In a few minutes the sound of carriages was heard; the gate was opened, and in came Cardinal Reisac, and with him three or four priests. Mrs. Penton at once went forward and spoke to his Eminence, being personally acquainted with him. During this interval the gate opened again, and at last Mary's watching was rewarded—Mr. Earnscliffe entered. Mary was nearest to the gate, so he could not avoid speaking to her, and even walking with her, as the Cardinal quickly moved on, and all followed him.
Mary felt that she must not lose this opportunity of saying something to excite Mr. Earnscliffe's curiosity about Flora; he would, she thought, naturally try to hear more, if he were not indifferent to her—and it would be a good test;—so, as they were lighting the tapers, she said, "I hope we shall not have any falls or spraining of ankles to-day. Do you remember Miss Adair's accident at Frascati?"
"Surely I should be the last to forget it, having induced you both to go upon the wet, slippery moss; but she is quite well now, I believe?"
"Quite well; and, report says, going to be married to that rich Mr. Lyne."
"Mr. Lyne!"
"Yes; you know him, don't you? He is very rich, very good, quite a saint, indeed; rather slow, they say; but then poor Flora has no fortune, so it would be an excellent thing for her. But we must not stand here talking about her, or we shall be left behind;" and Mary suddenly became most anxious to follow close to the Cardinal.
A flight of steps leads down from the vineyard into a sort of vestibule, in the walls of which are numerous graves, and in the spaces between rude inscriptions, supposed to have been made by pilgrims who came to visit the last resting-places of the saints and martyrs. The guide went first with a large torch, then the Cardinal, the ecclesiastics, and the lay visitors, each carrying a light. There were about fifteen in all; so they formed rather a long procession in the narrow galleries or passages, where two can hardly walk abreast—not two ladies, certainly, in those days of crinoline.
From the vestibule a long gallery leads to the Chapel of the Popes, and passes by one of the sepulchral chapels which occur at intervals in nearly all these passages. In many of the larger of the crypts or chapels there are altars upon which the Divine Sacrifice was offered during the persecutions of the first centuries, when armed force vainly strove to put down the religion of the Cross inaugurated on Calvary. Long afterwards, when that Cross had established its time-enduring reign in Rome's high places, these crypts were resorted to by the faithful for purposes of devotion, as hallowed places consecrated by the sanctity and martyrdom of those who lay entombed in them.
As soon as the whole party was assembled in the Chapel of the Popes, the Cardinal began to explain the different monuments, and pointed out the graves of the four popes of the third century buried there, according to the inscriptions in Greek characters which are still distinctly to be seen and read by those who understand them.
From the Chapel of the Popes they proceeded to that of St. Cecilia, and thence to the others of less note, the Cardinal explaining the different inscriptions and paintings on the walls of the galleries and chapels.