lar.'

Giovanni was no match for his cool antagonist in an argument. He cut the
discussion short by a direct question.

'Is it in the Pope's power to release Sister Giovanna from her vows, or
not?'

'Yes. It is--in principle.'

'Then put your principles into practice and make him do it!' cried the
soldier rudely.

Monsignor Saracinesca was unmoved by this attack, which he answered with
calm dignity.

'My dear Captain,' he said, 'in the first place, no one can "make" the
Pope do things. That is not a respectful way of speaking.'

Giovanni was naturally courteous and he felt that he had gone too far.

'I beg your pardon,' he answered. 'I mean no disrespect to the Pope,
though I tell you frankly that I do not believe in much, and not at all
in his authority. What I ask is common justice and your help as a
friend. I ask you to go to him and lay the case before him fairly, as
before a just man, which I heartily believe him to be. You will see that
he will do what you admit is in his power and give Sister Giovanna her
dispensation.'

'If you and she had been married before your disappearance,' argued the
churchman, 'His Holiness would assuredly not refuse. If you had been
solemnly betrothed before your parish priest as well as legally promised
in marriage at the Capitol, he might make an exception, though a civil
betrothal is valid only for six months, under Italian law. But there was
no marriage and no such engagement.'

Giovanni found himself led into argument again.

'We had intended to bind ourselves formally,' he objected. 'I have heard
it said by priests that everything depends on the intention and that
without it the most solemn sacrament is an empty show! Will you doubt
our intention if I give you my word that it was mine, and if Sister
Giovanna assures you that it was hers?'

'Certainly not! The Pope would not doubt you either, I am sure.'

'Then, in the name of all that is just and right, what is the obstacle?
If you admit that the intention is the one important point, and that it
existed, what ground have you left?'

'That is begging the question, Captain. It is true that without the
intention a sacrament is an empty show, but the intention without the
sacrament is of no more value than intention without performance would
be in law. Less, perhaps. There is another point, however, which you
have quite overlooked. If a request for a dispensation were even to be
considered, it ought to come from Sist