"Sh!" warned Mother Margherita. And
the man's voice sounded nearer.

"Hello, old woman!" it called gruffly.
"Well, you did come back, didn't you?
I began to believe that you had all run away."

"Run away!" There was a little pause
before any one answered. And Gigi felt
the elbows of the boys nudging him in the side.

"Father's angry!" they whispered. "Father
is terrible when he is angry. You had better
look out!"

Then Gigi knew that there was something
else to fear that night. And his heart sank.
Was there to be no end of his troubles?




VI

THE SILVER PIECE

The team stopped in front of a stone cottage, from the window of which
the light shone hospitably. They all jumped down from the cart, and
under cover of the darkness Mother Margherita hustled Gigi with the
other boys into the house, while Giuseppe, the father, cared for the