her
together the leaders, to applot the several duties, to arrange
details, conciliate interests, and reconcile rivalries? He must be one,
doubtless, of commanding ability and vast resources.'

Massoni bowed a deep and reverential assent.

'A man of station sufficient to make his influence felt without
dispute--one whose counsel none dare gainsay.'

Again did a humble bow give acquiescence.

'Nor,' continued the speaker, 'must it be from his exalted station alone
that men yield deference to him. He must needs be one well versed
in human nature; who can read the heart in its mood of strength or
weakness; a master of all the secret springs that sway motives; in a
word, he ought to combine the wide views and grand conceptions of the
politician with the deep and subtle knowledge of a churchman--where will
you find such?

'He can be found, was the calm reply. 'I know of one who answers to each
demand of your description.

'You are mistaken, Pere Massoni,' said the Cardinal in a voice slightly
tremulous with agitation. 'I know his Eminence of York well, and he is
ill fitted for a charge so vast and momentous.'

'I never thought of him, sir,' was the prompt answer. 'My eyes were
fixed upon one scarcely his inferior in high descent, infinitely above
him in all the qualities of mind and intellect, one whose name in the
cause would half ensure success, and whose vast resources of thought
would be a more precious mine than the wealth of Peru.

'And he--who is this great and transcendent genius?' asked the Cardinal,
half angrily.

'His Eminence the Cardinal Leo Gonzales Caraffa!' said the Pere, as he
dropped on his knees and pressed his lips fervently to the other's hand.

The Cardinal's florid features flushed till they were crimson; and
though he tried to speak, no sound came from his lips. A sense of
overwhelming astonishment, even more than gratified vanity, had mastered
him, and, with a gesture of modest dissent, he raised the priest from
the ground.

'No, no, Massoni,' said he, in a soft, low tone; 'these are the
promptings of your own affectionate regard for me, not the fruit of that
calm reason with which you know so well how to judge your fellow-men.'

'Read these letters, then, sir,' said Massoni, placing a packet on the
table, 'and see if my sentiments are not as strong in the hearts of
others.'

The Cardinal hesitated to open the documents before him; there was
a sort of modest reluctance in his manner