"You will be good enough, Cardinal," he said to William of Pavia, "to take care that all the archbishops, bishops, and prelates whom we have admitted to the reception of the royal envoy be invited to the reunion. Our intention is, perhaps for the last time, to speak openly in order to defend the rights and the liberties of the Church."
He rose as a signal that the audience was at an end. All who were present knelt piously, received the Pontiff's blessing, and bowing respectfully, left the room.
"Oh, my Lord and my God!" said Alexander to himself, as he sought the little oratory in which he usually said mass.
He knelt devoutly before the altar, where a golden dove contained the Body of his Redeemer. The vicar of Christ had come to implore the aid of his divine Master. He prayed long and fervently; his features by turns assumed the expression of grief, consolation, and resignation; and when the rays of the setting sun shone through the red windows of the chapel, they shed a halo of glory around the head of the still kneeling Pope.
CHAPTER XLV.
A KNAVE'S STRATAGEM.
"In any case," thought Erwin, "Antonio must be aware of Griffi's presence at Cluny."
He sent his faithful Gero to the Italian quarter to look for Antonio, but he was not there. "He usually walks in the public square among the strangers," said the squire; "but I don't know where he has hidden himself to-day."
The day passed without any further result, but the next morning Antonio was announced. The Count received him coldly.
"We can go to Laon at last, my lord Count. Henry the Lion persists in his designs, even at the risk of being put under the ban of the Empire; and the Duke of Austria has sent a strong escort to accompany the Duchess to her home. It was a prudent measure; for the poor lady would have fared badly if her husband had thought proper to use violence."