eligious men, the leaders of the people...."

The Pope held up his hand. "Stop!" he cried. "Say no more, my child. God
knows what I must do with what you have said already."

Then Roma saw what she had done in the wild gust of her emotion, and in
her terror she tried to take it back.

"Holy Father, you must not think from what I say that David Rossi is for
revolution and regicide...."

"Don't speak, my child. You cannot know what an earthquake you have
opened at my feet. Let me think!"

There was silence for a moment, and then Roma gulped down the great
lumps in her throat and said: "I am only an ignorant woman, Holy Father,
and perhaps I have said too much, and do not understand. But what I have
told your Holiness was told me in love and confidence. And the Holy
Father is wise and good, and whatever he does will be for the best."

The Pope returned to his chair with a bewildered look, and did not seem
to hear. Roma sank to her knees by his side and said in a low, pleading
tone:

"My husband's faith in me is so beautiful, your Holiness. Oh, so
beautiful. I am the only one in the world to whom he has told all his
secrets, and if any of them should ever come back to him...."

"Don't be afraid, my daughter. What you said in simple confidence shall
be as sacred as if it had been spoken under the seal of the
confessional."

"If I could tell your Holiness more about him--who he is and where he
comes from--a place so lowly and humble, your Holiness...."

"Tell me no more, my child. It is better I should not know. Pity ought
to have no place in what duty tells me to do. But I can love David Rossi
for all that. I do love him. I love him as a lost and wayward son, whose
hand is raised against his Father, though he knows it not."

There was a bell button on the Pope's chair. He pressed it, and the
Participante returned to the room without knocking. The Pope rose and
took Roma's hand.

"Go in peace and with my blessing, my child. I bless you! May my
fatherly blessing keep you pure in heart, may it strengthen you in all
temptations, comfort you in all trials, avert from you every evil omen,
and bring you into the fold of Christ's children at the last."

The Participante stepped forward and signed to Roma to withdraw. She
rose and left the presence chamber, stepping backward and too much moved
to speak. Not until the door had been closed did she realise that she
was crossing the throne room, and that the Bussolante was