“I SAY--‘ROME’!”
The State prison was a gloomy fortress built on a wedge of rock that
jutted far out into the ocean. It stood full-fronted to the north, and
had opposed its massive walls and huge battlements to every sort of
storm for many centuries. It was a relic of mediaeval days, when torture
no less than death, was the daily practice of the law, and when persons
were punished as cruelly for light offences as for the greatest crimes.
It was completely honeycombed with dungeons and subterranean passages,
which led to the sea,--and in one of the darkest and deepest of these
underground cells, the wretched youth who had attempted the life of the
King, was placed under the charge of two armed warders, who marched up
and down outside the heavily-barred door, keeping close watch and guard.
Neither they nor anyone else had exchanged a word with the prisoner
since his arrest. He had given them no trouble. He had been carefully
searched, but nothing of an incriminating nature had been found upon
him,--nothing to point to any possible instigator of his dastard crime.
He had entered the dungeon allotted to him with almost a cheerful
air,--he had muttered half-inaudible thanks for the bread and water
which had been passed to him through the grating; and he had seated
himself upon the cold bench, hewn out of the stone wall, with a
resignation that might have easily passed for pleasure. As the time
wore on, however, and the reality of his position began to press more
consciously upon his senses, the warders heard him sigh deeply, and
move restlessly, and once he gave a cry like that of a wounded animal,
exclaiming:--
“For Thy sake, Lord Christ! For Thy sake I strove--for Thy sake, and in
Thy service! Thou wilt not leave me here to perish!”
He had been brought to the prison immediately after his murderous
attack, and the time had then been about four in the afternoon. It was
now night; and all over the city the joy-bells were clashing out music
from the Cathedral towers, to express the popular thanksgiving for the
miraculous escape and safety of the King. The echo of the chimes which
had been ringing ever since sunset, was caught by the sea and thrown
back again upon the air, so that it partially drowned the melancholy
clang of the prison bell, which in its turn, tolled forth the dreary
passing of the time for those to whom liberty had become the merest
shadow of a dream. As it struck nine, a priest presented himself to the
Superintendent of the prison, bearing a ‘permit’ from General Bernhoff,
Head of the Police, to visit and ‘confess’ the prisoner. He was led to
the cell and admitted at once. At the noise of a stranger’s entrance,
the criminal raised himself from the sunken attitude into which he had
fallen on his stone bench, and watched, by the light of the dim lamp set
in the wall, the approach of his tall, gaunt, black-garmented visitor
with evident horror and fear. When,--with the removal of the shovel
hat and thick muffler which had helped to disguise that visitor’s
personality,--the features of Monsignor Del Fortis were disclosed, he
sprang forward and threw himself on his knees.
“Mercy!--Mercy!” he moaned--“Have pity on me, in the name of God!”
Del Fortis looked down upon him with contempt, as though he were some
loathsome reptile writhing at his feet. “Silence!” he said, in a harsh
whisper--“Remember, we are watched here! Get up!--why do you kneel to
_me_? I have nothing to do with you, beyond such office as the Church
enjoins!” And a cold smile darkened, rather than lightened his features.
“I am sent to administer ‘spiritual consolation’ to you!”
Slowly the prisoner struggled up to a standing posture, and pressing
both hands to his head, he stared wildly before him.
“‘Spiritual consolation’!” he muttered--“‘Spiritual’?” A faint dull
vacuous smile flickered over his face, and he shuddered. “I understand!
You come to prepare my soul for Heaven!”
Del Fortis gave him a sinister look.
“That depends on yourself!” he replied curtly--“The Church can speed you
either way,--to Heaven, or--Hell!”
The prisoner’s hands clenched involuntarily with a gesture of despair.
“I know that!” he said sullenly--“The Church can save or kill! What of
it? I am now beyond even the power of the Church!”
Del Fortis seated himself on the stone bench.
“Come here!” he said--“Sit down beside me!”
The prisoner obeyed.
“Look at this!”--and he drew an ebony and silver crucifix from his
breast--“Fix your eyes upon it, and try, my son,”--here he raised his
voice a little--“try to conquer your thoughts of things temporal,
and lift them to the things which are eternal! For things temporal do
quickly vanish and disperse, but things eternal shall endure for ever!
Humble your soul before God, and beseech Him with me, to mercifully
cleanse the dark stain of sin upon your soul!” Here he began mumbling a
Latin prayer, and while engaged in this, he caught the prisoner’s hand
in a close grip. “Act--act with me!” he said firmly. “Fool!--Play a
part, as I do! Bend your head close to mine--assume shame and sorrow
even if you cannot feel it! And listen to me well! _You have failed_!”
“I know it!”
The reply came thick and low.
“Why did you make the attempt at all? Who persuaded you?”
The wretched youth lifted his head, and showed a wild white face, in
which the piteous eyes, starting from their sockets, looked blind with
terror.
“Who persuaded me?” he replied mechanically--“No one! No single
one,--but many!”
Del Fortis gripped him firmly by the wrist.
“You lie!” he snarled--“How dare you utter such a calumny! Who were you?
What were you? A miserable starveling--picked up from the streets and
saved from penury,--housed and sheltered in our College,--taught and
trained and given paid employment by us,--what have _you_ to say of
‘persuasion’?--you, who owe your very life to us, and to our charity!”
Roused by this attack, the prisoner, wrenching his hand away from the
priest’s cruel grasp, sprang upright.
“Wait--wait!” he said breathlessly--“You do not understand! You forget!
All my life I have been under One great influence--all my life I have
been taught to dream One great Dream! When I talk of ‘persuasion,’
I only mean the persuasion of that force which has surrounded me as
closely as the air I breathe!--that spirit which is bound to enter into
all who work for you, or with you! Oh no!--neither you nor any member
of your Order ever seek openly to ‘persuade’ any man to any act, whether
good or evil--your Rule is much wiser than that!--much more subtle! You
issue no actual commands--your power comes chiefly by suggestion! And
_with_ you,--working _for_ you--I have thought day and night, night and
day, of the glory of Rome!--the dominion of Rome!--the triumph of Rome!
I have learned, under you, to wish for it, to pray for it, to desire it
more than my own life!--do you, can you blame me for that? You dare not
call it a sin;--for your Order represents it as a virtue that condones
all sin!”
Del Fortis was silent, watching him with a kind of curious contempt.
“It grew to be part of me, this Dream!” went on the lad, his eyes
now shining with a feverish brilliancy--“And I began to see wonderful
visions, and to hear voices calling me in the daytime,--voices that no
one else heard! Once in the College chapel I saw the Blessed Virgin’s
picture smile! I was copying documents for the Vatican then,--and I
thought of the Holy Father,--how he was imprisoned in Rome, when
he should be Emperor of all the Emperors,--King of all the Kings! I
remembered how it was that he had no temporal power,--though all the
powers of the earth should be subservient to him!--and my heart beat
almost to bursting, and my brain seemed on fire!--but the Blessed
Virgin’s picture still smiled;--and I knelt down before it and swore
that I,--even I, would help to give the whole world back to Rome, even
if I died for it!”
He caught his breath with a kind of sob, and looked appealingly at Del
Fortis, who, fingering the crucifix he held, sat immovable.
“And then--and then” he went on, “I heard enough,--while at work in
the monastery with you and the brethren,--to strengthen and fire my
resolution. I learned that all kings are, in these days, the enemies
of the Church. I learned that they were all united in one resolve; and
that,--to deprive the Holy Father of temporal power! Then I set myself
to study kings. Each, and all of those who sit on thrones to-day passed
before my view;--all selfish, money-seeking, sensual men!--not one good,
true soul among them! Demons they seemed to me,--bent on depriving God’s
Evangelist in Rome of his Sacred and Supreme Sovereignty! It made me
mad!--and I would have killed all kings, could I have done so with
a single thought! Then came a day when you preached openly in the
Cathedral against this one King, who should by right have gone to his
account this very afternoon!--you told the people how he had refused
lands to the Church,--and how by this wicked act he had stopped the
progress of religious education, and had put himself, as it were, in the
way of Christ who said: ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me!’ And my
dreams of the glory of Rome again took shape--I saw in my mind all the
children,--the poor little children of the world, gathered to the
knee of the Holy Father, and brought up to obey him and him only!--I
remembered my oath before the Blessed Virgin’s picture, and all my soul
cried out: ‘Death to the crowned Tyrant! Death!’ For you said--and I
believed it--that all who opposed the Holy Father’s will, were opposed
to the will of God!--and over and over again I said in my heart: ‘Death
to the tyrant! Death!’ And the words went with me like the response of
a litany,--till--till--I saw him before me to-day--a pampered fool,
surrounded by women!--a blazoned liar!--and then--” He paused, smiling
foolishly; and shaking his head with a slow movement to and fro, he
added--“The dagger should have struck home!--it was aimed surely--aimed
strongly!--but that woman came between--why did she come? They said
she was Lotys!--ha ha!--Lotys, the Revolutionary sybil!--Lotys, the
Socialist!--but that could not be,--Lotys is as great an enemy of kings
as I am!”
“And an enemy of the Church as well!” said Del Fortis harshly--“Between
the Church and Socialism, all Thrones stand on a cracking earth,
devoured by fire! But make no mistake about it!--the woman was Lotys!
Socialist and Revolutionary as she may be, she has saved the life of the
King. This is so far fortunate--for you! And it is much to be hoped that
she herself is not slain by your dagger thrust;--death is far too easy
and light a punishment for her and her associates! We trust it may
please a merciful God to visit her with more lingering calamity!”
As he said this, he piously kissed the crucifix he held, keeping his
shallow dark eyes fixed on the prisoner with the expression of a cat
watching a mouse. The half-crazed youth, absorbed in the ideas of his
own dementia, still smiled to himself vaguely, and nervously plucked at
his fingers, till Del Fortis, growing impatient and forgetting for the
moment that they stood in a prison cell, the interior of which might
possibly be seen and watched from many points of observation unknown to
them, went up to him and shook him roughly by the arm.
“Attention!” he said angrily--“Rouse yourself and hear me! You talk
like a fool or a madman,--yet you are neither--neither, you
understand?--neither idiot-born nor suddenly crazed;--so, when on
your trial do not feign to be what you are not! Such ideas as you have
expressed, though they may have their foundation in a desire for good,
are evil in their results--yet even out of evil good may come! The power
of Rome--the glory of Rome--the dominion of Rome! Rome, supreme Mistress
of the world! Would you help the Church to win this great victory? Then
now is your chance! God has given you--you, His poor instrument,--the
means to effectually aid His conquest,--to Him be all the praise and
thanksgiving! It rests with you to accept His message and perform His
work!”
The high-flown, melodramatic intensity with which he pronounced these
words, had the desired effect on the stunned and bewildered, weak mind
of the unfortunate lad so addressed. His eyes sparkled--his cheeks
flushed,--and he looked eagerly up into the face of his priestly
hypnotizer.
“Yes--yes!” he said quickly in a breathless whisper--“But how?--tell me
how! I will work--oh, I will work--for Rome, for God, for the Blessed
Virgin!--I will do all that I can!--but how--how? Will the Holy Father
send an angel to take me out of this prison, so that I may be free to
help God?”
Del Fortis surveyed him with a kind of grim derision, A slight noise
like the slipping-back or slipping-to of a grating, startled him, and he
looked about him on all sides, moved by a sudden nervous apprehension.
But the massive walls of the cell, oozing with damp and slime, had
apparently no aperture or outlet anywhere, not even a slit in the
masonry for the admission of daylight. Satisfied with his hasty
examination, he took his credulous victim by the arm, and led him back
to the rough stone bench where they had first begun to converse.
“Kneel down here before me!”--he said--“Kneel, as if you were repeating
all the sins of your life to me in your last confession! Kneel, I say!”
Feebly, and with trembling limbs, the lad obeyed.
“Now,” continued Del Fortis, holding up the crucifix before him--“Try
to follow my words and understand them! To-morrow, or the next day, you
will be taken before a judge and tried for your attempted crime. Do you
realise that?”
“I do!” The answer came hesitatingly, and with a faint moan.
“Have you thought what you intend to say when you are asked your reasons
for attacking the King? Do you mean to tell judge and jury the story of
what you call your ‘persuasion’ to dream of the dominion of Rome?”
“Yes--yes!” replied the lad, looking up with an eager light on his
face--“Yes, I will tell them all,--just as I have told you! Then they
will know,--they will see that it was a good thought of mine--it would
have been a good sin! I will speak to them of the wicked wrongs done to
you and your Holy Order,--of the cruelty which the Christian Apostle in
Rome has to suffer at the hands of kings--and they will acknowledge me
to be right and just;--they will know I am as a man inspired by God to
work for the Church, the bride of Christ, and to make her Queen of all
the world!”
He stopped suddenly, intimidated by the cruel glare of the wolfish eyes
above him.
“You will say nothing of all this!” and Del Fortis shook the crucifix in
his face as though it were a threatening weapon; “You will say only what
_I_ choose,--only what _I_ command! And if you do not swear to speak as
I tell you, I will kill you!--here and now--with my own hands!”
Uttering a half-smothered cry, the wretched youth recoiled in terror.
“You will kill me? You--_you_?” he gasped--“No--no!--you could not do
that! you could not,--you are a holy man! I--I am not afraid that you
will hurt me! I have done nothing to offend you,--I have always
been obedient to you,--I have been your slave--your dog to fetch and
carry!--and you should remember,--yes!--you should remember that my
mother was rich,--and that because she too felt the call of God, she
gave all her money to the Church, and left me thrown upon the streets to
starve! But the Church rescued me--the Church did not forget! And I am
ready to serve the Church in all and every possible way,--I have done my
best, even now!”
He spoke with all the passionate self-persuasion of a fanatic, and Del
Fortis judged it wisest to control his own fierce inward impatience and
deal with him more restrainedly.
“That is true enough!” he said in milder accents;--“You are ready to
serve the Church,--I do not doubt it;--but you do not serve it in the
right way. No earthly good is gained to us by the killing of kings!
Their conversion and obedience is what we seek. This king you would
have slain is a baptised son of the Church; but beyond attending mass
regularly in his private chapel, which he does for the mere sake
of appearances, he is an atheist, condemned to the fires of Hell.
Nevertheless, no advantage to us could possibly be obtained by his
death. Much can be done for us by you--yes, _you_!--and much will depend
on the answers to the questions asked you at your trial. Give those
answers as _I_ shall bid you, and you will win a triumph for the cause
of Rome!”
The prisoner’s eyes glittered feverishly,--full of the delirium of
bigotry, he caught the lean, cold hand that held the crucifix, and
kissed it fervently.
“Command me!” he muttered--“Command!--and in the name of the Blessed
Virgin, I will obey!”
“Hear then, and attend closely to my words,” went on Del Fortis,
enunciating his sentences in a low distinct voice--“When you are brought
before the judge, you will be accused of an attempt to assassinate the
King. Make no denial of it,--admit it at once, and express contrition.
You will then be asked if any person or persons instigated you to commit
the crime. To this say ‘yes’!”
“Say ‘yes’!” repeated the lad--“But that will not be true!”
“Fool, does it matter!” ejaculated Del Fortis, almost savagely--“Have
you not sworn to speak as I command you? What is it to you whether it is
true or false?”
A slight shiver passed through the prisoner’s limbs--but he was silent.
“Say”--went on his pitiless instructor--“that you were enticed and
persuaded to commit the wicked deed by the teachings of the Socialist,
Sergius Thord, and his followers. Say that the woman Lotys knew of your
intention,--and saved the life of the King at the last moment, through
fear, lest her own seditious schemes should be discovered and herself
punished. Say,--that because you were young and weak and impressionable,
she chose you out to attempt the assassination. Do you hear?”
“I hear!” The reply came thickly and almost inaudibly. “But must I tell
these lies? I have never spoken to Sergius Thord in my life!--nor to the
woman Lotys;--I know nothing of them or their followers, except by the
public talk;--why should I harm the innocent? Let me tell the truth, I
pray of you!--let me speak as my heart dictates!--let me plead for the
Holy Father--for you--for your Order--for the Church!--”
He broke off as Del Fortis caught him by both hands in an angry grip.
“Do not dare to speak one word of the Church!” he said, “Or of us,--or
of our Order! Let not a single syllable escape your lips concerning your
connection with us and our Society!--or we shall find means to make you
regret it! Beware of betraying yourself! When you are once before the
Court of Law, remember you know nothing of Us, our Work, or our Creed!”
Utterly bewildered and mystified, the unhappy youth rocked himself
to and fro, clasping and unclasping his hands in a kind of nervous
paroxysm.
“Oh why, why will you bid me to do this?” he moaned--“You know there
are times when I cannot be answerable for myself! How can I tell what
I shall do when I am brought face to face with my accusers?--when I see
all the dreadful eyes of the people turned upon me? How can I deny all
knowledge of those who brought me up, and nurtured and educated me? If
they ask me of my home, is it not with you?--under your sufferance and
charity? If they seek to know my means of subsistence, is it not through
you that I receive the copying-work for which I am paid? You would not
have me repudiate all this, would you? I should be worse than a dog in
sheer ingratitude if I did not bear open testimony to all the Church has
done for me!”
“Be, not worse than a dog, but faithful as a dog in obedience!”
responded Del Fortis impressively--“And, for once, speak of the Church
with the indifference of an atheist,--or with such marked coldness as a
wise man speaks of the woman he secretly adores! Hold the Church and
Us too sacred for any mention in a Court of criminal law! But serve the
Church by involving the Socialist and Revolutionary party! Think of the
magnificent results which will spring from this act,--and nerve yourself
to tell a lie in order to support a truth!”
Rising unsteadily from his knees, the prisoner stood upright. By the
flicker of the dim lamp, he looked deadly pale, and his limbs tottered
as though shaken by an ague fit.
“What good will come of it?” he queried dully--“What good _can_ come of
it?”
“Great and lasting good will come of it!”--replied Del Fortis--“And it
will come quickly too;--in this way, for by fastening the accusation
of undue influence on Sergius Thord and his companions, you will obtain
Government restriction, if not total suppression of the Socialist
party. This is what we need! The Socialists are growing too strong--too
powerful in every country,--and we are on the brink of trouble through
their accursed and atheistical demonstrations. There will soon be
serious disturbances in the political arena--possibly an overthrow of
the Government, and a general election--and if Sergius Thord has the
chance of advancing himself as a deputy, he will be elected above all
others by an overpowering majority of the lower classes. _You_ can
prevent this!--you can prevent it by a single falsehood, which in
this case will be more pleasing to God than a thousand mischievous
veracities! Will you do it? Yes or No?”
The miserable lad looked helplessly around him, his weak frame trembling
as with palsy, and his uncertain fingers plucking at each other with
that involuntary movement of the muscles which indicates a disordered
brain.
“Will you, or will you not?” reiterated Del Fortis in a whisper that
hissed through the close precincts of the cell like the warning of a
snake about to sting--“Answer me!”
“Suppose I say I will not!”--stammered the poor wretch, with trembling
lips and appealing eyes--“Suppose I say I will not falsely accuse the
innocent, even for the sake of the Church----?”
“Then,” said Del Fortis slowly, rising and moving towards him;--“You had
best accept the only alternative--this!”
And he took from his breast pocket a small phial, full of clear,
colourless fluid, and showed it to him--“Take it!--and so make a quick
and quiet end! For, if you betray you connection with Us by so much as a
look,--a sign, or a syllable,--your mode of exit from this world may be
slower, less decent, and more painful!”
The miserable boy wrung his hands in agony, and such a cry of despair
broke from his lips as might have moved anyone less cruelly made
of spiritual adamant than the determined servant of the cruellest
‘religious’ Order known. The dull harsh clang of the prison bell struck
ten. The ‘priest’ had been an hour at the work of ‘confessing’ his
penitent,--and his patience was well-nigh exhausted.
“Swear you will attribute your intended assassination of the King,
to the influence of the Socialists!” he said with fierce
imperativeness--“Or with this--end all your difficulties to-night! It is
a gentle quietus!--and you ought to thank me for it! It is better than
solitary imprisonment for life! I will give you absolution for taking
it--provided I see you swallow it before I go!--and I will declare to
the Church that I left you shrived of your sins, and clean! Half an
hour after I leave you, you will sleep!--and wake--in Heaven! Make your
choice!”
The last words had scarcely left his lips when the cell door was
suddenly thrown open, and a blaze of light poured in. Dazzled by the
strong and sudden glare, Del Fortis recoiled, and still holding the
phial of poison in his hand, stumbled back against the half-fainting
form of the poor crazed creature he had been terrorising, as a dozen
armed men silently entered the dungeon and ranged themselves in order,
six on one side and six on the other, while, in their midst one
man advanced, throwing back his dark military cloak as he came, and
displaying a mass of jewelled orders and insignia on his brilliant
uniform. Del Fortis uttered a fierce oath.
“The King!” he muttered, under his breath--“The King!”
“Ay, the King!” and a glance of supreme scorn swept over him from head
to foot, as the monarch’s clear dark grey eyes flashed with the glitter
of cold steel in the luminance of the torches which were carried by
attendants behind him; “Monsignor Del Fortis! You stand convicted of
the offence of unlawfully tampering with the conscience of a prisoner
of State! We have heard your every word--and have obtained a bird’s-eye
view of your policy!--so that,--if necessary,--we will Ourselves bear
witness against you! For the present,--you will be detained in this
fortress until our further pleasure!”
For one moment Del Fortis appeared to be literally contorted in every
muscle by his excess of rage. His features grew livid,--his eyes became
almost blood-red, and his teeth met on his drawn-in under-lip in a smile
of intense malignity. Baffled again!--and by this ‘king,’--the crowned
Dummy,--who had cast aside all former precedent, and instead of amusing
himself with card-playing and sensual intrigue, after the accepted
fashion of most modern sovereigns, had presumed to interfere, not only
with the Church, but with the Government, and now, as it seemed, had
acted as a spy on the very secrets of a so-called prison ‘confession’!
The utter impossibility of escaping from the net into which his own
words had betrayed him, stood plainly before his mind and half-choked
him with impotent fury,--till--all suddenly a thought crossed his
brain like a flash of fire, and with a strong effort, he recovered his
self-possession. Crossing his arms meekly on his breast, he bowed with
a silent and profound affectation of humility, as one who is bent under
the Royal displeasure, yet resigned to the Royal command,--then with a
rapid movement he lifted the poison-phial he had held concealed, to his
lips. His action was at once perceived. Two or three of the armed guards
threw themselves upon him and, after a brief struggle, wrenched the
flask from his hand, but not till he had succeeded in swallowing its
contents. Breathing quickly, yet smiling imperturbably, he stood upright
and calm.
“God’s will and mine--not your Majesty’s--be done!” he said. “In half an
hour--or less--Mother Church may add to her list of martyrs the name of
Andrea Del Fortis!--who died rather than sacrifice the dignity of his
calling to the tyranny of a king!”
A slight convulsion passed over his features,--he staggered backward.
The King, horror-stricken, signed to the prison warders standing by, to
support him. He muttered a word of thanks, as they caught him by both
arms.
“Take me where I can die quietly!” he said to them, “It will soon be
over! I shall give you little trouble!”
A cold, weak, trembling hand clasped his. It was the hand of the King’s
wretched assassin.
“Let me go with you!” he cried--“Let me die with you! You have been
cruel to me!--but you could not have meant it!--you were once kind!”
Del Fortis thrust him aside.
“Curse you!” he said thickly--“You are the cause--you--you are the
cause of this damned mischief! You!--God!--to think of it!--you devil’s
spawn!--you cur!”
His voice failed him, and he reeled heavily against the sturdy form of
one of the warders who held him--his lips were flecked with blood and
foam. Shocked and appalled, no less at his words, than at the fiendish
contortion of his features, the King drew near.
“Curse not a fellow-mortal, unhappy priest, in thine own passage towards
the final judgment!” he said in grave accents--“The blessing of this
poor misguided creature may help thee more than even a king’s free
pardon!”
And he extended his hand;--but with all the force of his now struggling
and convulsed body, Del Fortis beat it back, and raised himself by an
almost superhuman effort.
“Pardon! Who talks of pardon!” he cried, with a strong voice--“I do not
need it--I do not seek it! I have worked for the Church--I die for the
Church! For every one that says ‘The King!’--I say, ‘Rome’!”
He drew himself stiffly upright; his dark eyes glittered; his face,
though deadly pale, scarcely looked like the face of a dying man.
“I say, ‘Rome’!” he repeated, in a harsh whisper;--“Over all the
world!--over all the kingdoms of the world, and in defiance of all
kings--‘Rome’!”
He fell back,--not dead,--but insensible, in the stupor which precedes
death;--and was quickly borne out of the cell and carried to the prison
infirmary, there to receive medical aid, though that could only now
avail to soothe the approaching agonies of dissolution.
The King stood mute and motionless, lost in thought, a heavy darkness
brooding on his features. How strange the impulse that had led him to
be the mover and witness of this scene! By merest chance he had learned
that Del Fortis had applied for permission to ‘confess’ the would-be
destroyer of his life,--the life which Lotys had saved,--and acting--as
he had lately accustomed himself to do--on a sudden first idea or
instinct, he had summoned General Bernhoff to escort him to the prison,
and make the way easy for him to watch and overhear the interview
between priest and penitent,--himself unobserved. And from so slight
an incident had sprung a tragedy,--which might have results as yet
undreamed-of!
And while he yet mused upon this, General Bernhoff ventured respectfully
to approach him, and ask if it was now his pleasure to return to the
Palace? He roused himself,--and with a heavy sigh looked round on
the damp and dismal cell in which he stood, and at the crouching,
fear-stricken form of the semi-crazed and now violently weeping lad who
had attempted his life.
“Take that poor wretch away from here!” he said in hushed tones--“Give
him light, and warmth, and food! His evil desires spring from an unsound
brain;--I would have him dealt with mercifully! Guard him with all
necessary and firm restraint,--but do not brutalise his body more than
Rome has brutalised his soul!”
With that he turned away,--and his armed guard and attendants followed
him.
That self-same midnight a requiem mass was sung in a certain chapel
before a silent gathering of black-robed stern-featured men, who prayed
“For the repose of the soul of our dear brother, Andrea Del Fortis,
servant of God, and martyr to the cause of truth and justice,--who
departed this life suddenly, in the performance of his sacred duties.”
In the newspapers next day, the death of this same martyr and shining
light of the Church was recorded with much paid-for regret and
press-eulogy as ‘due to heart-failure’ and his body being claimed by
the Jesuit brotherhood, it was buried with great pomp and solemn
circumstance, several of the Catholic societies and congregations
following it to the grave. One week after the funeral,--for no other
ostensible cause whatever, save the offence of openly publishing his
official refusal of a grant of Crown lands to the Jesuits,--the Holy
Father, the Evangelist and Infallible Apostle enthroned in St. Peter’s
Chair, launched against the King who had dared to deny his wish
and oppose his will, the once terrible, but now futile ban of
excommunication; and the Royal son of the Church who had honestly
considered the good of his people more than the advancement of
priestcraft, stood outside the sacred pale,--barred by a so-called
‘Christian’ creed, from the mercy of God and the hope of Heaven.