I
will answer for your getting such work to do as will enable you
to keep yourself honestly and independently; and I will
undertake, if you do not like your life at Florence, to bring you
back to Pisa after a lapse of three months only. Three months,
Nanina. It is not a long exile."
"Fabio! Fabio!" cried the girl, sinking again on the seat, and
hiding her face.
"It is for his good," said Father Rocco, calmly: "for Fabio's
good, remember."
"What would he think of me if I went away? Oh, if I had but
learned to write! If I could only write Fabio a letter!"
"Am I not to be depended on to explain to him all that he ought
to know?"
"How can I go away from him! Oh! Father Rocco, how can you ask me
to go away from him?"
"I will ask you to do nothing hastily. I will leave you till
to-morrow morning to decide. At nine o'clock I shall be in the
street; and I will not even so much as enter this house, unless I
know beforehand that you have resolved to follow my advice. Give
me a sign from your window. If I see you wave your white mantilla
out of it, I shall know that you have taken the noble resolution
to save Fabio and to save yourself. I will say no more, my child;
for, unless I am grievously mistaken in you, I have already said
enough."
He went out, leaving her still weeping bitterly. Not far from the
house, he met La Biondella and the dog on their way back.
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