in her artistic enterprises in the person of
an artist, who, in a sort of way, was considered as belonging to Casa
Braccio, though his extraordinary talent had raised him far above the
position of a dependent of the family, in which he had been born as the
son of the steward of the ancient castle and estate of Gerano. As
constantly happened in those days, the clever boy had been noticed by
the Prince,--or, perhaps, thrust into notice by his father, who was
reasonably proud of him. The lad had been taken out of his surroundings
and thoroughly educated for the priesthood in Rome, but by the time he
had attained to the age necessary for ordination, his artistic gifts had
developed to such an extent that in spite of his father's
disappointment, even the old Prince--the brother of Sister Maria
Addolorata--advised Angelo Reanda to give up the Church, and to devote
himself altogether to painting.

Young Reanda had been glad enough of the change in his prospects. Many
eminent Italians have begun life in a similar way. Cardinal Antonelli
was not the only one, for there have been Italian prime ministers as
well as dignitaries of the Church, whose origin was as humble and who
owed their subsequent distinction to the kindly interest bestowed on
them by nobles on whose estates their parents were mere peasants, very
far inferior in station to Angelo Reanda's father, a man of a certain
education, occupying a position of trust and importance.

Nor was Reanda's priestly education anything but an advantage to him, so
far as his career was concerned, however much it had raised him above
the class in which he had been born. So far as latinity and rhetoric
were to be counted he was better educated than his father's master; for
with the same advantages he had greater talents, greater originality,
and greater industry. As an artist, his mental culture made him the
intellectual superior of most of his contemporaries. As a man, ten years
of close association with the sons of gentlemen had easily enough made a
gentleman of one whose instincts were naturally as refined as his
character was sensitive and upright.

Donna Francesca, as the last of her branch of the family and an orphan
at an early age, had of course been brought up in the house of her
relatives of Gerano, and from her childhood had known Reanda's father,
and Angelo himself, who was fully ten years older than she. Some of his
first paintings had been done in the great Braccio palac