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The Eternal City, a novel by Hall Caine |
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Part 1. The Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 4 |
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_ PART ONE. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE CHAPTER IV The curtain parted over the inner doorway, and three gentlemen came out. The first was a tall, spare man, about fifty years of age, with an intellectual head, features cut clear and hard like granite, glittering eyes under overhanging brows, black moustaches turned up at the ends, and iron-grey hair cropped very short over a high forehead. It was the Baron Bonelli. One of the two men with him had a face which looked as if it had been carved by a sword or an adze, good and honest but blunt and rugged; and the other had a long, narrow head, like the head of a hen--a lanky person with a certain mixture of arrogance and servility in his expression. The company rose from their places in the Loggia, and there were greetings and introductions. "Sir Evelyn Wise, gentlemen, the new British Ambassador--General Morra, our Minister of War; Commendatore Angelelli, our Chief of Police. A thousand apologies, ladies! A Minister of the Interior is one of the human atoms that live from minute to minute and are always at the mercy of events. You must excuse the Commendatore, gentlemen; he has urgent duties outside." The Prime Minister spoke with the lucidity and emphasis of a man accustomed to command, and when Angelelli had bowed all round he crossed with him to the door. "If there is any suspicion of commotion, arrest the ringleaders at once. Let there be no trifling with disorder, by whomsoever begun. The first to offend must be the first to be arrested, whether he wears cap or cassock." "Good, your Excellency," and the Chief of Police went out. "Commotion! Disorder! Madonna mia!" cried the little Princess. "Calm yourselves, ladies. It's nothing! Only it came to the knowledge of the Government that the Pope's procession this morning might be made the excuse for a disorderly demonstration, and of course order must not be disturbed even under the pretext of liberty and religion." "So that was the public business which deprived us of your society?" said the Princess. "And left my womanless house the duty of receiving you in my absence," said the Baron. The Baron bowed his guests to their seats, stood with his back to a wide ingle, and began to sketch the Pope's career. "His father was a Roman banker--lived in this house, indeed--and the young Leone was brought up in the Jesuit schools and became a member of the Noble Guard: handsome, accomplished, fond of society and social admiration, a man of the world. This was a cause of disappointment to his father, who has intended him for a great career in the Church. They had their differences, and finally a mission was found for him and he lived a year abroad. The death of the old banker brought him back to Rome, and then, to the astonishment of society, he renounced the world and took holy orders. Why he gave up his life of gallantry did not appear...." "Some affair of the heart, dear Baron," said the little Princess, with a melting look. "No, there was no talk of that kind, Princess, and not a whisper of scandal. Some said the young soldier had married in England, and lost his wife there, but nobody knew for certain. There was less doubt about his religious vocation, and when by help of his princely inheritance he turned his mind to the difficult task of reforming vice and ministering to the lowest aspects of misery in the slums of Rome, society said he had turned Socialist. His popularity with the people was unbounded, but in the midst of it all he begged to be removed to London. There he set up the same enterprises, and tramped the streets in search of his waifs and outcasts, night and day, year in, year out, as if driven on by a consuming passion of pity for the lost and fallen. In the interests of his health he was called back to Rome--and returned here a white-haired man of forty." "Ah! what did I say, dear Baron? The apple falls near the tree, you know!" "By this time he had given away millions, and the Pope wished to make him President of his Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, but he begged to be excused. Then Apostolic Delegate to the United States, and he prayed off. Then Nuncio to Spain, and he went on his knees to remain in the Campagna Romana, and do the work of a simple priest among a simple people. At last, without consulting him they made him Bishop, and afterwards Cardinal, and, on the death of the Pope, he was Scrutator to the Conclave, and fainted when he read out his own name as that of Sovereign Pontiff of the Church." The little Princess was wiping her eyes. "Then--all the world was changed. The priest of the future disappeared in a Pope who was the incarnation of the past. Authority was now his watchword. What was the highest authority on earth? The Holy See! Therefore, the greatest thing for the world was the domination of the Pope. If anybody should say that the power conferred by Christ on his Vicar was only spiritual, let him be accursed! In Christ's name the Pope was sovereign--supreme sovereign over the bodies and souls of men--acknowledging no superior, holding the right to make and depose kings, and claiming to be supreme judge over the consciences and crimes of all--the peasant that tills the soil, and the prince that sits on the throne!" "Tre-men-jous!" said the American. "But, dear Baron," said the little Princess, "don't you think there was an affair of the heart after all?" and the little plumes bobbed sideways. The Baron laughed again. "The Pope seems to have half of humanity on his side already--he has the women apparently." All this time there had risen from the piazza into the room a humming noise like the swarming of bees, but now a shrill voice came up from the crowd with the sudden swish of a rocket. "Look out!" The young Roman, who had been looking over the balcony, turned his head back and said: "Donna Roma, Excellency." But the Baron had gone from the room. "He knew her carriage wheels apparently," said Don Camillo, and the lips of the little Princess closed tight as if from sudden pain. _ |
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