y," said the boy.

"You are going to Turin--you two children--walking--like that!" she
persisted.

"Yes, Excellency."

"But--but it will take you a month."

"Pardon, noble lady," said the boy. "With your Excellency's permission,
we were told it should take fifteen days."

"Where do you come from?" she asked.

"From Bergamo, Excellency."

"When did you leave Bergamo?"

"Yesterday morning, Excellency."

"The little girl is your sister?"

"Yes, Excellency."

"Have you a mother and father?"

"A father, Excellency. The mother is dead." Each of the children made
the Sign of the Cross; and Peter was somewhat surprised, no doubt, to
see the Duchessa do likewise. He had yet to learn the beautiful custom
of that pious Lombard land, whereby, when the Dead are mentioned, you
make the Sign of the Cross, and, pausing reverently for a moment, say in
silence the traditional prayer of the Church:

"May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the
Mercy of God, rest in peace."

"And where is your father?" the Duchessa asked.

"In Turin, Excellency," answered the boy. "He is a glass-blower. After
the strike at Bergamo, he went to Turin to seek work. Now he has found
it. So he has sent for us to come to him."

"And you two children--alone--are going to walk all the way to Turin!"
She could not get over the pitiful wonder of it.

"Yes, Excellency."

"The heart-rending little waifs," she said, in English, with something
like a sob. Then, in Italian, "But--but how do you live by the way?"

The boy touched his shoulder-load of baskets.

"We sell these, Excellency."

"What is their price?" she asked.

"Thirty soldi, Excellency."

"Have you sold many since you started?"

The boy looked away; and now it was his turn to hang his head, and to
let his toes work nervously in the dust.

"Haven't you sold any?" she exclaimed, drawing her conclusions.

"No, Excellency. The people would not buy," he owned, in a dull voice,
keeping his eyes down.

"Poverino," she murmured. "Where are you going to sleep to-night?"

"In a house, Excellency," said he.

But that seemed to strike the Duchessa as somewhat vague.

"In what house?" she asked.

"I do not know, Excellency," he confessed. "We will find a house."

"Would you like to come back with me, and sleep at my house?"

The boy and girl looked at each other, taking mute counsel.

Then, "Pardon, noble lady--with your Excellency's permission, is