d gratuitously--vain and
useless cruelties. To every great vicissitude in this world there is an
amount of power applied totally dis-proportioned to the effect produced.
To wreck one solitary ship, a whole ocean is convulsed, and desolate
shores in faraway lands are storm-lashed for days. So is it in
revolutions The unchained winds of men's passions sweep over a larger
space than is needed. This must be borne. Let us remember, too, that
the blood thus, to all seeming, gratuitously shed has also its profit.
Terror is a great agency of revolt. Many must be intimidated. It is when
people are paralysed by fear that they who are to reconstruct society
have time to mature their plans, just as the surgeon awaits the moments
of his patient's insensibility to commence his operation. But, above
all, your Eminence, bear in mind that where the object is good and
great, a blessing goes with those who sustain it.'

If the Cardinal bowed a submissive assent to this devout assertion,
there was something like a half motion of impatience in his manner as he
said--

'And the men who are to lead this movement?'

'The details are somewhat lengthy, your Eminence, but I have them here,'
said Massoni, as he laid his hand on the papers before him.

'And this is Ireland?' said Caraffa, as he bent over a map and gazed on
the small spot which represented the island. 'How small it looks, and
how far away!'

CHAPTER II. A DEATH-BED

It was at the close of a sultry day that a sick man, wan, pale, and
almost voiceless, sat propped up by pillows, and seeming to drink in
with a sort of effort the faint breeze that entered by an open window.
A large bouquet of fresh flowers stood in a vase beside him, and on
the bed itself moss-roses and carnations were scattered, their gorgeous
tints terribly in contrast to the sickly pallor of that visage on which
death had already placed its stamp. It would have puzzled the wiliest
physiognomist to have read that strange and strongly-marked face;
for while the massive head and strong brow, the yet brilliant eye and
contracted eyebrow, denoted energy and daring, there was a faint smile,
inexpressibly sad and weary-looking, on the mouth, that seemed to
bespeak a heart that had experienced many an emotion, and ended by
finding 'all barren.'

A long, low sigh escaped him as he lay, and in his utter weariness his
hands dropped listlessly, one falling over the side of the bed. The
watchful nurse, who, in the