“Then you will resign it?” said the missionary, eagerly.

Rodolph slowly shook his head and fixed his eyes upon the floor.

“Let no fears for the Church and your country restrain you,” pursued the priest; “they both demand your refusal, not your acceptance.”

Still Rodolph sternly shook his head.

“Then as you value honor, defer your decision until the appointed time—­our Holy Father may still be with us—­it is treacherous to deprive him of the opportunity of interfering, by thus anticipating by a month the day on which we invited him to meet us.”

“It is too late for interference now,” replied the duke, “and of what avail is it to pause on the brink when all the avenues from Carpineta are closed by Henry’s minions?”

“Have confidence, I conjure you,” exclaimed the other, passionately, “in the virtue and wisdom of His Holiness.  Rest assured that he will find some means to avert bloodshed and yet preserve his See and the empire.”

“War is inevitable!”

“Obey the Pope and trust in God.  Beware how you take upon yourself to plunge the nation in war—­to tear down the sacred barriers of peace—­and open the floodgates for a thousand evil passions to deluge Germany with crime and blood!  Can you foresee what may occur—­what a month may develop—­what new political combination the master mind of Gregory may devise for our preservation?”

“I must rather beware,” returned the noble, “how I sacrifice the last hope of my country and the main support of religion by procrastination and criminal hesitation.  If I refuse the crown, I disband my party.  Men will leave us, and say we tremble, and before long we are at the tender mercies of the tyrant, for my resignation, while striking terror into our ranks, will infuse new courage into his.  Then would I see my allies—­the friends whom I seduced into rebellion and then abandoned—­destroyed in detail—­pursued, hunted down, exiled, and martyred before my eyes.  No! come what may, I must accept.”

“What is your situation now,” rejoined the missionary, “that you have anything else to expect than defeat and disgrace?  You know the emperor—­you have seen his dauntless courage, his consummate skill, his desperate resolution.  You know that he is at the head of an army more numerous and better disciplined than your own.  And you must also clearly foresee that if the Pope—­as he certainly will—­shall condemn the policy of his legates, your efforts will want the principle of life which alone can bless them with success.”

“If the prospect now is bad,” said Rodolph, solemnly, “delay can only make it worse.  And I believe that, could His Holiness see what is evident to us, he would command me to accept the crown, and place it with his own hands upon my head.”

“You are mistaken—­wofully mistaken, my lord.  While a hope of averting anarchy and civil war remains, Gregory will not adopt the surest means of inflicting both.  Trust in God for the future!  Do not pursue what to the mole-blind vision of humanity seems expedient, when certain bloodshed is the result!  Humble yourself before Him who alone can exalt and lay low!  Confide in the efficacy of prayer!  Think not that God will desert His Church or her champions!”