wrapped in a cloth. Then came the clothes,--two shirts and a pair of
shoes, two pair of stockings, and pocket-handkerchiefs; for it seemed
always to Mrs. Menotti as if Rico were going to the farthermost part of
the world; and she only now fully realized how dearly she loved the lad,
for she felt that she could not get on without him.

All the while, as she was packing, she would pause, sit down, and say to
herself, anxiously, "Oh, I do hope there will not be an accident!"

Presently she brought the portmanteau down-stairs, and counselled Rico
to go at once and explain to the landlady how every thing had happened;
and to ask if she would allow him to go, and not oppose it; and
afterwards Rico was to carry the portmanteau to the station.

The boy was in the greatest surprise over his portmanteau. He obeyed in
silence, as usual, however, and went to the landlady. He explained to
her that he was going back to the mountains to bring Stineli back with
him, and that the priest had arranged it so that he was to start on the
following morning at five o'clock.

It produced a feeling of respect at once in the mind of the landlady
when she found that the priest was at the head of the business. But she
naturally wished to know who this Stineli might be, and what the idea
was in fetching her; for she hoped it might be on her account.

She only found out that Stineli was a girl whose name was Stineli, and
that she was coming to Mrs. Menotti. So she let the thing go; for she
would not interfere, for the world, with that lady's wishes. She was
only too glad that Rico had been left to her for so long. She took it
for granted that Stineli was Rico's sister, only that he had not said