Page:The Clergyman's Wife.djvu/62

He seized a heavy mallet, and, with a few blows, the plaster model was shattered! Constanza tried to stay his arm; even Bettina interposed, and prayed him to desist; he heeded neither. For a moment he stood before the exquisite marble form, over which he had toiled, and hoped, and rejoiced, years. With a heart-bursting cry, and the look of an executioner, he lifted his arm; it descended, and the lovely head rolled on the ground! The work of destruction went rapidly on; the hand that held the box of ointment was smitten, the white arm fell, the glorious shape was mutilated; still the blows were repeated with frantic force.

Neither Andrea, nor the young girl, nor her attendant, had heard the door open. It was not until a shriek of terror escaped from Bettina, that they beheld two old men standing upon the threshold, mute spectators of the scene.

One was the Judge who had warned Andrea, the other was the father of Constanza!

The former, fearing to trust to the sculptor's decision, had informed his noble friend of the discovery he had made, and hastened with him to Andrea's studio, at an hour too early for the statue to have been sent to the palace.

The Duke's just indignation melted at the sight of that heroic deed of self-renunciation. He recognized and respected the nobility of spirit that nerved the young sculptor's heart and arm; the man he would have spurned, an hour before, was