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Read Ebook: The Sorceress of Rome by Gallizier Nathan Kinney Margaret West Illustrator Kinney Troy Illustrator Verburg P Illustrator
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Ebook has 3205 lines and 140365 words, and 65 pages
"Ay! And the feudal barons stick in his palate like the hook in the mouth of the dog fish."
"We want no more martyrs! The light of the glow-worm continues to shine after the death of the insect."
"Ay! And the bravo, when he discovered his error, paid for three candles for the pontiff's soul, and the monk who officiated at the last rites praised the departed so loudly, that the corpse sat up and laughed. And now he is immortal and possesses the secret of eternal life," the monk concluded with downcast eyes.
"Yet there is one I fear,--one who seems to enlist a special providence in his cause."
"Gerbert of Cluny--"
"The monk of Aurillac!"
"They say that he is leagued with the devil; that in his closet he has a brazen head, which answers all questions, and through which the devil has assured him that he shall not die, till he has said mass in Jerusalem."
"He is competent to convert a brimstone lake."
"Yet a true soldier seeks for weak spots in the armour."
"I am answered. But the time and the place?"
"In the Ghetto at sunset."
"And the reward?"
"The halo of a Saint."
"What of your conscience's peace?"
"May not a man and his conscience, like ill-mated consorts, be on something less than speaking terms?"
"They kill by the decalogue at San Zeno."
"Exitus acta probat!" returned the monk solemnly.
Benilo raised his hand warningly.
"Let him disappear quietly--ecclesiastically."
"What is gained by caution when one stands on an earthquake?" asked the monk.
"You deem not, then, that Heaven might take so strong an interest in Gerbert's affairs, as to send some of the blessed to his deliverance?" queried Benilo suavely.
The Chamberlain's visitor betrayed impatience.
"If Heaven troubled itself much about what is done on earth, the world's business would be well-nigh bankrupt."
"Ay! And even the just may fall by his own justice!" nodded Benilo. "He should have made his indulgences dearer, and harder to win. Why takes he not the lesson from women?"
There was a brief pause, during which Benilo had arisen and paced up and down the chamber. His visitor remained immobile, though his eyes followed Benilo's every step.
At last the Grand Chamberlain paused directly before him.
"How fares his Eminence of Orvieto? He was ailing at last reports," he asked.
"He died on his way to Rome, of a disease, sudden as the plague. He loved honey,--they will accuse the bees."
With a nod of satisfaction Benilo continued his perambulation.
"Tell me better news of our dearly beloved friend, Monsignor Agnello, Archbishop of Cosenza, Clerk of the Chamber and Vice-Legate of Viterbo."
"He was found dead in his bed, after eating a most hearty supper," the monk spoke dolefully.
"Alas, poor man! That was sudden. But such holy men are always ready for their call," replied the Grand Chamberlain with downcast eyes. "And what part has his Holiness assigned me in his relics?"
"Some flax of his hair shirt, to coil a rope therewith," replied the monk.
"A princely benefaction! But your commission for the Father of Christendom? For indeed I fear the vast treasures he has heaped up, will hang like a leaden mountain on his ascending soul."
"The Holy Father himself has summoned me to Rome!" The words seemed to sound from nowhere. Yet they hovered on the air like the knell of Fate.
The Grand-Chamberlain paused, stared and shuddered.
"And who knows," continued the monk after a pause, "but that by some divine dispensation all the refractory cardinals of the Sacred College may contract some incurable disease? Have you secured the names,--just to ascertain if their households are well ordered?"
"The name of every cardinal and bishop in Rome at the present hour."
"Give it to me."
A hand white as that of a corpse came from the monk's ample parting sleeves in which Benilo placed a scroll, which he had taken from the table.
The monk unrolled it. After glancing down the list of names, he said:
"The Cardinal of Gregorio."
The Chamberlain betokened his understanding with a nod.
"He claims kinship with the stars."
"The Cardinal of San Pietro in Montorio."
An evil smile curved Benilo's thin, white lips.
"An impostor, proved, confessed,--his conscience pawned to a saint--"
"The Cardinal of San Onofrio,--he, who held you over the baptismal fount," said the monk with a quick glance at the Chamberlain.
"I had no hand in my own christening."
The monk nodded.
"The Cardinal of San Silvestro."
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