The only new figure to appear there since Odo's departure was that of
the little prince's governor, who had come from Rome a few months
previously to superintend the heir's education, which was found to have
been grievously neglected under his former masters. This was an
ecclesiastic, an ex-Jesuit as some said, but without doubt a man of
parts, and apparently of more tolerant views than the other churchmen
about the court.
"But," Andreoni added, "your excellency may chance to recall him; for he
is the same abate de Crucis who was sent to Pianura by the Holy Office
to arrest the German astrologer."
Odo heard him with surprise. He had had no news of de Crucis since their
parting in Rome, where, as he supposed, the latter was to remain for
some years in the service of Prince Bracciano. Odo was at a loss to
conceive how or why the Jesuit had come to Pianura; but, whatever his
reasons for being there, it was certain that his influence must make
itself felt far beyond the range of his immediate duties. Whether this
influence would be exerted for good or ill it was impossible to
forecast; but much as Odo admired de Crucis, he could not forget that
the Jesuit, by his own avowal, was still the servant of the greatest
organised opposition to moral and intellectual freedom that the world
had ever known. That this opposition was not always actively manifested
Odo was well aware. He knew that the Jesuit spirit moved in many
directions and that its action was often more beneficial than that of
its opponents; but it remained an incalculable element in the
composition of human affairs, and one the more to be feared since, in
ceasing to have a material existence, it had acquired the dread
pervasiveness of an idea.
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