e looked up anxiously as the church-clocks
struck the hour; but there was no sign for a minute or so after they
were all silent. "Is she hesitating still?" said Father Rocco to
himself.

Just as the words passed his lips, the white mantilla was waved out of
the window.

PART SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

Even the master-stroke of replacing the treacherous Italian forewoman by
a French dressmaker, engaged direct from Paris, did not at first avail
to elevate the great Grifoni establishment above the reach of minor
calamities. Mademoiselle Virginie had not occupied her new situation
at Pisa quite a week before she fell ill. All sorts of reports were
circulated as to the cause of this illness; and the Demoiselle Grifoni
even went so far as to suggest that the health of the new forewoman had
fallen a sacrifice to some nefarious practices of the chemical sort, on
the part of her rival in the trade. But, however the misfortune had been
produced, it was a fact that Mademoiselle Virginie was certainly very
ill, and another fact that the doctor insisted on her being sent to the
baths of Lucca as soon as she could be moved from her bed.

Fortunately for the Demoiselle Grifoni, the Frenchwoman had succeeded in
producing three specimens of her art before her health broke down. They
comprised the evening-dress of yellow brocaded silk, to which she had
devoted herself on the morning when she first assumed her duties
at Pisa; a black cloak and hood of an entirely new shape; and an
irresistibly fascinating dressing-gown, said to have been first brought
into fashion by the princesses of the blood-royal of France. These
articles of costume, on being exhibited in the showroom, electrified the
ladies of Pisa; and orders from all sides flowed in immediately on the
Grifoni establishment. They were, of course, easily executed by the
inferior work-women, from the specimen designs of the French dressmaker.
So that the illness of Mademoiselle Virginie, though it might cause her
mistress some temporary inconvenience, was, after all, productive of no
absolute loss.

Two months at the baths of Lucca restored the new forewoman to health.
She returned to Pisa, and resumed her place in the private work-room.
Once re-established there, she discovered that an important change had
taken place during her absence. Her friend and assistant, Brigida, had
resigned her situation. All inquiries made of the Demoiselle Grifoni
only elicited one answer: th