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.
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