Court-martial?  Again, why are there so many poor in Italy?  If the Pope were the father indeed of those who are immediately around him, the land should be like the fabled Paradise, flowing with milk and honey.  The Vatican is full of money and jewels.  ’Sell half that thou hast and give to the poor,’ was the command of Christ.—­Does the Pope do that?  Why does he not go out among the people and work in active sympathy with them?  Christ did so!  Christ was never borne with solemn flourish of trumpets like a mummy in a chair, under canopies of cloth of gold, to give a blessing to a crowd who had got admission to see him by paid ticket!  Man, man!  The theatrical jugglery of Rome is a blasphemy in the sight of heaven;—­and most truly did St. John declare this city, throned on its seven hills, to be, ‘mystery, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.’  And most clearly does God say at this period of our time, ’Come out of her My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities!’ The days of evil are drawing to an end; Rome must fall!”

Gherardi’s breath came and went quickly,—­but he kept up the outward appearance of cold composure.

“You rant very well, Mr. Leigh!” he said, “You would make an excellent Hyde Park orator!  You have all the qualities which attract the vulgar; but we—­we of the Church know quite well how to deal with men of your class,—­their denunciations do not affect us at all.  They amuse us occasionally; and sometimes they pain us, for naturally we grieve for the backslidings of refractory brethren.  We regret the clamourings of ignorance which arise from a strong personal desire for notoriety.  That passage in the Revelation of St. John, has been quoted scores of times as being applicable to Rome, though as a matter of fact it distinctly mentions Babylon.”  Here he smiled suavely.  “And thanks to the workings of an All-wise Influence, Rome was never more powerful than she is at the present moment.  Her ramifications are everywhere; and in England she has obtained a firm footing.  Your good English Queen has never uttered one word of reproach against the spread of our Holy Religion among her subjects!  Our prayers for the conversion of England will yet be granted!”

“Not while I live!” said Aubrey firmly, “Not while I can hold back but a handful from such a disaster, and that handful shall hold back yet another handful!  The hand of Roman priestcraft shall never weigh on England while there are any honest men left in it!  The conversion of England!  The retrogression of England!  Do you think such a thing is likely to happen because a few misguided clerics choose to appeal to the silly sentimentality of hysterical women with such church tricks and rags of paganism as incense and candles!  Bah!  Do not judge the English inward heart by its small outward follies, Monsignor!  There are more honest, brave, and sensible folk in the British Islands than you think.  And though our foreign foes desire our fall, the seed of their decay is not yet in us!”