“There are no stories of their disagreeing. She has dresses, horses, carriages; a negro page, the smallest lap-dog in Italy--in short, all the luxuries that a woman can want; and a child, by-the-by, into the bargain.” “A child?” “Yes; a child, born little more than a week ago.” “Not a boy, I hope?” “No; a girl.” “I am glad of that. Those rich people always want the first-born to be an heir. They will both be disappointed. I am glad of that.” “Mercy on us, Brigida, how fierce you look!” “Do I? It’s likely enough. I hate Fabio d’Ascoli and Maddalena Lomi--singly as man and woman, doubly as man and wife. Stop! I’ll tell you what you want to know directly. Only answer me another question or two first. Have you heard anything about her health?” “How should I hear? Dressmakers can’t inquire at the doors of the nobility.” “True. Now one last question. That little simpleton, Nanina?” “I have never seen or heard anything of her. She can’t be at Pisa, or she would have called at our place for work.” “Ah! I need not have asked about her if I had thought a moment beforehand. Father Rocco would be sure to keep her out of Fabio’s sight, for his niece’s sake.” “What, he really loved that ‘thread-paper of a girl’ as you called her?” “Better than fifty such wives as he has got now! I was in the studio the morning he was told of her departure from Pisa. A letter was privately given to him, telling him that the girl had left the place out of a feeling of honor, and had hidden herself beyond the possibility of discovery, to prevent him from compromising himself with all his friends by marrying her. Naturally enough, he would not believe that this was her own doing; and, naturally enough also, when Father Rocco was sent for, and was not to be found, he suspected the priest of being at the bottom of the business. I never saw a man in such a fury of despair and rage before. He swore that he would have all Italy searched for the girl, that he would be the death of the priest, and that he would never enter Luca Lomi’s studio again--” “And, as to this last particular, of course, being a man, he failed to keep his word?”