Both countenance and expression
proclaimed his character frankly and freely to all who saw him.
Quick intelligence looked brightly from his eyes; and easy good
humor laughed out pleasantly in the rather quaint curve of his
lips. For the rest, his face expressed the defects as well as the
merits of his character, showing that he wanted resolution and
perseverance just as plainly as it showed also that he possessed
amiability and intelligence.
At the end of the large room, nearest to the street door, Luca
Lomi was standing by his life-size statue of Minerva; and was
issuing directions, from time to time, to some of his workmen,
who were roughly chiseling the drapery of another figure. At the
opposite side of the room, nearest to the partition, his brother,
Father Rocco, was taking a cast from a statuette of the Madonna;
while Maddalena Lomi, the sculptor's daughter, released from
sitting for Minerva's face, walked about the two rooms, and
watched what was going on in them.
There was a strong family likeness of a certain kind between
father, brother and daughter. All three were tall, handsome,
dark-haired, and dark-eyed; nevertheless, they differed in
expression, strikingly as they resembled one another in feature.
Maddalena Lomi's face betrayed strong passions, but not an
ungenerous nature. Her father, with the same indications of a
violent temper, had some sinister lines about his mouth and
forehead which suggested anything rather than an open
disposition.
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