at the seventeenth.
These delays are serious! This letter from Hussey, which only reached me
last night, will show your Eminence how eagerly our answer is awaited.'

The Cardinal made a gesture of impatience, as he declined the proffered
letter.

'It is not,' said he, 'by such considerations we are to be swayed,
Massoni.'

'Hussey insists on knowing whether or not your Eminence is with them,'
said the Pere boldly, 'and if you have recognised the young Prince.'

'So, then, he knows of your secret,' said the Cardinal with a sly
malice.

'He knew of this youth's birth and station ere I did myself: he was the
confessor of the Fitzgerald family, and attended Grace on her deathbed.'

'Hussey, then, believes this story?'

'He would swear to its truth, your Eminence.'

'He is a crafty fellow, and one not easily to be deceived,' said
Caraffa, musing. 'Let me see his letter.'

He took the letter from the Pere, and perused it carefully.

'I see little in this,' said he, handing it back, 'that you have not
already told me.'

'I have endeavoured to make your Eminence acquainted with everything
that occurred,' said Massoni with downcast eyes, but yet contriving to
watch the countenance of the other attentively.

'Monsignor Hussey, then, recommends in case of any backwardness--such is
his phrase--that you yourself should reveal to this youth the story of
his descent. Have you thought over this counsel?'

'I have, your Eminence.'

'Well, and to what conclusion has it led you?'

'That there was no other course open to me,' said Massoni firmly.

The Cardinal's brow darkened, and he turned upon the Pere a look of
insolent defiance.

'So, then, Pere Massoni, this is to be a trial of skill between us; but
I will not accept the challenge, sir. It is without shame that I confess
myself unequal to a Jesuit in craftiness.'

The Pere never spoke, but stood with arms crossed and bent-down head as
if in thought.

'It must be owned, sir,' continued Caraffa scoffingly, 'that you have no
craven spirit. Most men, situated as you are, would have hesitated ere
they selected for their adversary a Prince of the Church.'

Still was Massoni silent.

'While, as to your _protege_, with one word of mine to the Minister
of Police, he would be driven out of Rome--out of the States of the
Church--as a vagabond.'

The word had scarcely been uttered, when the door opened, and Gerald
stood before them. For an instant he hesitated, abashe