"It twisted out of my fingers," continued the earl, "and rolled away, somewhere. I moved every piece of furniture in the room; I got down on all fours and squinted along the floor; I went to the dressing-table to look for another; my man, after putting out my things, had locked up everything and gone to his dinner. I couldn"t dine with you, like freedom, "with my bosom bare"--"
"No," said Miss O"Kelly, glancing down at her topazes, "you couldn"t do that."
"Certainly not," said the earl, "and so I put on my top-coat and went out to Testonni"s in the Piazza, and bought a stud. I was lucky to find them open, for it was past closing time. They told me they were working late on a hurry order. I put the stud in my shirt, raced across to the molo, jumped into a gondola, and here I am. Am I forgiven?"
"Yes," said Lady Nora; "you were only five minutes late and your excuse is, at least, ingenious. You could not have come unadorned."
"Unadorned!" exclaimed the earl; "it was a question of coming unfastened."
Pietro began to refill the cardinal"s gla.s.s, but his master stopped him.
Pietro bent and whispered. The cardinal laughed. "Pietro tells me," he said, "that this is better wine than that which I get at home and that I should make the most of it. The only difference I remark in wines is that some are red and some are white."
"That minds me of one night when Father Flynn dropped in to dine," said Miss O"Kelly--""twas he had the wooden leg, you remember, Nora, dear--and he and Phelim sat so late that I wint in with fresh candles.
"I call that good whiskey," says the father as I came in. "_Good_ whiskey?" exclaimed Phelim; "did ever you see any whiskey that was _bad_." "Now that you mintion it," says his riverince, "I never did; but I"ve seen some that was scarce." "Another bottle, Aunt Molly," says Phelim, "his riverince has a hollow leg." When I came back with the bottle they were talking to a little, wild gossoon from the hills. He was barefooted, bareheaded, and only one suspinder was between him and the police. "Is your mother bad?" asked his riverince. "Dochtor says she"ll die afore mornin"," says the gossoon. "Will you lind me a horse, Phelim?" asked his riverince. "You ride a horse, with that leg!" says Phelim. "No, I"ll drive you, in the cart;" and he went off to the stables. In five minutes he came back with the dog-cart and the gray mare. His riverince got up, with the aid of a chair, the little gossoon climbed up behind, and the gravel flew as the gray mare started. They wint a matter of ten rods and then I saw the lamps again. They had turned, and they stopped before the porch--the gray mare on her haunches. "Phelim," I says, "what ails you, you"ve a light hand whin you"re sober." His riverince leaned over and whispered--"The oil cruet, Miss Molly, and don"t let the gossoon see it," I wint in, came out with the cruet in a paper, and handed it to him. "All right, Phelim," he says, and the gray mare started. At six in the mornin" I heard the gravel crunch, and I wint to the door. There stood the gray mare, her head down, and her tail bobbin". "You"ve over-driven her, Phelim," says I. "Perhaps," says he, "but I knew you were sittin" up for me. The curse of Ireland," says he, "is that her women sit up for her men." "How is the poor woman?" I says. "She"s dead," says Phelim; "Father Flynn is waiting for the neighbors to come." "And the little gossoon?" says I.
Phelim leaned down from the dog-cart; "Aunt Molly," says he, "we can"t afford to keep what we have already, can we?" "No," says I. "Thin," says Phelim, "we can just as well afford to keep one more; so I told him to come to us, after the funeral.""
"I don"t quite follow that reasoning," said the earl.
"I am more sure than ever, that I should like Phelim," said the cardinal. "Why do you not have him on?"
"He"s six foot three," explained Miss O"Kelly; "the yacht wouldn"t fit him. He couldn"t stand up, below. There is six foot seven between decks, but the electric lights project four inches. Then the beds--there isn"t one more than six foot six. We had Phelim on board and tried him. He stayed one night. "Aunt Molly," he said, in the mornin", "Nora has a beautiful boat, plenty of towels, and a good cook. I should like to go with you, but I"m scared. I kept awake last night, with my knees drawn up, and all went well, but if ever I fall asleep and straighten out, I"ll kick the rudder out of her." We couldn"t have Phelim aboard, your imminence; he"d cancel the marine insurance."
While Miss O"Kelly had been running on, the cardinal had been politely listening. He had also been discreetly observing. He had the attribute of politicians and ecclesiastics--he could exercise all his senses together. While he was smiling at Miss O"Kelly he had seen Lady Nora take from the gold vase one of the scarlet roses, press it, for an instant, to her lips and then, under cover of the table, pa.s.s it to the earl. He had seen the earl slowly lift the rose to his face, feigning to scent it while he kissed it. He had seen quick glances, quivering lips that half-whispered, half-kissed; he had seen the wireless telegraphy of love flashing messages which youth thinks are in cipher, known only to the sender and the recipient; and he, while laughing, had tapped the wire and read the correspondence.
"It is all over," he said to himself. "They are in love. The little naked boy with the bow has. .h.i.t them both."
Promptly at nine, Pietro announced the barca. The cardinal made his adieus. "My lord," he said to the earl, "if you are for the sh.o.r.e, I should be honored by your company."
"Thank you," said the earl, "but I ordered my gondola at ten."
Lady Nora and the earl stood watching the cardinal"s lantern as it sped toward Venice. It was soon lost in the night. Lady Nora"s hand rested upon the rail. The earl covered it with his own. She did not move.
"Have you bought the cup, Bobby," she asked.
"Not yet," he answered, "but I shall have it. The treasury is closed for the annual cleaning."
"When you bring it," she said, "you will find me here. I should like you to give it me on the Tara. There is your gondola light. Aunt Molly seems to be asleep in her chair. You need not wake her to say good-night."
"I sha"n"t," said the earl.
Her hand still rested upon the rail--his hand still covered hers. She was gazing across the harbor at the countless lights of Venice. The warm night breeze from the lagoon dimpled the waters of the harbor until the reflected lights began to tremble. There was no sound, save the tinkle of the water against the side and the faint cry of a gondolier, in the distance.
"Bobby," said Lady Nora, finally, "it is nice to be here, just you and I."
He made a quick motion to take her in his arms, but she started back.
"No, no," she said, "not yet; not till you earn me. There may be many a slip "twixt the cup and"--she put her fingers to her lips.
Miss O"Kelly"s chin fell upon her topazes so sharply that she wakened with a start.
"Nora, darlin"?" she cried, looking about her.
"Here I am," said Lady Nora, coming into the light.
"Ah," said her aunt, "and Lord Robert, too. I thought he had gone. I must have had forty winks."
"I was only waiting," said the earl, "to bid you good-night."
"An Irishman," said Miss O"Kelly, "would have taken advantage of me slumbers, and would have kissed me hand."
"An Englishman will do it when you are awake," said the earl.
"That"s nice," said Miss O"Kelly; "run away home now, and get your beauty-sleep."
VI
During the following week the cardinal was so occupied with his poor that he nearly forgot his rich. He saw the yacht whenever he took his barca at the molo, and once, when he was crossing the Rialto, he caught a glimpse of Lady Nora and her aunt, coming up the ca.n.a.l in their gondola.
As for the earl, he haunted St. Mark"s. Many times each day he went to the treasury only to find it locked. The sacristan could give him no comfort. "Perhaps to-morrow, my lord," he would say when the earl put his customary question; "it is the annual cleaning, and sometimes a jewel needs resetting, an embroidery to be repaired--all this takes time--perhaps to-morrow. Shall I uncover the Palo d"Oro, my Lord, or light up the alabaster column; they are both very fine?" And the earl would turn on his heel and leave the church, only to come back in an hour to repeat his question and receive his answer.
One day the earl spoke out--"Tommaso," he said, "you are not a rich man, I take it?"
"My lord," replied Tommaso, "I am inordinately poor. Are you about to tempt me?"
The earl hesitated, blushed, and fumbled in his pocket. He drew out a handful of notes.
"Take these," he said, "and open the treasury."
"Alas, my lord," said Tommaso, "my virtue is but a battered thing, but I must keep it. I have no key."
The earl went out and wandered through the arcades. He came upon Lady Nora and Miss O"Kelly. They were looking at Testolini"s shop-windows.
Lady Nora greeted him with a nod--Miss O"Kelly with animation.
"I"m havin" a struggle with me conscience," she said.
So was the earl.
"Do ye see that b.u.t.therfly?" continued Miss O"Kelly, putting her finger against the gla.s.s; "it"s marked two hundred lire, and that"s eight pounds. I priced one in Dublin, just like it, and it was three hundred pounds. They don"t know the value of diamonds in Italy. I"ve ten pounds that I got from Phelim yesterday, in a letther. He says there"s been an Englishman at the Kildare Club for three weeks, who thought he could play piquet. Phelim is travellin" on the Continent. Now, the question in me mind is, shall I pay Father Flynn the ten pounds I promised him, a year ago Easter, or shall I buy the b.u.t.therfly? It would look illigant, Nora, dear, with me blue bengaline."
Lady Nora laughed, "I am sure, Aunt Molly," she said, "that Phelim would rather you bought the b.u.t.terfly, I"ll take care of your subscription to Father Flynn."
With an exclamation of joy, Miss O"Kelly ran into the shop.
"Nora," said the earl, "the treasury is still closed."
"Oh," said Lady Nora, "why do you remind me of such tiresome things as the treasury? Didn"t you hear Aunt Molly say that Phelim is on the Continent? I had a wire from him this morning. Read it; it"s quite Irish."