"He was entirely in the right, your excellency. Nothing had been paid
for the fish, and Gianettino's right to purchase was perfect, and nobody
could dispute it!"
"Well, when we are in the right, we must maintain our right," said the
cardinal, after a pause, "and as the affair is known to all Rome, it
must be fought through with eclat! The fish, in all its pride of
greatness shall grace our table to-morrow!"
"We have no dish of sufficient size in which to serve it."
"Then let a new one be made," laughed the cardinal. "Take the measure of
this Goliath, and hasten to the silversmith, that he may make a silver
dish of the proper size. But see that it is completed by to-morrow
morning, and that it is richly ornamented. If Rome has heard of the
fish, so also must it hear of the dish. Hasten, therefore, Signor
Brunelli, and see that all is done as I have ordered!"
"This is, in fact, a very diverting story," said the cardinal, laughing,
when he was again alone. "We have here a monster fish which will
probably swallow my friendship with the Duke of Grimaldi! Well, we shall
see!"
The cardinal then rang for his body-servant, whom he ordered to dress
him.
"Court toilet?" asked the servant, astonished at being called to this
service at so unusual an hour.
"No, house toilet!" said the cardinal. "I shall soon receive visitors."
The shrewd cardinal had not deceived himself! In a few minutes an
equipage rolled into the court and the footman announced his highness
the Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Grimaldi.
"He is a thousand times welcome!" cried the cardinal, and as the door
now opened and the Spanish duke entered, the cardinal advanced to
receive him with open arms and a friendly smile.
"My dear, much-beloved friend, what a delightful surprise is this!" said
the cardinal.
But the duke observed neither the open arms nor the pleasant smile,
nor yet the friendly welcome of the cardinal. He strode forward with a
serious, majestic grandezza, and placing himself directly before the
cardinal, he solemnly asked: "Know you of the outrage which a servant of
your house has inflicted on mine!"
"Of an outrage?" asked the cardinal, without embarrassment. "I have been
told that your cook had a dispute with mine, because mine had bought a
fish that was too dear for yours. That is all I know."
"Then they have not told you," thundered the duke, "that your servant,
like an impudent street robber, has wrongfully seized my property. For
that fish was mine, it belonged to the Spanish embassy, and therefore
to Spain; and your servant has with outrageous insolence committed a
trespass upon the property of a foreign power!"
"Did this fish, then, actually belong to the Spanish crown?" asked
Bernis. "Was it already paid for, and legally yours?"