“Ah, Contessina,” replied Peppino, shaking his head, “you support her already.  What will it be later?  Well, I apologize for my innocent epigrams on His Holiness in his dressing-gown.  And,” he continued, laughing, “it is a pity, for I have still two or three entertaining stories, notably one about a coffer filled with gold pieces, which a faithful bequeathed to the Pope.  And that poor, dear man was about to count them when the coffer slipped from his hand, and there was the entire treasure on the floor, and the Pope and a cardinal on all fours were scrambling for the napoleons, when a servant entered....  Tableau! ....I assure you that good Pius IX would be the first to laugh with us at all the Vatican jokes.  He is not so much ‘alla mano’.  But he is a holy man just the same.  Do not think I do not render him justice.  Only, the holy man is a man, and a good old man.  That is what you do not wish to see.”

“Where are you going?” said Alba to Fanny, who had risen as she had threatened to do.

“To talk with my father, to whom I have several words to say.”

“I warned you to change the subject,” said Alba, when she and the Prince were alone.  Ardea, somewhat abashed, shrugged his shoulders and laughed: 

“You will confess that the situation is quite piquant, little Countess....  You will see she will forbid me to go to the Quirinal....  Only one thing will be lacking, and it is that Papa Hafner should discover religious scruples which would prevent him from greeting the King....  But Fanny must be appeased!”

“My God!” said Alba to herself, seeing the young man rise in his turn.  “I believe he is intoxicated.  What a pity!”

As have almost all revolutions of that order, the work of Christianity, accomplished for years, in Fanny had for its principle an example.

The death of a friend, the sublime death of a true believer, ended by determining her faith.  She saw the dying woman receive the sacrament, and the ineffable joy of the benediction upon the face of the sufferer of twenty lighted up by ecstasy.  She heard her say, with a smile of conviction: 

“I go to ask you of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

How could she have resisted such a cry and such a sight?

The very day after that death she asked of her father permission to be baptized, which request drew from the Baron a reply too significant not to be repeated here: 

“Undoubtedly,” had replied the surprising man, who instead of a heart, had a Bourse list on which all was tariffed, even God, “undoubtedly I am touched, very deeply touched, and very happy to see that religious matters preoccupy you to such a degree.  To the people it is a necessary curb, and to us it accords with a certain rank, a certain society, a certain deportment.  I think that a person called like you to live in Austria and in Italy should be a Catholic.  However, it is necessary to remember that you might marry some one of another