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"You you " stammered Moretti, retreating from him as from some loathsome abomination, "You Gys Grandit!" "You, Cyrillon! you! you, my son!" and the Abbe almost lost breath in the extremity of his amazement, while Cardinal Bonpre half rose from his chair doubting whether he had heard aright.
"Ignorant?" he began, when at this juncture Madame Patoux entered, and taking possession of Henri and Babette, informed Monsieur Cazeau that the Archbishop would be for some time engaged in conversation with Cardinal Bonpre, and that therefore he, Monsieur Cazeau, need not wait, Monseigneur would return to his house alone.
Pending the arrival of fresh proof, Bonpre, though he had received no actual command, knew he was expected to remain where he was.
He therefore took refuge in turning brusquely away as before and was about to address himself to Bonpre, but stopped short, as he perceived Manuel, who had entered while the conversation was going on, and who now stood quietly by the Cardinal's chair in an attitude of composed attention.
Cardinal Bonpre answered nothing, for just then the young Manuel entered the room, in readiness to accompany his venerable protector and friend to the Vatican, and the old man's eyes rested upon him with a wistful, wondering trouble and anxiety which he could not conceal.
"You excite yourself needlessly, Contessa," he said. "He has done nothing to me personally, he is simply in my way. That is his sole offence! And whatever is in my way, I remove! Nothing is easier than to remove Cardinal Bonpre, for he has, by his very simplicity, fallen into a trap from which extrication will be difficult.
"What ails my children?" said a gentle voice, distinct and clear in its calm intonation even in the midst of the uproar, and Cardinal Bonpre, tall and stately, suddenly appeared upon the threshold "What little sorrows are these?" Henri's roar ceased abruptly, Babette's shrill wailing dropped into awed silence.
Some divine declaration of God's absolute omnipresence, or of Heaven's sure nearness, touched the heart of Felix Bonpre, as he sat like an enchanted dreamer among the tender interweavings of solemn and soothing sound; carried out of himself and beyond his own existence, he could neither pray nor think, till, all at once, upon the peaceful and devout silence of his soul, some very old, very familiar words struck sharply as though they were quite new, as though they were invested suddenly with strange and startling significance
This is for you and for those who come after you to do, I, Felix Bonpre, shall not be here to see the change so wrought, for I shall have gone from hence to answer for my poor stewardship, God grant I may not be found altogether wanting in intention, though I may have been inadequate in deed!
"Never!" exclaimed Bonpre fervently, "Never a burden on me, child! Surely while I live you will not leave me?" Manuel was silent for a little space. His eyes wandered from the Cardinal's venerable worn features to the upstanding silver crucifix that gleamed dully in the glow of the wood-embers.
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