THE SECRETThe mob had stormed the Vatican; Octavian Colonna, with a handful of fighting men, ascended the undefended marble staircase. With the Lord Colonna was Theirry of Dendermonde, who had entered Rome that morning by the Appian Gate and headed a faction of the lawless crowd in their wild attack on the Vatican. To himself he kept saying: “I shall know, she did not come; I shall know, she did not come.”
It was early morning; the terrific storm of last night still lingered over Rome; flashes of blue light divided the murky clouds and the thunder hung about the Aventine; the Colonna grew afraid; he waited below in the gorgeous audience-chamber and sent up to the Pope’s apartments, demanding his submission and promising him safety.
The overawed crowd retired into the courtyard and the Pi
