ï.
NO RELATIONS.
31
" You don't seem to me paler than other per-
sons," I said.
" I see very well you are telling me that to
reassure me ; but it would please me to be very
pale, because that would mean that I was very
iii,- and I want to be very ill indeed."
I looked at him with astonishment.
"You don't understand me," he went on,
with a smile: " it's very simple, though. When
you are very ill, people take care of you, or
they leave you to die. If they leave me to die,
there is an end of it. I shall be no longer hun-
gry; I shall have no more blows. And then
they say that those who are dead live in the sky:
so from up in the sky I should see my mother
down below in my country. And perhaps I
might talk to God, and if I begged Him very
hard I might pievent my sister Christina from
being unhappy. If, on the contrary, they take
care of me, they will send me to the hospital,
and I should be glad to go the hospital."
I had an instinctive dread of the hospital, and
often when overwhelmed with fatigue on the
road I had been ready to drop, I had only to
think of the hospital to feel myself instantly
ready to walk on. I was astonished to hear
Mattia talking in this way.
"If you knew how well off you are in the
hospital," said he, going on. "I have been
there already, at Sainte-Eugénie's. There's a
doctor there—a tall, fair man—who always has
barley-sugar in his pocket; it is pounded, be-
cause pounded barley-sugar is cheaper, but it is
good all the same. And then the sisters talk to
you gently: 'Do this, my little one; put out
your tongue, poor little fellow !' I like people
to talk to me gently,—it makes me inclined to
cry; and when I want to cry 1 feel quite happy.
It's foolish, isn't it? but mother always spoke
gently to me. The sisters speak as she spoke;
and if the words are not the same, it is the same
soft sound. And then when you begin to
get better they give you good broth and wine.
When I began to feel my strength giving way
here because I ate nothing, I was glad, and said
to myself, ' I'm going to be ill, and Garofoli
will send me to the hospital.' Ah, yes, ill; ill
enough to suffer myself, but not enough to do
\ Garofoli any harm: so he has kept me. It is
1 astonishing what a great deal wretched people
•can endure! Fortunately Garofoli has not given
up his habit of flogging me,—along with the
others, I ought to say,—and a week ago he gave
me a heavy blow over the head with a stick.
This time I hope that the business is done; for
my head is swollen,—you can see this great
lump.
"He said yesterday that perhaps it was a
tumor; I don't know what a tumor is, but from
the way he spoke of it I think that it must be
something serious. However, I suffer a great
deal; I have shooting pains in my head, more
painful than the toothache. My head is as heavy
as if it weighed a hundred pounds; I get giddy
and faint away, and at night, when sleeping, I
can't help groaning and crying. So I think
that in two or three days from now he must
make up his mind to send me to the hospital;
because, you understand, a boy who cries out
at night disturbs the others, and Garofoli
doesn't like to be disturbed. What a good thing
it was he gave me that blow with the stick!
Now, tell me frankly, am I not very pale?"
So saying, he came and stood in front of me
and looked me straight in the face. I had no
longer the same reason for holding my tongue:
still, I dared not answer candidly and tell him
how terrified I was at his great burning eyes,
bis hollow cheeks, his discolored lips.
"I think that you are ill enough to go into
the hospital."
"At last!"
And with his halting leg he tried to make a
bow. But almost instantly he went to the table
and began to wipe it.
" We have talked enough," said be: "Garo-
foli is coming back, and nothing will be ready.
As you think that 1 have had blows enough to
go into the hospital, it is no good earning any
more; they would be useless; and somehow
those'tha* I get now seem harder than those I
received months ago. They are wise, aren't
they, who say you can get accustomed to every -
AlT the while he talked he went hobbling
round the table, putting the plates and spoons
and forks in their places. I counted twenty
plates; Garofoli had twenty children, then, un-
der his orders; yet, as I only saw a dozen beds,
they must sleep two together. What beds! no
.sheets, but red-colored rugs, which must have
been bought from a stable when they were no
longer warm enough for the horses.
" Is it like this everywhere?" said I, fright-
ened.
" How do you mean—everywhere?"
"Everywhere in the houses of those people
who have children."
" I don't know; I have never been anywhere
else: only—you try to go somewhere else."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Never mind where ; you will
be better off than here."
Never mind where! that was vague; and, in
any case, how could I set to work to change
Vitalis's decision?
As I was reflecting, without, of course, find-
ing any way of escape, the door opened, and a
boy came in with a violin under his arm, and
in his disengaged hand he carried a large piece
of scaffolding-wood. This piece—of the same
sort as those which I had seen put into the fire-
place—made it plain to me whence Garofoli
obtained his stock, and the price it cost him.
" Give me your piece of wood," said Mattia,
going to meet the new-comer.
But the latter, instead of giving the piece of
wood to his comrade, put it behind his back.
"No, indeed!" said he.
" Let me have it.    The soup will be better."
"Do you think that I brought it for the soup?
I have only thirty-six sous, and I count upon
it that Garofoli mayn't make me pay too dearly
for the four sous that I am short."
" Your piece of wood won't help you; you
will have to pay for them all the same; every
one has his turn."
Mattia said this maliciously, as if he were
glad of the punishment which awaited his com-
rade. I was surprised at this manifestation of
spitefulness in one who had so sweet a face: it
was only later on that I came to understand
how living with bad people corrupts one.
The hour had come for the return of all Garo-
fob's pupils. The boy with the piece of wood
was followed by another; then came ten more.
Each of them on entering hung up his instru-
ment on a nail above his bed,—this one a vio-
lin, that one a harp, another a flute or a fife.
Those who were not musicians, but only ex-
hibitors of animals, put away in a cage their
marmots and guinea-pigs.
A heavier step resounded upon the staircase ;
I was sure it was Garofoli, and I saw a little
red faced man come limping in. He did not
wear the Italian costume, but was dressed in a
gray coat. His first look was at me,—a look
which chilled my heart.
"Who is this boy?" said he.
Mattia quickly answered  him with  much
civility, giving him the message with which
Vitalis had charged him.
"Ah, Vitalis is in Paris!" said he. "What
does he want with me?"
"I don't know," answered Mattia.
" I was not speaking to you, but to this lad."
" The padrone is coming," said I, not daring
to  give a  straightforward answer:   "he will
explain to you himself what he wants."
" Here's a little fellow who knows the price
of words.    You are not Italian?"
"No; I am French."
Two children had approached Garofoli as
soon as he came in, and both of them stood
waiting close to him until he had done speak-
ing. What did they want with him? I soon
had an answer to a question that I put to my-
self with much curiosity.
One of them took his hat from him and
placed it carefully upon a bed ; the other forth-
with brought him a chair. From the gravity
and respect with which they performed these
simple everyday acts, one would have said they
were two chorister-boys religiously waiting
upon the officiating priest at the altar. By this
I saw to what extent Garofoli was feared, for
surely these acts of attention did not spring
from affection.
When Garofoli had taken his seat, another
boy ran up with a pipe filled with tobacco, and
at the same moment a fourth handed him a
iighted match.
"It smells of the sulphur, you fool!" cried
he, as he put it to his pipe; and he flung it into
the fire-place.
The culprit hastened to repair his error by
lighting a fresh match, which he allowed to
burn for a time before offering it to his master.
But he declined to take it.
"Not you, you idiot!" said he, pushing him
roughly aside; then turning to another boy with
a smile, which was certainly a  signal favor,
" Riccardo, a match; there's a good boy."
And the good boy hastened to obey.
" Now," said Garofoli, when he was settled,
and his pipe began to draw, "to our accounts,
my little angels.    Mattia, the book."
It was certainly very good of Garofoli to
condescend to speak, for his pupils watched so
attentively for his wishes and his intentions
that they guessed them before he had time to
express them.
He had hardly asked for his account-book
when Mattia put before him a filthy little ledger.
Garofoli made a sign, and the boy who had
brought him the brimstone match came for-
ward.
"You owe me a sou from yesterday: you
promised to bring it to me to-day. How much
have you got for me?"
The child hesitated some time before answer-
ing; his face grew scarlet.
"I'm one sou short."
"Ah! you are one sou short; and you tell
me that calmly."
"It is not yesterday's sou; it is a sou for to-
day."
" Then that makes two sous. Do you know
that I have never seen your equal?"
" It is not my fault."
"No nonsense! You know the rule. Undo
your jacket. Two cuts for yesterday, two cuts
for to-day; and, besides that, no potatoes, for
your impudence. Riccardo, my dear, you have
well earned this amusement by your good be-
havior.    Get the whip."
Riccardo was the boy who had brought the
right match with so much eagerness. He took
down from a hook on the wall a short-handled
whip, with two great knotted thongs of leather
at one end. Meanwhile, the boy who was a
sou short undid his jacket and stripped himself
bare to the waist.
' Wait a minute," said Garofoli, with an evil
smile: " perhaps you won't be alone, and^it is
always pleasant to have company; and then
there will be no need for Riccardo to begin again
several times over."
The boys stood motionless before their mas-
ter at this cruel jest. They began all together
to laugh a forced laugh.
" The one who has laughed the loudest," said
Garofoli, " is, I am certain, the one who owes
the most.    Who laughed loudly?"
All of them pointed out the boy who came in
first with the piece of wood.
" Now, how much are you short?" asked
Garofoli.
" It isn't my fault."
"For tae future, the boy who answers 'It
isn't my fault ' will receive an extra cut with
the whip.    How much are you short?"
"I brought in a piece of wood,—that fine
piece Over there."
" That's something; but go to the baker's and
ask him for some bread in exchange for your
piece of wood. Would he give you any? How
many sous are you short?   Come, speak up!"
" I have brought thirty-six sous."
" You are four sous short, you wretched
scoundrel! Four sous! And you dare to ap-
pear before me! Riccardo, you are a lucky ras-
cal. My dear, you are going to have some fine
amusement.   Off with the jacket!"
"But the piece of wood?"
"I'll give it to you for your dinner."
At this stupid joke all the boys who were not
sentenced burst out laughing.
During this examination, ten more children
had come in. They all came up in their turn
to settle their accounts. In addition to the
two already sentenced to be whipped, there
were now three more who had not made up their
sum.
"There are five robbers, then, who plunder
and steal from me," growled Garofoli. "That's
what comes of being too generous. How do
you expect me to pay for the good meat and
the good potatoes that I give you, if you will
not work? You prefer to play. You ought to
let the fools you meet see you cry; but, instead
of that, you had rather laugh among yourselves.
Don't you think that it would be better to pre-
tend to cry while holding out your hand than
to cry in earnest holding out your back? Come,
off with your jackets!"
Riccardo stood holding the whip in his hand,
and the five culprits were ranged beside him.
" You know, Riccardo," said Garofoli, " that
1 don't look at you, because these punishments
make me ill; but I hear you, and, from the
noise, I can very well  judge the force of the