"I hardly think he would condescend to that!" returned the Cardinal calmly, "It would not be worth his while. You must remember, that to one of his particular views, Church excommunication, either for his father or himself, would mean nothing. He makes himself responsible for his conduct to God only. And whatever his faults he certainly believes in God!"
Moretti read through the telegram again.
"We must place this before His Holiness," he said, "And it will very seriously annoy him! I fear your Eminence," here he gave a quick meaning look at Bonpre, "will be all the more severely censured for having pardoned the Abbe's sins."
"Is it wrong to forgive sinners?" asked Manuel, his clear young voice breaking through the air like a silver bell rung suddenly,—"And when one cannot reach the guilty, should one punish the innocent?"
Moretti scowled fiercely at the fair candid face turned enquiringly near his own.
"You are too young to ask questions!" he said roughly—"Wait to be questioned yourself—and think twice—aye three times before you answer!"
The bright expression of the boy's countenance seemed to become intensified as he heard.
"'Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak!'" he said softly—"'For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you!'"
Moretti flushed angrily, and his hand involuntarily clenched.
"Those words were addressed by our Lord to His Apostles," he retorted—"Apostles, of whom our Holy Father the Pope is the one infallible representative. They were not spoken to an ignorant lad who barely knows his catechism!"