world.

"I was in great hopes that the cardinal would have met you at dinner,"
said Lady St. Jerome, "but he wrote only this afternoon to say
unexpected business would prevent him, but he would be here in the
evening, though late."

"It must be something sudden, for I was with his eminence this morning,
and he then contemplated our meeting here."

"Nothing from abroad?"

"I should think not, or it would be known to me. There is nothing new
from abroad this afternoon: my time has been spent in writing, not
receiving, dispatches."

"And all well, I hope?"

"This Scotch business plagues us. So far as Scotland is concerned, it
is quite ripe; but the cardinal counsels delay on account of this
country, and he has such a consummate knowledge of England, that -- "

At this moment Lord St Jerome entered the room -- a grave but gracious
personage, polished but looking silent, though he immediately turned the
conversation to the weather. The monsignore began denouncing English
fogs; but Lord St. Jerome maintained that, on the whole, there were not
more fogs in England than in any other country; "and as for the French,"
he added, "I like their audacity, for, when they revolutionized the
calendar, they called one of their months Brumaire."