"Truly--Benevento lies behind us," he said. "Nevertheless I may not say, here is the hand of God, and there it is withheld. The schism has widened; the way of the truth is more obscure than ever; the Church has grown to be the very scorn of men, because of the instruments she employs,--she is forced to employ!" The Pontiff's tone had grown hard and there was a steely glitter in his gray eyes. Charles of Anjou fingered his beads more swiftly, while his thin lips stretched into a hard, straight line. "'The end justifies the means!' has long been the maxim of the princes of the Church," he said, while his eyes seemed to rest on the tips of his buskins, protruding from under the monkish garb he affected. The Pontiff hastened to explain. "One may not cleanse a pigsty with a silver fork. Yet--shall the Patrimony of St. Peter be sacked and burned in the name of the Cross? Shall violence, cunning and greed reign unchecked, that the Beast may be glorified?" "Yet the Beast may not gird its loins without drink or food,--and the Halo makes but a thin mantle!" snarled the Pontiff's crusader. Clement raised a thin, emaciated hand. "What a mass of falsehoods and hypocritical phrases have again assailed our ear! Our dearly beloved son in Christ boasts of his love and veneration for the Church, while those under his command are pillaging the sanctuaries!" The beads passed nervously through Anjou's fingers. "These reproaches, Holy Father," he said with a sepulchral voice, "touch me very deeply. The host must be fed, and their zeal for the cause of Holy Church may lead them to mistake the cornfields of the righteous!" The Pontiff bowed. "Your crusades against the infidels seem to have blurred your vision, beloved son!" "You speak of my youthful glories, Holy Father," replied Charles of Anjou with a leer. "Many years have since gone by, and they sleep with my youthful sins!" "That must be a wide berth that enables them to find place side by side," retorted the Pontiff. Then, with a nameless shrug, he turned to the Cardinal of Cosenza. "Has the messenger returned from Astura?" Instead of the Cardinal, Anjou made reply. "Wherein would treason benefit the Frangipani? They hold their castle as fief of the Empire, and the coffers of the Church are dolefully empty." The Pontiff turned to the speaker. "Treason,--beloved son? A harsh word indeed! Were breaking with a sinful past to be stigmatized in such wise, our indulgences would indeed go begging and St. Peter tire at his watch!" Charles of Anjou gave a significant shrug. "Will the Frangipani exchange a distant master for one hovering over their rock?" The Pontiff waved the question aside. "The bait were hardly tempting!" The small eyes of Anjou met those of the Pontiff. "What is the bribe?" he queried brutally. Clement raised his hands in abhorrence. A lawyer and a diplomat, the Frenchman's brutal frankness jarred on his nerves.