Will you look at it ?" "Willingly," replied the Count, "for I see, even so far off, that the statue is bestowing a benediction, and there is a feeling in my heart that I may be permitted to share it." Remembering the similar idea which Miriam a short time before had expressed, the sculptor smiled hopefully at the coincidence.

They made their way through the throng of the market place, and approached close to the iron railing that protected the pedestal of the statue.
It was the figure of a pope, arrayed in his pontifical robes, and crowned with the tiara.

He sat in a bronze chair, elevated high above the pavement, and seemed to take kindly yet authoritative cognizance of the busy scene which was at that moment passing before his eye.

His right hand was raised and spread abroad, as if in the act of shedding forth a benediction, which every man--so broad, so wise, and so serenely affectionate was the bronze pope's regard--might hope to feel quietly descending upon the need, or the distress, that he had closest at his heart.

The statue had life and observation in it, as well as patriarchal majesty.