You now know that if I am anxious for this
marriage to take place, it is from motives entirely unconnected
with self-interest. If all the property which Fabio's ancestors
wrongfully obtained from the Church were restored to the Church
to-morrow, not one paulo of it would go into my pocket. I am a
poor priest now, and to the end of my days shall remain so. You
soldiers of the world, brother, fight for your pay; I am a
soldier of the Church, and I fight for my cause."
Saying these words, he returned abruptly to the statuette; and
refused to speak, or leave his employment again, until he had
taken the mold off, and had carefully put away the various
fragments of which it consisted. This done, he drew a
writing-desk from the drawer of his working-table, and taking out
a slip of paper wrote these lines:
"Come down to the studio to-morrow. Fabio will be with us, but
Nanina will return no more."
Without signing what he had written, he sealed it up, and
directed it to "Donna Maddalena"; then took his hat, and handed
the note to his brother.
"Oblige me by giving that to my niece," he said.
"Tell me, Rocco," said Luca, turning the note round and round
perplexedly between his finger and thumb; "do you think Maddalena
will be lucky enough to get married to Fabio?"
"Still coarse in your expressions, brother!"
"Never mind my expressions.
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