src="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@28426@28426-h@images@itals033.jpg" alt="" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/> 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