as common beeswax, and his little eyes were
bloodshot. The Cardinal pushed the purse across the polished mahogany.

'Count that money,' he said briefly, and opening the drawer of the table
he took out a sheet of paper and began to write, while the shabby
secretary counted out the gold in the palm of his hand, as if he were
used to doing it.

The letter was not long, and the Cardinal read it over to himself with
evident care before folding it. He even smiled faintly, as he had done
when he had returned Ortensia's things. He turned in the top and bottom
of the sheet so that the edges just met, and after creasing the bends
with his large pale thumb-nail he doubled the folded paper neatly, and
then turned up the ends and slipped one into the other.

'Seal it with a wafer when you have done counting,' he said, tossing the
letter to the priest, for he detested the taste of sealing-wafers, and,
moreover, thought that the red colouring matter in them was bad for the
stomach. 'How much money is there?' he asked, seeing that the secretary
had finished his task.

'Two hundred and fifty gold ducats, Eminence,' answered the latter, and
his dirty crooked fingers poured the gold back into the leathern purse.

When that was done, and the wet wafer had been slipped into its place
and pressed, the secretary handed the letter to the Cardinal for him to
address it. Instead of doing so at once, however, he turned to Ortensia,
who had been watching the proceedings in silent anxiety.

'Madam,' the great man began, in a suave tone, 'knowing everything, as I
do, you may well imagine that I am anxious to spare you the grief of
seeing your husband condemned to the galleys.'

'The galleys!' cried Ortensia in extreme terror. 'Merciful heavens!'

The Cardinal went on speaking with the utmost coolness and without
heeding her emotion.

'If what my nephew believed last night could be proved true, madam, your
husband's neck would be in great danger, and you yourself would probably
spend several years in a place of solitude and penance.'

Ortensia's horror increased, and she could no longer speak.

'Yes, madam,' continued the Cardinal inexorably, 'I have no hesitation
in saying so. My nephew believed that you and your husband had purposely
enticed him to a clandestine meeting with you, in order to have him
thrown out of a window, at the imminent risk of his life, and otherwise
maltreated by hired ruffians. It was little short of a miracle tha