Part 73 (1/2)
”Ah! that is true!--yes--the recital reat,” snuffled the Theatin
”Stop,” said Mazarin; ”there I begin to terrify s to pass which the Lord ht reprove”
”Is that not always so?” said the Theatin naively, re further from the lamp his thin pointed face, like that of a etful beforehand, and scrupulous when it is too late”
”Sinners?” replied Mazarin ”Do you use that word ironically, and to reproach ies I have allowed to be made on my account--I--the son of a fisher a play upon the words pecheur (with a grave over the first e), a sinner, and pecheur (with an accent circumflex over the first e), a fisherman It is in very bad taste--TRANS]
”Hum!” said the Theatin
”That is a first sin, father; for I have allowed anius Macerinus 1st, Macerinus 2d, and Proculus Macerinus 3d, of whom the Chronicle of Haolander speaks Fro Macerinus, a diminutive, means leanish, poorish, out of case Oh! reverend father!
Mazarini re, thin as Lazarus
Look!”--and he showed his fleshless ar been born of a fa injurious to you; for--St Peter was a fisherman; and if you are a prince of the church, my lord, he was the supreme head of it Pass on, if you please”
”Sothreatened with the Bastile a certain Bounet, a priest of Avignon, anted to publish a genealogy of the Casa Mazarini much too marvelous”
”To be probable?” replied the Theatin
”Oh! if I had acted up to his idea, father, that would have been the vice of pride--another sin”
”It was an excess of wit, and a person is not to be reproached with such sorts of abuses Pass on, pass on!”
”I was all pride Look you, father, I will endeavor to divide that into capital sins”
”I like divisions, ell lad of that You o--”
”You were then twenty-nine years old,of a soldier, and I threw myself at Casal into the arquebusades, to show that I rode on horseback as well as an officer It is true, I restored peace between the French and the Spaniards That redee able to ride well on horseback,” said the Theatin; ”that is in perfect good taste, and does honor to our gown As a Christian, I approve of your having prevented the effusion of blood; as a monk, I am proud of the bravery a monk has exhibited”
Mazarin bowed his head humbly ”Yes,” said he, ”but the consequences?”
”What consequences?”
”Eh! that damned sin of pride has roots without end From the time that I threw myself in that manner between two armies, that I had senerals a little in contempt”
”Ah!” said the father
”There is the evil; so that I have not found one endurable since that tienerals we have had have not been remarkable”