--the chatter of a _bavard_. The Pope
become the patron of a secret society! The priests become our friends
and allies! Very well, my friend; but listen. The little minds see what
is absurd; the great minds are serious. Granaglia is a little devil of
courage; but he is narrow; he is practical; he has no imagination. I:
what am I?--careless, useless, also a _bavard_, if you will. But it
occurred to me, after all, when I began to think--what a great man, a
great mind, might say to this proposal. Take a man like Lind: see what
he could make of it! 'Do not laugh at it any more, Calabressa,' said I
to myself, 'until you hear the opinion of wiser men than yourself.'"

He gripped Edwards's arm tight.

"Listen. To become the allies of the priests it is not necessary to
believe everything the priests say. On the other hand, they need not
approve all that we are doing, if only they withdraw their opposition.
Do you perceive the possibility now? Do you think of the force of that
combination? The multitudes of the Catholics encouraged to join!--the
Vatican the friend and ally of the Council of the Seven Stars!"

He spoke the last words in a low voice, but he were a proud look.

"And if this proposal were entertained," said Edwards, meditatively, "of
course, they would abandon this other business."

"My good friend," said Calabressa, confidentially, "I know that Lind,
who sees things with a large vision, is against it. He consents--as you
consent to do your little outside part--against his own opinion. More;
if he had been on the Council the decree would never have been granted,
though De Bedros and a dozen of his daughters had demanded it.
'Calabressa,' he said to me, 'it will do great mischief in England if it
is known that we are connected with it.' Well, you see, all this would
be avoided if they closed with the Cardinal's offer."

"You are sanguine, Signor Calabressa," said the other.

"Besides, the thirty thousand lire!"' said Calabressa, eagerly. "Do you
know what that is? Ah, you English have always too much money!"

"No doubt," said Edwards, with a smile. "We are all up to the neck in
gold."

"Thirty thousand lire a year, and the favor of the Vatican; what fools
Granaglia and I were to laugh! But perhaps we will find that the Council
were wiser."

They had now got out to Posilipo, and the stormy sunset had waned,
leaving the sky overclouded and dusk. Calabressa, having first looked up
and down the road, stopped b