large. It must be altogether the finest thing he has ever made, when it
is finished."

"I daresay he will be very much pleased," said Maria Luisa, smiling
comfortably.

"I wish he could make the figure solid, cast and chiselled, instead of
_repoussé_," remarked Gianbattista, whose powerful hands craved heavy
work by instinct.

"It would be a pity to waste so much silver; and besides, the effects
are never so light," said Lucia, who, like most artists' daughters, knew
something of her father's work.

"What is a little silver, more or less, to the Cardinal?" asked
Gianbattista, with a little scorn; but as he met the priest's eye his
expression instantly became grave.

The apprentice was very young; he was not beyond that age at which, to
certain natures, it seems a fine thing to be numbered among such men as
Marzio's friends. But at the same time he was not old enough, nor
independent enough, to exhibit his feelings on all occasions. Don Paolo
exercised a dominant influence in the Pandolfi household. He had the
advantage of being calm, grave, and thoroughly in earnest, not easily
ruffled nor roused to anger, any more than he was easily hurt. By
character sensitive, he bore all small attacks upon himself with the
equanimity of a man who believes his cause to be above the need of
defence against little enemies. The result was that he dominated his
brother's family, and even Marzio himself was not free from a certain
subjection which he felt, and which was one of the most bitter elements