A little crowd had already assembled
to see the ladders raised and the scaffoldings put up. He
observed among them, standing near the outskirts of the throng, a
lady who attracted his attention (he was an ardent admirer of the
fair sex) by the beauty and symmetry of her figure. While he
lingered for a moment to look at her, a shaggy poodle-dog
(licking his chops, as if he had just had something to eat)
trotted by, stopped suddenly close to the lady, sniffed
suspiciously for an instant, and then began to growl at her
without the slightest apparent provocation. The steward advancing
politely with his stick to drive the dog away, saw the lady
start, and heard her exclaim to herself amazedly:
"You here, you beast! Can Nanina have come back to Pisa?"
This last exclamation gave the steward, as a gallant man, an
excuse for speaking to the elegant stranger.
"Excuse me, madam," he said, "but I heard you mention the name of
Nanina. May I ask whether you mean a pretty little work-girl who
lives near the Campo Santo?"
"The same," said the lady, looking very much surprised and
interested immediately.
"It may be a gratification to you, madam, to know that she has
just returned to Pisa," continued the steward, politely; "and,
moreover, that she is in a fair way to rise in the world. I have
just engaged her to wait at the marquis's grand ball, and I need
hardly say, under those circumstances, that if she plays her
cards properly her fortune is made.
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