All that evening the couplet kept running in his head. And the
feeling of joy, of enthusiasm, in his heart, was not so strange
now. But I think it was intensified.
The next time the Cardinal arrived at Villa Floriano, and gave
Peter his hand, Peter did not merely shake it, English fashion,
as he had hitherto done.
The Cardinal looked startled.
Then his eyes searched Peter's face for a second, keenly
interrogative. Then they softened; and a wonderful clear light
shone in them, a wonderful pure, sweet light.
"Benedicat te Omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus
Sanctus," he said, making the Sign of the Cross.