THE CONSECRATED PALM-LEAF.
Early the next morning the cannon began to boom from the Castle of St.
Angelo. Gabriel Zimandy sprang out of bed and dressed himself quickly.
His first care was to tap at Madam Dormandy's door and inquire for her
health. The patient answered in a pitiful voice that the guns were
fairly splitting her poor head, and that she did not expect to live the
day through. This reply seemed to be quite to the advocate's liking: of
the lady's succumbing to her ailment he had not the slightest fear,
while he now felt assured that it would be impossible for his client to
go out that day. What conception had he, heartless man, of the longing
that filled the young woman's soul for the papal blessing, to which she
ascribed such miraculous power, but which to him was nothing more than a
Latin phrase?
Soon the bells began to ring from all the church-towers of the city, and
a stream of people in gala attire poured toward St. Peter's. Poor Blanka
sat at her window with eyes fixed on a certain corner, around which she
had the day before seen Manasseh Adorjan's form disappear. The clocks
struck twelve, thirteen, fourteen--by Italian reckoning of time; the
crowds began to thin, and at last every one seemed to have betaken
himself to St. Peter's. An open carriage halted in the now deserted
street in front of the hotel, and Blanka recognised in its occupant the
very person whose image had been so persistently before her mind's eye.
"Pardon me, princess, for intruding," began Manasseh in greeting, as he
entered the young lady's presence; "but yesterday I saw that you were
disappointed at not being able to attend the Easter service at St.
Peter's. I have found means to remove that disappointment, I hope."
The princess felt her pulse quicken with eager delight, while at the
same time she shrank back in nameless apprehension of what the young man
might be going to propose.
"I fear it is too late," she replied, quietly. "I am not even dressed
for the occasion."
"You have time enough," returned the other, reassuringly. "The French
minister's wife has kindly offered to take you with her. Seats for the
ladies of the embassy have been reserved and can be easily reached by a
special entrance. They are very near the _loggia_ where the papal
blessing will be pronounced. In an hour Madame Rossi will be here; that
will give you time to get ready."
"And are you going with us?"
"No, that will be impossible, as the reserved seats are for ladies only;
but I will escort Madame Rossi and her daughter to your door, and you
will, I am sure, find them very pleasant company. For myself, I shall
hunt up some sort of a perch where I can get a view of the day's
festivities."
So saying, the young man hurried away.
Against this plan Gabriel Zimandy could raise no objections. Indeed, he
saw the policy of making friends with the French embassy, and as long as
Manasseh was not to accompany the party his professional schemes were in
no wise endangered.
When Manasseh returned with the French ladies he sought the lawyer.
"Come, my friend," he urged, "if your legs have nothing to say against
it, if your religious belief permits, and if you have studied your Latin
speech enough for one day, I will find you a good shady spot where you
can witness what no mortal eye has seen in all these eighteen Christian
centuries, and is little likely to see again in eighteen centuries to
come."
"What may that be?"
"A Pope of the Romish Church, pronouncing his blessing from the _loggia_
of St. Peter's on the Roman army, preparatory to its marching forth to
fight for freedom. Durando's troops are now marshalled in St. Peter's
Square, awaiting the papal blessing on the swords drawn for liberty and
country. It has, I know, been your dream to witness a sight like that,
and now I come to invite you to its realisation."
"Well, well, that is something worth while," admitted the advocate. "The
whole Roman army, and Durando himself! Surely, I can't afford to miss
it." The invitation had driven quite out of his head all the objections
so strenuously urged the day before.
The ladies had no difficulty in reaching the places reserved for them;
for the gentlemen, however, it was not so easy to find even
standing-room. But at length Manasseh guided his companion to one end of
the scaffolding which supported the ladies' platform, and there found
for him a V-shaped seat in the angle of two beams, while he himself
stood on a projecting timber which afforded him room for one foot, and
clung to the woodwork of the platform with both hands. The discomfort of
his position was lightened for him by the fact that, only a few feet
above, he could see Blanka's face as she sat with eyes directed toward
the _loggia_ where the Pope was soon to appear.
It was a grand spectacle. The whole army--infantry, cavalry,
artillery--was drawn up in the immense _piazza_, each regiment carrying
two flags--the banner of the Church, on which were depicted the keys of
heaven, and the red, white, and green flag of Italian freedom. The
background to this scene was furnished by the cathedral itself, a vast
throng of spectators crowded the foreground, and the whole united to
produce an effect of pomp and grandeur that fairly beggars description.
The clocks struck eighteen--midday. The great bell sounded in the
western turret of the cathedral, and the booming of cannon was once more
heard from the Castle of St. Angelo. The service within the cathedral
was at an end, the leather curtains that hung before the great bronze
doors parted, and out poured the procession of pilgrims, until the whole
wide expanse of the portico was filled. Mysterious music fell on the ear
from somewhere above: a military band stationed aloft in the cupola had
struck up a psalm of praise, and it seemed to the listeners to come from
heaven itself. Silver trumpets--so the faithful believe--are used in
rendering this piece.
All faces were now turned toward the _loggia_, a sort of projecting
balcony high up on the front of the cathedral. A sound like the murmur
of the sea rose from the multitude: each spectator was shifting his
position, and seeking a clearer view. Then the _loggia_ became suddenly
filled with moving forms,--cardinals in their splendid robes, knights in
mediæval armour, pages in costly livery. The crown-bearers advanced with
two triple tiaras, one the gift of Napoleon I., the other presented by
the queen of Spain, and both sparkling with diamonds. A third
crown,--the oldest of all, originally simple in form, then a double
diadem, and finally a threefold tiara,--encircled the head of the Pope
himself, who, seated on a golden throne, was borne forward to the stone
breastwork, on which two crowns had been placed by their bearers. The
pontiff rose from his seat and the sun shone full upon his venerable
form. He wore a white robe embroidered with gold, and his appearance was
radiant with light. The benignant smile that illumined his countenance
outshone all the diamonds in his triple crown.
How happy was Princess Blanka at that moment! and hers were the fairest
gems in all that costly array,--two tears that glistened in her large
dark eyes as she gazed intently on the scene before her.
The two youngest cardinals took their stand on either side of the Pope,
each holding a palm-leaf in his hand. Then, over the awed and silent
throng before him, in a voice still strong, sonorous, and vibrant with
feeling, the aged pontiff pronounced his blessing in words at once
simple, sincere, and gracious.
Blanka and Manasseh exchanged glances, and the young man felt a
tear-drop fall upon his cheek. From that moment an indissoluble bond
united the two.
When the benediction was over, a stentorian voice from the multitude
cried, "_Evviva Pio Nono!_" The shout was caught up by all the vast
throng, and sent heavenward in a united cry of ever-swelling volume. Not
merely Pius IX., but St. Peter himself seemed to stand before the
jubilant multitude, opening heaven's gates with one key, and the portals
of an earthly paradise of freedom with another. The two cardinals cast
their palm-leaves down to the people, and as they fell, fluttering
uncertainly, now this way, now that, all eyes followed them to see who
should be the happy ones to secure the precious emblems of benediction
and absolution. One leaf, after hovering in the air a moment, sank in
ever narrowing circles until it lodged on the flag of a volunteer
regiment, whereupon a mighty cheer burst from thousands of throats. The
other, borne hither and thither by shifting breezes, was finally wafted
toward the raised platform where sat the ladies of the French embassy. A
hundred hands reached eagerly for it as it sank lower and lower; but one
arm, extending higher than the others, secured the prize. It was
Manasseh who from his elevated position, intercepted the coveted token
as it fell, and he immediately turned and presented it to Princess
Cagliari, amid a storm of applause from the onlookers.
The princess was a beautiful woman, but at the moment of receiving this
symbol of forgiveness and blessing, her face gained such a look of
radiant happiness as can only be imagined on the countenance of an angel
in his flight to heaven; and to her that precious leaf meant heaven
indeed. But when she turned to thank the giver he had disappeared.
"That was really grand," admitted Gabriel Zimandy, as his friend piloted
him through the surging throng to the nearest cab. "To think of the
Pope's giving his blessing to an army mustered in the cause of liberty!
Such a sight was never seen before."
"No," returned Manasseh; "and you must make haste to push your client's
cause while he is in his present good humour, which may not last."
"But, surely, you don't mean that his Holiness is in any way trifling
with the people, do you?" asked the advocate.
"I am fully convinced," replied the other, "that Pio Nono is a gentle,
good-hearted, upright man, and a gracious pontiff; but I also believe
that, at the very first engagement, the Austrians will give the pious
Durando a most unmerciful whipping. What direction the wind will take in
Rome after that, no mortal can tell. You will do well, however, to make
the most of your time while that palm-leaf is still green."