The Turquoise Cup, and, The Desert | Page 2

the gondolier type. I speak it mostly with my arms,"
and he began to gesticulate.
"I understand," said the cardinal, smiling, "and I fear that my English is
open to some criticism. I picked it up in the University of Oxford. My
friends in the Vatican tell me that it is a patois."
"I dare say," said the young man. "I was at Cambridge."
"Ah," said the cardinal, "how unfortunate. Still, we may be able to
understand one another. Will you have some tea? It is a habit I
contracted in England, and I find it to be a good one. I sit here at five
o'clock, drink my cup of tea, feed the pigeons that light upon the railing,
and have a half-hour in which to remember how great is England,
and"--with a bow--"how much the rest of the world owes to her."
"A decent sort of chap, for an Italian," thought the earl. The cardinal
busied himself with the tea-pot.

"Your grace," said the earl, finally, "I came here in trouble."
"It cannot be of long standing," said the cardinal. "You do not look like
one who has passed through the fire."
"No," said the earl, "but I scarcely know what to say to you. I am
embarrassed."
"My son," said the cardinal, "when an Englishman is embarrassed he is
truly penitent. You may begin as abruptly as you choose. Are you a
Catholic?"
"No," replied the earl, "I am of the Church of England."
The cardinal shrugged his shoulders the least bit. "I never cease to
admire your countrymen," he said, "On Sundays they say, 'I believe in
the Holy Catholic Church,' and, on work-days, they say, 'I believe in
the Holy Anglican Church.' You are admirably trained. You adapt
yourselves to circumstances."
"Yes," said the earl, a trifle nettled, "I believe we do, but at present I
find myself as maladroit as though I had been born on the Continent--in
Italy, for example."
"Good," laughed the cardinal; "I am getting to be a garrulous old man. I
love to air my English speech, and, in my effort to speak it freely, I
sometimes speak it beyond license. Can you forgive me, my lord, and
will you tell me how I can serve you?"
"I came," said the Earl of Vauxhall, "to ask you if there is any way in
which I can buy the turquoise cup."
"I do not understand," said the cardinal.
"The turquoise cup," repeated the earl. "The one in the treasury of St.
Mark's."
The cardinal began to laugh--then he suddenly ceased, looked hard at
the earl and asked, "Are you serious, my lord?"
"Very," replied the earl.
"Are you quite well?" asked the cardinal.
"Yes," said the earl, "but I am very uncomfortable."
The cardinal began to pace up and down the balcony.
"My lord," he asked, finally, "have you ever negotiated for the Holy
Coat at Treves; for the breastplate of Charlemagne in the Louvre; for
the Crown Jewels in the Tower?"
"No," said the earl; "I have no use for them, but I very much need the
turquoise cup."

"Are you a professional or an amateur?" asked the cardinal, his eyes
flashing, his lips twitching.
"As I understand it," said the earl, slowly, a faint blush stealing into his
cheeks, "an 'amateur' is a lover. If that is right, perhaps you had better
put me down as an 'amateur.'"
The cardinal saw the blush and his anger vanished.
"Ah," he said, softly, "there is a woman, is there?"
"Yes," replied the earl, "there is a woman."
"Well," said the cardinal, "I am listening."
"It won't bore you?" asked the earl. "If I begin about her I sha'n't know
when to stop."
"My lord," said the cardinal, "if there were no women there would be
no priests. Our occupation would be gone. There was a time when men
built churches, beautified them, and went to them. How is it now; even
here in Venice, where art still exists, and where there is no bourse? I
was speaking with a man only to-day--a man of affairs, one who buys
and sells, who has agents in foreign lands and ships on the seas; a man
who, in the old religious days, would have given a tenth of all his goods
to the Church and would have found honor and contentment in the
remainder; but he is bitten with this new-fangled belief of disbelief. He
has a sneaking fear that Christianity has been supplanted by electricity
and he worships Huxley rather than Christ crucified--Huxley!" and the
cardinal threw up his hands. "Did ever a man die the easier because he
had grovelled at the knees of Huxley? What did Huxley preach? The
doctrine of despair. He was the Pope of protoplasm. He beat his wings
against