Page:Malot - Nobodys Boy, Crewe-Jones, 1916.djvu/395

 honored him by accepting. It is the old professor and Alexix. Lise and I greet our guests, the landau dashes up from the opposite direction with Arthur, Christina and Mattia. Following in its wake is a dog cart driven by a smart looking man, beside whom is seated a rugged sailor. The gentleman holding the reins is Bob, now very prosperous, and the man by his side is his brother, who helped me to escape from England.

When the baptismal feast is over, Mattia draws me aside to the window.

"We have often played to indifferent people," he said; "let us now, on this memorable occasion, play for those we love?"

"To you there is no pleasure without music, eh, Mattia, old boy," I said, laughing; "do you remember how you scared our cow?"

Mattia grinned.

From a beautiful box, lined with velvet, he drew out an old violin which would not have brought two francs if he had wished to sell it. I took from its coverings a harp, the wood of which had been washed so often by the rain, that it was now restored to its original color.

"Will you sing your Neapolitan song?" asked Mattia.

"Yes, for it was that which gave Lise back her speech," I said, smiling at my wife who stood beside me.

Our guests drew round us in a circle. A dog suddenly came forward. Good old Capi, he is very old