ve a proof," said she, "and never shall it
be repeated; fold that sheet of paper there, as a letter, and seal it
carefully and well. The name I have alluded to is written within," said
she. I started, for the paper contained no writing--not a word, not
a syllable--I had scanned it carefully ere I folded it. Of this I can
pledge my solemn and sacred word.'

'Well, when you broke the seal,' burst in the Cardinal.

'I have not yet done so,' said the Pere calmly, 'there is the letter,
just as I folded and sealed it; from that moment to this it has never
quitted my possession. It may be, that, as you would suspect, even this
might be sleight-of-hand. It may be, sir, that the paper contains no
writing.'

'Let us see,' cried the Cardinal, taking the letter and breaking it
open. 'Madonna!' exclaimed he suddenly. 'Look here'; and his finger then
tremblingly pointed to the word, 'Caraffa,' traced in small letters and
with a very faint ink in the middle of the page.

'And to this you swear, on your soul's safety,' cried Caraffa eagerly.

He bent forward till his lips touched the large golden cross which, as a
pectoral, the Cardinal wore, and muttered, 'By this emblem, I swear it.'

'Such influence is demoniacal, none can doubt it; who is this woman, and
whence came she?'

'So much of her story as I know is briefly told,' said Massoni, who
related all that he had heard of the Egyptian, concluding with the steps
by which he had her arrested and confined in the convent of St. Maria
Maggiore, on the Tiber.

'There was an age when such a woman had been sent to the stake,' said
Caraffa fiercely. 'Is it a wiser policy that pardons her?'

'Yes; if by her means a good end can be served,' interrupted the Pere;
'if through what she can reveal, errors may be avoided, perils averted,
and successes gained; if, in short, Satan can be used as slave, not
master.'

'And wherefore should she be opposed to _me_? broke in Caraffa, whose
thoughts reverted to what concerned himself personally.

'As a true and faithful priest, as an honoured prince of the Church, you
must be her enemy,' said the Pere; and, though the words were spoken in
all seeming sincerity, the Cardinal's dark eyes scanned the speaker's
face keenly and severely. As if failing, however, to detect any
equivocation in his manner, Caraffa addressed himself to another course
of thought and said--

'Have you questioned her, then, as to this young man's chances?'

'She will n