Lucy Fitch Perkins

“ 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!” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”