The eye of the lion

The tall young man with olive complexion and dark eyes entered the imposing study adorned with tapestries, superb paintings by the great masters of the Italian Renaissance, and precious stones; but he did not seem impressed. He had been in this large room several times already since his arrival in Rome; and anyway, Renaissance paintings weren’t really his thing.

But more than anything, it was the air that smelled of history, and tasted of old drafts and dust that had been locked up for centuries, that repelled him. A voice brought him out of his reflections on the atmosphere that surrounded him.

“Great news, my young friend,” said the voice.

Behind a solid cedar desk, against a magnificent back-drop of a Botticelli painting, smiling at him, dressed in his ecclesiastical gowns, was Cardinal Voquessi. His hand was caressing the case that Waiss had given him in Paris, almost tenderly.

“Your Christmas present has come before December.”

The young man looked at the case and his eyes lit up with incredulity. A broad smile came to his tanned face, revealing a set of perfect white teeth.

“It’s a miracle, Monsignor.”

“It’s not yet, but I trust that in your capable hands...” Voquessi’s eyes narrowed and smiling enigmatically, he concluded,

“It will be, Doctor Vajpayee.”

The young Hindu, winner of the Nobel Prize for Biology, could hardly contain his emotion.