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"Did you hear hih to

justify a man like Rossi that he has to meet a despot like that?"

"We'll talk of it to-morrow," said the Capuchin

The friar touched a bell, and the palfrenieri returned with the

chair

XIV

Next day, being Good Friday, was passed by the Pope in religious

retreat, which was interrupted by indispensable business only After

Mass of the Presanctified he sat in his study with his confessor, while

his chaplain in black passed through on tiptoe from the private chapel,

and his chamberlains, tired out by the ceremonies of yesterday, dozed on

their stools in the outer hall

The day was bright but the room was darkened, and the hearts of the two

old men were heavy Over the face of the Pope there was a cloud of

trouble, and the countenance of the Capuchin was solemn to the point of

sternness The friar sat in the old-fashioned easy-chair with his bare

feet showing froe of his brown habit; the Pope lay on the

lounge with both hands in the vertical pockets of his white woollen

cassock

"Your Holiness is not well this ?"

"Not very well, Father Pifferi"