you censure him, we do not agree there; it is just that which interests
me in him. Thirdly,.... I should not consider that I had lost the six
months spent in Rome, if I had met only him. Do not look at me as if I
were one of the patrons of the circus, Uncle Beuve, or poor Monsieur
Renan himself," he continued, tapping the Marquis's shoulder. "I swear
to you that I am very serious. Nothing interests me more than these
exceptions to the general rule--than those who have passed through two,
three, four phases of existence. Those individuals are my museum, and
you wish me to sacrifice to your scruples one of my finest subjects....
Moreover,"--and the malice of the remark he was about to make caused the
young man's eyes to sparkle "revile Baron Hafner as much as you like,"
he continued; "call him a thief and a snob, an intriguer and a knave,
if it pleases you. But as for being a person who does not know where his
ancestors lived, I reply, as did Bonhomet when he reached heaven and the
Lord said to him: 'Still a chimney-doctor, Bonhomet?'--'And you, Lord?'.
For you were born in Bourgogne, Monsieur de Montfanon, of an ancient
family, related to all the nobility-upon which I congratulate you--and
you have lived here in Rome for almost twenty-four years, in the
Cosmopolis which you revile."

"First of all," replied the Pope's former soldier, holding up his
mutilated arm, "I might say that I no longer count, I do not live.
And then," his face became inspired, and the depths of that narrow mind,
often blinded but very exalted, suddenly appeared, "and then, my Rome to
me, Monsieur, has nothing in common with that of Monsieur Hafner nor with
yours, since you are come, it seems, to pursue studies of moral
teratology. Rome to me is not Cosmopolis, as you say, it is Metropolis,
it is the mother of cities.... You forget that I am a Catholic in every
fibre, and that I am at home here. I am here because I am a monarchist,
because I believe in old France as you believe in the modern world; and I