the possibility of your deserting that Church for whose sake I thus resign you?  For had this Aubrey Leigh never met you, I would have made you mine!  Still silent?—­and your little hand still quiet in mine?—­I envy you your nerve!  You stand torture well, but I will not keep you on the rack too long!  You shall know the worst at once—­then you shall yourself judge the position.  You shall prove for yourself the power of Rome!  To escape that power you would have, as the Scripture says, to ’take the wings of the morning and fly into the uttermost parts of the sea.’  Think well!—­the fame and reputation of Angela Sovrani can be ruined at my command,—­and equally, the sanctity and position of her uncle, Cardinal Bonpre!”

With a sudden movement Sylvie wrenched her hand away from his, and stood at bay, her eyes flashing, her cheeks crimsoning.

“Cardinal Bonpre!” she cried.  “What evil have you in your mind against him?  Are you so lost to every sense of common justice as to attempt to injure one who is greater than many of the Church’s canonized saints in virtue and honesty?  What has he done to you?”

Gherardi smiled.

“You excite yourself needlessly, Contessa,” he said.  “He has done nothing to me personally,—­he is simply in my way.  That is his sole offence!  And whatever is in my way, I remove!  Nothing is easier than to remove Cardinal Bonpre, for he has, by his very simplicity, fallen into a trap from which extrication will be difficult.  He should have stopped in his career with the performance of his miracle at Rouen,—­then all would have been well; he should not have gone on to Paris, there to condone the crime of the Abbe Vergniaud, and then come on to Rome.  To come to Rome under such circumstances, was like putting his head in the wolf’s mouth!  But the most unfortunate thing he has done on his ill-fated journey, is to have played protector to that boy he has with him.”

“Why?” demanded Sylvie, growing pale as before she had been flushed.

“Do not ask why!” said Gherardi.  “For a true answer would only anger you.  Suffice it for you to know that whatever is in the way of Rome must be removed,—­shall be removed at all costs!  Cardinal Bonpre, as I said before, is in the way—­and unless he can account fully and frankly for his strange companionship with a mere child-wanderer picked out of the streets, he will lose his diocese.  If he persists in denying all knowledge of the boy’s origin he will lose his Cardinal’s hat.  There is nothing more to be said!  But—­there is one remedy for all this mischief—­and it rests with you!”

“With me?” Sylvie trembled,—­her heart beat violently.  She looked as though she were about to swoon, and Gherardi put out his arm to support her.  She pushed him away indignantly.

“Do not touch me!” she said, her sweet voice shaken with something like the weakness of tears.  “You tempt me to kill you,—­to kill you and rid the world of a human fiend!”