THiE STORY OP A PICTURE.

pended a large sum of money upon her education, for
he knew that in a short time she would be raised to a
position for which she seemed in every way more
fitted than for that which she was to leave. So
earnestly at this time did she pursue every study, that
nothing seemed difficult to her, and the first steps in a
new art or accomplishment were to her only as the
beginning of a fresh source of pleasure. Thus it
happened that, when Leonardo became Signor Selvico,
Maria was ready to take her place in the circle of
society to which her fortune led her; and not only
was she a gay and lively companion for others, but she
felt that no hour could pass heavily or slowly, even
when she was alone.
 But, as we have before said, above all other em-
ployments, she took delight in the pursuit of her old
study, and it was now doubly agreeable to her, be-
cause her efforts were always attended with success.
Yet often she would stop and sigh in the midst of her
work, as she thought of the little artist whom Nature
alone had taught, and who was suddenly lost to the sight
of the few who knew him. So many times had she
thought of him, gazing abstractedly upon her pictures,
that the ideas of painting and Pietro were at last
invariably associated in her mind. Sometimes, when
she was in one of her thoughtful moods, Leonardo
would pass the window, or come into the room, and
once he told Francesca, laughingly, when they were
all together, that it did not take so long to paint a
landscape as he had thought it did, for he had often
seen Maria looking admiringly at one of hers for about
an hour, when they thought she was going to work
at it.
 The shadow which had fallen upon her in her
childhood, had never passed away, although with years
 C