e he
added, "Your Eminence."

That was almost as good as a challenge. Simon felt light-headed, and his
limbs tingled. He wanted to raise his arms and shake his fists.

De Verceuil's face turned a deep maroon, but before he could speak, a
figure also in cardinal's red appeared beside them.

"Paulus de Verceuil! Is this not the young Count de Gobignon, Peer of
the Realm? You are remiss, mon ami. You should have realized that the
French cardinals here in Orvieto would wish to meet one of France's
greatest barons."

This cardinal had a long black beard, and eyes set in deep hollows. He
could easily have presented a dour figure, but stood smiling with his
hands clasped over a broad stomach.

De Verceuil took several deep breaths, and his cheeks returned to their
normal color. "Monseigneur the Cardinal Guy le Gros, I present the Count
Simon de Gobignon," he said in a sour monotone.

Simon immediately dropped to one knee and bent his head toward the ring
the cardinal held out to him. The stone, as big as Cardinal le Gros's
knuckle, was a spherical, polished sapphire with a cross-shaped
four-pointed star glowing in its center. Holding the cardinal's cold,
soft hand, Simon touched the gem lightly with his lips.

_I believe I am supposed to gain an indulgence from kissing this ring_,
he thought. He rose to his feet. He tried to remember what he knew about
Guy le Gros. He had heard a bit about each of the fourteen French
cardinals. Le Gros, he recalled, had been a knight and a prominent
lawyer, ultimately a member of the king's cabinet. Then he had joined
the clergy. He had been the first cardinal elevated by Pope Urban.

"Doubtless you knew Count Simon's late father," said de Verceuil to le
Gros. "Since you served as a counselor to the king."

Simon wanted to shrink out of sight at the reminder of Amalric de
Gobignon. De Verceuil had mentioned him out of deliberate cruelty, Simon
was certain. He felt even more crushed when he saw the pained look that
passed briefly over Cardinal le Gros's features.

"Oh, yes, I met your father many years ago," said le Gros, his light
tone reassuring Simon a bit. "He was a tall man like you, but blond, as
I recall."

The suggestion that he did not resemble Amalric de Gobignon chilled
Simon.

"As a father of unmarried daughters, Cardinal le Gros," de Verceuil
said, "you might be interested to know that the count has no wife."

Le Gros shrugged and smiled at Simon. "His Eminence neve