in
the house instead of a fire.

Tutti was allowed to ride home in the cart, and sat holding Tuttu's
hand, his eyes round with solemnity, the traces of tears still on his
cheeks.

That night he went to sleep with his arm thrown round Tuttu's neck,
his curly head resting against his shoulder--and though Tuttu was
cramped and uncomfortable, and his thumb pained him, he remained
heroically still until he also dropped asleep, and the two little
brothers dreamed peacefully of pleasant things until the morning.

CHAPTER II.

"Well, thank Heaven! those children are safe for the present," said
Maddalena, as she sat on a stone bench in the sun, with the dark
clipped cyprus hedge behind her.

To the right rose the stuccoed _Palazzo_, with its great stone
coat-of-arms hanging over the entrance, and inside, a peep of the
shady courtyard, with green tubs of orange trees, and the twinkle of a
fountain that shot up high into the sunshine, and fell with a splash
into a marble basin.

Maddalena, in her broad Tuscan hat with its old-fashioned black
velvet--for she would never give in to the modern innovations of
flowers and ostrich feathers--held her distaff in her hand, and as she
twisted the spindle and drew out the thread evenly, she thought with
satisfaction of the improved behaviour of the twins.

Ever since the accident they had been different creatures, and she
wondered how long it would be before they could be apprenticed to some
useful trade, and begin to bring in a little money.

"When I can get hold of the Padre alone I'll ask him about it; but he
really does spoil these boys till I don't know which tyrannizes over
him most--the two cats or the two children!"

Maddalena's reflections were suddenly interrupted at this point by the
appearance of her grandchildren from the back of the yew hedge by
which she was sitting--Tuttu on all fours, neighing like a horse, with
Tutti on his back, blowing a clay whistle.

"We're only doing 'cavalry,' grandmother," gasped Tuttu, with a
scarlet face, attempting to prance in a military manner.

"Cavalry!" cried Maddalena, starting up. "Those children will be the
death of me. Cavalry indeed! Look at your trousers, you disgrace. All
the knees yellow sand, and the elbows in holes!" and she seized her
distaff and waved it at them threateningly.

To avoid his grandmother's arm, Tuttu hastily scrambled under the
stone seat, but his unfortunate rider thrown off his balance, fell
he