"
"Had he made no attempt, then, to discover Nanina?"
"Oh, yes! He had searched for her himself, and had set others
searching for her, but to no purpose. Four days of perpetual
disappointment had been enough to bring him to his senses. Luca
Lomi had written him a peace-making letter, asking what harm he
or his daughter had done, even supposing Father Rocco was to
blame. Maddalena Lomi had met him in the street, and had looked
resignedly away from him, as if she expected him to pass her. In
short, they had awakened his sense of justice and his good
nature (you see, I can impartially give him his due), and they
had got him back. He was silent and sentimental enough at first,
and shockingly sulky and savage with the priest--"
"I wonder Father Rocco ventured within his reach."
"Father Rocco is not a man to be daunted or defeated by anybody,
I can tell you. The same day on which Fabio came back to the
studio, he returned to it. Beyond boldly declaring that he
thought Nanina had done quite right, and had acted like a good
and virtuous girl, he would say nothing about her or her
disappearance. It was quite useless to ask him questions--he
denied that any one had a right to put them. Threatening,
entreating, flattering--all modes of appeal were thrown away on
him. Ah, my dear! depend upon it, the cleverest and politest man
in Pisa, the most dangerous to an enemy and the most delightful
to a friend, is Father Rocco.
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