lit mainly by the tapers
before the shrines of the saints, so the way of life would be dark to
the great multitude of men but for the light of faith burning within
them..."

Meanwhile the shufflings of destiny had brought to Trescorre the prize
for which he waited. During the Duke's illness he had been appointed
regent of Pianura, and his sovereign's reluctance to take up the cares
of government had now left him for six months in authority. The day
after the proclaiming of the constitution Odo had withdrawn his
signature from it, on the ground that the concessions it contained were
inopportune. The functions of government went on again in the old way.
The old abuses persisted, the old offences were condoned: it was as
though the apathy of the sovereign had been communicated to his people.
Centuries of submission were in their blood, and for two generations
there had been no warfare south of the Alps.

For the moment men's minds were turned to the great events going forward
in France. It had not yet occurred to the Italians that the recoil of
these events might be felt among themselves. They were simply amused
spectators, roused at last to the significance of the show, but never
dreaming that they might soon be called from the wings to the
footlights. To de Crucis, however, the possibility of such a call was
already present, and it was he who pressed the Duke to return to his
post. A deep reluctance held Odo back. He would have liked to linger on
in the monastery, leading the tranquil yet busy life of the monks, and
trying to read the baffling riddle of its completeness. At that moment
it seemed to him of vastly more importance to discover the exact nature
of the soul--whether it was in fact a metaphysical entity, as these men
believed, or a mere secretion of the brain, as he had been taught to
think--than to go back and govern his people. For what mattered the
rest, if he had been mistaken about the soul?

With a start he realised that he was going as his cousin had gone--that
this was but another form of the fatal lethargy that hung upon his race.
An effort of the will drew him back to Pianura, and made him resume the
semblance of authority; but it carried him no farther. Trescorre
ostensibly became prime minister, and in reality remained the head of
the state. The Duke was present at the cabinet meetings but took no part
in the direction of affairs. His mind was lost in a maze of metaphysical
speculations; and even