mission is, the accomplishment of which can, it is my belief, save the Church; or would you rather wait until I can speak to you about it at more leisure and in quiet?’
As the feeling of the assembly was evidently in favour of hearing something of Cardinal Power’s ideas at once, he skilfully broached the all-embracing subject upon which our heroine, aided first by her uncle and later by her friend, had succeeded in forming his mind. Amazement at the novel doctrine, coming from one in his position, was depicted on every countenance; and when the speaker, warming as he proceeded, concluded with a torrent of newly found but not the less fervent—or fervently acted—devotion to the Queen of Heaven, the Pope himself, under the fiery influence, rose to his feet and heard the remainder standing. There was a deep silence of some seconds, then the pontiff asked calmly, as he resumed his seat,—
‘But, Cardinal Power, the innovation you advocate, would it not subvert the Christian religion altogether?’
‘Ruat Christiana religio, vivat Eclesia!’ thundered the cardinal, stamping his foot with vehemence, a thing he had never been known to do before, even in private. But he spoke as one controlled by a guiding spirit; could Lesbia Newman have been present, she would have thought hers had passed into him.
Everyone sat as petrified, until the Pope spoke again in his quiet tones.
‘But, Cardinal Power, would the Church accept life on such terms?’
The cardinal answered in slow, measured accents,—
‘Holy Father, if the Church will not accept life on those terms, who will be the gainer by her decease? The gainer will be some modern sect, ready to make its fortune by pandering to carnal lusts unfettered by lofty spiritual aims or by any feeling of noblesse oblige. And even while I speak
