spirituelle mouth. He saw the light of those eyes which seemed to
justify by their brightness the 'lumen in coelo' applied to the successor
of Pie IX by a celebrated prophecy. He saw the venerable hand, that
white, transparent hand, which was raised to give the solemn benediction
with so much majesty, turn toward a fine yellow rose, and the fingers
bend the flower without plucking it, as if not to harm the frail creation
of God. The old Pope for a second inhaled its perfume and then resumed
his walk toward the carriage, vaguely to be seen between the trunks of
the green oaks. The black horses set off at a trot, and Dorsenne,
turning again toward Montfanon, perceived large tears upon the lashes of
the former zouave, who, forgetting the rest of their conversation, said,
with a sigh: "And that is the only pleasure allowed him, who is, however,
the successor of the first apostle, to inhale his flowers and drive in a
carriage as rapidly as his horses can go! They have procured four
paltry kilometers of road at the foot of the terrace where we were half
an hour since. And he goes on, he goes on, thus deluding himself with
regard to the vast space which is forbidden him. I have seen many
tragical sights in my life. I have been to the war, and I have spent one
entire night wounded on a battlefield covered with snow, among the dead,
grazed by the wheels of the artillery of the conquerors, who defiled
singing. Nothing has moved me like that drive of the old man, who has
never uttered a complaint and who has for himself only that acre of land
in which to move freely. But these are grand words which the holy man
wrote one day at the foot of his portrait for a missionary. The words
explain his life: 'Debitricem martyrii fidem'--Faith is bound to
martyrdom."

"'Debitricem martyrii fidem'," repeated Dorsenne, "that is beautiful,
indeed. And," he added, in a low voice, "you just now abused very rudely
the dilettantes and the sceptic. But do you think there would be one of