Janie Prichard Duggan

“ She herself had wished to go to see the wonderful Antonio Bisbini, also the little Olga who had no more fear of a great horse’s hoofs than she herself of her baby’s brown toes. But how was a woman to leave her house and the tired men folks, to tramp down the hill and up again at night, with a heavy baby in her arms? Was the little boy hoping to reach the tent in time for the night’s exhibition?
Natale’s heart had thrilled at the mention of Antonio’s magic name, and his spine straightened and his head was lifted with the pride of conscious relationship with the hero of the circus. ”

“ Nonna whispered in his ear.
“No, I shall go with you,” returned Natale.
“Ah! what is all this?” came suddenly in Giovanni’s gruff, good-natured tones. “What? Natale will not stay? The beautiful little star of the ring will not leave us in the darkness?” And the clown entered the tent and flung himself down, laughing, beside the little boy.
“Hurry with the polenta, Arduina,” he called to his stepdaughter, who had lifted her hot face from the steam of the mush pot to laugh at the man’s rough wit. ”

“ It was stuffy and hot in the wagon, and Giovanni went to fetch the boy outside, the moment the tent had emptied and the players were at leisure. Olga had not even taken time to change the yellow satin blouse and pink tights for her usual faded cotton frock. As for Antonio, he had only slipped his feet into a pair of loose slippers, so the great acrobat stood before Natale in all the glory of his spangled black velvet and shapely, pink-clad limbs. ”

“ No one in the company, not even the clown, could hold a candle to Antonio in looks or in graceful skill. Natale was sure that the noblest and most beautiful figure in all Italy was that of Antonio Bisbini as he would step forth from behind the tent-curtain, ready to thrill the spectators about [Pg 16] the ring. The flesh-colored tights clothing his limbs showed to perfection their symmetry and grace, relieved by the brilliantly spangled hip garment of black velvet and fringe, while the proud glance of his gray eyes and the light tread of his feet never failed to impress the beholder. ”

“ Natale thought the men’s feet ugly and clumsy, showing below the white gowns, and their harsh, chanting voices made him shiver. But he could not follow the awkward marching steps of the peasants with laughing looks as some of the onlookers were doing, for here, behind the banners and crucifixes, came two very curious-looking objects.
“Ecco! the dead saints!” he exclaimed softly to himself. “How heavy they must be in the glass boxes on the men’s shoulders. Yet our Antonio Bisbini would never bend so under a small box as those men do. ”

“ Giovanni, speechless with astonishment and joy, solemnly received and kissed and opened the pocketbook, and then spread out the notes, one by one, on his knee, while the rest crowded around, counting them aloud.
What if all should not be there? Natale’s eyes shone feverishly as he leaned forward from his mother’s knee, his gaze alternately upon the clown’s face, and the long, lithe fingers handling the money. ”

“ Natale pleaded with unwonted entreaty in his voice. “Well, one of them, then.”
“I am sorry you are going to stay behind here, Natalino,” the little girl panted. “Why do you? I should run after the wagon if I were you!”
Natale had never thought of such a simple thing to do by way of escape! He promptly set down the stool he had grasped and looked fixedly away from Olga’s red-brown eyes.
Alas! in that critical moment, what did he see approaching from the village? The flat, broad-brimmed hat and flowing black skirts of a priest, descending the street and turning in at the field! ”

“ How fortunate that his old shoes had not been thrown away, for he could hardly have traveled barefoot over the flinty stones of the road and the river. Natale chose to wear the old easy shoes, for the new ones had always hurt him, and he would not have been able to steal unheard out of the house with those heavy, creaking soles tramping over the bricks. If he had known of the long way ahead of the old worn shoes, perhaps he would have planned to carry the despised footgear in his hands. ”

“ Bishop looked down upon the tent from the garden terrace of Madame Cioche’s boarding-house every day, and slowly formed a plan for making Natale’s life happier. Poor little Natale!
The terrace garden above the field was shaded with plane trees and the mountain ash, and the grass was soft and richly green. Each afternoon some of the boarders would gather at the palings on the edge of this garden and watch the gentlemen playing ball below, and the village boys imitating Olga and Natale at turning somersaults and wheels. ”

“ Well, Natale is learning, better and better, how to turn his capitomboli over the dusty circus carpet, and he still feels Il Duca’s pulse with sorrowful apprehension to the tune of the “Dead March in Saul”—by night among the oil lamps.
By day, he trudges along hot white roads, under the marvelous blue of Italy’s sky, with Niero and Bianco for company. ”

“ By and by, Natale began to meet people in the road, men with donkeys bearing huge basketfuls of wet grass and wild flowers shorn from the steep terraces above for the cow or donkey at home, and women tramping in their thick-soled shoes to Cutigliano with baskets of fresh fruit or eggs or cheeses for the summer hotels balanced on their heads. ”

“ Elvira replied, laughing good-naturedly.
“All boys are as her own sons or grandsons,” Nonna’s daughter-in-law interposed carelessly, as the old woman passed on with Tito, perhaps to see that Arduina gave Natale his proper share of mush.
In Nonna’s big warm heart there was indeed room for the sons and grandsons of those who were too sparing of motherly love and care for their own. The gray-haired woman had long ago accepted this wandering life for the sake of continuing near to her only son, Antonio, the acrobat, and Antonio’s children. ”

“ Up and up, always a little higher up, the horses toiled with the house-wagon, as the road rose into the mountains. From the interior of the wagon came the sound of voices, mingled now and then with a complaining note, or an exclamation of pain. The travelers were very tired, and poor Pietro’s fever was rising with every turn of the wheels.
Several men and a sturdy girl of fifteen walked beside the horses in the powdery white dust. Behind the big wagon lagged a boy of eight or nine years. This was Natale, [1] a slight little fellow, with dusty lean legs and dragging feet. ”

“ The little fellow’s face was glowing as he spoke of his friend, and Miss Lorini had not the heart to translate his words to Mrs. Bishop, who could hardly have passed them by calmly.
“But you are content here?” Betty managed to ask in intelligible Italian.
The shadow fell again over Natale’s face, and his figure visibly drooped. He did not pretend to answer her question.
“Oh, Aunty, let him go back to his people,” Betty pleaded, seeing the change. “Anybody can see that he is miserable. He is too little to be made to suffer.” ”

“ No one dared to slip in behind the rustling skirts or portly form of anybody without paying, for her piercing eyes seemed everywhere. Once or twice, when the crowds about the doors seemed to hesitate and to wonder whether, after all, it were worth while to expend six or even three cents for what was to be seen behind the curtain, the pretty little figure of her Olga was seen to flit, as if by accident, across the vestibule, the full light streaming over her little full blouse of yellow satin, and her pink feet tripping as if on air. ”

“ The light of the moon still touched the chestnut woods higher up the slopes, but every moment the shadow would be creeping higher and higher, until there would be no more moonlight on this side the mountain, and only the stars would come peeping out at Natale. ”

“ SEPARATION Natale lay flat on the grass, his face hidden on his arms, and his feet rebelliously kicking the ground. The added week granted by the mayor had passed, and the circus-wagon was about to move on.
“You are only to try it, child, and if it will not do, you can come back to us. One year is not a hundred.” ”

“ Natale replied to these mocking words with only a rather naughty shrug of the shoulders, and went to sit down on the lowest step of the short ladder against the wall.
“Give him his polenta, Arduina,” Nonna called shrilly from a little way behind. “He was asleep, Elvira, all tired out with walking to-day as much as any man among us. I keep my eyes open. Don’t scold the boy.” ”

“ In former times, the little acrobat would have been the first to raise an alarm and assist with alacrity in the ignominious expulsion of the intruder who wanted to see the show, and yet keep his soldi in his pocket, if such were there. But the sight of the enterprising offender made little impression on Natale’s mind now, as he stepped past the struggling legs, for, the hour being much later than he thought, the band inside just then struck up the familiar schottisch, and Natale knew that Il Duca was even now treading the ring in a dignified dance, led by Giovanni himself. ”

“ For some reason known best to himself, but readily guessed by the clown and the rest of the older members of the circus, the swarthy peddler was not seen in Bagni di Lucca for many a day after. But Natale did not lose his dread of encountering the fierce eyes and the cruel knife until long after the circus troop had taken to the road again.
Nothing in the world could have induced Mrs. Bishop, the English lady at Cutigliano, to touch the money returned with, what was to her, most astonishing promptness and honesty through Leo, one of the musicians. ”

“ A cattle fair does not offer itself every day, with its crowd of country bumpkins who never saw a man in tights. Now, that will do, Natale,” turning to the boy, who was sniffing audibly. “Hours ago it was all decided, and there is nothing more to be said.”
“Then I am not to stay in this horrid place, Giovanni—papá—”
“‘Giovanni—papá—!’ No more of these tears, Natalino. You are to stay in this beautiful place, and after polenta, you are to go up to the garden and thank the lady.”
With a loud, rebellious howl, Natale sprang to his feet and rushed out into the open air. ”

“ It was Nonna who cared for the ailing Pietro, who rubbed Natale’s stiff ankles and elbows with an ointment of her own invention to limber them up, who thought to tuck Olga’s long red hair out of the way when practice time came and the curling locks would have teased the little face and shoulders turned upside down and hindside before. ”

“ May the saints protect and feed my own children when they go a-wandering! You, Beppo! [Pg 142] keep your head out of the dust of the road!”
“Mamá, mamá, Beppino is making capitomboli, such as the boy who was here just now made in the circus at Cutigliano, on the day we went with our father to the big tent! Do you not remember?” cried an admiring small sister of Beppo. “See, our Beppo does them even better than the other boy, mamá!”
The woman gave a little start of recollection, and then dismissed the idea which had occurred to her, as impossible—fortunately, perhaps, for Natale. ”

“ Perhaps she was thinking of some little child at home in England who would be clamoring for a penny to carry to Sunday school, but Natale had no thought of dropping his precious two soldi into the priest’s collecting bag in the church.
The piazza was too fascinating a place to be passed by, when one held a penny of his own fast in his fist. With the dogs on each side of him, therefore, Natale spent most of the day above in the town, going from booth to booth, and in fancy spending his money over and over again. ”

“ There was no wind, and the heavens were fair, so the canvas had not been furled.
“I should like it myself,” she murmured. “What a fascinating life to live! Camping out the year round in Italy, with no troublesome dressing four times a day, no tiresome table-d’hôte dinners at night. But after all [Pg 72] I should not like to be that girl,—Arduina, they call her. Of course, Aunty is right about the rope dancing and other ‘circusing’ on Sunday, only she need not be quite so fussy over what we certainly cannot help. Poor Natale! ”

“ It was past noon of the second day when Natale entered a village on a level with the highway. Here the road suddenly changed into a stone-paved street, running between high houses and echoing with the tramp of wooden-soled shoes and the patter of donkeys’ hoofs.
He stopped at the door of a sour-smelling wine shop where sat a man on a stool outside [Pg 147] the door. To him the little boy put his question as to whether this town might perhaps be very near to the Bagni di Lucca. ”

“ Bishop,” turning to the eager old lady, “because he loves his life with the circus and his own people too much.”
“And he does not wish to leave his grandmother,” chimed in Betty who had very cleverly picked up a good deal of Italian during a winter and summer in Italy, and all grandmothers are Nonnas in that land.
Mrs. Bishop was silent for a moment, her gaze taking in every detail of Natale’s little figure standing sturdily before her, dusty shoes, and rough peasant leggings, velveteen trousers, faded blue blouse, and rumpled curls, with the old hat held in one sun-burned hand. ”

“ A very little wind caught under the canvas spread on that exposed hillside before it was securely roped into place might have carried it all away to be stranded in the tops of the chestnut trees below, and a new canvas for such a circo as that would have cost certainly three hundred francs.
When at last the tent was raised, Giovanni hung above the entrance a broad strip of blue canvas with clowns’ and horses’ heads painted upon it, and the sign in large letters: “Circo Equestre”, which is Italian for “Circus with Horses.” ”