re, he breathed, "Italy!
Oh, eet iss Paradise!" And as if unable to restrain his joy any longer,
he burst into a wild, plaintive song, with a voice silvery toned and
clear as a bell. Peace paused in the midst of a turbulent explanation to
listen; Aunt Pen came to the door with her sewing in her hand; Hicks
stole around the corner of the house, thinking perhaps the young
mistress had broken her long silence; and the lame girl herself lay with
parted lips, charmed by the glorious burst of melody.

The song won her heart, even before she heard the pitiful story of the
wretched little musician, and when Peace had finished recounting the
morning's events, the mistress of the stone house turned toward her aunt
with blazing, wrathful eyes, exclaiming impetuously, "Isn't that
shocking? Oh, how dreadful! We must help him, Aunt Pen. Poor little
Giuseppe! See the Humane Society about him at once--Now don't look so
horrified, Peace. They don't kill little boys and girls. They take good
care of just such waifs as this, and provide nice homes for them. Even
if Giuseppe were related to Petri, the Humane Society would take the
child away from him on account of his brutality. He is worse than a
beast to treat the boy so, and Giuseppe shall never go back to him as
long as I can do anything. He shall go to school like other children and
get an education. Then we'll make a splendid musician of him; and who
knows, Peace, but some day he will be a second Campanini?"

Peace had not the faintest idea of what a Campanini was, but she did
understand that Giuseppe Nicoli had found a home and friends, and she
was content.

CHAPTER X

THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Peace was panic stricken. Almost at the last minute Miss Peyton had
changed her mind about the poem which she was to speak, and had given
her instead of "The Children's Hour" which she had so carefully learned,
those other lines called "Children"; and there were only five days in
which to learn them. Memorizing poetry, particularly when she could not
quite understand its meaning, was not Peace's strong forte, and it was
small wonder that she was dismayed at this change of program; but it was
useless to protest. When Miss Peyton decided to do a certain thing, "all
the king's horses and all the king's men" could not alter her decision.
Peace had learned this from bitter experience and many hours in the dark
closet behind the teacher's desk. So, inwardly raging, though outwardly
calm