THE PIRATES OF SEGNA. 313 



when accident revealed them, as if ashamed of her 

 unnatural ugliness ? And canst thou be so heartless 

 as to publish to the world that strange deformity she 

 is doomed to bear through life, and which she is 

 evidently anxious to conceal 1 Wouldst thou add 

 another pang to the existence of one to whom life 

 is worse than death, and whose eternal veil is but a 

 foretaste of the Avinding-sheet and the grave 1 Thou 

 wilt not, canst not, my Antonio, make such unheard- 

 of misery thy stepping-stone to fame and fortune." 

 This impassioned appeal to all his better feelings at 

 length reached the heart of Antonio. For a short 

 time he continued to withhold the drawing ; but his 

 kindly nature triumphed. Tearing his sketch into- 

 fragments, he threw himself into the extended arms 

 of his beloved teacher, who with deep emotion placed 

 his trembling hand on the curling locks of his pupil, 

 and implored the blessing of Heaven on his better 

 feelings and purposes. 



"With a view to improve the impression he had 

 made, the painter led Antonio round the studio, and 

 sought to fix his attention upon several portraits of 

 lovely women which adorned it. " Here," said he, 

 " are heads worthy to crown that striking figure in 

 the gondola. Behold that all-surpassing portrait by 

 Giorgione, of such beauty as painters and poets may 

 dream of but never find, and yet not superhuman 

 in its type. Too impassioned for an angel, too bril- 

 liant for a Madonna, and with too much of thought 



