"That horrible man! That Mephistopheles!" she cried.
"That Macchiavelli! That arch-enemy of our holy liberty!" exclaimed Del
Ferice, in theatrical tones.
"Exactly," answered Gouache. "If he could be induced to devote a quarter of an hour of his valuable time to talking with you, he would turn your convictions round his finger."
"This is too much!" cried Del Ferice, angrily.
"I think it is very amusing," said Donna Tullia, "What a pity that all Liberals are not artists, whom his Eminence could engage to paint his portrait and be converted at so much an hour!"
Gouache smiled quietly, and went on with his work.
"So he told you to go and turn Zouave," remarked Donna Tullia, after a pause, "and you submitted like a lamb."
"So far was the Cardinal from advising me to turn soldier, that he expressed the greatest surprise when I told him of my intention," returned Gouache, rather coldly.
"Indeed it is enough to take away even a cardinal's breath," answered
Madame Mayer. "I was never, never so surprised in my life!"
Gouache stood up to get a view of his work, and Donna Tullia looked at him critically.