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?"

"It was not paid for, but was ordered, and my servant had gone home for
the money."

"As long as it was not paid for, no one could have any claim upon it."

"You are, then, disposed to dispute the fish with me?" cried the duke.

"Should I dispute it," smilingly responded the cardinal, "that would
be the equivalent to a recognition of your right to it, which I have no
idea of making. Besides, my friend, what does this quarrel of our cooks
concern us, and what has Spain and France to do with these disputes of
our servants? They may fight out their own quarrels with each other; let
us give them leave to do so, and if they gi