Etching:Pedro

== ETCHING: PEDRO ==
=== By S. L. Bacon ===
Published Originally in Short Stories 1894
It was only a street gammy bom of the
streets, of the smoke, the dust, the toil. He was an Italian boy, of perhaps
sixteen years. He had the shelter of a broken boat on the wharf, and the
possession of a hand-organ and the monkey. Flip. 
He was slender and well-shapen, with hair
fine, like corn-silk. He loved the monkey, and Flip loved him. 
Thy organ played three squeaky tunes and
the part of a fourth, and the pennies were few which it invoked. 
But what did it matter to be hungry when
one loved ? 
Before one house, with a latticed window,
there was a girl's face, and there Pedro went every day, for he loved her. 
She gave Flip sweet cake ; she gave his
master pennies. 
Her face had the fine cutting of a cameo ;
her eyes had the clearness of still water. 
When the organ played, she smiled. Then
Pedro was happy; he smiled back, and his teeth were like white shells in water.
At night he said : " Flip, we will
have only bread and milk, the rest I will save for her; one day I will marry
her." 
When he looked at the stars, he said : 
" They are not brighter than her eyes;
when I am rich and can marry her, she shall have a dress made of sunbeams, and
litle gold shoes. And you, Flip, you shall have a new cap." 
It was early springtime; the air was fresh
with new earth odors. Pedro's hair curled with the warmth. He came to her
house. There was a carriage before the door. She was not at the window. In vain
Flip climbed the lattice, in vain the organ played. Pedro stopped suddenly and
stood motionless. 
Through the open door she came, softly,
steadily, happily. She did not see Pedro, nor Flip, nor the organ. Her eyes
shone. 
Her dress was gray, like a cloud. Her hand
rested on the arm of a man. He was tall, with blonde whiskers. 
The boy stood motionless, watching the
carriage out of sight 
He did not play any more tunes. He lifted
his carefully hoarded pennies from their hiding-place, counting them with
infinite care. Then he got up and brushed his sleeve across, his eyes.
"You shall have a new cap, Flip," he said. 
Category:Bacon
Category:ShortStories
Category:Etching