r Monsieur Renan himself," he
continued, tapping the Marquis's shoulder. "I swear to you that I am very
serious. Nothing interests me more than these exceptions to the general
rule--than those who have passed through two, three, four phases of
existence. Those individuals are my museum, and you wish me to sacrifice
to your scruples one of my finest subjects.... Moreover,"--and the malice
of the remark he was about to make caused the young man's eyes to sparkle
"revile Baron Hafner as much as you like," he continued; "call him a
thief and a snob, an intriguer and a knave, if it pleases you. But as for
being a person who does not know where his ancestors lived, I reply, as
did Bonhomet when he reached heaven and the Lord said to him: 'Still a
chimney-doctor, Bonhomet?'--'And you, Lord?'. For you were born in
Bourgogne, Monsieur de Montfanon, of an ancient family, related to all
the nobility-upon which I congratulate you--and you have lived here in
Rome for almost twenty-four years, in the Cosmopolis which you revile."

"First of all," replied the Pope's former soldier, holding up his
mutilated arm, "I might say that I no longer count, I do not live. And
then," his face became inspired, and the depths of that narrow mind,
often blinded but very exalted, suddenly appeared, "and then, my Rome to
me, Monsieur, has nothing in common with that of Monsieur Hafner nor with
yours, since you are come, it seems, to pursue studies of moral
teratology. Rome to me is not Cosmopolis, as you say, it is Metropolis,
it is the mother of cities.... You forget that I am a Catholic in every
fibre, and that I am at home here. I am here because I am a monarchist,
because I believe in old France as you believe in the modern world; and I
serve her in my fashion, which is not very efficacious, but which is one
way, nevertheless.... The post of trustee of Saint Louis, which I
accepted from Corcelle, is to me my duty, and I will sustain it in the
best way in my power.... Ah! that ancient France, how one feels her
grandeur here, and what a part she is known to have had in Christianity!
It is that chord which I should like to have heard vibrate in a fluent
writer like you, and not eternally those paradoxes, those sophisms. But
what matters it to you who date from yesterday and who boast of it," he
added, almost sadly, "that in the most insignificant corners of this city
centuries of history abound? Does your heart blush at the sight of the
facade of the