"Go to your hotel," he said sternly. "I will see you in the morning. Goodnight." He disappeared and closed the window.
I felt that if I let this rebuff pass, I should not feel kindly towards my uncle in the morning, nor indeed at any future time. I therefore plied the knocker with my right hand, and kept the bell ringing with my left until I heard the door chain rattle within. The Cardinal's expression was grave nearly to moroseness as he confronted me on the threshold.
"Uncle," I cried, grasping his hand, "do not reproach me. Your door is never shut against the wretched. Let us sit up all night and talk."
"You may thank my position and my charity for your admission, Zeno," he said. "For the sake of the neighbors, I had rather you played the fool in my study than upon my doorstep at this hour. Walk upstairs quietly if you please. My housekeeper is a hard-working woman: the little sleep she allows herself must not be disturbed."
"You have a noble heart, uncle. I shall creep like a mouse."
"This is my study," he said as we entered an ill-furnished den on the second floor. "The only refreshment I can offer you, if you desire any, is a bunch of raisins. The doctors have forbidden you to touch stimulants, I believe."
"By heaven——!" He raised his finger. "Pardon me: I was wrong to swear. But I had totally forgotten the doctors. At dinner I had a bottle of Grave."
"Humph! You have no business to be traveling alone. Your mother promised that Bushy should come over here with you."
"Pshaw! Bushy is not a man of feeling. Besides, he is a coward. He refused to come with me because I purchased a revolver."
"He should have taken the revolver from you, and kept to his post."