Alpha Book

The
result is satisfactory to those who have brought it about, if not to the
rest of the world. The sepulchre of old Rome is the new capital of
united Italy.
The three chief actors are dead also--the man of heart, the man of
action and the man of wit, the good, the brave and, the cunning, the
Pope, the King and the Cardinal--Pius the Ninth, Victor Emmanuel the
Second, Giacomo Antonelli. Rome saw them all dead.
In a poor chamber of the Vatican, upon a simple bed, beside which burned
two waxen torches in the cold morning light, lay the body of the man
whom none had loved and many had feared, clothed in the violet robe of
the cardinal-deacon. The keen face was drawn up on one side with a
strange look of mingled pity and contempt. The delicate, thin hands were
clasped together on the breast. The chilly light fell upon the dead
features, the silken robe and the stone floor. A single servant in a
shabby livery stood in a corner, smiling foolishly, while the tears
stood in his eyes and wet his unshaven cheeks.


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