eminence coming in a carriage, so I presume it is in waiting. Let it be driven up to my door, and I will have my man put the bullion in it."
"A hundred thousand crowns," muttered the prince, taking off the mask in order to gloat on the metal at his feet.
"As you saw it made, you can freely say so," added the conjurer, "but do not make a town talk of it, for wizards are not liked in France. If I were making theories instead of solid metal, it would be a different matter."
"Then what can I do for you?" questioned the prince, with difficulty hoisting one of the fifty pound lumps in his delicate hands.
The other looked hard at him and burst into laughter without any respect.
"What is there laughable in the offer I make you?" asked the cardinal.
"Why, your lordship offers me his services, and it seems more to the purpose that I should offer mine."
"You oblige me," he said, with a clouding brow, "and that I am eager to acknowledge. But if my gratitude ought to be rated higher than I appraise it, I will not accept the service. Thank heaven, there are still enough usurers in Paris for me to find the hundred thousand crowns in a day, half on my note of hand, half on security; my episcopal ring alone is worth forty thousand livres."
Holding out his hand, white as a woman's, a diamond flashed on the ring-finger as large as a hickory nut.