postponed for a little.

"It is death," they said, "to go now."

"Well, you can die then," answered the Prefect. "I want nothing
better."

So they took their child and set off. They did not die, however. God
took care of them, and they safely reached Soriano, where they lived
in peace and quiet, till the death of the Emperor, a year later,
allowed them to return home again.

CHAPTER XVII.

CLOUDS.

"For gold must be tried by fire,
As a heart must be tried by pain."

It seems a rather strange turn of events that put Elias in the place
of the gentle, devout, Peter Cantani. No one could doubt Elias'
efficiency. That was beyond all question, but that he had a proud,
self-willed spirit was also indisputable. Francis' mind at first
turned towards Bernardo di Quintavelle as Peter's successor. He always
had a peculiar love for this, his first son. But though Bernardo had
risen to considerable importance in the Order, yet for some time he
had been harassed with interior temptations, and had been subject to
great darkness. Though Francis was not troubled very much by this
experience of Bernardo's, saying "It is a trial, he will come out of
it, and be the greater for it afterwards," yet he did not think it
wise to put him in any new position of authority, as his own trials
would not leave him quite free for his work. So Bernardo was passed
over, and Elias filled the vacant Vicar Generalship.

Elias' Government was active. Splendid order reigned in all the
communities. He was unequalled for clearness of business views, and
his preaching was greatly sought after.

Some historians say that with all Francis' gifts of perception he
never until it was too late saw into Elias' character, and that the
pride and self-will which were so evident to others were hidden to
him. Elias loved show and external greatness rather than interior
goodness and holiness. He loved Francis, but he thought he was far
more capable of filling the Vicar Generalship than he. He regarded
Francis as one to be admired, not imitated. It is quite certain that
if Francis had had the faintest idea that the Order would suffer
through Elias, he never would have elected him.

[Sidenote: _Germany Again._]

Elias entered his new appointment in a blaze of glory. He had come
from the Minister Generalship of Tuscany, the most important post in
the Order, which he had managed in a very skilful manner. Then another
event had just happened which a