And now as he walked away
haughtily, his fine aristocratic head lifted a little higher in air
than usual, he was excessively irritated--with everything and
everybody, but with himself in particular. Abbe Vergniaud's sermon
had stung him in several ways, and the startling FINALE had vexed
him still more.
"What folly!" he thought, as he entered his luxuriously appointed
flat, and threw himself into a chair with a kind of angry weariness,
"How utterly stupid of Vergniaud to blazon the fact that he is no
better than other men, in the full face of his congregation! He must
be mad! A priest of the Roman Church publicly acknowledging a
natural son! [Footnote: ROME, August 19, 1899--A grave scandal has
just burst upon the world here. The Gazetta di Venezia having
attacked the bishops attending the recent conclave of "Latin
America," that is, Spanish-speaking America, as men of loose
morality, the Osservatore Cattolico, the Vatican organ, replied
declaring that the life of the bishops present at the conclave was
above suspicion. The Gazetta di Venezia responds, affirming that the
majority of the bishops brought with them to Rome their mistresses,
and in some instances their children. The Gazetta offers to disclose
the names of these bishops, and demands that the Pope shall satisfy
the Catholic world by taking measures against them.
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