AN AUDIENCE WITH THE POPE.
On the following day came the audience with his Holiness, Pius the
Ninth.
The Very Reverend Dean Szerenyi was first sent by the master of
ceremonies to instruct the lawyer and his client in the details of their
approaching interview. This envoy even took pains to indicate in what
sort of toilet ladies were expected to appear. The gown must come up
high about the neck and might be of any colour desired, or of black silk
if the wearer was in mourning. Jewelry was not forbidden. A lackey in
red livery would usher the strangers into the audience-chamber. Their
petition must be carried in the hand. In the throne-room--where ladies
were permitted to gaze to their hearts' content on the splendid display
of Japanese porcelain--the major-domo would marshal the company in a
double file, and there they would wait until his Holiness appeared.
"But look here," interposed Zimandy, with a troubled look, "does the
Pope know I am a Calvinist?"
"He never asks about the religious belief of those who seek an audience
with him. On all alike he bestows his blessing, assuming that all who
court his favour have an equal need of his benediction."
"Are there very many asking an audience at this time?"
"Only eight hundred."
"E-e-e! Eight hundred! How am I ever going to get a chance to deliver my
Latin speech that I have been working on all night?"
"You will not be called upon for it at all. It is not customary in a
general audience with the Pope to make set speeches. His Holiness
addresses whom he chooses, and they answer him. All petitions are taken
in charge by the secretary."
"Then it is lucky I put into mine everything that I intended to say.
Well, give my respects to his Holiness, and tell him I was the one who
made the motion in the Pest Radical Club to have his portrait hung on
the wall in a gilt frame; and if he is a smoker, I should be happy to
send him some superfine--"
But the dean had urgent matters to attend to, and begged to take his
leave without further delay.
Our travellers, with the eager promptness characteristic of Hungarians
on such occasions, were the first to be ushered into the antechamber at
the Vatican. Consequently they had an opportunity to hear the names of
all the other petitioners announced by the footman as they came in by
ones and twos and in little parties. They seemed to be all foreign
prelates, princes, ambassadors, and other high dignitaries; and, in
drawing them up in line, the major-domo gave them all precedence over
our party, much to the latter's humiliation and disgust. It is not
pleasant to stand waiting for a whole hour, only to find at its end that
one is no farther forward than at first.
But when the antechamber was nearly full, a uniformed official entered
by a side door and made his way to the very foot of the line where the
Hungarians were standing.
"Serenissima principessa de Cagliari! Nobilis domina vidua de Dormand!
Egregius dominus de Zimand!"
This ceremonious apostrophe was followed by a wave of the hand, which
indicated that the persons addressed were to follow the speaker, and
that they were granted the special favour of a private hearing before
his Holiness. Through the long hall, past lines of waiting men and
women, they made their way; and as they went, inquiring looks and
suppressed whispers followed them. The princess was recognised by many
as the fortunate recipient of the consecrated palm-leaf on the day
before, and they whispered one to another, "Ah, _la beata!_"
This sudden turn of affairs drove Gabriel Zimandy's Latin speech
completely out of his head, so that he could not have given even the
first word. As he hastened forward in all his court toggery, as he
called it, he could have sworn that there were at least fifty swords
dangling between his legs and doing their best to trip him up. After
passing through a seemingly endless succession of splendid halls and
stately corridors, the party was ushered into an apartment opening on
the magnificent gardens of the Vatican. Here it was that Pio Nono was
wont to receive the ladies whom he favoured with a private audience.
The princess and her companions stood before the august head of the
Church, the sovereign who acknowledges no earthly boundaries to his
dominions. Blanka felt a deep joy in her heart as she looked on that
benignant countenance, her eyes filled with tears, and she sank on her
knees. The Pope bent and graciously raised her to her feet. He laid his
hand on her head, and spoke to her words of comfort which she enshrined
in the inmost sanctuary of her heart.
When the audience was over and our friends had retired, Gabriel Zimandy
could not have given any coherent account of what had passed, nor,
indeed, was he in the least certain whether he had unburdened himself of
his Latin speech, or stuck fast at the _beatissime pater_. Madam
Dormandy, however, was sure to enlighten him as soon as they regained
their hotel. He knew at least that the written petition which he had
carried in his hand was no longer on his person; hence he must have
accomplished his main object.
Madam Dormandy alone seemed to have kept her wits about her through it
all. She was able to tell how the Pope, while Zimandy was stammering
some sort of gibberish,--Hebrew or Greek, for aught she knew,--had taken
his snuff-box from a pocket behind, and smilingly helped himself to a
pinch of snuff. Further, the snuff-box had looked like a common
tortoise-shell affair with an enamelled cover; and after he had taken
his pinch, he had put his hand into the pocket of his gold-embroidered
silk gown and drawn out a coarse cotton handkerchief such as the
Franciscans use.
But these little details had entirely escaped the princess and her
lawyer.