man had gone
too far.

Then the Pope sat down again, extending his hand.

"God bless you, my son. You have leave to go.... Will your Eminence stay
for a few minutes?"

CHAPTER III

I

The Cardinal said very little to Percy when they met again that evening,
beyond congratulating him on the way he had borne himself with the Pope.
It seemed that the priest had done right by his extreme frankness. Then
he told him of his duties.

Percy was to retain the couple of rooms that had been put at his
disposal; he was to say mass, as a rule, in the Cardinal's oratory; and
after that, at nine, he was to present himself for instructions: he was
to dine at noon with the Cardinal, after which he was to consider
himself at liberty till _Ave Maria_: then, once more he was to be at his
master's disposal until supper. The work he would principally have to do
would be the reading of all English correspondence, and the drawing up
of a report upon it.

Percy found it a very pleasant and serene life, and the sense of home
deepened every day. He had an abundance of time to himself, which he
occupied resolutely in relaxation. From eight to nine he usually walked
abroad, going sedately through the streets with his senses passive,
looking into churches, watching the people, and gradually absorbing the
strange naturalness of life under ancient conditions. At times it
appeared to him like an historical dream; at times it seemed that there
was no other reality; that the silent, tense world of modern
civilisation was itself a phantom, and that here was the simple
naturalness of the soul's childhood back again. Even the reading of the
English correspondence did not greatly affect him, for the stream of his
mind was beginning to run clear again in this sweet old channel; and he
read, dissected, analysed and diagnosed with a deepening tranquillity.

There was not, after all, a great deal of news. It was a kind of lull
after storm. Felsenburgh was still in retirement; he had refused the
offers made to him by France and Italy, as that of England; and,
although nothing definite was announced, it seemed that he was confining
himself at present to an unofficial attitude. Meanwhile the Parliaments
of Europe were busy in the preliminary stages of code-revision. Nothing
would be done, it was understood, until the autumn sessions.

Life in Rome was very strange. The city had now become not only the
centre of faith but, in a sense, a microcosm of