Year: 1878

maue up MS lnlnu ana ueu : nNb mems were
stolen from the hen-roost one early morning
ere Pastore and Faello had got a mile away
down the road little Toinetta broke her ankle
climbing up a cherry tree and the three mid
die ones, left under this burden of sickness
and work, kept the house but i'll, and found
the washing Of linen, and the cleaning of
floors, and the various daily tasks all too
much for them. When Faello came home at
sunset he had to set to and sweep, and hoe
the plot Of ground, and even go and wash
his own shirts at the women's washing tank,
which more than all made him ashamed, be-
cause he felt so ridiculous. The neghbors,
indeed, were not unkind but Giudetta had
always been called proud stomach rs FaellO
was called after her, and PRIDE when you are
poor, is a thing nobody ever can forgive you
very naturally.


Now and then Faello looked reproachfully
up at the Marriage Plate, which was always
to bring them fair fortune, and never did so,
But TO take it down and sell it never occurred
to him for an instant. He would as soon
have thought of tearing open his granddame's
coffin TO take the marriage ring off her finger
and the linen shroud of her limbs.


Sometimes when he was hoeing. or was
washing at the tank in the red glow of even
ing, he would see Gan Battista go by ON his
brave gray horse and would hear people
laugh and cry, "Ay, ay : he goes counting to
Ser Baldassare he knows the way to win
Dea."


Then Faello's heart would sink as a stone
sinks in deep waters, and it would seem to
him for a moment rs il he never could bear
the many burdens of his life. But such mo-
ments passed in the morning he would go
TO work again; he was brave and by nature
patient


One day in hot August he rose as usual and
went out aud got into his cart as the first
tinge of rose blushed in the east above the
opposite mountain. Pastore jumped on him
as they went forth to their labor hungry,
both of them, for they never ate till midday
and then not one-half that either needed.
Faello went to the pOtter's yard and found an
unusually large load awaiting him there.
There had come a great order for hower-pots
large and small, from nursery garden down
in the city. There was also another errand.


The foreman gave him a little packet
sealed.


1T is all notes, lie said you are to pay
them into the bank the master knows you
are honest, so he is not afraid to trust you.
Pay them IN as soon as you get to the town
and have delivered the vases"


Faello colored with pleasure it was the
first kindly word of recognition of his homes
ty that Ser Baldassare had ever given him,
and the potter was Dea's father. With a
lighter heart than he had known for days and
months. Faello cracked his whip in the air
and started of beside his mule Pastore run
ming foremost. as his habit was-a big snowy
curly form bounding about in the soft light
of dnybr,ak.


Faello felt almost happy. 1t seemed almost
like being nearer Dea to think that her father
would trust him with the money that all I'm
pruneta was aware the potter loved better, as
some said, than his very soul itself, and very
much better than his daughter.


The sun beaIned out in all his glory and
the golden light of it spread itself over all the
vastness of Val dAno; the chimes of the
Certasa rung for the first mass Faello fell
on his knees in the dust by way-side cross,
said prayer, and rose almost happy.


Pastore, pausing as he prayed, leaped on
him when he rose Faollo kissed him.


1T is nothing to be honest" said Faello to
his dog but oh, dear Pastore, it seems
such a great thing when. people are so good
as to praise you because you are.'


Pastore trotted onward, waving the white
plume of his tail, perhaps thinking that dog
are always honest but do not get very much
credit or comfort for it from those they serve


As the day was fully up they reached the
town--empty, silent. full of long shadows



where, from the bundles of carnations and
roses and wall-howers placed at all the street
corners, waiting for the buyers that would
come out little later.


Faelo aud Pastore stopped a moment tC
drink a draught of water mt the big bronze
trough at the end of the Canto di Barge Sar
Jaccupo. and then took their cartload acros,
the city to the place of its destination. BY
the time the vases were all unloaded it wa
eleven o'clock; both dog and youth felt sor,
pangs of hunger


We will pay the money into the bank anC
then eat. Pastore," said Faello, and wen
lrisurely with his empted cart back again
through the town to the place of business
which he had been bidden to seek. He lef
Pastorc on guard, as usual, at the head of tn,
mule. aud entered the glass doors of TIA,
bank.


They made him wait some time up on
second floor, shut up in a close little room
they were busy, for it was a market-day ant
they kept him nigh three-quarters of an hou
| while they wrote out the receipt of the note
he had brought. Faello felt the time yer,
| long; it was suhocatingly hot in this room
hotter than in the streets, and he was yer,
hungry, and felt sorry for poor Pastore sit
ting down ON the scorching stones with al
empty stomach in The blazing sun. Still h.
was not uneasy the cart and mule were safe
for none would touch them with the dog ther
on guard.


When at last they told him he might 60
and gave him his receipt for Ser Baldassare
| it was full noon, and an August noon in tn
| streets is good neither for man nor beast.


He hurried lightly down the stairs, and RAJ
out, Joyous to be free but at the threshold
he stopped stupidity, and stared up the stree
and down. Pastore was not there, neithe
was the mule or the cart.


He thought he must be dreaming that til
hot air had made him blind and dizzy. The
he put his hand to his mouth, and shoute
the dogs name again and again and again.


A shoe-black who was doing near in Iii
tie niche under some shade, was wakened b
the noise, and came and shook him by tn
arm.


DO not yell like that, boy they will tax
you up too. They lassoed your dog half a
hour ago"


What :" said Faello, with shrek tina
seemed to him to wrench his very life on
with it.


The shoe-black nodded.


They lassoed him. You know the law
no dogs loose in the streets. They came u
behind him and-phew the thing was rOun
his neck and he throttled and on his back be
fore you could whistle. They do it alway,
you know. Don't look like That He wa
alive when they hauled him in the barrow


"And the cart-the mule :" stammere
Faello.


"Oh, somebody walked of with them, ono
the dog was gone | saw it all, but it was IL
business of mine. Why, how You look"


The voice of Faello rang down the empt
ness of the street in pitiless scream.


"Pastore! Pastore my dog, my frienC
my brother! Oh, the iends!"


Quiet, said the shoe-black. If you ca
names they will arrest you. They took m
boy up the other day for wrestling bit I
save his dog. Don't make n noise, but run
they won't have killed him yet most likel,
though he was half strangled as it was, poo
brute. Rum"


The man told him where to go, and Faell
ran with bare trembling feet ON the burnin
stones. The loss of his mule and his cart Il
had forgotten. He tore through the city lill
a madman.


1t was the intense dry pitiless heat of th
August midday, which drives all creatur,