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diff --git a/8725.txt b/8725.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5a53ef --- /dev/null +++ b/8725.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5008 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Vol. 5, by Zola +#27 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. 5 + +Author: Emile Zola + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8725] +[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. 5 *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny [dagnypg@yahoo.com] +and David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + ROME + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + PART V + + + +XIV + +THAT evening, when Pierre emerged from the Borgo in front of the Vatican, +a sonorous stroke rang out from the clock amidst the deep silence of the +dark and sleepy district. It was only half-past eight, and being in +advance the young priest resolved to wait some twenty minutes in order to +reach the doors of the papal apartments precisely at nine, the hour fixed +for his audience. + +This respite brought him some relief amidst the infinite emotion and +grief which gripped his heart. That tragic afternoon which he had spent +in the chamber of death, where Dario and Benedetta now slept the eternal +sleep in one another's arms, had left him very weary. He was haunted by a +wild, dolorous vision of the two lovers, and involuntary sighs came from +his lips whilst tears continually moistened his eyes. He had been +altogether unable to eat that evening. Ah! how he would have liked to +hide himself and weep at his ease! His heart melted at each fresh +thought. The pitiful death of the lovers intensified the grievous feeling +with which his book was instinct, and impelled him to yet greater +compassion, a perfect anguish of charity for all who suffered in the +world. And he was so distracted by the thought of the many physical and +moral sores of Paris and of Rome, where he had beheld so much unjust and +abominable suffering, that at each step he took he feared lest he should +burst into sobs with arms upstretched towards the blackness of heaven. + +In the hope of somewhat calming himself he began to walk slowly across +the Piazza of St. Peter's, now all darkness and solitude. On arriving he +had fancied that he was losing himself in a murky sea, but by degrees his +eyes grew accustomed to the dimness. The vast expanse was only lighted by +the four candelabra at the corners of the obelisk and by infrequent lamps +skirting the buildings which run on either hand towards the Basilica. +Under the colonnade, too, other lamps threw yellow gleams across the +forest of pillars, showing up their stone trunks in fantastic fashion; +while on the piazza only the pale, ghostly obelisk was at all distinctly +visible. Pierre could scarcely perceive the dim, silent facade of St. +Peter's; whilst of the dome he merely divined a gigantic, bluey roundness +faintly shadowed against the sky. In the obscurity he at first heard the +plashing of the fountains without being at all able to see them, but on +approaching he at last distinguished the slender phantoms of the ever +rising jets which fell again in spray. And above the vast square +stretched the vast and moonless sky of a deep velvety blue, where the +stars were large and radiant like carbuncles; Charles's Wain, with golden +wheels and golden shaft tilted back as it were, over the roof of the +Vatican, and Orion, bedizened with the three bright stars of his belt, +showing magnificently above Rome, in the direction of the Via Giulia. + +At last Pierre raised his eyes to the Vatican, but facing the piazza +there was here merely a confused jumble of walls, amidst which only two +gleams of light appeared on the floor of the papal apartments. The Court +of San Damaso was, however, lighted, for the conservatory-like glass-work +of two of its sides sparkled as with the reflection of gas lamps which +could not be seen. For a time there was not a sound or sign of movement, +but at last two persons crossed the expanse of the piazza, and then came +a third who in his turn disappeared, nothing remaining but a rhythmical +far-away echo of steps. The spot was indeed a perfect desert, there were +neither promenaders nor passers-by, nor was there even the shadow of a +prowler in the pillared forest of the colonnade, which was as empty as +the wild primeval forests of the world's infancy. And what a solemn +desert it was, full of the silence of haughty desolation. Never had so +vast and black a presentment of slumber, so instinct with the sovereign +nobility of death, appeared to Pierre. + +At ten minutes to nine he at last made up his mind and went towards the +bronze portal. Only one of the folding doors was now open at the end of +the right-hand porticus, where the increasing density of the gloom +steeped everything in night. Pierre remembered the instructions which +Monsignor Nani had given him; at each door that he reached he was to ask +for Signor Squadra without adding a word, and thereupon each door would +open and he would have nothing to do but to let himself be guided on. No +one but the prelate now knew that he was there, since Benedetta, the only +being to whom he had confided the secret, was dead. When he had crossed +the threshold of the bronze doors and found himself in presence of the +motionless, sleeping Swiss Guard, who was on duty there, he simply spoke +the words agreed upon: "Signor Squadra." And as the Guard did not stir, +did not seek to bar his way, he passed on, turning into the vestibule of +the Scala Pia, the stone stairway which ascends to the Court of San +Damaso. And not a soul was to be seen: there was but the faint sound of +his own light footsteps and the sleepy glow of the gas jets whose light +was softly whitened by globes of frosted glass. Up above, on reaching the +courtyard he found it a solitude, whose slumber seemed sepulchral amidst +the mournful gleams of the gas lamps which cast a pallid reflection on +the lofty glass-work of the facades. And feeling somewhat nervous, +affected by the quiver which pervaded all that void and silence, Pierre +hastened on, turning to the right, towards the low flight of steps which +leads to the staircase of the Pope's private apartments. + +Here stood a superb gendarme in full uniform. "Signor Squadra," said +Pierre, and without a word the gendarme pointed to the stairs. + +The young man went up. It was a broad stairway, with low steps, +balustrade of white marble, and walls covered with yellowish stucco. The +gas, burning in globes of round glass, seemed to have been already turned +down in a spirit of prudent economy. And in the glimmering light nothing +could have been more mournfully solemn than that cold and pallid +staircase. On each landing there was a Swiss Guard, halbard in hand, and +in the heavy slumber spreading through the palace one only heard the +regular monotonous footsteps of these men, ever marching up and down, in +order no doubt that they might not succumb to the benumbing influence of +their surroundings. + +Amidst the invading dimness and the quivering silence the ascent of the +stairs seemed interminable to Pierre, who by the time he reached the +second-floor landing imagined that he had been climbing for ages. There, +outside the glass door of the Sala Clementina, only the right-hand half +of which was open, a last Swiss Guard stood watching. + +"Signor Squadra," Pierre said again, and the Guard drew back to let him +pass. + +The Sala Clementina, spacious enough by daylight, seemed immense at that +nocturnal hour, in the twilight glimmer of its lamps. All the opulent +decorative-work, sculpture, painting, and gilding became blended, the +walls assuming a tawny vagueness amidst which appeared bright patches +like the sparkle of precious stones. There was not an article of +furniture, nothing but the endless pavement stretching away into the +semi-darkness. At last, however, near a door at the far end Pierre espied +some men dozing on a bench. They were three Swiss Guards. "Signor +Squadra," he said to them. + +One of the Guards thereupon slowly rose and left the hall, and Pierre +understood that he was to wait. He did not dare to move, disturbed as he +was by the sound of his own footsteps on the paved floor, so he contented +himself with gazing around and picturing the crowds which at times +peopled that vast apartment, the first of the many papal ante-chambers. +But before long the Guard returned, and behind him, on the threshold of +the adjoining room, appeared a man of forty or thereabouts, who was clad +in black from head to foot and suggested a cross between a butler and a +beadle. He had a good-looking, clean-shaven face, with somewhat +pronounced nose and large, clear, fixed eyes. "Signor Squadra," said +Pierre for the last time. + +The man bowed as if to say that he was Signor Squadra, and then, with a +fresh reverence, he invited the priest to follow him. Thereupon at a +leisurely step, one behind the other, they began to thread the +interminable suite of waiting-rooms. Pierre, who was acquainted with the +ceremonial, of which he had often spoken with Narcisse, recognised the +different apartments as he passed through them, recalling their names and +purpose, and peopling them in imagination with the various officials of +the papal retinue who have the right to occupy them. These according to +their rank cannot go beyond certain doors, so that the persons who are to +have audience of the Pope are passed on from the servants to the Noble +Guards, from the Noble Guards to the honorary /Camerieri/, and from the +latter to the /Camerieri segreti/, until they at last reach the presence +of the Holy Father. At eight o'clock, however, the ante-rooms empty and +become both deserted and dim, only a few lamps being left alight upon the +pier tables standing here and there against the walls. + +And first Pierre came to the ante-room of the /bussolanti/, mere ushers +clad in red velvet broidered with the papal arms, who conduct visitors to +the door of the ante-room of honour. At that late hour only one of them +was left there, seated on a bench in such a dark corner that his purple +tunic looked quite black. Then the Hall of the Gendarmes was crossed, +where according to the regulations the secretaries of cardinals and other +high personages await their masters' return; and this was now completely +empty, void both of the handsome blue uniforms with white shoulder belts +and the cassocks of fine black cloth which mingled in it during the +brilliant reception hours. Empty also was the following room, a smaller +one reserved to the Palatine Guards, who are recruited among the Roman +middle class and wear black tunics with gold epaulets and shakoes +surmounted by red plumes. Then Pierre and his guide turned into another +series of apartments, and again was the first one empty. This was the +Hall of the Arras, a superb waiting-room with lofty painted ceiling and +admirable Gobelins tapestry designed by Audran and representing the +miracles of Jesus. And empty also was the ante-chamber of the Noble +Guards which followed, with its wooden stools, its pier table on the +right-hand surmounted by a large crucifix standing between two lamps, and +its large door opening at the far end into another but smaller room, a +sort of alcove indeed, where there is an altar at which the Holy Father +says mass by himself whilst those privileged to be present remain +kneeling on the marble slabs of the outer apartment which is resplendent +with the dazzling uniforms of the Guards. And empty likewise was the +ensuing ante-room of honour, otherwise the grand throne-room, where the +Pope receives two or three hundred people at a time in public audience. +The throne, an arm-chair of elaborate pattern, gilded, and upholstered +with red velvet, stands under a velvet canopy of the same hue, in front +of the windows. Beside it is the cushion on which the Pope rests his foot +in order that it may be kissed. Then facing one another, right and left +of the room, there are two pier tables, on one of which is a clock and on +the other a crucifix between lofty candelabra with feet of gilded wood. +The wall hangings, of red silk damask with a Louis XIV palm pattern, are +topped by a pompous frieze, framing a ceiling decorated with allegorical +figures and attributes, and it is only just in front of the throne that a +Smyrna carpet covers the magnificent marble pavement. On the days of +private audience, when the Pope remains in the little throne-room or at +times in his bed-chamber, the grand throne-room becomes simply the +ante-room of honour, where high dignitaries of the Church, ambassadors, +and great civilian personages, wait their turns. Two /Camerieri/, one in +violet coat, the other of the Cape and the Sword, here do duty, receiving +from the /bussolanti/ the persons who are to be honoured with audiences +and conducting them to the door of the next room, the secret or private +ante-chamber, where they hand them over to the /Camerieri segreti/. + +Signor Squadra who, walking on with slow and silent steps, had not yet +once turned round, paused for a moment on reaching the door of the +/anticamera segreta/ so as to give Pierre time to breathe and recover +himself somewhat before crossing the threshold of the sanctuary. The +/Camerieri segreti/ alone had the right to occupy that last ante-chamber, +and none but the cardinals might wait there till the Pope should +condescend to receive them. And so when Signor Squadra made up his mind +to admit Pierre, the latter could not restrain a slight nervous shiver as +if he were passing into some redoubtable mysterious sphere beyond the +limits of the lower world. In the daytime a Noble Guard stood on sentry +duty before the door, but the latter was now free of access, and the room +within proved as empty as all the others. It was rather narrow, almost +like a passage, with two windows overlooking the new district of the +castle fields and a third one facing the Piazza of St. Peter's. Near the +last was a door conducting to the little throne-room, and between this +door and the window stood a small table at which a secretary, now absent, +usually sat. And here again, as in all the other rooms, one found a +gilded pier table surmounted by a crucifix flanked by a pair of lamps. In +a corner too there was a large clock, loudly ticking in its ebony case +incrusted with brass-work. Still there was nothing to awaken curiosity +under the panelled and gilded ceiling unless it were the wall-hangings of +red damask, on which yellow scutcheons displaying the Keys and the Tiara +alternated with armorial lions, each with a paw resting on a globe. + +Signor Squadra, however, now noticed that Pierre still carried his hat in +his hand, whereas according to etiquette he should have left it in the +hall of the /bussolanti/, only cardinals being privileged to carry their +hats with them into the Pope's presence. Accordingly he discreetly took +the young priest's from him, and deposited it on the pier table to +indicate that it must at least remain there. Then, without a word, by a +simple bow he gave Pierre to understand that he was about to announce him +to his Holiness, and that he must be good enough to wait for a few +minutes in that room. + +On being left to himself Pierre drew a long breath. He was stifling; his +heart was beating as though it would burst. Nevertheless his mind +remained clear, and in spite of the semi-obscurity he had been able to +form some idea of the famous and magnificent apartments of the Pope, a +suite of splendid /salons/ with tapestried or silken walls, gilded or +painted friezes, and frescoed ceilings. By way of furniture, however, +there were only pier table, stools,* and thrones. And the lamps and the +clocks, and the crucifixes, even the thrones, were all presents brought +from the four quarters of the world in the great fervent days of jubilee. +There was no sign of comfort, everything was pompous, stiff, cold, and +inconvenient. All olden Italy was there, with its perpetual display and +lack of intimate, cosy life. It had been necessary to lay a few carpets +over the superb marble slabs which froze one's feet; and some +/caloriferes/ had even lately been installed, but it was not thought +prudent to light them lest the variations of temperature should give the +Pope a cold. However, that which more particularly struck Pierre now that +he stood there waiting was the extraordinary silence which prevailed all +around, silence so deep that it seemed as if all the dark quiescence of +that huge, somniferous Vatican were concentrated in that one suite of +lifeless, sumptuous rooms, which the motionless flamelets of the lamps as +dimly illumined. + + * M. Zola seems to have fallen into error here. Many of the seats, + which are of peculiar antique design, do, in the lower part, + resemble stools, but they have backs, whereas a stool proper has + none. Briefly, these seats, which are entirely of wood, are not + unlike certain old-fashioned hall chairs.--Trans. + +All at once the ebony clock struck nine and the young man felt +astonished. What! had only ten minutes elapsed since he had crossed the +threshold of the bronze doors below? He felt as if he had been walking on +for days and days. Then, desiring to overcome the nervous feeling which +oppressed him--for he ever feared lest his enforced calmness should +collapse amidst a flood of tears--he began to walk up and down, passing +in front of the clock, glancing at the crucifix on the pier table, and +the globe of the lamp on which had remained the mark of a servant's +greasy fingers. And the light was so faint and yellow that he felt +inclined to turn the lamp up, but did not dare. Then he found himself +with his brow resting against one of the panes of the window facing the +Piazza of St. Peter's, and for a moment he was thunderstruck, for between +the imperfectly closed shutters he could see all Rome, as he had seen it +one day from the /loggie/ of Raffaelle, and as he had pictured Leo XIII +contemplating it from the window of his bed-room. However, it was now +Rome by night, Rome spreading out into the depths of the gloom, as +limitless as the starry sky. And in that sea of black waves one could +only with certainty identify the larger thoroughfares which the white +brightness of electric lights turned, as it were, into Milky Ways. All +the rest showed but a swarming of little yellow sparks, the crumbs, as it +were, of a half-extinguished heaven swept down upon the earth. Occasional +constellations of bright stars, tracing mysterious figures, vainly +endeavoured to show forth distinctly, but they were submerged, blotted +out by the general chaos which suggested the dust of some old planet that +had crumbled there, losing its splendour and reduced to mere +phosphorescent sand. And how immense was the blackness thus sprinkled +with light, how huge the mass of obscurity and mystery into which the +Eternal City with its seven and twenty centuries, its ruins, its +monuments, its people, its history seemed to have been merged. You could +no longer tell where it began or where it ended, whether it spread to the +farthest recesses of the gloom, or whether it were so reduced that the +sun on rising would illumine but a little pile of ashes. + +However, in spite of all Pierre's efforts, his nervous anguish increased +each moment, even in presence of that ocean of darkness which displayed +such sovereign quiescence. He drew away from the window and quivered from +head to foot on hearing a faint footfall and thinking it was that of +Signor Squadra approaching to fetch him. The sound came from an adjacent +apartment, the little throne-room, whose door, he now perceived, had +remained ajar. And at last, as he heard nothing further, he yielded to +his feverish impatience and peeped into this room which he found to be +fairly spacious, again hung with red damask, and containing a gilded +arm-chair, covered with red velvet under a canopy of the same material. +And again there was the inevitable pier table, with a tall ivory +crucifix, a clock, a pair of lamps, a pair of candelabra, a pair of large +vases on pedestals, and two smaller ones of Sevres manufacture decorated +with the Holy Father's portrait. At the same time, however, the room +displayed rather more comfort, for a Smyrna carpet covered the whole of +the marble floor, while a few arm-chairs stood against the walls, and an +imitation chimney-piece, draped with damask, served as counterpart to the +pier table. As a rule the Pope, whose bed-chamber communicated with this +little throne-room, received in the latter such persons as he desired to +honour. And Pierre's shiver became more pronounced at the idea that in +all likelihood he would merely have the throne-room to cross and that Leo +XIII was yonder behind its farther door. Why was he kept waiting, he +wondered? He had been told of mysterious audiences granted at a similar +hour to personages who had been received in similar silent fashion, great +personages whose names were only mentioned in the lowest whispers. With +regard to himself no doubt, it was because he was considered compromising +that there was a desire to receive him in this manner unknown to the +personages of the Court, and so as to speak with him at ease. Then, all +at once, he understood the cause of the noise he had recently heard, for +beside the lamp on the pier table of the little throne-room he saw a kind +of butler's tray containing some soiled plates, knives, forks, and +spoons, with a bottle and a glass, which had evidently just been removed +from a supper table. And he realised that Signor Squadra, having seen +these things in the Pope's room, had brought them there, and had then +gone in again, perhaps to tidy up. He knew also of the Pope's frugality, +how he took his meals all alone at a little round table, everything being +brought to him in that tray, a plate of meat, a plate of vegetables, a +little Bordeaux claret as prescribed by his doctor, and a large allowance +of beef broth of which he was very fond. In the same way as others might +offer a cup of tea, he was wont to offer cups of broth to the old +cardinals his friends and favourites, quite an invigorating little treat +which these old bachelors much enjoyed. And, O ye orgies of Alexander VI, +ye banquets and /galas/ of Julius II and Leo X, only eight /lire/ a +day--six shillings and fourpence--were allowed to defray the cost of Leo +XIII's table! However, just as that recollection occurred to Pierre, he +again heard a slight noise, this time in his Holiness's bed-chamber, and +thereupon, terrified by his indiscretion, he hastened to withdraw from +the entrance of the throne-room which, lifeless and quiescent though it +was, seemed in his agitation to flare as with sudden fire. + +Then, quivering too violently to be able to remain still, he began to +walk up and down the ante-chamber. He remembered that Narcisse had spoken +to him of that Signor Squadra, his Holiness's cherished valet, whose +importance and influence were so great. He alone, on reception days, was +able to prevail on the Pope to don a clean cassock if the one he was +wearing happened to be soiled by snuff. And though his Holiness +stubbornly shut himself up alone in his bed-room every night from a +spirit of independence, which some called the anxiety of a miser +determined to sleep alone with his treasure, Signor Squadra at all events +occupied an adjoining chamber, and was ever on the watch, ready to +respond to the faintest call. Again, it was he who respectfully +intervened whenever his Holiness sat up too late or worked too long. But +on this point it was difficult to induce the Pope to listen to reason. +During his hours of insomnia he would often rise and send Squadra to +fetch a secretary in order that he might detail some memoranda or sketch +out an encyclical letter. When the drafting of one of the latter +impassioned him he would have spent days and nights over it, just as +formerly, when claiming proficiency in Latin verse, he had often let the +dawn surprise him whilst he was polishing a line. But, indeed, he slept +very little, his brain ever being at work, ever scheming out the +realisation of some former ideas. His memory alone seemed to have +slightly weakened during recent times. + +Pierre, as he slowly paced to and fro, gradually became absorbed in his +thoughts of that lofty and sovereign personality. From the petty details +of the Pope's daily existence, he passed to his intellectual life, to the +/role/ which he was certainly bent on playing as a great pontiff. And +Pierre asked himself which of his two hundred and fifty-seven +predecessors, the long line of saints and criminals, men of mediocrity +and men of genius, he most desired to resemble. Was it one of the first +humble popes, those who followed on during the first three centuries, +mere heads of burial guilds, fraternal pastors of the Christian +community? Was it Pope Damasus, the first great builder, the man of +letters who took delight in intellectual matters, the ardent believer who +is said to have opened the Catacombs to the piety of the faithful? Was it +Leo III, who by crowning Charlemagne boldly consummated the rupture with +the schismatic East and conveyed the Empire to the West by the +all-powerful will of God and His Church, which thenceforth disposed of +the crowns of monarchs? Was it the terrible Gregory VII, the purifier of +the temple, the sovereign of kings; was it Innocent III or Boniface VIII, +those masters of souls, nations, and thrones, who, armed with the fierce +weapon of excommunication, reigned with such despotism over the terrified +middle ages that Catholicism was never nearer the attainment of its dream +of universal dominion? Was it Urban II or Gregory IX or another of those +popes in whom flared the red Crusading passion which urged the nations on +to the conquest of the unknown and the divine? Was it Alexander III, who +defended the Holy See against the Empire, and at last conquered and set +his foot on the neck of Frederick Barbarossa? Was it, long after the +sorrows of Avignon, Julius II, who wore the cuirass and once more +strengthened the political power of the papacy? Was it Leo X, the +pompous, glorious patron of the Renascence, of a whole great century of +art, whose mind, however, was possessed of so little penetration and +foresight that he looked on Luther as a mere rebellious monk? Was it Pius +V, who personified dark and avenging reaction, the fire of the stakes +that punished the heretic world? Was it some other of the popes who +reigned after the Council of Trent with faith absolute, belief +re-established in its full integrity, the Church saved by pride and the +stubborn upholding of every dogma? Or was it a pope of the decline, such +as Benedict XIV, the man of vast intelligence, the learned theologian +who, as his hands were tied, and he could not dispose of the kingdoms of +the world, spent a worthy life in regulating the affairs of heaven? + +In this wise, in Pierre's mind there spread out the whole history of the +popes, the most prodigious of all histories, showing fortune in every +guise, the lowest, the most wretched, as well as the loftiest and most +dazzling; whilst an obstinate determination to live enabled the papacy to +survive everything--conflagrations, massacres, and the downfall of many +nations, for always did it remain militant and erect in the persons of +its popes, that most extraordinary of all lines of absolute, conquering, +and domineering sovereigns, every one of them--even the puny and +humble--masters of the world, every one of them glorious with the +imperishable glory of heaven when they were thus evoked in that ancient +Vatican, where their spirits assuredly awoke at night and prowled about +the endless galleries and spreading halls in that tomb-like silence whose +quiver came no doubt from the light touch of their gliding steps over the +marble slabs. + +However, Pierre was now thinking that he indeed knew which of the great +popes Leo XIII most desired to resemble. It was first Gregory the Great, +the conqueror and organiser of the early days of Catholic power. He had +come of ancient Roman stock, and in his heart there was a little of the +blood of the emperors. He administered Rome after it had been saved from +the Goths, cultivated the ecclesiastical domains, and divided earthly +wealth into thirds, one for the poor, one for the clergy, and one for the +Church. Then too he was the first to establish the Propaganda, sending +his priests forth to civilise and pacify the nations, and carrying his +conquests so far as to win Great Britain over to the divine law of +Christ. And the second pope whom Leo XIII took as model was one who had +arisen after a long lapse of centuries, Sixtus V, the pope financier and +politician, the vine-dresser's son, who, when he had donned the tiara, +revealed one of the most extensive and supple minds of a period fertile +in great diplomatists. He heaped up treasure and displayed stern avarice, +in order that he might ever have in his coffers all the money needful for +war or for peace. He spent years and years in negotiations with kings, +never despairing of his own triumph; and never did he display open +hostility for his times, but took them as they were and then sought to +modify them in accordance with the interests of the Holy See, showing +himself conciliatory in all things and with every one, already dreaming +of an European balance of power which he hoped to control. And withal a +very saintly pope, a fervent mystic, yet a pope of the most absolute and +domineering mind blended with a politician ready for whatever courses +might most conduce to the rule of God's Church on earth. + +And, after all, Pierre amidst his rising enthusiasm, which despite his +efforts at calmness was sweeping away all prudence and doubt, Pierre +asked himself why he need question the past. Was not Leo XIII the pope +whom he had depicted in his book, the great pontiff, who was desired and +expected? No doubt the portrait which he had sketched was not accurate in +every detail, but surely its main lines must be correct if mankind were +to retain a hope of salvation. Whole pages of that book of his arose +before him, and he again beheld the Leo XIII that he had portrayed, the +wise and conciliatory politician, labouring for the unity of the Church +and so anxious to make it strong and invincible against the day of the +inevitable great struggle. He again beheld him freed from the cares of +the temporal power, elevated, radiant with moral splendour, the only +authority left erect above the nations; he beheld him realising what +mortal danger would be incurred if the solution of the social question +were left to the enemies of Christianity, and therefore resolving to +intervene in contemporary quarrels for the defence of the poor and the +lowly, even as Jesus had intervened once before. And he again beheld him +putting himself on the side of the democracies, accepting the Republic in +France, leaving the dethroned kings in exile, and verifying the +prediction which promised the empire of the world to Rome once more when +the papacy should have unified belief and have placed itself at the head +of the people. The times indeed were near accomplishment, Caesar was +struck down, the Pope alone remained, and would not the people, the great +silent multitude, for whom the two powers had so long contended, give +itself to its Father now that it knew him to be both just and charitable, +with heart aglow and hand outstretched to welcome all the penniless +toilers and beggars of the roads! Given the catastrophe which threatened +our rotten modern societies, the frightful misery which ravaged every +city, there was surely no other solution possible: Leo XIII, the +predestined, necessary redeemer, the pastor sent to save the flock from +coming disaster by re-establishing the true Christian community, the +forgotten golden age of primitive Christianity. The reign of justice +would at last begin, all men would be reconciled, there would be but one +nation living in peace and obeying the equalising law of work, under the +high patronage of the Pope, sole bond of charity and love on earth! + +And at this thought Pierre was upbuoyed by fiery enthusiasm. At last he +was about to see the Holy Father, empty his heart and open his soul to +him! He had so long and so passionately looked for the advent of that +moment! To secure it he had fought with all his courage through ever +recurring obstacles, and the length and difficulty of the struggle and +the success now at last achieved, increased his feverishness, his desire +for final victory. Yes, yes, he would conquer, he would confound his +enemies. As he had said to Monsignor Fornaro, could the Pope disavow him? +Had he not expressed the Holy Father's secret ideas? Perhaps he might +have done so somewhat prematurely, but was not that a fault to be +forgiven? And then too, he remembered his declaration to Monsignor Nani, +that he himself would never withdraw and suppress his book, for he +neither regretted nor disowned anything that was in it. At this very +moment he again questioned himself, and felt that all his valour and +determination to defend his book, all his desire to work the triumph of +his belief, remained intact. Yet his mental perturbation was becoming +great, he had to seek for ideas, wondering how he should enter the Pope's +presence, what he should say, what precise terms he should employ. +Something heavy and mysterious which he could hardly account for seemed +to weigh him down. At bottom he was weary, already exhausted, only held +up by his dream, his compassion for human misery. However, he would enter +in all haste, he would fall upon his knees and speak as he best could, +letting his heart flow forth. And assuredly the Holy Father would smile +on him, and dismiss him with a promise that he would not sign the +condemnation of a work in which he had found the expression of his own +most cherished thoughts. + +Then, again, such an acute sensation as of fainting came over Pierre that +he went up to the window to press his burning brow against the cold +glass. His ears were buzzing, his legs staggering, whilst his brain +throbbed violently. And he was striving to forget his thoughts by gazing +upon the black immensity of Rome, longing to be steeped in night himself, +total, healing night, the night in which one sleeps on for ever, knowing +neither pain nor wretchedness, when all at once he became conscious that +somebody was standing behind him; and thereupon, with a start, he turned +round. + +And there, indeed, stood Signor Squadra in his black livery. Again he +made one of his customary bows to invite the visitor to follow him, and +again he walked on in front, crossing the little throne-room, and slowly +opening the farther door. Then he drew aside, allowed Pierre to enter, +and noiselessly closed the door behind him. + +Pierre was in his Holiness's bed-room. He had feared one of those +overwhelming attacks of emotion which madden or paralyse one. He had been +told of women reaching the Pope's presence in a fainting condition, +staggering as if intoxicated, while others came with a rush, as though +upheld and borne along by invisible pinions. And suddenly the anguish of +his own spell of waiting, his intense feverishness, ceased in a sort of +astonishment, a reaction which rendered him very calm and so restored his +clearness of vision, that he could see everything. As he entered he +distinctly realised the decisive importance of such an audience, he, a +mere petty priest in presence of the Supreme Pontiff, the Head of the +Church. All his religious and moral life would depend on it; and possibly +it was this sudden thought that thus chilled him on the threshold of the +redoubtable sanctuary, which he had approached with such quivering steps, +and which he would not have thought to enter otherwise than with +distracted heart and loss of senses, unable to do more than stammer the +simple prayers of childhood. + +Later on, when he sought to classify his recollections he remembered that +his eyes had first lighted on Leo XIII, not, however, to the exclusion of +his surroundings, but in conjunction with them, that spacious room hung +with yellow damask whose alcove, adorned with fluted marble columns, was +so deep that the bed was quite hidden away in it, as well as other +articles of furniture, a couch, a wardrobe, and some trunks, those famous +trunks in which the treasure of the Peter's Pence was said to be securely +locked. A sort of Louis XIV writing-desk with ornaments of engraved brass +stood face to face with a large gilded and painted Louis XV pier table on +which a lamp was burning beside a lofty crucifix. The room was virtually +bare, only three arm-chairs and four or five other chairs, upholstered in +light silk, being disposed here and there over the well-worn carpet. And +on one of the arm-chairs sat Leo XIII, near a small table on which +another lamp with a shade had been placed. Three newspapers, moreover, +lay there, two of them French and one Italian, and the last was half +unfolded as if the Pope had momentarily turned from it to stir a glass of +syrup, standing beside him, with a long silver-gilt spoon. + +In the same way as Pierre saw the Pope's room, he saw his costume, his +cassock of white cloth with white buttons, his white skull-cap, his white +cape and his white sash fringed with gold and broidered at either end +with golden keys. His stockings were white, his slippers were of red +velvet, and these again were broidered with golden keys. What surprised +the young priest, however, was his Holiness's face and figure, which now +seemed so shrunken that he scarcely recognised them. This was his fourth +meeting with the Pope. He had seen him walking in the Vatican gardens, +enthroned in the Hall of Beatifications, and pontifying at St. Peter's, +and now he beheld him on that arm-chair, in privacy, and looking so +slight and fragile that he could not restrain a feeling of affectionate +anxiety. Leo's neck was particularly remarkable, slender beyond belief, +suggesting the neck of some little, aged, white bird. And his face, of +the pallor of alabaster, was characteristically transparent, to such a +degree, indeed, that one could see the lamplight through his large +commanding nose, as if the blood had entirely withdrawn from that organ. +A mouth of great length, with white bloodless lips, streaked the lower +part of the papal countenance, and the eyes alone had remained young and +handsome. Superb eyes they were, brilliant like black diamonds, endowed +with sufficient penetration and strength to lay souls open and force them +to confess the truth aloud. Some scanty white curls emerged from under +the white skull-cap, thus whitely crowning the thin white face, whose +ugliness was softened by all this whiteness, this spiritual whiteness in +which Leo XIII's flesh seemed as it were but pure lily-white florescence. + +At the first glance, however, Pierre noticed that if Signor Squadra had +kept him waiting, it had not been in order to compel the Holy Father to +don a clean cassock, for the one he was wearing was badly soiled by +snuff. A number of brown stains had trickled down the front of the +garment beside the buttons, and just like any good /bourgeois/, his +Holiness had a handkerchief on his knees to wipe himself. Apart from all +this he seemed in good health, having recovered from his recent +indisposition as easily as he usually recovered from such passing +illnesses, sober, prudent old man that he was, quite free from organic +disease, and simply declining by reason of progressive natural +exhaustion. + +Immediately on entering Pierre had felt that the Pope's sparkling eyes, +those two black diamonds, were fixed upon him. The silence was profound, +and the lamps burned with motionless, pallid flames. He had to approach, +and after making the three genuflections prescribed by etiquette, he +stooped over one of the Pope's feet resting on a cushion in order to kiss +the red velvet slipper. And on the Pope's side there was not a word, not +a gesture, not a movement. When the young man drew himself up again he +found the two black diamonds, those two eyes which were all brightness +and intelligence, still riveted on him. + +But at last Leo XIII, who had been unwilling to spare the young priest +the humble duty of kissing his foot and who now left him standing, began +to speak, whilst still examining him, probing, as it were, his very soul. +"My son," he said, "you greatly desired to see me, and I consented to +afford you that satisfaction." + +He spoke in French, somewhat uncertain French, pronounced after the +Italian fashion, and so slowly did he articulate each sentence that one +could have written it down like so much dictation. And his voice, as +Pierre had previously noticed, was strong and nasal, one of those full +voices which people are surprised to hear coming from debile and +apparently bloodless and breathless frames. + +In response to the Holy Father's remark Pierre contented himself with +bowing, knowing that respect required him to wait for a direct answer +before speaking. However, this question promptly came. "You live in +Paris?" asked Leo XIII. + +"Yes, Holy Father." + +"Are you attached to one of the great parishes of the city?" + +"No, Holy Father. I simply officiate at the little church of Neuilly." + +"Ah, yes, Neuilly, that is in the direction of the Bois de Boulogne, is +it not? And how old are you, my son?" + +"Thirty-four, Holy Father." + +A short interval followed. Leo XIII had at last lowered his eyes. With +frail, ivory hand he took up the glass beside him, again stirred the +syrup with the long spoon, and then drank a little of it. And all this he +did gently and slowly, with a prudent, judicious air, as was his wont no +doubt in everything. "I have read your book, my son," he resumed. "Yes, +the greater part of it. As a rule only fragments are submitted to me. But +a person who is interested in you handed me the volume, begging me to +glance through it. And that is how I was able to look into it." + +As he spoke he made a slight gesture in which Pierre fancied he could +detect a protest against the isolation in which he was kept by those +surrounding him, who, as Monsignor Nani had said, maintained a strict +watch in order that nothing they objected to might reach him. And +thereupon the young priest ventured to say: "I thank your Holiness for +having done me so much honour. No greater or more desired happiness could +have befallen me." He was indeed so happy! On seeing the Pope so calm, so +free from all signs of anger, and on hearing him speak in that way of his +book, like one well acquainted with it, he imagined that his cause was +won. + +"You are in relations with Monsieur le Vicomte Philibert de la Choue, are +you not, my son?" continued Leo XIII. "I was struck by the resemblance +between some of your ideas and those of that devoted servant of the +Church, who has in other ways given us previous testimony of his good +feelings." + +"Yes, indeed, Holy Father, Monsieur de la Choue is kind enough to show me +some affection. We have often talked together, so it is not surprising +that I should have given expression to some of his most cherished ideas." + +"No doubt, no doubt. For instance, there is that question of the +working-class guilds with which he largely occupies himself--with which, +in fact, he occupies himself rather too much. At the time of his last +journey to Rome he spoke to me of it in the most pressing manner. And in +the same way, quite recently, another of your compatriots, one of the +best and worthiest of men, Monsieur le Baron de Fouras, who brought us +that superb pilgrimage of the St. Peter's Pence Fund, never ceased his +efforts until I consented to receive him, when he spoke to me on the same +subject during nearly an hour. Only it must be said that they do not +agree in the matter, for one begs me to do things which the other will +not have me do on any account." + +Pierre realised that the conversation was straying away from his book, +but he remembered having promised the Viscount that if he should see the +Pope he would make an attempt to obtain from him a decisive expression of +opinion on the famous question as to whether the working-class guilds or +corporations should be free or obligatory, open or closed. And the +unhappy Viscount, kept in Paris by the gout, had written the young priest +letter after letter on the subject, whilst his rival the Baron, availing +himself of the opportunity offered by the international pilgrimage, +endeavoured to wring from the Pope an approval of his own views, with +which he would have returned in triumph to France. Pierre conscientiously +desired to keep his promise, and so he answered: "Your Holiness knows +better than any of us in which direction true wisdom lies. Monsieur de +Fouras is of opinion that salvation, the solution of the labour question, +lies simply in the re-establishment of the old free corporations, whilst +Monsieur de la Choue desires the corporations to be obligatory, protected +by the state and governed by new regulations. This last conception is +certainly more in agreement with the social ideas now prevalent in +France. Should your Holiness condescend to express a favourable opinion +in that sense, the young French Catholic party would certainly know how +to turn it to good result, by producing quite a movement of the working +classes in favour of the Church." + +In his quiet way Leo XIII responded: "But I cannot. Frenchmen always ask +things of me which I cannot, will not do. What I will allow you to say on +my behalf to Monsieur de la Choue is, that though I cannot content him I +have not contented Monsieur de Fouras. He obtained from me nothing beyond +the expression of my sincere good-will for the French working classes, +who are so dear to me and who can do so much for the restoration of the +faith. You must surely understand, however, that among you Frenchmen +there are questions of detail, of mere organisation, so to say, into +which I cannot possibly enter without imparting to them an importance +which they do not have, and at the same time greatly discontenting some +people should I please others." + +As the Pope pronounced these last words he smiled a pale smile, in which +the shrewd, conciliatory politician, who was determined not to allow his +infallibility to be compromised in useless and risky ventures, was fully +revealed. And then he drank a little more syrup and wiped his mouth with +his handkerchief, like a sovereign whose Court day is over and who takes +his ease, having chosen this hour of solitude and silence to chat as long +as he may be so inclined. + +Pierre, however, sought to bring him back to the subject of his book. +"Monsieur de la Choue," said he, "has shown me so much kindness and is so +anxious to know the fate reserved to my book--as if, indeed, it were his +own--that I should have been very happy to convey to him an expression of +your Holiness's approval." + +However, the Pope continued wiping his mouth and did not reply. + +"I became acquainted with the Viscount," continued Pierre, "at the +residence of his Eminence Cardinal Bergerot, another great heart whose +ardent charity ought to suffice to restore the faith in France." + +This time the effect was immediate. "Ah! yes, Monsieur le Cardinal +Bergerot!" said Leo XIII. "I read that letter of his which is printed at +the beginning of your book. He was very badly inspired in writing it to +you; and you, my son, acted very culpably on the day you published it. I +cannot yet believe that Monsieur le Cardinal Bergerot had read some of +your pages when he sent you an expression of his complete and full +approval. I prefer to charge him with ignorance and thoughtlessness. How +could he approve of your attacks on dogma, your revolutionary theories +which tend to the complete destruction of our holy religion? If it be a +fact that he had read your book, the only excuse he can invoke is sudden +and inexplicable aberration. It is true that a very bad spirit prevails +among a small portion of the French clergy. What are called Gallican +ideas are ever sprouting up like noxious weeds; there is a malcontent +Liberalism rebellious to our authority which continually hungers for free +examination and sentimental adventures." + +The Pope grew animated as he spoke. Italian words mingled with his +hesitating French, and every now and again his full nasal voice resounded +with the sonority of a brass instrument. "Monsieur le Cardinal Bergerot," +he continued, "must be given to understand that we shall crush him on the +day when we see in him nothing but a rebellious son. He owes the example +of obedience; we shall acquaint him with our displeasure, and we hope +that he will submit. Humility and charity are great virtues doubtless, +and we have always taken pleasure in recognising them in him. But they +must not be the refuge of a rebellious heart, for they are as nothing +unless accompanied by obedience--obedience, obedience, the finest +adornment of the great saints!" + +Pierre listened thunderstruck, overcome. He forgot himself to think of +the apostle of kindliness and tolerance upon whose head he had drawn this +all-powerful anger. So Don Vigilio had spoken the truth: over and above +his--Pierre's--head the denunciations of the Bishops of Evreux and +Poitiers were about to fall on the man who opposed their Ultramontane +policy, that worthy and gentle Cardinal Bergerot, whose heart was open to +all the woes of the lowly and the poor. This filled the young priest with +despair; he could accept the denunciation of the Bishop of Tarbes acting +on behalf of the Fathers of the Grotto, for that only fell on himself, as +a reprisal for what he had written about Lourdes; but the underhand +warfare of the others exasperated him, filled him with dolorous +indignation. And from that puny old man before him with the slender, +scraggy neck of an aged bird, he had suddenly seen such a wrathful, +formidable Master arise that he trembled. How could he have allowed +himself to be deceived by appearances on entering? How could he have +imagined that he was simply in presence of a poor old man, worn out by +age, desirous of peace, and ready for every concession? A blast had swept +through that sleepy chamber, and all his doubts and his anguish awoke +once more. Ah! that Pope, how thoroughly he answered to all the accounts +that he, Pierre, had heard but had refused to believe; so many people had +told him in Rome that he would find Leo XIII a man of intellect rather +than of sentiment, a man of the most unbounded pride, who from his very +youth had nourished the supreme ambition, to such a point indeed that he +had promised eventual triumph to his relatives in order that they might +make the necessary sacrifices for him, while since he had occupied the +pontifical throne his one will and determination had been to reign, to +reign in spite of all, to be the sole absolute and omnipotent master of +the world! And now here was reality arising with irresistible force and +confirming everything. And yet Pierre struggled, stubbornly clutching at +his dream once more. + +"Oh! Holy Father," said he, "I should be grieved indeed if his Eminence +should have a moment's worry on account of my unfortunate book. If I be +guilty I can answer for my error, but his Eminence only obeyed the +dictates of his heart and can only have transgressed by excess of love +for the disinherited of the world!" + +Leo XIII made no reply. He had again raised his superb eyes, those eyes +of ardent life, set, as it were, in the motionless countenance of an +alabaster idol; and once more he was fixedly gazing at the young priest. + +And Pierre, amidst his returning feverishness, seemed to behold him +growing in power and splendour, whilst behind him arose a vision of the +ages, a vision of that long line of popes whom the young priest had +previously evoked, the saintly and the proud ones, the warriors and the +ascetics, the theologians and the diplomatists, those who had worn +armour, those who had conquered by the Cross, those who had disposed of +empires as of mere provinces which God had committed to their charge. And +in particular Pierre beheld the great Gregory, the conqueror and founder, +and Sixtus V, the negotiator and politician, who had first foreseen the +eventual victory of the papacy over all the vanquished monarchies. Ah! +what a throng of magnificent princes, of sovereign masters with powerful +brains and arms, there was behind that pale, motionless, old man! What an +accumulation of inexhaustible determination, stubborn genius, and +boundless domination! The whole history of human ambition, the whole +effort of the ages to subject the nations to the pride of one man, the +greatest force that has ever conquered, exploited, and fashioned mankind +in the name of its happiness! And even now, when territorial sovereignty +had come to an end, how great was the spiritual sovereignty of that pale +and slender old man, in whose presence women fainted, as if overcome by +the divine splendour radiating from his person. Not only did all the +resounding glories, the masterful triumphs of history spread out behind +him, but heaven opened, the very spheres beyond life shone out in their +dazzling mystery. He--the Pope--stood at the portals of heaven, holding +the keys and opening those portals to human souls; all the ancient +symbolism was revived, freed at last from the stains of royalty here +below. + +"Oh! I beg you, Holy Father," resumed Pierre, "if an example be needed +strike none other than myself. I have come, and am here; decide my fate, +but do not aggravate my punishment by filling me with remorse at having +brought condemnation on the innocent." + +Leo XIII still refrained from replying, though he continued to look at +the young priest with burning eyes. And he, Pierre, no longer beheld Leo +XIII, the last of a long line of popes, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the +Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, the Supreme Pontiff of the +Universal Church, Patriarch of the East, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and +Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Temporal Domains of +the Holy Church; he saw the Leo XIII that he had dreamt of, the awaited +saviour who would dispel the frightful cataclysm in which rotten society +was sinking. He beheld him with his supple, lofty intelligence and +fraternal, conciliatory tactics, avoiding friction and labouring to bring +about unity whilst with his heart overflowing with love he went straight +to the hearts of the multitude, again giving the best of his blood in +sign of the new alliance. He raised him aloft as the sole remaining moral +authority, the sole possible bond of charity and peace--as the Father, in +fact, who alone could stamp out injustice among his children, destroy +misery, and re-establish the liberating Law of Work by bringing the +nations back to the faith of the primitive Church, the gentleness and the +wisdom of the true Christian community. And in the deep silence of that +room the great figure which he thus set up assumed invincible +all-powerfulness, extraordinary majesty. + +"Oh, I beseech you, Holy Father, listen to me," he said. "Do not even +strike me, strike no one, neither a being nor a thing, anything that can +suffer under the sun. Show kindness and indulgence to all, show all the +kindness and indulgence which the sight of the world's sufferings must +have set in you!" + +And then, seeing that Leo XIII still remained silent and still left him +standing there, he sank down upon his knees, as if felled by the growing +emotion which rendered his heart so heavy. And within him there was a +sort of /debacle/; all his doubts, all his anguish and sadness burst +forth in an irresistible stream. There was the memory of the frightful +day that he had just spent, the tragic death of Dario and Benedetta, +which weighed on him like lead; there were all the sufferings that he had +experienced since his arrival in Rome, the destruction of his illusions, +the wounds dealt to his delicacy, the buffets with which men and things +had responded to his young enthusiasm; and, lying yet more deeply within +his heart, there was the sum total of human wretchedness, the thought of +famished ones howling for food, of mothers whose breasts were drained and +who sobbed whilst kissing their hungry babes, of fathers without work, +who clenched their fists and revolted--indeed, the whole of that hateful +misery which is as old as mankind itself, which has preyed upon mankind +since its earliest hour, and which he now had everywhere found increasing +in horror and havoc, without a gleam of hope that it would ever be +healed. And withal, yet more immense and more incurable, he felt within +him a nameless sorrow to which he could assign no precise cause or +name--an universal, an illimitable sorrow with which he melted +despairingly, and which was perhaps the very sorrow of life. + +"O Holy Father!" he exclaimed, "I myself have no existence and my book +has no existence. I desired, passionately desired to see your Holiness +that I might explain and defend myself. But I no longer know, I can no +longer recall a single one of the things that I wished to say, I can only +weep, weep the tears which are stifling me. Yes, I am but a poor man, and +the only need I feel is to speak to you of the poor. Oh! the poor ones, +oh! the lowly ones, whom for two years past I have seen in our faubourgs +of Paris, so wretched and so full of pain; the poor little children that +I have picked out of the snow, the poor little angels who had eaten +nothing for two days; the women too, consumed by consumption, without +bread or fire, shivering in filthy hovels; and the men thrown on the +street by slackness of trade, weary of begging for work as one begs for +alms, sinking back into night, drunken with rage and harbouring the sole +avenging thought of setting the whole city afire! And that night too, +that terrible night, when in a room of horror I beheld a mother who had +just killed herself with her five little ones, she lying on a palliasse +suckling her last-born, and two little girls, two pretty little blondes, +sleeping the last sleep beside her, while the two boys had succumbed +farther away, one of them crouching against a wall, and the other lying +upon the floor, distorted as though by a last effort to avoid death!. . . +O Holy Father! I am but an ambassador, the messenger of those who suffer +and who sob, the humble delegate of the humble ones who die of want +beneath the hateful harshness, the frightful injustice of our present-day +social system! And I bring your Holiness their tears, and I lay their +tortures at your Holiness's feet, I raise their cry of woe, like a cry +from the abyss, that cry which demands justice unless indeed the very +heavens are to fall! Oh! show your loving kindness, Holy Father, show +compassion!" + +The young man had stretched out his arms and implored Leo XIII with a +gesture as of supreme appeal to the divine compassion. Then he continued: +"And here, Holy Father, in this splendid and eternal Rome, is not the +want and misery as frightful! During the weeks that I have roamed hither +and thither among the dust of famous ruins, I have never ceased to come +in contact with evils which demand cure. Ah! to think of all that is +crumbling, all that is expiring, the agony of so much glory, the fearful +sadness of a world which is dying of exhaustion and hunger! Yonder, under +your Holiness's windows, have I not seen a district of horrors, a +district of unfinished palaces stricken like rickety children who cannot +attain to full growth, palaces which are already in ruins and have become +places of refuge for all the woeful misery of Rome? And here, as in +Paris, what a suffering multitude, what a shameless exhibition too of the +social sore, the devouring cancer openly tolerated and displayed in utter +heedlessness! There are whole families leading idle and hungry lives in +the splendid sunlight; fathers waiting for work to fall to them from +heaven; sons listlessly spending their days asleep on the dry grass; +mothers and daughters, withered before their time, shuffling about in +loquacious idleness. O Holy Father, already to-morrow at dawn may your +Holiness open that window yonder and with your benediction awaken that +great childish people, which still slumbers in ignorance and poverty! May +your Holiness give it the soul it lacks, a soul with the consciousness of +human dignity, of the necessary law of work, of free and fraternal life +regulated by justice only! Yes, may your Holiness make a people out of +that heap of wretches, whose excuse lies in all their bodily suffering +and mental night, who live like the beasts that go by and die, never +knowing nor understanding, yet ever lashed onward with the whip!" + +Pierre's sobs were gradually choking him, and it was only the impulse of +his passion which still enabled him to speak. "And, Holy Father," he +continued, "is it not to you that I ought to address myself in the name +of all these wretched ones? Are you not the Father, and is it not before +the Father that the messenger of the poor and the lowly should kneel as I +am kneeling now? And is it not to the Father that he should bring the +huge burden of their sorrows and ask for pity and help and justice? Yes, +particularly for justice! And since you are the Father throw the doors +wide open so that all may enter, even the humblest of your children, the +faithful, the chance passers, even the rebellious ones and those who have +gone astray but who will perhaps enter and whom you will save from the +errors of abandonment! Be as the house of refuge on the dangerous road, +the loving greeter of the wayfarer, the lamp of hospitality which ever +burns, and is seen afar off and saves one in the storm! And since, O +Father, you are power be salvation also! You can do all; you have +centuries of domination behind you; you have nowadays risen to a moral +authority which has rendered you the arbiter of the world; you are there +before me like the very majesty of the sun which illumines and +fructifies! Oh! be the star of kindness and charity, be the redeemer; +take in hand once more the purpose of Jesus, which has been perverted by +being left in the hands of the rich and the powerful who have ended by +transforming the work of the Gospel into the most hateful of all +monuments of pride and tyranny! And since the work has been spoilt, take +it in hand, begin it afresh, place yourself on the side of the little +ones, the lowly ones, the poor ones, and bring them back to the peace, +the fraternity, and the justice of the original Christian communion. And +say, O Father, that I have understood you, that I have sincerely +expressed in this respect your most cherished ideas, the sole living +desire of your reign! The rest, oh! the rest, my book, myself, what +matter they! I do not defend myself, I only seek your glory and the +happiness of mankind. Say that from the depths of this Vatican you have +heard the rending of our corrupt modern societies! Say that you have +quivered with loving pity, say that you desire to prevent the awful +impending catastrophe by recalling the Gospel to the hearts of your +children who are stricken with madness, and by bringing them back to the +age of simplicity and purity when the first Christians lived together in +innocent brotherhood! Yes, it is for that reason, is it not, that you +have placed yourself, Father, on the side of the poor, and for that +reason I am here and entreat you for pity and kindness and justice with +my whole soul!" + +Then the young man gave way beneath his emotion, and fell all of a heap +upon the floor amidst a rush of sobs--loud, endless sobs, which flowed +forth in billows, coming as it were not only from himself but from all +the wretched, from the whole world in whose veins sorrow coursed mingled +with the very blood of life. He was there as the ambassador of suffering, +as he had said. And indeed, at the foot of that mute and motionless pope, +he was like the personification of the whole of human woe. + +Leo XIII, who was extremely fond of talking and could only listen to +others with an effort, had twice raised one of his pallid hands to +interrupt the young priest. Then, gradually overcome by astonishment, +touched by emotion himself, he had allowed him to continue, to go on to +the end of his outburst. A little blood even had suffused the snowy +whiteness of the Pontiff's face whilst his eyes shone out yet more +brilliantly. And as soon as he saw the young man speechless at his feet, +shaken by those sobs which seemed to be wrenching away his heart, he +became anxious and leant forward: "Calm yourself, my son, raise +yourself," he said. + +But the sobs still continued, still flowed forth, all reason and respect +being swept away amidst that distracted plaint of a wounded soul, that +moan of suffering, dying flesh. + +"Raise yourself, my son, it is not proper," repeated Leo XIII. "There, +take that chair." And with a gesture of authority he at last invited the +young man to sit down. + +Pierre rose with pain, and at once seated himself in order that he might +not fall. He brushed his hair back from his forehead, and wiped his +scalding tears away with his hands, unable to understand what had just +happened, but striving to regain his self-possession. + +"You appeal to the Holy Father," said Leo XIII. "Ah! rest assured that +his heart is full of pity and affection for those who are unfortunate. +But that is not the point, it is our holy religion which is in question. +I have read your book, a bad book, I tell you so at once, the most +dangerous and culpable of books, precisely on account of its qualities, +the pages in which I myself felt interested. Yes, I was often fascinated, +I should not have continued my perusal had I not felt carried away, +transported by the ardent breath of your faith and enthusiasm. The +subject 'New Rome' is such a beautiful one and impassions me so much! and +certainly there is a book to be written under that title, but in a very +different spirit to yours. You think that you have understood me, my son, +that you have so penetrated yourself with my writings and actions that +you simply express my most cherished ideas. But no, no, you have not +understood me, and that is why I desired to see you, explain things to +you, and convince you." + +It was now Pierre who sat listening, mute and motionless. Yet he had only +come thither to defend himself; for three months past he had been +feverishly desiring this interview, preparing his arguments and feeling +confident of victory; and now although he heard his book spoken of as +dangerous and culpable he did not protest, did not reply with any one of +those good reasons which he had deemed so irresistible. But the fact was +that intense weariness had come upon him, the appeal that he had made, +the tears that he had shed had left him utterly exhausted. By and by, +however, he would be brave and would say what he had resolved to say. + +"People do not understand me, do not understand me!" resumed Leo XIII +with an air of impatient irritation. "It is incredible what trouble I +have to make myself understood, in France especially! Take the temporal +power for instance; how can you have fancied that the Holy See would ever +enter into any compromise on that question? Such language is unworthy of +a priest, it is the chimerical dream of one who is ignorant of the +conditions in which the papacy has hitherto lived and in which it must +still live if it does not desire to disappear. Cannot you see the +sophistry of your argument that the Church becomes the loftier the more +it frees itself from the cares of terrestrial sovereignty? A purely +spiritual royalty, a sway of charity and love, indeed, 'tis a fine +imaginative idea! But who will ensure us respect? Who will grant us the +alms of a stone on which to rest our head if we are ever driven forth and +forced to roam the highways? Who will guarantee our independence when we +are at the mercy of every state? . . . No, no! this soil of Rome is ours, +we have inherited it from the long line of our ancestors, and it is the +indestructible, eternal soil on which the Church is built, so that any +relinquishment would mean the downfall of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and +Roman Church. And, moreover, we could not relinquish it; we are bound by +our oath to God and man." + +He paused for a moment to allow Pierre to answer him. But the latter to +his stupefaction could say nothing, for he perceived that this pope spoke +as he was bound to speak. All the heavy mysterious things which had +weighed the young priest down whilst he was waiting in the ante-room, now +became more and more clearly defined. They were, indeed, the things which +he had seen and learnt since his arrival in Rome, the disillusions, the +rebuffs which he had experienced, all the many points of difference +between existing reality and imagination, whereby his dream of a return +to primitive Christianity was already half shattered. And in particular +he remembered the hour which he had spent on the dome of St. Peter's, +when, in presence of the old city of glory so stubbornly clinging to its +purple, he had realised that he was an imbecile with his idea of a purely +spiritual pope. He had that day fled from the furious shouts of the +pilgrims acclaiming the Pope-King. He had only accepted the necessity for +money, that last form of servitude still binding the Pope to earth. But +all had crumbled afterwards, when he had beheld the real Rome, the +ancient city of pride and domination where the papacy can never be +complete without the temporal power. Too many bonds, dogma, tradition, +environment, the very soil itself rendered the Church for ever immutable. +It was only in appearances that she could make concessions, and a time +would even arrive when her concessions would cease, in presence of the +impossibility of going any further without committing suicide. If his, +Pierre's, dream of a New Rome were ever to be realised, it would only be +faraway from ancient Rome. Only in some distant region could the new +Christianity arise, for Catholicism was bound to die on the spot when the +last of the popes, riveted to that land of ruins, should disappear +beneath the falling dome of St. Peter's, which would fall as surely as +the temple of Jupiter had fallen! And, as for that pope of the present +day, though he might have no kingdom, though age might have made him weak +and fragile, though his bloodless pallor might be that of some ancient +idol of wax, he none the less flared with the red passion for universal +sovereignty, he was none the less the stubborn scion of his ancestry, the +Pontifex Maximus, the Caesar Imperator in whose veins flowed the blood of +Augustus, master of the world. + +"You must be fully aware," resumed Leo XIII, "of the ardent desire for +unity which has always possessed us. We were very happy on the day when +we unified the rite, by imposing the Roman rite throughout the whole +Catholic world. This is one of our most cherished victories, for it can +do much to uphold our authority. And I hope that our efforts in the East +will end by bringing our dear brethren of the dissident communions back +to us, in the same way as I do not despair of convincing the Anglican +sects, without speaking of the other so-called Protestant sects who will +be compelled to return to the bosom of the only Church, the Catholic, +Apostolic, and Roman Church, when the times predicted by the Christ shall +be accomplished. But a thing which you did not say in your book is that +the Church can relinquish nothing whatever of dogma. On the contrary, you +seem to fancy that an agreement might be effected, concessions made on +either side, and that, my son, is a culpable thought, such language as a +priest cannot use without being guilty of a crime. No, the truth is +absolute, not a stone of the edifice shall be changed. Oh! in matters of +form, we will do whatever may be asked. We are ready to adopt the most +conciliatory courses if it be only a question of turning certain +difficulties and weighing expressions in order to facilitate agreement. . +. . Again, there is the part we have taken in contemporary socialism, and +here too it is necessary that we should be understood. Those whom you +have so well called the disinherited of the world, are certainly the +object of our solicitude. If socialism be simply a desire for justice, +and a constant determination to come to the help of the weak and the +suffering, who can claim to give more thought to the matter and work with +more energy than ourselves? Has not the Church always been the mother of +the afflicted, the helper and benefactress of the poor? We are for all +reasonable progress, we admit all new social forms which will promote +peace and fraternity. . . . Only we can but condemn that socialism which +begins by driving away God as a means of ensuring the happiness of +mankind. Therein lies simple savagery, an abominable relapse into the +primitive state in which there can only be catastrophe, conflagration, +and massacre. And that again is a point on which you have not laid +sufficient stress, for you have not shown in your book that there can be +no progress outside the pale of the Church, that she is really the only +initiatory and guiding power to whom one may surrender oneself without +fear. Indeed, and in this again you have sinned, it seemed to me as if +you set God on one side, as if for you religion lay solely in a certain +bent of the soul, a florescence of love and charity, which sufficed one +to work one's salvation. But that is execrable heresy. God is ever +present, master of souls and bodies; and religion remains the bond, the +law, the very governing power of mankind, apart from which there can only +be barbarism in this world and damnation in the next. And, once again, +forms are of no importance; it is sufficient that dogma should remain. +Thus our adhesion to the French Republic proves that we in no wise mean +to link the fate of religion to that of any form of government, however +august and ancient the latter may be. Dynasties may have done their time, +but God is eternal. Kings may perish, but God lives! And, moreover, there +is nothing anti-Christian in the republican form of government; indeed, +on the contrary, it would seem like an awakening of that Christian +commonwealth to which you have referred in some really charming pages. +The worst is that liberty at once becomes license, and that our desire +for conciliation is often very badly requited. . . . But ah! what a +wicked book you have written, my son,--with the best intentions, I am +willing to believe,--and how your silence shows that you are beginning to +recognise the disastrous consequences of your error." + +Pierre still remained silent, overcome, feeling as if his arguments would +fall against some deaf, blind, and impenetrable rock, which it was +useless to assail since nothing could enter it. And only one thing now +preoccupied him; he wondered how it was that a man of such intelligence +and such ambition had not formed a more distinct and exact idea of the +modern world. He could divine that the Pope possessed much information +and carried the map of Christendom with many of the needs, deeds, and +hopes of the nations, in his mind amidst his complicated diplomatic +enterprises; but at the same time what gaps there were in his knowledge! +The truth, no doubt, was that his personal acquaintance with the world +was confined to his brief nunciature at Brussels.* + + * That too, was in 1843-44, and the world is now utterly unlike + what it was then!--Trans. + +During his occupation of the see of Perugia, which had followed, he had +only mingled with the dawning life of young Italy. And for eighteen years +now he had been shut up in the Vatican, isolated from the rest of mankind +and communicating with the nations solely through his /entourage/, which +was often most unintelligent, most mendacious, and most treacherous. +Moreover, he was an Italian priest, a superstitious and despotic High +Pontiff, bound by tradition, subjected to the influences of race +environment, pecuniary considerations, and political necessities, not to +speak of his great pride, the conviction that he ought to be implicitly +obeyed in all things as the one sole legitimate power upon earth. Therein +lay fatal causes of mental deformity, of errors and gaps in his +extraordinary brain, though the latter certainly possessed many admirable +qualities, quickness of comprehension and patient stubbornness of will +and strength to draw conclusions and act. Of all his powers, however, +that of intuition was certainly the most wonderful, for was it not this +alone which, owing to his voluntary imprisonment, enabled him to divine +the vast evolution of humanity at the present day? He was thus keenly +conscious of the dangers surrounding him, of the rising tide of democracy +and the boundless ocean of science which threatened to submerge the +little islet where the dome of St. Peter's yet triumphed. And the object +of all his policy, of all his labour, was to conquer so that he might +reign. If he desired the unity of the Church it was in order that the +latter might become strong and inexpugnable in the contest which he +foresaw. If he preached conciliation, granting concessions in matters of +form, tolerating audacious actions on the part of American bishops, it +was because he deeply and secretly feared the dislocation of the Church, +some sudden schism which might hasten disaster. And this fear explained +his returning affection for the people, the concern which he displayed +respecting socialism, and the Christian solution which he offered to the +woes of earthly life. As Caesar was stricken low, was not the long +contest for possession of the people over, and would not the people, the +great silent multitude, speak out, and give itself to him, the Pope? He +had begun experiments with France, forsaking the lost cause of the +monarchy and recognising the Republic which he hoped might prove strong +and victorious, for in spite of everything France remained the eldest +daughter of the Church, the only Catholic nation which yet possessed +sufficient strength to restore the temporal power at some propitious +moment. And briefly Leo's desire was to reign. To reign by the support of +France since it seemed impossible to do so by the support of Germany! To +reign by the support of the people, since the people was now becoming the +master, the bestower of thrones! To reign by means even of an Italian +Republic, if only that Republic could wrest Rome from the House of Savoy +and restore her to him, a federal Republic which would make him President +of the United States of Italy pending the time when he should be +President of the United States of Europe! To reign in spite of everybody +and everything, such was his ambition, to reign over the world, even as +Augustus had reigned, Augustus whose devouring blood alone upheld this +expiring old man, yet so stubbornly clinging to power! + +"And another crime of yours, my son," resumed Leo XIII, "is that you have +dared to ask for a new religion. That is impious, blasphemous, +sacrilegious. There is but one religion in the world, our Holy Catholic +Apostolic and Roman Religion, apart from which there can be but darkness +and damnation. I quite understand that what you mean to imply is a return +to early Christianity. But the error of so-called Protestantism, so +culpable and so deplorable in its consequences, never had any other +pretext. As soon as one departs from the strict observance of dogma and +absolute respect for tradition one sinks into the most frightful +precipices. . . . Ah! schism, schism, my son, is a crime beyond +forgiveness, an assassination of the true God, a device of the loathsome +Beast of Temptation which Hell sends into the world to work the ruin of +the faithful! If your book contained nothing beyond those words 'a new +religion,' it would be necessary to destroy and burn it like so much +poison fatal in its effects upon the human soul." + +He continued at length on this subject, while Pierre recalled what Don +Vigilio had told him of those all-powerful Jesuits who at the Vatican as +elsewhere remained in the background, secretly but none the less +decisively governing the Church. Was it true then that this pope, whose +opportunist tendencies were so freely displayed, was one of them, a mere +docile instrument in their hands, though he fancied himself penetrated +with the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas? In any case, like them he +compounded with the century, made approaches to the world, and was +willing to flatter it in order that he might possess it. Never before had +Pierre so cruelly realised that the Church was now so reduced that she +could only live by dint of concessions and diplomacy. And he could at +last distinctly picture that Roman clergy which at first is so difficult +of comprehension to a French priest, that Government of the Church, +represented by the pope, the cardinals, and the prelates, whom the Deity +has appointed to govern and administer His mundane possessions--mankind +and the earth. They begin by setting that very Deity on one side, in the +depths of the tabernacle, and impose whatever dogmas they please as so +many essential truths. That the Deity exists is evident, since they +govern in His name which is sufficient for everything. And being by +virtue of their charge the masters, if they consent to sign covenants, +Concordats, it is only as matters of form; they do not observe them, and +never yield to anything but force, always reserving the principle of +their absolute sovereignty which must some day finally triumph. Pending +that day's arrival, they act as diplomatists, slowly carrying on their +work of conquest as the Deity's functionaries; and religion is but the +public homage which they pay to the Deity, and which they organise with +all the pomp and magnificence that is likely to influence the multitude. +Their only object is to enrapture and conquer mankind in order that the +latter may submit to the rule of the Deity, that is the rule of +themselves, since they are the Deity's visible representatives, expressly +delegated to govern the world. In a word, they straightway descend from +Roman law, they are still but the offspring of the old pagan soul of +Rome, and if they have lasted until now and if they rely on lasting for +ever, until the awaited hour when the empire of the world shall be +restored to them, it is because they are the direct heirs of the +purple-robed Caesars, the uninterrupted and living progeny of the blood +of Augustus. + +And thereupon Pierre felt ashamed of his tears. Ah! those poor nerves of +his, that outburst of sentiment and enthusiasm to which he had given way! +His very modesty was appalled, for he felt as if he had exhibited his +soul in utter nakedness. And so uselessly too, in that room where nothing +similar had ever been said before, and in presence of that Pontiff-King +who could not understand him. His plan of the popes reigning by means of +the poor and lowly now horrified him. His idea of the papacy going to the +people, at last rid of its former masters, seemed to him a suggestion +worthy of a wolf, for if the papacy should go to the people it would only +be to prey upon it as the others had done. And really he, Pierre, must +have been mad when he had imagined that a Roman prelate, a cardinal, a +pope, was capable of admitting a return to the Christian commonwealth, a +fresh florescence of primitive Christianity to pacify the aged nations +whom hatred consumed. Such a conception indeed was beyond the +comprehension of men who for centuries had regarded themselves as masters +of the world, so heedless and disdainful of the lowly and the suffering, +that they had at last become altogether incapable of either love or +charity.* + + * The reader should bear in mind that these remarks apply to the + Italian cardinals and prelates, whose vanity and egotism are + remarkable.--Trans. + +Leo XIII, however, was still holding forth in his full, unwearying voice. +And the young priest heard him saying: "Why did you write that page on +Lourdes which shows such a thoroughly bad spirit? Lourdes, my son, has +rendered great services to religion. To the persons who have come and +told me of the touching miracles which are witnessed at the Grotto almost +daily, I have often expressed my desire to see those miracles confirmed, +proved by the most rigorous scientific tests. And, indeed, according to +what I have read, I do not think that the most evilly disposed minds can +entertain any further doubt on the matter, for the miracles /are/ proved +scientifically in the most irrefutable manner. Science, my son, must be +God's servant. It can do nothing against Him, it is only by His grace +that it arrives at the truth. All the solutions which people nowadays +pretend to discover and which seemingly destroy dogma will some day be +recognised as false, for God's truth will remain victorious when the +times shall be accomplished. That is a very simple certainty, known even +to little children, and it would suffice for the peace and salvation of +mankind, if mankind would content itself with it. And be convinced, my +son, that faith and reason are not incompatible. Have we not got St. +Thomas who foresaw everything, explained everything, regulated +everything? Your faith has been shaken by the onslaught of the spirit of +examination, you have known trouble and anguish which Heaven has been +pleased to spare our priests in this land of ancient belief, this city of +Rome which the blood of so many martyrs has sanctified. However, we have +no fear of the spirit of examination, study St. Thomas, read him +thoroughly and your faith will return, definitive and triumphant, firmer +than ever." + +These remarks caused Pierre as much dismay as if fragments of the +celestial vault were raining on his head. O God of truth, miracles--the +miracles of Lourdes!--proved scientifically, faith in the dogmas +compatible with reason, and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas sufficient +to instil certainty into the minds of this present generation! How could +one answer that, and indeed why answer it at all? + +"Yes, yours is a most culpable and dangerous book," concluded Leo XIII; +"its very title 'New Rome' is mendacious and poisonous, and the work is +the more to be condemned as it offers every fascination of style, every +perversion of generous fancy. Briefly it is such a book that a priest, if +he conceived it in an hour of error, can have no other duty than that of +burning it in public with the very hand which traced the pages of error +and scandal." + +All at once Pierre rose up erect. He was about to exclaim: "'Tis true, I +had lost my faith, but I thought I had found it again in the compassion +which the woes of the world set in my heart. You were my last hope, the +awaited saviour. But, behold, that again is a dream, you cannot take the +work of Jesus in hand once more and pacify mankind so as to avert the +frightful fratricidal war which is preparing. You cannot leave your +throne and come along the roads with the poor and the humble to carry out +the supreme work of fraternity. Well, it is all over with you, your +Vatican and your St. Peter's. All is falling before the onslaught of the +rising multitude and growing science. You no longer exist, there are only +ruins and remnants left here." + +However, he did not speak those words. He simply bowed and said: "Holy +Father, I make my submission and reprobate my book." And as he thus +replied his voice trembled with disgust, and his open hands made a +gesture of surrender as though he were yielding up his soul. The words he +had chosen were precisely those of the required formula: /Auctor +laudabiliter se subjecit et opus reprobavit/. "The author has laudably +made his submission and reprobated his work." No error could have been +confessed, no hope could have accomplished self-destruction with loftier +despair, more sovereign grandeur. But what frightful irony: that book +which he had sworn never to withdraw, and for whose triumph he had fought +so passionately, and which he himself now denied and suppressed, not +because he deemed it guilty, but because he had just realised that it was +as futile, as chimerical as a lover's desire, a poet's dream. Ah! yes, +since he had been mistaken, since he had merely dreamed, since he had +found there neither the Deity nor the priest that he had desired for the +happiness of mankind, why should he obstinately cling to the illusion of +an awakening which was impossible! 'Twere better to fling his book on the +ground like a dead leaf, better to deny it, better to cut it away like a +dead limb that could serve no purpose whatever! + +Somewhat surprised by such a prompt victory Leo XIII raised a slight +exclamation of content. "That is well said, my son, that is well said! +You have spoken the only words that can become a priest." + +And in his evident satisfaction, he who left nothing to chance, who +carefully prepared each of his audiences, deciding beforehand what words +he would say, what gestures even he would make, unbent somewhat and +displayed real /bonhomie/. Unable to understand, mistaking the real +motives of this rebellious priest's submission, he tasted positive +delight in having so easily reduced him to silence, the more so as report +had stated the young man to be a terrible revolutionary. And thus his +Holiness felt quite proud of such a conversion. "Moreover, my son," he +said, "I did not expect less of one of your distinguished mind. There can +be no loftier enjoyment than that of owning one's error, doing penance, +and submitting." + +He had again taken the glass off the little table beside him and was +stirring the last spoonful of syrup before drinking it. And Pierre was +amazed at again finding him as he had found him at the outset, shrunken, +bereft of sovereign majesty, and simply suggestive of some aged +/bourgeois/ drinking his glass of sugared water before getting into bed. +It was as if after growing and radiating, like a planet ascending to the +zenith, he had again sunk to the level of the soil in all human +mediocrity. Again did Pierre find him puny and fragile, with the slender +neck of a little sick bird, and all those marks of senile ugliness which +rendered him so exacting with regard to his portraits, whether they were +oil paintings or photographs, gold medals, or marble busts, for of one +and the other he would say that the artist must not portray "Papa Pecci" +but Leo XIII, the great Pope, of whom he desired to leave such a lofty +image to posterity. And Pierre, after momentarily ceasing to see them, +was again embarrassed by the handkerchief which lay on the Pope's lap, +and the dirty cassock soiled by snuff. His only feelings now were +affectionate pity for such white old age, deep admiration for the +stubborn power of life which had found a refuge in those dark black eyes, +and respectful deference, such as became a worker, for that large brain +which harboured such vast projects and overflowed with such innumerable +ideas and actions. + +The audience was over, and the young man bowed low: "I thank your +Holiness for having deigned to give me such a fatherly reception," he +said. + +However, Leo XIII detained him for a moment longer, speaking to him of +France and expressing his sincere desire to see her prosperous, calm, and +strong for the greater advantage of the Church. And Pierre, during that +last moment, had a singular vision, a strange haunting fancy. As he gazed +at the Holy Father's ivory brow and thought of his great age and of his +liability to be carried off by the slightest chill, he involuntarily +recalled the scene instinct with a fierce grandeur which is witnessed +each time a pope dies. He recalled Pius IX, Giovanni Mastai, two hours +after death, his face covered by a white linen cloth, while the +pontifical family surrounded him in dismay; and then Cardinal Pecci, the +/Camerlingo/, approaching the bed, drawing aside the veil and dealing +three taps with his silver hammer on the forehead of the deceased, +repeating at each tap the call, "Giovanni! Giovanni! Giovanni!" And as +the corpse made no response, turning, after an interval of a few seconds, +and saying: "The Pope is dead!" And at the same time, yonder in the Via +Giulia Pierre pictured Cardinal Boccanera, the present /Camerlingo/, +awaiting his turn with his silver hammer, and he imagined Leo XIII, +otherwise Gioachino Pecci, dead, like his predecessor, his face covered +by a white linen cloth and his corpse surrounded by his prelates in that +very room. And he saw the /Camerlingo/ approach, draw the veil aside and +tap the ivory forehead, each time repeating the call: "Gioachino! +Gioachino! Gioachino!" Then, as the corpse did not answer, he waited for +a few seconds and turned and said "The Pope is dead!" Did Leo XIII +remember how he had thrice tapped the forehead of Pius IX, and did he +ever feel on the brow an icy dread of the silver hammer with which he had +armed his own /Camerlingo/, the man whom he knew to be his implacable +adversary, Cardinal Boccanera? + +"Go in peace, my son," at last said his Holiness by way of parting +benediction. "Your transgression will be forgiven you since you have +confessed and testify your horror for it." + +With distressful spirit, accepting humiliation as well-deserved +chastisement for his chimerical fancies, Pierre retired, stepping +backwards according to the customary ceremonial. He made three deep bows +and crossed the threshold without turning, followed by the black eyes of +Leo XIII, which never left him. Still he saw the Pope stretch his arm +towards the table to take up the newspaper which he had been reading +prior to the audience, for Leo retained a great fancy for newspapers, and +was very inquisitive as to news, though in the isolation in which he +lived he frequently made mistakes respecting the relative importance of +articles. And once more the chamber sank into deep quietude, whilst the +two lamps continued to diffuse a soft and steady light. + +In the centre of the /anticamera segreta/ Signor Squadra stood waiting +black and motionless. And on noticing that Pierre in his flurry forgot to +take his hat from the pier table, he himself discreetly fetched it and +handed it to the young priest with a silent bow. Then without any +appearance of haste, he walked ahead to conduct the visitor back to the +Sala Clementina. The endless promenade through the interminable +ante-rooms began once more, and there was still not a soul, not a sound, +not a breath. In each empty room stood the one solitary lamp, burning low +amidst a yet deeper silence than before. The wilderness seemed also to +have grown larger as the night advanced, casting its gloom over the few +articles of furniture scattered under the lofty gilded ceilings, the +thrones, the stools, the pier tables, the crucifixes, and the candelabra +which recurred in each succeeding room. And at last the Sala Clementina +which the Swiss Guards had just quitted was reached again, and Signor +Squadra, who hitherto had not turned his head, thereupon drew aside +without word or gesture, and, saluting Pierre with a last bow, allowed +him to pass on. Then he himself disappeared. + +And Pierre descended the two flights of the monumental staircase where +the gas jets in their globes of ground glass glimmered like night lights +amidst a wondrously heavy silence now that the footsteps of the sentries +no longer resounded on the landings. And he crossed the Court of St. +Damasus, empty and lifeless in the pale light of the lamps above the +steps, and descended the Scala Pia, that other great stairway as dim, +deserted, and void of life as all the rest, and at last passed beyond the +bronze door which a porter slowly shut behind him. And with what a +rumble, what a fierce roar did the hard metal close upon all that was +within; all the accumulated darkness and silence; the dead, motionless +centuries perpetuated by tradition; the indestructible idols, the dogmas, +bound round for preservation like mummies; every chain which may weigh on +one or hamper one, the whole apparatus of bondage and sovereign +domination, with whose formidable clang all the dark, deserted halls +re-echoed. + +Once more the young man found himself alone on the gloomy expanse of the +Piazza of St. Peter's. Not a single belated pedestrian was to be seen. +There was only the lofty, livid, ghost-like obelisk, emerging between its +four candelabra, from the mosaic pavement of red and serpentine porphyry. +The facade of the Basilica also showed vaguely, pale as a vision, whilst +from it on either side like a pair of giant arms stretched the quadruple +colonnade, a thicket of stone, steeped in obscurity. The dome was but a +huge roundness scarcely discernible against the moonless sky; and only +the jets of the fountains, which could at last be detected rising like +slim phantoms ever on the move, lent a voice to the silence, the endless +murmur of a plaint of sorrow coming one knew not whence. Ah! how great +was the melancholy grandeur of that slumber, that famous square, the +Vatican and St. Peter's, thus seen by night when wrapped in silence and +darkness! But suddenly the clock struck ten with so slow and loud a chime +that never, so it seemed, had more solemn and decisive an hour rung out +amidst blacker and more unfathomable gloom. All Pierre's poor weary frame +quivered at the sound as he stood motionless in the centre of the +expanse. What! had he spent barely three-quarters of an hour, chatting up +yonder with that white old man who had just wrenched all his soul away +from him! Yes, it was the final wrench; his last belief had been torn +from his bleeding heart and brain. The supreme experiment had been made, +a world had collapsed within him. And all at once he thought of Monsignor +Nani, and reflected that he alone had been right. He, Pierre, had been +told that in any case he would end by doing what Monsignor Nani might +desire, and he was now stupefied to find that he had done so. + +But sudden despair seized upon him, such atrocious distress of spirit +that, from the depths of the abyss of darkness where he stood, he raised +his quivering arms into space and spoke aloud: "No, no, Thou art not +here, O God of life and love, O God of Salvation! But come, appear since +Thy children are perishing because they know neither who Thou art, nor +where to find Thee amidst the Infinite of the worlds!" + +Above the vast square spread the vast sky of dark-blue velvet, the silent +disturbing Infinite, where the constellations palpitated. Over the roofs +of the Vatican, Charles's Wain seemed yet more tilted, its golden wheels +straying from the right path, its golden shaft upreared in the air; +whilst yonder, over Rome towards the Via Giulia, Orion was about to +disappear and already showed but one of the three golden stars which +bedecked his belt. + + + +XV + +IT was nearly daybreak when Pierre fell asleep, exhausted by emotion and +hot with fever. And at nine o'clock, when he had risen and breakfasted, +he at once wished to go down into Cardinal Boccanera's rooms where the +bodies of Dario and Benedetta had been laid in state in order that the +members of the family, its friends and clients, might bring them their +tears and prayers. + +Whilst he breakfasted, Victorine who, showing an active bravery amidst +her despair, had not been to bed at all, told him of what had taken place +in the house during the night and early morning. Donna Serafina, prude +that she was, had again made an attempt to have the bodies separated; but +this had proved an impossibility, as /rigor mortis/ had set in, and to +part the lovers it would have been necessary to break their limbs. +Moreover, the Cardinal, who had interposed once before, almost quarrelled +with his sister on the subject, unwilling as he was that any one should +disturb the lovers' last slumber, their union of eternity. Beneath his +priestly garb there coursed the blood of his race, a pride in the +passions of former times; and he remarked that if the family counted two +popes among its forerunners, it had also been rendered illustrious by +great captains and ardent lovers. Never would he allow any one to touch +those two children, whose dolorous lives had been so pure and whom the +grave alone had united. He was the master in his house, and they should +be sewn together in the same shroud, and nailed together in the same +coffin. Then too the religious service should take place at the +neighbouring church of San Carlo, of which he was Cardinal-priest and +where again he was the master. And if needful he would address himself to +the Pope. And such being his sovereign will, so authoritatively +expressed, everybody in the house had to bow submissively. + +Donna Serafina at once occupied herself with the laying-out. According to +the Roman custom the servants were present, and Victorine as the oldest +and most appreciated of them, assisted the relatives. All that could be +done in the first instance was to envelop both corpses in Benedetta's +unbound hair, thick and odorous hair, which spread out into a royal +mantle; and they were then laid together in one shroud of white silk, +fastened about their necks in such wise that they formed but one being in +death. And again the Cardinal imperatively ordered that they should be +brought into his apartments and placed on a state bed in the centre of +the throne-room, so that a supreme homage might be rendered to them as to +the last scions of the name, the two tragic lovers with whom the once +resounding glory of the Boccaneras was about to return to earth. The +story which had been arranged was already circulating through Rome; folks +related how Dario had been carried off in a few hours by infectious +fever, and how Benedetta, maddened by grief, had expired whilst clasping +him in her arms to bid him a last farewell; and there was talk too of the +royal honours which the bodies were to receive, the superb funeral +nuptials which were to be accorded them as they lay clasped on their bed +of eternal rest. All Rome, quite overcome by this tragic story of love +and death, would talk of nothing else for several weeks. + +Pierre would have started for France that same night, eager as he was to +quit the city of disaster where he had lost the last shreds of his faith, +but he desired to attend the obsequies, and therefore postponed his +departure until the following evening. And thus he would spend one more +day in that old crumbling palace, near the corpse of that unhappy young +woman to whom he had been so much attached and for whom he would try to +find some prayers in the depths of his empty and lacerated heart. + +When he reached the threshold of the Cardinal's reception-rooms, he +suddenly remembered his first visit to them. They still presented the +same aspect of ancient princely pomp falling into decay and dust. The +doors of the three large ante-rooms were wide open, and the rooms +themselves were at that early hour still empty. In the first one, the +servants' anteroom, there was nobody but Giacomo who stood motionless in +his black livery in front of the old red hat hanging under the +/baldacchino/ where spiders spun their webs between the crumbling +tassels. In the second room, which the secretary formerly had occupied, +Abbe Paparelli, the train-bearer, was softly walking up and down whilst +waiting for visitors; and with his conquering humility, his all-powerful +obsequiousness, he had never before so closely resembled an old maid, +whitened and wrinkled by excess of devout observances. Finally, in the +third ante-room, the /anticamera nobile/, where the red cap lay on a +credence facing the large imperious portrait of the Cardinal in +ceremonial costume, there was Don Vigilio who had left his little +work-table to station himself at the door of the throne-room and there +bow to those who crossed the threshold. And on that gloomy winter morning +the rooms appeared more mournful and dilapidated than ever, the hangings +frayed and ragged, the few articles of furniture covered with dust, the +old wood-work crumbling beneath the continuous onslaught of worms, and +the ceilings alone retaining their pompous show of gilding and painting. + +However, Pierre, to whom Abbe Paparelli addressed a profound bow, in +which one divined the irony of a sort of dismissal given to one who was +vanquished, felt more impressed by the mournful grandeur which those +three dilapidated rooms presented that day, conducting as they did to the +old throne-room, now a chamber of death, where the two last children of +the house slept their last sleep. What a superb and sorrowful /gala/ of +death! Every door wide open and all the emptiness of those over-spacious +rooms, void of the throngs of ancient days and leading to the supreme +affliction--the end of a race! The Cardinal had shut himself up in his +little work-room where he received the relatives and intimates who +desired to present their condolences to him, whilst Donna Serafina had +chosen an adjoining apartment to await her lady friends who would come in +procession until evening. And Pierre, informed of the ceremonial by +Victorine, had in the first place to enter the throne-room, greeted as he +passed by a deep bow from Don Vigilio who, pale and silent, did not seem +to recognise him. + +A surprise awaited the young priest. He had expected such a +lying-in-state as is seen in France and elsewhere, all windows closed so +as to steep the room in night, and hundreds of candles burning round a +/catafalco/, whilst from ceiling to floor the walls were hung with black +drapery. He had been told that the bodies would lie in the throne-room +because the antique chapel on the ground floor of the palazzo had been +shut up for half a century and was in no condition to be used, whilst the +Cardinal's little private chapel was altogether too small for any such +ceremony. And thus it had been necessary to improvise an altar in the +throne-room, an altar at which masses had been said ever since dawn. +Masses and other religious services were moreover to be celebrated all +day long in the private chapel; and two additional altars had even been +set up, one in a small room adjoining the /anticamera nobile/ and the +other in a sort of alcove communicating with the second anteroom: and in +this wise priests, Franciscans, and members of other Orders bound by the +vow of poverty, would simultaneously and without intermission celebrate +the divine sacrifice on those four altars. The Cardinal, indeed, had +desired that the Divine Blood should flow without pause under his roof +for the redemption of those two dear souls which had flown away together. +And thus in that mourning mansion, through those funeral halls the bells +scarcely stopped tinkling for the elevation of the host, whilst the +quivering murmur of Latin words ever continued, and consecrated wafers +were continually broken and chalices drained, in such wise that the +Divine Presence could not for a moment quit the heavy atmosphere all +redolent of death. + +On the other hand, however, Pierre, to his great astonishment, found the +throne-room much as it had been on the day of his first visit. The +curtains of the four large windows had not even been drawn, and the grey, +cold, subdued light of the gloomy winter morning freely entered. Under +the ceiling of carved and gilded wood-work there were the customary red +wall-hangings of /brocatelle/, worn away by long usage; and there was the +old throne with the arm-chair turned to the wall, uselessly waiting for a +visit from the Pope which would never more come. The principal changes in +the aspect of the room were that its seats and tables had been removed, +and that, in addition to the improvised altar arranged beside the throne, +it now contained the state bed on which lay the bodies of Benedetta and +Dario, amidst a profusion of flowers. The bed stood in the centre of the +room on a low platform, and at its head were two lighted candles, one on +either side. There was nothing else, nothing but that wealth of flowers, +such a harvest of white roses that one wondered in what fairy garden they +had been culled, sheaves of them on the bed, sheaves of them toppling +from the bed, sheaves of them covering the step of the platform, and +falling from that step on to the magnificent marble paving of the room. + +Pierre drew near to the bed, his heart faint with emotion. Those tapers +whose little yellow flamelets scarcely showed in the pale daylight, that +continuous low murmur of the mass being said at the altar, that +penetrating perfume of roses which rendered the atmosphere so heavy, +filled the antiquated, dusty room with a spirit of infinite woe, a +lamentation of boundless mourning. And there was not a gesture, not a +word spoken, save by the priest officiating at the altar, nothing but an +occasional faint sound of stifled sobbing among the few persons present. +Servants of the house constantly relieved one another, four always +standing erect and motionless at the head of the bed, like faithful, +familiar guards. From time to time Consistorial-Advocate Morano who, +since early morning had been attending to everything, crossed the room +with a silent step and the air of a man in a hurry. And at the edge of +the platform all who entered, knelt, prayed, and wept. Pierre perceived +three ladies there, their faces hidden by their handkerchiefs; and there +was also an old priest who trembled with grief and hung his head in such +wise that his face could not be distinguished. However, the young man was +most moved by the sight of a poorly clad girl, whom he took for a +servant, and whom sorrow had utterly prostrated on the marble slabs. + +Then in his turn he knelt down, and with the professional murmur of the +lips sought to repeat the Latin prayers which, as a priest, he had so +often said at the bedside of the departed. But his growing emotion +confused his memory, and he became wrapt in contemplation of the lovers +whom his eyes were unable to quit. Under the wealth of flowers which +covered them the clasped bodies could scarcely be distinguished, but the +two heads emerged from the silken shroud, and lying there on the same +cushion, with their hair mingling, they were still beautiful, beautiful +as with satisfied passion. Benedetta had kept her divinely gay, loving, +and faithful face for eternity, transported with rapture at having +rendered up her last breath in a kiss of love; whilst Dario retained a +more dolorous expression amidst his final joy. And their eyes were still +wide open, gazing at one another with a persistent and caressing +sweetness which nothing would ever more disturb. + +Oh! God, was it true that yonder lay that Benedetta whom he, Pierre, had +loved with such pure, brotherly affection? He was stirred to the very +depths of his soul by the recollection of the delightful hours which he +had spent with her. She had been so beautiful, so sensible, yet so full +of passion! And he had indulged in so beautiful a dream, that of +animating with his own liberating fraternal feelings that admirable +creature with soul of fire and indolent air, in whom he had pictured all +ancient Rome, and whom he would have liked to awaken and win over to the +Italy of to-morrow. He had dreamt of enlarging her brain and heart by +filling her with love for the lowly and the poor, with all present-day +compassion for things and beings. How he would now have smiled at such a +dream had not his tears been flowing! Yet how charming she had shown +herself in striving to content him despite the invincible obstacles of +race, education, and environment. She had been a docile pupil, but was +incapable of any real progress. One day she had certainly seemed to draw +nearer to him, as though her own sufferings had opened her soul to every +charity; but the illusion of happiness had come back, and then she had +lost all understanding of the woes of others, and had gone off in the +egotism of her own hope and joy. Did that mean then that this Roman race +must finish in that fashion, beautiful as it still often is, and fondly +adored but so closed to all love for others, to those laws of charity and +justice which, by regulating labour, can henceforth alone save this world +of ours? + +Then there came another great sorrow to Pierre which left him stammering, +unable to speak any precise prayer. He thought of the overwhelming +reassertion of Nature's powers which had attended the death of those two +poor children. Was it not awful? To have taken that vow to the Virgin, to +have endured torment throughout life, and to end by plunging into death, +on the loved one's neck, distracted by vain regret and eager for +self-bestowal! The brutal fact of impending separation had sufficed for +Benedetta to realise how she had duped herself, and to revert to the +universal instinct of love. And therein, again once more, was the Church +vanquished; therein again appeared the great god Pan, mating the sexes +and scattering life around! If in the days of the Renascence the Church +did not fall beneath the assault of the Venuses and Hercules then exhumed +from the old soil of Rome, the struggle at all events continued as +bitterly as ever; and at each and every hour new nations, overflowing +with sap, hungering for life, and warring against a religion which was +nothing more than an appetite for death, threatened to sweep away that +old Holy Apostolic Roman and Catholic edifice whose walls were already +tottering on all sides. + +And at that moment Pierre felt that the death of that adorable Benedetta +was for him the supreme disaster. He was still looking at her and tears +were scorching his eyes. She was carrying off his chimera. This time +'twas really the end. Rome the Catholic and the Princely was dead, lying +there like marble on that funeral bed. She had been unable to go to the +humble, the suffering ones of the world, and had just expired amidst the +impotent cry of her egotistical passion when it was too late either to +love or to create. Never more would children be born of her, the old +Roman house was henceforth empty, sterile, beyond possibility of +awakening. Pierre whose soul mourned such a splendid dream, was so +grieved at seeing her thus motionless and frigid, that he felt himself +fainting. He feared lest he might fall upon the step beside the bed, and +so struggled to his feet and drew aside. + +Then, as he sought refuge in a window recess in order that he might try +to recover self-possession, he was astonished to perceive Victorine +seated there on a bench which the hangings half concealed. She had come +thither by Donna Serafina's orders, and sat watching her two dear +children as she called them, whilst keeping an eye upon all who came in +and went out. And, on seeing the young priest so pale and nearly +swooning, she at once made room for him to sit down beside her. "Ah!" he +murmured after drawing a long breath, "may they at least have the joy of +being together elsewhere, of living a new life in another world." + +Victorine, however, shrugged her shoulders, and in an equally low voice +responded, "Oh! live again, Monsieur l'Abbe, why? When one's dead the +best is to remain so and to sleep. Those poor children had enough +torments on earth, one mustn't wish that they should begin again +elsewhere." + +This naive yet deep remark on the part of an ignorant unbelieving woman +sent a shudder through Pierre's very bones. To think that his own teeth +had chattered with fear at night time at the sudden thought of +annihilation. He deemed her heroic at remaining so undisturbed by any +ideas of eternity and the infinite. And she, as she felt he was +quivering, went on: "What can you suppose there should be after death? +We've deserved a right to sleep, and nothing to my thinking can be more +desirable and consoling." + +"But those two did not live," murmured Pierre, "so why not allow oneself +the joy of believing that they now live elsewhere, recompensed for all +their torments?" + +Victorine, however, again shook her head; "No, no," she replied. "Ah! I +was quite right in saying that my poor Benedetta did wrong in torturing +herself with all those superstitious ideas of hers when she was really so +fond of her lover. Yes, happiness is rarely found, and how one regrets +having missed it when it's too late to turn back! That's the whole story +of those poor little ones. It's too late for them, they are dead." Then +in her turn she broke down and began to sob. "Poor little ones! poor +little ones! Look how white they are, and think what they will be when +only the bones of their heads lie side by side on the cushion, and only +the bones of their arms still clasp one another. Ah! may they sleep, may +they sleep; at least they know nothing and feel nothing now." + +A long interval of silence followed. Pierre, amidst the quiver of his own +doubts, the anxious desire which in common with most men he felt for a +new life beyond the grave, gazed at this woman who did not find priests +to her fancy, and who retained all her Beauceronne frankness of speech, +with the tranquil, contented air of one who has ever done her duty in her +humble station as a servant, lost though she had been for five and twenty +years in a land of wolves, whose language she had not even been able to +learn. Ah! yes, tortured as the young man was by his doubts, he would +have liked to be as she was, a well-balanced, healthy, ignorant creature +who was quite content with what the world offered, and who, when she had +accomplished her daily task, went fully satisfied to bed, careless as to +whether she might never wake again! + +However, as Pierre's eyes once more sought the state bed, he suddenly +recognised the old priest, who was kneeling on the step of the platform, +and whose features he had hitherto been unable to distinguish. "Isn't +that Abbe Pisoni, the priest of Santa Brigida, where I sometimes said +mass?" he inquired. "The poor old man, how he weeps!" + +In her quiet yet desolate voice Victorine replied, "He has good reason to +weep. He did a fine thing when he took it into his head to marry my poor +Benedetta to Count Prada. All those abominations would never have +happened if the poor child had been given her Dario at once. But in this +idiotic city they are all mad with their politics; and that old priest, +who is none the less a very worthy man, thought he had accomplished a +real miracle and saved the world by marrying the Pope and the King as he +said with a soft laugh, poor old /savant/ that he is, who for his part +has never been in love with anything but old stones--you know, all that +antiquated rubbish of theirs of a hundred thousand years ago. And now, +you see, he can't keep from weeping. The other one too came not twenty +minutes ago, Father Lorenza, the Jesuit who became the Contessina's +confessor after Abbe Pisoni, and who undid what the other had done. Yes, +a handsome man he is, but a fine bungler all the same, a perfect killjoy +with all the crafty hindrances which he brought into that divorce affair. +I wish you had been here to see what a big sign of the cross he made +after he had knelt down. He didn't cry, he didn't: he seemed to be saying +that as things had ended so badly it was evident that God had withdrawn +from all share in the business. So much the worse for the dead!" + +Victorine spoke gently and without a pause, as it relieved her, to empty +her heart after the terrible hours of bustle and suffocation which she +had spent since the previous day. "And that one yonder," she resumed in a +lower voice, "don't you recognise her?" + +She glanced towards the poorly clad girl whom Pierre had taken for a +servant, and whom intensity of grief had prostrated beside the bed. With +a gesture of awful suffering this girl had just thrown back her head, a +head of extraordinary beauty, enveloped by superb black hair. + +"La Pierina!" said Pierre. "Ah! poor girl." + +Victorine made a gesture of compassion and tolerance. + +"What would you have?" said she, "I let her come up. I don't know how she +heard of the trouble, but it's true that she is always prowling round the +house. She sent and asked me to come down to her, and you should have +heard her sob and entreat me to let her see her Prince once more! Well, +she does no harm to anybody there on the floor, looking at them both with +her beautiful loving eyes full of tears. She's been there for half an +hour already, and I had made up my mind to turn her out if she didn't +behave properly. But since she's so quiet and doesn't even move, she may +well stop and fill her heart with the sight of them for her whole life +long." + +It was really sublime to see that ignorant, passionate, beautiful Pierina +thus overwhelmed below the nuptial couch on which the lovers slept for +all eternity. She had sunk down on her heels, her arms hanging heavily +beside her, and her hands open. And with raised face, motionless as in an +ecstasy of suffering, she did not take her eyes from that adorable and +tragic pair. Never had human face displayed such beauty, such a dazzling +splendour of suffering and love; never had there been such a portrayal of +ancient Grief, not however cold like marble but quivering with life. What +was she thinking of, what were her sufferings, as she thus fixedly gazed +at her Prince now and for ever locked in her rival's arms? Was it some +jealousy which could have no end that chilled the blood of her veins? Or +was it mere suffering at having lost him, at realising that she was +looking at him for the last time, without thought of hatred for that +other woman who vainly sought to warm him with her arms as icy cold as +his own? There was still a soft gleam in the poor girl's blurred eyes, +and her lips were still lips of love though curved in bitterness by +grief. She found the lovers so pure and beautiful as they lay there +amidst that profusion of flowers! And beautiful herself, beautiful like a +queen, ignorant of her own charms, she remained there breathless, a +humble servant, a loving slave as it were, whose heart had been wrenched +away and carried off by her dying master. + +People were now constantly entering the room, slowly approaching with +mournful faces, then kneeling and praying for a few minutes, and +afterwards retiring with the same mute, desolate mien. A pang came to +Pierre's heart when he saw Dario's mother, the ever beautiful Flavia, +enter, accompanied by her husband, the handsome Jules Laporte, that +ex-sergeant of the Swiss Guard whom she had turned into a Marquis +Montefiori. Warned of the tragedy directly it had happened, she had +already come to the mansion on the previous evening; but now she returned +in grand ceremony and full mourning, looking superb in her black garments +which were well suited to her massive, Juno-like style of beauty. When +she had approached the bed with a queenly step, she remained for a moment +standing with two tears at the edges of her eyelids, tears which did not +fall. Then, at the moment of kneeling, she made sure that Jules was +beside her, and glanced at him as if to order him to kneel as well. They +both sank down beside the platform and remained in prayer for the proper +interval, she very dignified in her grief and he even surpassing her, +with the perfect sorrow-stricken bearing of a man who knew how to conduct +himself in every circumstance of life, even the gravest. And afterwards +they rose together, and slowly betook themselves to the entrance of the +private apartments where the Cardinal and Donna Serafina were receiving +their relatives and friends. + +Five ladies then came in one after the other, while two Capuchins and the +Spanish ambassador to the Holy See went off. And Victorine, who for a few +minutes had remained silent, suddenly resumed. "Ah! there's the little +Princess, she's much afflicted too, and, no wonder, she was so fond of +our Benedetta." + +Pierre himself had just noticed Celia coming in. She also had attired +herself in full mourning for this abominable visit of farewell. Behind +her was a maid, who carried on either arm a huge sheaf of white roses. + +"The dear girl!" murmured Victorine, "she wanted her wedding with her +Attilio to take place on the same day as that of the poor lovers who lie +there. And they, alas! have forestalled her, their wedding's over; there +they sleep in their bridal bed." + +Celia had at once crossed herself and knelt down beside the bed, but it +was evident that she was not praying. She was indeed looking at the +lovers with desolate stupefaction at finding them so white and cold with +a beauty as of marble. What! had a few hours sufficed, had life departed, +would those lips never more exchange a kiss! She could again see them at +the ball of that other night, so resplendent and triumphant with their +living love. And a feeling of furious protest rose from her young heart, +so open to life, so eager for joy and sunlight, so angry with the hateful +idiocy of death. And her anger and affright and grief, as she thus found +herself face to face with the annihilation which chills every passion, +could be read on her ingenuous, candid, lily-like face. She herself stood +on the threshold of a life of passion of which she yet knew nothing, and +behold! on that very threshold she encountered the corpses of those +dearly loved ones, the loss of whom racked her soul with grief. + +She gently closed her eyes and tried to pray, whilst big tears fell from +under her lowered eyelids. Some time went by amidst the quivering +silence, which only the murmur of the mass near by disturbed. At last she +rose and took the sheaves of flowers from her maid; and standing on the +platform she hesitated for a moment, then placed the roses to the right +and left of the cushion on which the lovers' heads were resting, as if +she wished to crown them with those blossoms, perfume their young brows +with that sweet and powerful aroma. Then, though her hands remained empty +she did not retire, but remained there leaning over the dead ones, +trembling and seeking what she might yet say to them, what she might +leave them of herself for ever more. An inspiration came to her, and she +stooped forward, and with her whole, deep, loving soul set a long, long +kiss on the brow of either spouse. + +"Ah! the dear girl!" said Victorine, whose tears were again flowing. "You +saw that she kissed them, and nobody had yet thought of that, not even +the poor young Prince's mother. Ah! the dear little heart, she surely +thought of her Attilio." + +However, as Celia turned to descend from the platform she perceived La +Pierina, whose figure was still thrown back in an attitude of mute and +dolorous adoration. And she recognised the girl and melted with pity on +seeing such a fit of sobbing come over her that her whole body, her +goddess-like hips and bosom, shook as with frightful anguish. That agony +of love quite upset the little Princess, and she could be heard murmuring +in a tone of infinite compassion, "Calm yourself, my dear, calm yourself. +Be reasonable, my dear, I beg you." + +Then as La Pierina, thunderstruck at thus being pitied and succoured, +began to sob yet more loudly so as to create quite a stir in the room, +Celia raised her and held her up with both arms, for fear lest she should +fall again. And she led her away in a sisterly clasp, like a sister of +affection and despair, lavishing the most gentle, consoling words upon +her as they went. + +"Follow them, go and see what becomes of them," Victorine said to Pierre. +"I do not want to stir from here, it quiets me to watch over my two poor +children." + +A Capuchin was just beginning a fresh mass at the improvised altar, and +the low Latin psalmody went on again, while in the adjoining +ante-chamber, where another mass was being celebrated, a bell was heard +tinkling for the elevation of the host. The perfume of the flowers was +becoming more violent and oppressive amidst the motionless and mournful +atmosphere of the spacious throne-room. The four servants standing at the +head of the bed, as for a /gala/ reception, did not stir, and the +procession of visitors ever continued, men and women entering in silence, +suffocating there for a moment, and then withdrawing, carrying away with +them the never-to-be-forgotten vision of the two tragic lovers sleeping +their eternal sleep. + +Pierre joined Celia and La Pierina in the /anticamera nobile/, where +stood Don Vigilio. The few seats belonging to the throne-room had there +been placed in a corner, and the little Princess had just compelled the +work-girl to sit down in an arm-chair, in order that she might recover +self-possession. Celia was in ecstasy before her, enraptured at finding +her so beautiful, more beautiful than any other, as she said. Then she +spoke of the two dead ones, who also had seemed to her very beautiful, +endowed with an extraordinary beauty, at once superb and sweet; and +despite all her tears, she still remained in a transport of admiration. +On speaking with La Pierina, Pierre learnt that her brother Tito was at +the hospital in great danger from the effects of a terrible knife thrust +dealt him in the side; and since the beginning of the winter, said the +girl, the misery in the district of the castle fields had become +frightful. It was a source of great suffering to every one, and those +whom death carried off had reason to rejoice. + +Celia, however, with a gesture of invincible hopefulness, brushed all +idea of suffering, even of death, aside. "No, no, we must live," she +said. "And beauty is sufficient for life. Come, my dear, do not remain +here, do not weep any more; live for the delight of being beautiful." + +Then she led La Pierina away, and Pierre remained seated in one of the +arm-chairs, overcome by such sorrow and weariness that he would have +liked to remain there for ever. Don Vigilio was still bowing to each +fresh visitor that arrived. A severe attack of fever had come on him +during the night, and he was shivering from it, with his face very +yellow, and his eyes ablaze and haggard. He constantly glanced at Pierre, +as if anxious to speak to him, but his dread lest he should be seen by +Abbe Paparelli, who stood in the next ante-room, the door of which was +wide open, doubtless restrained him, for he did not cease to watch the +train-bearer. At last the latter was compelled to absent himself for a +moment, and the secretary thereupon approached the young Frenchman. + +"You saw his Holiness last night," he said; and as Pierre gazed at him in +stupefaction he added: "Oh! everything gets known, I told you so before. +Well, and you purely and simply withdrew your book, did you not?" The +young priest's increasing stupor was sufficient answer, and without +leaving him time to reply, Don Vigilio went on: "I suspected it, but I +wished to make certain. Ah! that's just the way they work! Do you believe +me now, have you realised that they stifle those whom they don't poison?" + +He was no doubt referring to the Jesuits. However, after glancing into +the adjoining room to make sure that Abbe Paparelli had not returned +thither, he resumed: "And what has Monsignor Nani just told you?" + +"But I have not yet seen Monsignor Nani," was Pierre's reply. + +"Oh! I thought you had. He passed through before you arrived. If you did +not see him in the throne-room he must have gone to pay his respects to +Donna Serafina and his Eminence. However, he will certainly pass this way +again; you will see him by and by." Then with the bitterness of one who +was weak, ever terror-smitten and vanquished, Don Vigilio added: "I told +you that you would end by doing what Monsignor Nani desired." + +With these words, fancying that he heard the light footfall of Abbe +Paparelli, he hastily returned to his place and bowed to two old ladies +who just then walked in. And Pierre, still seated, overcome, his eyes +wearily closing, at last saw the figure of Nani arise before him in all +its reality so typical of sovereign intelligence and address. He +remembered what Don Vigilio, on the famous night of his revelations, had +told him of this man who was far too shrewd to have labelled himself, so +to say, with an unpopular robe, and who, withal, was a charming prelate +with thorough knowledge of the world, acquired by long experience at +different nunciatures and at the Holy Office, mixed up in everything, +informed with regard to everything, one of the heads, one of the chief +minds in fact of that modern black army, which by dint of Opportunism +hopes to bring this century back to the Church. And all at once, full +enlightenment fell on Pierre, he realised by what supple, clever strategy +that man had led him to the act which he desired of him, the pure and +simple withdrawal of his book, accomplished with every appearance of free +will. First there had been great annoyance on Nani's part on learning +that the book was being prosecuted, for he feared lest its excitable +author might be prompted to some dangerous revolt; then plans had at once +been formed, information had been collected concerning this young priest +who seemed so capable of schism, he had been urged to come to Rome, +invited to stay in an ancient mansion whose very walls would chill and +enlighten him. And afterwards had come the ever recurring obstacles, the +system of prolonging his sojourn in Rome by preventing him from seeing +the Pope, but promising him the much-desired interview when the proper +time should come, that is after he had been sent hither and thither and +brought into collision with one and all. And finally, when every one and +everything had shaken, wearied, and disgusted him, and he was restored +once more to his old doubts, there had come the audience for which he had +undergone all this preparation, that visit to the Pope which was destined +to shatter whatever remained to him of his dream. Pierre could picture +Nani smiling at him and speaking to him, declaring that the repeated +delays were a favour of Providence, which would enable him to visit Rome, +study and understand things, reflect, and avoid blunders. How delicate +and how profound had been the prelate's diplomacy in thus crushing his +feelings beneath his reason, appealing to his intelligence to suppress +his work without any scandalous struggle as soon as his knowledge of the +real Rome should have shown him how supremely ridiculous it was to dream +of a new one! + +At that moment Pierre perceived Nani in person just coming from the +throne-room, and did not feel the irritation and rancour which he had +anticipated. On the contrary he was glad when the prelate, in his turn +seeing him, drew near and held out his hand. Nani, however, did not wear +his wonted smile, but looked very grave, quite grief-stricken. "Ah! my +dear son," he said, "what a frightful catastrophe! I have just left his +Eminence, he is in tears. It is horrible, horrible!" + +He seated himself on one of the chairs, inviting the young priest, who +had risen, to do the same; and for a moment he remained silent, weary +with emotion no doubt, and needing a brief rest to free himself of the +weight of thoughts which visibly darkened his usually bright face. Then, +with a gesture, he strove to dismiss that gloom, and recover his amiable +cordiality. "Well, my dear son," he began, "you saw his Holiness?" + +"Yes, Monseigneur, yesterday evening; and I thank you for your great +kindness in satisfying my desire." + +Nani looked at him fixedly, and his invincible smile again returned to +his lips. "You thank me. . . . I can well see that you behaved sensibly +and laid your full submission at his Holiness's feet. I was certain of +it, I did not expect less of your fine intelligence. But, all the same, +you render me very happy, for I am delighted to find that I was not +mistaken concerning you." And then, setting aside his reserve, the +prelate went on: "I never discussed things with you. What would have been +the good of it, since facts were there to convince you? And now that you +have withdrawn your book a discussion would be still more futile. +However, just reflect that if it were possible for you to bring the +Church back to her early period, to that Christian community which you +have sketched so delightfully, she could only again follow the same +evolutions as those in which God the first time guided her; so that, at +the end of a similar number of centuries, she would find herself exactly +in the position which she occupies to-day. No, what God has done has been +well done, the Church such as she is must govern the world, such as it +is; it is for her alone to know how she will end by firmly establishing +her reign here below. And this is why your attack upon the temporal power +was an unpardonable fault, a crime even, for by dispossessing the papacy +of her domains you hand her over to the mercy of the nations. Your new +religion is but the final downfall of all religion, moral anarchy, the +liberty of schism, in a word, the destruction of the divine edifice, that +ancient Catholicism which has shown such prodigious wisdom and solidity, +which has sufficed for the salvation of mankind till now, and will alone +be able to save it to-morrow and always." + +Pierre felt that Nani was sincere, pious even, and really unshakable in +his faith, loving the Church like a grateful son, and convinced that she +was the only social organisation which could render mankind happy. And if +he were bent on governing the world, it was doubtless for the pleasure of +governing, but also in the conviction that no one could do so better than +himself. + +"Oh! certainly," said he, "methods are open to discussion. I desire them +to be as affable and humane as possible, as conciliatory as can be with +this present century, which seems to be escaping us, precisely because +there is a misunderstanding between us. But we shall bring it back, I am +sure of it. And that is why, my dear son, I am so pleased to see you +return to the fold, thinking as we think, and ready to battle on our +side, is that not so?" + +In Nani's words the young priest once more found the arguments of Leo +XIII. Desiring to avoid a direct reply, for although he now felt no anger +the wrenching away of his dream had left him a smarting wound, he bowed, +and replied slowly in order to conceal the bitter tremble of his voice: +"I repeat, Monseigneur, that I deeply thank you for having amputated my +vain illusions with the skill of an accomplished surgeon. A little later, +when I shall have ceased to suffer, I shall think of you with eternal +gratitude." + +Monsignor Nani still looked at him with a smile. He fully understood that +this young priest would remain on one side, that as an element of +strength he was lost to the Church. What would he do now? Something +foolish no doubt. However, the prelate had to content himself with having +helped him to repair his first folly; he could not foresee the future. +And he gracefully waved his hand as if to say that sufficient unto the +day was the evil thereof. + +"Will you allow me to conclude, my dear son?" he at last exclaimed. "Be +sensible, your happiness as a priest and a man lies in humility. You will +be terribly unhappy if you use the great intelligence which God has given +you against Him." + +Then with another gesture he dismissed this affair, which was all over, +and with which he need busy himself no more. And thereupon the other +affair came back to make him gloomy, that other affair which also was +drawing to a close, but so tragically, with those two poor children +slumbering in the adjoining room. "Ah!" he resumed, "that poor Princess +and that poor Cardinal quite upset my heart! Never did catastrophe fall +so cruelly on a house. No, no, it is indeed too much, misfortune goes too +far--it revolts one's soul!" + +Just as he finished a sound of voices came from the second ante-room, and +Pierre was thunderstruck to see Cardinal Sanguinetti go by, escorted with +the greatest obsequiousness by Abbe Paparelli. + +"If your most Reverend Eminence will have the extreme kindness to follow +me," the train-bearer was saying, "I will conduct your most Reverend +Eminence myself." + +"Yes," replied Sanguinetti, "I arrived yesterday evening from Frascati, +and when I heard the sad news, I at once desired to express my sorrow and +offer consolation." + +"Your Eminence will perhaps condescend to remain for a moment near the +bodies. I will afterwards escort your Eminence to the private +apartments." + +"Yes, by all means. I desire every one to know how greatly I participate +in the sorrow which has fallen on this illustrious house." + +Then Sanguinetti entered the throne-room, leaving Pierre quite aghast at +his quiet audacity. The young priest certainly did not accuse him of +direct complicity with Santobono, he did not even dare to measure how far +his moral complicity might go. But on seeing him pass by like that, his +brow so lofty, his speech so clear, he had suddenly felt convinced that +he knew the truth. How or through whom, he could not have told; but +doubtless crimes become known in those shady spheres by those whose +interest it is to know of them. And Pierre remained quite chilled by the +haughty fashion in which that man presented himself, perhaps to stifle +suspicion and certainly to accomplish an act of good policy by giving his +rival a public mark of esteem and affection. + +"The Cardinal! Here!" Pierre murmured despite himself. + +Nani, who followed the young man's thoughts in his childish eyes, in +which all could be read, pretended to mistake the sense of his +exclamation. "Yes," said he, "I learnt that the Cardinal returned to Rome +yesterday evening. He did not wish to remain away any longer; the Holy +Father being so much better that he might perhaps have need of him." + +Although these words were spoken with an air of perfect innocence, Pierre +was not for a moment deceived by them. And having in his turn glanced at +the prelate, he was convinced that the latter also knew the truth. Then, +all at once, the whole affair appeared to him in its intricacy, in the +ferocity which fate had imparted to it. Nani, an old intimate of the +Palazzo Boccanera, was not heartless, he had surely loved Benedetta with +affection, charmed by so much grace and beauty. One could thus explain +the victorious manner in which he had at last caused her marriage to be +annulled. But if Don Vigilio were to be believed, that divorce, obtained +by pecuniary outlay, and under pressure of the most notorious influences, +was simply a scandal which he, Nani, had in the first instance spun out, +and then precipitated towards a resounding finish with the sole object of +discrediting the Cardinal and destroying his chances of the tiara on the +eve of the Conclave which everybody thought imminent. It seemed certain, +too, that the Cardinal, uncompromising as he was, could not be the +candidate of Nani, who was so desirous of universal agreement, and so the +latter's long labour in that house, whilst conducing to the happiness of +the Contessina, had been designed to frustrate Donna Serafina and +Cardinal Pio in their burning ambition, that third triumphant elevation +to the papacy which they sought to secure for their ancient family. +However, if Nani had always desired to baulk this ambition, and had even +at one moment placed his hopes in Sanguinetti and fought for him, he had +never imagined that Boccanera's foes would go to the point of crime, to +such an abomination as poison which missed its mark and killed the +innocent. No, no, as he himself said, that was too much, and made one's +soul rebel. He employed more gentle weapons; such brutality filled him +with indignation; and his face, so pinky and carefully tended, still wore +the grave expression of his revolt in presence of the tearful Cardinal +and those poor lovers stricken in his stead. + +Believing that Sanguinetti was still the prelate's secret candidate, +Pierre was worried to know how far their moral complicity in this baleful +affair might go. So he resumed the conversation by saying: "It is +asserted that his Holiness is on bad terms with his Eminence Cardinal +Sanguinetti. Of course the reigning pope cannot look on the future pope +with a very kindly eye." + +At this, Nani for a moment became quite gay in all frankness. "Oh," said +he, "the Cardinal has quarrelled and made things up with the Vatican +three or four times already. And, in any event, the Holy Father has no +motive for posthumous jealousy; he knows very well that he can give his +Eminence a good greeting." Then, regretting that he had thus expressed a +certainty, he added: "I am joking, his Eminence is altogether worthy of +the high fortune which perhaps awaits him." + +Pierre knew what to think however; Sanguinetti was certainly Nani's +candidate no longer. It was doubtless considered that he had used himself +up too much by his impatient ambition, and was too dangerous by reason of +the equivocal alliances which in his feverishness he had concluded with +every party, even that of patriotic young Italy. And thus the situation +became clearer. Cardinals Sanguinetti and Boccanera devoured and +suppressed one another; the first, ever intriguing, accepting every +compromise, dreaming of winning Rome back by electoral methods; and the +other, erect and motionless in his stern maintenance of the past, +excommunicating the century, and awaiting from God alone the miracle +which would save the Church. And, indeed, why not leave the two theories, +thus placed face to face, to destroy one another, including all the +extreme, disquieting views which they respectively embodied? If Boccanera +had escaped the poison, he had none the less become an impossible +candidate, killed by all the stories which had set Rome buzzing; while if +Sanguinetti could say that he was rid of a rival, he had at the same time +dealt a mortal blow to his own candidature, by displaying such passion +for power, and such unscrupulousness with regard to the methods he +employed, as to be a danger for every one. Monsignor Nani was visibly +delighted with this result; neither candidate was left, it was like the +legendary story of the two wolves who fought and devoured one another so +completely that nothing of either of them was found left, not even their +tails! And in the depths of the prelate's pale eyes, in the whole of his +discreet person, there remained nothing but redoubtable mystery: the +mystery of the yet unknown, but definitively selected candidate who would +be patronised by the all-powerful army of which he was one of the most +skilful leaders. A man like him always had a solution ready. Who, then, +who would be the next pope? + +However, he now rose and cordially took leave of the young priest. "I +doubt if I shall see you again, my dear son," he said; "I wish you a good +journey." + +Still he did not go off, but continued to look at Pierre with his +penetrating eyes, and finally made him sit down again and did the same +himself. "I feel sure," he said, "that you will go to pay your respects +to Cardinal Bergerot as soon as you have returned to France. Kindly tell +him that I respectfully desired to be reminded to him. I knew him a +little at the time when he came here for his hat. He is one of the great +luminaries of the French clergy. Ah! a man of such intelligence would +only work for a good understanding in our holy Church. Unfortunately I +fear that race and environment have instilled prejudices into him, for he +does not always help us." + +Pierre, who was surprised to hear Nani speak of the Cardinal for the +first time at this moment of farewell, listened with curiosity. Then in +all frankness he replied: "Yes, his Eminence has very decided ideas about +our old Church of France. For instance, he professes perfect horror of +the Jesuits." + +With a light exclamation Nani stopped the young man. And he wore the most +sincerely, frankly astonished air that could be imagined. "What! horror +of the Jesuits! In what way can the Jesuits disquiet him? The Jesuits, +there are none, that's all over! Have you seen any in Rome? Have they +troubled you in any way, those poor Jesuits who haven't even a stone of +their own left here on which to lay their heads? No, no, that bogey +mustn't be brought up again, it's childish." + +Pierre in his turn looked at him, marvelling at his perfect ease, his +quiet courage in dealing with this burning subject. He did not avert his +eyes, but displayed an open face like a book of truth. "Ah!" he +continued, "if by Jesuits you mean the sensible priests who, instead of +entering into sterile and dangerous struggles with modern society, seek +by human methods to bring it back to the Church, why, then of course we +are all of us more or less Jesuits, for it would be madness not to take +into account the times in which one lives. And besides, I won't haggle +over words; they are of no consequence! Jesuits, well, yes, if you like, +Jesuits!" He was again smiling with that shrewd smile of his in which +there was so much raillery and so much intelligence. "Well, when you see +Cardinal Bergerot tell him that it is unreasonable to track the Jesuits +and treat them as enemies of the nation. The contrary is the truth. The +Jesuits are for France, because they are for wealth, strength, and +courage. France is the only great Catholic country which has yet remained +erect and sovereign, the only one on which the papacy can some day lean. +Thus the Holy Father, after momentarily dreaming of obtaining support +from victorious Germany, has allied himself with France, the vanquished, +because he has understood that apart from France there can be no +salvation for the Church. And in this he has only followed the policy of +the Jesuits, those frightful Jesuits, whom your Parisians execrate. And +tell Cardinal Bergerot also that it would be grand of him to work for +pacification by making people understand how wrong it is for your +Republic to help the Holy Father so little in his conciliatory efforts. +It pretends to regard him as an element in the world's affairs that may +be neglected; and that is dangerous, for although he may seem to have no +political means of action he remains an immense moral force, and can at +any moment raise consciences in rebellion and provoke a religious +agitation of the most far-reaching consequences. It is still he who +disposes of the nations, since he disposes of their souls, and the +Republic acts most inconsiderately, from the standpoint of its own +interests, in showing that it no longer even suspects it. And tell the +Cardinal too, that it is really pitiful to see in what a wretched way +your Republic selects its bishops, as though it intentionally desired to +weaken its episcopacy. Leaving out a few fortunate exceptions, your +bishops are men of small brains, and as a result your cardinals, likewise +mere mediocrities, have no influence, play no part here in Rome. Ah! what +a sorry figure you Frenchmen will cut at the next Conclave! And so why do +you show such blind and foolish hatred of those Jesuits, who, +politically, are your friends? Why don't you employ their intelligent +zeal, which is ready to serve you, so that you may assure yourselves the +help of the next, the coming pope? It is necessary for you that he should +be on your side, that he should continue the work of Leo XIII, which is +so badly judged and so much opposed, but which cares little for the petty +results of to-day, since its purpose lies in the future, in the union of +all the nations under their holy mother the Church. Tell Cardinal +Bergerot, tell him plainly that he ought to be with us, that he ought to +work for his country by working for us. The coming pope, why the whole +question lies in that, and woe to France if in him she does not find a +continuator of Leo XIII!" + +Nani had again risen, and this time he was going off. Never before had he +unbosomed himself at such length. But most assuredly he had only said +what he desired to say, for a purpose that he alone knew of, and in a +firm, gentle, and deliberate voice by which one could tell that each word +had been weighed and determined beforehand. "Farewell, my dear son," he +said, "and once again think over all you have seen and heard in Rome. Be +as sensible as you can, and do not spoil your life." + +Pierre bowed, and pressed the small, plump, supple hand which the prelate +offered him. "Monseigneur," he replied, "I again thank you for all your +kindness; you may be sure that I shall forget nothing of my journey." + +Then he watched Nani as he went off, with a light and conquering step as +if marching to all the victories of the future. No, no, he, Pierre, would +forget nothing of his journey! He well knew that union of all the nations +under their holy mother the Church, that temporal bondage in which the +law of Christ would become the dictatorship of Augustus, master of the +world! And as for those Jesuits, he had no doubt that they did love +France, the eldest daughter of the Church, and the only daughter that +could yet help her mother to reconquer universal sovereignty, but they +loved her even as the black swarms of locusts love the harvests which +they swoop upon and devour. Infinite sadness had returned to the young +man's heart as he dimly realised that in that sorely-stricken mansion, in +all that mourning and downfall, it was they, they again, who must have +been the artisans of grief and disaster. + +As this thought came to him he turned round and perceived Don Vigilio +leaning against the credence in front of the large portrait of the +Cardinal. Holding his hands to his face as if he desired to annihilate +himself, the secretary was shivering in every limb as much with fear as +with fever. At a moment when no fresh visitors were arriving he had +succumbed to an attack of terrified despair. + +"/Mon Dieu/! What is the matter with you?" asked Pierre stepping forward, +"are you ill, can I help you?" + +But Don Vigilio, suffocating and still hiding his face, could only gasp +between his close-pressed hands "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" + +"What is it? What has he done to you?" asked the other astonished. + +Then the secretary disclosed his face, and again yielded to his quivering +desire to confide in some one. "Eh? what he has done to me? Can't you +feel anything, can't you see anything then? Didn't you notice the manner +in which he took possession of Cardinal Sanguinetti so as to conduct him +to his Eminence? To impose that suspected, hateful rival on his Eminence +at such a moment as this, what insolent audacity! And a few minutes +previously did you notice with what wicked cunning he bowed out an old +lady, a very old family friend, who only desired to kiss his Eminence's +hand and show a little real affection which would have made his Eminence +so happy! Ah! I tell you that he's the master here, he opens or closes +the door as he pleases, and holds us all between his fingers like a pinch +of dust which one throws to the wind!" + +Pierre became anxious, seeing how yellow and feverish Don Vigilio was: +"Come, come, my dear fellow," he said, "you are exaggerating!" + +"Exaggerating? Do you know what happened last night, what I myself +unwillingly witnessed? No, you don't know it; well, I will tell you." + +Thereupon he related that Donna Serafina, on returning home on the +previous day to face the terrible catastrophe awaiting her, had already +been overcome by the bad news which she had learnt when calling on the +Cardinal Secretary and various prelates of her acquaintance. She had then +acquired a certainty that her brother's position was becoming extremely +bad, for he had made so many fresh enemies among his colleagues of the +Sacred College, that his election to the pontifical throne, which a year +previously had seemed probable, now appeared an impossibility. Thus, all +at once, the dream of her life collapsed, the ambition which she had so +long nourished lay in dust at her feet. On despairingly seeking the why +and wherefore of this change, she had been told of all sorts of blunders +committed by the Cardinal, acts of rough sternness, unseasonable +manifestations of opinion, inconsiderate words or actions which had +sufficed to wound people, in fact such provoking demeanour that one might +have thought it adopted with the express intention of spoiling +everything. And the worst was that in each of the blunders she had +recognised errors of judgment which she herself had blamed, but which her +brother had obstinately insisted on perpetrating under the unacknowledged +influence of Abbe Paparelli, that humble and insignificant train-bearer, +in whom she detected a baneful and powerful adviser who destroyed her own +vigilant and devoted influence. And so, in spite of the mourning in which +the house was plunged, she did not wish to delay the punishment of the +traitor, particularly as his old friendship with that terrible Santobono, +and the story of that basket of figs which had passed from the hands of +the one to those of the other, chilled her blood with a suspicion which +she even recoiled from elucidating. However, at the first words she +spoke, directly she made a formal request that the traitor should be +immediately turned out of the house, she was confronted by invincible +resistance on her brother's part. He would not listen to her, but flew +into one of those hurricane-like passions which swept everything away, +reproaching her for laying blame on so modest, pious, and saintly a man, +and accusing her of playing into the hands of his enemies, who, after +killing Monsignor Gallo, were seeking to poison his sole remaining +affection for that poor, insignificant priest. He treated all the stories +he was told as abominable inventions, and swore that he would keep the +train-bearer in his service if only to show his disdain for calumny. And +she was thereupon obliged to hold her peace. + +However, Don Vigilio's shuddering fit had again come back; he carried his +hands to his face stammering: "Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli!" And muttered +invectives followed: the train-bearer was an artful hypocrite who feigned +modesty and humility, a vile spy appointed to pry into everything, listen +to everything, and pervert everything that went on in the palace; he was +a loathsome, destructive insect, feeding on the most noble prey, +devouring the lion's mane, a Jesuit--the Jesuit who is at once lackey and +tyrant, in all his base horror as he accomplishes the work of vermin. + +"Calm yourself, calm yourself," repeated Pierre, who whilst allowing for +foolish exaggeration on the secretary's part could not help shivering at +thought of all the threatening things which he himself could divine astir +in the gloom. + +However, since Don Vigilio had so narrowly escaped eating those horrible +figs, his fright was such that nothing could calm it. Even when he was +alone at night, in bed, with his door locked and bolted, sudden terror +fell on him and made him hide his head under the sheet and vent stifled +cries as if he thought that men were coming through the wall to strangle +him. In a faint, breathless voice, as if just emerging from a struggle, +he now resumed: "I told you what would happen on the evening when we had +a talk together in your room. Although all the doors were securely shut, +I did wrong to speak of them to you, I did wrong to ease my heart by +telling you all that they were capable of. I was sure they would learn +it, and you see they did learn it, since they tried to kill me. . . . Why +it's even wrong of me to tell you this, for it will reach their ears and +they won't miss me the next time. Ah! it's all over, I'm as good as dead; +this house which I thought so safe will be my tomb." + +Pierre began to feel deep compassion for this ailing man, whose feverish +brain was haunted by nightmares, and whose life was being finally wrecked +by the anguish of persecution mania. "But you must run away in that +case!" he said. "Don't stop here; come to France." + +Don Vigilio looked at him, momentarily calmed by surprise. "Run away, +why? Go to France? Why, they are there! No matter where I might go, they +would be there. They are everywhere, I should always be surrounded by +them! No, no, I prefer to stay here and would rather die at once if his +Eminence can no longer defend me." With an expression of ardent entreaty +in which a last gleam of hope tried to assert itself, he raised his eyes +to the large painting in which the Cardinal stood forth resplendent in +his cassock of red moire; but his attack came back again and overwhelmed +him with increased intensity of fever. "Leave me, I beg you, leave me," +he gasped. "Don't make me talk any more. Ah! Paparelli, Paparelli! If he +should come back and see us and hear me speak. . . . Oh! I'll never say +anything again. I'll tie up my tongue, I'll cut it off. Leave me, you are +killing me, I tell you, he'll be coming back and that will mean my death. +Go away, oh! for mercy's sake, go away!" + +Thereupon Don Vigilio turned towards the wall as if to flatten his face +against it, and immure his lips in tomb-like silence; and Pierre resolved +to leave him to himself, fearing lest he should provoke a yet more +serious attack if he went on endeavouring to succour him. + +On returning to the throne-room the young priest again found himself +amidst all the frightful mourning. Mass was following mass; without +cessation murmured prayers entreated the divine mercy to receive the two +dear departed souls with loving kindness. And amidst the dying perfume of +the fading roses, in front of the pale stars of the lighted candles, +Pierre thought of that supreme downfall of the Boccaneras. Dario was the +last of the name, and one could well understand that the Cardinal, whose +only sin was family pride, should have loved that one remaining scion by +whom alone the old stock might yet blossom afresh. And indeed, if he and +Donna Serafina had desired the divorce, and then the marriage of the +cousins, it had been less with the view of putting an end to scandal than +with the hope of seeing a new line of Boccaneras spring up. But the +lovers were dead, and the last remains of a long series of dazzling +princes of sword and of gown lay there on that bed, soon to rot in the +grave. It was all over; that old maid and that aged Cardinal could leave +no posterity. They remained face to face like two withered oaks, sole +remnants of a vanished forest, and their fall would soon leave the plain +quite clear. And how terrible the grief of surviving in impotence, what +anguish to have to tell oneself that one is the end of everything, that +with oneself all life, all hope for the morrow will depart! Amidst the +murmur of the prayers, the dying perfume of the roses, the pale gleams of +the two candies, Pierre realised what a downfall was that bereavement, +how heavy was the gravestone which fell for ever on an extinct house, a +vanished world. + +He well understood that as one of the familiars of the mansion he must +pay his respects to Donna Serafina and the Cardinal, and he at once +sought admission to the neighbouring room where the Princess was +receiving her friends. He found her robed in black, very slim and very +erect in her arm-chair, whence she rose with slow dignity to respond to +the bow of each person that entered. She listened to the condolences but +answered never a word, overcoming her physical pain by rigidity of +bearing. Pierre, who had learnt to know her, could divine, however, by +the hollowness of her cheeks, the emptiness of her eyes, and the bitter +twinge of her mouth, how frightful was the collapse within her. Not only +was her race ended, but her brother would never be pope, never secure the +elevation which she had so long fancied she was winning for him by dint +of devotion, dint of feminine renunciation, giving brain and heart, care +and money, foregoing even wifehood and motherhood, spoiling her whole +life, in order to realise that dream. And amidst all the ruin of hope, it +was perhaps the nonfulfilment of that ambition which most made her heart +bleed. She rose for the young priest, her guest, as she rose for the +other persons who presented themselves; but she contrived to introduce +shades of meaning into the manner in which she quitted her chair, and +Pierre fully realised that he had remained in her eyes a mere petty +French priest, an insignificant domestic of the Divinity who had not +known how to acquire even the title of prelate. When she had again seated +herself after acknowledging his compliment with a slight inclination of +the head, he remained for a moment standing, out of politeness. Not a +word, not a sound disturbed the mournful quiescence of the room, for +although there were four or five lady visitors seated there they remained +motionless and silent as with grief. Pierre was most struck, however, by +the sight of Cardinal Sarno, who was lying back in an arm-chair with his +eyes closed. The poor puny lopsided old man had lingered there +forgetfully after expressing his condolences, and, overcome by the heavy +silence and close atmosphere, had just fallen asleep. And everybody +respected his slumber. Was he dreaming as he dozed of that map of +Christendom which he carried behind his low obtuse-looking brow? Was he +continuing in dreamland his terrible work of conquest, that task of +subjecting and governing the earth which he directed from his dark room +at the Propaganda? The ladies glanced at him affectionately and +deferentially; he was gently scolded at times for over-working himself, +the sleepiness which nowadays frequently overtook him in all sorts of +places being attributed to excess of genius and zeal. And of this +all-powerful Eminence Pierre was destined to carry off only this last +impression: an exhausted old man, resting amidst the emotion of a +mourning-gathering, sleeping there like a candid child, without any one +knowing whether this were due to the approach of senile imbecility, or to +the fatigues of a night spent in organising the reign of God over some +distant continent. + +Two ladies went off and three more arrived. Donna Serafina rose, bowed, +and then reseated herself, reverting to her rigid attitude, her bust +erect, her face stern and full of despair. Cardinal Sarno was still +asleep. Then Pierre felt as if he would stifle, a kind of vertigo came on +him, and his heart beat violently. So he bowed and withdrew: and on +passing through the dining-room on his way to the little study where +Cardinal Boccanera received his visitors, he found himself in the +presence of Paparelli who was jealously guarding the door. When the +train-bearer had sniffed at the young man, he seemed to realise that he +could not refuse him admittance. Moreover, as this intruder was going +away the very next day, defeated and covered with shame, there was +nothing to be feared from him. + +"You wish to see his Eminence?" said Paparelli. "Good, good. By and by, +wait." And opining that Pierre was too near the door, he pushed him back +to the other end of the room, for fear no doubt lest he should overhear +anything. "His Eminence is still engaged with his Eminence Cardinal +Sanguinetti. Wait, wait there!" + +Sanguinetti indeed had made a point of kneeling for a long time in front +of the bodies in the throne-room, and had then spun out his visit to +Donna Serafina in order to mark how largely he shared the family sorrow. +And for more than ten minutes now he had been closeted with Cardinal +Boccanera, nothing but an occasional murmur of their voices being heard +through the closed door. + +Pierre, however, on finding Paparelli there, was again haunted by all +that Don Vigilio had told him. He looked at the train-bearer, so fat and +short, puffed out with bad fat in his dirty cassock, his face flabby and +wrinkled, and his whole person at forty years of age suggestive of that +of a very old maid: and he felt astonished. How was it that Cardinal +Boccanera, that superb prince who carried his head so high, and who was +so supremely proud of his name, had allowed himself to be captured and +swayed by such a frightful creature reeking of baseness and abomination? +Was it not the man's very physical degradation and profound humility that +had struck him, disturbed him, and finally fascinated him, as wondrous +gifts conducing to salvation, which he himself lacked? Paparelli's person +and disposition were like blows dealt to his own handsome presence and +his own pride. He, who could not be so deformed, he who could not +vanquish his passion for glory, must, by an effort of faith, have grown +jealous of that man who was so extremely ugly and so extremely +insignificant, he must have come to admire him as a superior force of +penitence and human abasement which threw the portals of heaven wide +open. Who can ever tell what ascendency is exercised by the monster over +the hero; by the horrid-looking saint covered with vermin over the +powerful of this world in their terror at having to endure everlasting +flames in payment of their terrestrial joys? And 'twas indeed the lion +devoured by the insect, vast strength and splendour destroyed by the +invisible. Ah! to have that fine soul which was so certain of paradise, +which for its welfare was enclosed in such a disgusting body, to possess +the happy humility of that wide intelligence, that remarkable theologian, +who scourged himself with rods each morning on rising, and was content to +be the lowest of servants. + +Standing there a heap of livid fat, Paparelli on his side watched Pierre +with his little grey eyes blinking amidst the myriad wrinkles of his +face. And the young priest began to feel uneasy, wondering what their +Eminences could be saying to one another, shut up together like that for +so long a time. And what an interview it must be if Boccanera suspected +Sanguinetti of counting Santobono among his clients. What serene audacity +it was on Sanguinetti's part to have dared to present himself in that +house, and what strength of soul there must be on Boccanera's part, what +empire over himself, to prevent all scandal by remaining silent and +accepting the visit as a simple mark of esteem and affection! What could +they be saying to one another, however? How interesting it would have +been to have seen them face to face, and have heard them exchange the +diplomatic phrases suited to such an interview, whilst their souls were +raging with furious hatred! + +All at once the door opened and Cardinal Sanguinetti appeared with calm +face, no ruddier than usual, indeed a trifle paler, and retaining the +fitting measure of sorrow which he had thought it right to assume. His +restless eyes alone revealed his delight at being rid of a difficult +task. And he was going off, all hope, in the conviction that he was the +only eligible candidate to the papacy that remained. + +Abbe Paparelli had darted forward: "If your Eminence will kindly follow +me--I will escort your Eminence to the door." Then, turning towards +Pierre, he added: "You may go in now." + +Pierre watched them walk away, the one so humble behind the other, who +was so triumphant. Then he entered the little work-room, furnished simply +with a table and three chairs, and in the centre of it he at once +perceived Cardinal Boccanera still standing in the lofty, noble attitude +which he had assumed to take leave of Sanguinetti, his hated rival to the +pontifical throne. And, visibly, Boccanera also believed himself the only +possible pope, the one whom the coming Conclave would elect. + +However, when the door had been closed, and the Cardinal beheld that +young priest, his guest, who had witnessed the death of those two dear +children lying in the adjoining room, he was again mastered by emotion, +an unexpected attack of weakness in which all his energy collapsed. His +human feelings were taking their revenge now that his rival was no longer +there to see him. He staggered like an old tree smitten with the axe, and +sank upon a chair, stifling with sobs. + +And as Pierre, according to usage, was about to stoop and kiss his ring, +he raised him and at once made him sit down, stammering in a halting +voice: "No, no, my dear son! Seat yourself there, wait--Excuse me, leave +me to myself for a moment, my heart is bursting." + +He sobbed with his hands to his face, unable to master himself, unable to +drive back his grief with those yet vigorous fingers which were pressed +to his cheeks and temples. + +Tears came into Pierre's eyes, for he also lived through all that woe +afresh, and was much upset by the weeping of that tall old man, that +saint and prince, usually so haughty, so fully master of himself, but now +only a poor, suffering, agonising man, as weak and as lost as a child. +However, although the young priest was likewise stifling with grief, he +desired to present his condolences, and sought for kindly words by which +he might soothe the other's despair. "I beg your Eminence to believe in +my profound grief," he said. "I have been overwhelmed with kindness here, +and desired at once to tell your Eminence how much that irreparable +loss--" + +But with a brave gesture the Cardinal silenced him. "No, no, say nothing, +for mercy's sake say nothing!" + +And silence reigned while he continued weeping, shaken by the struggle he +was waging, his efforts to regain sufficient strength to overcome +himself. At last he mastered his quiver and slowly uncovered his face, +which had again become calm, like that of a believer strong in his faith, +and submissive to the will of God. In refusing a miracle, in dealing so +hard a blow to that house, God had doubtless had His reasons, and he, the +Cardinal, one of God's ministers, one of the high dignitaries of His +terrestrial court, was in duty bound to bow to it. The silence lasted for +another moment, and then, in a voice which he managed to render natural +and cordial, Boccanera said: "You are leaving us, you are going back to +France to-morrow, are you not, my dear son?" + +"Yes, I shall have the honour to take leave of your Eminence to-morrow, +again thanking your Eminence for your inexhaustible kindness." + +"And you have learnt that the Congregation of the Index has condemned +your book, as was inevitable?" + +"Yes, I obtained the signal favour of being received by his Holiness, and +in his presence made my submission and reprobated my book." + +The Cardinal's moist eyes again began to sparkle. "Ah! you did that, ah! +you did well, my dear son," he said. "It was only your strict duty as a +priest, but there are so many nowadays who do not even do their duty! As +a member of the Congregation I kept the promise I gave you to read your +book, particularly the incriminated pages. And if I afterwards remained +neutral, to such a point even as to miss the sitting in which judgment +was pronounced, it was only to please my poor, dear niece, who was so +fond of you, and who pleaded your cause to me." + +Tears were coming into his eyes again, and he paused, feeling that he +would once more be overcome if he evoked the memory of that adored and +lamented Benedetta. And so it was with a pugnacious bitterness that he +resumed: "But what an execrable book it was, my dear son, allow me to +tell you so. You told me that you had shown respect for dogma, and I +still wonder what aberration can have come over you that you should have +been so blind to all consciousness of your offences. Respect for +dogma--good Lord! when the entire work is the negation of our holy +religion! Did you not realise that by asking for a new religion you +absolutely condemned the old one, the only true one, the only good one, +the only one that can be eternal? And that sufficed to make your book the +most deadly of poisons, one of those infamous books which in former times +were burnt by the hangman, and which one is nowadays compelled to leave +in circulation after interdicting them and thereby designating them to +evil curiosity, which explains the contagious rottenness of the century. +Ah! I well recognised there some of the ideas of our distinguished and +poetical relative, that dear Viscount Philibert de la Choue. A man of +letters, yes! a man of letters! Literature, mere literature! I beg God to +forgive him, for he most surely does not know what he is doing, or +whither he is going with his elegiac Christianity for talkative working +men and young persons of either sex, to whom scientific notions have +given vagueness of soul. And I only feel angry with his Eminence Cardinal +Bergerot, for he at any rate knows what he does, and does as he pleases. +No, say nothing, do not defend him. He personifies Revolution in the +Church, and is against God." + +Although Pierre had resolved that he would not reply or argue, he had +allowed a gesture of protest to escape him on hearing this furious attack +upon the man whom he most respected in the whole world. However, he +yielded to Cardinal Boccanera's injunction and again bowed. + +"I cannot sufficiently express my horror," the Cardinal roughly +continued; "yes, my horror for all that hollow dream of a new religion! +That appeal to the most hideous passions which stir up the poor against +the rich, by promising them I know not what division of wealth, what +community of possession which is nowadays impossible! That base flattery +shown to the lower orders to whom equality and justice are promised but +never given, for these can come from God alone, it is only He who can +finally make them reign on the day appointed by His almighty power! And +there is even that interested charity which people abuse of to rail +against Heaven itself and accuse it of iniquity and indifference, that +lackadaisical weakening charity and compassion, unworthy of strong firm +hearts, for it is as if human suffering were not necessary for salvation, +as if we did not become more pure, greater and nearer to the supreme +happiness, the more and more we suffer!" + +He was growing excited, full of anguish, and superb. It was his +bereavement, his heart wound, which thus exasperated him, the great blow +which had felled him for a moment, but against which he again rose erect, +defying grief, and stubborn in his stoic belief in an omnipotent God, who +was the master of mankind, and reserved felicity to those whom He +selected. Again, however, he made an effort to calm himself, and resumed +in a more gentle voice: "At all events the fold is always open, my dear +son, and here you are back in it since you have repented. You cannot +imagine how happy it makes me." + +In his turn Pierre strove to show himself conciliatory in order that he +might not further ulcerate that violent, grief-stricken soul: "Your +Eminence," said he, "may be sure that I shall endeavour to remember every +one of the kind words which your Eminence has spoken to me, in the same +way as I shall remember the fatherly greeting of his Holiness Leo XIII." + +This sentence seemed to throw Boccanera into agitation again. At first +only murmured, restrained words came from him, as if he were struggling +against a desire to question the, young priest. "Ah yes! you saw his +Holiness, you spoke to him, and he told you I suppose, as he tells all +the foreigners who go to pay their respects to him, that he desires +conciliation and peace. For my part I now only see him when it is +absolutely necessary; for more than a year I have not been received in +private audience." + +This proof of disfavour, of the covert struggle which as in the days of +Pius IX kept the Holy Father and the /Camerlingo/ at variance, filled the +latter with bitterness. He was unable to restrain himself and spoke out, +reflecting no doubt that he had a familiar before him, one whose +discretion was certain, and who moreover was leaving Rome on the morrow. +"One may go a long way," said he, "with those fine words, peace and +conciliation, which are so often void of real wisdom and courage. The +terrible truth is that Leo XIII's eighteen years of concessions have +shaken everything in the Church, and should he long continue to reign +Catholicism would topple over and crumble into dust like a building whose +pillars have been undermined." + +Interested by this remark, Pierre in his desire for knowledge began to +raise objections. "But hasn't his Holiness shown himself very prudent?" +he asked; "has he not placed dogma on one side in an impregnable +fortress? If he seems to have made concessions on many points, have they +not always been concessions in mere matters of form?" + +"Matters of form; ah, yes!" the Cardinal resumed with increasing passion. +"He told you, no doubt, as he tells others, that whilst in substance he +will make no surrender, he will readily yield in matters of form! It's a +deplorable axiom, an equivocal form of diplomacy even when it isn't so +much low hypocrisy! My soul revolts at the thought of that Opportunism, +that Jesuitism which makes artifice its weapon, and only serves to cast +doubt among true believers, the confusion of a /sauve-qui-peut/, which by +and by must lead to inevitable defeat. It is cowardice, the worst form of +cowardice, abandonment of one's weapons in order that one may retreat the +more speedily, shame of oneself, assumption of a mask in the hope of +deceiving the enemy, penetrating into his camp, and overcoming him by +treachery! No, no, form is everything in a traditional and immutable +religion, which for eighteen hundred years has been, is now, and till the +end of time will be the very law of God!" + +The Cardinal's feelings so stirred him that he was unable to remain +seated, and began to walk about the little room. And it was the whole +reign, the whole policy of Leo XIII which he discussed and condemned. +"Unity too," he continued, "that famous unity of the Christian Church +which his Holiness talks of bringing about, and his desire for which +people turn to his great glory, why, it is only the blind ambition of a +conqueror enlarging his empire without asking himself if the new nations +that he subjects may not disorganise, adulterate, and impregnate his old +and hitherto faithful people with every error. What if all the +schismatical nations on returning to the Catholic Church should so +transform it as to kill it and make it a new Church? There is only one +wise course, which is to be what one is, and that firmly. Again, isn't +there both shame and danger in that pretended alliance with the democracy +which in itself gives the lie to the ancient spirit of the papacy? The +right of kings is divine, and to abandon the monarchical principle is to +set oneself against God, to compound with revolution, and harbour a +monstrous scheme of utilising the madness of men the better to establish +one's power over them. All republics are forms of anarchy, and there can +be no more criminal act, one which must for ever shake the principle of +authority, order, and religion itself, than that of recognising a +republic as legitimate for the sole purpose of indulging a dream of +impossible conciliation. And observe how this bears on the question of +the temporal power. He continues to claim it, he makes a point of no +surrender on that question of the restoration of Rome; but in reality, +has he not made the loss irreparable, has he not definitively renounced +Rome, by admitting that nations have the right to drive away their kings +and live like wild beasts in the depths of the forest?" + +All at once the Cardinal stopped short and raised his arms to Heaven in a +burst of holy anger. "Ah! that man, ah! that man who by his vanity and +craving for success will have proved the ruin of the Church, that man who +has never ceased corrupting everything, dissolving everything, crumbling +everything in order to reign over the world which he fancies he will +reconquer by those means, why, Almighty God, why hast Thou not already +called him to Thee?" + +So sincere was the accent in which that appeal to Death was raised, to +such a point was hatred magnified by a real desire to save the Deity +imperilled here below, that a great shudder swept through Pierre also. He +now understood that Cardinal Boccanera who religiously and passionately +hated Leo XIII; he saw him in the depths of his black palace, waiting and +watching for the Pope's death, that death which as /Camerlingo/ he must +officially certify. How feverishly he must wait, how impatiently he must +desire the advent of the hour, when with his little silver hammer he +would deal the three symbolic taps on the skull of Leo XIII, while the +latter lay cold and rigid on his bed surrounded by his pontifical Court. +Ah! to strike that wall of the brain, to make sure that nothing more +would answer from within, that nothing beyond night and silence was left +there. And the three calls would ring out: "Gioachino! Gioachino! +Gioachino!" And, the corpse making no answer, the /Camerlingo/ after +waiting for a few seconds would turn and say: "The Pope is dead!" + +"Conciliation, however, is the weapon of the times," remarked Pierre, +wishing to bring the Cardinal back to the present, "and it is in order to +make sure of conquering that the Holy Father yields in matters of form." + +"He will not conquer, he will be conquered," cried Boccanera. "Never has +the Church been victorious save in stubbornly clinging to its +integrality, the immutable eternity of its divine essence. And it would +for a certainty fall on the day when it should allow a single stone of +its edifice to be touched. Remember the terrible period through which it +passed at the time of the Council of Trent. The Reformation had just +deeply shaken it, laxity of discipline and morals was everywhere +increasing, there was a rising tide of novelties, ideas suggested by the +spirit of evil, unhealthy projects born of the pride of man, running riot +in full license. And at the Council itself many members were disturbed, +poisoned, ready to vote for the wildest changes, a fresh schism added to +all the others. Well, if Catholicism was saved at that critical period, +under the threat of such great danger, it was because the majority, +enlightened by God, maintained the old edifice intact, it was because +with divinely inspired obstinacy it kept itself within the narrow limits +of dogma, it was because it made no concession, none, whether in +substance or in form! Nowadays the situation is certainly not worse than +it was at the time of the Council of Trent. Let us suppose it to be much +the same, and tell me if it is not nobler, braver, and safer for the +Church to show the courage which she showed before and declare aloud what +she is, what she has been, and what she will be. There is no salvation +for her otherwise than in her complete, indisputable sovereignty; and +since she has always conquered by non-surrender, all attempts to +conciliate her with the century are tantamount to killing her!" + +The Cardinal had again begun to walk to and fro with thoughtful step. +"No, no," said he, "no compounding, no surrender, no weakness! Rather the +wall of steel which bars the road, the block of granite which marks the +limit of a world! As I told you, my dear son, on the day of your arrival, +to try to accommodate Catholicism to the new times is to hasten its end, +if really it be threatened, as atheists pretend. And in that way it would +die basely and shamefully instead of dying erect, proud, and dignified in +its old glorious royalty! Ah! to die standing, denying nought of the +past, braving the future and confessing one's whole faith!" + +That old man of seventy seemed to grow yet loftier as he spoke, free from +all dread of final annihilation, and making the gesture of a hero who +defies futurity. Faith had given him serenity of peace; he believed, he +knew, he had neither doubt nor fear of the morrow of death. Still his +voice was tinged with haughty sadness as he resumed, "God can do all, +even destroy His own work should it seem evil in His eyes. But though all +should crumble to-morrow, though the Holy Church should disappear among +the ruins, though the most venerated sanctuaries should be crushed by the +falling stars, it would still be necessary for us to bow and adore God, +who after creating the world might thus annihilate it for His own glory. +And I wait, submissive to His will, for nothing happens unless He wills +it. If really the temples be shaken, if Catholicism be fated to fall +to-morrow into dust, I shall be here to act as the minister of death, +even as I have been the minister of life! It is certain, I confess it, +that there are hours when terrible signs appear to me. Perhaps, indeed, +the end of time is nigh, and we shall witness that fall of the old world +with which others threaten us. The worthiest, the loftiest are struck +down as if Heaven erred, and in them punished the crimes of the world. +Have I not myself felt the blast from the abyss into which all must sink, +since my house, for transgressions that I am ignorant of, has been +stricken with that frightful bereavement which precipitates it into the +gulf which casts it back into night everlasting!" + +He again evoked those two dear dead ones who were always present in his +mind. Sobs were once more rising in his throat, his hands trembled, his +lofty figure quivered with the last revolt of grief. Yes, if God had +stricken him so severely by suppressing his race, if the greatest and +most faithful were thus punished, it must be that the world was +definitively condemned. Did not the end of his house mean the approaching +end of all? And in his sovereign pride as priest and as prince, he found +a cry of supreme resignation, once more raising his hands on high: +"Almighty God, Thy will be done! May all die, all fall, all return to the +night of chaos! I shall remain standing in this ruined palace, waiting to +be buried beneath its fragments. And if Thy will should summon me to bury +Thy holy religion, be without fear, I shall do nothing unworthy to +prolong its life for a few days! I will maintain it erect, like myself, +as proud, as uncompromising as in the days of all its power. I will yield +nothing, whether in discipline, or in rite, or in dogma. And when the day +shall come I will bury it with myself, carrying it whole into the grave +rather than yielding aught of it, encompassing it with my cold arms to +restore it to Thee, even as Thou didst commit it to the keeping of Thy +Church. O mighty God and sovereign Master, dispose of me, make me if such +be Thy good pleasure the pontiff of destruction, the pontiff of the death +of the world." + +Pierre, who was thunderstruck, quivered with fear and admiration at the +extraordinary vision this evoked: the last of the popes interring +Catholicism. He understood that Boccanera must at times have made that +dream; he could see him in the Vatican, in St. Peter's which the +thunderbolts had riven asunder, he could see him erect and alone in the +spacious halls whence his terrified, cowardly pontifical Court had fled. +Clad in his white cassock, thus wearing white mourning for the Church, he +once more descended to the sanctuary, there to wait for heaven to fall on +the evening of Time's accomplishment and annihilate the earth. Thrice he +raised the large crucifix, overthrown by the supreme convulsions of the +soil. Then, when the final crack rent the steps apart, he caught it in +his arms and was annihilated with it beneath the falling vaults. And +nothing could be more instinct with fierce and kingly grandeur. + +Voiceless, but without weakness, his lofty stature invincible and erect +in spite of all, Cardinal Boccanera made a gesture dismissing Pierre, who +yielding to his passion for truth and beauty found that he alone was +great and right, and respectfully kissed his hand. + +It was in the throne-room, with closed doors, at nightfall, after the +visits had ceased, that the two bodies were laid in their coffin. The +religious services had come to an end, and in the close silent atmosphere +there only lingered the dying perfume of the roses and the warm odour of +the candles. As the latter's pale stars scarcely lighted the spacious +room, some lamps had been brought, and servants held them in their hands +like torches. According to custom, all the servants of the house were +present to bid a last farewell to the departed. + +There was a little delay. Morano, who had been giving himself no end of +trouble ever since morning, was forced to run off again as the triple +coffin did not arrive. At last it came, some servants brought it up, and +then they were able to begin. The Cardinal and Donna Serafina stood side +by side near the bed. Pierre also was present, as well as Don Vigilio. It +was Victorine who sewed the lovers up in the white silk shroud, which +seemed like a bridal robe, the gay pure robe of their union. Then two +servants came forward and helped Pierre and Don Vigilio to lay the bodies +in the first coffin, of pine wood lined with pink satin. It was scarcely +broader than an ordinary coffin, so young and slim were the lovers and so +tightly were they clasped in their last embrace. When they were stretched +inside they there continued their eternal slumber, their heads half +hidden by their odorous, mingling hair. And when this first coffin had +been placed in the second one, a leaden shell, and the second had been +enclosed in the third, of stout oak, and when the three lids had been +soldered and screwed down, the lovers' faces could still be seen through +the circular opening, covered with thick glass, which in accordance with +the Roman custom had been left in each of the coffins. And then, for ever +parted from the living, alone together, they still gazed at one another +with their eyes obstinately open, having all eternity before them wherein +to exhaust their infinite love. + + + +XVI + +ON the following day, on his return from the funeral Pierre lunched alone +in his room, having decided to take leave of the Cardinal and Donna +Serafina during the afternoon. He was quitting Rome that evening by the +train which started at seventeen minutes past ten. There was nothing to +detain him any longer; there was only one visit which he desired to make, +a visit to old Orlando, with whom he had promised to have a long chat +prior to his departure. And so a little before two o'clock he sent for a +cab which took him to the Via Venti Settembre. A fine rain had fallen all +night, its moisture steeping the city in grey vapour; and though this +rain had now ceased the sky remained very dark, and the huge new mansions +of the Via Venti Settembre were quite livid, interminably mournful with +their balconies ever of the same pattern and their regular and endless +rows of windows. The Ministry of Finances, that colossal pile of masonry +and sculpture, looked in particular like a dead town, a huge bloodless +body whence all life had withdrawn. On the other hand, although all was +so gloomy the rain had made the atmosphere milder, in fact it was almost +warm, damply and feverishly warm. + +In the hall of Prada's little palazzo Pierre was surprised to find four +or five gentlemen taking off their overcoats; however he learnt from a +servant that Count Luigi had a meeting that day with some contractors. As +he, Pierre, wished to see the Count's father he had only to ascend to the +third floor, added the servant. He must knock at the little door on the +right-hand side of the landing there. + +On the very first landing, however, the priest found himself face to face +with the young Count who was there receiving the contractors, and who on +recognising him became frightfully pale. They had not met since the +tragedy at the Boccanera mansion, and Pierre well realised how greatly +his glance disturbed that man, what a troublesome recollection of moral +complicity it evoked, and what mortal dread lest he should have guessed +the truth. + +"Have you come to see me, have you something to tell me?" the Count +inquired. + +"No, I am leaving Rome, I have come to wish your father good-bye." + +Prada's pallor increased at this, and his whole face quivered: "Ah! it is +to see my father. He is not very well, be gentle with him," he replied, +and as he spoke, his look of anguish clearly proclaimed what he feared +from Pierre, some imprudent word, perhaps even a final mission, the +malediction of that man and woman whom he had killed. And surely if his +father knew, he would die as well. "Ah! how annoying it is," he resumed, +"I can't go up with you! There are gentlemen waiting for me. Yes, how +annoyed I am. As soon as possible, however, I will join you, yes, as soon +as possible." + +He knew not how to stop the young priest, whom he must evidently allow to +remain with his father, whilst he himself stayed down below, kept there +by his pecuniary worries. But how distressful were the eyes with which he +watched Pierre climb the stairs, how he seemed to supplicate him with his +whole quivering form. His father, good Lord, the only true love, the one +great, pure, faithful passion of his life! + +"Don't make him talk too much, brighten him, won't you?" were his parting +words. + +Up above it was not Batista, the devoted ex-soldier, who opened the door, +but a very young fellow to whom Pierre did not at first pay any +attention. The little room was bare and light as on previous occasions, +and from the broad curtainless window there was the superb view of Rome, +Rome crushed that day beneath a leaden sky and steeped in shade of +infinite mournfulness. Old Orlando, however, had in no wise changed, but +still displayed the superb head of an old blanched lion, a powerful +muzzle and youthful eyes, which yet sparkled with the passions which had +growled in a soul of fire. Pierre found the stricken hero in the same +arm-chair as previously, near the same table littered with newspapers, +and with his legs buried in the same black wrapper, as if he were there +immobilised in a sheath of stone, to such a point that after months and +years one was sure to perceive him quite unchanged, with living bust, and +face glowing with strength and intelligence. + +That grey day, however, he seemed gloomy, low in spirits. "Ah! so here +you are, my dear Monsieur Froment," he exclaimed, "I have been thinking +of you these three days past, living the awful days which you must have +lived in that tragic Palazzo Boccanera. Ah, God! What a frightful +bereavement! My heart is quite overwhelmed, these newspapers have again +just upset me with the fresh details they give!" He pointed as he spoke +to the papers scattered over the table. Then with a gesture he strove to +brush aside the gloomy story, and banish that vision of Benedetta dead, +which had been haunting him. "Well, and yourself?" he inquired. + +"I am leaving this evening," replied Pierre, "but I did not wish to quit +Rome without pressing your brave hands." + +"You are leaving? But your book?" + +"My book--I have been received by the Holy Father, I have made my +submission and reprobated my book." + +Orlando looked fixedly at the priest. There was a short interval of +silence, during which their eyes told one another all that they had to +tell respecting the affair. Neither felt the necessity of any longer +explanation. The old man merely spoke these concluding words: "You have +done well, your book was a chimera." + +"Yes, a chimera, a piece of childishness, and I have condemned it myself +in the name of truth and reason." + +A smile appeared on the dolorous lips of the impotent hero. "Then you +have seen things, you understand and know them now?" + +"Yes, I know them; and that is why I did not wish to go off without +having that frank conversation with you which we agreed upon." + +Orlando was delighted, but all at once he seemed to remember the young +fellow who had opened the door to Pierre, and who had afterwards modestly +resumed his seat on a chair near the window. This young fellow was a +youth of twenty, still beardless, of a blonde handsomeness such as +occasionally flowers at Naples, with long curly hair, a lily-like +complexion, a rosy mouth, and soft eyes full of a dreamy languor. The old +man presented him in fatherly fashion, Angiolo Mascara his name was, and +he was the grandson of an old comrade in arms, the epic Mascara of the +Thousand, who had died like a hero, his body pierced by a hundred wounds. + +"I sent for him to scold him," continued Orlando with a smile. "Do you +know that this fine fellow with his girlish airs goes in for the new +ideas? He is an Anarchist, one of the three or four dozen Anarchists that +we have in Italy. He's a good little lad at bottom, he has only his +mother left him, and supports her, thanks to the little berth which he +holds, but which he'll lose one of these fine days if he is not careful. +Come, come, my child, you must promise me to be reasonable." + +Thereupon Angiolo, whose clean but well-worn garments bespoke decent +poverty, made answer in a grave and musical voice: "I am reasonable, it +is the others, all the others who are not. When all men are reasonable +and desire truth and justice, the world will be happy." + +"Ah! if you fancy that he'll give way!" cried Orlando. "But, my poor +child, just ask Monsieur l'Abbe if one ever knows where truth and justice +are. Well, well, one must leave you the time to live, and see, and +understand things." + +Then, paying no more attention to the young man, he returned to Pierre, +while Angiolo, remaining very quiet in his corner, kept his eyes ardently +fixed on them, and with open, quivering ears lost not a word they said. + +"I told you, my dear Monsieur Froment," resumed Orlando, "that your ideas +would change, and that acquaintance with Rome would bring you to accurate +views far more readily than any fine speeches I could make to you. So I +never doubted but what you would of your own free will withdraw your book +as soon as men and things should have enlightened you respecting the +Vatican at the present day. But let us leave the Vatican on one side, +there is nothing to be done but to let it continue falling slowly and +inevitably into ruin. What interests me is our Italian Rome, which you +treated as an element to be neglected, but which you have now seen and +studied, so that we can both speak of it with the necessary knowledge!" + +He thereupon at once granted a great many things, acknowledged that +blunders had been committed, that the finances were in a deplorable +state, and that there were serious difficulties of all kinds. They, the +Italians, had sinned by excess of legitimate pride, they had proceeded +too hastily with their attempt to improvise a great nation, to change +ancient Rome into a great modern capital as by the mere touch of a wand. +And thence had come that mania for erecting new districts, that mad +speculation in land and shares, which had brought the country within a +hair's breadth of bankruptcy. + +At this Pierre gently interrupted him to tell him of the view which he +himself had arrived at after his peregrinations and studies through Rome. +"That fever of the first hour, that financial /debacle/," said he, "is +after all nothing. All pecuniary sores can be healed. But the grave point +is that your Italy still remains to be created. There is no aristocracy +left, and as yet there is no people, nothing but a devouring middle +class, dating from yesterday, which preys on the rich harvest of the +future before it is ripe." + +Silence fell. Orlando sadly wagged his old leonine head. The cutting +harshness of Pierre's formula struck him in the heart. "Yes, yes," he +said at last, "that is so, you have seen things plainly; and why say no +when facts are there, patent to everybody? I myself had already spoken to +you of that middle class which hungers so ravenously for place and +office, distinctions and plumes, and which at the same time is so +avaricious, so suspicious with regard to its money which it invests in +banks, never risking it in agriculture or manufactures or commerce, +having indeed the one desire to enjoy life without doing anything, and so +unintelligent that it cannot see it is killing its country by its +loathing for labour, its contempt for the poor, its one ambition to live +in a petty way with the barren glory of belonging to some official +administration. And, as you say, the aristocracy is dying, discrowned, +ruined, sunk into the degeneracy which overtakes races towards their +close, most of its members reduced to beggary, the others, the few who +have clung to their money, crushed by heavy imposts, possessing nought +but dead fortunes which constant sharing diminishes and which must soon +disappear with the princes themselves. And then there is the people, +which has suffered so much and suffers still, but is so used to suffering +that it can seemingly conceive no idea of emerging from it, blind and +deaf as it is, almost regretting its ancient bondage, and so ignorant, so +abominably ignorant, which is the one cause of its hopeless, morrowless +misery, for it has not even the consolation of understanding that if we +have conquered and are trying to resuscitate Rome and Italy in their +ancient glory, it is for itself, the people, alone. Yes, yes, no +aristocracy left, no people as yet, and a middle class which really +alarms one. How can one therefore help yielding at times to the terrors +of the pessimists, who pretend that our misfortunes are as yet nothing, +that we are going forward to yet more awful catastrophes, as though, +indeed, what we now behold were but the first symptoms of our race's end, +the premonitory signs of final annihilation!" + +As he spoke he raised his long quivering arms towards the window, towards +the light, and Pierre, deeply moved, remembered how Cardinal Boccanera on +the previous day had made a similar gesture of supplicant distress when +appealing to the divine power. And both men, Cardinal and patriot, so +hostile in their beliefs, were instinct with the same fierce and +despairing grandeur. + +"As I told you, however, on the first day," continued Orlando, "we only +sought to accomplish logical and inevitable things. As for Rome, with her +past history of splendour and domination which weighs so heavily upon us, +we could not do otherwise than take her for capital, for she alone was +the bond, the living symbol of our unity at the same time as the promise +of eternity, the renewal offered to our great dream of resurrection and +glory." + +He went on, recognising the disastrous conditions under which Rome +laboured as a capital. She was a purely decorative city with exhausted +soil, she had remained apart from modern life, she was unhealthy, she +offered no possibility of commerce or industry, she was invincibly preyed +upon by death, standing as she did amidst that sterile desert of the +Campagna. Then he compared her with the other cities which are jealous of +her; first Florence, which, however, has become so indifferent and so +sceptical, impregnated with a happy heedlessness which seems inexplicable +when one remembers the frantic passions, and the torrents of blood +rolling through her history; next Naples, which yet remains content with +her bright sun, and whose childish people enjoy their ignorance and +wretchedness so indolently that one knows not whether one ought to pity +them; next Venice, which has resigned herself to remaining a marvel of +ancient art, which one ought to put under glass so as to preserve her +intact, slumbering amid the sovereign pomp of her annals; next Genoa, +which is absorbed in trade, still active and bustling, one of the last +queens of that Mediterranean, that insignificant lake which was once the +opulent central sea, whose waters carried the wealth of the world; and +then particularly Turin and Milan, those industrial and commercial +centres, which are so full of life and so modernised that tourists +disdain them as not being "Italian" cities, both of them having saved +themselves from ruin by entering into that Western evolution which is +preparing the next century. Ah! that old land of Italy, ought one to +leave it all as a dusty museum for the pleasure of artistic souls, leave +it to crumble away, even as its little towns of Magna Graecia, Umbria, +and Tuscany are already crumbling, like exquisite /bibelots/ which one +dares not repair for fear that one might spoil their character. At all +events, there must either be death, death soon and inevitable, or else +the pick of the demolisher, the tottering walls thrown to the ground, and +cities of labour, science, and health created on all sides; in one word, +a new Italy really rising from the ashes of the old one, and adapted to +the new civilisation into which humanity is entering. + +"However, why despair?" Orlando continued energetically. "Rome may weigh +heavily on our shoulders, but she is none the less the summit we coveted. +We are here, and we shall stay here awaiting events. Even if the +population does not increase it at least remains stationary at a figure +of some 400,000 souls, and the movement of increase may set in again when +the causes which stopped it shall have ceased. Our blunder was to think +that Rome would become a Paris or Berlin; but, so far, all sorts of +social, historical, even ethnical considerations seem opposed to it; yet +who can tell what may be the surprises of to-morrow? Are we forbidden to +hope, to put faith in the blood which courses in our veins, the blood of +the old conquerors of the world? I, who no longer stir from this room, +impotent as I am, even I at times feel my madness come back, believe in +the invincibility and immortality of Rome, and wait for the two millions +of people who must come to populate those dolorous new districts which +you have seen so empty and already falling into ruins! And certainly they +will come! Why not? You will see, you will see, everything will be +populated, and even more houses will have to be built. Moreover, can you +call a nation poor, when it possesses Lombardy? Is there not also +inexhaustible wealth in our southern provinces? Let peace settle down, +let the South and the North mingle together, and a new generation of +workers grow up. Since we have the soil, such a fertile soil, the great +harvest which is awaited will surely some day sprout and ripen under the +burning sun!" + +Enthusiasm was upbuoying him, all the /furia/ of youth inflamed his eyes. +Pierre smiled, won over; and as soon as he was able to speak, he said: +"The problem must be tackled down below, among the people. You must make +men!" + +"Exactly!" cried Orlando. "I don't cease repeating it, one must make +Italy. It is as if a wind from the East had blown the seed of humanity, +the seed which makes vigorous and powerful nations, elsewhere. Our people +is not like yours in France, a reservoir of men and money from which one +can draw as plentifully as one pleases. It is such another inexhaustible +reservoir that I wish to see created among us. And one must begin at the +bottom. There must be schools everywhere, ignorance must be stamped out, +brutishness and idleness must be fought with books, intellectual and +moral instruction must give us the industrious people which we need if we +are not to disappear from among the great nations. And once again for +whom, if not for the democracy of to-morrow, have we worked in taking +possession of Rome? And how easily one can understand that all should +collapse here, and nothing grow up vigorously since such a democracy is +absolutely absent. Yes, yes, the solution of the problem does not lie +elsewhere; we must make a people, make an Italian democracy." + +Pierre had grown calm again, feeling somewhat anxious yet not daring to +say that it is by no means easy to modify a nation, that Italy is such as +soil, history, and race have made her, and that to seek to transform her +so radically and all at once might be a dangerous enterprise. Do not +nations like beings have an active youth, a resplendent prime, and a more +or less prolonged old age ending in death? A modern democratic Rome, good +heavens! The modern Romes are named Paris, London, Chicago. So he +contented himself with saying: "But pending this great renovation of the +people, don't you think that you ought to be prudent? Your finances are +in such a bad condition, you are passing through such great social and +economic difficulties, that you run the risk of the worst catastrophes +before you secure either men or money. Ah! how prudent would that +minister be who should say in your Chamber: 'Our pride has made a +mistake, it was wrong of us to try to make ourselves a great nation in +one day; more time, labour, and patience are needed; and we consent to +remain for the present a young nation, which will quietly reflect and +labour at self-formation, without, for a long time yet, seeking to play a +dominant part. So we intend to disarm, to strike out the war and naval +estimates, all the estimates intended for display abroad, in order to +devote ourselves to our internal prosperity, and to build up by +education, physically and morally, the great nation which we swear we +will be fifty years hence!' Yes, yes, strike out all needless +expenditure, your salvation lies in that!" + +But Orlando, while listening, had become gloomy again, and with a vague, +weary gesture he replied in an undertone: "No, no, the minister who +should use such language would be hooted. It would be too hard a +confession, such as one cannot ask a nation to make. Every heart would +bound, leap forth at the idea. And, besides, would not the danger perhaps +be even greater if all that has been done were allowed to crumble? How +many wrecked hopes, how much discarded, useless material there would be! +No, we can now only save ourselves by patience and courage--and forward, +ever forward! We are a very young nation, and in fifty years we desired +to effect the unity which others have required two hundred years to +arrive at. Well, we must pay for our haste, we must wait for the harvest +to ripen, and fill our barns." Then, with another and more sweeping wave +of the arm, he stubbornly strengthened himself in his hopes. "You know," +said he, "that I was always against the alliance with Germany. As I +predicted, it has ruined us. We were not big enough to march side by side +with such a wealthy and powerful person, and it is in view of a war, +always near at hand and inevitable, that we now suffer so cruelly from +having to support the budgets of a great nation. Ah! that war which has +never come, it is that which has exhausted the best part of our blood and +sap and money without the slightest profit. To-day we have nothing before +us but the necessity of breaking with our ally, who speculated on our +pride, who has never helped us in any way, who has never given us +anything but bad advice, and treated us otherwise than with suspicion. +But it was all inevitable, and that's what people won't admit in France. +I can speak freely of it all, for I am a declared friend of France, and +people even feel some spite against me on that account. However, explain +to your compatriots, that on the morrow of our conquest of Rome, in our +frantic desire to resume our ancient rank, it was absolutely necessary +that we should play our part in Europe and show that we were a power with +whom the others must henceforth count. And hesitation was not allowable, +all our interests impelled us toward Germany, the evidence was so binding +as to impose itself. The stern law of the struggle for life weighs as +heavily on nations as on individuals, and this it is which explains and +justifies the rupture between the two sisters, France and Italy, the +forgetting of so many ties, race, commercial intercourse, and, if you +like, services also. The two sisters, ah! they now pursue each other with +so much hatred that all common sense even seems at an end. My poor old +heart bleeds when I read the articles which your newspapers and ours +exchange like poisoned darts. When will this fratricidal massacre cease, +which of the two will first realise the necessity of peace, the necessity +of the alliance of the Latin races, if they are to remain alive amidst +those torrents of other races which more and more invade the world?" Then +gaily, with the /bonhomie/ of a hero disarmed by old age, and seeking a +refuge in his dreams, Orlando added: "Come, you must promise to help me +as soon as you are in Paris. However small your field of action may be, +promise me you will do all you can to promote peace between France and +Italy; there can be no more holy task. Relate all you have seen here, all +you have heard, oh! as frankly as possible. If we have faults, you +certainly have faults as well. And, come, family quarrels can't last for +ever!" + +"No doubt," Pierre answered in some embarrassment. "Unfortunately they +are the most tenacious. In families, when blood becomes exasperated with +blood, hate goes as far as poison and the knife. And pardon becomes +impossible." + +He dared not fully express his thoughts. Since he had been in Rome, +listening, and considering things, the quarrel between Italy and France +had resumed itself in his mind in a fine tragic story. Once upon a time +there were two princesses, daughters of a powerful queen, the mistress of +the world. The elder one, who had inherited her mother's kingdom, was +secretly grieved to see her sister, who had established herself in a +neighbouring land, gradually increase in wealth, strength, and +brilliancy, whilst she herself declined as if weakened by age, +dismembered, so exhausted, and so sore, that she already felt defeated on +the day when she attempted a supreme effort to regain universal power. +And so how bitter were her feelings, how hurt she always felt on seeing +her sister recover from the most frightful shocks, resume her dazzling +/gala/, and continue to reign over the world by dint of strength and +grace and wit. Never would she forgive it, however well that envied and +detested sister might act towards her. Therein lay an incurable wound, +the life of one poisoned by that of the other, the hatred of old blood +for young blood, which could only be quieted by death. And even if peace, +as was possible, should soon be restored between them in presence of the +younger sister's evident triumph, the other would always harbour deep +within her heart an endless grief at being the elder yet the vassal. + +"However, you may rely on me," Pierre affectionately resumed. "This +quarrel between the two countries is certainly a great source of grief +and a great peril. And assuredly I will only say what I think to be the +truth about you. At the same time I fear that you hardly like the truth, +for temperament and custom have hardly prepared you for it. The poets of +every nation who at various times have written on Rome have intoxicated +you with so much praise that you are scarcely fitted to hear the real +truth about your Rome of to-day. No matter how superb a share of praise +one may accord you, one must all the same look at the reality of things, +and this reality is just what you won't admit, lovers of the beautiful as +you ever are, susceptible too like women, whom the slightest hint of a +wrinkle sends into despair." + +Orlando began to laugh. "Well, certainly, one must always beautify things +a little," said he. "Why speak of ugly faces at all? We in our theatres +only care for pretty music, pretty dancing, pretty pieces which please +one. As for the rest, whatever is disagreeable let us hide it, for +mercy's sake!" + +"On the other hand," the priest continued, "I will cheerfully confess the +great error of my book. The Italian Rome which I neglected and sacrificed +to papal Rome not only exists but is already so powerful and triumphant +that it is surely the other one which is bound to disappear in course of +time. However much the Pope may strive to remain immutable within his +Vatican, a steady evolution goes on around him, and the black world, by +mingling with the white, has already become a grey world. I never +realised that more acutely than at the /fete/ given by Prince +Buongiovanni for the betrothal of his daughter to your grand-nephew. I +came away quite enchanted, won over to the cause of your resurrection." + +The old man's eyes sparkled. "Ah! you were present?" said he, "and you +witnessed a never-to-be-forgotten scene, did you not, and you no longer +doubt our vitality, our growth into a great people when the difficulties +of to-day are overcome? What does a quarter of a century, what does even +a century matter! Italy will again rise to her old glory, as soon as the +great people of to-morrow shall have sprung from the soil. And if I +detest that man Sacco it is because to my mind he is the incarnation of +all the enjoyers and intriguers whose appetite for the spoils of our +conquest has retarded everything. But I live again in my dear +grand-nephew Attilio, who represents the future, the generation of brave +and worthy men who will purify and educate the country. Ah! may some of +the great ones of to-morrow spring from him and that adorable little +Princess Celia, whom my niece Stefana, a sensible woman at bottom, +brought to see me the other day. If you had seen that child fling her +arms about me, call me endearing names, and tell me that I should be +godfather to her first son, so that he might bear my name and once again +save Italy! Yes, yes, may peace be concluded around that coming cradle; +may the union of those dear children be the indissoluble marriage of Rome +and the whole nation, and may all be repaired, and all blossom anew in +their love!" + +Tears came to his eyes, and Pierre, touched by his inextinguishable +patriotism, sought to please him. "I myself," said he, "expressed to your +son much the same wish on the evening of the betrothal /fete/, when I +told him I trusted that their nuptials might be definitive and fruitful, +and that from them and all the others there might arise the great nation +which, now that I begin to know you, I hope you will soon become!" + +"You said that!" exclaimed Orlando. "Well, I forgive your book, for you +have understood at last; and new Rome, there she is, the Rome which is +ours, which we wish to make worthy of her glorious past, and for the +third time the queen of the world." + +With one of those broad gestures into which he put all his remaining +life, he pointed to the curtainless window where Rome spread out in +solemn majesty from one horizon to the other. But, suddenly he turned his +head and in a fit of paternal indignation began to apostrophise young +Angiolo Mascara. "You young rascal!" said he, "it's our Rome which you +dream of destroying with your bombs, which you talk of razing like a +rotten, tottering house, so as to rid the world of it for ever!" + +Angiolo had hitherto remained silent, passionately listening to the +others. His pretty, girlish, beardless face reflected the slightest +emotion in sudden flashes; and his big blue eyes also had glowed on +hearing what had been said of the people, the new people which it was +necessary to create. "Yes!" he slowly replied in his pure and musical +voice, "we mean to raze it and not leave a stone of it, but raze it in +order to build it up again." + +Orlando interrupted him with a soft, bantering laugh: "Oh! you would +build it up again; that's fortunate!" he said. + +"I would build it up again," the young man replied, in the trembling +voice of an inspired prophet. "I would build it up again oh, so vast, so +beautiful, and so noble! Will not the universal democracy of to-morrow, +humanity when it is at last freed, need an unique city, which shall be +the ark of alliance, the very centre of the world? And is not Rome +designated, Rome which the prophecies have marked as eternal and +immortal, where the destinies of the nations are to be accomplished? But +in order that it may become the final definitive sanctuary, the capital +of the destroyed kingdoms, where the wise men of all countries shall meet +once every year, one must first of all purify it by fire, leave nothing +of its old stains remaining. Then, when the sun shall have absorbed all +the pestilence of the old soil, we will rebuild the city ten times more +beautiful and ten times larger than it has ever been. And what a city of +truth and justice it will at last be, the Rome that has been announced +and awaited for three thousand years, all in gold and all in marble, +filling the Campagna from the sea to the Sabine and the Alban mountains, +and so prosperous and so sensible that its twenty millions of inhabitants +after regulating the law of labour will live with the unique joy of +being. Yes, yes, Rome the Mother, Rome the Queen, alone on the face of +the earth and for all eternity!" + +Pierre listened to him, aghast. What! did the blood of Augustus go to +such a point as this? The popes had not become masters of Rome without +feeling impelled to rebuild it in their passion to rule over the world; +young Italy, likewise yielding to the hereditary madness of universal +domination, had in its turn sought to make the city larger than any +other, erecting whole districts for people who had never come, and now +even the Anarchists were possessed by the same stubborn dream of the +race, a dream beyond all measure this time, a fourth and monstrous Rome, +whose suburbs would invade continents in order that liberated humanity, +united in one family, might find sufficient lodging! This was the climax. +Never could more extravagant proof be given of the blood of pride and +sovereignty which had scorched the veins of that race ever since Augustus +had bequeathed it the inheritance of his absolute empire, with the +furious instinct that the world legally belonged to it, and that its +mission was to conquer it again. This idea had intoxicated all the +children of that historic soil, impelling all of them to make their city +The City, the one which had reigned and which would reign again in +splendour when the days predicted by the oracles should arrive. And +Pierre remembered the four fatidical letters, the S.P.Q.R. of old and +glorious Rome, which like an order of final triumph given to Destiny he +had everywhere found in present-day Rome, on all the walls, on all the +insignia, even on the municipal dust-carts! And he understood the +prodigious vanity of these people, haunted by the glory of their +ancestors, spellbound by the past of their city, declaring that she +contains everything, that they themselves cannot know her thoroughly, +that she is the sphinx who will some day explain the riddle of the +universe, that she is so great and noble that all within her acquires +increase of greatness and nobility, in such wise that they demand for her +the idolatrous respect of the entire world, so vivacious in their minds +is the illusive legend which clings to her, so incapable are they of +realising that what was once great may be so no longer. + +"But I know your fourth Rome," resumed Orlando, again enlivened. "It's +the Rome of the people, the capital of the Universal Republic, which +Mazzini dreamt of. Only he left the pope in it. Do you know, my lad, that +if we old Republicans rallied to the monarchy, it was because we feared +that in the event of revolution the country might fall into the hands of +dangerous madmen such as those who have upset your brain? Yes, that was +why we resigned ourselves to our monarchy, which is not much different +from a parliamentary republic. And now, goodbye and be sensible, remember +that your poor mother would die of it if any misfortune should befall +you. Come, let me embrace you all the same." + +On receiving the hero's affectionate kiss Angiolo coloured like a girl. +Then he went off with his gentle, dreamy air, never adding a word but +politely inclining his head to the priest. Silence continued till +Orlando's eyes encountered the newspapers scattered on the table, when he +once more spoke of the terrible bereavement of the Boccaneras. He had +loved Benedetta like a dear daughter during the sad days when she had +dwelt near him; and finding the newspaper accounts of her death somewhat +singular, worried in fact by the obscure points which he could divine in +the tragedy, he was asking Pierre for particulars, when his son Luigi +suddenly entered the room, breathless from having climbed the stairs so +quickly and with his face full of anxious fear. He had just dismissed his +contractors with impatient roughness, giving no thought to his serious +financial position, the jeopardy in which his fortune was now placed, so +anxious was he to be up above beside his father. And when he was there +his first uneasy glance was for the old man, to make sure whether the +priest by some imprudent word had not dealt him his death blow. + +He shuddered on noticing how Orlando quivered, moved to tears by the +terrible affair of which he was speaking; and for a moment he thought he +had arrived too late, that the harm was done. "Good heavens, father!" he +exclaimed, "what is the matter with you, why are you crying?" And as he +spoke he knelt at the old man's feet, taking hold of his hands and giving +him such a passionate, loving glance that he seemed to be offering all +the blood of his heart to spare him the slightest grief. + +"It is about the death of that poor woman," Orlando sadly answered. "I +was telling Monsieur Froment how it grieved me, and I added that I could +not yet understand it all. The papers talk of a sudden death which is +always so extraordinary." + +The young Count rose again looking very pale. The priest had not yet +spoken. But what a frightful moment was this! What if he should reply, +what if he should speak out? + +"You were present, were you not?" continued the old man addressing +Pierre. "You saw everything. Tell me then how the thing happened." + +Luigi Prada looked at Pierre. Their eyes met fixedly, plunging into one +another's souls. All began afresh in their minds, Destiny on the march, +Santobono encountered with his little basket, the drive across the +melancholy Campagna, the conversation about poison while the little +basket was gently rocked on the priest's knees; then, in particular, the +sleepy /osteria/, and the little black hen, so suddenly killed, lying on +the ground with a tiny streamlet of violet blood trickling from her beak. +And next there was that splendid ball at the Buongiovanni mansion, with +all its /odore di femina/ and its triumph of love: and finally, before +the Palazzo Boccanera, so black under the silvery moon, there was the man +who lighted a cigar and went off without once turning his head, allowing +dim Destiny to accomplish its work of death. Both of them, Pierre and +Prada, knew that story and lived it over again, having no need to recall +it aloud in order to make certain that they had fully penetrated one +another's soul. + +Pierre did not immediately answer the old man. "Oh!" he murmured at last, +"there were frightful things, yes, frightful things." + +"No doubt--that is what I suspected," resumed Orlando. "You can tell us +all. In presence of death my son has freely forgiven." + +The young Count's gaze again sought that of Pierre with such weight, such +ardent entreaty that the priest felt deeply stirred. He had just +remembered that man's anguish during the ball, the atrocious torture of +jealousy which he had undergone before allowing Destiny to avenge him. +And he pictured also what must have been his feelings after the terrible +outcome of it all: at first stupefaction at Destiny's harshness, at this +full vengeance which he had never desired so ferocious; then icy calmness +like that of the cool gambler who awaits events, reading the newspapers, +and feeling no other remorse than that of the general whose victory has +cost him too many men. He must have immediately realised that the +Cardinal would stifle the affair for the sake of the Church's honour; and +only retained one weight on his heart, regret possibly for that woman +whom he had never won, with perhaps a last horrible jealousy which he did +not confess to himself but from which he would always suffer, jealousy at +knowing that she lay in another's arms in the grave, for all eternity. +But behold, after that victorious effort to remain calm, after that cold +and remorseless waiting, Punishment arose, the fear that Destiny, +travelling on with its poisoned figs, might have not yet ceased its +march, and might by a rebound strike down his own father. Yet another +thunderbolt, yet another victim, the most unexpected, the being he most +adored! At that thought all his strength of resistance had in one moment +collapsed, and he was there, in terror of Destiny, more at a loss, more +trembling than a child. + +"The newspapers, however," slowly said Pierre as if he were seeking his +words, "the newspapers must have told you that the Prince succumbed +first, and that the Contessina died of grief whilst embracing him for the +last time. . . . As for the cause of death, /mon Dieu/, you know that +doctors themselves in sudden cases scarcely dare to pronounce an exact +opinion--" + +He stopped short, for within him he had suddenly heard the voice of +Benedetta giving him just before she died that terrible order: "You, who +will see his father, I charge you to tell him that I cursed his son. I +wish that he should know, it is necessary that he should know, for the +sake of truth and justice." And was he, oh! Lord, about to obey that +order, was it one of those divine commands which must be executed even if +the result be a torrent of blood and tears? For a few seconds Pierre +suffered from a heart-rending combat within him, hesitating between the +act of truth and justice which the dead woman had called for and his own +personal desire for forgiveness, and the horror he would feel should he +kill that poor old man by fulfilling his implacable mission which could +benefit nobody. And certainly the other one, the son, must have +understood what a supreme struggle was going on in the priest's mind, a +struggle which would decide his own father's fate, for his glance became +yet more suppliant than ever. + +"One first thought that it was merely indigestion," continued Pierre, +"but the Prince became so much worse, that one was alarmed, and the +doctor was sent for--" + +Ah! Prada's eyes, they had become so despairing, so full of the most +touching and weightiest things, that the priest could read in them all +the decisive reasons which were about to stay his tongue. No, no, he +would not strike an innocent old man, he had promised nothing, and to +obey the last expression of the dead woman's hatred would have seemed to +him like charging her memory with a crime. The young Count, too, during +those few minutes of anguish, had suffered a whole life of such +abominable torture, that after all some little justice was done. + +"And then," Pierre concluded, "when the doctor arrived he at once +recognised that it was a case of infectious fever. There can be no doubt +of it. This morning I attended the funeral, it was very splendid and very +touching." + +Orlando did not insist, but contented himself with saying that he also +had felt much emotion all the morning on thinking of that funeral. Then, +as he turned to set the papers on the table in order with his trembling +hands, his son, icy cold with perspiration, staggering and clinging to +the back of a chair in order that he might not fall, again gave Pierre a +long glance, but a very soft one, full of distracted gratitude. + +"I am leaving this evening," resumed Pierre, who felt exhausted and +wished to break off the conversation, "and I must now bid you farewell. +Have you any commission to give me for Paris?" + +"No, none," replied Orlando; and then, with sudden recollection, he +added, "Yes, I have, though! You remember that book written by my old +comrade in arms, Theophile Morin, one of Garibaldi's Thousand, that +manual for the bachelor's degree which he desired to see translated and +adopted here. Well, I am pleased to say that I have a promise that it +shall be used in our schools, but on condition that he makes some +alterations in it. Luigi, give me the book, it is there on that shelf." + +Then, when his son had handed him the volume, he showed Pierre some notes +which he had pencilled on the margins, and explained to him the +modifications which were desired in the general scheme of the work. "Will +you be kind enough," he continued, "to take this copy to Morin himself? +His address is written inside the cover. If you can do so you will spare +me the trouble of writing him a very long letter; in ten minutes you can +explain matters to him more clearly and completely than I could do in ten +pages. . . . And you must embrace Morin for me, and tell him that I still +love him, oh! with all my heart of the bygone days, when I could still +use my legs and we two fought like devils side by side under a hail of +bullets." + +A short silence followed, that pause, that embarrassment tinged with +emotion which precedes the moment of farewell. "Come, good-bye," said +Orlando, "embrace me for him and for yourself, embrace me affectionately +like that lad did just now. I am so old and so near my end, my dear +Monsieur Froment, that you will allow me to call you my child and to kiss +you like a grandfather, wishing you all courage and peace, and that faith +in life which alone helps one to live." + +Pierre was so touched that tears rose to his eyes, and when with all his +soul he kissed the stricken hero on either cheek, he felt that he +likewise was weeping. With a hand yet as vigorous as a vice, Orlando +detained him for a moment beside his arm-chair, whilst with his other +hand waving in a supreme gesture, he for the last time showed him Rome, +so immense and mournful under the ashen sky. And his voice came low, +quivering and suppliant. "For mercy's sake swear to me that you will love +her all the same, in spite of all, for she is the cradle, the mother! +Love her for all that she no longer is, love her for all that she desires +to be! Do not say that her end has come, love her, love her so that she +may live again, that she may live for ever!" + +Pierre again embraced him, unable to find any other response, upset as he +was by all the passion displayed by that old warrior, who spoke of his +city as a man of thirty might speak of the woman he adores. And he found +him so handsome and so lofty with his old blanched, leonine mane and his +stubborn belief in approaching resurrection, that once more the other old +Roman, Cardinal Boccanera, arose before him, equally stubborn in his +faith and relinquishing nought of his dream, even though he might be +crushed on the spot by the fall of the heavens. These twain ever stood +face to face, at either end of their city, alone rearing their lofty +figures above the horizon, whilst awaiting the future. + +Then, when Pierre had bowed to Count Luigi, and found himself outside +again in the Via Venti Settembre he was all eagerness to get back to the +Boccanera mansion so as to pack up his things and depart. His farewell +visits were made, and he now only had to take leave of Donna Serafina and +the Cardinal, and to thank them for all their kind hospitality. For him +alone did their doors open, for they had shut themselves up on returning +from the funeral, resolved to see nobody. At twilight, therefore, Pierre +had no one but Victorine to keep him company in the vast, black mansion, +for when he expressed a desire to take supper with Don Vigilio she told +him that the latter had also shut himself in his room. Desirous as he was +of at least shaking hands with the secretary for the last time, Pierre +went to knock at the door, which was so near his own, but could obtain no +reply, and divined that the poor fellow, overcome by a fresh attack of +fever and suspicion, desired not to see him again, in terror at the idea +that he might compromise himself yet more than he had done already. +Thereupon, it was settled that as the train only started at seventeen +minutes past ten Victorine should serve Pierre his supper on the little +table in his sitting-room at eight o'clock. She brought him a lamp and +spoke of putting his linen in order, but he absolutely declined her help, +and she had to leave him to pack up quietly by himself. + +He had purchased a little box, since his valise could not possibly hold +all the linen and winter clothing which had been sent to him from Paris +as his stay in Rome became more and more protracted. However, the packing +was soon accomplished; the wardrobe was emptied, the drawers were +visited, the box and valise filled and securely locked by seven o'clock. +An hour remained to him before supper and he sat there resting, when his +eyes whilst travelling round the walls to make sure that he had forgotten +nothing, encountered that old painting by some unknown master, which had +so often filled him with emotion. The lamplight now shone full upon it; +and this time again as he gazed at it he felt a blow in the heart, a blow +which was all the deeper, as now, at his parting hour, he found a symbol +of his defeat at Rome in that dolent, tragic, half-naked woman, draped in +a shred of linen, and weeping between her clasped hands whilst seated on +the threshold of the palace whence she had been driven. Did not that +rejected one, that stubborn victim of love, who sobbed so bitterly, and +of whom one knew nothing, neither what her face was like, nor whence she +had come, nor what her fault had been--did she not personify all man's +useless efforts to force the doors of truth, and all the frightful +abandonment into which he falls as soon as he collides with the wall +which shuts the unknown off from him? For a long while did Pierre look at +her, again worried at being obliged to depart without having seen her +face behind her streaming golden hair, that face of dolorous beauty which +he pictured radiant with youth and delicious in its mystery. And as he +gazed he was just fancying that he could see it, that it was becoming his +at last, when there was a knock at the door and Narcisse Habert entered. + +Pierre was surprised to see the young /attache/, for three days +previously he had started for Florence, impelled thither by one of the +sudden whims of his artistic fancy. However, he at once apologised for +his unceremonious intrusion. "Ah! there is your luggage!" he said; "I +heard that you were going away this evening, and I was unwilling to let +you leave Rome without coming to shake hands with you. But what frightful +things have happened since we met! I only returned this afternoon, so +that I could not attend the funeral. However, you may well imagine how +thunderstruck I was by the news of those frightful deaths." + +Then, suspecting some unacknowledged tragedy, like a man well acquainted +with the legendary dark side of Rome, he put some questions to Pierre but +did not insist on them, being at bottom far too prudent to burden himself +uselessly with redoubtable secrets. And after Pierre had given him such +particulars as he thought fit, the conversation changed and they spoke at +length of Italy, Rome, Naples, and Florence. "Ah! Florence, Florence!" +Narcisse repeated languorously. He had lighted a cigarette and his words +fell more slowly, as he glanced round the room. "You were very well +lodged here," he said, "it is very quiet. I had never come up to this +floor before." + +His eyes continued wandering over the walls until they were at last +arrested by the old painting which the lamp illumined, and thereupon he +remained for a moment blinking as if surprised. And all at once he rose +and approached the picture. "Dear me, dear me," said he, "but that's very +good, that's very fine." + +"Isn't it?" rejoined Pierre. "I know nothing about painting but I was +stirred by that picture on the very day of my arrival, and over and over +again it has kept me here with my heart beating and full of indescribable +feelings." + +Narcisse no longer spoke but examined the painting with the care of a +connoisseur, an expert, whose keen glance decides the question of +authenticity, and appraises commercial value. And the most extraordinary +delight appeared upon the young man's fair, rapturous face, whilst his +fingers began to quiver. "But it's a Botticelli, it's a Botticelli! There +can be no doubt about it," he exclaimed. "Just look at the hands, and +look at the folds of the drapery! And the colour of the hair, and the +technique, the flow of the whole composition. A Botticelli, ah! /mon +Dieu/, a Botticelli." + +He became quite faint, overflowing with increasing admiration as he +penetrated more and more deeply into the subject, at once so simple and +so poignant. Was it not acutely modern? The artist had foreseen our +pain-fraught century, our anxiety in presence of the invisible, our +distress at being unable to cross the portal of mystery which was for +ever closed. And what an eternal symbol of the world's wretchedness was +that woman, whose face one could not see, and who sobbed so distractedly +without it being possible for one to wipe away her tears. Yes, a +Botticelli, unknown, uncatalogued, what a discovery! Then he paused to +inquire of Pierre: "Did you know it was a Botticelli?" + +"Oh no! I spoke to Don Vigilio about it one day, but he seemed to think +it of no account. And Victorine, when I spoke to her, replied that all +those old things only served to harbour dust." + +Narcisse protested, quite stupefied: "What! they have a Botticelli here +and don't know it! Ah! how well I recognise in that the Roman princes +who, unless their masterpieces have been labelled, are for the most part +utterly at sea among them! No doubt this one has suffered a little, but a +simple cleaning would make a marvel, a famous picture of it, for which a +museum would at least give--" + +He abruptly stopped, completing his sentence with a wave of the hand and +not mentioning the figure which was on his lips. And then, as Victorine +came in followed by Giacomo to lay the little table for Pierre's supper, +he turned his back upon the Botticelli and said no more about it. The +young priest's attention was aroused, however, and he could well divine +what was passing in the other's mind. Under that make-believe Florentine, +all angelicalness, there was an experienced business man, who well knew +how to look after his pecuniary interests and was even reported to be +somewhat avaricious. Pierre, who was aware of it, could not help smiling +therefore when he saw him take his stand before another picture--a +frightful Virgin, badly copied from some eighteenth-century canvas--and +exclaim: "Dear me! that's not at all bad! I've a friend, I remember, who +asked me to buy him some old paintings. I say, Victorine, now that Donna +Serafina and the Cardinal are left alone do you think they would like to +rid themselves of a few valueless pictures?" + +The servant raised her arms as if to say that if it depended on her, +everything might be carried away. Then she replied: "Not to a dealer, +sir, on account of the nasty rumours which would at once spread about, +but I'm sure they would be happy to please a friend. The house costs a +lot to keep up, and money would be welcome." + +Pierre then vainly endeavoured to persuade Narcisse to stay and sup with +him, but the young man gave his word of honour that he was expected +elsewhere and was even late. And thereupon he ran off, after pressing the +priest's hands and affectionately wishing him a good journey. + +Eight o'clock was striking, and Pierre seated himself at the little +table, Victorine remaining to serve him after dismissing Giacomo, who had +brought the supper things upstairs in a basket. "The people here make me +wild," said the worthy woman after the other had gone, "they are so slow. +And besides, it's a pleasure for me to serve you your last meal, Monsieur +l'Abbe. I've had a little French dinner cooked for you, a /sole au +gratin/ and a roast fowl." + +Pierre was touched by this attention, and pleased to have the company of +a compatriot whilst he partook of his final meal amidst the deep silence +of the old, black, deserted mansion. The buxom figure of Victorine was +still instinct with mourning, with grief for the loss of her dear +Contessina, but her daily toil was already setting her erect again, +restoring her quick activity; and she spoke almost cheerfully whilst +passing plates and dishes to Pierre. "And to think Monsieur l'Abbe," said +she, "that you'll be in Paris on the morning of the day after to-morrow! +As for me, you know, it seems as if I only left Auneau yesterday. Ah! +what fine soil there is there; rich soil yellow like gold, not like their +poor stuff here which smells of sulphur! And the pretty fresh willows +beside our stream, too, and the little wood so full of moss! They've no +moss here, their trees look like tin under that stupid sun of theirs +which burns up the grass. /Mon Dieu/! in the early times I would have +given I don't know what for a good fall of rain to soak me and wash away +all the dust. Ah! I shall never get used to their awful Rome. What a +country and what people!" + +Pierre was quite enlivened by her stubborn fidelity to her own nook, +which after five and twenty years of absence still left her horrified +with that city of crude light and black vegetation, true daughter as she +was of a smiling and temperate clime which of a morning was steeped in +rosy mist. "But now that your young mistress is dead," said he, "what +keeps you here? Why don't you take the train with me?" + +She looked at him in surprise: "Go off with you, go back to Auneau! Oh! +it's impossible, Monsieur l'Abbe. It would be too ungrateful to begin +with, for Donna Serafina is accustomed to me, and it would be bad on my +part to forsake her and his Eminence now that they are in trouble. And +besides, what could I do elsewhere? No, my little hole is here now." + +"So you will never see Auneau again?" + +"No, never, that's certain." + +"And you don't mind being buried here, in their ground which smells of +sulphur?" + +She burst into a frank laugh. "Oh!" she said, "I don't mind where I am +when I'm dead. One sleeps well everywhere. And it's funny that you should +be so anxious as to what there may be when one's dead. There's nothing, +I'm sure. That's what tranquillises me, to feel that it will be all over +and that I shall have a rest. The good God owes us that after we've +worked so hard. You know that I'm not devout, oh! dear no. Still that +doesn't prevent me from behaving properly, and, true as I stand here, +I've never had a lover. It seems foolish to say such a thing at my age, +still I say it because it's the sober truth." + +She continued laughing like the worthy woman she was, having no belief in +priests and yet without a sin upon her conscience. And Pierre once more +marvelled at the simple courage and great practical common sense of this +laborious and devoted creature, who for him personified the whole +unbelieving lowly class of France, those who no longer believe and will +believe never more. Ah! to be as she was, to do one's work and lie down +for the eternal sleep without any revolt of pride, satisfied with the one +joy of having accomplished one's share of toil! + +When Pierre had finished his supper Victorine summoned Giacomo to clear +the things away. And as it was only half-past eight she advised the +priest to spend another quiet hour in his room. Why go and catch a chill +by waiting at the station? She could send for a cab at half-past nine, +and as soon as it arrived she would send word to him and have his luggage +carried down. He might be easy as to that, and need trouble himself about +nothing. + +When she had gone off Pierre soon sank into a deep reverie. It seemed to +him, indeed, as if he had already quitted Rome, as if the city were far +away and he could look back on it, and his experiences within it. His +book, "New Rome," arose in his mind; and he remembered his first morning +on the Janiculum, his view of Rome from the terrace of San Pietro in +Montorio, a Rome such as he had dreamt of, so young and ethereal under +the pure sky. It was then that he had asked himself the decisive +question: Could Catholicism be renewed? Could it revert to the spirit of +primitive Christianity, become the religion of the democracy, the faith +which the distracted modern world, in danger of death, awaits in order +that it may be pacified and live? His heart had then beaten with hope and +enthusiasm. After his disaster at Lourdes from which he had scarcely +recovered, he had come to attempt another and supreme experiment by +asking Rome what her reply to his question would be. And now the +experiment had failed, he knew what answer Rome had returned him through +her ruins, her monuments, her very soil, her people, her prelates, her +cardinals, her pope! No, Catholicism could not be renewed: no, it could +not revert to the spirit of primitive Christianity; no, it could not +become the religion of the democracy, the new faith which might save the +old toppling societies in danger of death. Though it seemed to be of +democratic origin, it was henceforth riveted to that Roman soil, it +remained kingly in spite of everything, forced to cling to the principle +of temporal power under penalty of suicide, bound by tradition, enchained +by dogma, its evolutions mere simulations whilst in reality it was +reduced to such immobility that, behind the bronze doors of the Vatican, +the papacy was the prisoner, the ghost of eighteen centuries of atavism, +indulging the ceaseless dream of universal dominion. There, where with +priestly faith exalted by love of the suffering and the poor, he had come +to seek life and a resurrection of the Christian communion, he had found +death, the dust of a destroyed world in which nothing more could +germinate, an exhausted soil whence now there could never grow aught but +that despotic papacy, the master of bodies as it was of souls. To his +distracted cry asking for a new religion, Rome had been content to reply +by condemning his book as a work tainted with heresy, and he himself had +withdrawn it amidst the bitter grief of his disillusions. He had seen, he +had understood, and all had collapsed. And it was himself, his soul and +his brain, which lay among the ruins. + +Pierre was stifling. He rose, threw the window overlooking the Tiber wide +open, and leant out. The rain had begun to fall again at the approach of +evening, but now it had once more ceased. The atmosphere was very mild, +moist, even oppressive. The moon must have arisen in the ashen grey sky, +for her presence could be divined behind the clouds which she illumined +with a vague, yellow, mournful light. And under that slumberous glimmer +the vast horizon showed blackly and phantom-like: the Janiculum in front +with the close-packed houses of the Trastevere; the river flowing away +yonder on the left towards the dim height of the Palatine; whilst on the +right the dome of St. Peter's showed forth, round and domineering in the +pale atmosphere. Pierre could not see the Quirinal but divined it to be +behind him, and could picture its long facade shutting off part of the +sky. And what a collapsing Rome, half-devoured by the gloom, was this, so +different from the Rome all youth and dreamland which he had beheld and +passionately loved on the day of his arrival! He remembered the three +symbolic summits which had then summed up for him the whole long history +of Rome, the ancient, the papal, and the Italian city. But if the +Palatine had remained the same discrowned mount on which there only rose +the phantom of the ancestor, Augustus, emperor and pontiff, master of the +world, he now pictured St. Peter's and the Quirinal as strangely altered. +To that royal palace which he had so neglected, and which had seemed to +him like a flat, low barrack, to that new Government which had brought +him the impression of some attempt at sacrilegious modernity, he now +accorded the large, increasing space that they occupied in the panorama, +the whole of which they would apparently soon fill; whilst, on the +contrary, St. Peter's, that dome which he had found so triumphal, all +azure, reigning over the city like a gigantic and unshakable monarch, at +present seemed to him full of cracks and already shrinking, as if it were +one of those huge old piles, which, through the secret, unsuspected decay +of their timbers, at times fall to the ground in one mass. + +A murmur, a growling plaint rose from the swollen Tiber, and Pierre +shivered at the icy abysmal breath which swept past his face. And his +thoughts of the three summits and their symbolic triangle aroused within +him the memory of the sufferings of the great silent multitude of poor +and lowly for whom pope and king had so long disputed. It all dated from +long ago, from the day when, in dividing the inheritance of Augustus, the +emperor had been obliged to content himself with men's bodies, leaving +their souls to the pope, whose one idea had henceforth been to gain the +temporal power of which God, in his person, was despoiled. All the middle +ages had been disturbed and ensanguined by the quarrel, till at last the +silent multitude weary of vexations and misery spoke out; threw off the +papal yoke at the Reformation, and later on began to overthrow its kings. +And then, as Pierre had written in his book, a new fortune had been +offered to the pope, that of reverting to the ancient dream, by +dissociating himself from the fallen thrones and placing himself on the +side of the wretched in the hope that this time he would conquer the +people, win it entirely for himself. Was it not prodigious to see that +man, Leo XIII, despoiled of his kingdom and allowing himself to be called +a socialist, assembling under his banner the great flock of the +disinherited, and marching against the kings at the head of that fourth +estate to whom the coming century will belong? The eternal struggle for +possession of the people continued as bitterly as ever even in Rome +itself, where pope and king, who could see each other from their windows, +contended together like falcon and hawk for the little birds of the +woods. And in this for Pierre lay the reason why Catholicism was fatally +condemned; for it was of monarchical essence to such a point that the +Apostolic and Roman papacy could not renounce the temporal power under +penalty of becoming something else and disappearing. In vain did it feign +a return to the people, in vain did it seek to appear all soul; there was +no room in the midst of the world's democracies for any such total and +universal sovereignty as that which it claimed to hold from God. Pierre +ever beheld the Imperator sprouting up afresh in the Pontifex Maximus, +and it was this in particular which had killed his dream, destroyed his +book, heaped up all those ruins before which he remained distracted +without either strength or courage. + +The sight of that ashen Rome, whose edifices faded away into the night, +at last brought him such a heart-pang that he came back into the room and +fell on a chair near his luggage. Never before had he experienced such +distress of spirit, it seemed like the death of his soul. After his +disaster at Lourdes he had not come to Rome in search of the candid and +complete faith of a little child, but the superior faith of an +intellectual being, rising above rites and symbols, and seeking to ensure +the greatest possible happiness of mankind based on its need of +certainty. And if this collapsed, if Catholicism could not be rejuvenated +and become the religion and moral law of the new generations, if the Pope +at Rome and with Rome could not be the Father, the arch of alliance, the +spiritual leader whom all hearkened to and obeyed, why then, in Pierre's +eyes, the last hope was wrecked, the supreme rending which must plunge +present-day society into the abyss was near at hand. That scaffolding of +Catholic socialism which had seemed to him so happily devised for the +consolidation of the old Church, now appeared to him lying on the ground; +and he judged it severely as a mere passing expedient which might perhaps +for some years prop up the ruined edifice, but which was simply based on +an intentional misunderstanding, on a skilful lie, on politics and +diplomacy. No, no, that the people should once again, as so many times +before, be duped and gained over, caressed in order that it might be +enthralled--this was repugnant to one's reason, and the whole system +appeared degenerate, dangerous, temporary, calculated to end in the worst +catastrophes. So this then was the finish, nothing remained erect and +stable, the old world was about to disappear amidst the frightful +sanguinary crisis whose approach was announced by such indisputable +signs. And he, before that chaos near at hand, had no soul left him, +having once more lost his faith in that decisive experiment which, he had +felt beforehand, would either strengthen him or strike him down for ever. +The thunderbolt had fallen, and now, O God, what should he do? + +To shake off his anguish he began to walk across the room. Aye, what +should he do now that he was all doubt again, all dolorous negation, and +that his cassock weighed more heavily than it had ever weighed upon his +shoulders? He remembered having told Monsignor Nani that he would never +submit, would never be able to resign himself and kill his hope in +salvation by love, but would rather reply by a fresh book, in which he +would say in what new soil the new religion would spring up. Yes, a +flaming book against Rome, in which he would set down all he had seen, a +book which would depict the real Rome, the Rome which knows neither +charity nor love, and is dying in the pride of its purple! He had spoken +of returning to Paris, leaving the Church and going to the point of +schism. Well, his luggage now lay there packed, he was going off and he +would write that book, he would be the great schismatic who was awaited! +Did not everything foretell approaching schism amidst that great movement +of men's minds, weary of old mummified dogmas and yet hungering for the +divine? Even Leo XIII must be conscious of it, for his whole policy, his +whole effort towards Christian unity, his assumed affection for the +democracy had no other object than that of grouping the whole family +around the papacy, and consolidating it so as to render the Pope +invincible in the approaching struggle. But the times had come, +Catholicism would soon find that it could grant no more political +concessions without perishing, that at Rome it was reduced to the +immobility of an ancient hieratic idol, and that only in the lands of +propaganda, where it was fighting against other religions, could further +evolution take place. It was, indeed, for this reason that Rome was +condemned, the more so as the abolition of the temporal power, by +accustoming men's minds to the idea of a purely spiritual papacy, seemed +likely to conduce to the rise of some anti-pope, far away, whilst the +successor of St. Peter was compelled to cling stubbornly to his Apostolic +and Roman fiction. A bishop, a priest would arise--where, who could tell? +Perhaps yonder in that free America, where there are priests whom the +struggle for life has turned into convinced socialists, into ardent +democrats, who are ready to go forward with the coming century. And +whilst Rome remains unable to relinquish aught of her past, aught of her +mysteries and dogmas, that priest will relinquish all of those things +which fall from one in dust. Ah! to be that priest, to be that great +reformer, that saviour of modern society, what a vast dream, what a part, +akin to that of a Messiah summoned by the nations in distress. For a +moment Pierre was transported as by a breeze of hope and triumph. If that +great change did not come in France, in Paris, it would come elsewhere, +yonder across the ocean, or farther yet, wherever there might be a +sufficiently fruitful soil for the new seed to spring from it in +overflowing harvests. A new religion! a new religion! even as he had +cried on returning from Lourdes, a religion which in particular should +not be an appetite for death, a religion which should at last realise +here below that Kingdom of God referred to in the Gospel, and which +should equitably divide terrestrial wealth, and with the law of labour +ensure the rule of truth and justice. + +In the fever of this fresh dream Pierre already saw the pages of his new +book flaring before him when his eyes fell on an object lying upon a +chair, which at first surprised him. This also was a book, that work of +Theophile Morin's which Orlando had commissioned him to hand to its +author, and he felt annoyed with himself at having left it there, for he +might have forgotten it altogether. Before putting it into his valise he +retained it for a moment in his hand turning its pages over, his ideas +changing as by a sudden mental revolution. The work was, however, a very +modest one, one of those manuals for the bachelor's degree containing +little beyond the first elements of the sciences; still all the sciences +were represented in it, and it gave a fair summary of the present state +of human knowledge. And it was indeed Science which thus burst upon +Pierre's reverie with the energy of sovereign power. Not only was +Catholicism swept away from his mind, but all his religious conceptions, +every hypothesis of the divine tottered and fell. Only that little school +book, nothing but the universal desire for knowledge, that education +which ever extends and penetrates the whole people, and behold the +mysteries became absurdities, the dogmas crumbled, and nothing of ancient +faith was left. A nation nourished upon Science, no longer believing in +mysteries and dogmas, in a compensatory system of reward and punishment, +is a nation whose faith is for ever dead: and without faith Catholicism +cannot be. Therein is the blade of the knife, the knife which falls and +severs. If one century, if two centuries be needed, Science will take +them. She alone is eternal. It is pure /naivete/ to say that reason is +not contrary to faith. The truth is, that now already in order to save +mere fragments of the sacred writings, it has been necessary to +accommodate them to the new certainties, by taking refuge in the +assertion that they are simply symbolical! And what an extraordinary +attitude is that of the Catholic Church, expressly forbidding all those +who may discover a truth contrary to the sacred writings to pronounce +upon it in definitive fashion, and ordering them to await events in the +conviction that this truth will some day be proved an error! Only the +Pope, says the Church, is infallible; Science is fallible, her constant +groping is exploited against her, and divines remain on the watch +striving to make it appear that her discoveries of to-day are in +contradiction with her discoveries of yesterday. What do her sacrilegious +assertions, what do her certainties rending dogma asunder, matter to a +Catholic since it is certain that at the end of time, she, Science, will +again join Faith, and become the latter's very humble slave! Voluntary +blindness and impudent denial of things as evident as the sunlight, can +no further go. But all the same the insignificant little book, the manual +of truth travels on continuing its work, destroying error and building up +the new world, even as the infinitesimal agents of life built up our +present continents. + +In the sudden great enlightenment which had come on him Pierre at last +felt himself upon firm ground. Has Science ever retreated? It is +Catholicism which has always retreated before her, and will always be +forced to retreat. Never does Science stop, step by step she wrests truth +from error, and to say that she is bankrupt because she cannot explain +the world in one word and at one effort, is pure and simple nonsense. If +she leaves, and no doubt will always leave a smaller and smaller domain +to mystery, and if supposition may always strive to explain that mystery, +it is none the less certain that she ruins, and with each successive hour +will add to the ruin of the ancient hypotheses, those which crumble away +before the acquired truths. And Catholicism is in the position of those +ancient hypotheses, and will be in it yet more thoroughly to-morrow. Like +all religions it is, at the bottom, but an explanation of the world, a +superior social and political code, intended to bring about the greatest +possible sum of peace and happiness on earth. This code which embraces +the universality of things thenceforth becomes human, and mortal like +everything that is human. One cannot put it on one side and say that it +exists on one side by itself, whilst Science does the same on the other. +Science is total and has already shown Catholicism that such is the case, +and will show it again and again by compelling it to repair the breaches +incessantly effected in its ramparts till the day of victory shall come +with the final assault of resplendent truth. Frankly, it makes one laugh +to hear people assign a /role/ to Science, forbid her to enter such and +such a domain, predict to her that she shall go no further, and declare +that at this end of the century she is already so weary that she +abdicates! Oh! you little men of shallow or distorted brains, you +politicians planning expedients, you dogmatics at bay, you authoritarians +so obstinately clinging to the ancient dreams, Science will pass on, and +sweep you all away like withered leaves! + +Pierre continued glancing through the humble little book, listening to +all it told him of sovereign Science. She cannot become bankrupt, for she +does not promise the absolute, she is simply the progressive conquest of +truth. Never has she pretended that she could give the whole truth at one +effort, that sort of edifice being precisely the work of metaphysics, of +revelation, of faith. The /role/ of Science, on the contrary, is only to +destroy error as she gradually advances and increases enlightenment. And +thus, far from becoming bankrupt, in her march which nothing stops, she +remains the only possible truth for well-balanced and healthy minds. As +for those whom she does not satisfy, who crave for immediate and +universal knowledge, they have the resource of seeking refuge in no +matter what religious hypothesis, provided, if they wish to appear in the +right, that they build their fancy upon acquired certainties. Everything +which is raised on proven error falls. However, although religious +feeling persists among mankind, although the need of religion may be +eternal, it by no means follows that Catholicism is eternal, for it is, +after all, but one form of religion, which other forms preceded and which +others will follow. Religions may disappear, but religious feeling will +create new ones even with the help of Science. Pierre thought of that +alleged repulse of Science by the present-day awakening of mysticism, the +causes of which he had indicated in his book: the discredit into which +the idea of liberty has fallen among the people, duped in the last social +reorganisation, and the uneasiness of the /elite/, in despair at the void +in which their liberated minds and enlarged intelligences have left them. +It is the anguish of the Unknown springing up again; but it is also only +a natural and momentary reaction after so much labour, on finding that +Science does not yet calm our thirst for justice, our desire for +security, or our ancient idea of an eternal after-life of enjoyment. In +order, however, that Catholicism might be born anew, as some seem to +think it will be, the social soil would have to change, and it cannot +change; it no longer possesses the sap needful for the renewal of a +decaying formula which schools and laboratories destroy more and more +each day. The ground is other than it once was, a different oak must +spring from it. May Science therefore have her religion, for such a +religion will soon be the only one possible for the coming democracies, +for the nations, whose knowledge ever increases whilst their Catholic +faith is already nought but dust. + +And all at once, by way of conclusion, Pierre bethought himself of the +idiocy of the Congregation of the Index. It had condemned his book, and +would surely condemn the other one that he had thought of, should he ever +write it. A fine piece of work truly! To fall tooth and nail on the poor +books of an enthusiastic dreamer, in which chimera contended with +chimera! Yet the Congregation was so foolish as not to interdict that +little book which he held in his hands, that humble book which alone was +to be feared, which was the ever triumphant enemy that would surely +overthrow the Church. Modest it was in its cheap "get up" as a school +manual, but that did not matter: danger began with the very alphabet, +increased as knowledge was acquired, and burst forth with those /resumes/ +of the physical, chemical, and natural sciences which bring the very +Creation, as described by Holy Writ, into question. However, the Index +dared not attempt to suppress those humble volumes, those terrible +soldiers of truth, those destroyers of faith. What was the use, then, of +all the money which Leo XIII drew from his hidden treasure of the Peter's +Pence to subvention Catholic schools, with the thought of forming the +believing generations which the papacy needed to enable it to conquer? +What was the use of that precious money if it was only to serve for the +purchase of similar insignificant yet formidable volumes, which could +never be sufficiently "cooked" and expurgated, but would always contain +too much Science, that growing Science which one day would blow up both +Vatican and St. Peter's? Ah! that idiotic and impotent Index, what +wretchedness and what derision! + +Then, when Pierre had placed Theophile Morin's book in his valise, he +once more returned to the window, and while leaning out, beheld an +extraordinary vision. Under the cloudy, coppery sky, in the mild and +mournful night, patches of wavy mist had risen, hiding many of the +house-roofs with trailing shreds which looked like shrouds. Entire +edifices had disappeared, and he imagined that the times were at last +accomplished, and that truth had at last destroyed St. Peter's dome. In a +hundred or a thousand years, it would be like that, fallen, obliterated +from the black sky. One day, already, he had felt it tottering and +cracking beneath him, and had foreseen that this temple of Catholicism +would fall even as Jove's temple had fallen on the Capitol. And it was +over now, the dome had strewn the ground with fragments, and all that +remained standing, in addition to a portion of the apse, where five +columns of the central nave, still upholding a shred of entablature, and +four cyclopean buttress-piers on which the dome had rested--piers which +still arose, isolated and superb, looking indestructible among all the +surrounding downfall. But a denser mist flowed past, another thousand +years no doubt went by, and then nothing whatever remained. The apse, the +last pillars, the giant piers themselves were felled! The wind had swept +away their dust, and it would have been necessary to search the soil +beneath the brambles and the nettles to find a few fragments of broken +statues, marbles with mutilated inscriptions, on the sense of which +learned men were unable to agree. And, as formerly, on the Capitol, among +the buried remnants of Jupiter's temple, goats strayed and climbed +through the solitude, browsing upon the bushes, amidst the deep silence +of the oppressive summer sunlight, which only the buzzing flies +disturbed. + +Then, only then, did Pierre feel the supreme collapse within him. It was +really all over, Science was victorious, nothing of the old world +remained. What use would it be then to become the great schismatic, the +reformer who was awaited? Would it not simply mean the building up of a +new dream? Only the eternal struggle of Science against the Unknown, the +searching, pursuing inquiry which incessantly moderated man's thirst for +the divine, now seemed to him of import, leaving him waiting to know if +she would ever triumph so completely as to suffice mankind, by satisfying +all its wants. And in the disaster which had overcome his apostolic +enthusiasm, in presence of all those ruins, having lost his faith, and +even his hope of utilising old Catholicism for social and moral +salvation, there only remained reason that held him up. She had at one +moment given way. If he had dreamt that book, and had just passed through +that terrible crisis, it was because sentiment had once again overcome +reason within him. It was his mother, so to say, who had wept in his +heart, who had filled him with an irresistible desire to relieve the +wretched and prevent the massacres which seemed near at hand; and his +passion for charity had thus swept aside the scruples of his +intelligence. But it was his father's voice that he now heard, lofty and +bitter reason which, though it had fled, at present came back in all +sovereignty. As he had done already after Lourdes, he protested against +the glorification of the absurd and the downfall of common sense. Reason +alone enabled him to walk erect and firm among the remnants of the old +beliefs, even amidst the obscurities and failures of Science. Ah! Reason, +it was through her alone that he suffered, through her alone that he +could content himself, and he swore that he would now always seek to +satisfy her, even if in doing so he should lose his happiness. + +At that moment it would have been vain for him to ask what he ought to +do. Everything remained in suspense, the world stretched before him still +littered with the ruins of the past, of which, to-morrow, it would +perhaps be rid. Yonder, in that dolorous faubourg of Paris, he would find +good Abbe Rose, who but a few days previously had written begging him to +return and tend, love, and save his poor, since Rome, so dazzling from +afar, was dead to charity. And around the good and peaceful old priest he +would find the ever growing flock of wretched ones; the little fledglings +who had fallen from their nests, and whom he found pale with hunger and +shivering with cold; the households of abominable misery in which the +father drank and the mother became a prostitute, while the sons and the +daughters sank into vice and crime; the dwellings, too, through which +famine swept, where all was filth and shameful promiscuity, where there +was neither furniture nor linen, nothing but purely animal life. And then +there would also come the cold blasts of winter, the disasters of slack +times, the hurricanes of consumption carrying off the weak, whilst the +strong clenched their fists and dreamt of vengeance. One evening, too, +perhaps, he might again enter some room of horror and find that another +mother had killed herself and her five little ones, her last-born in her +arms clinging to her drained breast, and the others scattered over the +bare tiles, at last contented, feeling hunger no more, now that they were +dead! But no, no, such awful things were no longer possible: such black +misery conducting to suicide in the heart of that great city of Paris, +which is brimful of wealth, intoxicated with enjoyment, and flings +millions out of window for mere pleasure! The very foundations of the +social edifice were rotten; all would soon collapse amidst mire and +blood. Never before had Pierre so acutely realised the derisive futility +of Charity. And all at once he became conscious that the long-awaited +word, the word which was at last springing from the great silent +multitude, the crushed and gagged people was /Justice/! Aye, Justice not +Charity! Charity had only served to perpetuate misery, Justice perhaps +would cure it. It was for Justice that the wretched hungered; an act of +Justice alone could sweep away the olden world so that the new one might +be reared. After all, the great silent multitude would belong neither to +Vatican nor to Quirinal, neither to pope nor to king. If it had covertly +growled through the ages in its long, sometimes mysterious, and sometimes +open contest; if it had struggled betwixt pontiff and emperor who each +had wished to retain it for himself alone, it had only done so in order +that it might free itself, proclaim its resolve to belong to none on the +day when it should cry Justice! Would to-morrow then at last prove that +day of Justice and Truth? For his part, Pierre amidst his anguish--having +on one hand that need of the divine which tortures man, and on the other +sovereignty of reason which enables man to remain erect--was only sure of +one thing, that he would keep his vows, continue a priest, watching over +the belief of others though he could not himself believe, and would thus +chastely and honestly follow his profession, amidst haughty sadness at +having been unable to renounce his intelligence in the same way as he had +renounced his flesh and his dream of saving the nations. And again, as +after Lourdes, he would wait. + +So deeply was he plunged in reflection at that window, face to face with +the mist which seemed to be destroying the dark edifices of Rome, that he +did not hear himself called. At last, however, he felt a tap on the +shoulder: "Monsieur l'Abbe!" And then as he turned he saw Victorine, who +said to him: "It is half-past nine; the cab is there. Giacomo has already +taken your luggage down. You must come away, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +Then seeing him blink, still dazed as it were, she smiled and added: "You +were bidding Rome goodbye. What a frightful sky there is." + +"Yes, frightful," was his reply. + +Then they descended the stairs. He had handed her a hundred-franc note to +be shared between herself and the other servants. And she apologised for +going down before him with the lamp, explaining that the old palace was +so dark that evening one could scarcely see. + +Ah! that departure, that last descent through the black and empty +mansion, it quite upset Pierre's heart. He gave his room that glance of +farewell which always saddened him, even when he was leaving a spot where +he had suffered. Then, on passing Don Vigilio's chamber, whence there +only came a quivering silence, he pictured the secretary with his head +buried in his pillows, holding his breath for fear lest he should speak +and attract vengeance. But it was in particular on the second and first +floor landings, on passing the closed doors of Donna Serafina and the +Cardinal, that Pierre quivered with apprehension at hearing nothing but +the silence of the grave. And as he followed Victorine, who, lamp in +hand, was still descending, he thought of the brother and sister who were +left alone in the ruined palace, last relics of a world which had half +passed away. All hope of life had departed with Benedetta and Dario, no +resurrection could come from that old maid and that priest who was bound +to chastity. Ah! those interminable and lugubrious passages, that frigid +and gigantic staircase which seemed to descend into nihility, those huge +halls with cracking walls where all was wretchedness and abandonment! And +that inner court, looking like a cemetery with its weeds and its damp +porticus, where remnants of Apollos and Venuses were rotting! And the +little deserted garden, fragrant with ripe oranges, whither nobody now +would ever stray, where none would ever meet that adorable Contessina +under the laurels near the sarcophagus! All was now annihilated in +abominable mourning, in a death-like silence, amidst which the two last +Boccaneras must wait, in savage grandeur, till their palace should fall +about their heads. Pierre could only just detect a faint sound, the +gnawing of a mouse perhaps, unless it were caused by Abbe Paparelli +attacking the walls of some out-of-the-way rooms, preying on the old +edifice down below, so as to hasten its fall. + +The cab stood at the door, already laden with the luggage, the box beside +the driver, the valise on the seat; and the priest at once got in. + +"Oh! You have plenty of time," said Victorine, who had remained on the +foot-pavement. "Nothing has been forgotten. I'm glad to see you go off +comfortably." + +And indeed at that last moment Pierre was comforted by the presence of +that worthy woman, his compatriot, who had greeted him on his arrival and +now attended his departure. "I won't say 'till we meet again,' Monsieur +l'Abbe," she exclaimed, "for I don't fancy that you'll soon be back in +this horrid city. Good-bye, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +"Good-bye, Victorine, and thank you with all my heart." + +The cab was already going off at a fast trot, turning into the narrow +sinuous street which leads to the Corso Vittoria Emanuele. It was not +raining and so the hood had not been raised, but although the damp +atmosphere was comparatively mild, Pierre at once felt a chill. However, +he was unwilling to stop the driver, a silent fellow whose only desire +seemingly was to get rid of his fare as soon as possible. When the cab +came out into the Corso Vittoria Emanuele, the young man was astonished +to find it already quite deserted, the houses shut, the footways bare, +and the electric lamps burning all alone in melancholy solitude. In +truth, however, the temperature was far from warm and the fog seemed to +be increasing, hiding the house-fronts more and more. When Pierre passed +the Cancelleria, that stern colossal pile seemed to him to be receding, +fading away; and farther on, upon the right, at the end of the Via di Ara +Coeli, starred by a few smoky gas lamps, the Capitol had quite vanished +in the gloom. Then the thoroughfare narrowed, and the cab went on between +the dark heavy masses of the Gesu and the Altieri palace; and there in +that contracted passage, where even on fine sunny days one found all the +dampness of old times, the quivering priest yielded to a fresh train of +thought. It was an idea which had sometimes made him feel anxious, the +idea that mankind, starting from over yonder in Asia, had always marched +onward with the sun. An east wind had always carried the human seed for +future harvest towards the west. And for a long while now the cradle of +humanity had been stricken with destruction and death, as if indeed the +nations could only advance by stages, leaving exhausted soil, ruined +cities, and degenerate populations behind, as they marched from orient to +occident, towards their unknown goal. Nineveh and Babylon on the banks of +the Euphrates, Thebes and Memphis on the banks of the Nile, had been +reduced to dust, sinking from old age and weariness into a deadly +numbness beyond possibility of awakening. Then decrepitude had spread to +the shores of the great Mediterranean lake, burying both Tyre and Sidon +with dust, and afterwards striking Carthage with senility whilst it yet +seemed in full splendour. In this wise as mankind marched on, carried by +the hidden forces of civilisation from east to west, it marked each day's +journey with ruins; and how frightful was the sterility nowadays +displayed by the cradle of History, that Asia and that Egypt, which had +once more lapsed into childhood, immobilised in ignorance and degeneracy +amidst the ruins of ancient cities that once had been queens of the +world! + +It was thus Pierre reflected as the cab rolled on. Still he was not +unconscious of his surroundings. As he passed the Palazzo di Venezia it +seemed to him to be crumbling beneath some assault of the invisible, for +the mist had already swept away its battlements, and the lofty, bare, +fearsome walls looked as if they were staggering from the onslaught of +the growing darkness. And after passing the deep gap of the Corso, which +was also deserted amidst the pallid radiance of its electric lights, the +Palazzo Torlonia appeared on the right-hand, with one wing ripped open by +the picks of demolishers, whilst on the left, farther up, the Palazzo +Colonna showed its long, mournful facade and closed windows, as if, now +that it was deserted by its masters and void of its ancient pomp, it +awaited the demolishers in its turn. + +Then, as the cab at a slower pace began to climb the ascent of the Via +Nazionale, Pierre's reverie continued. Was not Rome also stricken, had +not the hour come for her to disappear amidst that destruction which the +nations on the march invariably left behind them? Greece, Athens, and +Sparta slumbered beneath their glorious memories, and were of no account +in the world of to-day. Moreover, the growing paralysis had already +invaded the lower portion of the Italic peninsula; and after Naples +certainly came the turn of Rome. She was on the very margin of the death +spot which ever extends over the old continent, that margin where agony +begins, where the impoverished soil will no longer nourish and support +cities, where men themselves seem stricken with old age as soon as they +are born. For two centuries Rome had been declining, withdrawing little +by little from modern life, having neither manufactures nor trade, and +being incapable even of science, literature, or art. And in Pierre's +thoughts it was no longer St. Peter's only that fell, but all +Rome--basilicas, palaces, and entire districts--which collapsed amidst a +supreme rending, and covered the seven hills with a chaos of ruins. Like +Nineveh and Babylon, and like Thebes and Memphis, Rome became but a +plain, bossy with remnants, amidst which one vainly sought to identify +the sites of ancient edifices, whilst its sole denizens were coiling +serpents and bands of rats. + +The cab turned, and on the right, in a huge gap of darkness Pierre +recognised Trajan's column, but it was no longer gilded by the sun as +when he had first seen it; it now rose up blackly like the dead trunk of +a giant tree whose branches have fallen from old age. And farther on, +when he raised his eyes while crossing the little triangular piazza, and +perceived a real tree against the leaden sky, that parasol pine of the +Villa Aldobrandini which rises there like a symbol of Rome's grace and +pride, it seemed to him but a smear, a little cloud of soot ascending +from the downfall of the whole city. + +With the anxious, fraternal turn of his feelings, fear was coming over +him as he reached the end of his tragic dream. When the numbness which +spreads across the aged world should have passed Rome, when Lombardy +should have yielded to it, and Genoa, Turin, and Milan should have fallen +asleep as Venice has fallen already, then would come the turn of France. +The Alps would be crossed, Marseilles, like Tyre and Sidon, would see its +port choked up by sand, Lyons would sink into desolation and slumber, and +at last Paris, invaded by the invincible torpor, and transformed into a +sterile waste of stones bristling with nettles, would join Rome and +Nineveh and Babylon in death, whilst the nations continued their march +from orient to occident following the sun. A great cry sped through the +gloom, the death cry of the Latin races! History, which seemed to have +been born in the basin of the Mediterranean, was being transported +elsewhere, and the ocean had now become the centre of the world. How many +hours of the human day had gone by? Had mankind, starting from its cradle +over yonder at daybreak, strewing its road with ruins from stage to +stage, now accomplished one-half of its day and reached the dazzling hour +of noon? If so, then the other half of the day allotted to it was +beginning, the new world was following the old one, the new world of +those American cities where democracy was forming and the religion of +to-morrow was sprouting, those sovereign queens of the coming century, +with yonder, across another ocean, on the other side of the globe, that +motionless Far East, mysterious China and Japan, and all the threatening +swarm of the yellow races. + +However, while the cab climbed higher and higher up the Via Nazionale, +Pierre felt his nightmare dissipating. There was here a lighter +atmosphere, and he came back into a renewal of hope and courage. Yet the +Banca d'Italia, with its brand-new ugliness, its chalky hugeness, looked +to him like a phantom in a shroud; whilst above a dim expanse of gardens +the Quirinal formed but a black streak barring the heavens. However, the +street ever ascended and broadened, and on the summit of the Viminal, on +the Piazza delle Terme, when he passed the ruins of Diocletian's baths, +he could breathe as his lungs listed. No, no, the human day could not +finish, it was eternal, and the stages of civilisation would follow and +follow without end! What mattered that eastern wind which carried the +nations towards the west, as if borne on by the power of the sun! If +necessary, they would return across the other side of the globe, they +would again and again make the circuit of the earth, until the day should +come when they could establish themselves in peace, truth, and justice. +After the next civilisation on the shores of the Atlantic, which would +become the world's centre, skirted by queenly cities, there would spring +up yet another civilisation, having the Pacific for its centre, with +seaport capitals that could not be yet foreseen, whose germs yet +slumbered on unknown shores. And in like way there would be still other +civilisations and still others! And at that last moment, the inspiriting +thought came to Pierre that the great movement of the nations was the +instinct, the need which impelled them to return to unity. Originating in +one sole family, afterwards parted and dispersed in tribes, thrown into +collision by fratricidal hatred, their tendency was none the less to +become one sole family again. The provinces united in nations, the +nations would unite in races, and the races would end by uniting in one +immortal mankind--mankind at last without frontiers, or possibility of +wars, mankind living by just labour amidst an universal commonwealth. Was +not this indeed the evolution, the object of the labour progressing +everywhere, the finish reserved to History? Might Italy then become a +strong and healthy nation, might concord be established between her and +France, and might that fraternity of the Latin races become the beginning +of universal fraternity! Ah! that one fatherland, the whole earth +pacified and happy, in how many centuries would that come--and what a +dream! + +Then, on reaching the station the scramble prevented Pierre from thinking +any further. He had to take his ticket and register his luggage, and +afterwards he at once climbed into the train. At dawn on the next day but +one, he would be back in Paris. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, +Vol. 5, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: ROME, VOL. 5 *** + +This file should be named 8725.txt or 8725.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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