when her mother
discovered her absence. Opening the door below, the child unexpectedly
found herself in an alley back of the hotel.

Her sense of freedom was exhilarating. The sunlit alley beckoned to a
delightful journey of discovery. With a happy laugh and a toss of her
yellow curls she hurried along the narrow way and into the street
which crossed it a short distance beyond. Here she paused and looked
in each direction, uncertain which way to continue. In one direction,
far in the distance, she saw trees. They looked promising; she would
go that way. And trotting along the blazing, deserted street, she at
length reached the grateful shade and threw herself on the soft grass
beneath, tired and panting, but happy in the excitement of her little
adventure.

Recovering quickly, the child rose to explore her environment. She was
in one of those numerous public parks lining the Tiber and forming the
city's playground for her less fortunate wards. Here and there were
scattered a few people, mostly men, who had braved the heat of the
streets in the hope of obtaining a breath of cool air near the water.
At the river's edge a group of ragged urchins were romping noisily;
and on a bench near them a young priest sat, writing in a notebook. As
she walked toward them a beggar roused himself from the grass and
looked covetously through his evil eyes at the child's rich clothes.

The gamins stopped their play as the girl approached, and stared at
her in expectant curiosity. One of them, a girl of apparently her own
age, spoke to her, but in a language which she did not understand.
Receiving no reply, the urchins suddenly closed together, and holding
hands, began to circle around her, shouting like little Indians.

The child stood for a moment perplexed. Then terror seized her.
Hurling herself through the circle, she fled blindly, with the gamins
in pursuit. With no sense of direction, her only thought to escape
from the dirty band at her heels, she rushed straight to the river and
over the low bank into the sluggish, yellow water. A moment later the
priest who had been sitting on the bench near the river, startled by
the frenzied cries of the now frightened children, rushed into the
shallow water and brought the girl in safety to the bank.

Speaking to her in her own language, the priest sought to soothe the
child and learn her identity as he carried her to the edge of the park
and out into the street. But his efforts were unav