service. Even without his cassock, I imagine, you would have
divined him for a clergyman--he bore the clerical impress, that
odd indefinable air of clericism which everyone recognises,
though it might not be altogether easy to tell just where or
from what it takes its origin. In the garb of an Anglican
--there being nothing, at first blush, necessarily Italian,
necessarily un-English, in his face--he would have struck you,
I think, as a pleasant, shrewd old parson of the scholarly
--earnest type, mildly donnish, with a fondness for gentle mirth.
What, however, you would scarcely have divined--unless you had
chanced to notice, inconspicuous in this sober light, the red
sash round his waist, or the amethyst on the third finger of
his right hand--was his rank in the Roman hierarchy. I have
the honour of presenting his Eminence Egidio Maria Cardinal
Udeschini, formerly Bishop of Cittareggio, Prefect of the
Congregation of Archives and Inscriptions.

That was his title ecclesiastical. He had two other titles.
He was a Prince of the Udeschini by accident of birth. But his
third title was perhaps his most curious. It had been
conferred upon him informally by the populace of the Roman slum
in which his titular church, St. Mary of the Lilies, was
situated: the little Uncle of the Poor.

As Italians measure wealth, Cardinal Udeschini was a wealthy
man. What with his private fortune and official stipends, he
commanded an income of something like a hundred thousand lire.
He allowed himself five thousand lire a year for food,
clothing, and general expenses. Lodging and service he had for
nothing in the palace of his family. The remaining ninety-odd