"Oh, if you prefer, Punch. Everything in English is one or the
other."

Beatrice laughed. "It was the I of which especially surprised
my English ear," she explained.

"I am your debtor for two hundred lire. I cannot quarrel with
you over a particle," said he.

"But why," asked she, "why did you give yourself such
superfluous pains? Why couldn't you ask me for the money
point-blank? Why lure it from me, by trick and device?"

The Cardinal chuckled.

"Ah, one must keep one's hand in. And one must not look like a
Jesuit for nothing."

"Do you look like a Jesuit?"

"I have been told so."

"By whom--for mercy's sake?"

"By a gentleman I had the pleasure of meeting not long ago in
the train--a very gorgeous gentleman, with gold chains and
diamonds flashing from every corner of his person, and a
splendid waxed moustache, and a bald head which, I think, was
made of polished pink coral. He turned to me in the most