be out of the cathedral after a week of imprisonment, but de
Verceuil and de Tracey looked as ill as Ugolini. De Verceuil has come
back to the palace now, so you had better walk carefully."

Simon remembered that Friar Mathieu had said the cardinals had elected
the man named in King Louis's letter. But apparently the man was _not_
yet elected. Simon felt uneasy. The chosen one was not even in Perugia.
Too much could go wrong. He searched his brain. Friar Mathieu had said
something last night about one of the cardinals being absent. Which one?

"Who is the man they elected?" Simon cried. The way Friar Mathieu was
telling this was maddening.

Smiling, Friar Mathieu said, "That is why I did not come to you at once.
A priest in de Verceuil's entourage is an old friend of mine, and I
waited until I could get the rest of the story from him."

"Could the letter I brought make such a difference?" Simon exclaimed.

"Well, de Verceuil sent Thierry away before looking inside that loaf of
bread. His servant and his secretary, who were living with him, stood
outside his cell and heard groans and cries of rage from within. De
Verceuil threw his dinner on the floor and stamped out of his cell.
While the servant cleaned the cell, de Verceuil visited and spoke
secretly with each of the other French cardinals in turn.

"This morning, when it came time for them to vote, de Verceuil rose and
said, 'Ego eligo Guy le Gros'--I elect Guy le Gros. Then each of the
other French cardinals said the same thing after him."

_Le Gros!_ Simon thought. _Le Gros is the cardinal who is not here._

So, that was who King Louis wanted. Simon remembered meeting him at Pope
Urban's council a year ago, a stout, genial man with a long black beard.
De Verceuil had mocked him because he had once been married and had
daughters. De Verceuil would have to eat that mockery now.

What did this mean for the alliance? Le Gros must be favorable. Why else
would King Louis have chosen him?

"But why no smoke?" Simon asked.

"When a cardinal acclaims a candidate orally after a deadlock, and the
others follow suit, it is called election by quasi-inspiratio. Because
it is as if the cardinals have been divinely inspired. No ballots are
needed, so there is nothing to burn. In this case they were inspired by
King Louis, with some help from you and me.

"When two Italian cardinals--Piacenza, who knew he was too old to be
pope for long, and Marchetti, who was always op