she drew them into a narrow entrance and, leading them up two
flights of dirty stairs, knocked at a door. It was opened by a
slatternly woman, who gave a shrill cry of astonishment when she saw the
group on her threshold.

The monkey evidently knew her, for he leaped from Giovanni's arms to her
shoulder and began to pull her hair.

"Santa Maria! Santa Maria!" screamed the woman. "If it is not that
devil of a Carina come back again! Let go of my hair, you demon, or
I'll wring your black neck!"

Carlotta laughed, and picked the monkey off of Giovanni's mother just as
she had picked Beppo off of her son a few moments before.

The children, left to themselves, stared about at their new quarters,
while Giovanni stared at them. The room was large, bare, dilapidated,
and dirty. On the floor were some old mattresses filled with
corn-husks, which were evidently used as beds. There was a wooden table
with some soiled dishes standing on it, and, beyond this and a few
chairs, there was no furniture except two pots of geraniums on the
window-sill. A door opened into a smaller room beyond, and through it
they could see a stove, with a kettle standing on the floor beside it.

Giovanni had evidently made up his mind that any one who could "lick"
him must indeed be a hero, for, having finished his critical survey of
the Twins, he said affably, "My father is a gondolier. What's yours?"

"A Marchese," said Beppo.

"Holy Madonna!" gasped the boy. "Doesn't he do any work?"

"No," said Beppo. "He just goes to Rome to help the King."

Carlotta overheard them. "Don't you ever say that again, you wicked
little liar!" she cried fiercely. "If you do, I'll cut off your
tongue." She turned again to the other woman.

"Do they look like the children of a Marchese? I ask you," she said.
"They were lost, and I have taken care of them out of charity! They
sing and dance to pay for their keep, but it's little enough they bring
in at best! Old Ugolone is dead, and Luigi has stayed behind to dispose
of the van and the donkeys. With the money he gets for them he'll buy a
boat and pick up a living on the canals. We shall go no more on tours
about the country. It does not pay. There are as many soldi to be
found in Venice as anywhere, and with the organ and Carina we shall get
along, even with two extra mouths to feed!"

Giovanni's mother winked her eye and nodded a great many times.

"Si, si," she said. "There will be many