In fact I had been guilty of very nearly what I stood accused of. The reproaches of Pius X. were an echo of the whispers of my conscience. I had elected a Pope, but my presumption in doing so had made that very Pope an enemy of the sovereign whom I had served too well.
‘Will your Holiness condescend to hear me?’ I implored. ‘The Jesuits——’
‘Silence!’ his Holiness commanded. ‘I will not listen to a word against those devoted men, whose value, and whose loyalty to the Holy See, I now understand for the first time. If your master, the King of Sardinia,[2] desires to learn the conditions on which he may obtain his pardon from the Holy See, I advise him to apply to—Cardinal Salvatierra.’
Cardinal Salvatierra! I recalled the Cardinal’s parting words—‘You have chosen the White Pope; it remains to see how you will fare at the hands of the Black Pope.’
Saddened and subdued, I quitted the audience-chamber of Pius X., and repaired to that of Victor Emmanuel II.
‘I have carried out your Majesty’s instructions. Cardinal Sarto is the new Pope. And now I can only render one more service to your Majesty, and that is——’
‘And that is?’ the King exclaimed.
‘To advise you to make your peace with the Black Pope!’
I prefer to say no more. It would be imprudent on my part to embarrass a situation already bristling with difficulties, by indicating the steps which still remain to be taken before peace can be restored between the two mighty powers represented by the Vatican and the Quirinal.