Caesar or Nothing Part 17

Out of their twenty thousand lire they have to keep a carriage."

"Those that aren't rich must have a hard time."

"Just imagine, some of them have to live in a third-floor apartment.

There have been some that bought their red robes second-hand."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are those robes so expensive?"

"Yes, they are expensive. Quite. They are made of a special cloth manufactured in Cologne."

"Are there many Cardinals who are not of rich families?"

"A great many."

"Well, you people have ruined that job."

They went to Trastevere and there they took the tram. Preciozi got out at the Piazza Venezia and Caesar went on to the end of the Via n.a.z.ionale.

_A TALK ABOUT MONEY_

"Where have you been?" asked Laura, on seeing him.

"I've been taking a walk with the abbe."

"It's evident that you find him more interesting than us women."

"Preciozi is very interesting. He is a Machiavellian. He has a candour that is a.s.sumed and a dulness that is a.s.sumed. He plays a little comedy to get out of paying, at the cafe or in the tram. He is splendid. I think, if you will pardon me for saying so, that the Italians are d.a.m.ned close."

"People that have no money are forced to be economical."

"No, that isn't so. I have known people in Madrid who made three pesetas a day, and spent two treating a friend."

"Yes, out of ostentation, out of a desire to show off. I don't like pretentious people."

"Well, I believe I prefer them to skinflints."

"Yes, that's very Spanish. A man wasting money, while his wife and children are dying of hunger.... The man who won't learn the value of money is not the best type."

"Money is filthy. If it were only possible to abolish it!"

"For my part, son, I should like less to have it abolished than to have a great deal of it." "I shouldn't. If I could carry out my plans, all I should need afterwards would be a hut to live in, a garret."

"Our ideas differ."

"These people that need clothes and jewels and perfumes fairly nauseate me.... All such things are only fit for Jews."

"Then I must surely be a Jewess."

VIII. OLD PALACES, OLD SALONS, OLD LADIES

_THE CARDINAL UNCLE_

As the Cardinal gave no indication of curiosity to see Caesar, Caesar several times said to Laura:

"We ought to call on uncle, eh?"

"Do as you choose. He isn't very anxious to see you. Apparently he takes you for an unbeliever."

"All right, that has nothing to do with calling on him."

"If you like I will go with you."

The Cardinal lived in the Palazzo Altemps. That palace is situated in the Via di S. Apellinare, opposite a seminary. The brother and sister proceeded to the palace one morning, went up the grand staircase, and in a reception-room they found Preciozi with two other priests, talking together in low tones.

One was a worn, pallid old man, with his nose and the borders of his nasal appendage extremely red. Caesar considered that so red a nose in that livid, ghastly face resembled a lantern in a melancholy landscape lighted by the evening twilight. This livid person was the house librarian.

"His Eminence is very busy," said Preciozi, after bowing to the callers.

He spoke with a different voice from the one he used outside. "I will go in, in a moment, and see if you can see him."

Caesar stepped to the window of the reception-room: one could see the court of the old palace and the colonnade surrounding it.

"This house must be very large," he said.

"You shall see it later, if you like," replied the abbe. A little after this Preciozi disappeared, and reappeared again in the opening of a gla.s.s door, saying, in the discreetly lowered voice which was no doubt that of his domestic functions:

"This way, this way."

They went into a large, cold, shabby room. Through an open door they could see another bare salon, equally dark and sombre.

The Cardinal was seated at a table; he was dressed as a monk and had the air of being in a bad humour. Laura went promptly to him and kissed his hand. Caesar bowed, and as the Cardinal did not deign to look at him, remained standing, at some distance from the table.

Laura, after having saluted her uncle as a pillar of the Church, talked to him as a relative. The Cardinal cast a rapid glance at Caesar, and then, scowling somewhat less, asked him if his mother was well and if he expected to be long in Rome.

Caesar, vexed by this frigid reception, answered shortly in a few cold words, that all of them were well.

The Cardinal's secretary, who was by the window a.s.sisting at the interview, shot angry looks at Caesar.

After a brief audience, which could not have lasted over five minutes, the Cardinal said, addressing Laura: