After glancing with an air of satisfaction at these preparations for the collation, the lady said to Mrs. Grivois, as she pointed to the gilded arm-chair, which seemed destined for the president of the meeting: “Is there a cushion under the table, for his Eminence to rest his feet on? He always complains of cold.”
“Yes, your highness,” said Mrs. Grivois, when she had looked under the table; “the cushion is there.”
“Let also a pewter bottle be filled with boiling water, in case his Eminence should not find the cushion enough to keep his feet warm.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“And put some more wood on the fire.”
“But, my lady, it is already a very furnace. And if his Eminence is always too cold, my lord the Bishop of Halfagen is always too hot. He perspires dreadfully.”
The princess shrugged her shoulders, and said to Mrs. Grivois: “Is not his Eminence Cardinal Malipieri the superior of his Lordship the Bishop of Halfagen?”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Then, according to the rules of the hierarchy, it is for his Lordship to suffer from the heat, rather than his Eminence from the cold. Therefore, do as I tell you, and put more wood on the fire. Nothing is more natural; his Eminence being an Italian, and his Lordship coming from the north of Belgium, they are accustomed to different temperatures.”
“Just as your highness pleases,” said Mrs. Grivois, as she placed two enormous logs on the fire; “but in such a heat as there is here his Lordship might really be suffocated.”