"
"A very noble sentiment, I dare say, Rocco, but I can't echo it.
Granting that you care nothing for money, will you explain to me
why you are so anxious that Maddalena should marry Fabio? She has
had offers from poorer men--you knew of them--but you have never
taken the least interest in her accepting or rejecting a proposal
before."
"I hinted the reason to you, months ago, when Fabio first entered
the studio."
"It was rather a vague hint, brother; can't you be plainer
to-day?"
"I think I can. In the first place, let me begin by assuring you
that I have no objection to the young man himself. He may be a
little capricious and undecided, but he has no incorrigible
faults that I have discovered."
"That is rather a cool way of praising him, Rocco."
"I should speak of him warmly enough, if he were not the
representative of an intolerable corruption, and a monstrous
wrong. Whenever I think of him I think of an injury which his
present existence perpetuates; and if I do speak of him coldly,
it is only for that reason."
Luca looked away quickly from his brother, and began kicking
absently at the marble chips which were scattered over the floor
around him.
"I now remember," he said, "what that hint of yours pointed at.
I know what you mean."
"Then you know," answered the priest, "that while part of the
wealth which Fabio d'Ascoli possesses is honestly and
incontestably his own; part, also, has been inherited by him from
the spoilers and robbers of the Church--"
"Blame his ancestors for that; don't blame him.
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