"No work, child, that is easy enough for you to do," said
Brigida. "Are you going to the studio to-day?"
Some of the color that Nanina's cheeks wanted began to steal over
them as she answered "Yes."
"Don't forget my message, darling. And if Master Luca Lomi asks
where I live, answer that you are ready to deliver a letter to
me; but that you are forbidden to enter into any particulars at
first about who I am, or where I live."
"Why am I forbidden?" inquired Nanina, innocently.
"Don't ask questions, baby! Do as you are told. Bring me back a
nice note or message to-morrow from the studio, and I will
intercede with this lady to get you some work. You are a foolish
child to want it, when you might make more money here and at
Florence, by sitting to painters and sculptors; though what they
can see to paint or model in you I never could understand."
"I like working at home better than going abroad to sit," said
Nanina, looking very much abashed as she faltered out the answer,
and escaping from the room with a terrified farewell obeisance,
which was an eccentric compound of a start, a bow, and a
courtesy.
"That awkward child would be pretty," said Mademoiselle Virginie,
making rapid progress with the cutting-out of her dress, "if she
knew how to give herself a complexion, and had a presentable gown
on her back. Who is she?"
"The friend who is to get me into Master Luca Lomi's studio,"
replied Brigida, laughing.
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