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diff --git a/28426.txt b/28426.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7770a0c --- /dev/null +++ b/28426.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2416 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Italian Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Italian Twins + +Author: Lucy Fitch Perkins + +Release Date: March 28, 2009 [EBook #28426] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ITALIAN TWINS *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Italian Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins. + +________________________________________________________________________ +This is a truly delightful little book, despite the sad predicament in +which the Twins find themselves. Beppo and Beppina are twelve years old +and are the older children of the aristocratic Marchese Grifoni. They +are taken by their family nurse to visit the cathedral in the centre of +the city of Florence, for it is Easter Saturday. Unfortunately they +lose contact with Teresina the nurse, and set off to find their own way +back home. But somehow they lose their way, and are wondering what +direction to take when they come across a man and woman with a +performing monkey and bear. The woman offers to take the children home, +and they all jump up into the van, drawn by a donkey. But when it gets +dark the children realise they have been kidnapped. + +They travel on through the villages, and the children give performances +of dances the woman has taught them, and sing beautifully the songs they +have learnt previously. In this way they earn their keep. The woman is +determined to get back to the island-city of Venice, which is where her +family are. After many months Beppo works out how to escape by stealing +a boat, and the children make their way due west to Padua. By chance +their own nurse Teresina and their mother the Marchesa are in Padua to +pray to Saint Antony for his help in restoring the lost Twins to their +family. Great are the rejoicings when Teresina finds the children. +________________________________________________________________________ +THE ITALIAN TWINS, BY LUCY FITCH PERKINS. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +MORNING IN THE GRIFONI PALACE. + +Near the banks of the river Arno, in an upper room of the beautiful old +palace of the Grifoni family, Beppina, the twelve-year-old daughter of +the Marchese, lay peacefully sleeping. In his own room across the hall +from hers, Beppo, her twin brother, slept also, though it was already +early dawn of Easter Saturday in the city of Florence, and both children +had meant to be up before the sun, that no hour of the precious holiday +should be lost in sleep. + +It was the jingle of donkey bells and the sound of laughing voices in +the street below her windows that at last roused Beppina. Though it was +not yet light, the peasants were already pouring into the city from +outlying villages and farms, bringing their families in donkey-carts or +wagons drawn by sleek oxen, to enjoy the wonderful events which were to +take place in the city on that holy day. + +Beppina opened her great dark eyes and sat up in bed to listen. "I'm +awake before Beppo," she whispered joyfully to herself. "I told him I +should be first. I wonder what time it is!" + +As if in answer to her question a distant clock struck five. "Five +o'clock!" murmured Beppina, and, struggling to her knees in her great +carved bed, she dipped a dainty finger in the vase of holy water which +hung on the wall near by, and crossed herself devoutly. Then, folding +her hands, she murmured an Ave Maria before the image of the Virgin +which stood on the little table beside her bed. This duty done, she +slid to the floor, thrust her little white feet into a pair of blue felt +slippers, and her arms into the sleeves of a gay wrapper, then ran +across the room to the eastern windows. + +As she pushed open the shutters, a gleam of sunshine flashed across the +room, lighting the dim frescoes on the high ceiling, and paling the +light of the little lamp which burned before the image of the Madonna. +A wandering breeze, fresh from the distant hills, blew in, making the +flame dance and flicker and flaunting a corner of the white counterpane +gayly in the air. + +Beppina leaned her arms on the wide stone window-sill, and looked out +over Florence. The sun had just risen above the blue crest of the +Apennines, its level rays tipping the Campanile and the great dome of +the Cathedral with light, and turning eastern window-panes into flaming +beacons. The glowing colour of the sky was reflected in the waters of +the Arno, which flowed beneath its many bridges like a stream of molten +gold. Pigeons wheeled and circled above the roofs, and the air was +filled with gentle croonings and the whir of wings. + +For a moment Beppina stood drinking in the freshness of the lovely +spring morning, then, stepping softly to the door of her room, she +opened it cautiously and peered into the dark corridor. She listened; +there was not a sound in the house except the gurgle of a distant snore. + +"Ah, that Teresina!" murmured Beppina to herself. "She sleeps like a +kettle boiling! First the lid rattles, then there is a whistle like the +steam. Why does she not put corks in her nose at night and shut the +noise up inside of her?" + +She slipped silently into the hall and listened at the door of Beppo's +room. She heard no sound, and was just on the point of turning the +knob, when the door flew open of itself and a boy with great dark eyes +like her own burst into the corridor and bumped directly into her. +Beppina backed hastily against the wall, and though the breath was +nearly knocked out of her, remembered to offer him her Easter greetings. + +"Buona Pasqua, Beppo mio," she gasped. "I was just going to wake you." + +"To wake me!" Beppo shouted derisively. "That's a good joke. I'm up +first, just as I said I should be! See, I am all dressed, and you--you +have not even begun!" + +Beppina laid her finger on her lips. "Hush, Beppo!" she whispered. +"Don't roar so. It's only five o'clock, and every one else in the house +is asleep. Not even the maids have stirred, and as for Teresina--listen +to her! She sleeps like the dead, though less quietly, yet she rouses +at once if the baby stirs, and if we should wake the baby at this hour, +she would be angry at us all day long." + +They listened for a moment to the appalling sounds which rolled forth +from the room where Teresina, the nurse, slept. Then Beppo said: "If +the baby can sleep through that noise, she can sleep through anything. +It sounds like a thunder-storm in the mountains." + +At that moment a wicked idea popped into his head. "I know what I'm +going to do," he whispered, grinning with delight. "I'm going to creep +into her room like a cat and drop something into her mouth. She sleeps +with it open, and I have a piece of soap just the right size!" + +"Beppo!" gasped Beppina. "Don't you dare! Teresina would then refuse +to take us to the piazza, and you know very well there is no one else to +go with us, for the governess had a headache last night and went to bed +looking as yellow as saffron." + +"Oh, but just think how funny Teresina would look, choking and +sputtering like a volcano pouring forth fire, smoke, and lava," chuckled +Beppo, who was studying geography and liked it much better than Beppina +did. + +"If you do it you'll just have to spend Easter Saturday in the house and +miss all the fun," warned Beppina. "Mammina would not let us go with +any of the other servants." + +"I don't see why she won't let us go alone," said Beppo crossly. "I +hate to go out on the street with Teresina all dressed up in her ruff +and streamers so people will know she's a baby nurse. I'm big enough to +go by myself!" + +Beppina looked despairingly at her brother. "Oh, dear!" she said, "I +wish Mammina had taken us with her to the villa instead of leaving us to +go later with Teresina and the governess, when she has everything ready +for us. I wouldn't mind missing Easter Saturday here if only we could +be up at the villa." + +"Or if only our dear Babbo had not had to go away to Rome," added Beppo +gloomily. "He would have taken us with him to see all the Easter +sights, and no thanks to Teresina either!" + +"But they did go, both of them," sighed Beppina. "So it's Teresina or +stay at home for us, and I'm sure I don't want to stay at home!" + +Beppo thrust his hands into his pockets, hunched up his shoulders, and +looked so gloomy and obstinate that Beppina saw something must be done +at once. "Oh, pazienza, Beppo mio!" she said, giving him a little +shake. "It might be worse surely. Come, let's go down to the garden +and feed the pigeons. You get the crumbs while I dress." + +"Hurry, then," said Beppo, brightening a little, as Beppina flung him a +butterfly kiss and ran back to her room. She threw on her clothes in +two minutes, fastened her long black hair with a hair-pin, and appeared +again in the corridor just as Beppo returned from the kitchen with a pan +of crumbs in his hand. + +The two children then quietly opened the door which led from the Grifoni +apartment into the public hall of the old palace and crept silently down +the long, dark stone stairs to the ground floor, where Pietro, the +porter, lived with his wife and six children. Pietro opened the door of +his own apartment and stepped into the public hall just as the two dark +figures came stealthily down the last flight. Beppo was certainly in a +mood for mischief that morning, for when he saw Pietro he crept softly +up behind him as he was buttoning the last button of his livery, and +suddenly shouted "Boom!" right in his ear! + +Pietro thought it was one of his own children who had played this saucy +trick. "Santa Maria!" he cried, wheeling about with his hands out to +catch and punish the offender. "Come here, thou thorn in the eye!" +Then, as he saw the children of the Marchese grinning at him out of the +shadows, his hand went up in a salute instead. "Buona Pasqua, Donna +Beppina!" he cried, "and you too, Don Beppo! Why are you about at this +hour in the morning scaring honest people out of their wits?" + +"Buona Pasqua, Pietro," laughed the Twins. "We are going out in the +garden, and we want you to open the door for us." + +No one but the gardener and the members of the Grifoni family ever went +into the garden, which lay at the back of the palace, for the tenants +who occupied other portions of the ancient building were not allowed to +use it, and the Marchese Grifoni lived in Florence only during the +winter months. The rest of the year--and the children thought much the +best part of it--was spent in their beautiful vine-covered villa in the +hills near Padua. + +Pietro selected a key from the jingling bunch which he carried at his +belt, and opened the old carved door. It was a charming sight which +greeted their eyes as the door swung back on its rusty hinges. The +garden was small, with a high wall all about it, over which ivy spread a +mantle of green. In the middle of the space a fountain splashed and +bubbled, and the garden borders were gay with yellow daffodils, blue +chicory, and white Florentine lilies. There were other delights also in +the Grifoni garden, for in the fountain lived Garibaldi, a turtle of +great age and dignity, and in the chinks of the walls were lizards which +liked nothing better than to be tickled with straws as they lay basking +in the sunshine. + +The moment the children appeared, a cloud of pigeons swept down from the +neighbouring roofs and begged for food. Beppina held a piece of bread +between her lips, and a fat pigeon with glistening purple feathers on +his breast instantly lit upon her shoulder. He was followed by another +and another, until she flung up her arms and sent them all skyward in a +whirl of wings, only to return again a moment later to peck the morsel +from her lips. + +As she was playing in this way with the pigeons, she chanced to glance +up at the windows of the porter's rooms which overlooked the garden. +There, gazing wistfully out at them, were six pairs of eyes, belonging +to Pietro's six children. Beppina waved her hand at them. "Come out!" +she cried gayly, and, wild with delight at such an unheard-of privilege, +the six came scrambling into the garden at once. There the eight +children played with the pigeons in the sunshine, until in an unlucky +moment Pietro's youngest baby fell into the fountain and was rescued, +screaming with fright, by Beppina, who got her own dress quite wet in +the process. + +It was at this very moment, as luck would have it, that Teresina +appeared in the doorway, her ruffled cap bristling and her hands upheld +in horror at finding the children of the Marchese Grifoni playing in the +sacred palace garden with the dirty little children of the porter's +family. + +"I have been looking everywhere for you," she said with freezing +dignity. "The priest will soon be here to bless the house, and you, +Signorina, are not half dressed, and besides, you are as wet as if you +had been swimming in the fountain! What would the Signora say if she +could see you now?" She glared at the six children of Pietro as she +spoke, and they instantly scuttled back into their own quarters like +mice who had seen the cat. Then she thumped majestically upstairs. + +The children prepared to follow, but all the brightness had gone out of +the morning, and they went slowly and sullenly. Though Teresina had a +good heart, she had a sharp tongue, and the Twins had some reason for +not loving her. It was now six months since she had first appeared +before them, carrying a little red, wrinkled baby on a pillow, and had +told them that it was their little new sister, and that now the Signora, +their mother, would love the baby much better than she loved them, and +she had laughed when she said it! Yes, believe it or not, she had +laughed! + +"Teresina is always spoiling things," said Beppo, kicking his feet +against each step as he began to climb the stairs. + +"Che, che!" said Beppina, which is Italian for "tut, tut." + +"After all, it is quite true that we must be ready for the priest. What +would Mammina say if she knew we were wet and dirty when he came?" + +Beppo's face broke suddenly into a beaming smile. "I know what I'll +do!" he cried, and disappeared into the garden again. In a moment he +came back, carrying some water from the fountain in an old flower-pot, +and went bounding upstairs two steps at a time, slopping it all the way. +Beppina followed breathlessly, and reached the top step just in time to +see that bad boy give a vigorous pull at the bell. + +There was a scrambling sound within before the door was thrown open by +Teresina, who, supposing it to be the priest, had instantly called the +other servants and flopped down upon her knees to receive his blessing, +and the sprinkling of holy water which always accompanied it. Behind +Teresina knelt Maria, the cook, and Antonia, the house-maid, with their +hands clasped and their heads reverently bent, and it was only when they +had all received a generous dose of water which was not at all holy that +they raised their heads and saw the grinning face of Beppo and the empty +flower-pot in his hand. Teresina started wrathfully to her feet, and if +the real priest had not been heard coming up the stairs at that moment +things might have gone badly with Beppo. As it was, the real priest +followed the bogus one so quickly that there was just time for the +children to slip to their knees before Padre Ugo, who was short, fat, +and breathless, entered, followed by an acolyte carrying the vessel of +holy water. + +Padre Ugo was in a tremendous hurry, for he had many other places to +visit that morning. He fairly ran through the rooms, sprinkling each +with a dash of holy water, mumbling a prayer and raising his hand in +blessing, then racing on to the next, with all the household trailing +behind him like the tail of a kite. He blessed the kitchen and +pantries, he even blessed the cat which was washing her face by the +kitchen range. Not being a religious cat, she put up her tail and fled +into the coal-hole, where she stayed until the priest had gone. + +The only room in the whole house to be missed was the one occupied by +the governess. That poor lady had locked herself in with her headache, +and she was a Protestant besides, so that room had to go unblessed the +whole year through. + +When Padre Ugo had gone, Teresina was obliged to give her whole +attention to the baby, and it was not until she and the Twins were ready +for the street that at last she said stiffly to Beppo, "To-morrow +morning, Don Beppo, you will find that the hares have left no Easter +eggs in the garden for such a naughty boy as you." + +CHAPTER TWO. + +IN THE PIAZZA. + +The clock in the reception hall had already struck eleven, when the two +children, dressed in their best, followed by Teresina, passed out +beneath the carved stone arch of the palace door into the streets of +Florence. Their way lay through the edge of the beautiful Boboli +Gardens, where lilacs bloomed, and birds were singing as they built +their nests, past churches and palaces, across the Ponte Vecchio, one of +the oldest of all the old bridges across the Arno, and then on through +narrow streets on the other side of the river, and it was nearly noon +when at last they reached the Piazza del Duomo. + +The square was a wonderful sight on that beautiful spring morning. +There in front of them rose the great Cathedral, with its mighty dome, +and beside it stood the bell-tower, which Beppina had watched from her +window in the dawn. Here also in the square was the old Baptistery, _il +bel San Giovanni_, where Beppo and Beppina, and all the other children +in Florence had been baptised when they were babies. + +From all the side streets entering the piazza there poured streams of +people, until it seemed as if everybody in the world must be there. In +that great crowd there were peasants leading donkeys, with bells +jingling from their scarlet trappings; there were carts filled with +black-eyed babies and women whose only head-covering was their own sleek +black braids; there were farmers and peddlers, noblemen and beggars, +great ladies and gypsies, bare-footed monks and tourists, black-hooded +Brothers of the Misericordia, and organ-grinders, fruit-sellers, +flower-sellers, old people and young, rich and poor, every one eager for +the great Easter spectacle to begin. + +Teresina found a place for the children and herself on the edge of the +crowd, and almost at once there appeared right before their eyes a great +black car drawn by four splendid white oxen all garlanded with flowers. +This strange black car stopped directly in front of the Cathedral; then +from the open door of the Baptistery came a solemn procession, headed by +the Archbishop bearing a brazier filled with sacred fire. The +procession disappeared within the Cathedral doors, and there was a +moment of breathless silence both within the church and without, as the +Archbishop lighted the candles on the high altar from the holy fire. + +The instant the candles flamed, the choir burst forth in a great +swelling chorus. "Glory to God in the highest," they sang, and the +bells in the Campanile began to ring as if they had suddenly gone mad. + +Then the wonderful thing happened for which every one had been waiting. +Out of the door of the Cathedral, high above the heads of the people, +there flashed a white dove! It sped along a wire to the great black +car, and the instant it touched it there was a terrific bang, then +another, and another, as hissing rockets tore their way into the sky. +The whole car seemed to blow up in a joyful burst of sound! + +"Look! Look! the Colombina!" shouted the people, and as the mechanical +dove returned along its wire to the altar, the air was filled with +shouts of "Christ is risen! Buona Pasqua! Buona Pasqua!" from a +thousand throats. + +The bells of the Campanile clashed and sang overhead, waking all the +bells in Florence and in the hills for miles around, so that, with the +singing and the ringing, there was never a more joyful noise made than +was heard in the Piazza del Duomo on that Easter Saturday in Florence! + +Teresina and the children, shouting like the others, had just turned +with the crowd to follow the car as it moved away from the Cathedral +doors, when suddenly Teresina gave a shriek of joy, and, dropping their +hands, rushed to the side of a cart which was standing beside the curb +in one of the streets opening into the square. It is not surprising +that she forgot the children for a moment, for there in the cart sat her +mother, holding in her arms Teresina's own baby, which she had left at +home in order to take care of the baby of the Marchesa. Moreover, +beside the cart was Teresina's husband, and in it there were also her +little brothers and sisters! + +The Twins, thus suddenly loosed from Teresina's grasp, were swept along +by the crowd, and when, a few moments later, she turned to look for +them, they were no longer in sight. + +Beppina clutched Beppo's arm as they were pushed along by a fat man +behind them. "We must find Teresina!" she shouted in his ear. + +"We can't get back!" Beppo shouted in reply, punching the fat man in +the stomach with his elbow and pulling Beppina closer to his side; "and +besides," he went on in a lower key, "I'm glad to get away from her. +We'll have a good time by ourselves and go home when we get ready +without being followed around by a nurse like two babies." + +"What will Mammina say?" gasped Beppina. + +"She isn't here, so she won't say anything at all," said naughty Beppo. +Then he added with an important wag of his head; "Just you stick by me; +I'll take care of you." + +Beppina had her doubts, but she considered Beppo the most remarkable boy +in the world, so she trotted obediently along with her hand in his, sure +that he was equal to any situation that might arise. + +For an hour or more the two children wandered about the piazza, carried +hither and thither in the wake of the crowds. First they followed the +black-cowled Misericordia Brothers as they bore away to the hospital a +sick old man who had fallen in the street. Then they found a marionette +show and stood entranced for a long time before it, watching the +thrilling adventures of Pantalone. After that they crept into the dim +Cathedral, now nearly empty of people, and watched the women who came to +light their tapers at the Great Paschal Candle beside the altar. It was +then that they discovered they were hungry, and, going out on the +street, they refreshed themselves with oranges bought of a fruit-vendor. + +If Teresina could have seen the children of the Marchesa as they stood +sucking oranges in the public street, it is likely she might have +fainted with horror, and been carried away to the hospital by the +black-robed Brothers of Mercy in her turn; but as it was, Teresina was +not there to see. After searching the crowds distractedly for an hour, +she had rushed back to the palace, hoping to find the Twins there before +her, and turning the whole establishment into an uproar when she found +they had not yet appeared. + +Meanwhile, the children, unconscious of time, were wandering about +enjoying their new freedom, and growing more adventurous at every step. +Though they had finished their oranges, they were still hungry, and +there was a wonderful smell of roasting chicken in the air, which Beppo +followed with the unerring instinct of a hungry boy, and soon the two +children were standing before an open cook-shop in a side street, +gnawing chicken bones and smacking their lips with as much gusto as if +they had been bred in the streets instead of a palace. + +When they left the cook-shop, with its rows of bright copper pots and +pans and its delicious smells, Beppo had only a few soldi left in his +pockets, and as for Beppina, there had been nothing but a handkerchief +in hers from the beginning. + +"Avanti!" cried Beppo, made more bold than ever by the courage which +comes with a full stomach. "Let's explore!" and, seizing the hand of +the more timid Beppina, he ventured farther and farther up the narrow +street. They had never been in this part of the city before in their +lives. They had never even dreamed that people could live in such dark, +dirty houses, more like rabbit-warrens than homes for human beings, and +on streets so narrow that Beppo could easily leap across them in one +jump. + +They made their way through groups of idle loungers, stepping cautiously +around dirty babies playing in the gutters, and past slatternly mothers +gossiping in shrill tones from doorsteps and open windows, quite +unconscious of the fact that every one turned to look with astonishment +at the strange spectacle of two well-dressed children walking alone +through the burrow-like streets of old Florence. + +At the opening of a dark passage they almost stumbled over an old woman +bent over a charcoal-brazier, where she was roasting chestnuts. + +"She looks just like a witch," whispered Beppina, making the devil's +horns with her fingers to protect herself from the Evil Eye. "Let's +hurry past." + +They shrank back against the opposite wall of the narrow passage and +tried to squeeze by, but the old woman swept out a bony hand and seized +Beppina by the skirt. + +"For the love of Santa Maria, just a few soldi, my pretty little lady," +she whined, pulling the child toward her. Her smile was so terrifying +that Beppina gave a little scream, and with Beppo's help tore herself +free of the old woman's grasp. Then the two fled still farther up the +street, followed by a storm of abuse and the laughter of the idle people +they passed in their flight. + +When at last they paused for breath, they found themselves in a +labyrinth of narrow alleys, with no idea of which way to turn to get +back to the piazza. Beppina was frightened, but Beppo said confidently, +"All we've got to do is to keep on going, and we are sure to strike +either the piazza or the river, and we shall know how to get home from +either one, so don't you be afraid." + +Inspired by his boldness, Beppina followed him from one narrow passage +to another, until at last the streets began to widen again, and they saw +before them an open square, and heard the sound of music. They ran +joyously forward and found themselves in a beautiful but strange piazza, +with a great fountain playing in the centre, and fine old buildings +surrounding it on all sides. + +The source of the music was hidden by a throng of people gathered +together near the fountain. "It's a hand-organ," cried Beppo eagerly. +"Maybe there's a monkey!" and he dashed into the midst of the crowd. + +Beppina followed close behind, and the two worked their way under the +elbows of the grown people until they reached the very centre, where +they were thrilled to find a dark, swarthy man, holding a bear by a +rope. The bear was dancing clumsily on his hind legs, and near by a +woman with black eyes and hair and great rings in her ears was grinding +an organ. On top of the organ sat a monkey in a red cap shaking a +tambourine. Behind the group stood a yellow van, drawn by two donkeys +gayly tricked out with scarlet nets and jingling bells. + +The Twins had no sooner arrived upon the scene than the music stopped, +the bear dropped upon all fours, and the monkey, hopping down from the +organ, began to leap about among the people, holding out the tambourine +for money. Then it was wonderful to see how rapidly the crowd melted +away! In a few moments the children were the only ones left. Beppo +gave his last coin to the monkey, and the woman, throwing a black look +after the disappearing crowd, ground out another tune for them on the +organ, while the monkey, to Beppo's great delight, leaped upon his +shoulder and searched his pockets with her little black paws. + +The man, meanwhile, was preparing to start away. He handed the bear's +rope to his wife and, climbing to the driver's seat of the van, cracked +his whip, and shouted, "Aiou! aiou! you laggards!" to the donkeys. The +monkey leaped from Beppo's shoulder to the back of the bear, and, as the +caravan began to move, turned somersaults on the bear's back with such +wonderful agility that no boy on earth could have resisted following +her. The woman said something to her husband which the children did not +understand, though they did not know that it was because she spoke to +him in the Venetian dialect; then she turned to Beppo and said with an +insinuating smile, "Where is it that the Signore lives?" + +Now here was a woman of sense! She called him Signore, as if he were +already a grown man! Beppo swelled with satisfaction and answered +promptly, "In the Palace Grifoni, across the river." + +"Si, si," said the woman, which in Italian means "Yes, yes." + +"We are going in that direction. Would you not like to go with us and +lead the bear?" Oh, if Teresina could have heard that! Here were +people who thought him quite big enough to lead a live bear, while she-- +and Mammina, too, for that matter--thought he still should be followed +by a nurse! + +Beppo leaped boldly forward, though Beppina tried to hold him back, and, +seizing the bear's rope, marched proudly along behind the van. The +woman laughed and clapped her hands. "Bravo, bravo!" she cried. Then, +turning to the panic-stricken Beppina, she said comfortingly: "The old +Ugolone will not hurt him. He is very old and as tame as a kitten. +See!" She gave the bear a slap and walked along beside him with her +hand on his back, and Beppina could do nothing but follow. + +For some time they trailed the van in this way, together with a small +army of boys and girls, who were consumed with envy for Beppo and hoped +they too might be allowed a turn at leading the bear. One by one they +had dropped away and returned to their homes before the Twins realised +that the afternoon was nearly spent and night was approaching. + +"We must go home now, please," said Beppina politely to the woman. + +"Si, si," said the woman, nodding her head and smiling more than ever. +"We shall soon see the river." + +This assurance quieted Beppina for a time, and she trudged patiently +along until they reached the very outskirts of the city, and still no +bridge and no river had appeared. Not Beppina only, but Beppo too now +began to be alarmed. Where were they going? Oh, if only the grey walls +of the Grifoni palace would rise before them! Beppo even began to +modify his opinion about Teresina. Her ruff and streamers would have +been as welcome a sight to him just then as an oasis to travellers in +the desert. But alas! Teresina was at that moment many miles away, and +distracted with anxiety and grief. The bewildered Beppina now began to +cry. + +"Come, my pretty," said the woman in a wheedling tone, "you are tired, +is it not so? You shall rest the weary legs." Her voice was soft, but +she seized Beppina with a grip of steel, and swung her up into the back +of the moving van. "You too, my brave one," she went on, taking the +bear's rope from Beppo's hand, and tying it to a ring in the back of the +cart. "Up you go." She gave him a shove as he scrambled up beside +Beppina, and then, tossing the monkey in after him, swung herself up +beside the children. + +The road now began to ascend, and the Twins with growing terror watched +the sun sink lower and lower behind the dome of the Cathedral, which +they could see in the distance. Beppina shook with sobs, and Beppo sat +pale and frightened as the tower and the dome, the only landmarks they +knew in Florence, grew darker and darker against the sunset sky. + +"Do not cry, madonna mia," said the woman, giving Beppina a little +shake. "You have missed your way, but what of that? You are safe with +us. If you have money in your pockets you might possibly find your way +home even yet, though it is nearly dark, and it is very dangerous for +children to go about alone." + +"But we haven't any money," said Beppo. "I gave all I had to the +monkey!" + +"Ah," said the woman, "that is bad, to go back without money! You would +spend the night in the streets without doubt, or possibly in the jail. +If the police found you they would take you for vagrants. It would be +terrible indeed if the police should get you! Still, if you think best +you can jump down and start back right now. I do not believe the bear +would hurt you, even though he does not like to have any one jump right +in front of him!" + +The children looked down at Ugolone, lumbering along behind the van. If +they jumped it must be almost on top of him, and in the darkness he +looked as big as a house and very alarming. Even Beppo lost his +swagger, and as for Beppina, she was speechless with terror. The woman +continued to cajole them. + +"Soon we shall camp beside the road for the night," she said, "and you +shall have something hot for your supper, and sleep in the van as cozy +as birds in a nest. That is surely much better than the jail! And +to-morrow--oh, la bella vita! just think, you shall grind the organ and +play with Carina all day long, and there will be no lessons!" + +There was no response to this alluring prospect. The children, +homesick, weary, terror-stricken, clung to each other in the darkness, +and shrank as far as possible from the woman, whom they now saw to be +not their friend, but their jailer. + +On and on through the deepening darkness lumbered the yellow van, until +it seemed to the unhappy children that it must be nearly morning. At +last, however, the team turned from the highroad and stopped beside a +little stream. The woman sprang out, and while her husband unharnessed +the donkeys and tied Ugolone to a tree for the night, she built a fire, +and hung a kettle over it. She put the monkey in Beppina's arms, and +sent Beppo for water from the stream, and to gather sticks for the fire. +Soon a kettleful of steaming mush was ready, and the woman, whose name +was Carlotta, called Luigi, her husband, and, giving the children each a +tin dish, bade them eat their supper. Even if it had been her favourite +food, Beppina could not have swallowed a mouthful that night, but Beppo, +though he too was homesick, could still eat, even though nothing better +than polenta was offered him. He sat down with Carlotta and Luigi +before the fire on the ground, while Beppina stayed in the back of the +van, hugging the monkey to her lonely heart and striving to keep back +the tears. + +The flickering flames lit up the trunks of the trees, making them stand +out like sentinels against the velvet darkness of the woods beyond, and +sending dancing shadows of the bear and the donkeys far across the +murmuring stream. The moon looked down through the tree-tops and the +nightingales sang plaintively in the shadows. + +After supper, while Luigi sat smoking his pipe by the fire, Carlotta +threw a heap of straw into one corner of the van, and said to the +children: "Come hither, my poverelli! Here is a soft bed for you! Lie +down and sleep!" + +Too tired to do anything else, if, indeed, there had been anything else +in the world for them to do, the children obeyed, and, clasped in each +other's arms, soon fell asleep, worn-out with sorrow and fatigue. + +CHAPTER THREE. + +IN THE MOUNTAINS. + +They were awakened next morning by the chattering of the monkey, and, +looking out from their corner, they could not for a moment remember +where they were, or how they came to be there. The sun was shining +brightly, the birds were singing, and Carlotta was up and stirring +something in a pot over the fire. Luigi had gone with the donkeys to +give them a drink, and Ugolone was standing on his hind legs beside his +tree, grunting impatiently for his breakfast. + +Beppina gazed at the strange scene for one blank moment, then, as memory +came back, she buried her head in the straw and sobbed. Beppo tried to +comfort her. + +"Don't cry, Beppinella," he whispered. "To-day we shall find some way +of returning to Florence. I feel sure of it! It might be worse. +Pazienza! We must make the best of it." + +Just then, Carlotta, hearing the muffled sobs and the murmur of his +voice, appeared at the end of the van. + +"Come out, little lost ones," she called to them. "The sun shines, and +we shall have a fine day in the mountains. See, here is Carina waiting +to greet you!" She tossed the monkey toward them as she spoke, and +disappeared around the end of the van. Soon she returned, carrying in +her hand a green blouse and a gay striped skirt. + +"Here," she said to Beppina, "I will lend these to you. Then you can +save your pretty clothes so they will be clean to wear when you return +to your Mammina." She spoke so confidently of their return that Beppina +thought perhaps the woman meant to take them back that very day. She +reluctantly put on the queer blouse and the striped skirt, while Beppo +arrayed himself in a pair of velveteen trousers which were as much too +long for him as the skirt was for Beppina. Carlotta had brought these +also, and she gave him a red sash to bind around his waist as well. +When they were equipped in these garments the two children gazed at each +other in dismay. + +"You don't look like Beppo at all. You look just like a bandit," said +Beppina. + +"And you--you look like a gypsy girl!" gasped Beppo. + +"Even Mammina wouldn't know us if she were to see us now," Beppina +whispered, despairingly. + +"That's just why that woman did it!" gasped Beppo, with sudden +illumination. "She doesn't care a bit about saving our clothes! She +wants to disguise us, so people will think we belong to them!" + +"Oh, dear!" shuddered Beppina. "Let's change back again." + +They seized their clothes, but just then they saw Carlotta's glittering +black eyes gazing in at them from the end of the van. It was as if she +knew their very thoughts. + + +"Avanti, avanti!" she called. "Is it that you are lazy? Come! We must +be on the road!" + +Not daring to linger or protest, the two strange little figures came +tumbling out of the straw at once, and, after washing in the brook, sat +down on a fallen log to eat their breakfast. Carina perched beside them +on the log, and, when she had finished her own portion, leaped on +Ugolone's back, and, leaning down, snatched away some of his breakfast +from under his nose. In vain poor old Ugolone growled and slapped at +her with his clumsy paws. He was always too slow to catch her. + +The children were so absorbed in watching this drama that they did not +notice what Carlotta was doing meanwhile, but later, when they looked +for their own clothes again, they had mysteriously disappeared, and were +not seen again. + +When they had finished breakfast, Carlotta called to Beppina, "Come +here, poverina! Your hair is full of straw. I will fix it for you." +Beppina obeyed, and the woman coaxed her tangled locks into place, +combing them with her fingers, and at last succeeded in plaiting them +into a number of tight braids which she wound about her head. "There," +said she when this was done, "now you will no longer need your hat." + +"But," said Beppina, "I want my hat! Only peasants go bare-headed." +The woman gave a short laugh, and her teeth gleamed so white between her +lips that Beppina thought of the wolf who tried to pass himself off for +Red Riding Hood's grandmother. + +"Do as you are told," said Carlotta. She smiled as she said it, but +there was such a fierce look in her face that Beppina made the sign +against the Evil Eye, with her hand behind her, and submitted silently +as Carlotta tied a red kerchief over the braids. These preparations +completed, the caravan moved on, with Luigi as usual in the driver's +seat, Carlotta leading the bear, and the Twins, carrying the monkey, +bringing up the rear. + +On and on they travelled, but in which direction the children could only +guess. There were many turns in the road, which wound constantly +upward, and with every mile the country grew more wild. Through +openings between the hills they caught fleeting glimpses of quaint +villages clinging to the mountain-sides, and of ancient castles +commanding beautiful views across fertile valleys. At one time they saw +the roofs of a great stone monastery, hidden away among olive trees. +They heard the music of its bells and caught faint echoes of the +chanting of the monks. It was then that they remembered that it was +Easter Sunday. + +"If we were at home, we should now be hunting Easter eggs and sugar +lambs in the garden," whispered Beppina. + +"Teresina said there wouldn't be any there, anyway," Beppo answered, +winking very hard; and then neither one said anything for a long time. + +All day long the donkeys plodded up the steep slopes, only stopping by +the wayside for rest and food at noon. It was evident that Luigi +thought best to keep to the least-frequented mountain ways, so all +through the sunny hours the sad little travellers walked behind the van, +or climbed inside to rest their weary feet, not knowing where they were +going and not daring to ask. + +At sunset they reached the crest of a high hill, and, looking back, they +could see far, far away in the purple distance, the twinkling lights of +the city of Florence, looking like a sky full of stars fallen to earth. +On the slopes of nearer hills there were other twinkling lights like +chains of jewels winding in and out among the trees. The mountain +villages were celebrating the Easter festival with candle-lit +processions and with singing. The words of the Easter song floated +across the blue spaces. "The Royal Banners forward go," came the faint +chant, and, mingling with the vesper song of thrush and nightingale, +lulled the tired travellers to dreamless sleep. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THEY LEARN TO DANCE. + +It was cold in the mountains, and the children shivered as Carlotta +routed them out in the early dawn of the next morning. "Come," she said +crossly, as she set up the forked sticks for the kettle, "bestir +yourselves, lazy ones! We are poor people. Do you think we can afford +to feed you and wait upon you like servants besides? To-day there must +be no more snivelling and whining. Beppo, take the pail and fetch +water. You, Beppina, gather sticks for the fire." + +Her wheedling manner was now quite gone. Instead she gave her orders +with such a threatening look that the children trembled with fear as +they hastened to obey. At a little distance from the spot where they +were encamped, a stream, fed by a mountain spring, gushed forth from a +pile of rocks, and Beppo, seizing the pail, plunged into the dark pine +woods to find it. Beppina followed, and the instant they found +themselves alone in the forest, the two hid behind a tree and held a +hurried consultation. + +"Listen, cocca mia," whispered Beppo. "I have thought this all out. +They do not mean to take us back, ever! They will keep us like slaves +to work for them! If we want to see our home again, we must obey +everything they say, no matter how hard. Then some day, when they +aren't watching, we will run away. Only not in these mountains! We +should only die of hunger and be eaten by the wolves." + +Beppina shuddered. "Oh, Beppo," she sobbed, "there is a lump in my +throat as big as an egg! I cannot swallow it. When I think of Mammina, +it seems to me I shall die!" + +Beppo gave her a little shake. "But you _must_ be brave," he said. +"Every day we will have a word together, and soon our chance will come." + +"I'll try, Beppo," said Beppina, gulping down her sobs. + +"Good girl!" said Beppo, patting her approvingly, though his own lips +trembled and his voice shook. "Don't you remember how it is in the +fairy tales? The prince _always_ kills the giants and dragons if only +he isn't afraid, even if he has to pass through enchanted forests." + +Beppina looked fearfully over her shoulder. "Oh, Beppo," she gasped, "I +didn't think of it before, but now I'm sure. This _is_ an enchanted +forest, and Carlotta is a witch woman! We must pray always to the Holy +Virgin to protect us. Promise me you will!" + +"I promise," said Beppo solemnly; "and don't you forget about the prince +either." + +Just then they heard Carlotta's voice shouting at them, and, leaping +apart, they fled to do their errands. + +When breakfast had been eaten, and the animals fed, Luigi lit his pipe +and stretched out on the ground beside the fire with the monkey beside +him. + +"Here we stay a little," he said. "Ugolone lies there like one dead. +The donkeys are tired and so am I. We have come thirty miles from +Florence." + +"Ecco!" said Carlotta. "Then there is time for bean soup." She sent +Beppo for more water, and, when the kettle was bubbling on the fire, +called the children to her side. "Tell me," she said, "can you dance?" + +"A little," quavered Beppina. "Dance, then," said the woman. Beppina +reluctantly seized her skirts, and, making a dancing-school bow, took a +few dainty steps and tripped over a stone. + +Carlotta laughed contemptuously. "Santa Maria!" she said, "you don't +call that dancing!" Then, beckoning to her husband, she cried, "But +they know nothing! They cannot earn their salt! We have made a bad +bargain. Come, then, and we will teach these ignorant ones the +trescone!" + +Luigi grunted as he rose unwillingly from his hard couch, tied the +monkey's string about a tree branch, and came forward. + +"Watch closely, both of you," said Carlotta to the children. "It is for +you to dance like Tuscans, not like marionettes. Even old Ugolone can +do better." + +Once he was roused, Luigi's weariness seemed to vanish. He suddenly +seized Carlotta's hands, and, holding her at arm's length, began to +wheel and jump, to turn and twist in all sorts of curious figures. +Sometimes the dancers' arms were linked above their heads. Sometimes +they shook a lifted foot. Faster and faster they whirled, and the +monkey, inspired by their example, began to leap and bound about at the +end of her string, chattering wildly. + +The speed of the dancers slackened like that of a spinning top, and they +came to a sudden standstill. Luigi returned to Carina and his place by +the fire, and Carlotta got out the hand-organ. All the morning she made +the children practice the figures of the dance to music, until they were +ready to drop with fatigue. While she prepared the soup for their noon +meal they were allowed to rest, but immediately afterwards the donkeys +were harnessed again, and to the music of their tinkling bells the +little cavalcade moved on. + +For some time they travelled over the steep mountain roads without +seeing a soul; then they met a girl driving a flock of sheep to pasture. +Later they overtook some peasant women walking like queens with great +loads of wood on their heads. Beyond them they passed an ox-team, and +Beppo whispered to Beppina, "It's a good sign to meet oxen in the road." +But alas, a moment later they met a priest, mumbling his prayers as he +walked. It was a glance of despair that Beppina gave her brother then, +for it is very bad luck to meet a priest in the road, as every Tuscan +child can tell you. + +Nevertheless, all these signs, bad and good, indicated that they were +approaching a town, and a few moments later they came to a stream where +women were washing clothes, and the van rumbled across a bridge and into +the open square of a small mountain village. In an instant there was +great excitement in the town, and all the inhabitants swarmed about the +van. + +Luigi climbed down from the driver's seat, with Carina on his shoulder, +and loosed the bear's rope, while Carlotta brought out the organ, and +gave the tambourine to the monkey. + +"Balla! Balla!" cried Luigi, and Ugolone rising to his hind legs +wearily began his clumsy dance. The children, meanwhile, shrank back +out of sight in the van. + +"She will make us dance like the bear, I know she will," moaned Beppina, +"and I cannot remember the steps!" She crossed herself frantically, and +said a prayer to the Virgin, but it was of no avail, for soon Carlotta's +wheedling tones reached their hiding-place. + +"Avanti, carissimi," she called, and, not daring to disobey or even to +linger, the children leaped from the back of the van into the centre of +a crowd of round-eyed villagers. The children of the Marchese Grifoni +dancing in company with a monkey and a bear for the entertainment of an +audience of peasants! The humiliation of it was almost more than they +could endure, but the Twins did their best, and the moment the +performance was over dived into the back of the van, and hid themselves +again, while Carina leaped about among the crowd, gathering the soldi in +her tambourine. + +Their stay in the village was short, for the people were poor. + +"It is a town of pigs," said Carlotta angrily, as she counted the money, +and to the great relief of the children she gave the order to move on +into the hills beyond the village. + +They stopped at one more village during the afternoon, and here things +went better. The children remembered their steps, and there were more +soldi in the tambourine, even though Ugolone sat firmly down upon his +haunches and refused to budge. In vain Luigi tugged at his rope and +shouted "Balla! Balla!" It was as if Ugolone, seeing the children +dance, had concluded that his dancing days were over, and had resigned +in their favour. + +To make up for Ugolone the Twins had to dance again and again, and then +to their great surprise Carlotta made them sing! They had voices like +the whistle of song thrushes in the spring, but how in the world could +Carlotta have guessed that? They were too astonished to refuse, even if +they had dared, so they opened their mouths and quavered out a song +about the swallow, which they had learned in the nursery at home. + +This was the song:-- + + "Pilgrim swallow, lightly winging, + Now upon the terrace sitting, + Ev'ry morn I hear thee singing, + In sad tones thy song repeating. + What may be the tale thou'rt telling, + Pilgrim swallow, near my dwelling? + + "Thou art happier far than I am; + On free wing at least thou'rt flying + Over lake and breezy mountain. + Thou canst fill the air with crying + His dear name through cave and hollow. + Thou art free, thou pretty swallow." + +It was so familiar a song that all the people joined with them in +singing it, and some of them danced to the music of the hand-organ when +it played, so that altogether the villagers had a gay time, and as a +result Carlotta found many more coins than usual in the tambourine when +the performance was over. She glanced triumphantly at her husband as +she counted the money. "We have caught two pigeons with one pea after +all," she said to him. + +"As for that lazy Ugolone, he gets no supper! If he will not work, he +shall not eat!" + +The children heard and shuddered. "She will treat us like that, too," +sobbed Beppina, "and if she's truly a witch she may even turn us into +bears!" + +Out through sunny vineyards and grey olive orchards beyond the town they +followed the winding road, and, as night came on, the weary children saw +that they were approaching a ruined castle set high on a spur of the +Apennines. The wind swept over the bare hill-top and whistled through +the windows of its ruined towers, where hundreds of years before lovely +ladies had watched their knights ride forth to battle. + +It was a bleak and lonely spot, fit only to be inhabited by ghosts, and +Beppina shivered as the wheels of the van rattled over the ancient +draw-bridge, and stopped in the overgrown court-yard. + +"I know it's enchanted," she whispered to Beppo, and Beppo, his own +teeth chattering, could only say, "Remember about the prince," to keep +up their failing courage. + +There was no sign of human beings about the place, and Luigi took +possession as if he owned it. He tied Ugolone in the ruins of what had +once been a stately banqueting-hall, and let the donkeys eat their +supper from the green grass which carpeted the court-yard. + +Soon a fire was blazing in the ruins of an ancient chimney, and the +tired travellers gathered about it for their evening meal. From the +tower came the surprised hoot of a solitary owl, and bats, disturbed by +the light, swooped in great circles about the little group as they +silently ate their polenta. Even the monkey seemed to feel the weird +spell of the place, for she cowered in a corner by the fire, chattering +to herself, while from the banqueting-hall came the complaining growls +of poor hungry Ugolone. It was to such music as this that the children +of the Marchese at last fell asleep. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +ON THE ROAD. + +When they awoke the next morning Carlotta and Luigi were nowhere in +sight. The monkey was tied to one wheel of the van, and from the +banqueting-hall came the sound of human voices, quarrelling. The tones +were so loud that the children could not help hearing the words. + +"It is all your fault!" said Luigi's voice. "It was you who made me get +the bear in the first place, and undertake this foolish trip, all +because you must again see your people in Florence. If we had but +stayed in Venice! The bear was old when we got him; he was already +tired and sick when we left Florence, and now, per Bacco, he is dead! +You would not feed him, yet it was Ugolone that we depended upon to +bring in the money. A hand-organ, a monkey--what are they? And now you +have added those brats beside for us to feed! This comes of listening +to a woman and a smooth-tongued Tuscan at that. I could beat you!" + +Carlotta's wheedling voice answered him. "Do not grieve, my angel," she +said; "you will yet see the wisdom of your Carlotta. Ugolone was old +and sick, it is true. A pest upon the villain who sold him to us! May +his eyes weep rivers of tears! But you are wrong about the children. +They are worth more than Ugolone, the donkeys, and the van, all put +together. Did you not see how they pleased the people yesterday? I +will teach them to sing more songs, and to dance the tarantella as well +as the trescone, and we shall soon forget this sorrow. When we reach +the coast, we will sell the van and the donkeys, and go back to your +beloved Venice, to live in comfort on the earnings of these brats! You +shall see!" + +"That's more of your oily Tuscan talk," growled Luigi. "Think of the +risk we run! If the ragazzini should be recognised, it would go hard +with us. Their parents will lay every trap to catch us. It is safe +enough in these mountain villages, but in the larger towns it will be a +different story. There are the police--" + +Carlotta interrupted him. "Che, che!" she cried. "You have the heart +of a chicken! I tell you, even their own mother would hardly know them +now, and it will be easy to hide them in Venice. We shall be like rats +in the walls of a house, where the cat cannot follow. As for traps--we +are too sharp for them. Even if we were to be seen and tracked, they +will not seek donkeys and a van in Venice, where there are no such +things." + +Luigi only grunted for reply, and Carlotta, seeing that her arguments +had made an impression, boldly finished her plan. + +"When we reach the coast," she said, "you remain behind to sell the van, +and I will go on to Venice with the ragazzini. We shall not be pursued +upon the boat. Courage! In a few days we shall be safe, and then we +can live at ease, and you will say, `Ah, what a great head has my +Carlotta!'" + +There was no reply from Luigi, and soon the children heard their +returning footfalls on the stone flagging. + +"Pretend you're asleep," whispered Beppo. "We mustn't let them think we +overheard." They instantly lay down in the straw again, and when +Carlotta came to the back of the van a moment later, she was obliged to +call twice before she could arouse them! + +While Carlotta, looking very glum, was cooking the everlasting polenta, +the children crept fearsomely into the ruined tower to take a last look +at poor old Ugolone. There he lay on the flag-stones, a shapeless lump +of fur, and a little later Luigi skinned him, hung the pelt on the back +of the van, and, leaving the bones to whiten where they lay, set forth +once more upon the road. From this time on things grew harder and +harder for the unhappy children. Carlotta was caressing and smooth in +her manner to them when they were in the villages, calling them "my +children," "carissimi," which means "dearest," and other tender names, +but when they were by themselves she grew more and more harsh, while +Luigi was sullen, and scarcely spoke to them at all. + +It was Carlotta who made them dance until they were ready to drop with +fatigue, and sing when their hearts were breaking. Everywhere the +people thought them charming, and it was true, as Carlotta had said, +that they brought in more money than Ugolone. + +They were now passing through one of the most lovely regions in the +world, but its beauty failed to comfort them or reconcile them to their +lot. The rocky ramparts and blue horizon of the mountains were but +prison walls to them, from which they longed to escape. One night, as +they lay shivering in the straw, with Carlotta and Luigi snoring at the +other end of the van, Beppo cautiously nudged his sister. + +"It sounds like Teresina," he whispered. "Don't you remember how she +snored that day we left home?" + +"Don't," begged Beppina. "It makes me homesick." + +"I never thought I could wish to hear Teresina snore," Beppo answered, +"but now it would be music in my ears." They were silent a few minutes, +and then Beppina--timid Beppina--put her lips close to Beppo's ear and +whispered, "Let's get out and run away." + +"Where to?" Beppo whispered. + +"Anywhere, _anywhere_ away from here!" said poor Beppina. "I'd rather +starve in the mountains than stay any longer. We could creep out +without waking them." + +"It's awfully dark," said Beppo, "and we'll have to climb right over +them!" + +"Oh, let's try," urged Beppina. They sat up cautiously and peered out. +They could just see a dark mass blocking up the open end of the van. +They struggled to their knees. The straw rustled, and they stopped +dead, until everything was still again. Then Beppo rose to his feet, +and, treading very carefully, took a step toward the end of the van. +But alas, he had forgotten the monkey! She slept beside her mistress, +and Beppo stepped on her tail! There was a scream as Carina leaped up +in the air, and lit on Beppo's shoulder, chattering furiously, and Beppo +instantly dropped down into the straw again. + +"What's the matter?" said Carlotta. + +The children could see her dark silhouette as she sat up and looked into +the dark interior of the van. + +"Carina mia! What is the matter?" + +"Lie down," growled Luigi. "She has had a bad dream. Go to sleep!" +The monkey leaped to Carlotta's arm, snuggled down beside her, and quiet +reigned once more. When the snores began again, the children had no +courage for a second attempt, and morning found things as hopeless as +ever. + +They were now descending the eastern slopes of the Apennines, and Beppo, +remembering his geography, knew that they were getting farther and +farther from Florence. At noon that day, as they were walking ahead of +the van, they rounded a turn in the road, and came suddenly upon a view +stretching far across the plains of eastern Italy to where the blue +waters of the Adriatic lay sparkling in the sun. The landscape was +dotted with villages, and far away in the blue distance they could see +the spires and towers of a large coast town. + +Beppo's spirits rose a little. "See," he said to Beppina, "we are +coming out of the mountains into a region where there are many towns. +Who knows? Perhaps we may find a chance to get away. It would be less +dangerous here than in the hills." + +But again they were doomed to disappointment, for the next day it +rained, and Carlotta made them stay hidden in the van as it lumbered +slowly through the villages on the road to the sea. Though it was only +two days, it seemed at least a week that they lay in the straw, +listening to the rumble of the wheels and the patter of the rain on the +roof. There could be no fires, so their food was bread and cheese, +which Carlotta bought in the towns. + +At last, early on the third morning, they heard from their prison a new +sound, and, peering cautiously over Luigi's shoulder, saw that at last +they had reached the sea. They could hear the slapping of waves against +the piles of a dock, and could catch glimpses of green water. Men with +trucks were hurrying by, loading fruit and vegetables upon a large boat +which was tied to the pier. There was so much noise about them that the +children could talk together in low tones without being overheard. + +"I know where we are," said Beppo. "I tell you, I'm glad I studied +geography! The sun is breaking through the clouds over the water, and +it's early morning, so that's the east, of course. We heard Carlotta +say they were going to take us to Venice, so this must be a coast town +on the Adriatic. It isn't Ravenna, because Ravenna is back from the sea +a few miles. The only other big port along here is Rimini, and I'll bet +that's just where we are." + +"Oh, Beppo, what a wonderful boy you are, to think that all out +yourself!" said Beppina. "You're such a wonderful thinker! Why can't +you think of away to escape?" + + +"I do think, all the time," answered poor Beppo, "but Carlotta is just +like a cat at a mouse-hole. Her eyes never leave us, and if we should +try to run, she would pounce--" + +"Hush!" whispered Beppina, "there she is." There, indeed, she was, +smiling craftily at them from the end of the van. + +"You may come out now, my little ones," she said in her most syrupy +tones. "Here we leave the van with Luigi, while we take a nice +boat-ride!" She seized them firmly by the hands, and, followed by Luigi +carrying the organ and the monkey, led them over the gang-plank on to +the boat. Once aboard, she sought an obscure corner, behind the baskets +of fruit and vegetables with which the vessel was loaded, and made the +children sit beside her, while Luigi piled around them numerous bundles +brought from the van. + +At last the rumble of trucks ceased, the sailors loosed the great +hawsers which tied the boat to the dock, and in a few moments the +children, looking back to the shore, saw a widening strip of green water +between them and their native land. + +CHAPTER SIX. + +VENICE. + +For two beautiful bright days they remained on the boat, as it made its +way up the eastern coast of Italy, and on the morning of the third, +there, rising before them out of the mists, like a dream city afloat +upon the waters, was Venice! It was so lovely, with its domes, towers, +and palaces mirrored in the still waters, and its hundreds of sails +making spots of bright colour against the blue, that for a short time +the children almost forgot their grief. As the boat entered a great +lagoon, and slowly made its way through the Canal della Giudecca to the +landing-place, Carlotta grew more than ever vigilant. The children had +hoped against hope that some way of escape might appear when they +reached the dock, but Carlotta remained at their elbows every moment, +and under her watchful eyes they could not even speak to each other, +much less to any one else. + +It was evident that she meant to make them understand how impossible it +would be for them to get away from Venice, for as the boat rounded the +western side of the island upon which the city is built, she pointed out +to them the mainland, lying two miles away across the water, and the +long black railroad bridge which is the only connection between the two. + +"You see how it is, my little ones," she said. "One cannot leave Venice +without a boat, a ticket on the railway, or wings! And truly, how could +any one wish to leave it? Luigi has been wretched all the time he has +been away, and never wishes to desert his beloved city again. You too +will feel the same." + +The children made no reply. They were as helpless as caged birds, and +could only follow her silently, as she loaded them with bundles, and, +herself carrying the organ and the monkey, led the way across the +gang-plank to the dock. Staggering under their burdens, they entered +the city of Venice. Oh, if they could only have entered it with their +dear Babbo, or Mammina, how happy they would have been, for there, right +before their eyes as they walked, were all the wonderful things which +Beppo had learned about in his geography! + +There were the canals with the gondolas flitting about on them like +black beetles on a pool. There were the great beautiful buildings with +their facades rising out of the water, and their back doors opening upon +narrow streets or tiny open squares. There were the glimpses of +blossoming tree-tops hanging over high walls, and of balconies gay with +potted geraniums and carnations in bloom. There were the beautiful +stone door-ways with gayly painted posts beside them, to which empty +gondolas were tied. + +The air was misty and fragrant with sea smells, and in every direction +they looked their eyes were greeted with the lovely colours of the old +buildings, reflected in the water so clearly that it seemed as if there +were two cities, one hanging suspended upside down below the other. It +was so different from Florence, from Rome, from anything they had ever +seen before, that the children forgot even that they were hungry, and +went up the streets wide-eyed with wonder, absorbed in all these +marvels. + +"Get on, get on!" said Carlotta crossly, behind them. "Your eyes will +pop out of your heads, and drop in the street if you stare so. Carina +is hungry, and so am I, and we must earn our dinner before we eat it." + +Through one narrow street after another they made their way, until at +last they reached an open square fronting on the water. + +"Here is the market," said Carlotta, depositing the organ in the middle +of the open space, and the children, sighing with relief, also dropped +their bundles and gazed about them. Drawn up to the water's edge were +many boats loaded with great baskets of fruit and vegetables. Merchants +swarmed about these boats like flies, and the produce was immediately +purchased and placed in stalls or booths around the edge of the square, +where people with market-baskets on their arms were buying their +provisions for the day. + +It was a busy and crowded place, but Carlotta gave the children little +time to look. "Dance," she commanded, as she began to grind out a tune +upon the organ. Carina sprang to the top of the box, and began to hop +up and down in time to the music as the children went through the wild +contortions of the trescone. A crowd immediately gathered about them, +and the coins began to rain into Carina's tambourine. + +When the dance was finished, Carlotta led the way to a booth in the +square, where hot macaroni was for sale, and here their hungry mouths +were filled with the first warm food they had tasted for several days. +They ate and were comforted. Then, leaving the market-place, they +passed through narrow streets and over little bridges spanning the +canals, until they reached another small open square in a crowded +portion of the city. Carlotta walked faster and faster as they +approached it, and the Twins had almost to run to keep up with her. + +As they entered the square, a small dirty boy about Beppo's size +suddenly gave a shout. "It is Carina!" he cried, and, not noticing +Carlotta or the Twins, he seized the monkey in his arms and kissed its +little black face. Carlotta gave him a playful slap. + +"Ecco!" she cried to the Twins. "Here we have the brave Giovanni! And +he cares nothing for his godmother! He loves only the little black +monkey! See, Giovanni! I have brought two playmates for you. They +were lost, and I have protected them out of charity. They will live +with us." + +Giovanni stared at the Twins for a moment, then he ran out his tongue at +Beppo. "I can lick you!" he cried. Beppo stiffened with fury. All the +pent-up rage of the past weeks rose up within him, and here was some one +on whom he could legitimately wreak it! He dropped his bundles, rolled +up his sleeves, and roared, "Come on!" + +Giovanni threw the monkey at Carlotta and instantly came on! A crowd of +ragged boys and girls gathered about them, and the fight began. It did +not last long, for Beppo had taken boxing-lessons along with his other +studies, and he met Giovanni's advance with a swift blow which sent him +spinning to the ground. Then he sat upon him until he begged for mercy, +while the crowd squealed with delight. Carlotta turned the organ and +the monkey over to Beppina, picked Beppo off the prostrate Giovanni, and +then, seizing the two boys by their collars, thumped their heads smartly +together. + +"Ecco!" she said. "Now you have had your fight, you can be friends." +Loading them both with bundles, she marched them across the square to +the back door of a dilapidated house, with the crowd surging about them. +Here she drew them into a narrow entrance and, leading them up two +flights of dirty stairs, knocked at a door. It was opened by a +slatternly woman, who gave a shrill cry of astonishment when she saw the +group on her threshold. + +The monkey evidently knew her, for he leaped from Giovanni's arms to her +shoulder and began to pull her hair. + +"Santa Maria! Santa Maria!" screamed the woman. "If it is not that +devil of a Carina come back again! Let go of my hair, you demon, or +I'll wring your black neck!" + +Carlotta laughed, and picked the monkey off of Giovanni's mother just as +she had picked Beppo off of her son a few moments before. + +The children, left to themselves, stared about at their new quarters, +while Giovanni stared at them. The room was large, bare, dilapidated, +and dirty. On the floor were some old mattresses filled with +corn-husks, which were evidently used as beds. There was a wooden table +with some soiled dishes standing on it, and, beyond this and a few +chairs, there was no furniture except two pots of geraniums on the +window-sill. A door opened into a smaller room beyond, and through it +they could see a stove, with a kettle standing on the floor beside it. + +Giovanni had evidently made up his mind that any one who could "lick" +him must indeed be a hero, for, having finished his critical survey of +the Twins, he said affably, "My father is a gondolier. What's yours?" + +"A Marchese," said Beppo. + +"Holy Madonna!" gasped the boy. "Doesn't he do any work?" + +"No," said Beppo. "He just goes to Rome to help the King." + +Carlotta overheard them. "Don't you ever say that again, you wicked +little liar!" she cried fiercely. "If you do, I'll cut off your +tongue." She turned again to the other woman. + +"Do they look like the children of a Marchese? I ask you," she said. +"They were lost, and I have taken care of them out of charity! They +sing and dance to pay for their keep, but it's little enough they bring +in at best! Old Ugolone is dead, and Luigi has stayed behind to dispose +of the van and the donkeys. With the money he gets for them he'll buy a +boat and pick up a living on the canals. We shall go no more on tours +about the country. It does not pay. There are as many soldi to be +found in Venice as anywhere, and with the organ and Carina we shall get +along, even with two extra mouths to feed!" + +Giovanni's mother winked her eye and nodded a great many times. + +"Si, si," she said. "There will be many tourists in Venice this summer, +and it is not to believe the way Americans throw money about. Mario +says their pockets are lined with gold!" + +Sick with terror, the children turned away from Carlotta and looked out +of the windows. + +"See me," said Giovanni. He wanted to do something to make himself +admired after his recent humiliation, so he doubled himself across the +sill of the open window and leaned far out over the canal which flowed +directly beneath. "Look!" he cried, waving his legs at the peril of +taking a header into the water. + +His mother seized him. "Madonna mia," she screamed, "that boy would +rather drown than not," and, giving him a smart spank, she jerked him +back into the room by a leg. Giovanni rubbed the spot and grinned +sheepishly, as his mother followed up the punishment by a flow of speech +which sounded to the Twins much like the chattering of the monkey. "Get +along with you!" she said finally, giving him a shove. + +"Come," said Carlotta to the Twins when this little scene was over. +"Soldi grow only in the street," and, picking up the organ, she led the +way down the stairs. + +The children were glad to follow, for they preferred the streets to such +a dwelling, and Giovanni, thinking it advisable to remain out of his +mother's sight for a while, followed them, carrying the monkey in his +arms. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THREE WEEKS DRIFT BY. + +All the rest of that day, and for many days after, the children followed +Carlotta through the maze of streets, dancing and singing in the piazzas +and the market-place, or anywhere else where crowds were gathered. +Giovanni, having nothing else to do, went with them much of the time, +and added his talents to the exhibition. He could turn "cart-wheels" +until he looked like a real whirling wheel with only four spokes, and he +could walk on his hands. He was glad to display these accomplishments, +for he liked being away from home, he liked Carina, and best of all he +liked the Twins. The three became quite friendly, and Carlotta, seeing +this, smiled her sly smile, and winked knowingly at Giovanni's mother, +as though to say: "You see, they are getting used to their new way of +living. Soon they will forget their old home, and I shall have no more +trouble with them." + +Little by little the children came to know Venice better than they had +known Florence, which is not saying much, since in Florence they had so +completely lost themselves. They could go from Giovanni's house to the +Rialto, the largest of the three bridges which span the Grand Canal, and +find their way through the maze of streets to the beautiful Piazza of +San Marco. They liked best to go there, not only because it is the most +beautiful spot in Venice, not even because it is said to be the finest +piazza in the world, but also because the flocks of pigeons flying about +in clouds, and lighting upon their shoulders, made them think of their +own little garden in Florence. + +Carlotta liked the piazza because it was the best place in Venice to +gather in the soldi. There were always tourists in the square, walking +about with guide-books in their hands, and reading passages about its +history aloud to one another. Indeed, there was no end to the wonderful +things in that famous square. There was the Church of San Marco itself, +with its beautiful mosaics and the four splendid bronze horses over the +entrance. There was the magnificent Ducal Palace, packed full of +thrilling stories of past splendour; and, back of it, spanning the +canal, the "Bridge of Sighs," which led from the palace to a dark prison +on the other side. On the day she first saw that, Beppina shed tears, +thinking of all the unhappy prisoners who had passed over the bridge +never to return. She knew how prisoners felt. + +Giovanni tried to comfort her. "Don't you fret about them," he said. +"They're as dead as they can be, all of 'em, and in purgatory or a worse +place, and you can't get 'em out no matter how hard you pray. Come on; +let's go look at the clock." + +Beppina knew that Carlotta would be angry if they lingered, but still +she crossed herself and murmured a hurried "Our Father" for the poor +prisoners, on the chance of its helping them, before she ran back to +Beppo and Giovanni. She found them standing before the great +clock-tower which rose above a high gateway over the street. It was +almost noon, and a crowd had gathered to see the clock strike the hour. +There was always a group waiting there on the hour, for this was no +ordinary clock. The children watched with breathless interest as two +bronze giants on the platform high above their heads suddenly lifted +their arms and struck a huge bell twelve times, then relapsed into +bronze statues again. Giovanni told the Twins that at Christmas-time +the Three Wise Men came out of the clock and bowed before the Madonna +and Child. The Twins thought this could be nothing else than a miracle, +but Giovanni, who was wise beyond his years, said it was just works in +the clock's insides. "It's no more a miracle than a stomach-ache inside +of you," he explained. + +There was no time for further revelations on the day this happened, for +at that moment Carlotta called them. She was afraid the crowd would +disperse before she had coaxed money from their pockets. Every moment +that they were not dancing or singing, the children wandered about this +magic place, where in every direction they looked there were wonderful +stories in bronze, marble, or mosaic. One could stay there a year and +not begin to know them all. If it rained, they took refuge under the +arcade of the Ducal Palace or in the quiet interior of the Church of San +Marco itself. Sometimes they could even step in and pray before the +altar. Their prayers were always the same, that the Holy Virgin and +Saint Anthony, the special guide of those who were lost, would take care +of them and bring them safely again to their Babbo and Mammina and their +lovely home. + +Many days passed in this way, and it was the middle of May before the +children ever rode in a boat, for though Giovanni's father had a +gondola, it was his business to take passengers about Venice just like a +cab-driver in our own cities, and he did not use it for pleasure rides +for Giovanni and his friends. + +Then one afternoon when they returned from singing in the piazza, they +found Luigi waiting to show Carlotta the boat which he had bought with +the money he received for the donkeys and the van. It was not a +gondola, but a _sandalo_, a large row-boat, with a pair of oars, suited +to carry either passengers or freight. + + +"The weather is warm now," said Luigi to Carlotta; "the tourists are +already lingering on the canals for pleasure in the evenings, and I +believe we should do well to let the children go about with me in the +boat to sing." + +Though they were weary from dancing and singing all day in the streets, +it would be far pleasanter to drift about on the canal in the evening +than to spend it tossing about on the husk mattresses in Giovanni's +squalid house, and the children listened with eager attention to +Carlotta's reply. + +"As you like," she said, shrugging her shoulders; and that very evening +the plan was carried out. Luigi rowed the boat slowly about on the +Grand Canal, and the sweet voices of the children, floating out over the +still waters, attracted the gondolas about them, and many soldi were +flung to the singers. + +As the weather grew warmer, the evenings on the canal grew longer and +longer. Sometimes the gondolas would join together in long chains and +float about in the moonlight with every one joining in the singing. On +festival nights there were Chinese lanterns in every prow, and the +boats, flitting about over the water, looked like giant fireflies at +play. + +In this way three weeks drifted by, and at last it was June, and still +the children had made no progress toward freedom. + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +BEPPO HAS A PLAN. + +One day, when they had just finished a performance in the piazza and +were allowed to wander for a few moments by themselves, Beppo drew +Beppina to the water's edge, and, looking up at the winged lion of Saint +Mark's, said to her, "Do you remember what Carlotta said about having to +have a boat, a railroad ticket, or wings to get out of Venice?" + +Beppina remembered very well. + +"The wings on that lion made me think of it," said Beppo, "and I've +thought of something else too. There's another thing you need, and +that's brains! I've got those, and I'm going to get out of this +water-soaked old place or die in the attempt!" + +"Oh, Beppo," breathed Beppina, "how?" + +"I've got it all planned," said Beppo. + +"I guess Saint Anthony must have put it into your head," sighed Beppina, +"for he takes care of all the lost people. Anyway, you haven't thought +of anything before." + +"I thought of this my own self," said Beppo, rather resentfully. + +"Well," said Beppina, clasping her hands, "you think, and I'll pray. +I'm going to begin a novena. I'll pray hard to Saint Anthony every day +for nine days, and ask him to please, please guide us! I'm going to +begin right now." She crossed herself and began moving her lips in +prayer, but got no farther than "Blessed Saint Anthony," when Beppo +nudged her with his elbow. + +"Stop it!" he whispered, "here comes the old cat." (He meant Carlotta.) +"Don't you let her catch you praying to Saint Anthony, or she'll know +what we're up to. You can pray like fury, but say your prayers in your +heart, and then some night if I wake you up, you just keep as still as a +mouse and follow me." + +Carlotta reached them just then and ordered them to go with her back to +the Cathedral to sing, and all that day there was no chance for Beppo to +explain his great idea. Beppina caught him many times with his forehead +all snarled up as if he were trying to think how much 9 times 7 was, or +something hard like that, but just what he had in mind she could not +guess. + +That night when they were out in the boat, Beppo asked Luigi if he might +try to row it home, and Luigi, being willing to loaf whenever it was +possible, said he might. Beppo did so well that night that on the next +Luigi allowed him to row as well as sing, and very soon Beppo came to +know his way about the Grand Canal better than he knew the +multiplication-table--oh, much better! + +At last one night, after they had gone to bed, Beppo lay still for a +long time, until he was sure that every one else in the room was asleep. +Then he quietly woke Beppina, and the two slid from their mattresses to +the floor. Here they waited a moment, for the husks rattled a little, +and then, as no one stirred, they moved stealthily to the door, carrying +their shoes in their hands. They had slept in their clothes, for they +still wore the ones Carlotta had given them, and had not seen their own +since the day she had made them change in the van. + +They almost suffocated with fright as they opened the door, for it +creaked and they feared the monkey would begin to chatter, but Carina +was tired, too, and slept as soundly as the rest. In a moment they had +quietly closed it behind them, and were feeling their way in the dark, +down the stairs and through the passage at the bottom to the canal +entrance of the house, where Mario and Luigi kept their oars. Beppo had +noted carefully when they came in just where Luigi had placed his, and, +feeling cautiously along the wall with his hands, was able to locate +them in the dark. He gave his shoes to his sister, took down the oars, +and managed to get them to the door without knocking anything over or +dropping them on the stone floor. + +Followed by Beppina, who was holding on to his coat and praying to Saint +Anthony under her breath, he reached the water entrance to the house, +and stood upon the landing. Luigi's boat and Mario's gondola were both +tied to a red pole beside the entrance. Beppo put one oar down on the +step, and with the other managed to reach the pointed prow of the boat, +and draw it to the step. Then he leaped in, helped Beppina in with the +shoes, took the other oar into the boat with him, and, untying the rope +which fastened it to the pole, shot out into the stream. + +There was a scraping noise as the boat swung against the landing-step, +and Beppo used the oar to push it away. There was also the rattling of +the oar-locks, as he backed round and glided out into the canal, but +though he was nearly dead with excitement and fright, Beppo kept his +head. Never had he managed the boat so well. It slid through the water +like a fish. They had gone two or three hundred feet and reached the +point where the smaller waterway opened into the Grand Canal, when +Beppina was appalled to see the dim outline of another boat a little +distance behind them. "They're following!" she gasped. "Oh, Beppo, +hurry!" + +Beppo bent to his oars and the boat fairly shot through the water! On +and on they sped, past the great palaces now dark and grim in starlight, +past the market-place, round the great curve of the canal, and soon to +their great relief the black boat was no longer following. + +"Do you suppose it was Luigi?" gasped Beppina. + +"No," said Beppo, "he couldn't possibly have got after us so quickly, +because I untied Mario's gondola too. It would drift away far enough so +Luigi would have to swim to get it, and he couldn't do it in this time, +I know. Maybe it was a police boat, or maybe it was some one going home +late. Anyway, he wasn't after us, so I don't care who he was." + +"Oh, Beppo, tell me your plan. Where are we going?" begged Beppina. + +"Keep still," growled Beppo; "the less noise we make the more chance +there is of our getting away." + +Beppina crumpled up in the bottom and said no more, while Beppo made the +boat skim on over the dark waters. At last he turned the prow toward +shore and touched at a dock where many boats were already moored. There +was no sign of life about the place, as they disembarked. There was +only the soft lapping of the water to break the silence. + +"Stoop down," whispered Beppo. "These are the boats that cross over to +Mestre on the mainland before daylight to bring fruit and vegetables +back to market, and it may be that some of the men sleep in the boats. +We might wake them." + +For a few moments they listened, crouching down on the dock, and then, +as they heard no sound, Beppo gave the sandalo a shove away from shore, +and let go the rope. + +"Oh," whispered Beppina, "why did you do that?" + +"We don't want it any more," answered Beppo, "and if they find it, +they'll think we fell out and were drowned. Then they won't look for +us." + +"Oh, Beppo," said Beppina, "what a wonderful boy you are!" + +"I've been planning this a long time," Beppo answered, with a little of +his old swagger; "but we aren't out of our troubles yet." + +They crept along the dock on their hands and knees until they came to +one of the largest flat-bottomed boats in the fleet. Here Beppo paused, +and, after carefully examining to be sure it was the one he was looking +for, he helped Beppina aboard, and climbed in after her. There was a +pile of empty baskets and boxes at one end of the boat, and behind these +the children hid themselves to wait for dawn. For a long time they +crouched there, listening to the thumping of their own hearts, and the +lap-lap-lapping of the water, and at last, completely exhausted with +fatigue and fright, curled up on the floor of the boat and fell sound +asleep. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE ESCAPE. + + +Beppo awoke next morning in the early dawn, and, forgetting where he +was, stretched his cramped legs. In doing so he kicked over a basket, +which fell on Beppina. Beppina instantly sat up, and, blinking with +sleep, said quite loudly, "Where are we?" She might well ask, for +there, directly in front of her, pulling stoutly at a pair of oars, sat +a short, thick-set man with brown skin and rings in his ears. The level +rays of the sun, just rising over Venice, shone full upon his +weather-beaten face and astonished eyes, as he gazed at the apparition +before him. Just then Beppo's head appeared beside his sister's, and +the man, overcome with astonishment, "caught a crab" and splashed both +children with water before he burst into speech. + +"Madonna mia!" he cried, "am I bewitched? How in the name of all the +saints in paradise did you get into this boat? You weren't in it when I +left the dock!" + +"Oh, yes, we were," said Beppo. "We were behind the baskets." + +"But what are you here for?" demanded the man. + +"We want to go to Mestre," said Beppo. + +The man regarded them suspiciously. "Do your folks know where you are?" +he asked. + +"No," said Beppo. "That's why we are here. We want to get back to +them." + +Beppina interrupted. "We were stolen away by gypsies," she said. + +Then, still staring at them, the man asked, "Where are you from?" + +"From Florence," Beppo answered. + +The man threw back his head and laughed. "That's a likely story!" he +roared. "From Florence! Ha, Ha! Very good, per Bacco! You are indeed +clever liars! You are a pair of naughty little runaways, that's what +you are, and if I had time I'd take you straight back to Venice now! As +it is, I'll wait until I get my load, and then back you go, and I hope +you'll get a good spanking into the bargain." + +The children said nothing. They couldn't; they were crushed. But +during the rest of the journey Beppo thought as he had never thought in +his life before, while Beppina prayed fervently under her breath. +During the weeks that they had been so closely watched by Carlotta, +Beppina had grown almost to read Beppo's thoughts, so when he furtively +took her hand, lifted one eyebrow, and jerked his head in the direction +of Mestre, she knew he meant to try to go forward no matter what +happened. + +They were now nearly across the lagoon and approaching the harbour. +Early as it was, the water was already swarming with craft of all +descriptions, for Venice has to get all her supplies from the mainland, +and many boats are required for the traffic. There was consequently a +great deal of shouting back and forth as the men jockeyed for the best +positions at the dock. Their own brown boatman was so busy bawling at +his competitors and shunting about that for a few moments he was unable +to pay any attention to the children. At last, however, he crowded in +between two other boats, and while he was explaining to their owners +that they were the sons of pigs to take up so much room, Beppo seized +his sister by the arm, and the two leaped into the next boat, from that +to a third, and then to the dock; and before their captor realised they +were gone, they were already speeding frantically up the dock. + +"Stop them! Stop them!" howled the boatman, climbing out and starting +in pursuit. + +Two or three other men joined him, shouting, "Stop! Stop!" too, but +their calls only lent speed to the flying feet of the runaways. They +did not know where they were going, but they ran as rabbits run when the +dogs are after them, and soon found themselves in the streets of the +town. The cries of their pursuers grew fainter, and were lost +altogether as Beppo suddenly dashed into a side street and they doubled +on their tracks. + +From a safe hiding-place behind an old building in an alley they caught +a glimpse of their pursuers as they turned back to the boats, talking +volubly and gesticulating like windmills. They were telling the boatman +who had brought the children over what they thought of him for getting +them into such a wild-goose chase. Beppo actually chuckled as he +watched them go, so great was his relief. + +"Now, Beppina," he said, almost gayly, "we'll hurry to the other end of +the town as fast as we can go, and get something to eat. I've got ten +soldi in my pocket that I picked up when Luigi wasn't looking, and I'm +as hungry as a bear. They won't follow us any more, but we'll keep out +of sight until the shops are open, anyway." + +For an hour or more they wandered quietly about, through the by-ways of +the town, until they found a small bake-shop on an unfrequented street; +and when an old woman appeared and took down the shutters, they went in +and boldly asked for bread and cheese. The woman eyed them with some +curiosity, but asked no questions, and they got out as quickly as +possible and hid behind an empty house on the outskirts of the village +to eat their breakfast. + + +"I'm sure of one thing," said Beppo, as he munched his bread. "I'm not +going to tell our story to any one after this. People would only think +we were lying. We'll find our own way to the villa, and earn our money +as we go along. Padua is only about thirty miles from here, anyway." + +"Oh, Beppo," said Beppina, much impressed, "how did you know that?" + +"Geography," said Beppo proudly. "You remember how I knew about Ravenna +and Rimini, and, besides, the other day I asked a tourist to let me see +the map in the guidebook. Padua is almost straight west from here. We +can go away from the sun in the morning and toward it in the afternoon, +and we can't help running into it. We'll dance in the villages as we go +along, and when we get to Padua it will be easy enough to find the +villa." + +Beppina had some secret doubts. She remembered how sure Beppo was about +finding his way in Florence, but she didn't say a word. She was willing +to take any risk if only they could keep out of the clutches of +Carlotta. + +"Do you suppose they are hunting for us in Venice?" she asked. + +"I shouldn't wonder," answered her brother, glancing at the sun. Then +he chuckled, "I'll bet they're mad! I hope they'll never find their old +boats!" + +"Let's get away from here as fast as we can," urged Beppina. "They +might follow us, or they might send word to the police." + +"That's true," said Beppo. "We can't be too careful." + +They had finished their breakfast by this time, and, taking their +direction from the sun, set forth at once toward the west. Soon they +were out among the suburbs. Then they passed stately villas owned by +wealthy Venetians, and beyond that came into open country. It was much +easier walking than it had been in the mountains, for the land was +level, or gently rolling, the villages were near together, and the +highways well travelled. Moreover, they had been hardened to much +walking by their weeks of constant practice, and were able to trot along +the road at a good rate of speed. + +At noon they reached a village, and here they decided to replenish their +little hoard of money, so, making their way to the piazza, they +surrounded themselves with a crowd for whom they danced the trescone and +sang themselves hoarse. They were just gathering up the few coins that +were thrown to them, when Beppo saw a policeman approaching, and, not +wishing to take any chances, the two children instantly disappeared like +smoke down a side street, and out into the highway once more. + +By supper-time they had covered ten miles, and when night overtook them, +they were in open farming country, surrounded by olive orchards, +vineyards, and cornfields. In a field beside the road they came upon a +straw-stack, and, hiding themselves on the farther side of it, they ate +the bread and ham which they had bought on the way, and then, pulling +the straw down over them for covering, slept peacefully until morning. + +CHAPTER TEN. + +HOME AGAIN. + +The next day and the next passed in much the same way. They danced and +sang in the villages to earn their bread, and then passed out again to +the highway, where there were sign-posts to guide them, or they could +ask directions from fellow travellers. One night they passed in an +olive orchard, under a spreading tree. Another was spent under the +protection of a wayside shrine. + +When he awoke in the morning, Beppo found his sister kneeling before the +shrine. She turned a beaming face upon him as he opened his eyes. + +"Oh, Beppo mio," she said, "I haven't forgotten once, and this is the +ninth day! I've made my novena! I'm almost sure the blessed Saint +Anthony means to get us to Padua this very day. If he does, I think I +shall die of joy." + +"What would be the good of that?" Beppo inquired, practically. Then he +added, "Anyway, I think it'll be very mean if he doesn't, after all the +praying you've done, and all my thinking too." + +They ate a hasty bite of bread beside the shrine, then trudged on, and, +before the morning was over, actually found themselves passing through +the beautiful gardens which surround the city of Padua. They entered it +from the east by the Porta di' Pontecorbo, walked a short distance along +a wide street, crossed a canal, and, turning to the left, saw rising +before them from a great open piazza the huge church of Saint Anthony of +Padua, crowned by its six domes and many spires. It was as if they had +known every inch of the way, so directly had they come. + +The bells of the church were pealing joyfully, and the square was full +of people, all going toward the church, for it was the festa of Saint +Anthony, though the children did not know it. + +Passers-by glanced curiously at the two queer, forlorn little figures, +but no one spoke to them, and they stood for a moment uncertain what to +do, or in what direction to go, when suddenly Beppina gave a shriek of +joy, and, springing forward, threw her arms about a tall, stern-looking +woman in a nurse's ruff and streamers who was hurrying toward the church +carrying an immense loaf of bread in her hand. + +"Teresina!" screamed Beppina. + +The woman looked at the child in blank astonishment, but it was not +until she saw Beppo that the light of recognition dawned in her face. +Then, dropping the bread and falling upon her knees, she engulfed both +ragged, dirty children in a wide embrace. + +"Oh, thanks be to God, the blessed Virgin, and Saint Anthony, you are +found again!" she cried, her eyes streaming tears and her tongue prayers +of thanksgiving at the same time. "I was just on my way to offer this +bread at the shrine of the blessed Saint, and pray, as I have prayed +daily since you were lost, that you might be found again! And here +before I have even been to the church at all, the blessed Saint has +heard my prayers, and you rise up before me as if out of the ground. It +is a miracle! Ah, Madonna mia! what tears the Signora has wept for you! +And the Signore your father, he has not slept for seeking you! Come, +come--do not delay! We must send word to the villa at once that they +may come running to meet you even as his father met the prodigal son." + +Her tongue ran so fast that the children had no chance to ask questions. +A crowd now gathered about them, and when Teresina had explained the +cause of the excitement and joy, sympathetic bystanders rushed to send +word to the villa, seven miles away, and to spread the good news that +the children of the Marchese Grifoni, for whom the police had been +searching every town in Italy for two months, had now appeared in Padua. + +"It is not for nothing that Saint Anthony is the patron saint of all who +suffer loss," said the pious ones, and many a candle was gratefully +offered on his shrine that day. + +When her joy had a little subsided, Teresina gazed with horror at the +Twins. They were indeed a terrifying spectacle. Ragged, thin, +encrusted with dirt, with their toes sticking through their worn-out +shoes, it is no wonder that she did not at once recognise the children +of the Marchese. Grasping them by the hands as if she would never again +let them go, Teresina hurried them toward the Hotel Due Croci Bianche, +which opened upon the square, followed by crowds of interested +spectators. The landlord himself, when the news reached him, came out +to greet the wanderers and conduct them to a room. + +Teresina went with them, giving orders right and left as she flew down +the long corridor. + +"It is for the Marchese Grifoni!" she cried to the bewildered servants, +as she hustled the children before her to the bath. "Bring soap, bring +towels, bring food, and for the love of Saint Anthony keep the wires hot +to the villa. Never mind the cost, for the lost is found. They will +reward you well. Tell them, for the love of Heaven, to bring clothes +for the Signorina and Don Beppo, and hurry, hurry, hurry!" + +Then she shut the door upon her charges, and the process of purification +began. She rang the bell furiously a few moments later, and, opening +the door a crack, handed the servant who answered it a bundle, hastily +wrapped in newspaper. + +"Their clothes," she said briefly. "The Marchesa must not see them. +Burn them at once!" + +For one hour or more she scrubbed and shampooed, and all but boiled the +wanderers alive in her frantic efforts to get them clean before their +mother should be able to reach them. + +At last a carriage, drawn by a pair of steaming black horses, dashed up +to the hotel, and the beautiful Marchesa, pale but radiant, sprang out +and, attended by the landlord himself, hurried to the room where her +lost ones waited to embrace her! Teresina opened the door, and, +stepping into the hall, left the mother and children together with no +human eye to see that meeting! Red-eyed herself, and wiping her nose +vigorously on her apron, she went down to tell the footman all the news, +and to get the bundle of clothes for the children, which in the haste +and excitement had been left in the carriage. + +An hour later, the Marchesa and two very clean and happy children came +out of the hotel, followed by Teresina. The coachman, grinning, as +Teresina said, "like a cracked melon," greeted the children as if he +were an old friend, and the Marchesa, standing in her carriage, +scattered tips with a lavish hand. They drove away with the landlord +bowing from the doorway, and the crowd shouting vivas as long as the +carriage was in sight. + +It was a long drive over beautiful, winding roadways to the villa, and +every inch of the way the Marchesa sat with her arms clasped about her +darlings telling them of their father, who was still in Florence +conducting the search, of the baby, who had six teeth and was fat as +butter, and hearing from them the tale of their adventures, while +Teresina beamed at them from the opposite seat. + +At last they rounded a well-remembered curve in the road, and there, +shining down on them from the summit of a hill overlooking the village, +was their own white, vine-covered villa. The children shouted with joy +when they saw it, and Beppina threw a kiss. + +Then they heard a great shouting down the road. All the village had +come out to greet the children of their beloved Marchesa. Old and +young, they swarmed about the carriage, shouting "Ben trovati," which +means "Welcome," and tossing flowers at the feet of the returned +travellers. Ah, what a happy time it was! + +At last the carriage stood before the loggia of the villa, and when his +old dog, barking with joy, came bounding out to meet them, Beppo, who +had been dry-eyed and brave through all the dreadful weeks, buried his +head in Tonio's shaggy fur and gave way to tears. + +After the baby had been kissed, and the servants greeted, and all the +dear, familiar places visited once more, it was time for supper, and, +oh, what a supper it was! The cook, the moment the wonderful news had +reached the villa, had flown to the kitchen, and there she had cooked +all their favourite dishes. There were artichokes for Beppina, and +_stufato_ for Beppo, and a cake as soft and light as thistle-down for +dessert. In the evening they received a telegram of welcome from their +dear Babbo in Florence, for the good news had been flashed across the +wires to him and all the servants in the Grifoni palace were rejoicing +too. + +When bedtime came, instead of lying down upon straw, or a husk mattress, +the Twins had their own mother to tuck them in their own white beds in +their own dear, clean rooms, and then to sing them to sleep as she had +done when they were little, little children. + +Long after they were safe in dreamland, the Marchesa lingered beside +their beds, and then, throwing herself upon her knees before the image +of the Madonna in her own room, she poured out her grateful heart in +thanksgiving to that other Mother who had lived and suffered too. + +APPENDIX. + +SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. + +The citizens of America are one and all the descendants of immigrants, +and they must never lose their sympathy with the things that are best in +foreign lands. Italy has sent us hundreds of thousands of new citizens; +and these people and their children are among the most loyal Americans. +Between the United States and Italy there has been a long friendship, +without mistrust and without strife. This is because the national +ideals of the United States and of Italy are so much alike, and because +each country possesses a great, industrious, peace-loving population. +In America, the Italians "find an opportunity to go forward in those +paths which most warmly appeal to them, and which they can follow with +no breach of tradition, no break of affections, no sundering of ancient +and beloved ties." Italy, like us, has her great national heroes-- +Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Cavour, to mention only a few--whose deeds may +well inspire our people. Italy's music, art, and literature are +priceless possessions which are adding richness to our American +civilisation. + +"Americanisation" in its best sense is the need of the hour; but this +word means not alone the converting of the foreign-born into voters in +this country, but also the fusing of their highest ideals into our own. +Teachers can use _The Italian Twins_ as the earliest introduction to +Italian homes and ways, and can build up from the impression it makes +upon children, a full appreciation of the sterling qualities of the +Italian people. + +_The Italian Twins_ can also be correlated with American government +through the use by teachers of Webster's _Americanisation and +Citizenship_; pupils can read Bryant's _I Am an American_. History can +be correlated through the reading, either to the pupils or by them, of +Tappan's _Story of the Roman People, Our European Ancestors_, and +_American Hero Stories_; also Moores's _Christopher Columbus_ and +Stevenson's _Poems of American History_. Italian art is well +illustrated by several volumes in the _Riverside Art Series_, and in +Hurll's _How to Show Pictures to Children_. + +For a background of Italian history teachers are referred to Davis's +_History of Mediaeval and Modern Europe_ and to Sedgwick's _Short +History of Italy_. Certain aspects of Italian literature are introduced +through Kuhns's _Great Poets of Italy_ and Crane's _Italian Popular +Tales_. Numerous books interpret Italian life and manners; for example, +Hawthorne's _French and Italian Note-Books_, Forman's _The Ideal Italian +Tour_, Potter's _A Little Pilgrimage in Italy_, James's _Italian Hours_, +and Howells's _Italian Journeys_. + +Pupils will delight in reading "The Buried Treasure," in the _Riverside +Fourth Reader_; "An Italian Boy at School" (De Amicis), in Bolenius's +_Sixth Reader (The Boys' and Girls' Readers_); and the play, +"Christopher Columbus," in Stevenson's _Children's Classics in Dramatic +Form_, Book III. + +Earlier books in the Twins Series contain many other specific +suggestions which teachers can readily adapt to the present story. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Italian Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ITALIAN TWINS *** + +***** This file should be named 28426.txt or 28426.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/4/2/28426/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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