ould profit by the night-time to carry them himself to certain persons
in his confidence who would have them passed in, as had been arranged, at
the dinner-hour. Then, when the deeds were quite ready and the servants
also, Francesco went out with them, leaving the two women to dream golden
dreams of their future greatness.

From the first dawn of day the people hurried anew, as ardent and
interested as on the evening before, to the Piazza of the Vatican, where;
at the ordinary time, that is, at ten o'clock in the morning,--the smoke
rose again as usual, evoking laughter and murmuring, as it announced that
none of the cardinals had secured the majority. A report, however, began
to be spread about that the chances were divided between three
candidates, who were Roderigo Borgia, Giuliano delta Rovera, and Ascanio
Sforza; for the people as yet knew nothing of the four mules laden with
plate and silver which had been led to Sforza's house, by reason of which
he had given up his own votes to his rival. In the midst of the
agitation excited in the crowd by this new report a solemn chanting was
heard; it proceeded from a procession, led by the Cardinal Camerlengo,
with the object of obtaining from Heaven the speedy election of a pope:
this procession, starting from the church of Ara Coeli at the Capitol,
was to make stations before the principal Madannas and the most
frequented churches. As soon as the silver crucifix was perceived which
went in front, the most profound silence prevailed, and everyone fell on
his knees; thus a supreme calm followed the tumult and uproar which had
been heard a few minutes before, and which at each appearance of the
smoke had assumed a more threatening character: there was a shrewd
suspicion that the procession, as well as having a religious end in view,
had a political object also, and that its influence was intended to be as
great on earth as in heaven. In any case, if such had been the design of
the Cardinal Camerlengo, he had not deceived himself, and the effect was
what he desired: when the procession had gone past, the laughing and
joking continued, but the cries and threats had completely ceased.

The whole day passed thus; for in Rome nobody works. You are either a
cardinal or a lacquey, and you live, nobody knows how. The crowd was
still extremely numerous, when, towards two o'clock in the afternoon,
another procession, which had quite as much power of provoking noise as
the first