lio, you see how I
toil, how I am wearing out my life, for the family. You do not second my
efforts. You have no heart for me, nor for your brothers, nor for your
mother!"

"Ah no! don't say that, father!" cried the son, bursting into tears, and
opening his mouth to confess all. But his father interrupted him,
saying:--

"You are aware of the condition of the family; you know that good will
and sacrifices on the part of all are necessary. I myself, as you see,
have had to double my work. I counted on a gift of a hundred lire from
the railway company this month, and this morning I have learned that I
shall receive nothing!"

At this information, Giulio repressed the confession which was on the
point of escaping from his soul, and repeated resolutely to himself:
"No, papa, I shall tell you nothing; I shall guard my secret for the
sake of being able to work for you; I will recompense you in another way
for the sorrow which I occasion you; I will study enough at school to
win promotion; the important point is to help you to earn our living,
and to relieve you of the fatigue which is killing you."

And so he went on, and two months more passed, of labor by night and
weakness by day, of desperate efforts on the part of the son, and of
bitter reproaches on the part of the father. But the worst of it was,
that the latter grew gradually colder towards the boy, only addressed
him rarely, as though he had been a recreant son, of whom there was
nothing any longer to be expected, and almost avoided meeting his
glance. And Giulio perceived this and suffered from it, and when his
father's back was turned, he threw him a furtive kiss, stretching forth
his face with a sentiment of sad and dutiful tenderness; and between
sorrow and fatigue, he grew thin and pale, and he was constrained to
still further neglect his studies. And he understood well that there
must be an end to it some day, and every evening he said to himself, "I
will not get up to-night"; but when the clock struck twelve, at the
moment when he should have vigorously reaffirmed his resolution, he felt
remorse: it seemed to him, that by remaining in bed he should be failing
in a duty, and robbing his father and the family of a lira. And he rose,
thinking that some night his father would wake up and discover him, or
that he would discover the deception by accident, by counting the
wrappers twice; and then all would come to a natural end, without any
act of his will, whic