the spur of the moment, quite sure that he could easily make it a
genuine order, though it would never be executed if his own plans for
carrying off Ortensia on Saint John's Eve succeeded.

'May I have a day in which to consider my answer?' asked the musician.

'If you like. But you will only lose twenty-four hours, since you will
have to do what the Pope asks! A commission from the Sovereign is a
command, you know. Besides, you must have a great many scraps of
compositions and odds and ends of masses among your papers, a part of a
_Credo_ here, an _Agnus Dei_ there--things you can string together and
finish in a few days. The only part that must be new will be the
Offertory for the day, unless you happen to have that too.'

'But the whole can never be harmonious if I do it in that way----'

'What has that to do with it, my dear friend?' asked Don Alberto. 'What
has conscience to do with art, pray? If you do the work the Pope will be
pleased, and you will be several hundred crowns the richer; but if you
refuse to do it, His Holiness will be angry with you and the Cardinal,
and the Cardinal will make you and me pay for the reproof he will
receive! As for the music, nothing you write can be bad, because you
have real genius, and the worst that any one may say will be that your
mass for Saint Peter's Day is not your very best work. Therefore, in my
opinion, you have no choice, and it is quite useless for you to take a
whole day to consider the matter.'

'I suppose you are right,' Stradella answered.

He was not suspicious enough to guess that it was all an invention of
Don Alberto's, and the latter had a very persuasive way with him.

'And now that it is all settled,' Altieri said pleasantly, 'I will take
my leave. For during the next three weeks your own time will be more
valuable than my company! My duty and homage to the Lady Ortensia, and
good-bye; and if you will change your mind and stay here, I shall be
much more in your debt than you in mine.'

'Thank you,' answered Stradella, rising to show him out.

When Ortensia had hurriedly left the room her intention had been to
prevent any immediate trouble, but not to hide what had happened from
her husband for more than a day or two. She was even more angry with
Pina than with Don Alberto himself, for she could not but believe that
the nurse had taken a bribe to admit him, and had then acted as if her
mistress were in love with him, or at least willing to receive