“Macché!”
“What comes after all those Privy Cape-and-Sword Chamberlains, my dear Abbe?”
“Next, there is the Pontifical Noble Guard, the Swiss Papal Guard, the Palatine Guard of Honour, the Corps of Papal Gendarmes, the Privy Chaplains, the Privy Clerics, the suite of His Holiness. Next come the members of the Palatine Administration, the Congregations, and more Secretaries.”
“And do the Cardinals live well?”
“Yes.”
“How much do they make?”
“They get twenty thousand lire fixed salary, besides extras.”
“But that is very little!”
“Certainly! It used to be much more, at the time of the Papal States. Out of their twenty thousand lire they have to keep a carriage.”
“Those that aren’t rich must have a hard time.”