— 6 — SAN GIOVANNI
IN LATERANOIn the palace on the Aventine, Balthasar stood at a window looking over Rome. The clouds that had hung for weeks above the city cast a dull yellow glow over marble and stone; the air was hot and sultry, now and then thunder rolled over the Vatican and a flash of lightning revealed the Angel on Castel San Angelo poised above the muddy waters of the Tiber.
A furious, utter dread and terror gripped Balthasar’s heart; days had passed since his defiance of the Pope and he had heard no more of his daring, but he was afraid, afraid of Michael II., of the Church, of Heaven behind it — afraid of this woman who had risen from the dead…. He knew the number of his enemies and with what difficulty he held Rome, he guessed that the Pope intended his downfall and to put an
