Page:Lesbia Newman - Dalton - 1889.djvu/179

 rank heaps of tolerated creeds, one of a number of decaying sects destined to be shunted off and shot as rubbish by the secular board schools? How are the mighty fallen! Mark my words. Never in the religious history of mankind will so tremendous a blunder have been committed, such an opportunity thrown away, as you and your Church will have to answer for, if you deflect from your mission now that it has been set plainly before you, and not only that, but has even been in some degree begun to be realised by the actual devotion of members of your Church to Our Lady throughout the world.’

As the cardinal hesitated for an answer, Mr Bristley said,—

‘Now, Lesbie, I think we have trespassed long enough upon his Eminence’s good-nature: it is half-past eleven. He must be as tired of us as King Agrippa was of St Paul.’

‘Not at all,’ answered the cardinal, as they rose from their chairs. ‘Agrippa may have been tired of Paul, but I am not of this young prophetess; on the contrary, I feel inclined to say to her, Almost thou persuadest me to be a—well no, not a Christian, most decidedly.’

‘And I hope that it will be not almost, but altogether,’ she replied, holding his proffered hand. ‘I hope that you will come to see, Cardinal Power, how vast a work of beneficence your exalted position might be used to achieve. Good-night, and many thanks for your kindness.’

As they walked to the Underground Railway to catch the last train for Kensington, Mr Bristley said,—

‘We've done the best we could, eh, Lesbie? Time will show whether it has been to any purpose. The conservatism of Rome has always been a hard nut to crack by any fingers softer than General Cadorna’s in 1866.’

I think I have cast my seed,’ she replied, ‘but I do not