For a few moments the monk and the young man stood in silence, till at length the monk spoke.

“You have told me, my son, that your heart often troubles you in being more Roman than Christian; that you sometimes doubt whether the Church on earth be other than a fiction or a fable.  But look around us.  Who are these, this great multitude who praise and pray continually in this temple of the upper air?  These are they who have come out of great tribulation, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  These are not the men that have sacked cities, and made deserts, and written their triumphs in blood and carnage.  These be men that have sheltered the poor, and built houses for orphans, and sold themselves into slavery to redeem their brothers in Christ.  These be pure women who have lodged saints, brought up children, lived holy and prayerful lives.  These be martyrs who have laid down their lives for the testimony of Jesus.  There were no such churches in old Rome,—­no such saints.”

“Well,” said Agostino, “one thing is certain.  If such be the True Church, the Pope and the Cardinals of our day have no part in it; for they are the men who sack cities and make desolations, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretence make long prayers.  Let us see one of them selling himself into slavery for the love of anybody, while they seek to keep all the world in slavery to themselves!”

“That is the grievous declension our master weeps over,” said the monk.  “Ah, if the Bishops of the Church now were like brave old Saint Ambrose, strong alone by faith and prayer, showing no more favor to an unrepentant Emperor than to the meanest slave, then would the Church be a reality and a glory!  Such is my master.  Never is he afraid of the face of king or lord, when he has God’s truth to speak.  You should have heard how plainly he dealt with our Lorenzo de’ Medici on his death-bed,—­how he refused him absolution, unless he would make restitution to the poor and restore the liberties of Florence.”

“I should have thought,” said the young man, sarcastically, “that Lorenzo the Magnificent might have got absolution cheaper than that.  Where were all the bishops in his dominion, that he must needs send for Jerome Savonarola?”

“Son, it is ever so,” replied the monk.  “If there be a man that cares neither for Duke nor Emperor, but for God alone, then Dukes and Emperors would give more for his good word than for a whole dozen of common priests.”

“I suppose it is something like a rare manuscript or a singular gem:  these virtuosi have no rest till they have clutched it.  The thing they cannot get is always the thing they want.”