triumph of love: and finally, before +the Palazzo Boccanera, so black under the silvery moon, there was the man +who lighted a cigar and went off without once turning his head, allowing +dim Destiny to accomplish its work of death. Both of them, Pierre and +Prada, knew that story and lived it over again, having no need to recall +it aloud in order to make certain that they had fully penetrated one +another's soul. + +Pierre did not immediately answer the old man. "Oh!" he murmured at last, +"there were frightful things, yes, frightful things." + +"No doubt--that is what I suspected," resumed Orlando. "You can tell us +all. In presence of death my son has freely forgiven." + +The young Count's gaze again sought that of Pierre with such weight, such +ardent entreaty that the priest felt deeply stirred. He had just +remembered that man's anguish during the ball, the atrocious torture of +jealousy which he had undergone before allowing Destiny to avenge him. +And he pictured also what must have been his feelings after the terrible +outcome of it all: at first stupefaction at Destiny's harshness, at this +full vengeance which he had never desired so ferocious; then icy calmness +like that of the cool gambler who awaits events, reading the newspapers, +and feeling no other remorse than that of the general whose victory has +cost him too many men. He must have immediately realised that the +Cardinal would stifle the affair for the sake of the Church's honour; and +only retained one weight on his heart, regret possibly for that woman +whom he had never won, with perhaps a last horrible jealousy which he did +not confess to himself but from which he would always suffer, jealousy at +knowing that she lay in another's arms in the grave, for all eternity. +But behold, after that victorious effort to remain calm, after that cold +and remorseless waiting, Punishment arose, the fear that Destiny, +travelling on with its poisoned figs, might have not yet ceased its +march, and might by a rebound strike down his own father. Yet another +thunderbolt, yet another victim, the most unexpected, the being he most +adored! At that thought all his strength of resistance had in one moment +collapsed, and he was there, in terror of Destiny, more at a loss, more +trembling than a child. + +"The newspapers, however," slowly said Pierre as if he were seeking his +words, "the newspapers must have told you that the Prince succumbed +first, and that the Contessina died of grief whilst embracing him for the +last time.... As for the cause of death, _mon Dieu_, you know that +doctors themselves in sudden cases scarcely dare to pronounce an exact +opinion--" + +He stopped short, for within him he had suddenly heard the voice of +Benedetta giving him just before she died that terrible order: "You, who +will see his father, I charge you to tell him that I cursed his son. I +wish that he should know, it is necessary that he should know, for the +sake of truth and justice." And was he, oh! Lord, about to obey that +order, was it one of those divine commands which must be executed even if +the result be a torrent of blood and tears? For a few seconds Pierre +suffered from a heart-rending combat within him, hesitating between the +act of truth and justice which the dead woman had called for and his own +personal desire for forgiveness, and the horror he would feel should he +kill that poor old man by fulfilling his implacable mission which could +benefit nobody. And certainly the other one, the son, must have +understood what a supreme struggle was going on in the priest's mind, a +struggle which would decide his own father's fate, for his glance became +yet more suppliant than ever. + +"One first thought that it was merely indigestion," continued Pierre, +"but the Prince became so much worse, that one was alarmed, and the +doctor was sent for--" + +Ah! Prada's eyes, they had become so despairing, so full of the most +touching and weightiest things, that the priest could read in them all +the decisive reasons which were about to stay his tongue. No, no, he +would not strike an innocent old man, he had promised nothing, and to +obey the last expression of the dead woman's hatred would have seemed to +him like charging her memory with a crime. The young Count, too, during +those few minutes of anguish, had suffered a whole life of such +abominable torture, that after all some little justice was done. + +"And then," Pierre concluded, "when the doctor arrived he at once +recognised that it was a case of infectious fever. There can be no doubt +of it. This morning I attended the funeral, it was very splendid and very +touching." + +Orlando did not insist, but contented himself with saying that he also +had felt much emotion all the morning on thinking of that funeral. Then, +as he turned to set the papers on the table in order with his trembling +hands, his son, icy cold with perspiration, staggering and clinging to +the back of a chair in order that he might not fall, again gave Pierre a +long glance, but a very soft one, full of distracted gratitude. + +"I am leaving this evening," resumed Pierre, who felt exhausted and +wished to break off the conversation, "and I must now bid you farewell. +Have you any commission to give me for Paris?" + +"No, none," replied Orlando; and then, with sudden recollection, he +added, "Yes, I have, though! You remember that book written by my old +comrade in arms, Theophile Morin, one of Garibaldi's Thousand, that +manual for the bachelor's degree which he desired to see translated and +adopted here. Well, I am pleased to say that I have a promise that it +shall be used in our schools, but on condition that he makes some +alterations in it. Luigi, give me the book, it is there on that shelf." + +Then, when his son had handed him the volume, he showed Pierre some notes +which he had pencilled on the margins, and explained to him the +modifications which were desired in the general scheme of the work. "Will +you be kind enough," he continued, "to take this copy to Morin himself? +His address is written inside the cover. If you can do so you will spare +me the trouble of writing him a very long letter; in ten minutes you can +explain matters to him more clearly and completely than I could do in ten +pages.... And you must embrace Morin for me, and tell him that I still +love him, oh! with all my heart of the bygone days, when I could still +use my legs and we two fought like devils side by side under a hail of +bullets." + +A short silence followed, that pause, that embarrassment tinged with +emotion which precedes the moment of farewell. "Come, good-bye," said +Orlando, "embrace me for him and for yourself, embrace me affectionately +like that lad did just now. I am so old and so near my end, my dear +Monsieur Froment, that you will allow me to call you my child and to kiss +you like a grandfather, wishing you all courage and peace, and that faith +in life which alone helps one to live." + +Pierre was so touched that tears rose to his eyes, and when with all his +soul he kissed the stricken hero on either cheek, he felt that he +likewise was weeping. With a hand yet as vigorous as a vice, Orlando +detained him for a moment beside his arm-chair, whilst with his other +hand waving in a supreme gesture, he for the last time showed him Rome, +so immense and mournful under the ashen sky. And his voice came low, +quivering and suppliant. "For mercy's sake swear to me that you will love +her all the same, in spite of all, for she is the cradle, the mother! +Love her for all that she no longer is, love her for all that she desires +to be! Do not say that her end has come, love her, love her so that she +may live again, that she may live for ever!" + +Pierre again embraced him, unable to find any other response, upset as he +was by all the passion displayed by that old warrior, who spoke of his +city as a man of thirty might speak of the woman he adores. And he found +him so handsome and so lofty with his old blanched, leonine mane and his +stubborn belief in approaching resurrection, that once more the other old +Roman, Cardinal Boccanera, arose before him, equally stubborn in his +faith and relinquishing nought of his dream, even though he might be +crushed on the spot by the fall of the heavens. These twain ever stood +face to face, at either end of their city, alone rearing their lofty +figures above the horizon, whilst awaiting the future. + +Then, when Pierre had bowed to Count Luigi, and found himself outside +again in the Via Venti Settembre he was all eagerness to get back to the +Boccanera mansion so as to pack up his things and depart. His farewell +visits were made, and he now only had to take leave of Donna Serafina and +the Cardinal, and to thank them for all their kind hospitality. For him +alone did their doors open, for they had shut themselves up on returning +from the funeral, resolved to see nobody. At twilight, therefore, Pierre +had no one but Victorine to keep him company in the vast, black mansion, +for when he expressed a desire to take supper with Don Vigilio she told +him that the latter had also shut himself in his room. Desirous as he was +of at least shaking hands with the secretary for the last time, Pierre +went to knock at the door, which was so near his own, but could obtain no +reply, and divined that the poor fellow, overcome by a fresh attack of +fever and suspicion, desired not to see him again, in terror at the idea +that he might compromise himself yet more than he had done already. +Thereupon, it was settled that as the train only started at seventeen +minutes past ten Victorine should serve Pierre his supper on the little +table in his sitting-room at eight o'clock. She brought him a lamp and +spoke of putting his linen in order, but he absolutely declined her help, +and she had to leave him to pack up quietly by himself. + +He had purchased a little box, since his valise could not possibly hold +all the linen and winter clothing which had been sent to him from Paris +as his stay in Rome became more and more protracted. However, the packing +was soon accomplished; the wardrobe was emptied, the drawers were +visited, the box and valise filled and securely locked by seven o'clock. +An hour remained to him before supper and he sat there resting, when his +eyes whilst travelling round the walls to make sure that he had forgotten +nothing, encountered that old painting by some unknown master, which had +so often filled him with emotion. The lamplight now shone full upon it; +and this time again as he gazed at it he felt a blow in the heart, a blow +which was all the deeper, as now, at his parting hour, he found a symbol +of his defeat at Rome in that dolent, tragic, half-naked woman, draped in +a shred of linen, and weeping between her clasped hands whilst seated on +the threshold of the palace whence she had been driven. Did not that +rejected one, that stubborn victim of love, who sobbed so bitterly, and +of whom one knew nothing, neither what her face was like, nor whence she +had come, nor what her fault had been--did she not personify all man's +useless efforts to force the doors of truth, and all the frightful +abandonment into which he falls as soon as he collides with the wall +which shuts the unknown off from him? For a long while did Pierre look at +her, again worried at being obliged to depart without having seen her +face behind her streaming golden hair, that face of dolorous beauty which +he pictured radiant with youth and delicious in its mystery. And as he +gazed he was just fancying that he could see it, that it was becoming his +at last, when there was a knock at the door and Narcisse Habert entered. + +Pierre was surprised to see the young _attache_, for three days +previously he had started for Florence, impelled thither by one of the +sudden whims of his artistic fancy. However, he at once apologised for +his unceremonious intrusion. "Ah! there is your luggage!" he said; "I +heard that you were going away this evening, and I was unwilling to let +you leave Rome without coming to shake hands with you. But what frightful +things have happened since we met! I only returned this afternoon, so +that I could not attend the funeral. However, you may well imagine how +thunderstruck I was by the news of those frightful deaths." + +Then, suspecting some unacknowledged tragedy, like a man well acquainted +with the legendary dark side of Rome, he put some questions to Pierre but +did not insist on them, being at bottom far too prudent to burden himself +uselessly with redoubtable secrets. And after Pierre had given him such +particulars as he thought fit, the conversation changed and they spoke at +length of Italy, Rome, Naples, and Florence. "Ah! Florence, Florence!" +Narcisse repeated languorously. He had lighted a cigarette and his words +fell more slowly, as he glanced round the room. "You were very well +lodged here," he said, "it is very quiet. I had never come up to this +floor before." + +His eyes continued wandering over the walls until they were at last +arrested by the old painting which the lamp illumined, and thereupon he +remained for a moment blinking as if surprised. And all at once he rose +and approached the picture. "Dear me, dear me," said he, "but that's very +good, that's very fine." + +"Isn't it?" rejoined Pierre. "I know nothing about painting but I was +stirred by that picture on the very day of my arrival, and over and over +again it has kept me here with my heart beating and full of indescribable +feelings." + +Narcisse no longer spoke but examined the painting with the care of a +connoisseur, an expert, whose keen glance decides the question of +authenticity, and appraises commercial value. And the most extraordinary +delight appeared upon the young man's fair, rapturous face, whilst his +fingers began to quiver. "But it's a Botticelli, it's a Botticelli! There +can be no doubt about it," he exclaimed. "Just look at the hands, and +look at the folds of the drapery! And the colour of the hair, and the +technique, the flow of the whole composition. A Botticelli, ah! _mon +Dieu_, a Botticelli." + +He became quite faint, overflowing with increasing admiration as he +penetrated more and more deeply into the subject, at once so simple and +so poignant. Was it not acutely modern? The artist had foreseen our +pain-fraught century, our anxiety in presence of the invisible, our +distress at being unable to cross the portal of mystery which was for +ever closed. And what an eternal symbol of the world's wretchedness was +that woman, whose face one could not see, and who sobbed so distractedly +without it being possible for one to wipe away her tears. Yes, a +Botticelli, unknown, uncatalogued, what a discovery! Then he paused to +inquire of Pierre: "Did you know it was a Botticelli?" + +"Oh no! I spoke to Don Vigilio about it one day, but he seemed to think +it of no account. And Victorine, when I spoke to her, replied that all +those old things only served to harbour dust." + +Narcisse protested, quite stupefied: "What! they have a Botticelli here +and don't know it! Ah! how well I recognise in that the Roman princes +who, unless their masterpieces have been labelled, are for the most part +utterly at sea among them! No doubt this one has suffered a little, but a +simple cleaning would make a marvel, a famous picture of it, for which a +museum would at least give--" + +He abruptly stopped, completing his sentence with a wave of the hand and +not mentioning the figure which was on his lips. And then, as Victorine +came in followed by Giacomo to lay the little table for Pierre's supper, +he turned his back upon the Botticelli and said no more about it. The +young priest's attention was aroused, however, and he could well divine +what was passing in the other's mind. Under that make-believe Florentine, +all angelicalness, there was an experienced business man, who well knew +how to look after his pecuniary interests and was even reported to be +somewhat avaricious. Pierre, who was aware of it, could not help smiling +therefore when he saw him take his stand before another picture--a +frightful Virgin, badly copied from some eighteenth-century canvas--and +exclaim: "Dear me! that's not at all bad! I've a friend, I remember, who +asked me to buy him some old paintings. I say, Victorine, now that Donna +Serafina and the Cardinal are left alone do you think they would like to +rid themselves of a few valueless pictures?" + +The servant raised her arms as if to say that if it depended on her, +everything might be carried away. Then she replied: "Not to a dealer, +sir, on account of the nasty rumours which would at once spread about, +but I'm sure they would be happy to please a friend. The house costs a +lot to keep up, and money would be welcome." + +Pierre then vainly endeavoured to persuade Narcisse to stay and sup with +him, but the young man gave his word of honour that he was expected +elsewhere and was even late. And thereupon he ran off, after pressing the +priest's hands and affectionately wishing him a good journey. + +Eight o'clock was striking, and Pierre seated himself at the little +table, Victorine remaining to serve him after dismissing Giacomo, who had +brought the supper things upstairs in a basket. "The people here make me +wild," said the worthy woman after the other had gone, "they are so slow. +And besides, it's a pleasure for me to serve you your last meal, Monsieur +l'Abbe. I've had a little French dinner cooked for you, a _sole au +gratin_ and a roast fowl." + +Pierre was touched by this attention, and pleased to have the company of +a compatriot whilst he partook of his final meal amidst the deep silence +of the old, black, deserted mansion. The buxom figure of Victorine was +still instinct with mourning, with grief for the loss of her dear +Contessina, but her daily toil was already setting her erect again, +restoring her quick activity; and she spoke almost cheerfully whilst +passing plates and dishes to Pierre. "And to think Monsieur l'Abbe," said +she, "that you'll be in Paris on the morning of the day after to-morrow! +As for me, you know, it seems as if I only left Auneau yesterday. Ah! +what fine soil there is there; rich soil yellow like gold, not like their +poor stuff here which smells of sulphur! And the pretty fresh willows +beside our stream, too, and the little wood so full of moss! They've no +moss here, their trees look like tin under that stupid sun of theirs +which burns up the grass. _Mon Dieu_! in the early times I would have +given I don't know what for a good fall of rain to soak me and wash away +all the dust. Ah! I shall never get used to their awful Rome. What a +country and what people!" + +Pierre was quite enlivened by her stubborn fidelity to her own nook, +which after five and twenty years of absence still left her horrified +with that city of crude light and black vegetation, true daughter as she +was of a smiling and temperate clime which of a morning was steeped in +rosy mist. "But now that your young mistress is dead," said he, "what +keeps you here? Why don't you take the train with me?" + +She looked at him in surprise: "Go off with you, go back to Auneau! Oh! +it's impossible, Monsieur l'Abbe. It would be too ungrateful to begin +with, for Donna Serafina is accustomed to me, and it would be bad on my +part to forsake her and his Eminence now that they are in trouble. And +besides, what could I do elsewhere? No, my little hole is here now." + +"So you will never see Auneau again?" + +"No, never, that's certain." + +"And you don't mind being buried here, in their ground which smells of +sulphur?" + +She burst into a frank laugh. "Oh!" she said, "I don't mind where I am +when I'm dead. One sleeps well everywhere. And it's funny that you should +be so anxious as to what there may be when one's dead. There's nothing, +I'm sure. That's what tranquillises me, to feel that it will be all over +and that I shall have a rest. The good God owes us that after we've +worked so hard. You know that I'm not devout, oh! dear no. Still that +doesn't prevent me from behaving properly, and, true as I stand here, +I've never had a lover. It seems foolish to say such a thing at my age, +still I say it because it's the sober truth." + +She continued laughing like the worthy woman she was, having no belief in +priests and yet without a sin upon her conscience. And Pierre once more +marvelled at the simple courage and great practical common sense of this +laborious and devoted creature, who for him personified the whole +unbelieving lowly class of France, those who no longer believe and will +believe never more. Ah! to be as she was, to do one's work and lie down +for the eternal sleep without any revolt of pride, satisfied with the one +joy of having accomplished one's share of toil! + +When Pierre had finished his supper Victorine summoned Giacomo to clear +the things away. And as it was only half-past eight she advised the +priest to spend another quiet hour in his room. Why go and catch a chill +by waiting at the station? She could send for a cab at half-past nine, +and as soon as it arrived she would send word to him and have his luggage +carried down. He might be easy as to that, and need trouble himself about +nothing. + +When she had gone off Pierre soon sank into a deep reverie. It seemed to +him, indeed, as if he had already quitted Rome, as if the city were far +away and he could look back on it, and his experiences within it. His +book, "New Rome," arose in his mind; and he remembered his first morning +on the Janiculum, his view of Rome from the terrace of San Pietro in +Montorio, a Rome such as he had dreamt of, so young and ethereal under +the pure sky. It was then that he had asked himself the decisive +question: Could Catholicism be renewed? Could it revert to the spirit of +primitive Christianity, become the religion of the democracy, the faith +which the distracted modern world, in danger of death, awaits in order +that it may be pacified and live? His heart had then beaten with hope and +enthusiasm. After his disaster at Lourdes from which he had scarcely +recovered, he had come to attempt another and supreme experiment by +asking Rome what her reply to his question would be. And now the +experiment had failed, he knew what answer Rome had returned him through +her ruins, her monuments, her very soil, her people, her prelates, her +cardinals, her pope! No, Catholicism could not be renewed: no, it could +not revert to the spirit of primitive Christianity; no, it could not +become the religion of the democracy, the new faith which might save the +old toppling societies in danger of death. Though it seemed to be of +democratic origin, it was henceforth riveted to that Roman soil, it +remained kingly in spite of everything, forced to cling to the principle +of temporal power under penalty of suicide, bound by tradition, enchained +by dogma, its evolutions mere simulations whilst in reality it was +reduced to such immobility that, behind the bronze doors of the Vatican, +the papacy was the prisoner, the ghost of eighteen centuries of atavism, +indulging the ceaseless dream of universal dominion. There, where with +priestly faith exalted by love of the suffering and the poor, he had come +to seek life and a resurrection of the Christian communion, he had found +death, the dust of a destroyed world in which nothing more could +germinate, an exhausted soil whence now there could never grow aught but +that despotic papacy, the master of bodies as it was of souls. To his +distracted cry asking for a new religion, Rome had been content to reply +by condemning his book as a work tainted with heresy, and he himself had +withdrawn it amidst the bitter grief of his disillusions. He had seen, he +had understood, and all had collapsed. And it was himself, his soul and +his brain, which lay among the ruins. + +Pierre was stifling. He rose, threw the window overlooking the Tiber wide +open, and leant out. The rain had begun to fall again at the approach of +evening, but now it had once more ceased. The atmosphere was very mild, +moist, even oppressive. The moon must have arisen in the ashen grey sky, +for her presence could be divined behind the clouds which she illumined +with a vague, yellow, mournful light. And under that slumberous glimmer +the vast horizon showed blackly and phantom-like: the Janiculum in front +with the close-packed houses of the Trastevere; the river flowing away +yonder on the left towards the dim height of the Palatine; whilst on the +right the dome of St. Peter's showed forth, round and domineering in the +pale atmosphere. Pierre could not see the Quirinal but divined it to be +behind him, and could picture its long facade shutting off part of the +sky. And what a collapsing Rome, half-devoured by the gloom, was this, so +different from the Rome all youth and dreamland which he had beheld and +passionately loved on the day of his arrival! He remembered the three +symbolic summits which had then summed up for him the whole long history +of Rome, the ancient, the papal, and the Italian city. But if the +Palatine had remained the same discrowned mount on which there only rose +the phantom of the ancestor, Augustus, emperor and pontiff, master of the +world, he now pictured St. Peter's and the Quirinal as strangely altered. +To that royal palace which he had so neglected, and which had seemed to +him like a flat, low barrack, to that new Government which had brought +him the impression of some attempt at sacrilegious modernity, he now +accorded the large, increasing space that they occupied in the panorama, +the whole of which they would apparently soon fill; whilst, on the +contrary, St. Peter's, that dome which he had found so triumphal, all +azure, reigning over the city like a gigantic and unshakable monarch, at +present seemed to him full of cracks and already shrinking, as if it were +one of those huge old piles, which, through the secret, unsuspected decay +of their timbers, at times fall to the ground in one mass. + +A murmur, a growling plaint rose from the swollen Tiber, and Pierre +shivered at the icy abysmal breath which swept past his face. And his +thoughts of the three summits and their symbolic triangle aroused within +him the memory of the sufferings of the great silent multitude of poor +and lowly for whom pope and king had so long disputed. It all dated from +long ago, from the day when, in dividing the inheritance of Augustus, the +emperor had been obliged to content himself with men's bodies, leaving +their souls to the pope, whose one idea had henceforth been to gain the +temporal power of which God, in his person, was despoiled. All the middle +ages had been disturbed and ensanguined by the quarrel, till at last the +silent multitude weary of vexations and misery spoke out; threw off the +papal yoke at the Reformation, and later on began to overthrow its kings. +And then, as Pierre had written in his book, a new fortune had been +offered to the pope, that of reverting to the ancient dream, by +dissociating himself from the fallen thrones and placing himself on the +side of the wretched in the hope that this time he would conquer the +people, win it entirely for himself. Was it not prodigious to see that +man, Leo XIII, despoiled of his kingdom and allowing himself to be called +a socialist, assembling under his banner the great flock of the +disinherited, and marching against the kings at the head of that fourth +estate to whom the coming century will belong? The eternal struggle for +possession of the people continued as bitterly as ever even in Rome +itself, where pope and king, who could see each other from their windows, +contended together like falcon and hawk for the little birds of the +woods. And in this for Pierre lay the reason why Catholicism was fatally +condemned; for it was of monarchical essence to such a point that the +Apostolic and Roman papacy could not renounce the temporal power under +penalty of becoming something else and disappearing. In vain did it feign +a return to the people, in vain did it seek to appear all soul; there was +no room in the midst of the world's democracies for any such total and +universal sovereignty as that which it claimed to hold from God. Pierre +ever beheld the Imperator sprouting up afresh in the Pontifex Maximus, +and it was this in particular which had killed his dream, destroyed his +book, heaped up all those ruins before which he remained distracted +without either strength or courage. + +The sight of that ashen Rome, whose edifices faded away into the night, +at last brought him such a heart-pang that he came back into the room and +fell on a chair near his luggage. Never before had he experienced such +distress of spirit, it seemed like the death of his soul. After his +disaster at Lourdes he had not come to Rome in search of the candid and +complete faith of a little child, but the superior faith of an +intellectual being, rising above rites and symbols, and seeking to ensure +the greatest possible happiness of mankind based on its need of +certainty. And if this collapsed, if Catholicism could not be rejuvenated +and become the religion and moral law of the new generations, if the Pope +at Rome and with Rome could not be the Father, the arch of alliance, the +spiritual leader whom all hearkened to and obeyed, why then, in Pierre's +eyes, the last hope was wrecked, the supreme rending which must plunge +present-day society into the abyss was near at hand. That scaffolding of +Catholic socialism which had seemed to him so happily devised for the +consolidation of the old Church, now appeared to him lying on the ground; +and he judged it severely as a mere passing expedient which might perhaps +for some years prop up the ruined edifice, but which was simply based on +an intentional misunderstanding, on a skilful lie, on politics and +diplomacy. No, no, that the people should once again, as so many times +before, be duped and gained over, caressed in order that it might be +enthralled--this was repugnant to one's reason, and the whole system +appeared degenerate, dangerous, temporary, calculated to end in the worst +catastrophes. So this then was the finish, nothing remained erect and +stable, the old world was about to disappear amidst the frightful +sanguinary crisis whose approach was announced by such indisputable +signs. And he, before that chaos near at hand, had no soul left him, +having once more lost his faith in that decisive experiment which, he had +felt beforehand, would either strengthen him or strike him down for ever. +The thunderbolt had fallen, and now, O God, what should he do? + +To shake off his anguish he began to walk across the room. Aye, what +should he do now that he was all doubt again, all dolorous negation, and +that his cassock weighed more heavily than it had ever weighed upon his +shoulders? He remembered having told Monsignor Nani that he would never +submit, would never be able to resign himself and kill his hope in +salvation by love, but would rather reply by a fresh book, in which he +would say in what new soil the new religion would spring up. Yes, a +flaming book against Rome, in which he would set down all he had seen, a +book which would depict the real Rome, the Rome which knows neither +charity nor love, and is dying in the pride of its purple! He had spoken +of returning to Paris, leaving the Church and going to the point of +schism. Well, his luggage now lay there packed, he was going off and he +would write that book, he would be the great schismatic who was awaited! +Did not everything foretell approaching schism amidst that great movement +of men's minds, weary of old mummified dogmas and yet hungering for the +divine? Even Leo XIII must be conscious of it, for his whole policy, his +whole effort towards Christian unity, his assumed affection for the +democracy had no other object than that of grouping the whole family +around the papacy, and consolidating it so as to render the Pope +invincible in the approaching struggle. But the times had come, +Catholicism would soon find that it could grant no more political +concessions without perishing, that at Rome it was reduced to the +immobility of an ancient hieratic idol, and that only in the lands of +propaganda, where it was fighting against other religions, could further +evolution take place. It was, indeed, for this reason that Rome was +condemned, the more so as the abolition of the temporal power, by +accustoming men's minds to the idea of a purely spiritual papacy, seemed +likely to conduce to the rise of some anti-pope, far away, whilst the +successor of St. Peter was compelled to cling stubbornly to his Apostolic +and Roman fiction. A bishop, a priest would arise--where, who could tell? +Perhaps yonder in that free America, where there are priests whom the +struggle for life has turned into convinced socialists, into ardent +democrats, who are ready to go forward with the coming century. And +whilst Rome remains unable to relinquish aught of her past, aught of her +mysteries and dogmas, that priest will relinquish all of those things +which fall from one in dust. Ah! to be that priest, to be that great +reformer, that saviour of modern society, what a vast dream, what a part, +akin to that of a Messiah summoned by the nations in distress. For a +moment Pierre was transported as by a breeze of hope and triumph. If that +great change did not come in France, in Paris, it would come elsewhere, +yonder across the ocean, or farther yet, wherever there might be a +sufficiently fruitful soil for the new seed to spring from it in +overflowing harvests. A new religion! a new religion! even as he had +cried on returning from Lourdes, a religion which in particular should +not be an appetite for death, a religion which should at last realise +here below that Kingdom of God referred to in the Gospel, and which +should equitably divide terrestrial wealth, and with the law of labour +ensure the rule of truth and justice. + +In the fever of this fresh dream Pierre already saw the pages of his new +book flaring before him when his eyes fell on an object lying upon a +chair, which at first surprised him. This also was a book, that work of +Theophile Morin's which Orlando had commissioned him to hand to its +author, and he felt annoyed with himself at having left it there, for he +might have forgotten it altogether. Before putting it into his valise he +retained it for a moment in his hand turning its pages over, his ideas +changing as by a sudden mental revolution. The work was, however, a very +modest one, one of those manuals for the bachelor's degree containing +little beyond the first elements of the sciences; still all the sciences +were represented in it, and it gave a fair summary of the present state +of human knowledge. And it was indeed Science which thus burst upon +Pierre's reverie with the energy of sovereign power. Not only was +Catholicism swept away from his mind, but all his religious conceptions, +every hypothesis of the divine tottered and fell. Only that little school +book, nothing but the universal desire for knowledge, that education +which ever extends and penetrates the whole people, and behold the +mysteries became absurdities, the dogmas crumbled, and nothing of ancient +faith was left. A nation nourished upon Science, no longer believing in +mysteries and dogmas, in a compensatory system of reward and punishment, +is a nation whose faith is for ever dead: and without faith Catholicism +cannot be. Therein is the blade of the knife, the knife which falls and +severs. If one century, if two centuries be needed, Science will take +them. She alone is eternal. It is pure _naivete_ to say that reason is +not contrary to faith. The truth is, that now already in order to save +mere fragments of the sacred writings, it has been necessary to +accommodate them to the new certainties, by taking refuge in the +assertion that they are simply symbolical! And what an extraordinary +attitude is that of the Catholic Church, expressly forbidding all those +who may discover a truth contrary to the sacred writings to pronounce +upon it in definitive fashion, and ordering them to await events in the +conviction that this truth will some day be proved an error! Only the +Pope, says the Church, is infallible; Science is fallible, her constant +groping is exploited against her, and divines remain on the watch +striving to make it appear that her discoveries of to-day are in +contradiction with her discoveries of yesterday. What do her sacrilegious +assertions, what do her certainties rending dogma asunder, matter to a +Catholic since it is certain that at the end of time, she, Science, will +again join Faith, and become the latter's very humble slave! Voluntary +blindness and impudent denial of things as evident as the sunlight, can +no further go. But all the same the insignificant little book, the manual +of truth travels on continuing its work, destroying error and building up +the new world, even as the infinitesimal agents of life built up our +present continents. + +In the sudden great enlightenment which had come on him Pierre at last +felt himself upon firm ground. Has Science ever retreated? It is +Catholicism which has always retreated before her, and will always be +forced to retreat. Never does Science stop, step by step she wrests truth +from error, and to say that she is bankrupt because she cannot explain +the world in one word and at one effort, is pure and simple nonsense. If +she leaves, and no doubt will always leave a smaller and smaller domain +to mystery, and if supposition may always strive to explain that mystery, +it is none the less certain that she ruins, and with each successive hour +will add to the ruin of the ancient hypotheses, those which crumble away +before the acquired truths. And Catholicism is in the position of those +ancient hypotheses, and will be in it yet more thoroughly to-morrow. Like +all religions it is, at the bottom, but an explanation of the world, a +superior social and political code, intended to bring about the greatest +possible sum of peace and happiness on earth. This code which embraces +the universality of things thenceforth becomes human, and mortal like +everything that is human. One cannot put it on one side and say that it +exists on one side by itself, whilst Science does the same on the other. +Science is total and has already shown Catholicism that such is the case, +and will show it again and again by compelling it to repair the breaches +incessantly effected in its ramparts till the day of victory shall come +with the final assault of resplendent truth. Frankly, it makes one laugh +to hear people assign a _role_ to Science, forbid her to enter such and +such a domain, predict to her that she shall go no further, and declare +that at this end of the century she is already so weary that she +abdicates! Oh! you little men of shallow or distorted brains, you +politicians planning expedients, you dogmatics at bay, you authoritarians +so obstinately clinging to the ancient dreams, Science will pass on, and +sweep you all away like withered leaves! + +Pierre continued glancing through the humble little book, listening to +all it told him of sovereign Science. She cannot become bankrupt, for she +does not promise the absolute, she is simply the progressive conquest of +truth. Never has she pretended that she could give the whole truth at one +effort, that sort of edifice being precisely the work of metaphysics, of +revelation, of faith. The _role_ of Science, on the contrary, is only to +destroy error as she gradually advances and increases enlightenment. And +thus, far from becoming bankrupt, in her march which nothing stops, she +remains the only possible truth for well-balanced and healthy minds. As +for those whom she does not satisfy, who crave for immediate and +universal knowledge, they have the resource of seeking refuge in no +matter what religious hypothesis, provided, if they wish to appear in the +right, that they build their fancy upon acquired certainties. Everything +which is raised on proven error falls. However, although religious +feeling persists among mankind, although the need of religion may be +eternal, it by no means follows that Catholicism is eternal, for it is, +after all, but one form of religion, which other forms preceded and which +others will follow. Religions may disappear, but religious feeling will +create new ones even with the help of Science. Pierre thought of that +alleged repulse of Science by the present-day awakening of mysticism, the +causes of which he had indicated in his book: the discredit into which +the idea of liberty has fallen among the people, duped in the last social +reorganisation, and the uneasiness of the _elite_, in despair at the void +in which their liberated minds and enlarged intelligences have left them. +It is the anguish of the Unknown springing up again; but it is also only +a natural and momentary reaction after so much labour, on finding that +Science does not yet calm our thirst for justice, our desire for +security, or our ancient idea of an eternal after-life of enjoyment. In +order, however, that Catholicism might be born anew, as some seem to +think it will be, the social soil would have to change, and it cannot +change; it no longer possesses the sap needful for the renewal of a +decaying formula which schools and laboratories destroy more and more +each day. The ground is other than it once was, a different oak must +spring from it. May Science therefore have her religion, for such a +religion will soon be the only one possible for the coming democracies, +for the nations, whose knowledge ever increases whilst their Catholic +faith is already nought but dust. + +And all at once, by way of conclusion, Pierre bethought himself of the +idiocy of the Congregation of the Index. It had condemned his book, and +would surely condemn the other one that he had thought of, should he ever +write it. A fine piece of work truly! To fall tooth and nail on the poor +books of an enthusiastic dreamer, in which chimera contended with +chimera! Yet the Congregation was so foolish as not to interdict that +little book which he held in his hands, that humble book which alone was +to be feared, which was the ever triumphant enemy that would surely +overthrow the Church. Modest it was in its cheap "get up" as a school +manual, but that did not matter: danger began with the very alphabet, +increased as knowledge was acquired, and burst forth with those _resumes_ +of the physical, chemical, and natural sciences which bring the very +Creation, as described by Holy Writ, into question. However, the Index +dared not attempt to suppress those humble volumes, those terrible +soldiers of truth, those destroyers of faith. What was the use, then, of +all the money which Leo XIII drew from his hidden treasure of the Peter's +Pence to subvention Catholic schools, with the thought of forming the +believing generations which the papacy needed to enable it to conquer? +What was the use of that precious money if it was only to serve for the +purchase of similar insignificant yet formidable volumes, which could +never be sufficiently "cooked" and expurgated, but would always contain +too much Science, that growing Science which one day would blow up both +Vatican and St. Peter's? Ah! that idiotic and impotent Index, what +wretchedness and what derision! + +Then, when Pierre had placed Theophile Morin's book in his valise, he +once more returned to the window, and while leaning out, beheld an +extraordinary vision. Under the cloudy, coppery sky, in the mild and +mournful night, patches of wavy mist had risen, hiding many of the +house-roofs with trailing shreds which looked like shrouds. Entire +edifices had disappeared, and he imagined that the times were at last +accomplished, and that truth had at last destroyed St. Peter's dome. In a +hundred or a thousand years, it would be like that, fallen, obliterated +from the black sky. One day, already, he had felt it tottering and +cracking beneath him, and had foreseen that this temple of Catholicism +would fall even as Jove's temple had fallen on the Capitol. And it was +over now, the dome had strewn the ground with fragments, and all that +remained standing, in addition to a portion of the apse, where five +columns of the central nave, still upholding a shred of entablature, and +four cyclopean buttress-piers on which the dome had rested--piers which +still arose, isolated and superb, looking indestructible among all the +surrounding downfall. But a denser mist flowed past, another thousand +years no doubt went by, and then nothing whatever remained. The apse, the +last pillars, the giant piers themselves were felled! The wind had swept +away their dust, and it would have been necessary to search the soil +beneath the brambles and the nettles to find a few fragments of broken +statues, marbles with mutilated inscriptions, on the sense of which +learned men were unable to agree. And, as formerly, on the Capitol, among +the buried remnants of Jupiter's temple, goats strayed and climbed +through the solitude, browsing upon the bushes, amidst the deep silence +of the oppressive summer sunlight, which only the buzzing flies +disturbed. + +Then, only then, did Pierre feel the supreme collapse within him. It was +really all over, Science was victorious, nothing of the old world +remained. What use would it be then to become the great schismatic, the +reformer who was awaited? Would it not simply mean the building up of a +new dream? Only the eternal struggle of Science against the Unknown, the +searching, pursuing inquiry which incessantly moderated man's thirst for +the divine, now seemed to him of import, leaving him waiting to know if +she would ever triumph so completely as to suffice mankind, by satisfying +all its wants. And in the disaster which had overcome his apostolic +enthusiasm, in presence of all those ruins, having lost his faith, and +even his hope of utilising old Catholicism for social and moral +salvation, there only remained reason that held him up. She had at one +moment given way. If he had dreamt that book, and had just passed through +that terrible crisis, it was because sentiment had once again overcome +reason within him. It was his mother, so to say, who had wept in his +heart, who had filled him with an irresistible desire to relieve the +wretched and prevent the massacres which seemed near at hand; and his +passion for charity had thus swept aside the scruples of his +intelligence. But it was his father's voice that he now heard, lofty and +bitter reason which, though it had fled, at present came back in all +sovereignty. As he had done already after Lourdes, he protested against +the glorification of the absurd and the downfall of common sense. Reason +alone enabled him to walk erect and firm among the remnants of the old +beliefs, even amidst the obscurities and failures of Science. Ah! Reason, +it was through her alone that he suffered, through her alone that he +could content himself, and he swore that he would now always seek to +satisfy her, even if in doing so he should lose his happiness. + +At that moment it would have been vain for him to ask what he ought to +do. Everything remained in suspense, the world stretched before him still +littered with the ruins of the past, of which, to-morrow, it would +perhaps be rid. Yonder, in that dolorous faubourg of Paris, he would find +good Abbe Rose, who but a few days previously had written begging him to +return and tend, love, and save his poor, since Rome, so dazzling from +afar, was dead to charity. And around the good and peaceful old priest he +would find the ever growing flock of wretched ones; the little fledglings +who had fallen from their nests, and whom he found pale with hunger and +shivering with cold; the households of abominable misery in which the +father drank and the mother became a prostitute, while the sons and the +daughters sank into vice and crime; the dwellings, too, through which +famine swept, where all was filth and shameful promiscuity, where there +was neither furniture nor linen, nothing but purely animal life. And then +there would also come the cold blasts of winter, the disasters of slack +times, the hurricanes of consumption carrying off the weak, whilst the +strong clenched their fists and dreamt of vengeance. One evening, too, +perhaps, he might again enter some room of horror and find that another +mother had killed herself and her five little ones, her last-born in her +arms clinging to her drained breast, and the others scattered over the +bare tiles, at last contented, feeling hunger no more, now that they were +dead! But no, no, such awful things were no longer possible: such black +misery conducting to suicide in the heart of that great city of Paris, +which is brimful of wealth, intoxicated with enjoyment, and flings +millions out of window for mere pleasure! The very foundations of the +social edifice were rotten; all would soon collapse amidst mire and +blood. Never before had Pierre so acutely realised the derisive futility +of Charity. And all at once he became conscious that the long-awaited +word, the word which was at last springing from the great silent +multitude, the crushed and gagged people was _Justice_! Aye, Justice not +Charity! Charity had only served to perpetuate misery, Justice perhaps +would cure it. It was for Justice that the wretched hungered; an act of +Justice alone could sweep away the olden world so that the new one might +be reared. After all, the great silent multitude would belong neither to +Vatican nor to Quirinal, neither to pope nor to king. If it had covertly +growled through the ages in its long, sometimes mysterious, and sometimes +open contest; if it had struggled betwixt pontiff and emperor who each +had wished to retain it for himself alone, it had only done so in order +that it might free itself, proclaim its resolve to belong to none on the +day when it should cry Justice! Would to-morrow then at last prove that +day of Justice and Truth? For his part, Pierre amidst his anguish--having +on one hand that need of the divine which tortures man, and on the other +sovereignty of reason which enables man to remain erect--was only sure of +one thing, that he would keep his vows, continue a priest, watching over +the belief of others though he could not himself believe, and would thus +chastely and honestly follow his profession, amidst haughty sadness at +having been unable to renounce his intelligence in the same way as he had +renounced his flesh and his dream of saving the nations. And again, as +after Lourdes, he would wait. + +So deeply was he plunged in reflection at that window, face to face with +the mist which seemed to be destroying the dark edifices of Rome, that he +did not hear himself called. At last, however, he felt a tap on the +shoulder: "Monsieur l'Abbe!" And then as he turned he saw Victorine, who +said to him: "It is half-past nine; the cab is there. Giacomo has already +taken your luggage down. You must come away, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +Then seeing him blink, still dazed as it were, she smiled and added: "You +were bidding Rome goodbye. What a frightful sky there is." + +"Yes, frightful," was his reply. + +Then they descended the stairs. He had handed her a hundred-franc note to +be shared between herself and the other servants. And she apologised for +going down before him with the lamp, explaining that the old palace was +so dark that evening one could scarcely see. + +Ah! that departure, that last descent through the black and empty +mansion, it quite upset Pierre's heart. He gave his room that glance of +farewell which always saddened him, even when he was leaving a spot where +he had suffered. Then, on passing Don Vigilio's chamber, whence there +only came a quivering silence, he pictured the secretary with his head +buried in his pillows, holding his breath for fear lest he should speak +and attract vengeance. But it was in particular on the second and first +floor landings, on passing the closed doors of Donna Serafina and the +Cardinal, that Pierre quivered with apprehension at hearing nothing but +the silence of the grave. And as he followed Victorine, who, lamp in +hand, was still descending, he thought of the brother and sister who were +left alone in the ruined palace, last relics of a world which had half +passed away. All hope of life had departed with Benedetta and Dario, no +resurrection could come from that old maid and that priest who was bound +to chastity. Ah! those interminable and lugubrious passages, that frigid +and gigantic staircase which seemed to descend into nihility, those huge +halls with cracking walls where all was wretchedness and abandonment! And +that inner court, looking like a cemetery with its weeds and its damp +porticus, where remnants of Apollos and Venuses were rotting! And the +little deserted garden, fragrant with ripe oranges, whither nobody now +would ever stray, where none would ever meet that adorable Contessina +under the laurels near the sarcophagus! All was now annihilated in +abominable mourning, in a death-like silence, amidst which the two last +Boccaneras must wait, in savage grandeur, till their palace should fall +about their heads. Pierre could only just detect a faint sound, the +gnawing of a mouse perhaps, unless it were caused by Abbe Paparelli +attacking the walls of some out-of-the-way rooms, preying on the old +edifice down below, so as to hasten its fall. + +The cab stood at the door, already laden with the luggage, the box beside +the driver, the valise on the seat; and the priest at once got in. + +"Oh! You have plenty of time," said Victorine, who had remained on the +foot-pavement. "Nothing has been forgotten. I'm glad to see you go off +comfortably." + +And indeed at that last moment Pierre was comforted by the presence of +that worthy woman, his compatriot, who had greeted him on his arrival and +now attended his departure. "I won't say 'till we meet again,' Monsieur +l'Abbe," she exclaimed, "for I don't fancy that you'll soon be back in +this horrid city. Good-bye, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +"Good-bye, Victorine, and thank you with all my heart." + +The cab was already going off at a fast trot, turning into the narrow +sinuous street which leads to the Corso Vittoria Emanuele. It was not +raining and so the hood had not been raised, but although the damp +atmosphere was comparatively mild, Pierre at once felt a chill. However, +he was unwilling to stop the driver, a silent fellow whose only desire +seemingly was to get rid of his fare as soon as possible. When the cab +came out into the Corso Vittoria Emanuele, the young man was astonished +to find it already quite deserted, the houses shut, the footways bare, +and the electric lamps burning all alone in melancholy solitude. In +truth, however, the temperature was far from warm and the fog seemed to +be increasing, hiding the house-fronts more and more. When Pierre passed +the Cancelleria, that stern colossal pile seemed to him to be receding, +fading away; and farther on, upon the right, at the end of the Via di Ara +Coeli, starred by a few smoky gas lamps, the Capitol had quite vanished +in the gloom. Then the thoroughfare narrowed, and the cab went on between +the dark heavy masses of the Gesu and the Altieri palace; and there in +that contracted passage, where even on fine sunny days one found all the +dampness of old times, the quivering priest yielded to a fresh train of +thought. It was an idea which had sometimes made him feel anxious, the +idea that mankind, starting from over yonder in Asia, had always marched +onward with the sun. An east wind had always carried the human seed for +future harvest towards the west. And for a long while now the cradle of +humanity had been stricken with destruction and death, as if indeed the +nations could only advance by stages, leaving exhausted soil, ruined +cities, and degenerate populations behind, as they marched from orient to +occident, towards their unknown goal. Nineveh and Babylon on the banks of +the Euphrates, Thebes and Memphis on the banks of the Nile, had been +reduced to dust, sinking from old age and weariness into a deadly +numbness beyond possibility of awakening. Then decrepitude had spread to +the shores of the great Mediterranean lake, burying both Tyre and Sidon +with dust, and afterwards striking Carthage with senility whilst it yet +seemed in full splendour. In this wise as mankind marched on, carried by +the hidden forces of civilisation from east to west, it marked each day's +journey with ruins; and how frightful was the sterility nowadays +displayed by the cradle of History, that Asia and that Egypt, which had +once more lapsed into childhood, immobilised in ignorance and degeneracy +amidst the ruins of ancient cities that once had been queens of the +world! + +It was thus Pierre reflected as the cab rolled on. Still he was not +unconscious of his surroundings. As he passed the Palazzo di Venezia it +seemed to him to be crumbling beneath some assault of the invisible, for +the mist had already swept away its battlements, and the lofty, bare, +fearsome walls looked as if they were staggering from the onslaught of +the growing darkness. And after passing the deep gap of the Corso, which +was also deserted amidst the pallid radiance of its electric lights, the +Palazzo Torlonia appeared on the right-hand, with one wing ripped open by +the picks of demolishers, whilst on the left, farther up, the Palazzo +Colonna showed its long, mournful facade and closed windows, as if, now +that it was deserted by its masters and void of its ancient pomp, it +awaited the demolishers in its turn. + +Then, as the cab at a slower pace began to climb the ascent of the Via +Nazionale, Pierre's reverie continued. Was not Rome also stricken, had +not the hour come for her to disappear amidst that destruction which the +nations on the march invariably left behind them? Greece, Athens, and +Sparta slumbered beneath their glorious memories, and were of no account +in the world of to-day. Moreover, the growing paralysis had already +invaded the lower portion of the Italic peninsula; and after Naples +certainly came the turn of Rome. She was on the very margin of the death +spot which ever extends over the old continent, that margin where agony +begins, where the impoverished soil will no longer nourish and support +cities, where men themselves seem stricken with old age as soon as they +are born. For two centuries Rome had been declining, withdrawing little +by little from modern life, having neither manufactures nor trade, and +being incapable even of science, literature, or art. And in Pierre's +thoughts it was no longer St. Peter's only that fell, but all +Rome--basilicas, palaces, and entire districts--which collapsed amidst a +supreme rending, and covered the seven hills with a chaos of ruins. Like +Nineveh and Babylon, and like Thebes and Memphis, Rome became but a +plain, bossy with remnants, amidst which one vainly sought to identify +the sites of ancient edifices, whilst its sole denizens were coiling +serpents and bands of rats. + +The cab turned, and on the right, in a huge gap of darkness Pierre +recognised Trajan's column, but it was no longer gilded by the sun as +when he had first seen it; it now rose up blackly like the dead trunk of +a giant tree whose branches have fallen from old age. And farther on, +when he raised his eyes while crossing the little triangular piazza, and +perceived a real tree against the leaden sky, that parasol pine of the +Villa Aldobrandini which rises there like a symbol of Rome's grace and +pride, it seemed to him but a smear, a little cloud of soot ascending +from the downfall of the whole city. + +With the anxious, fraternal turn of his feelings, fear was coming over +him as he reached the end of his tragic dream. When the numbness which +spreads across the aged world should have passed Rome, when Lombardy +should have yielded to it, and Genoa, Turin, and Milan should have fallen +asleep as Venice has fallen already, then would come the turn of France. +The Alps would be crossed, Marseilles, like Tyre and Sidon, would see its +port choked up by sand, Lyons would sink into desolation and slumber, and +at last Paris, invaded by the invincible torpor, and transformed into a +sterile waste of stones bristling with nettles, would join Rome and +Nineveh and Babylon in death, whilst the nations continued their march +from orient to occident following the sun. A great cry sped through the +gloom, the death cry of the Latin races! History, which seemed to have +been born in the basin of the Mediterranean, was being transported +elsewhere, and the ocean had now become the centre of the world. How many +hours of the human day had gone by? Had mankind, starting from its cradle +over yonder at daybreak, strewing its road with ruins from stage to +stage, now accomplished one-half of its day and reached the dazzling hour +of noon? If so, then the other half of the day allotted to it was +beginning, the new world was following the old one, the new world of +those American cities where democracy was forming and the religion of +to-morrow was sprouting, those sovereign queens of the coming century, +with yonder, across another ocean, on the other side of the globe, that +motionless Far East, mysterious China and Japan, and all the threatening +swarm of the yellow races. + +However, while the cab climbed higher and higher up the Via Nazionale, +Pierre felt his nightmare dissipating. There was here a lighter +atmosphere, and he came back into a renewal of hope and courage. Yet the +Banca d'Italia, with its brand-new ugliness, its chalky hugeness, looked +to him like a phantom in a shroud; whilst above a dim expanse of gardens +the Quirinal formed but a black streak barring the heavens. However, the +street ever ascended and broadened, and on the summit of the Viminal, on +the Piazza delle Terme, when he passed the ruins of Diocletian's baths, +he could breathe as his lungs listed. No, no, the human day could not +finish, it was eternal, and the stages of civilisation would follow and +follow without end! What mattered that eastern wind which carried the +nations towards the west, as if borne on by the power of the sun! If +necessary, they would return across the other side of the globe, they +would again and again make the circuit of the earth, until the day should +come when they could establish themselves in peace, truth, and justice. +After the next civilisation on the shores of the Atlantic, which would +become the world's centre, skirted by queenly cities, there would spring +up yet another civilisation, having the Pacific for its centre, with +seaport capitals that could not be yet foreseen, whose germs yet +slumbered on unknown shores. And in like way there would be still other +civilisations and still others! And at that last moment, the inspiriting +thought came to Pierre that the great movement of the nations was the +instinct, the need which impelled them to return to unity. Originating in +one sole family, afterwards parted and dispersed in tribes, thrown into +collision by fratricidal hatred, their tendency was none the less to +become one sole family again. The provinces united in nations, the +nations would unite in races, and the races would end by uniting in one +immortal mankind--mankind at last without frontiers, or possibility of +wars, mankind living by just labour amidst an universal commonwealth. Was +not this indeed the evolution, the object of the labour progressing +everywhere, the finish reserved to History? Might Italy then become a +strong and healthy nation, might concord be established between her and +France, and might that fraternity of the Latin races become the beginning +of universal fraternity! Ah! that one fatherland, the whole earth +pacified and happy, in how many centuries would that come--and what a +dream! + +Then, on reaching the station the scramble prevented Pierre from thinking +any further. He had to take his ticket and register his luggage, and +afterwards he at once climbed into the train. At dawn on the next day but +one, he would be back in Paris. + + +END + + ***** + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rome, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME *** + +***** This file should be named 8726-8.txt or 8726-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/2/8726/ + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |