ven by his renewed persecution of the reformers. In the general
upheaval even Crescenti had nearly lost his place; and it was rumoured
that he kept it only through the intervention of the Pope, who had
represented to the Duke that the persecution of a scholar already famous
throughout Europe would reflect little credit on the Church.

As for Gamba, Andreoni, though unwilling to admit a knowledge of his
exact whereabouts, assured Odo that he was well and had not lost
courage. At court matters remained much as usual. The Duchess,
surrounded by her familiars, had entered on a new phase of mad
expenditure, draining the exchequer to indulge her private whims,
filling her apartments with mountebanks and players, and borrowing from
courtiers and servants to keep her creditors from the door. Trescorre
was no longer able to check her extravagance, and his influence with the
Duke being on the wane, the court was once more the scene of unseemly
scandals and disorders.

The only new figure to appear there since Odo's departure was that of
the little prince's governor, who had come from Rome a few months
previously to superintend the heir's education, which was found to have
been grievously neglected under his former masters. This was an
ecclesiastic, an ex-Jesuit as some said, but without doubt a man of
parts, and apparently of more tolerant views than the other churchmen
about the court.

"But," Andreoni added, "your excellency may chance to recall him; for he
is the same abate de Crucis who was sent to Pianura by the Holy Office
to arrest the German astrologer."

Odo heard him with surprise. He had had no news of de Crucis since their
parting in Rome, where, as he supposed, the latter was to remain for
some years in the service of Prince Bracciano. Odo was at a loss to
conceive how or why the Jesuit had come to Pianura; but, whatever his
reasons for being there, it was certain that his influence must make
itself felt far beyond the range of his immediate duties. Whether this
influence would be exerted for good or ill it was impossible to
forecast; but much as Odo admired de Crucis, he could not forget that
the Jesuit, by his own avowal, was still the servant of the greatest
organised opposition to moral and intellectual freedom that the world
had ever known. That this opposition was not always actively manifested
Odo was well aware. He knew that the Jesuit spirit moved in many
directions and that its action was often more ben