He had seated himself in a low fauteuil, and was
turning over the pages of the month's "Revue de Deux Mondes",
humming a little tune under his breath as he did so,--but he rose
when he saw Angela, and advanced smilingly to greet her as she
stopped short, with a little startled exclamation of surprise at the
sight of him.
"Forgive me" he said, with an expressively apologetic gesture,--
"Have I come at an inopportune moment? I saw your uncle arrive, and
I was extremely anxious to see him on a little confidential matter--
I ventured to persuade your servant to let me enter--"
"No apologies are necessary, Monsieur l'Abbe" said Angela, quickly,
"My uncle Felix is indeed here, but he is tired with his journey and
is resting--"
"Yes, I understand!" And Monsieur l'Abbe, showing no intention to
take his leave on account of the Cardinal's non-presence, bowed low
over the extended hand of "the Sovrani" as she was sometimes called
in the world of art, where her name was a bone for envious dogs-in-
the-manger to fight over--"But if I might wait a little while--"
"Your business with my uncle is important?" questioned Angela with
slightly knitted brows.
"My dear child, all business is important,"--declared the Abbe, with
a smile which spread the light of a certain satirical benevolence
all over his plump clean-shaven face, "or so we think--we who
consider that we have any business,--which is of course a foolish
idea,--but one that is universal to human nature.
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