"
"Nay, it was not this that won them," said the Lady Laura, with
decision, "but their hope that Fra Paolo would support the claims of the
Holy Father; it could have been nothing else."
"A hope most reasonable, were he a man of less remarkable force,"
Giustinian answered confidently. "But, as if he held a divining-rod, he
findeth at once the heart of a matter, and Venice hath no fears."
No, Venice had no fears. If there had been heartburnings, they were all
forgotten; her rulers were one in determination while they calmly
weighed the balance between Church and State, and confidently awaited
the issue. The briefs had been opened and the chief Counsellor, the new
Teologo Consultore, had given an opinion which filled the Senate with
admiration.
"Two remedies might be found: one, material, by forbidding the
publication of the censures and preventing the execution of them, thus
resisting illegitimate force by force clearly legitimate, so long as it
doth not overpass the bounds of natural right of defense; and the other
moral, which consisteth in an appeal to a future council.
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