) "Now, tell me;
should I be wrong, to begin with, if I said that my brother's
pupil, the young nobleman whom we call 'Signor Fabio,' had been
here to see you to-day?" (Nanina started up affrightedly from her
stool.) "Sit down again, my child; I am not going to blame you. I
am only going to tell you what you must do for the future."
He took her hand; it was cold, and it trembled violently in his.
"I will not ask what he has been saying to you," continued the
priest; "for it might distress you to answer, and I have,
moreover, had means of knowing that your youth and beauty have
made a strong impression on him. I will pass over, then, all
reference to the words he may have been speaking to you; and I
will come at once to what I have now to say, in my turn. Nanina,
my child, arm yourself with all your courage, and promise me,
before we part to-night, that you will see Signor Fabio no more."
Nanina turned round suddenly, and fixed her eyes on him, with an
expression of terrified incredulity. "No more?"
"You are very young and very innocent," said Father Rocco; "but
surely you must have thought before now of the difference between
Signor Fabio and you. Surely you must have often remembered that
you are low down among the ranks of the poor, and that he is high
up among the rich and the nobly born?"
Nanina's hands dropped on the priest's knees.
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