Meanwhile, down in the studio, Prince Sovrani and the Cardinal
stayed together, talking softly, and gazing in fascinated wonder,
bewilderment, admiration and awe at Angela's work unveiled. All the
lamps in the room were now lit, and the great picture--a sublime
Dream resolved into sublime Reality--shone out as much as the
artificial light would permit,--a jewel of art that seemed to
contain within itself all the colour and radiance of a heaven
unknown, unseen yet surely near at hand. The figure and face of the
approaching Saviour, instinct with life, expressed almost in
positive speech the words, "Then shall ye see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds with great power and glory"!--and if Cardinal Bonpre
had given way to the innermost emotions of his soul, he could have
knelt before the exalted purity of such a conception of the Christ,-
-a god-like ideal, brought into realization by the exalted
imagination, the holy thoughts, and the faithful patient work of a
mere woman!
"This--" he said, in hushed accents--"This must be the cause of the
dastardly attempt made to murder the child! Some one who knew her
secret,--some one who was aware of the wonderful power and
magnificence of her work,--perhaps the very man who made the frame
for it,--who can tell?"
Prince Pietro meditated deeply, a frown puckering his brows,--his
countenance was still pale and drawn with the stress of the mingled
agony and relief he had just passed through, and the anxiety he felt
concerning Angela's immediate critical condition.
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