man � and that is woman laughed outright upon my word i think it would be difficult to find the woman suited to this case he said but you who have a deeper than that of any jew may possibly have one already in view there is now in rome pursued speaking with the same even deliberation of accent a faithful daughter of the church whose wealth we can to a certain extent command and whose charm is � the started eyed him coldly you are not stricken surely by the fascination with which this princess of rules her court he i echoed shifting his position so that s gaze could not fall so directly upon him i you jest i think not said i think i know something about women � their their passions their different of power possesses a potent charm which few men can resist and i should not wonder if you yourself had been occasionally conscious of it she is one of those concerning whom other women say they can see nothing in her ah and smiled darkly what a compliment that is from the majority of women to one this woman is unique where is her beauty you cannot say � yet beauty is her very she cannot boast perfection of features � she is frequently hidden away altogether in a room and scarcely noticed and so she reminds me of a certain flower known to the eastern nations which is difficult to find because so fragile and small that it can scarcely be seen but when it is found and the scent of it it drives men mad looked at him with a wondering smile you speak so he said that one would almost fancy fancy nothing retorted quickly fancy and i are as far apart as the poles except in the putting of words in which easy art s the master christian great an as who can write verses on love or patriotism to order without a touch of either emotion what a by the way that fellow is � and broke off to consider this new point � he of the honour of italy and would not let his finger ache for her cause and he to love the while all rome knows that is his mistress wisely held his peace the is the little magic flower you must use resumed his words with an movement of his hand use her to bring them together � he will lose his head as surely as all men do when they come under the influence of that soft deep eyed creature with the full white breast of a dove and the smile of an angel � and remember it would be an excellent thing for the church if he could be persuaded to marry her � there would be no more preaching then for the thoughts of love would the theories of religion you think it i know it replied rising and preparing to take his departure but � play the game cautiously i make no false move for � understand me well this man must be silenced or we shall lose england and with these last words he turned abruptly on his heel and left the apartment xxii cardinal sat alone in the largest ana room of the large and lonely of rooms allotted to him in the � alone at a massive writing table near the window his head resting on one hand and his whole figure expressive of the most profound in front of him an ancient silver gleamed in the of the small wood fire which had been kindled in the wide chimney � and a copy of the lay open as if but lately consulted the faded splendour of certain gold embroidered on the walls added to the solemn and melancholy aspect of the apartment and the figure of the venerable seen in such darkening gloom and solitude was the crowning completion of an expressive and pathetic picture of patient desolation so might a of the have looked while the flames were getting ready to burn him for the love of the gentle and something of the temper of such a possible was in the physically frail old man who just now was all the energies of his mind on the consideration of a difficult question which is often asked by many hearts in secret but is seldom to the public ear � christ or the church which must i follow to be an honest man never had the good cardinal been in such a strange living away from the great of thought and action he had followed a gentle and placid course of existence almost save by the outside murmurs of a growing public discontent which had reached him through the medium of current literature and had given him cause to think uneasily of possible disaster for the religious world in the near future � but he had never gone so far as to imagine that the head of the church would while being perfectly conscious of existing threatening evils deliberately turn his back to appeals for help � shut his ears to the cry oi o j the master christian sheep of the house of and even endeavour with an of indignation which was as pitiable as useless to shake a rod of twelfth century menace over the advancement of the twentieth for the onward movement of humanity is gk d s work said the cardinal and what are we � what is even the church � when it does not move side by side in perfect and pure harmony with the order of divine law and he was bitterly troubled in spirit he had spent the whole morning at the and the manner of reception there had been so curiously divided between flattery and reproach that he had not known what to make of it the pope had been and � precisely in such a humour 