Page:Lippincotts Monthly Magazine-40.djvu/700

680 The steward came, and looked at the statue, in company with the village priest. These judges found the Aurora very large,—quite a bold flight, indeed, for the widow Cari's son. Much marble would be required for its execution.

Cesare Tommasi, moved by the eloquence of his daughter, agreed to write a letter to a certain dealer at Rome, who might be tempted to buy the work, or at least advance the requisite amount to put it into marble.

Emilia waxed derisive with delay. Her eyes glittered with a strange light, and her mouth twisted into an evil smile.

"Where will you get your marble?" she demanded of Pia, tauntingly.

Pia made no response. In this lively manifestation of her step-mother's malice she read revenge at her own escape from the paternal roof, taking her dowry with her. Each day the dwarf wrote a letter, more wild and bold in its entreaty, to the duchess, to come and see the statue, to send some word of encouragement to the sculptor.

The despondency of Guido and the sneers of Emilia maddened Pia. The letters were taken to the steward. Andrea Vanucci received them, shook his head, also counselled patience, and laid them, one by one, in his desk. He had promised the haggard little suppliant to send the missives to the duchess. Altro! So he would do, on fitting occasion, but he was a prudent man, and the world is full of eager competitors. He did not wish to endanger his position with the duke by presenting the clamorous petitions of all Spina for assistance.

Each day Pia drove forth Guido to make overtures for aid with his former colleagues.

The master of the studio received him gruffly. Guido had been too long a renegade to hope for other greeting. Workmen were plentiful. Let Guido Cari learn his place. The padrone, still angry at his defection, openly ridiculed his superior pretensions, and bade him go to the devil. He did not confess that he missed the clever hand, the innate artistic perception, the unswerving industry, which had always characterized the young marble-cutter. His code had been to extort the utmost tithe of labor for the least remuneration. The defection of Guido had been felt, and now it was his opportunity. He watched the youth knock at the other doors, where he had forestalled him. If lie did not work for him, Guido should serve no other. The padrone would see to that. Altro! He did not believe too much in the statue, although he promised himself to look at it, some time, when Guido should have suffered sufficient humiliation.

How seldom do the masters divine the ability of the pupils, or, in perceiving, aid, rather than thwart, a natural development!

A gloomy sky hung over the town, marking a changeable atmosphere, and the sirocco blew in fierce gusts from the sea, sending clouds of dust through the streets. The Carrara heights appeared pallid and gray in hue, then darkened to purple, as the clouds grew dense with threatened rain.

Pia sat in her new abode, awaiting the return of Guido Cari from one of his journeys in search of aid. No response had come to her