United States or North Korea ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Sanselme started and took hold of Benedetto's arm. "Not another word like that, Benedetto! Not if you wish to live!" "Indeed! What would you do?" "My fate is in your hands," answered Sanselme. "You can at any moment denounce me as an escaped convict. Do what you please, but you shall not say one word of her who is in this house."
But at that point the Marchesa Fermi, having discovered a small bell on the mantel-shelf, began ringing it, to obtain silence. "I should like to hear about this garden," she said. The Friends and the middle-aged spinster, engaged in a warm discussion of Benedetto's Catholic orthodoxy, would not have left off for ten bells, had not the spinster's curiosity been roused by the word "garden."
"The day after to-morrow in the evening." The Professor added that the Vatican was maintaining the strictest secrecy in regard to this matter, that Benedetto had been forbidden to mention it to any one, and that nothing would have transpired had it not been for the German monk's indiscretion. Benedetto's friends hoped much good would come of this visit.
"In France," she said, when she had finished, "I could take lessons and go upon the stage, where I know I should succeed; that was Benedetto's idea." "But why not do that in Italy?" "I am hiding from that Englishman," she replied; "he wants to carry me off. I am determined to go to France; I have learned to speak French. If I stay here, I shall throw myself into the Tiber."
"Back, sir," cried Bertuccio in a rage, as he swung his pickaxe, "I will crush the viper's skull." The pick cleaved through the air, but before it descended on Benedetto's head, the count had grasped it, and with a powerful movement hurled it into the sea. "Bertuccio," he said coldly, "what right have you to play the judge in my presence?" "Oh, sir, pardon. Anger overcame me.
Silently His Holiness took Benedetto's hand, held it between his own, and communicated to him through that mute pressure an understanding and approval which his prudent lips might not utter. He pressed the hand, shook it, caressed it, and pressed it again. At last he said, in a stifled voice: "Pray for me, pray that the Lord may enlighten me!"
Now this contradiction seemed to be vanishing, and therefore the credibility of the prophetic nature of the vision was reappearing. Don Clemente was aware of this part of the vision, and should have been able to read in Benedetto's heart, his awe at being once more confronted with a mysterious, divine purpose concerning him, and his fear of falling into the sin of pride.
The beautiful circular relief of the Virgin and Child, with a border of roses and flying worshipping angels all about it, behind the altar, is Benedetto's too, and very lovely and human are both Mother and Child.
Then he inquired, innocently, how this Signora Dessalle had come to take such an interest in Benedetto's fate. She had never been seen at the meetings in Via della Vite, and he had never even heard her name mentioned. "But what makes you think she does take an interest in his fate?" said Maria. "Because, you see," di Leyni answered, "I have a message for her which is about him."
Benedetto's chest heaved, so violent was this revulsion of memory. "It may have been a delusion," he said; "but it was not the work of malign spirits." "The evil spirits," the Pontiff said, "do sometimes masquerade as angels of light. Perhaps, at that time, they were striving against the spirit of goodness which was within you. Did you take pride in this vision, later on?"
Word Of The Day