and knotted his
arms, that were big as the cable of a vessel. Not a murmur followed his
speech. The word was, given to the Chief, and he resumed:--"You have a
personal feeling in this case, Ugo. You have not heard me. I came through
Paris. A rocket will soon shoot up from Paris that will be a signal for
Christendom. The keen French wit is sick of its compromise-king. All
Europe is in convulsions in a few months: to-morrow it may be. The
elements are in the hearts of the people, and nothing will contain them.
We have sown them to reap them. The sowing asks for persistency; but the
reaping demands skill and absolute truthfulness. We have now one of those
occasions coming which are the flowers to be plucked by resolute and
worthy hands: they are the tests of our sincerity. This time now rapidly
approaching will try us all, and we must be ready for it. If we have
believed in it, we stand prepared. If we have conceived our plan of
action in purity of heart, we shall be guided to discern the means which
may serve us. You will know speedily what it is that has prompted you to
move. If passion blindfolds you, if you are foiled by a prejudice, I also
shall know. My friend, the nursing of a single antipathy is a presumption
that your motive force is personal--whether the thirst for vengeance or
some internal union of a hundred indistinct little fits of egoism. I have
seen brave and even noble men fail at the ordeal of such an hour: not
fail in courage, not fail in the strength of their desire; that was the
misery for them! They failed because midway they lost the vision to
select the right instruments put in our way by heaven. That vision
belongs solely to such as have clean and disciplined hearts. The hope in
the bosom of a man whose fixed star is Humanity becomes a part of his
blood, and is extinguished when his blood flows no more. To conquer him,
the principle of life must be conquered. And he, my friend, will use all,
because he serves all. I need not touch on Milan."

The signorina drew in her breath quickly, as if in this abrupt close she
had a revelation of the Chief's whole meaning, and was startled by the
sudden unveiling of his mastery. Her hands hung loose; her figure was
tremulous. A murmur from Corte jarred within her like a furious discord,
but he had not offended by refusing to disclaim his error, and had simply
said in a gruff acquiescent way, "Proceed." Her sensations of surprise at
the singular triumph of the Ch