"Chance certainly, seems against your schemes and mine, my lord Cardinal," he said; "for that butterfly is heart-free and indolent, whilst the woman of forty is a queen."
"Indolent, yes," mused His Eminence, "but ambitious?"
"His friends will supply the ambition," rejoined Don Miguel; "and the Crown of England is a heavy prize."
The Cardinal did not speak for a moment. He seemed buried in thought.
"I was thinking of the beautiful Lady Ursula Glynde," he said meditatively after a while.
"Beautiful indeed. But His Grace is never allowed to see her."
"But when he does——"
"Oh! if I judge him rightly, when he does see her—she is passing beautiful, remember—his roving fancy will no doubt be enchained for—shall we say—half an hour—perhaps half a day. . . . What then?"
"Half an hour!" mused the Cardinal. "Much may be done in half an hour, my lord Marquis."
"Bah!"