Roma did not reply. Her head sunk lower and lower, and seeing this, the

Pope rose again, and standing over her he cried:

"Tell me! Tell me, I command you! You wish me to believe that it was he,

not you, who committed the crime! Out on you! out on you!"

But having said this in a hoarse and angry voice, he passed his arm over

his eyes as if to brush away the clouds that had gathered there, and

muttered in a broken and feeble way, "O God, Thou knowest my

foolishness. I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God! Hide not

Thy face from Thy servant, for I am in trouble."

Roma was crying at the Pope's feet, and after a moment he became aware

of it, and stooped to lift her up.

"My child! My poor, poor child! You must bear with me. I am an old man

now. Only a weak old man. My brain is confused. Things run together in

it. But I understand. I think I understand."

She rose and kissed his trembling hand. He was still holding the

warrant.

"Where did this paper come from?"

"The English Ambassador brought it this morning. He had found it in our

rooms in the Piazza Navona."

"The place where the crime was committed?"

"Yes."

The Pope straightened himself up, and said in a firm voice: "My daughter, you must permit me to keep this warrant."

"No, no!"

"Yes, yes! If I said before that your husband should come out and defend

you, I say now that he shall come out and accuse himself."

"Your Holiness!"

"He shall go to the courts and say: 'This lady is innocent. She

sacrificed herself to save my life. I do not ask for mercy. I ask for

justice. Liberate her and arrest me.'"

Roma had knelt again, and was fingering the skirt of the Pope's cassock.

"But, Holy Father," she said, "there is something I have not told you.

He who killed the Minister did so in self-defence...."

"In self-defence!"

"His act was an accident, and if it had not happened the Minister would

have killed him, whereas I...."

"In self-defence, you say?"

"I am really guilty of the crime, because I intended to commit it."

"But if it was done in self-defence it was no crime, and you must not

and shall not suffer."

Roma dropped the Pope's cassock and took hold of his hand.




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