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 canal 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 buttherfly?" continued Miss O'Kelly, putting her finger
against the glass; "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 buttherfly? 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 butterfly, 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."
She handed the earl a telegram.
"Shall I read it?" he asked.
"Of course," she answered.
He read--"_I'm richer, but no shorter. Is there a hotel in Venice big
enough to take me in? Wire answer._ PHELIM."
"Will you send this reply for me?" she asked, when the earl had read
Phelim's telegram.
"To be sure I will," he said.
"How many words are there?" she asked. "I'll pay for it."
Thus compelled, the earl read her answer--"_Come, rich or poor, long or
short. Come._ NORA."
The earl went off with the telegram, thinking.
The next afternoon the earl came out of the church--his fifth visit
since ten o'clock--and there, near the fountain, were Lady Nora and her
aunt. The earl marked them from the church steps. There was no mistaking
Miss O'Kelly's green parasol.
This time Lady Nora met him with animation. She even came toward him,
her face wreathed in smiles.
"Phelim has come!" she exclaimed.
"Quite happy--I'm sure," said the earl. "He's prompt, isn't he?"
"Yes," said Lady Nora, "he's always prompt. He doesn't lose shirt-studs,
and he never dawdles."
"Ah!" said the earl.
"Here he comes!" exclaimed Lady Nora, and she began to wave her
handkerchief.
The earl turned and saw, coming from the corner by the clock-tower, a
man. He had the shoulders of Hercules, the waist of Apollo, the legs of
Mercury. When he came closer, hat in hand, the earl saw that he had
curling chestnut locks, a beard that caressed his chin, brown eyes, and
white teeth, for he was smiling.
"Nora," he cried, as he came within distance, "your friend the cardinal
is a good one. He puts on no side. He had me up on the balcony, opened
your letter, took out the check, and read the letter before even he
looked at the stamped paper. When a man gets a check in a letter and
reads the letter before he looks at the check, he shows breedin'."
"The Earl of Vauxhall," said Lady Nora, "I present Mr. Phelim Blake."
The two men nodded; the earl, guardedly; Phelim, with a smile.
"I think, my lord," said Phelim, "that you are not in Venice for her
antiquities. No more am I. I arrived this mornin' and I've been all over
the place already. I was just thinkin' that time might hang. Twice a day
I've to go out to the yacht to propose to Nora. Durin' the intervals we
might have a crack at piquet."
The earl was embarrassed. He was not accustomed to such frankness. He
was embarrassed also by the six feet three of Phelim. He himself was
only six feet.
"I do not know piquet," he said.
"Ah," said Phelim, "it cost me much to learn what I know of it, and I
will gladly impart that little for the pleasure of your companionship. I
will play you for love."
The earl took counsel with himself--"So long as he is playing piquet
with me," he said to himself, "so long he cannot be making love to
Nora."
"How long will it take me to learn the game?" he asked.
"As long," answered Phelim, "as you have ready money. When you begin to
give due bills you have begun to grasp the rudiments of the game."
"Then," said the earl, "I shall be an apt pupil, for I shall give an IOU
the first time I lose"
"In piquet," said Phelim, squaring himself, and placing the index finger
of his right hand in his left hand, after the manner of the didactic,
"the great thing is the discard, and your discard should be governed by
two considerations--first, to better your own hand, and second, to
cripple your opponent's. Your moderate player never thinks of this
latter consideration. His only thought is to better his own hand. He
never discards an ace. The mere size of it dazzles him, and he will keep
aces and discard tens, forgetting that you cannot have a sequence of
more than four without a ten, and that you can have one of seven without
the ace, and that a king is as good as an ace, if the latter is in the
discard. I am speakin' now," continued Phelim, "of the beginner. Let us
suppose one who has spent one thousand pounds on the game, and is
presumed to have learned somethin' for his money. His fault is apt to be
that he sacrifices too much that he may count cards. I grant you that
you cannot count sixty or ninety if your opponent has cards, but you
may, if cards are tied. When I was a beginner I used to see Colonel
Mellish make discards, on the mere chance of tyin' the cards, that
seemed to me simply reckless. I soon discovered, however, that they were
simply scientific. One more thing--always remember that there is no
average card in a piquet pack. The average is halfway between the
ten-spot and the knave. Now, what are the chances of the junior hand
discardin' a ten and drawin' a higher card? In the Kildare Club they are
understood to be two and three-eighths to one against, although Colonel
Mellish claims they are two and five-eighths to one. The colonel is an
authority, but I think he is a trifle pessimistic. He--"
"There, Phelim," said Lady Nora, "I think that is enough for the first
lesson. We dine at eight. If Lord Vauxhall has nothing better to do
perhaps he will come with you."
"We'll dine on deck, Phelim, dear," said Miss O'Kelly. "You won't have
to go below."