were as much too
long for him as the skirt was for Beppina. Carlotta had brought these
also, and she gave him a red sash to bind around his waist as well.
When they were equipped in these garments the two children gazed at each
other in dismay.

"You don't look like Beppo at all. You look just like a bandit," said
Beppina.

"And you--you look like a gypsy girl!" gasped Beppo.

"Even Mammina wouldn't know us if she were to see us now," Beppina
whispered, despairingly.

"That's just why that woman did it!" gasped Beppo, with sudden
illumination. "She doesn't care a bit about saving our clothes! She
wants to disguise us, so people will think we belong to them!"

"Oh, dear!" shuddered Beppina. "Let's change back again."

They seized their clothes, but just then they saw Carlotta's glittering
black eyes gazing in at them from the end of the van. It was as if she
knew their very thoughts.

"Avanti, avanti!" she called. "Is it that you are lazy? Come! We must
be on the road!"

Not daring to linger or protest, the two strange little figures came
tumbling out of the straw at once, and, after washing in the brook, sat
down on a fallen log to eat their breakfast. Carina perched beside them
on the log, and, when she had finished her own portion, leaped on
Ugolone's back, and, leaning down, snatched away some of his breakfast
from under his nose. In vain poor old Ugolone growled and slapped at
her with his clumsy paws. He was always too slow to catch her.

The children were so absorbed in watching this drama that they did not
notice what Carlotta was doing meanwhile, but later, when they looked
for their own clothes again, they had mysteriously disappeared, and were
not seen again.

When they had finished breakfast, Carlotta called to Beppina, "Come
here, poverina! Your hair is full of straw. I will fix it for you."
Beppina obeyed, and the woman coaxed her tangled locks into place,
combing them with her fingers, and at last succeeded in plaiting them
into a number of tight braids which she wound about her head. "There,"
said she when this was done, "now you will no longer need your hat."

"But," said Beppina, "I want my hat! Only peasants go bare-headed."
The woman gave a short laugh, and her teeth gleamed so white between her
lips that Beppina thought of the wolf who tried to pass himself off for
Red Riding Hood's grandmother.

"Do as you are told," said Carlotta. She smiled as she said it, but
th