en down! I am not in a pitiful state enough for people
to stop and notice us. So, my boy, I have decided to give you to a
_padrone_, until the end of the winter. He will take you with other
children that he has, and you will play your harp...."

"And you?" I asked.

"I am known in Paris, I have stayed there several times. I will give
violin lessons to the Italian children who play on the streets. I have
only to say that I will give lessons to find all the pupils I want. And,
in the meantime, I will train two dogs that will replace poor Zerbino
and Dulcie. Then in the spring we will be together again, my little
Remi. We are only passing through a bad time now; later, I will take you
through Germany and England, then you will grow big and your mind will
develop. I will teach you a lot of things and make a man of you. I
promised this to Mrs. Milligan. I will keep my promise. That is the
reason why I have already commenced to teach you English. You can speak
French and Italian, that is something for a child of your age."

Perhaps it was all for the best as my master said, but I could only
think of two things.

We were to be parted, and I was to have a _padrone_.

During our wanderings I had met several _padrones_ who used to beat the
children who worked for them. They were very cruel, and they swore, and
usually they were drunk. Would I belong to one of those terrible men?

And then, even if fate gave me a kind master, it was another change.
First, my foster mother, then Vitalis, then another.... Was it to be
always so? Should I never find anyone that I could love and stay with
always? Little by little I had grown attached to Vitalis. He seemed
almost what I thought a father would be. Should I never have a father,
have a family? Always alone in this great world! Nobody's boy!

Vitalis had asked me to be brave. I did not wish to add to his sorrows,
but it was hard, so hard, to leave him.

As we walked down a dirty street, with heaps of snow on either side
covered with cinders and rotten vegetables, I asked: "Where are we?"

"In Paris, my boy."

Where were my marble houses? And the trees of gold, and the finely
dressed people. Was this Paris! Was I to spend the winter in a place
like this, parted from Vitalis and Capi?

CHAPTER XVI

THE PADRONE

Although I knew later how beautiful was the city of Paris, the slums,
being my first glimpse, created anything but a favorable impression.

Vitalis, who seeme