h most faithful and exemplary and concerned
with her welfare, as to himself it seemeth; of an unbending conscience
and a will most absolute; moreover, of marvelous reading in certain
doctrinal writings which seem to him the only books of worth, and with
the training of a lawyer wherewith to assert them. This is the man with
whom we have to contend."

"Are there no faults?" thundered Giustinian Giustiniani, while the
others listened disconcerted. "A soldier seeks for weak spots in the
armor."

"I know him," said Leonardo Donato, "and there _is_ one fault. It limits
his power to achieve; it increases his absolutism. It is
near-sightedness--smallness of vision."

"Draw him strongly," said Giustinian, in a tone of concentrated wrath.
"Let us measure our foe before we meet."

"There are no books Borghese hath not read; there is no point of view
but that which he doth teach, no appeal from the law as he interpreteth
it. _It is a fault of unity_. One power--the Church; one duty--its
aggrandizement; one prince--temporal and spiritual alike; one unvarying
obedience. All is adjusted to one centre; it is the simplification of
life!"

There was an ominous silence and an evident wish to change the theme,
and the company readjusted itself by twos and threes. The Senator
Morosini turned graciously to Marcantonio. "It hath been told in
Venice," he said, "that the Lady Marina was received in Rome with marks
of very special favor."

"The introduction of our Reverend Father Paolo had preceded her," the
young secretary answered lightly, bowing in the direction of the friar,
who sat apparently lost in thought. But Morosini repeated Marcantonio's
speech with some amusement, for the scholarly friar had never been known
to have a friend among the women--old or young.

"I do not understand," he said, with no perception of any humor in the
situation.

"It was the gift of the Reverend Father Paolo to the chapel of the
Servi," Marcantonio explained. "The Madonna del Sorriso was well known
in Rome."

"Ah, I recall now the face of your lady, though I have not known her,"
the friar responded courteously, yet he hesitated a moment before
accepting the seat which the secretary rose to offer him. "If it is the
face which the Veronese hath painted, her spirit must be fair. It should
make a home holy," he added, after a moment's pause.

Marcantonio's face flushed with pleasure. The friar was still regarding
him with a gaze so penetrating, ye