He found, of course, a state of affairs that astonished him enormously.  For example, he discovered that as the Cardinal’s secretary he was an extremely important person in the country.  He had not yet ventured much on private interviews—­these were for the present chiefly conducted by the Cardinal, with himself present; but his correspondence showed him that his good word was worth having, even by men who were foremost in the government of the day.  There was, for instance, an immense amount of work to be done on the subject of the relations of Church and State; for the Church, it must be remembered, while not actually established, stood for the whole religious sentiment of the country, and must be consulted on every measure of importance.  There was, further, the matter of the restoration of Church property not yet finally concluded in all its details, with endless adjustments and compensations still under discussion.  This morning it was on the University question that he was chiefly engaged, and particularly the question as to the relative numbers of the lay and clerical Fellows on the old Catholic foundations.

* * * * *

A bell struck a single note; and one of his secretaries, sitting at the broad table near the window, lifted the receiver to his ear.  Then he turned.

“His Eminence wishes to have a word with you, Monsignor, on two matters.”

Monsignor stood up.

“I’ll come now, if it’s convenient,” he said.  “I have to be at Westminster at twelve.”

The secretary spoke again through the telephone.

“His Eminence is ready,” he said.

The Cardinal looked up as the priest came in a minute later.

“Ah! good morning, Monsignor.  Yes, sit down there.  There are just two matters I want to have a word with you on.  The first is as regards a heresy-trial of a priest.”

Monsignor bowed.  It was his first experience of the kind, so far as he could remember; and he did not yet fully understand all that it meant.

“I wish you to select the judges.  You’ll look up the procedure, if you forget?  A Dominican must be on it, of course; so you must communicate with the Provincial.  The other two must be seculars, as the accused is a Religious.  He has elected to be tried in England.”

“Yes, your Eminence.”

“He has behaved very reasonably, and refuses to take advantage of the Ne invitus clause.”

“I forget at this moment,” began Monsignor, vaguely conscious that he had heard of this before.

“Oh! that gives him the right to suppress the book before publication.  It’s part of the new legislation.  He has sent the thesis of his book, privately printed, to Rome, and it has been condemned.  He refuses to withdraw, as he is perfectly confident of his orthodoxy.  I understand that the book is not yet completely finished, but he has his thesis clear enough.  It is on the subject of the miraculous element in religion.”