I
can't get on with the bust at all to my satisfaction, so I have
cut short the sitting, and given Nanina a half-holiday."
At the first sound of his voice, Maddalena, who was speaking to
her father, stopped, and, with another look of scorn at Nanina
standing trembling in the doorway, left the room. Luca Lomi
called Fabio to him as she went away, and Father Rocco, turning
to the statuette, looked to see how the plaster was hardening on
it. Seeing them thus engaged, Nanina attempted to escape from the
studio without being noticed; but the priest stopped her just as
she was hurrying by him.
"My child," said he, in his gentle, quiet way, "are you going
home?"
Nanina's heart beat too fast for her to reply in words; she could
only answer by bowing her head.
"Take this for your little sister," pursued Father Rocco, putting
a few silver coins in her hand; "I have got some customers for
those mats she plaits so nicely. You need not bring them to my
rooms; I will come and see you this evening, when I am going my
rounds among my parishioners, and will take the mats away with
me. You are a good girl, Nanina--you have always been a good
girl--and as long as I am alive, my child, you shall never want a
friend and an adviser."
Nanina's eyes filled with tears. She drew the mantilla closer
than ever round her face, as she tried to thank the priest.
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