Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 12.djvu/472

446 The governor moved to a distance; and, after a little while, the chaplain observed to me that it was time to be going. I followed him: the rest of the company had silently one by one disappeared. He led me to the gate of the Jesuits' Church, which rises in the air with all the splendour and really imposing effect of the architecture of these fathers. A porter came immediately toward us, and invited us to enter; but the priest held me back, observing that we must wait for the governor. The latter presently arrived in his carriage, and, stopping in the piazza, not far from the church, nodded to us to approach, whereupon all three advanced toward him. He gave the porter to understand that it was his command that he should not only show me the church and all its parts, but should also tell me in full the histories of the several altars and chapels; and, moreover, that he should open to me all the sacrists, and show me their remarkable contents. I was a person to whom he was to show all honour, and who must have every cause to speak well and honourably of Messina on his return home. "Fail not," he then said, turning to me with as much of a smile as his features were capable of,—"Fail not as long as you are here to be at my dinner-table in good time. You shall always find a hearty welcome." I had scarcely time to make him a most respectful reply before the carriage moved on.

From this moment the chaplain became more cheerful, and we entered the church. The castellan (for so we may well name him) of this fairy palace, so little suited to the worship of God, set to work to fulfil the duty so sharply enjoined to him, when Kniep and the consul rushed into the empty sanctuary, and gave vent to passionate expressions of their joy at seeing me again, and at liberty, who, they had believed, would by this time have been in safe custody. They had sat in agonies until the roguish footman (whom