gotten an appointment, Pere Massoni,' said the Cardinal as
the other entered his chamber, with a deep and respectful reverence, 'an
appointment too, of your own making. There is an opinion abroad, that we
Cardinals are men of leisure, whose idle hours are at the discretion of
all; I had hoped, that to this novel theory the Pere Massoni would not
have been a convert.'

'Nor am I, your Eminence. It would ill become one who wears such a frock
as this to deny the rights of discipline and the benefits of obedience.'

'But you are late, sir?'

'If I am so, your Eminence will pardon me when I give the reason. The
entire of last night was passed by me in watching for the arrival of a
certain youth, who did not come till nigh daybreak, and even then, so
ill, so worn out and exhausted, that I have been in constant care of him
ever since.'

'And he is come--he is actually here,' cried the Cardinal eagerly.

'He is, at this moment, in the college.'

'How have you been able to authenticate his identity,--the rumour goes
that he died years ago?'

'It is a somewhat entangled skein, your Eminence, but will stand the
test of unravelment. Intervals there are, indeed, in his story, unfilled
up; lapses of time, in which I am left to mere conjecture, but his
career is traceable throughout; and I can track him from the days in
which he stood an acolyte beside our altars to the hour we now talk in.'

'It is to your sanguine hopes you have been listening rather than cold
reason, Pere.'

'Look at me, Eminence--scan me well, and say, do I look like those who
are slaves to their own enthusiasm?'

'The strongest currents are often calm on the surface.'

The Pere sighed heavily, but did not answer.

'The youth himself, too, may have aided the delusion: he is, probably,
one well suited to inspire interest: in a varied and adventurous life,
men of this stamp acquire, amid their other worldly gifts, a marvellous
power of persuasiveness.'

The Pere smiled half sadly.

'You would tell me, by that smile, Pere Massoni, that you are not to be
the victim of such seductions; that you understand mankind in a spirit
that excludes such error.'

'Far be it from me to indulge such boastfulness,' said the other meekly.

'At all events,' said the Cardinal, half peevishly, 'he who has courage
and ambition enough to play this game is, doubtless, a fellow of
infinite resource and readiness, and will have, at least, plausibility
on his side.'

'Wo