But I am afraid I have annoyed you--" "Oh! Your Eminence could never--" "Never intentionally," interrupted the Cardinal.

"But it is human to err, and it is especially human to bore one's fellow-creatures with inquisitive questions.

We all have our troubles, Don Paolo, and I am yours.

Some day, perhaps, you will be a cardinal yourself--who knows?
I hope so.

And then you will have an excellent secretary, who will be much too good, even for you, and whom you can torture by the hour together with inquiries about his relations.