The Master-Christian

All the bells were ringing the Angelus. The sun was sinking;--and from the many quaint and beautiful grey towers which crown the ancient city of Rouen, the sacred chime pealed f...

As he thus spoke, he raised his hand out of old habit acquired in preaching, and a ray from the after-glow of the sunken sun lit up the jewel in the apostolic ring he wore, warm...

"It was a beautiful day in the fields," he presently observed--"There was a good smell in the earth, as if violets were growing,--and late in the autumn though it is, there was...

"Still, I maintain that the term is a wrong one," he answered, "and used in the wrong place. The Church has nothing, or should have nothing to do with differing titles or places...

"Yes. But she sees very little of him,--you know the strictness of Roman etiquette in such matters. She sees little--and sometimes--so I think--knows less. However, I hope all w...

There followed a brief pause, in which the old man and the child looked at each other full and steadfastly, and once again an inexplicable nervous trembling seized the Cardinal....

"Well, and of what use is that, mignonne?" demanded Martine, clicking her knitting-needles violently and stooping over her work to wink away the sudden tears that had risen in h...

"Thank you very much, Monseigneur," he murmured gently--"I felt almost cured while you were praying,--but I am afraid it is no use! You see there are so many miserable people in...

Meanwhile, unconscious of the miracle his prayer had wrought, Cardinal Bonpre and his young charge Manuel, arrived in Paris, and drove from the station direct to a house situate...

"Yes--you--why not?" And the Abbe treated her to one of his particularly paternal smiles. "You are betrothed to Florian Varillo,--but no man ever had or ever could have all the...

"No," said the Abbe firmly, "I do not! I would as soon believe that the lad you have just rescued from the streets of Rouen is divine, as that there is any divinity in the Man o...

And she placed the canvas she held on the easel and stood aside, while all three men looked at it with very different eyes,--one with poignant regret and pain,--the other with a...

"Yet in your own soul your Eminence admits it to be true," returned Leigh quickly,--"I can see the admission in your eyes,--in the very expression of your face! You feel in your...

"Heaven bless you, no, Monseigneur!" replied Lapui cheerfully, "For is not the whole world kept going by lies? Dear me, if we all told the truth there would be an end of everyth...

"I begin to understand," said Angela, "You wish to make this callous man of the world realise that a woman may be beautiful, and brilliant, and independent, and yet live a pure,...

Angela did not reply,--her hands had unconsciously wandered into the mazes of a rich Beethoven voluntary, and the notes, firm, grand, and harmonious, rolled out in the silence w...

"Yes, it is a strange thing, but I affirm it true,--that none of you know anything whatever about the contents of this small volume which is the foundation of the Christian Fait...

"Oh, yes! I know the charm of sin!" he continued with mingled mockery and passion vibrating in his voice;--"The singular fascination of pure devilry! All of you know it too,--th...

"There is nothing to explain!" and the pretty Princesse gave him her hand with a beneficent air, "I am very pleased with you. You are what the English call 'good boy'! Now I am...

"You quote the law of Moses, Monsignor! I speak with the premise 'if'. IF we follow Christ;--if we do not, the matter is of course different. We can then twist Scripture to suit...

"Nothing, my son! But I would urge that the Holy Father should extend his pardon to the offenders, the more so as one of them is on the verge of that land where we 'go hence and...

"Monseigneur, I always preface my remarks on these subjects with the words 'IF we believe in Christ.' I say IF we believe, we must accept His commands; and they are plain enough...

"It would make no difference, I assure you," laughed Varillo gaily, "Angela does not like men as a rule. She is fondest of romance--of dreams--of visions, out of which come the...

Aubrey Leigh was a man who had chosen his own way of life, and, as a natural consequence of this, had made for himself an independent and original career. Born in the New World...

He strode off, leaving the curate speechless with fury; and joining the little crowd of mourners who had been startled and interrupted by this unexpected scene, drew a prayer bo...

Set square and dark against the pale blue of the Italian sky the Palazzo Sovrani, seen for the first time, suggests a prison rather than a dwelling house,--a forbidding structur...

On the first floor of an ancient mansion, in a street which slopes down towards the Tiber, there is a suite of dreary old rooms which must evidently have once belonged to some g...

"You rant very well, Mr. Leigh!" he said, "You would make an excellent Hyde Park orator! You have all the qualities which attract the vulgar; but we--we of the Church know quite...

"Well, you must interview the Cardinal yourself," said Gherardi indulgently, "and tell me afterwards what you think about it, if indeed you think anything. But you will not find...

Prince Pietro then led the way, and Cardinal Bonpre followed, his scarlet robes sweeping behind him with a rich rustling sound, and as the two entered the large lofty studio, hu...

"How very romantic is the friendship between you two women!" said Varillo somewhat sarcastically, "You wish to see Sylvie happy,--and the other day she told me she would form he...

And without further words he hurried off, and tossing a twenty-franc piece to the sleepy hotel porter who was holding Ruspardi's horse outside, he flung himself into the saddle...

Here Sylvie raised her eyes from the book. She was near an ancient cedar-tree whose dark spreading boughs, glistening with the early morning dew, sparkled like a jewelled canopy...

Meanwhile, events were moving rapidly, and the net of difficult circumstance was weaving itself round the good Cardinal Bonpre in a manner that was strangely perplexing to his c...

That night Martine Doucet slept badly, and had horrible dreams of being dragged by force to Rome, and there taken before the Pope who at once deprived her of her son Fabien, and...

"Yes? I am generally alone," answered Sylvie with a little smile--"except for Katrine--she would be here to welcome you this evening, but she has a very bad neuralgic headache--"

"All 'saints' get into trouble!" answered Moretti, "It is only sinners who receive honour! Cardinal Bonpre has made the fatal mistake of reading Jesus Christ's Gospel instead of...

"Yet were not the Apostles themselves told," went on Manuel steadily, "to be humble as ignorant children if they would enter the Kingdom of Heaven? And did not Christ say, 'Whos...

The dreadful, dumb spell remained unbroken. The loom seemed invested with a strange solemnity--the figures of the human beings in it were like images frozen into rigidity--even...

Varillo looked sharply at her. Had she heard anything of his private life in Rome?--a life he kept carefully concealed from everyone who might be likely to report his little amu...

"In the early days of our Lord, He spoke to the wise men in the Temple, and they were 'astonished at his understanding and answers.' But they did not reprove Him,--not then,--on...

How horrible!--how horrible! He put his hands to his ears to try and shut out the din. He had not expected any public outcry--not so soon--but ill news travels fast, and no doub...

And throwing down the money for his refreshment, Gherardi cast another glance around him, muffled himself up in his coat and went out into the night. Florian Varillo breathed ag...

"I have tried," he resumed quietly, "as I say, to proclaim the thoughts of many! The people of France, like the peoples of many other nations, are losing God in a cloud of pries...

"That boy seems to have impressed thee more than the Cardinal himself!" said Midon--"but now I remember well--on the day the Abbe Vergniaud preached his last sermon, and was nea...

"It would be well if he had made exit out of the world altogether," said Sylvie--"But he is too vain of himself for that! However, his absence creates suspicion--and even if Ang...

"But there you are mistaken!" he said gently, with a smile that was almost paternal. "I know of nothing in recent years that has given the Holy Father greater satisfaction!"

"I was here from the first!" he replied triumphantly. "I followed on Gherardi's very heels. Your Arab boy admitted me--he was in my secret. He showed me into the anteroom just o...

Here he suddenly broke off, and a curious grey rigidity stole over his features, as if some invisible hand were turning him into stone. His eyes sparkled feverishly, but otherwi...

Infuriated to madness but too physically weak to struggle with one who, though wandering in brain, was sound in body, Varillo tried to drag him from his seat,--but the attempt w...

"No! You can admire it from a distance, Monsignor! You are capable in your present humour of tearing it to atoms and so destroying evidence! As the 'servant' of Prince Sovrani,...

"Aubrey and his wife are 'beginning work in real earnest'!" said Cyrillon. "And how much their work will mean to the world! More than the world can at present imagine or estimat...

After he had ceased, there was a deep silence for many minutes, then all the people as if moved by one impulse, rose from their knees, and standing, sang the following stanzas,...

"Most Holy Father!--I have this day received through Monsignor Moretti the text of certain commands laid by Your Holiness upon me to fulfil if I would still serve the Church, as...

And now the music of the unseen choir of sound seemed to grow deeper and fuller and grander,--and Felix Bonpre, caught up, as it were, out of all earthly surroundings, and only...