the church of the Ara Coeli. But that was the mundane view of the
matter,--a view not regarded by Mrs. Talboys in her ecstasy. "O
Italia," she continued, "O Italia una, one and indivisible in thy
rights, and indivisible also in thy wrongs! to us is it given to see
the accomplishment of thy glory. A people shall arise around thine
altars greater in the annals of the world than thy Scipios, thy
Gracchi, or thy Caesars. Not in torrents of blood, or with screams
of bereaved mothers, shall thy new triumphs be stained. But mind
shall dominate over matter; and doomed, together with Popes and
Bourbons, with cardinals, diplomatists, and police spies, ignorance
and prejudice shall be driven from thy smiling terraces. And then
Rome shall again become the fair capital of the fairest region of
Europe. Hither shall flock the artisans of the world, crowding into
thy marts all that God and man can give. Wealth, beauty, and
innocence shall meet in thy streets--"

"There will be a considerable change before that takes place," said
Mackinnon.

"There shall be a considerable change," she answered. "Mackinnon,
to thee it is given to read the signs of the time; and hast thou not
read? Why have the fields of Magenta and Solferino been piled with
the corpses of dying heroes? Why have the waters of the Mincio ran
red with the blood of martyrs? That Italy might be united and Rome
immortal. Here, standing on the Capitolium of the ancient city, I
say that it shall be so; and thou, Mackinnon, who hearest me,
knowest that my words are true."

There was not then in Rome,--I may almost say there was not in
Italy, an Englishman or an American who did not wish well to the