But even when the senator was not to be lured into a trap, he could not escape assault.

The baron in such a case would cross the lines and attack him on his own ground, as on one occasion, when Ratcliffe was defending his doctrine of party allegiance, Jacobi silenced him by sneering somewhat thus: "Your principle is quite correct, Mr.Senator.I, too, like yourself, was once a good party man: my party was that of the Church; I was ultramontane.

Your party system is one of your thefts from our Church; your National Convention is our OEcumenic Council; you abdicate reason, as we do, before its decisions; and you yourself, Mr.Ratcliffe, you are a Cardinal.

They are able men, those cardinals; I have known many; they were our best friends, but they were not reformers.

Are you a reformer, Mr.Senator ?" Ratcliffe grew to dread and hate the old man, but all his ordinary tactics were powerless against this impenetrable eighteenth century cynic.