Kindly follow me, if you please." Then came a fresh journey.

Cardinal Sarno, long a Secretary of the Propaganda, now presided over the commission which controlled the organisation of worship in those countries of Europe, Africa, America, and Oceanica where Catholicism had lately gained a footing; and he thus had a private room of his own with special officers and assistants, reigning there with the ultra-methodical habits of a functionary who had grown old in his arm-chair, closely surrounded by nests of drawers, and knowing nothing of the world save the usual sights of the street below his window.
The secretary left Pierre on a bench at the end of a dark passage, which was lighted by gas even in full daylight.

And quite a quarter of an hour went by before he returned with his eager, affable air.

"His Eminence is conferring with some missionaries who are about to leave Rome," he said; "but it will soon be over, and he told me to take you to his room, where you can wait for him." As soon as Pierre was alone in the Cardinal's sanctum he examined it with curiosity.

Fairly spacious, but in no wise luxurious, it had green paper on its walls, and its furniture was of black wood and green damask.