"
"The girl looked sickly when she came in here. Is she always like
that?"
"No. She has altered within the last month. I suspect our
interesting young nobleman has produced an impression. The
oftener the girl has sat to him lately, the paler and more out of
spirits she has become."
"Oh! she has sat to him, has she?"
"She is sitting to him now. He is doing a bust of some Pagan
nymph or other, and prevailed on Nanina to let him copy from her
head and face. According to her own account the little fool was
frightened at first, and gave him all the trouble in the world
before she would consent."
"And now she has consented, don't you think it likely she may
turn out rather a dangerous rival? Men are such fools, and take
such fancies into their heads--"
"Ridiculous! A thread-paper of a girl like that, who has no
manner, no talk, no intelligence; who has nothing to recommend
her but an awkward, babyish prettiness! Dangerous to me? No, no!
If there is danger at all, I have to dread it from the sculptor's
daughter. I don't mind confessing that I am anxious to see
Maddalena Lomi. But as for Nanina, she will simply be of use to
me. All I know already about the studio and the artists in it, I
know through her. She will deliver my message, and procure me my
introduction; and when we have got so far, I shall give her an
old gown and a shake of the hand; and then, good-by to our little
innocent!"
"Well, well, for your sake I hope you are the wiser of the two in
this matter.
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