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Le THE YELLOW MASK.
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 gentle-
man—she will have his money, and we skall all profit by it. That*is the
coarse and mercenary, if qe 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 tome? What are people
with money—what is money itself—to a man who follows my calling?”
‘* Money is something to everybody.” - .
“Isit? When have you found that I have taken any account of it?
Give me money enough to buy my daily bread and py for my lodging
and my coarse cassock—and though I may want much,for the poor, for
mysclf I want no more. When haye you found me mercenary? Do I not
help you in this studio for love of you and of the art without exacting so
much as a journeyman’s wages? Have I ever asked you for more than
a few crowns to give away on feast-daysamong my parishioners. Money!
money for a man who may besummoned to Rome to-morrow, who may be
told to go at half an hour’s notice on a foreign mission that may take ium
to the ends of the earth, and who would be ready to go at the moment
when he was called on! Money to a man who has no wife, no children,
no interests outside of 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 color and form, in my eyes it would be litter
etill.”
‘“‘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 Maddelena 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.”
“JT hinted the reason to you, months ago, when Fabio first entered
the studio.” . :
“Tt was rather a vague hint, brother—can’t you be plainer to-day ? ”
“IT 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.”
*That13 rather a cool way of praising him, Rocco.”
“T shonld speak of him warmly enough if he were not the representa-
tive 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
“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
T¢h —~”?
“Blame his ancestors for that; don’t blame him.”
‘‘T blame him as long as the spoil is not restored.”
** How do you know that it was 6 oil, after all?”
““T have examined more carefully than most men the record of the
Civil Wars in Italy; and I know that the ancestors of Fabio d’Ascoli
wrung trom 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 repre-
sentations of which the law takes no account—I call the money thus ob-
tained, 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?”
*T have not spoken to him on the subject.”
“Why not?” .
‘Because as yet I have no influence over him. When he is married,
his wife will have intluence 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 toward tho church, in whose bosom she has been reared?”
Luca hesitated uneasily, and walked away a step or two before he
spoke again.
‘* Does this spoil, as you call it, amount to a large sum of money?”
he asked, in an anxious whisper.
‘Ef may answer that question, Luca, at some future time,” said the
riest. ‘For the present, let it be enough that you are acquainted with
all I untertook toinform you of when we began our conversation. You now
know that if I am anxious for this marriage to take place, it is from mo-
tives entirely unconnected with self interest. If all the property which
Fabio’s ancestors wrongfully obtained from the church, were restored to
the church to-morrow, not one paulo of it would go into my pocket. Iam
&@ poor priest now, and to the end of my days shallremain so. You
soldiers of the world, brother, fight for your pay—I am a soldier of the
church, and I fight for my canse.”
Saying these words, he returned abruptly to tho statuette, and refused
to speak, or Jeave his employment again, until he had taken the mold
off, and had carefully pnt away the various fragments of which it con-
sisted. This done, he drew a writing-desk from the drawer of his work-
ing-table, and taking out a slip of paper, wrote these lines:
“Come down to the studio to-morrow. Fabio will be with us, but
Nanina will return no more.”
Withont signing what ho had written, he sealed it up, and directed
it to—‘‘ Donna Maddalena.” Then he took his hat, and handed the note
to his brother.
** Obdige me by giving that to my nicce,” he said.
“Tell me, Rocco,” said Luca, turning the note round and round per-
plexedly between his finger and thumb. ‘Do you think Maddalena will
lucky enough to get married to Fabio?” |
‘Still coarse in your expression, brother!”
“ Never mind my expression. Is it likely???
‘Yes, Luca, I think itis likely.” ~
With these words he waved his hands pleasantly to his brother, and
went out. ‘
— \
\
CHAPTER III.
Front the studio Father Rocco went straight to his own room, hard by
the church to which he was atiached. Opening a cabinet in his study, he
took from one ofits drawers a handful of small silver money—consulted
for a minute or s0 a slate on which several names and addresses were
written—provided himself with a portable ink-horn and some strips of
paper, and again went out. © . .
He directed his steps to the poorest part of the neighborhood; and,
entering some very wretched houses, was greeted by the inhabitants with
great respectand affection. The women, especially, kissed his hands
with more reverence than they would have shown to the highest crowned
headin Europe. In return he talked to them as easily and unconstrain-
edly as if they were his equals; sat down cheerfully on dirty bed-sides
and rickety benches; and distributed his httle gifts of money with the air
of a man who was paying debts rather than bestowing charity. Where he
encountered cases of illness, he pulled out his ink-horn and slips of
paper, and wrote simple prescriptions to be made up from the medicine-
chest of a neighboring convent, which served the same merciful purpose
then that is answered by dispensaries in our days, When he had ex-
hausted his money and had got through his visits, he was escorted
out of the poor quarter by a perfect train of enthusiastic followers. The
women kissed his hand again, and the men uncovered as he turned, and,
with a friendly sign, bade them farewell. a
As soon as he was alone again he walked towards the Campo Santo;
and passing the house in which Nanina lived, sauntered up and down the
street thoughtfully, for some minutes; when he at length ascended the
steep staircase that led to the room occupied by the sisters, he found the
door ajar. Pushing it open gently, he saw La Biondella, sitting with her
pretty fair profile turned towards him, eating her evening meal of bread
and grapes. At the opposite end of the room, Scarammuccia was perchea
up on his hind quarters in a corner, with his mouth wide open to catch
the morsel of bread which he evidently expected the child to throw to
him. What the elder sister was doing the priest had not time to see; for
the dog barked the moment he presented himself, and Nanina hastened to
the door to ascertain who the intruder might be. All that he could ob-
serve was that she waa too confused, on catching sight ofhim, to be able
to utter a word. La Biondella was the first to speak.
‘Thank you, Father Rocco,” said the child, jumping up, with her
bread in one hand and her grapes in the other: ‘*'Thank you for giving
me so much money for my dinner-mats. There they are, tied up to-
gether in one little parcel, in the corner. Nanina said she was ashamed
to think of your carrying them; and I said I knew where you lived, and I
should like to ask you to let me take them home.”
_‘*Do you think you can carry them all the way, my dear?” asked the -
rest.
pe Look, Father Rocco, see if I can’t carry them!” cried La Biondella,
cramming her bread into one of the pockets of her little apron, holding
her bunch of grapes by the stalk in her mouth, and hoisting the packet
of dinner-mats on her head in a moment. ‘See, am strong
enough to carry double,” said the child, looking up proudly into the
priest’s face,
“*Can you trust her to take them home for me?” asked Father Rocco.
turning to Nanina. ‘I want to speak to you alone, and her absence will
give me the opportunity. Can you trust her out by herself?”
**Yes, Father Rocco, she often goes out alone.” Nanina gave this
answer in low, trembling tones, and looked down confusedly on the
en, my dear,” said Father Rocco, patting the child on the
shoulder. ‘‘ And come back here to your sister, as soon as you have left
the mats.” :
La Biondella went out directly in great triumph, with Scarammuccia
walking by her side, and Keeping his muzzle suspiciously close to’ the
pocket in which she had put her bread. “Father Rocco closed the door
after them, and then, taking the one chair which the room possessed,
motioned to Nanina to sit by him on the stool.
‘*Do you believe that lam your friend, my child, and that I have always
meant well towards you?” he began.
“The best and kindest of friends,” answered Nanina.
‘Then you will hear what Ihave to say patiently; and you. will be-
lieve that I am speaking for your good, even if my words should distress
you?” (Nanina turned away her head.) ‘Now, tell me; should I bo
wrong to begin with, if I said that my brother’s pupil, the young noble-
man whom we call ‘Signor Fabio,’ had been here to see you to-day?”
(Nanina started up affrightedly from the stool.) ‘Sit down again, m
child, Tam not going to blame you. Iam only going to tell you what you
must do for the future.” .
¢ took her hand; it was cold, and it trembled violently in his,
‘J will not ask what he has been saying to you,” contmued the priest;
‘for it might distress you to answer; and Ihave, morcover, had means
of knowing that your youth and beauty have made a strong impression on
him.” I will pass over, then, all reference to the words he may have been
speaking to you; and I will come at once to what I have now to say, in
my turn. Nanina, my child, arm yourself with all your conrage,
anl promiso to me, before we part to-night, that you will see Signor -
Fabio no more.” .
Nanina turned round snddenly, and fixed her eyes on him, with an
expression of terrified credulity. ‘*No more?”
‘*You are very young, and Very innocent,” said Father Rocco; ‘ but
surely you must have thought, before now, of the difference between Sig:
nor Fabioand you. Surely you must haye often remembered that you
are low down among the ranks of the poor, and that he is high up among
the rich and the nobly-born?”
Nanina’s hands dropped ‘on tho priest’s knees. he bent her head
down on them, and began to weep bitterly.
“Surely you must have thought of that?” reiterated Father Rocco.
“Oh, Thave often, often thought of itl” murmured the girl, “I Thava
mourned over it, and cried about it in secret for many nights past. ‘He
said I looked pale and ill, and out of spirits to-day; and I told him it was
with thinking of that.” : .
“* And what did he say in return?”
Thero was no answer, Father Rocco looked down. Nanina raised her
head directly from his knees, and tried to turn it away again. Ifo took
her hand and stoppod her, .
,
