looked into the street. The way to the left
led to Fabio's palace, and the way to the
right to the Campo Santo, in the neighbourhood
of which Nanina lived. The priest was
just in time to see the young sculptor take
the way to the right.

After another half-hour had elapsed the
two workmen quitted the studio to go to
dinner, and Luca and his brother were left
alone.

"We may return now," said Father Rocco,
"to that conversation which was suspended
between us earlier in the day."

"I have nothing more to say," rejoined
Luca, sulkily.

"Then you can listen to me, brother, with
the greater attention," pursued the priest.
"I objected to the coarseness of your tone in
talking of our young pupil and your daughter
—I object still more strongly to your insinuation
that my desire to see them married
(provided always that they are sincerely
attached to each other) springs from a
mercenary motive."

"You are trying to snare me, Rocco, in a
mesh of fine phrases; but I am not to be
caught. I know what my own motive is for
hoping that Maddalena may get an offer of
marriage from this wealthy young gentleman—
she will have his money, and we shall
all profit by it. That is coarse and mercenary,
if you please; but it is the true reason why I
want to see Maddalena married to Fabio.
You want to see it, too- and for what reason,
I should like to know, if not for mine ?"

"Of what use would wealthy relations be
to me? What are people with money—what
is money itself—to a man who follows my
calling?"

"Money is something to everybody."

"Is it? When have you found that I have
taken any account of it ? Give me money
enough to buy my daily bread and to pay for
my lodging and my coarse cassock— and
though I may want much for the poor, for
myself I want no more. When have you found
me mercenary ? Do I not help you in this
studio for love of you and of the art with-
out exacting so much as journeyman's wages?
Have I ever asked you for more than a few
crowns to give away on feast-days among my
parishioners ? Money! money for a man who
may be summoned to Rome to-morrow, who
may be told to go at half an hour's notice on
a foreign mission that may take him to the
ends of the earth, and who would be ready to
go the moment when he was called on! Money
to a man who has no wife, no children, no
interests outside the sacred circle of the
church! Brother! do you see the dust and
dirt and shapeless marble-chips lying around
your statue there ? Cover that floor instead
with gold—and, though the litter may have
changed in colour and form, in my eyes it
would be litter still."

"A very noble sentiment, I dare say,
Rocco, but I can't echo it. Granting that
you care nothing for money, will you explain
to me why you are so anxious that Maddalena
should marry Fabio? She has had offers
from poorer men—you knew of them— but
you have never taken the least interest in her
accepting or rejecting a proposal before."

"I hinted the reason to you, months ago,
when Fabio first entered the studio."

"It was rather a vague hint, brother— can't
you be plainer to-day?"

"I think I can. In the first place, let me
begin by assuring you, that I have no objection
to the young man himself. He may be
a little capricious and undecided, but he has
no incorrigible faults that I have discovered. "

"That is rather a cool way of praising him,
Rocco."

"I should speak, of him warmly enough if
he were not the representative of an intolerable
corruption and a monstrous wrong.
Whenever I think of him I think of an injury
which his present existence perpetuates, and
if I do speak of him coldly it is only for that
reason."

Luca looked away quickly from his brother,
and began kicking absently at the marble
chips which were scattered over the floor
around him.

"I now remember," he said, "what that
hint of yours pointed at. I know what you
mean."

"Then you know," answered the priest,
"that while part of the wealth which Fabio
d'Ascoli possesses is honestly and incontestably
his own; part, also, has been inherited
by him from the spoilers and robbers of the
church ——"

"Blame his ancestors for that; don't blame
him."

"I blame him as long as the spoil is not
restored."

"How do you know that it was spoil,
after all ?"

"I have examined more carefully than
most men the records of the Civil Wars in
Italy; and I know that the ancestors of
Fabio d'Ascoli wrung from the church, in her
hour of weakness, property which they dared
to claim as their right. I know of titles to
lands signed away, in those stormy times,
under the influence of fear, or through false
representations of which the law takes no
account; I call the money thus obtained, spoil—-
and I say that it ought to be restored, and
shall be restored to the church from which it
was taken."

"And what does Fabio answer to that,
brother?"

"I have not spoken to him on the subject."

"Why not?"

"Because, I have, as yet, no influence over
him. When he is married, his wife will have
influence over him; and she shall speak."

"Maddalena, I suppose ? How do you
know that she will speak?"

"Have I not educated her? Does she not
understand what her duties are towards