As for any
communications with his polite little friend from Florence, they
had ceased months ago. The information--speedily conveyed to
him--that Nanina was in the service of one of the most
respectable ladies in the city seemed to relieve any anxieties
which he might otherwise have felt on her account. He made no
attempt to justify himself to her; and only required that his
over-courteous little visitor of former days should let him know
whenever the girl might happen to leave her new situation.
The admirers of Father Rocco, seeing the alteration in his life,
and the increased quietness of his manner, said that, as he was
growing older, he was getting more and more above the things of
this world. His enemies (for even Father Rocco had them) did not
scruple to assert that the change in him was decidedly for the
worse, and that he belonged to the order of men who are most to
be distrusted when they become most subdued. The priest himself
paid no attention either to his eulogists or his depreciators.
Nothing disturbed the regularity and discipline of his daily
habits; and vigilant Scandal, though she sought often to surprise
him, sought always in vain.
Such was Father Rocco's life from the period of his niece's death
to Fabio's return to Pisa.
As a matter of course, the priest was one of the first to call at
the palace and welcome the young nobleman back.
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