The Daughter of an Empress

"Again this old complaint!" said the pope, with a slight contraction of

his brow. "You again speak of her--"

"Of Corilla," interposed the cardinal--"yes of Corilla I speak, of that

heavenly woman whom all the world admires; to whose beautiful verses

philosophers and poets listen with breathless delight, and who well

deserves that you should reward her as a queen by bestowing upon her the

poetic crown!"

"I crown a Corilla!" mockingly exclaimed the pope. "Shall a Corilla

desecrate the spot hallowed by the feet of Tasso and Petrarch? No, I

say, no; when art becomes the plaything of a courtesan, then may the

sacred Muses veil their heads and mourn in silence, but they must not

degrade themselves by throwing away the crown which the best and noblest

would give their heart's blood to obtain. This Corilla may bribe you

poor earthly fools with her smiles and amorous verses, but she will not

be able to deceive the Muses!"

"You refuse me, then, the crowning of the renowned improvisatrice

Corilla?" asked the cardinal, with painfully suppressed rage.

"I refuse it!"

"And why, then, did you send for me?" exclaimed the cardinal with

vehemence. "Was it merely to mock me?"

"It was for the purpose of warning you, my son!" mildly responded the

pope. "For even the greatest forbearance must at length come to an

end; and when I am compelled to forget that you are Alessandro Albani's

nephew, I shall then only have to remember that you are the criminal

Francesco Albani, whom all the world condemns, and whom I must judge!

Repent and reform, my son, while there is yet time; and, above all

things, renounce this love, which heaps new disgrace upon your family

and overwhelms your relatives with sorrow and anxiety!"

"Renounce Corilla!" cried the cardinal. "I tell you I love her, I adore

her, this heavenly, beautiful woman! How can you ask me to renounce

her?"

"Nevertheless I do demand it," said the pope with solemnity, "demand it

in the name of your father, in the name of God, against whose holy laws

you have sinned--you, His consecrated priest."

"But that is an impossibility!" passionately exclaimed Francesco. "One

must bear a heart of stone in his bosom to require it; and that you can

do so only proves that you have never known what it is to love!"

"And that I can do so should prove to you that I have indeed known it,

my son!" sadly responded the pope.

"Whoever has known love knows that there can be no renunciation!"

"And whoever has known love can renounce!" exclaimed the pope, with

animation. "Listen to me, my son, and may the sad story of a short

happiness and long expiation serve you as a warning example! You think

I cannot have known love? Ah, I tell you I have experienced all its joys

and all its sorrows--that in the intoxication of rapture I once forgot

my vows, my duties, my holy resolutions, and, doubly criminal, I also

taught her whom I loved to forget her own sacred duties and to sin! Ah,

you call me a saint, and yet I have been the most abject of sinners!

Under this Franciscan vesture beat a tempestuous, fiery heart that

derided God and His laws; a heart that would have given my soul to the

evil one, had he promised to give me in exchange the possession of my

beloved! She was beautiful, and of a heavenly disposition; and hence,

when she passed through the aisles of the church, with her slight fairy

form, her angelic face veiled by her long dark locks, her eyes beaming

with love and pleasure, a heavenly smile playing about her lips--ah,

when she thus passed through the church, her feet scarcely touching the

floor, then I, who awaited her in the confessional, felt myself nearly

frantic with ecstasy, my brain turned, my eyes darkened, there was a

buzzing in my ears, and I attempted to implore the aid and support of

God."