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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