he said to himself,
fearing lest he should think anything unjust.

So he went on his way towards the palace, and tried to think about
Gianbattista and Lucia, their marriage and their future life. The two
young faces came up before him as he walked, and he smiled calmly,
forgetting what he had so recently passed through, in the pleasant
contemplation of a happiness not his own. He reached his rooms, high up
at the top of the ancient building, and he sighed with a sense of
relief as he sat down upon the battered old chair before his
writing-table.

Presently the Cardinal sent for him. Don Paolo rose and carefully
brushed the dust from his cassock and mantle, and smoothed the long silk
nap of his hat. He was a very neat man and scrupulous as to his
appearance. Moreover, he regarded the Cardinal with a certain awe, as
being far removed beyond the sphere of ordinary humanity, even though he
had known him intimately for years. This idea of the great importance of
the princes of the Church is inherent in the Roman mind. There is no
particular reason why it should be eradicated, since it exists, and does
no harm to any one, but it is a singular fact and worthy of remark. It
is one of those many relics of old times, which no amount of outward
change has been able to obliterate. A cardinal in Rome occupies a
position wholly distinct from that of any other dignitary or hereditary
noble. It is not so elsewhere, except perhaps in some parts of the
south. The Piedmontese scoffs at cardinals, because he scoffs at the
church and at all religion in general. The Florentine shrugs his
shoulders because cardinals represent Rome, and Rome, with all that is
in it, is hateful to Florence, and always was. But the true Roman, even
when he has adopted the ideas of the new school, still feels an
unaccountable reverence for the scarlet mantle. There is a
dignity--often, now, very far from magnificent--about the household of a
cardinal, which is not found elsewhere. The servants are more grave and
tread more softly, the rooms are darker and more severe, the atmosphere
is more still and the silence more intense, than in the houses of lay
princes. A man feels in the very air the presence of a far-reaching
power, noiselessly working to produce great results.

Don Paolo descended the stairs and entered the apartments through the
usual green baize door, which swung upon its hinges by its own weight
behind him. He passed through several large halls,