a
mere livelihood by portering and rowing I always felt that I must work
harder than I otherwise should have had to do, just that I might have a
spare _quattrino_ now and then to give to you."

"'"Oh, my Tonino! my golden little son!" she cried, lifting her
hands to heaven, so that her staff fell clattering down the marble
steps, and rolled far away; "oh, my Tonino! I know that, whatever
you think, you must always be devoted to me with your whole heart,
because----silence--silence--silence!"

"'She bent stiffly down, in search of her staff; Antonio fetched it;
she leant her sharp chin upon it, and, fixing her eyes on the ground,
said, in a subdued, hollow voice:

"'"Tell me, my child, have you no remembrance of the earlier time?--how
it passed?--how things were with you before you became a poor wretched
fellow here, scarce able to keep body and soul together?"

"'Antonio heaved a profound sigh, sat down beside her, and said:

"'"Ah, mother! I know but too well that my parents were in the most
prosperous circumstances; but as to who they were, or how I lost them,
not the faintest remembrance remains to me, or could remain to me. I
distinctly remember a tall, handsome man, who used to take me up in his
arms, and pet me, and give me sweetmeats; and also I recollect a kind,
pretty woman, who dressed me and undressed me, put me into a little
soft bed every evening, and was good to me in every way. They both
talked to me in a rich-sounding foreign language, and I myself used to
stammer many words of this language after them. In the days when I was
a boatman, my comrades--who hated me--used to say always that, from my
hair, my eyes, and the build of my body, I must be of German blood. I
think so too, and I have little doubt that the language of those people
who cared for me (I am certain the man was my father) was German. My
most vivid remembrance of those times is a picture of terror; of a
night when I was roused from a deep sleep by screams of anguish. People
were hurrying up and down in the house; doors kept opening and
shutting. I grew terribly frightened, and began to cry. Then the woman
who took care of me came rushing in, lifted me from my bed, stopped my
mouth, wrapped me in clothes, and ran with me from thence. From that
moment my memory is a blank, till I find myself again in a fine house,
surrounded by beautiful country. The image of a man comes out, whom I
called 'father,' and who was a stately gentleman, nob