"Knowest thou the youth yonder?" he asked, pointing to Sergius.
"A Russian recently arrived," the Father replied. "Day before yesterday he was brought to the palace and presented to the Emperor by the Princess Irene. He made a great impression."
The two kept their eyes on the young man until he disappeared ascending the hill.
"He will be heard from;" and with the prediction the Prince gave attention to the body of the Brotherhood.
"These men have the bearing of soldiers," he said presently.
"Their vows respecting war are liberal. If the panagia were carried to the walls, they would accompany it in armor."
The Prince smiled. He had not the faith in the Virgin of Blacherne which the Father's answer implied.
The St. James' were long in passing. The Prince kept them in sight to the last four. They were the aristocracy of the Church, prim, proud; as their opportunities were more frequent, doubtless they were more wicked than their associates of the humbler fraternities; yet he could not promise himself favor from their superior liberality. On the contrary, having a great name for piety to defend, if a test offered, they were the more certain to be hard and vindictive—to send a heretic to the stake, and turn a trifling variation from the creed into heresy.
"Who is this?" the Prince exclaimed, as a noble-looking man in full canonicals stepped out of the cypress shadows, first of the next division.
"Master of Ceremonies for the Church," Father Theophilus replied. "He is the wall between the Islanders and the Metropolitans."