"I have need of a good artist in my bottega to keep up its fame,"he had exclaimed stiffly. "My vision is not what it was, and I shouldbe loath to see Urbino ware fall back, whilst Pesaro and Gubbioand Castel Durante gain ground every day. Pacifica must pay thepenalty, if penalty there be, for being the daughter of a greatartist."

Mirthful, keen-witted Sanzio chuckled to himself, and went his wayin silence; for he who loved Andrea Mantegna did not bow down inhomage before the very aged master-potter's estimation of himself, whichwas in truth somewhat overweening in its vanity.

"Poor Pacifica!" he thought; "if only my 'Faello were but somedecade older!"

He, whom could not foresee the future, the splendid, wondrous,unequaled future that awaited his youthful son, wished nothing much betterfor him than a peaceful painter's life here in very aged Urbino, underthe friendly shadow of the Montefeltro's palace walls.