"Monsignor Mario," said the low voice of a chamberlain, and at the next moment the Pope's messenger to the Prime Minister was kneeling in the middle of the floor.
In nervous tones and broken sentences the Monsignor told his story. The Pope listened intently, the vertical lines on his forehead deepening and darkening every moment, until at length he burst out impatiently:
"But, my son, you do not say that you said all this in addition to your message?"
"I was drawn into doing so in defence of your Holiness."
"You told the Minister that my information came through the channel of a simple confidence?"
"He insinuated that the Holy Father was perhaps breaking the seal of the confessional...."
"That my informant was a non-Catholic and a woman?"
"He implied that your Holiness had only to command her to reveal the conspiracy to the civil authorities, and therefore...."
"And you said she was here on Saturday morning?"
"He hinted that the Holy Father was an accomplice of criminals if he had known this without revealing it before, and that was why...."