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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8721.txt b/8721.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c81764 --- /dev/null +++ b/8721.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4746 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Vol. 1, by Zola +#23 in our series by Emile Zola + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!**** + + +Title: The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Vol. 1 + +Author: Emile Zola + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8721] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: ROME, VOL. 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny [dagnypg@yahoo.com] +and David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + ROME + + + + 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? + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, +Vol. 1, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: ROME, VOL. 1 *** + +This file should be named 8721.txt or 8721.zip + +Produced by Dagny [dagnypg@yahoo.com] +and David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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