I knew not that the padre guardiano
of St. Apollinare was a Venetian. I came only to copy these pictures
for my employer."
"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful are the ways of God! Paolina
Foscarelli, daughter of Jacopo and Paolina, I Fabiano---"
"Look, padre min!" cried Paolina, suddenly and sharply, turning very
pale, and grasping the parapet rung of the scaffolding as she spoke,
"look! in the bagarino there on the road, just passing the church;
certainly that must be the Signor Marchese Ludovico!--And with him--
that lady?--yes, it is--it certainly is La Lalli--the prima donna,
who has been singing at the theatre this Carnival."
She pointed as she spoke to a bagarino that had just passed the
western front of the church, and was now moving along the bit of
road visible from the high window at which the monk and Paolina were
standing.
The tone in which she spoke caused the friar to look at her first,
before turning his glance in the direction to which she pointed. She
was pale, and evidently much moved, after a fashion that, taken
together with the nature of the objects to which she drew his
attention, and the fact that it was the Marchese Ludovico who had
come to St. Apollinare to make the arrangements needed for the
artist's work there, left but little doubt in the old man's mind as
to the nature of her emotion.
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