welcomed by his allies."

"And do you think that Naples would look quietly on and witness this
rapid growth of Sardinia?" said the prior, laughing.

"We will give to Naples an opportunity at the same time to enlarge her
borders the young King of Naples has energy; he has proved it. When his
father, Don Carlos, was called by right of succession to the Spanish
throne, he had himself declared King of Naples, not regarding the
right of the Duke of Parma, to whom, according to the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, the Neapolitan throne rightly belonged. King Ferdinand
is already a usurper! Let him go on, even as successfully in the same
path--he has taken Naples--let him take Tuscany and the States of the
Church, and, as King of Lower Italy, he will be as powerful as the King
of Sardinia. In order that both may obtain possession of these lands
uninterrupted and uninjured, will the King of Prussia so completely
occupy the attention of Austria and France in Germany and Flanders as
to make it impossible for them to interfere with Naples and Sardinia?"
[Footnote: Preuss, "History of Frederick the Great."]

"By Heaven! a great and bold idea; altogether in harmony with the
energetic spirit of Frederick," cried the prior. "If the two Italian
kings resemble the great Frederick, they will adopt this plan with
enthusiasm."

He had risen, and stepped hastily backward and forward, now and then
murmuring a few disconnected words; he then drew near the table and
stood earnestly regarding the maps.

Cocceji did not dare to interrupt him by word or sound; he watched him,
however, closely. At last, however, the inward struggle seemed to be
over, he stood quietly before the baron, and, fixing his dark, earnest
eyes with a thoughtful expression upon him, he said, softly: "You have
confided to me a great and dangerous enterprise. If I did my duty as the
unconditional subject of the Pope, and as a priest of the holy Church,
of which Frederick is the bitter antagonist, I should arrest you here,
as a dangerous negotiator and enemy, and above all, I should give speedy
notice of this conspiracy, which not only threatens Clement as head
of the Church, but as sovereign of the States of the Church. But--what
would you have?--I was not born a priest, and my heart and my spirit
have never been able to accommodate themselves fully to the discipline
of my order. I have always remained, I fear," said he, with a graceful
smile, "the true brother of the free-th