"Oh, I wish you would n't turn it to a joke," said Beatrice.

"Bellarmine--a joke!" exclaimed the Cardinal. "It is the first
time I have ever heard him called so. However, I will not
press the suggestion."

"But then--? Oh, please advise me seriously. What can I do?
What can a mere unlearned woman do?"

The Cardinal took snuff. He gazed into his amethyst again,
beaming at it, as if he could descry something deliciously
comical in its depths. He gave a soft little laugh. At last
he looked up.

"Well," he responded slowly, "in an extremity, I should think
that a mere unlearned woman might, if she made an effort, ask
the heretic to dinner. I 'll come down and stay with you for a
day or two, and you can ask him to dinner."

"You're a perfect old darling," cried Beatrice, with rapture.
"He'll never be able to resist you."'

"Oh, I 'm not undertaking to discuss theology with him," said
the Cardinal. "But one must do something in exchange for a
couple of hundred lire--so I'll come and give you my moral
support."

"You shall have your lovely silver snuffbox, all the same,"
said she.