When Roma got up from the grating of the confessional she felt like one
who had passed through a great sickness and was now better. Her whole
being was going through a miraculous convalescence. A great weight had
been lifted off; she was renewed as with a new soul and her very body
felt light as air.
The preacher was still preaching in his tremulous tones, and the women
and girls were still crying, as Roma passed out of the church, but now
she heard all as in a dream. It was not until she reached the portico,
and a blind beggar rattled his can in her face, that the spell was
broken, so sudden and mysterious was the transition when she came back
from heaven to earth.
XII
By the first post next morning "Sister Angelica" received a letter from
David Rossi.
"Dearest,--Your budget arrived safely and brought me great joy and
perhaps a little sadness. Apart from the pain I always suffer when
I think of our poor people, there was a little twinge as I read
between the lines of your letter. Are you not dissimulating some
of your happiness to keep up my spirits and to prevent me from
rushing back to you at all hazards? You shall be really happy some
day, my dear one. I shall hear your silvery laugh again as I did
on that glorious day in the Campagna. Wait, only wait! We are
still young and we shall live.
"Pray for me, my heart, that what my hand is doing may not be done
amiss. I am working day and night. Meetings, committees,
correspondence early and late. A great scheme is afoot, dearest,
and you shall hear all about it presently. I am proud that I
judged rightly of the moral grandeur of your nature, and that it
is possible to tell you everything.
"We have elected a centre of action and mapped out our
organisation. Everybody agrees with me on the necessity for united
action. Europe seems to be ready for a complete change, but the
first great act must be done in Rome. I find encouragement
everywhere. The brotherly union of the peoples is going on. A
power stronger than brute force is sweeping through the world.
"Poor Bruno! You are no doubt right that pressure is being put
upon him to betray me. It is not for myself only that I am
troubled. It would be a lasting grief to me if his mind were
poisoned. Charles Minghelli being in prison in the disguise of a
prisoner means that anything may happen. When the man came to me
after his dismissal in London, it was to ask help to assassinate
the Baron. I refused it, and he went over to the other side. The
secret tribunal in which cases are prepared for public trial is a
hellish machine for cruelty and injustice. It has been abolished
in nearly every other civilised country, but the courts and jails
of our beautiful Italy continue to be the scene of plots in which
helpless unfortunates are terrorised by expedients which leave not
a trace of crime. A prisoner is no longer a man, but a human agent
to incriminate others. His soul is corrupted, and a price is put
upon treachery. See Bruno yourself if you can, and save him from
himself and the people whose only occupation in life is to secure
convictions.