friend."

"Ah, you have a friend! Does he live in Paris?"

"We got to Paris only this morning."

"Well, if you haven't a place to lodge in, why don't you come here? You
will be well taken care of and it's an honest house. If your family get
tired of waiting to hear from Barberin they may come here and then
they'll find you. What I say is for your own interest. What age is your
friend?"

"He is a little younger than I."

"Just think! two boys on the streets of Paris! You could get into such a
bad place; now this is real respectable on account of the locality."

The Hotel du Cantal was one of the dirtiest lodging houses that I had
ever seen and I had seen some pretty dirty ones! But what the old woman
said was worth considering, besides we could not be particular. I had
not found my family in their beautiful Paris mansion yet. Mattia had
been right to want to get all the money we could on our way to the city.
What should we have done if we had not our seventeen francs in our
pockets?

"How much will you charge for a room for my friend and myself?" I asked.

"Ten cents a day. That's not much."

"Well, we'll come back to-night."

"Come back early; Paris is a bad place at night for boys," she called
after me.

Night was falling. The street lamps were lit. I had a long way to walk
to the Cathedral, where I was to meet Mattia. All my high spirits had
vanished. I was very tired and all around me seemed gloomy. In this
great Paris full of light and noise I felt so utterly alone. Would I
ever find my own people? Was I ever to see my real mother and my real
father? When I reached the Cathedral I had still twenty minutes to wait
for Mattia. I felt this night that I needed his friendship more than
ever. What a comfort it was to think that I was going to see him so gay,
so kind, such a friend!

A little before seven I heard a quirk hark, then out of the shadows
jumped Capi! He sprang onto my knees and licked me with his soft wet
tongue. I hugged him in my arms and kissed his cold nose. It was not
long before Mattia appeared. In a few words I told him that Barberin was
dead and that there was now little hope that I could ever find my
family. Then he gave me all the sympathy of which I was in need. He
tried to console me and told me not to despair. He wished as sincerely
as I that we could find my parents.

We returned to the Hotel du Cantal. The next morning I wrote to Mother
Barberin to express my grief for her loss