shall be extraordinarily hungry."

"You will order what you will, Mr. Wogan. I am a man of a small
appetite and have no preferences."

"Your Eminence's cook will be the better judge of what is seasonable.
Your Eminence will be the more likely to secure the box in the first
tier. Shall we fix a day? To-morrow, if it please you. To-morrow I shall
have the honour, then, to be your Eminence's guest."

The Cardinal started up from the table and stared at his visitor.

"You are jesting," said he.

"So little," replied Wogan, "that her Highness, the Princess Clementina,
is now at the Pilgrim Inn at Bologna."

"In Bologna!" cried the Cardinal; and he stood frowning in a great
perturbation of spirit. "This is great news," he said, but in a doubtful
voice which Wogan did not understand. "This is great news, to be sure;"
and he took a turn or two across the room.

"Not wholly pleasant news, one might almost think," said Wogan, in some
perplexity.

"Never was better news," exclaimed the Cardinal, hastily,--a trifle too
hastily, it seemed to Wogan. "But it surprises one. Even the King did
not expect this most desirable issue. For the King's in Spain. It is
that which troubles me. Her Highness comes to Bologna, and the King's in
Spain."

"Yes," said Wogan, with a wary eye upon his Eminence. "Why is the King
in Spain?"

"There is pressing business in Spain,--an expedition from Cadiz. The
King's presence there was urged most earnestly. He had no hope you would
succeed. I myself have some share in the blame. I did not hide from you
my thought, Mr. Wogan."

Wogan was not all reassured. He could not but remember that the excuse
for the King's absence which the Cardinal now made to him was precisely
that which he himself had invented to appease Clementina at Innspruck.
It was the simple, natural excuse which came first of all to the
tongue's tip, but--but it did not satisfy. There was, besides, too much
flurry and agitation in the Cardinal's manner. Even now that he was
taking snuff, he spilled the most of it from the trembling of his
fingers. Moreover, he must give reason upon reason for his perturbation
the while he let his supper get cold.

"Her Highness I cannot but feel will have reason to think slightly of
our welcome. A young girl, she will expect, and rightly, something more
of ceremony as her due."

"Your Eminence does not know her," interrupted Wogan, with some
sharpness. His Eminence was adroit enough to seize