tourists in Venice this summer,
and it is not to believe the way Americans throw money about. Mario
says their pockets are lined with gold!"

Sick with terror, the children turned away from Carlotta and looked out
of the windows.

"See me," said Giovanni. He wanted to do something to make himself
admired after his recent humiliation, so he doubled himself across the
sill of the open window and leaned far out over the canal which flowed
directly beneath. "Look!" he cried, waving his legs at the peril of
taking a header into the water.

His mother seized him. "Madonna mia," she screamed, "that boy would
rather drown than not," and, giving him a smart spank, she jerked him
back into the room by a leg. Giovanni rubbed the spot and grinned
sheepishly, as his mother followed up the punishment by a flow of speech
which sounded to the Twins much like the chattering of the monkey. "Get
along with you!" she said finally, giving him a shove.

"Come," said Carlotta to the Twins when this little scene was over.
"Soldi grow only in the street," and, picking up the organ, she led the
way down the stairs.

The children were glad to follow, for they preferred the streets to such
a dwelling, and Giovanni, thinking it advisable to remain out of his
mother's sight for a while, followed them, carrying the monkey in his
arms.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THREE WEEKS DRIFT BY.

All the rest of that day, and for many days after, the children followed
Carlotta through the maze of streets, dancing and singing in the piazzas
and the market-place, or anywhere else where crowds were gathered.
Giovanni, having nothing else to do, went with them much of the time,
and added his talents to the exhibition. He could turn "cart-wheels"
until he looked like a real whirling wheel with only four spokes, and he
could walk on his hands. He was glad to display these accomplishments,
for he liked being away from home, he liked Carina, and best of all he
liked the Twins. The three became quite friendly, and Carlotta, seeing
this, smiled her sly smile, and winked knowingly at Giovanni's mother,
as though to say: "You see, they are getting used to their new way of
living. Soon they will forget their old home, and I shall have no more
trouble with them."

Little by little the children came to know Venice better than they had
known Florence, which is not saying much, since in Florence they had so
completely lost themselves. They could go from Giovanni's h