He looked about the circle of ecclesiastics.
He met but the reflection of the Pontiff's quizzical glances.
"We require a special envoy to Naples, to calm the minds of the disaffected. Our choice has fallen upon you. On the result of your mission depends the granting of the boon."
Francesco made no reply.
What could he urge in his own behalf that was not defeated in the utterance?
He was no match for Clement in subtlety and, though he could not fathom the reasons governing Clement's choice of himself to treat, as he surmised, with the Neapolitans, he recognized therein the desire on the part of the Pontiff to strike his enemies through one of their own.
"What are the commands of your Holiness?" he said at last.
"You will receive your instructions from the Cardinal of Cosenza," the Pontiff replied calmly.
"Your audience is concluded," the latter whispered into Francesco's ear. He approached the pontifical dais as one in a dream; and, after the customary genuflection and the ceremony of kissing the Pontiff's feet, he passed out of the audience-chamber into the sun-fraught air of noon, the Pontiff's "Go in peace!" still ringing in his ears.
The personality of Clement had not passed from him without a deep impress. Here was a man created in the type of his predecessors, Alexander IV and Urban IV, a man who shrank from nothing that would advance the cause of the Church.