must have fancied the sigh. For sadness came alien to the little
garden of the Community of San Ambrogio on Via Paoli, a lustrous gem
of a little garden under its square of Roman sky. The dripping of the
tiny fountain, tinkling like a bit of familiar music, and the swelling
tones of the organ, drifting over the flowers that clustered beneath
the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, so merged their murmurings into the
peacefulness of San Ambrogio, that Father Tomasso, just from the
novitiate, felt intensely that he knew he must have dreamed Father
Denfili's sigh. For what could trouble the old man here in San
Ambrogio on this, the greatest day of the Community?

For to-day Father Ramoni had returned to Rome. Even as Father Tomasso
passed the fountain a group of Fathers and novices were gathering
around one of the younger priests, who still wore his fereoula and
wide-brimmed hat, just as he had entered from Via Paoli. The
newcomer's eyes traveled joyously over his breathless audience,
calling Father Tomasso to join in hearing his news.

"Yes, it is true," he was saying. "I have just come from the audience.
Father General and Father Ramoni stopped to call at the Secretariate
of State, but I came straight home to tell you. His Holiness was most
kind, and Father Ramoni was not a mite abashed, even in the presence
of the Pope. When he knelt down the Holy Father raised him up and gave
him a seat. 'Tell me all about your wonderful people and your
wonderful work,' he said. And Father Ramoni told him of the thousands
he had converted and how easy it was, with the blessing of God, to do
so much. The Holy Father asked him every manner of question. He was
full of enthusiasm for the great things our Father Ramoni has done. He
is the greatest man in Rome to-day, is Ramoni. He will be honored by
the Holy See. The Pope showed it plainly. This is a red-letter day for