forlorn hopes, and the well-trained ear of the cardinal recognized it.

"Pietro," he said to the servant who answered the bell, "I am going out.
My hat and stick. I will go a little way with you, my lord."

They went down the broad stairs together, and the earl noticed, for the
first time, that his companion limped.

"Gout?" he asked.

"No," said the cardinal; "the indiscretion of youth. I was with
Garibaldi and caught a bullet."

"Take my arm," said the earl.

"Willingly," said the cardinal, "since I know that you will bring me
into the presence of a woman worth seeing; a woman who can compel a peer
of England to meditate a theft."

"How do you know that?" exclaimed the earl; and he stopped so abruptly
that the cardinal put his free hand against his companion's breast to
right himself.

"Because," said the cardinal, "I saw your face when you said good-by to
me. It was not a pleasant face."




II