"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.