Mr Power again officiated. Glasses were rinsed and five small measures of whisky were poured out. This new influence enlivened the conversation. Mr Fogarty, sitting on a small area of the chair, was specially interested.

“Pope Leo XIII.,” said Mr Cunningham, “was one of the lights of the age. His great idea, you know, was the union of the Latin and Greek Churches. That was the aim of his life.”

“I often heard he was one of the most intellectual men in Europe,” said Mr Power.

“I mean, apart from his being Pope.”

“So he was,” said Mr Cunningham, “if not the most so. His motto, you know, as Pope, was Lux upon Lux — Light upon Light.”