"I will try!" she answered in a low voice--"I promise!--"
And when the Princess D'Agramont entered she was surprised and
overjoyed to find her patient sitting up on her couch for the first
time in many days, talking quietly with the Perseus she had sent to
rescue the poor Andromeda from the jaws of a brooding Melancholia
which might have ended in madness or death. With her presence the
conversation took a lighter tone--and by-and-by Angela found herself
listening with some interest to the reading of her father's last
letter addressed to her kind hostess.
"Angela's picture is gone out of Rome"--he wrote--"It was removed
from the studio in the sight of an enormous crowd which had
assembled to witness its departure. The Voce Della Verita has
described it as a direct inspiration of the devil, and suggests the
burning-down of the studio in which it was painted, as a means of
purifying the Sovrani Palace from the taint of sulphur and
brimstone. La Croix demands the excommunication of the artist, which
by the way is very likely to happen. The Osservatore Romano wishes
that the ship specially chartered to take it to America, may sink
with all on board. All of which kind and charitable wishes on the
part of the Vatican press have so augmented the fame of 'The Coming
of Christ' that the picture could hardly be got through the crush of
people craning their necks to get a glimpse of it.
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