'
"Nonsense!" said the padrone, harshly; "you are a coward. You
have a little cold, that is all. Did he say anything about
running away?"
"No, signore."
"Don't tell me a lie!" said the tyrant, frowning.
"I tell you the truth, signore padrone. Has not Filippo come
home?"
"No."
"I do not think he has run away," said the little boy.
"Why not?"
"I think he would tell me."
"So you two are friends, are you?"
"Si, signore; I love Filippo," answered Giacomo, speaking the
last words tenderly, and rather to himself than to the padrone.
He looked up to Phil, though little older than himself, with a
mixture of respect and devotion, leaning upon him as the weak are
prone to lean upon the strong.
"Then you will be glad to hear," said the padrone, with a
refinement of cruelty, "that I shall beat him worse than last
night for staying out so late."
"Don't beat him, padrone," pleaded Giacomo, bursting into tears.
"Perhaps he cannot come home."
"Did he ever speak to you of running away?" asked the padrone,
with a sudden thought.
Giacomo hesitated. He could not truthfully deny that Filippo had
done so, but he did not want to get his friend into trouble.
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