"Some friend of Mr. Rossi's in England, I think."

"An English photograph, certainly, but the face seems to me Roman for

all that."

At that moment a thousand lusty voices burst on the air, as a great

crowd came pouring out of the narrow lanes into the broad piazza. At

the same instant the boy shouted from the adjoining room, and another

voice that made the walls vibrate came from the direction of the door.

"They're coming! It's my husband! Bruno!" said the woman, and the ripple

of her dress told the stranger she had gone.

III

Laughing, crying, cheering, chaffing, singing, David Rossi's people had

brought him home in triumph, and now they were crowding upon him to kiss

his hand, the big-hearted, baby-headed, beloved children of Italy.

The object of this aurora of worship stood with his back to the table in

the dining-room, looking down and a little ashamed, while Bruno Rocco,

six feet three in his stockings, hoisted the boy on to his shoulder, and

shouted as from a tower to everybody as they entered by the door:

"Come in, sonny, come in! Don't stand there like the Pope between the

devil and the deep sea. Come in among the people," and Bruno's laughter

rocked through the room to where the crowd stood thick on the staircase.

"The Baron has had a lesson," said a man with a sheet of white paper in

his hand. "He dreamed of getting the Collar of the Annunziata out of

this."

"The pig dreamed of acorns," said Bruno.

"It's a lesson to the Church as well," said the man with the paper. "She

wouldn't have anything to do with us. 'I alone strike the hour of the

march,' says the Church."

"And then she stands still!" said Bruno.

"The mountains stand still, but men are made to walk," said the man with

the paper, "and if the Pope doesn't advance with the people, the people

must advance without the Pope."

"The Pope's all right, sonny," said Bruno, "but what does he know about

the people? Only what his black-gowned beetles tell him!"

"The Pope has no wife and children," said the man with the paper.

"Old Vampire could find him a few," said Bruno, and then there was

general laughter.

"Brothers," said David Rossi, "let us be temperate. There's nothing to

be gained by playing battledore and shuttlecock with the name of an old

man who has never done harm to any one. The Pope hasn't listened to us

to-day, but he is a saint all the same, and his life has been a lesson

in well-doing."




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