“Ah, well,” O’Flynn went on, “the boys have a better time of it than you and I had, William. Do you remember the Provost? He had the heavy hand. Do you remember how, when he had given us a dozen a-piece, he would send us into chapel to pray for him? What do ye think of that, now, Mr. Kynnersley?” I replied with official caution that it seemed to show a certain lack of humour on the Provost’s part; or else a strong disbelief in the efficacy of prayer. If I had been in the Provost’s place I should not have given two sore boys _carte blanche_ to besiege Providence. He might have found himself an inverted Balak. And I recalled the reply of Archbishop Sumner, when Bishop Phillpotts (already quoted a few pages ago) at the end of a heated argument said it only remained for him to return to Exeter and pray for His Grace. “No,” said the Archbishop, turning pale, “don’t do anything uncharitable.” “That was neatly put for an Englishman,” said O’Flynn. “I like a clean give and take, all in good manners. Did ye ever hear of Cardinal Z.’s rebuff at his installation? There is a custom, you may have heard, that when a Cardinal Bishop is appointed he takes his title from a particular church in Rome. Cardinal Newman, for instance, was this way associated with the church of St. Giorgio in Velabro, down by the Arch of Janus, is it not, Father O’Dowd? And the story goes that Z., who had at one time aspired to be the head of a certain church in the Immortal City, which we may call St. Apollinaris, and had at that time been unsuccessful, eventually received the purple, and took his title from that same church. In due course he attended the church in full pomp to be installed; and it gave him the keenest delight to see at the head of the local clergy the man who had led the opposition against him. As he descended from his state carriage, he bowed formally to his enemy, and said as if it were part of the ceremony: “‘_Lapidem quem reprobaverunt aedificantes, hic factus est in caput anguli._’[34] “The other bowed almost to the ground, and responded: “‘A _Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris._’[35] “I doubt if history can produce a better thrust and parry.”