" cried the duke. "What care I for the Jesuits
when the defence of our honor is concerned? Sir Cardinal, farewell;
however France may decide, Spain will never submit to her arrogance!"

The duke abruptly left the room, slamming the door after him.

Cardinal Bernis saw his departure with an expression of sadness.

"And such are the friendships of man," he murmured to himself; "the
slightest offence is sufficient to destroy a friendship of many years.
Well, we must reconcile ourselves to it," he continued after a pause,
"and, at all events, it has its very diverting side. For many months I
have taken pains to support Grimaldi with the pope in his defence of
the Jesuits, and now that celebrated order will be abolished because a
French cook has bought a fish that was too dear for the Spanish cook! By
what small influences are the destinies of mankind decided!

"But now I have not a moment to lose," continued the cardinal, rousing
himself from his troubled thoughts. "Grimaldi has rendered it impossible
for me longer to oppose the views of the Marquise de Pompadour; I must
now give effect to the commands of my feminine sovereign, and announce
to the pope the assent of France to his policy. To the pope, then, the
letter of the marquise may make known the will of Louis."

The cardinal hastily donned his official costume, and ordered his
carriage for a visit to the Vatican.

POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV)

Two men were walking up and down in the garden of the Quirinal, engaged
in a lively discourse. One of them was an old man of more than sixty
years. Long white locks waved about his forehead, falling like a halo on
both sides of his cheeks. An infinite mildness and clearness looked out
from his dreamy eyes, and a smile of infinite kindness played about his
mouth, but so full of sorrow and resignation that it filled one's heart
with sadness and his eyes with tears. His tall herculean form was bent
and shrunken; age had broken it, but could not take away that noble and
dignified expression which distinguished that old man and involuntarily
impelled every one to reverence and a sort of adoration. To his friends
and admirers this old man seemed a super-terrestrial being, and often in
their enthusiasm they called him their Saviour, the again-visible Son
of God! The old man would smile at this, and say: "You are right in one
respect, I am indeed a son of God, as you all are, but when you compare
me with our Saviour, it can