rinces of the Church; it has made them
my deadly enemies, and yet it is with these principles alone that I have
succeeded in bringing the refractory Portuguese court again under my
parental control!

"But here in this pleasant place let us dismiss such unpleasant
thoughts," the pope more cheerfully continued, after a pause. "Here
I will forget that I am pope; here I will never be anything more than
brother Clement of the Franciscan convent, nor shall the cares and
troubles of the pope, nor his holiness or infallibility, accompany him
to this dear quiet place. Here I will only be a man, and forgetting my
cramping highness and my forced splendor, will here right humanly enjoy
the sun and this soft green grass, and in deep draughts inhale this
sweet balsamic air. Ah, how happy one may yet be if he can for a moment
escape from the envelope of dignity by which he is kept a chrysalis, and
freely exercise the butterfly wings of manhood! And hear me for once,
brother Lorenzo, so very human has your pope here become, that he feels
a right fresh human appetite. If all here is as it used to be at the
convent, then must you have something to appease my hunger."

Brother Lorenzo nodded with a sly smile. Stepping to the side of the
grassy bank, and slipping aside a small door concealed by the grass, he
disclosed a walled excavation, filled with fruits and pastry.

"I see you have forgotten nothing!" joyfully exclaimed Ganganelli,
taking some of the fragrant fruit which Lorenzo tendered him. "Ah, you
make me very happy, Lorenzo."

Saying this, he threw his arm around Lorenzo's neck, and silently
pressed him to his bosom.

Brother Lorenzo was equally silent, but he no longer laughed;
his usually cheerful face assumed a wonderfully clear and pleased
expression, and two large tears rolled down over his cheek--but they
were tears of joy.

A DEATH-SENTENCE

An approaching bustling, a vehement calling and screaming, disturbed
the two old men. It was Lorenzo who was called, and he quickly glided
through the bushes to look after the cause of this disturbance. But soon
he returned with a melancholy face and depressed mien.

"Brother Clement," said he, "it is already all over with our enjoyment,
which has been so great for me that I forgot to remind you that the pope
cannot neglect the hour in which he gives audience. That hour has now
come, and your anteroom is already filled with princes and prelates."

"And yet you speak of