“The Church!” he went on, warming with his own inward fervour.  “The Rock, on which our Lord builds the real fabric of the Universe!” And his tall form dilated with the utterance of his blasphemy.  “The learning, the science, the theoretical discussions of men, shall pass as dust blown by the breath of a storm-wind—­but the Church shall remain, the same, yesterday, to-day and forever!  It shall crush down kings, governments and nations in its unmoving Majesty!  The fluctuating wisdom of authors and reformers—­the struggle of conflicting creeds—­all these shall sink and die under the silent inflexibility of its authority!  The whole world hurled against it shall not prevail, and were all its enemies to perish by the sword, by poison, by disease, by imprisonment, by stripes and torture, this would be but even justice!  ’For many are called—­but few are chosen.’”

He turned his eyes, flashing with a sort of fierce ecstasy, upon the slight half-shrinking figure of Sylvie opposite to him.  “Yes, bella Contessa!  What the Church ordains, must be; what the Church desires, that same the Church will have!  There is no room in the hearts or minds of its servants for love, for pity, for pardon, for anything human merely,—­its authority is Divine!—­and ’God will not be mocked’!  Humanity is the mere food and wine of sacrifice to the Church’s doctrine,—­nations may starve, but the Church must be fed.  What are nations to the Church?  Naught but children,—­docile or rebellious;—­children to be whipped, and coerced, and forced to obey!  Thus for you, one unit out of the whole mass, to oppose yourself to the mighty force of Rome, is as though one daisy out of the millions in the grass should protest against the sweep of the mower’s scythe!  You do not know me yet!  There is nothing I would hesitate to do in the service of the Church.  I would consent to ruin even you, to prove the fire of my zeal, as well as the fire of my love!”

He made a step towards her,—­she drew herself to the utmost reach of her elfin height, and looked at him straightly.  Pale, but with her dark blue eyes flashing like jewels, she in one sweeping glance, measured him with a scorn so intense that it seemed to radiate from her entire person, and pierce him with a thousand arrowy shafts of flame.

“You have stated your intentions,” she said.  “Will you hear my answer?”

He bent his head gravely, with a kind of ironical tolerance in his manner.

“There is nothing I desire more!” he replied, “for I am sure that in the unselfish sweetness of your nature you will do all you can to serve—­and save—­your friends!”