mething in the heavens see the expected presence silently
disclosing itself. The Frate had risen, turned towards the people, and
partly pushed back his cowl. The monotonous wail of psalmody had
ceased, and to those who stood near the pulpit, it was as if the sounds
which had just been filling their ears had suddenly merged themselves in
the force of Savonarola's flashing glance, as he looked round him in the
silence. Then he stretched out his hands, which, in their exquisite
delicacy, seemed transfigured from an animal organ for grasping into
vehicles of sensibility too acute to need any gross contact: hands that
came like an appealing speech from that part of his soul which was
masked by his strong passionate face, written on now with deeper lines
about the mouth and brow than are made by forty-four years of ordinary
life.

At the first stretching out of the hands some of the crowd in the front
ranks fell on their knees, and here and there a devout disciple farther
off; but the great majority stood firm, some resisting the impulse to
kneel before this excommunicated man (might not a great judgment fall
upon him even in this act of blessing?)--others jarred with scorn and
hatred of the ambitious deceiver who was getting up this new comedy,
before which, nevertheless, they felt themselves impotent, as before the
triumph of a fashion.

But then came the voice, clear and low at first, uttering the words of
absolution--"_Misereatur vestri_"--and more fell on their knees: and as
it rose higher and yet clearer, the erect heads became fewer and fewer,
till, at the words "_Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus_" it rose to a
masculine cry, as if protesting its power to bless under the clutch of a
demon that wanted to stifle it: it rang like a trumpet to the
extremities of the Piazza, and under it every head was bowed.

After the utterance of that blessing, Savonarola himself fell on his
knees and hid his face in temporary exhaustion. Those great jets of
emotion were a necessary part of his life; he himself had said to the
people long ago, "Without preaching I cannot live." But it was a life
that shattered him.

In a few minutes more, some had risen to their feet, but a larger number
remained kneeling, and all faces were intently watching him. He had
taken into his hands a crystal vessel, containing the consecrated Host,
and was about to address the people.

"You remember, my children, three days ago I besought you, when I sh