You will only have to bow to their sentence when it shall have been ratified by his Holiness." Then he broke off the interview by rising, and Pierre was obliged to do the same.

The Dominican's words were virtually identical with those that had fallen from Monsignor Fornaro, but they were spoken with cutting frankness, a sort of tranquil bravery.

On all sides Pierre came into collision with the same anonymous force, the same powerful engine whose component parts sought to ignore one another.

For a long time yet, no doubt, he would be sent from one to the other, without ever finding the volitional element which reasoned and acted.

And the only thing that he could do was to bow to it all.
However, before going off, it occurred to him once more to mention the name of Monsignor Nani, the powerful effect of which he had begun to realise.