And he was clever enough to realize that, by
embracing Catholicism at Torquemada's hands, he, the Official
Representative of Nicaragua, would be putting a feather in the priest's
cap. He was not going to put a feather in anybody's cap--not for
nothing. It was not good enough. Some strong leader of nations had once
remarked, "Every man his price." Mr. Parker liked that phrase; he was
deeply convinced of its veracity. He also had his price, and once, in a
moment of extreme financial embarrassment, he had delighted his
stepsister by announcing that he was prepared to consider the question
of conversion. He then named his price. It was a condition not to be
expressed by such terms as a gratified church might have been able to
concede--by some elevation to a higher sphere of influence or other
worldly favour; it was a figure baldly commercial, expressible, that
is, in pounds, shillings and pence.
"You've got some cheek, Freddy," was all she could bring herself to
say.
"My dear Lola, he can take it or leave it," the Commissioner had
replied, sulkily.
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