, to wipe the whole place out of existence,
since it was known that the Emperor himself was in the hands of
the rebels. (It was a bald story, as he had heard it; yet he
reflected that great _coups_ usually were extremely and
unexpectedly simple.)

Finally, there were the terms demanded--terms which the Powers
were unanimous in rejecting, since they included the formal
disestablishment of the Church throughout Europe and the
complete liberty of the Press, with guarantees that these should
continue. The alternative to the acceptance of these terms was
the execution of the Emperor and formal war declared upon
Europe--a war which, of course, could have but one ending, but
which, until that end came, would mean, under the new conditions
of warfare, an almost unimaginable destruction of life and
property, especially since (as was known) the Socialists
repudiated all the international laws of warfare. The defiance
was, of course, a ridiculous and a desperate one, but it was the
defiance of a savage child who held all modern resources in his
hands and knew how to use them. There was also possible, as some
said, a rising all over the civilized world, should the movement
meet with success.

So much, in brief, was what Monsignor Masterman knew. So much,
indeed, was now public property all the world over, and it was
not reassuring.

Certainly he feared death for himself; yet, as he paced up and
down, he could honestly and sincerely tell himself that this was
not foremost in his mind. Rather it was a sense of bewildered
shock and horror that such things could have broken in upon that
orderly, disciplined world with which he had become familiar. It
was this horror that hung over him--its impression deepened by
the bleak April morning, the nervous strain under which he
suffered, the brusque discourtesy of the men who had received
him, and the knowledge that scarcely thirty-six hours before an
envoy who had come alone and peaceably had been done to death in
this silent city. And the horror also centred for him now, as in
a symbol, in the old Cardinal whom he was learning to love.

He framed, as men do when the imagination is stimulated to the
highest pitch, a dozen possible events--each seen by him
mentally, clear, in a picture. He constructed for himself the
Cardinal's return with news of a compromise, with an announcement
at least of delay. (He knew a few of the proposals that were to
be made by sanction of the Pope.) Or he s