"Be quiet, be quiet! You are blaspheming! And, besides, you cannot go off like that without again trying to see his Holiness.

He alone is sovereign.

And I know that I shall surprise you; but Father Dangelis has given you in jest the only good advice that can be given: Go back to see Monsignor Nani, for he alone will open the door of the Vatican for you." Again did Pierre give a start of anger: "What! It was with Monsignor Nani that I began, from him that I set out; and I am to go back to him?
What game is that?
Can I consent to be a shuttlecock sent flying hither and thither by every battledore?
People are having a game with me!" Then, harassed and distracted, the young man fell on his chair in front of Don Vigilio, who with his face drawn by his prolonged vigil, and his hands still and ever faintly trembling, remained for some time silent.

At last he explained that he had another idea.

He was slightly acquainted with the Pope's confessor, a Franciscan father, a man of great simplicity, to whom he might recommend Pierre.