United States or Christmas Island ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Even Don Silverio, with his classic culture and his archæological learning, had little comprehension of the means and methods by which these enterprises were combined and carried out; the world of commerce and speculation is as aloof from the scholar and the recluse as the rings of Saturn or the sun of Aldebaran.
What! a mere peasant stand in the way of a great enterprise?" "You intend expropriation then?" The voice of Don Silverio was very calm and sweet, but his countenance was stern. Corradini was irritated beyond measure. He did not desire to play that great card so early in the game. "I do not say that," he muttered. "There must be parliamentary sanction for any forced sale. I spoke in general terms.
"The sabre is law here," said the lieutenant in command. "It is the only law known anywhere in this kingdom," said Don Silverio. "Arrest him," said the officer. "He is creating disorder." The carabineers drove him into his study, and a brigadier began to ransack his papers and drawers.
He closed the door behind him. "Damnation!" said Giovacchino Gallo; "that is a strong man! Is Mother Church blind that she lets such an one rust and rot in the miserable parish of Ruscino?" When Don Silverio rejoined the Vicar of Sant Anselmo the latter asked him anxiously how his errand had sped. "It was a waste of breath and words," he answered.
She was of an adventurous temper also, and brave like all Abruzzese, and she longed to see one of those moonlit midnight meetings of armed men to which she had escaped from Alaida's keeping, she could not have forced herself to go back out of this clear, cool, radiant night into the little, close, dark sleeping-chamber. No, not if Don Silverio himself had stood in her path with the cross raised.
Are there even two pebbles alike in the bed of the river?" Don Silverio, for the first time in his life, could have willingly let escape him some unholy word.
"Disorders, even insurrections, do not greatly alarm authority nowadays; they are easily pressed since the invention of the quick-firing guns. The army is always on the side of order." Don Silverio rose. "Most honourable Corradini! your views and mine are so far asunder that no amount of discussion can assimilate them. Allow me to salute you." "Wait one instant, reverence," said the Syndic.
"May I ask how it is that an ecclesiastic of your appearance and your intellect can have been buried so long in such an owls' nest as Ruscino?" "Sir," replied Don Silverio very coldly, "ask my superiors: I am but one of the least of the servants of the Church." "You might be one of her greatest servants, if influence " "I abhor the word influence.
The others were huddled together in a fainting, tottering, crazed mob; all were sick and swooning from the long march, beaten when they paused by the buckles of belts and the flat of sabres. Don Silverio saw that sight in front of his church, in the white, clear light of early morning, and on the air there was a sickly stench of sweat, of powder, of wounds, of dust.
He learned some Latin with much difficulty, studying hard in his evening leisure in the winters, and with time he could decipher for himself, with assistance from Don Silverio, the annals of the Tor'alba; and he saw that it was as certain as anything grown over with the lichens and cobwebs of time can be that he himself was the last of the race.
Word Of The Day