The Dawn of All

by Robert Hugh Benson

  (I)

  Monsignor Masterman sat in his room at Westminster, busy at hiscorrespondence.

  A week had passed since his return, and he had made extraordinaryprogress. Even his face showed it. The piteous, bewildered lookthat he had worn, as he first realized little by little howcompletely out of touch he was with the world in which he hadfound himself after his lapse of memory, had wholly disappeared;and in its place was the keen, bright-eyed intelligence of atypical ecclesiastic. It was not that his memory had returned.Still, behind his sudden awakening in Hyde Park, all was a mistyblank, from which faces and places and even phrases started out,for the most part unverifiable. Yet it seemed both to him and tothose about him that he had an amazing facility in gathering upthe broken threads. He had spent three or four days, after hisreturn from Lourdes, closeted in private with Father Jervis orthe Cardinal, and had found himself at last capable ofreadmitting his secretaries and of taking up his work again. Theworld in general had been informed of his nervous breakdown, sothat on the few occasions when he seemed to suffer small lapsesof memory no great surprise was felt.

  He found, of course, a state of affairs that astonished himenormously. For example, he discovered that as the Cardinal'ssecretary he was an extremely important person in the country. Hehad not yet ventured much on private interviews--these were forthe present chiefly conducted by the Cardinal, with himselfpresent; but his correspondence showed him that his good word wasworth having, even by men who were foremost in the government ofthe day. There was, for instance, an immense amount of work to bedone on the subject of the relations of Church and State; for theChurch, it must be remembered, while not actually established,stood for the whole religious sentiment of the country, and mustbe consulted on every measure of importance. There was, further,the matter of the restoration of Church property not yet finallyconcluded in all its details, with endless adjustments andcompensations still under discussion. This morning it was on theUniversity question that he was chiefly engaged, and particularlythe question as to the relative numbers of the lay and clericalFellows on the old Catholic foundations.

  * * * * *

  A bell struck a single note; and one of his secretaries, sittingat the broad table near the window, lifted the receiver to hisear. Then he turned.

  "His Eminence wishes to have a word with you, Monsignor,on two matters."

  Monsignor stood up.

  "I'll come now, if it's convenient," he said. "I have to be atWestminster at twelve."

  The secretary spoke again through the telephone.

  "His Eminence is ready," he said.

  The Cardinal looked up as the priest came in a minute later.

  "Ah! good morning, Monsignor. Yes, sit down there. There are justtwo matters I want to have a word with you on. The first is asregards a heresy-trial of a priest."

  Monsignor bowed. It was his first experience of the kind, sofar as he could remember; and he did not yet fully understandall that it meant.

  "I wish you to select the judges. You'll look up the procedure,if you forget? A Dominican must be on it, of course; so youmust communicate with the Provincial. The other two must beseculars, as the accused is a Religious. He has elected to betried in England."

  "Yes, your Eminence."

  "He has behaved very reasonably, and refuses to take advantage ofthe _Ne invitus_ clause."

  "I forget at this moment," began Monsignor, vaguely consciousthat he had heard of this before.

  "Oh! that gives him the right to suppress the book beforepublication. It's part of the new legislation. He has sent thethesis of his book, privately printed, to Rome, and it has beencondemned. He refuses to withdraw, as he is perfectly confidentof his orthodoxy. I understand that the book is not yetcompletely finished, but he has his thesis clear enough. It is onthe subject of the miraculous element in religion."

  "I beg your Eminence's pardon, but is the author a Benedictineby any chance?"

  The Cardinal smiled.

  "Yes: I was coming to that. His name is Dom Adrian Bennett. Heis--or rather ought to be--a Westminster monk, but his return hasbeen deferred for the present."

  "I met him at Lourdes, your Eminence."

  "Ah! He is a very clever young man, and at the name time perfectlycourageous. . . . Well, you'll look up the procedure, if you'renot perfectly clear? And I should wish to have the names of thejudges by tomorrow night. The Canon Theologian of the diocese maynot be well enough to act. But you will make arrangements."

  "Yes, your Eminence."

  "The second matter is exceedingly important." (The Cardinal beganto play with the pen that lay on his desk.) "And no rumour of itmust get out from this house. It may be made public at anymoment, and I wish you to know beforehand in order that you maynot be taken by surprise. Well, it is this. I have hadinformation that the Emperor of Germany will be received into theCatholic Church to-night. I needn't tell you what that means. Heis quite fearless and quite conscientious; and there is not theslightest doubt that he will, sooner or later, make it impossiblefor the Socialists to congregate any longer in Berlin. That willmean either civil war in Germany--(I hear the Socialists havebeen in readiness for this for some time past)--or it will meantheir dispersal everywhere. Europe, at any rate, will have todeal with them. However, that's in the future. The importantthing at the present is that we should be able to show our fullstrength when the time comes. There will be thanksgivingsthroughout England, of course, as soon as the news is published,and I wish you to be in readiness to make what arrangements arenecessary. It was the Lourdes miracle, which you witnessed, thathas finished the affair. As you know, the Emperor has been on theedge of this for months past."

  The Cardinal spoke quietly and diplomatically enough; but theother could see how deeply moved he was by this tremendousdevelopment. The Emperor's position had been the one flaw in theCatholic organization of Europe--and indeed of the world. Now thelast stone was laid, and the arch was complete. The singledrawback was that no statesman or prophet could conjecture withcertainty what the effect on the Socialists would be.

  "And how are you, Monsignor?" asked the Cardinal suddenly,smiling at him.

  "I am getting on very well, your Eminence!"

  "I should like to say that, for myself, I am more thansatisfied," went on the other. "You seem to me to have regainedall your old grip on things--and in some points to have more thanregained it. I have written to Rome----" (he broke off).

  "It's the details that still trouble me, your Eminence. Forinstance, in this heresy-trial, I cannot remember the procedure,or the penalties, or anything else."

  "That'll all come back," smiled the Cardinal. "After all, theprinciples are the point. Well, I mustn't detain you. You're tobe at Westminster at twelve."

  "Yes, your Eminence. We've nearly finished now. The monks arevery well satisfied. But the main body of them do not come toWestminster until they formally re-enter. Cardinal Campello haswritten to say that he will be with us on the 20th for certain."

  "That is very good. . . . Then good morning, Monsignor."