withdrew. When she was
alone, Maria approached her husband very softly, and dropped a kiss upon
his hair.

"Giovanni," said she. How often, oppressed by the intensity of her
love, had she not given him her soul, her whole being, in that one word,
spoken under her breath, all others seeming to her inadequate, or worn
by too many lips! Giovanni answered sadly, wearily:

"Maria."

No longer feeling her face on his hair he feared he had spoken coldly to
her.

"Dearest!" he said.

She was silent for a moment, then placing both hands on his head, began,
caressing it slowly, saying:

"Blessed are they who suffer for Truth's sake."

He turned round, smiling, with a thrill of affection. Having assured
himself by a glance that Noemi was no longer present, he raised his arm
and drew the dear face down to his lips.

"I need you so much," he said. "I need your strength!"

"That is why I am yours," Maria answered. "I am strong only because you
love me."

He took her hand and kissed it reverently.

"Do you understand?" he presently exclaimed, raising his head. "Perhaps
you do not know how deep my suffering really is, for it is a dark point
even to me, who am old, and yet do not know myself. I was thinking of
this just now. I reflected that when we suffer from a wound the cause of
our suffering is visible, but when we suffer from a fever the cause is
hidden, as in this case, and we never succeed in becoming thoroughly
acquainted with it."

A month had not yet elapsed since the meeting at which a league among
progressive Catholics had been talked of. No league had sprung from
it, but to nothing else could the origin of a series of strange and
unpleasant events be attributed. Professor Dane had been recalled to
Ireland by his Archbishop. He had immediately called upon an English
Cardinal attached to the Papal Court, in order to acquaint him with the
unsatisfactory condition of his health, and to solicit his support of a
petition to the Archbishop for an extension of his leave. His Eminence
had opened Dane's eyes. The blow had come from Rome, where he was looked
upon with the greatest disapproval. Only out of consideration for the
Cardinal himself, who was known to be his friend, and above all out of
consideration for the English Government, had the authorities refrained
from satisfying those who wished to see his writings placed on the
Index, and Dane himself constrained to resign his professorship. The
Cardinal advised