ng to your co-religionist. He has
not had a priest admitted to him since his arrest.

"Immediately afterwards you will be set at liberty, and put on
board the air-boat on which you travelled from Rome, with the same
driver who brought you here, on one single condition. That
condition is that you go straight to the Holy Father, tell him all
that you have seen, and take with you one or two little objects."

He paused and beckoned to some one behind. A man came forward
with a little box which he laid on the table. Hardy opened it.

"This is the box you are to take. Yes; I see that you recognize
them. They are the biretta, the skullcap, the cross, and the ring
of the late Cardinal Bellairs. There are also in this box the
ring and a medal belonging to the late Prince Otteone. . . . You
will take these with you as pledges of what you say. . . . Will
you consent to do this?"

The priest bowed. For the moment he was unable to speak.

"You will also tell the Holy Father," went on the other,
replacing, as he spoke, the things in the box, "what you have
seen of our dispositions. You will say that you saw us entirely
resolute and unafraid. We do not fear anybody, Monsignor--not
anything at all; I think you understand that by now.

"You will have a letter, of course, to take with you. It will
contain our final terms. Because--(and I assure you that you are
the first of the outside world to hear this news)--because we
have decided to extend our patience for one more week. We shall,
during that week, in order to prove the genuineness of our
intentions, make a raid upon a certain city and, we hope, destroy
it. (Naturally, I shall not inform you where that city stands.)
And if, at the end of that week, our former terms are not
accepted, we shall carry out our promises to the full. You may
also add," he went on more deliberately, "that our party is
represented in every capital of Europe, and that these may be
expected to act in the same way as that in which we have acted,
as soon as the week expires. We have no objection to telling you
this: our plans are completely made, and no precautions on your
side can hinder them. Is that clear, Monsignor?"

"Yes," said the priest.

"You are satisfied that we mean what we say?"

"I suppose so."

Hardy's manner changed a little. Up to now he had been speaking
coldly and sharply, except where once or twice a slightly
ironical tone had come into his voice. Now he bent forward a
little w