of daily life. Without imagination, she regarded only the practical side
of existence. Her vanity was confined to a modest wish to make the best
of her appearance, while her ambition went no further than the strictest
possibility, in the shape of a marriage with Gianbattista Bordogni, and
a simple little apartment with a terrace and pots of pinks. Had she
known how much richer her father was than she suspected him of being,
the enlargement of her views for the future would have been marked by a
descent, from the fourth story of the house which was to be her
imaginary home, to the third story. It could never have entered her head
that Gianbattista ought to give up his profession until he was too old
to work any longer. In her estimation, the mere possession of money
could not justify a change of social position. She had been accustomed
from her childhood to hear her father air his views in regard to the
world in general, but his preaching had produced but little impression
upon her. When he thought she was listening in profound attention to his
discourse, she was usually wishing that he could be made to see the
absurdity of his theories. She wished also that he would sacrifice some
of his enthusiasm for the sake of a little more quiet in the house, for
she saw that his talking distressed her mother. Further than this she
cared little what he said, and not at all for what he thought. Her mind
was generally occupied with the one subject which absorbed her thoughts,
and which had grown to be by far the most important part of her nature,
her love for Gianbattista Bordogni.

Upon that point she was inflexible. Her Uncle Paolo might have led her
to change her mind in regard to many things, for she was open to
persuasion where her common sense was concerned. But in her love for
Gianbattista she was fixed and determined. It would have been more easy
to turn her father from his ideas than to make Lucia give up the man she
loved. When Marzio had suddenly declared that she should marry the