The Daughter of an Empress

"He was entirely in the right, your excellency. Nothing had been paid

for the fish, and Gianettino's right to purchase was perfect, and nobody

could dispute it!"

"Well, when we are in the right, we must maintain our right," said the

cardinal, after a pause, "and as the affair is known to all Rome, it

must be fought through with eclat! The fish, in all its pride of

greatness shall grace our table to-morrow!"

"We have no dish of sufficient size in which to serve it."

"Then let a new one be made," laughed the cardinal. "Take the measure of

this Goliath, and hasten to the silversmith, that he may make a silver

dish of the proper size. But see that it is completed by to-morrow

morning, and that it is richly ornamented. If Rome has heard of the

fish, so also must it hear of the dish. Hasten, therefore, Signor

Brunelli, and see that all is done as I have ordered!"

"This is, in fact, a very diverting story," said the cardinal, laughing,

when he was again alone. "We have here a monster fish which will

probably swallow my friendship with the Duke of Grimaldi! Well, we shall

see!"

The cardinal then rang for his body-servant, whom he ordered to dress

him.

"Court toilet?" asked the servant, astonished at being called to this

service at so unusual an hour.

"No, house toilet!" said the cardinal. "I shall soon receive visitors."

The shrewd cardinal had not deceived himself! In a few minutes an

equipage rolled into the court and the footman announced his highness

the Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Grimaldi.

"He is a thousand times welcome!" cried the cardinal, and as the door

now opened and the Spanish duke entered, the cardinal advanced to

receive him with open arms and a friendly smile.

"My dear, much-beloved friend, what a delightful surprise is this!" said

the cardinal.

But the duke observed neither the open arms nor the pleasant smile,

nor yet the friendly welcome of the cardinal. He strode forward with a

serious, majestic grandezza, and placing himself directly before the

cardinal, he solemnly asked: "Know you of the outrage which a servant of

your house has inflicted on mine!"

"Of an outrage?" asked the cardinal, without embarrassment. "I have been

told that your cook had a dispute with mine, because mine had bought a

fish that was too dear for yours. That is all I know."

"Then they have not told you," thundered the duke, "that your servant,

like an impudent street robber, has wrongfully seized my property. For

that fish was mine, it belonged to the Spanish embassy, and therefore

to Spain; and your servant has with outrageous insolence committed a

trespass upon the property of a foreign power!"

"Did this fish, then, actually belong to the Spanish crown?" asked

Bernis. "Was it already paid for, and legally yours?"