The Cardinal's Snuff Box

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.