It was now ten o'clock, and Cortis, the valet, brought the usual plate
of soup. Then came a large man with bold features and dark complexion,
wearing a purple robe edged with red and a red biretta. It was the
Cardinal Secretary of State.
"What news this morning, your Eminence?" said the Pope.
"The Government," said the Cardinal Secretary, "has just published a
proclamation announcing a jubilee in honour of the King's accession. It
is to begin on Monday next, and there are to be great feasts and
rejoicings."
"A jubilee at a time like this! What a wild mockery of the people's
woes! How many poor women and children must go hungry before this royal
orgy has been paid for! God be with us! Such injustice and tyranny in
the Satanic guise of clemency and indulgence is almost enough to explain
the homicidal theories of the demagogues and to justify men like
Rossi.... Any further news of him?"
"Yes. He is at present in Paris, in close intercourse with the leaders
of every abominable sect."
"You have seen this man Rossi, your Eminence?"
"Once. I saw him on the morning of the jubilee of your Holiness, when he
attempted to present a petition."
"What is he like to look upon--the typical demagogue; no?"
"No. I am bound to say no, your Holiness. And his conversation, though
it is full of the jargon of modern Liberalism, has none of the
obscenities of Voltaire."
"Some one said ... who was it, I wonder?... some one said he resembled
the Holy Father."
"Now that you mention it, your Holiness, there is perhaps a remote
resemblance."
"Ah! who knows what service for God and humanity even such a man might
have done if in early life his lines had been cast in better places."
"They say he was an orphan from his infancy, your Holiness."
"Then he never knew a father's care and guidance! Unhappy son! Unhappy
father!"
"Monsignor Mario," said the low voice of a chamberlain, and at the next
moment the Pope's messenger to the Prime Minister was kneeling in the
middle of the floor.
In nervous tones and broken sentences the Monsignor told his story. The
Pope listened intently, the vertical lines on his forehead deepening and
darkening every moment, until at length he burst out impatiently:
"But, my son, you do not say that you said all this in addition to your
message?"
"I was drawn into doing so in defence of your Holiness."