the stone-pine of the north, are commingled
and interleaved; all signs of a soil which can supply nourishment to the
rarest and most delicate, as well as to the hardiest of plants.

In this lovely wilderness, with many a group in marble, many a
beautifully-carved fountain, many an ornamental shrine, half hidden in
its leafy recesses, the Pere now walked, screening his steps as he went,
from that great range of windows which opened on a grand terrace--a
precaution rather the result of habit than called for by the
circumstance of the time. A fish-pond of some extent, with a small
island> occupied the centre of the garden; the island itself being
ornamented by a beautiful little shrine dedicated to our Lady of Rimini,
the birth-place of the Cardinal. To this sacred spot his Eminence was
accustomed to repair for secret worship each morning of his life. As a
measure of respectful reverence for the great man's devotions, the
place was studiously secluded from all intrusion, and even
strangers--admitted, as at rare intervals they were, to visit the
gardens--were never suffered to invade the sacred precincts of the
island.

A strangely contrived piece of mechanism appended to the little wicket
that formed the entrance always sufficed to show if his Eminence
was engaged in prayer, and consequently removed from all pretext of
interruption. This was an apparatus, by which the face of a beautifully
painted Madonna became suddenly covered by a veil, a signal that none
of the Cardinal's nearest of blood would have dared to violate. It was,
indeed, to the hours of daily seclusion thus piously passed the Cardinal
owed that character for sanctity which eminently distinguished him in
the Church. A day never went over in which he did not devote at the
least an hour to this sacred duty, and the air of absorption, as he
repaired to the shrine, and the look of intense pre-occupation he
brought away, vouched for the depth of his pious musings.

As Massoni arrived at the narrow causeway which led over to the
island, he perceived that the veil of the Madonna was lowered. He
knew, therefore, at once that the Cardinal was there, and he stopped to
consider what course he should adopt, whether to loiter about the garden
till his Eminence should appear, or repair to the palace and await him.
The Pere knew that the Cardinal was to leave Rome by midday, to reach
Albano to dinner, and he mused over the shortness of the time their
interview must las