The Tender-hearted died without having the consolation of seeing her
son again; Jerónimo Fort, the youngest child, became head of the shop,
Isabel married a soldier, Carlos Moncada, with whom she went to live in
Madrid.
Isabel Fort lived there a long time without remembering her monk
brother, until she learned, to her great surprise, that they had made
him a Cardinal.
Father Vicente left off calling himself that and changed into Cardinal
Fort. The darkness that surrounded him turned to light, and his figure
stood out strongly.
“Cardinale Forte,” they called him in Rome. He was known to be one of
the persons that guided the Vatican camarilla, and one of those who
impelled Leo XIII to rectify the slightly liberal policy of the first
years of his pontificate.
Cardinal Fort filled high posts. He was a Consultor in the Congregation
of Bishops and Regulars, afterwards in that of Rites and in that of the
Holy Office, and on special occasions was confessor to Leo XIII.
Certainly having a Cardinal in the family is something that makes a
showing; and Isabel, as soon as she knew it, wrote by the advice of the
family, to her brother, so as to renew relations with him.
The Cardinal replied, expressing interest in her husband and her
children. Isabel sent him their pictures, and phrases of affection were
cordially interchanged.
After that they kept on writing to each other, and in one letter the
Cardinal invited Isabel to come to Rome. She hesitated; but her
husband convinced her that she ought to accept the invitation. They all
of them went, and the Cardinal received them very affectionately.
Juan Fort was living at that time in a monastery, like the other monks.
He enjoyed an enormous influence in Rome and in Spain. Isabel wanted her
husband promoted, and the Cardinal obtained that in a moment.
Then Fort talked to his sister of the propriety of dedicating Cæsar to
the Church. He would enter the College of Nobles, then he would pass to
the Nunciature, and in a short while he would be a potentate.
Doña Isabel told this to her husband; but the idea didn’t please him.
They talked among themselves, they discussed it, and the small boy, then
twelve years old, settled the question himself, saying that he would
kill himself rather than be a priest or a monk, because he was a
Republican.
The Cardinal was not enthusiastic over this rebellious youngster who
dared to speak out what he, in his childhood, would not have been bold
enough to insinuate; but if Cæsar did not appeal to him, on the other
hand he was very much taken with Laura’s beauty and charm.
The Moncada family returned to Spain after spending some months in Rome.
Two years later Doña Isabel’s husband died, and she, recalling the
offers of her brother, the Cardinal, left Cæsar in an Escolapian
college in Madrid, and went to Rome, taking Laura with her.
The Cardinal, in the meanwhile, had changed his position and his
domicile; he was now living in the Palazzo Altemps in the Via di S.
Apellinare, and leading a more sumptuous life.
They reproached him in Rome for his exclusiveness and at the same time
for his tendency to ostentation. They said that if he was silent about
himself, it was not through modesty, but because that is the best method
to arrive at being a candidate for the tiara.
They added that he was very fond of showing himself in his red robes,
and in fine carriages, and this ostentatious taste was explained among
the Italians by saying: “It’s simple enough; he is Spanish.”
Publicly it was said that he was a great theologian, but privately he
was considered a strong man, although of mediocre intelligence.
“A Fort is always strong,” they said of him, making a pun on his name.
“He is one of the Spanish Eminences who rule the Pope,” a great English
periodical stated, referring to him.
On receiving his sister and his niece, the Cardinal put all his
influence with the Black Party in play so that they should be accepted
by the aristocratic society of Rome. He achieved that without much
difficulty. Laura and her mother were naturaly distinguished and
tactful, and they succeeded in forming a circle.
The Cardinal felt proud of his family; and accompanying the two women
gave him occasion for visiting many people.
Roman slander calumniated Fort, assuming him to be having a love affair
with his niece. Juan Fort showed an affection for Laura which seemed
unheard of by those that knew him.
The Cardinal was a man of exuberant pride, and he knew how to control
himself. He felt a great fondness for Laura; but if there was anything
more in this fondness than tranquil fatherly affection, if there was any
passion, only he knew it; the fire lurked very deep in his overshaded
soul.
Laura made, socially speaking, a good marriage. She married the Marquis
of Vaccarone, a babbling Neapolitan, insubstantial and light. In a short
while, seeing that they were not congenial, she arranged for an amicable
separation and the two lived independent.