"As the fatal hour approaches the strength begins to forsake me,—I cannot do it!" she groaned.
"Yet he is the enemy of Rome, so you say," the monk said mockingly.
"He is the friend of Rome and—I love him!"
In a shriek the last words broke from her lips.
"Domine an me reliquisti!" shouted the monk. "Some sign now—some sign—or—"
His raving exclamation was cut short by a sound not unlike the oracle implored. A large block of stone, dislodged by a sudden and violent movement of the unseen listener, rolled with a hollow rumble down into the vaults below.
The monk started up from the benediction which he was bending forward to pronounce, almost dashed Stephania away, rushed to his altar and casting himself prostrate before the divine symbol which adorned it, he muttered in a frantic ecstasy of devotion:
"Gloria Domino! Gloria in Excelsis! Blessed be Thy name for ever and ever! Praise ye the Lord! He saves in the furnace of fire!"
Stephania gazed in mute amazement at the monk. His frantic appeal and its apparent fulfilment had struck dismay into her soul, and when at length he raised himself, and turned towards her, she could hardly find words to speak.
But Nilus waved his hand.