"It is the
curse! It parts even mothers and children!"
A strange strength seemed to have come to her; a sudden light gleamed in
her eyes; she turned from one to the other, as if seeking some one in
authority to answer her question, and fixed upon Santorio's as the
strongest face.
"The official acts of a Pope are infallible?" she questioned, with
feverish insistence, after the first futile attempt to speak. "The Holy
Father who succeeds him may not undo his acts of mercy?"
"Yes, yes, it is true," Santorio assented, waiting eagerly for the
sequence.
A little color had crept into her cheeks; her hands were burning; they
grasped the physician's arm like a vise; the change was alarming.
"The edict cannot hurt my baby! Santissima Maria, thou hast saved him!"
she cried. "For he hath the special blessing of his Holiness Pope
Clement, and our Holy Father cannot reach him with this curse of
Venice!"
"We cannot keep her mind from it," said Santorio, aside to Marcantonio;
"it is essential to calm it with the right view--no argument, it might
induce the most dangerous excitement.
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