"Tonin, Tonin, come out with us to the River! Luigi has built a raft, and we're going to pole it down to the second bridge."

Five boys, bareheaded, barefooted, dirty-faced, and joyful, grouped themselves before a mud-walled Alpine cabin, the last of a quaint village row, while Pablo, their leader, hailed some one within.

Instantly there appeared in the doorway a boy of their own age, clad as roughly and lightly as themselves. His blouse was loosened comfortably at the throat, his trousers were rolled well above the knee, and over these cool garments he wore a hempen working-apron which was held in place by a stout cord attached to its upper corners[Pg 177] and passing about his neck. In one hand he held a small steel hammer, in the other a chisel.

"Come on, Tonin," repeated Pablo, pointing excitedly toward the brook.

The lad in the doorway shook his head and lifted his chisel meaningly, as though no additional explanation were needed.

"Oh, do, do!" urged the new-comers. "Leave your old stone-chipping for an hour and come with us. We'll let you pole all the time if you will."

"I can't," returned the other briefly.

"Please come! Come along!" insisted four alluring voices, but Pablo turned away impatiently.

"Leave that sullen Tonin alone! He'd rather bang away at his grandfather's stones than go with us on the jolliest jaunt we could name. Come on, and let him stay by himself."

Thereupon the boys ran swiftly down the adjoining slope, and Tonin Canova stepped into the house with a shrug, as[Pg 178] though glad to be rid of them and their invitations. He did not tarry in the cleanly sunlit cabin, but hurried out to the rear garden, where an old man wearing an apron similar to his was busily tapping and chipping at a block of stone erected upon wooden supports.

"Why didn't you go with the others?" inquired the stone-cutter, looking up from his work. "You needn't have come back, because I have finished the urn for the terrace of the Villa d'Asolo, and it is too late in the afternoon to begin on the Monfumo altar ornaments. Besides, you have stood by your work pretty hard lately, and I think every boy needs a holiday once in a way."

"I don't want a holiday, grandfather."

"Bless us! What are you talking about? Who ever heard of a boy who didn't want a holiday every day in the week, if he could get it?"

"I'd like to be free from working on your things, of course, but I don't want to pole a raft. I'd rather carve my[Pg 179] cherries, if you can do without me the rest of the afternoon."

"Ho, ho!" chuckled the old man fondly; "you're just like me, Tonin: work is play when it happens to be stone-work. Do your cherries, if you have the mind."

"Hurrah! I can finish them to-day, and I'll do a pear next, and—see, grandfather, by carnival-time I'll have plenty to sell," and throwing open the door of a small rude cupboard set in the branches of a stunted acacia, Tonin proudly displayed a collection of peaches, apples, and grapes which his skilful fingers had wrought out of fragments of stone left from old Pasino's cuttings. Next autumn, when all the villagers and country folk of the province would assemble at Asolo for their carnival and yearly frolic, Tonin would peddle his pretty fruit among the pleasure-seekers, confident of filling his purse-bag with coins in exchange for his wares. As he stood reviewing his handiwork, he smiled slyly at thought[Pg 180] of the gifts he would buy for the two old people who adored him, and who had freely shared with him their roof and bread, from his earliest infancy.

The stone-cutter's earnings were necessarily small, and for two years Tonin had assisted him regularly at his work, cutting, carrying, measuring, and delivering day by day. He seconded Pasino's efforts so intelligently, and labored through the long hours with such manly patience, that the scanty comforts in the Alpine cabin visibly increased, and all the while the boy was learning the use of the cunning edged tools which his grandfather wielded so dexterously. The lad's name, as it appeared on the parish register, was Antonio, but to the guileless aged pair who cared for him he was simply and always Tonin.

Hoof-beats, accompanied by a shout from the roadway, caused the stone-cutter and the boy to hurry quickly to the hedgerow before the cabin.

A mounted horseman wearing the[Pg 181] livery of the Duke d'Asolo called out, as with difficulty he brought his spirited steed to a standstill,—

"Pasino, you are wanted at the villa. Something in the picture gallery needs to be done, and you are the only one to do it. The duke gives a great banquet to-night, and the room must be in readiness. Vittori sent me, and bids you to hurry as fast as you can."

"I'll follow you at once. Come, Tonin, mayhap you can be of service at the villa also."

Off galloped the messenger, and down the road marched Pasino Canova, bearing his tool-box upon his shoulder, while his barefooted grandson, similarly equipped, trudged cheerily by his side.

The stone-cutter was frequently in demand at the Villa d'Asolo, for besides the craft of his trade, the old man understood something of the uses of plaster, stucco, and even marble. No other workman in this remote hill country was so skilled, and for many years he had[Pg 182] received the friendly patronage of Giovanni Falier, Duke d'Asolo.

On the way, Pasino stopped for an instant before the entrance of a gentleman's country residence. "This'" said he, "is the home of Toretto, the great, great sculptor."

"Oh, grandfather, let's go in and look at his wonderful statues," begged Tonin. "Please, grandfather! Surely he wouldn't care, for I came once with Giuseppe Falier, and he allowed us to look at everything. Do, grandfather!"

"Not to-day," objected the old man, hastily resuming his onward way; "we have work to do, and have promised to hurry to the Villa d'Asolo as fast as we can."

Tonin slowly followed Pasino down the road, looking backward over his shoulder as long as the tall chimneys of Toretto's palace could be seen.

"Grandfather," said he thoughtfully, as a turning of the way shut the sculptor's house from sight, "I'd rather be able to[Pg 183] make a statue as beautiful as the ones Toretto showed us that day than do anything else in the whole world."

"Ah, that you might!" burst out the old man emphatically; "but, Tonin, for such work the eyes, the fingers, the mind must be taught—taught, Tonin, and—well, you know the rest: poor folk like us mustn't be gloomy because we can't do fine works. Chances to learn such things cost so much that none but gentlemen with bulging purses can afford them."

"I'm not gloomy, grandfather! You can teach me all that you know, and when I am a man, I will take care of you and grandmother." Here the boy began to whistle gayly, seeking to banish the look of sadness that had rested for a moment on the old man's features.

Presently they reached the Villa d'Asolo, whose pillared gates were thrown open to them by retainers. Across the terraces they took their way, past arbors, gardens of blossoms, and plashing [Pg 184]fountains, reaching at last a postern door of the many-storied castle.

In the passage they were confronted by Giuseppe Falier, the duke's youngest son, a handsome lad no older than Tonin. A serving-man attended him, carrying a glass aquarium that contained numerous brilliant goldfish. Boy and groom were preparing to depart through the door by which the Canovas had entered, but at sight of the new-comers Giuseppe halted.

"Hello, Tonin," he exclaimed; "come with me up to my cousin's house. This is David's birthday, and I forgot all about it until this minute. I didn't have any present to give him, so I decided I'd take the goldfish out of the conservatory. He likes such things. I don't, myself. Come on, and we'll have some fun. David has a new boat, and we'll make him take it out."

Giuseppe's invitation was so frankly cordial that Tonin would have joined him readily had he had no duties to perform. Giuseppe was a lad of jovial spirit[Pg 185] who chose his friends wherever he found good comrades, quite regardless of rank and riches, and many were the half-days that he and Tonin had spent together, exploring the hills and valleys round about Asolo.

"I can't go to-day, Giuseppe," replied Tonin; "grandfather has something to do in the picture gallery before the banquet to-night, and he is likely to need me."

"My eye, but there will be a crowd of people here! One reason I'm going up to David's is because I'm not allowed to stay up for the fun. Good-by. I'll take you up to see the boat some day next week," and beckoning the servant to follow with the aquarium, the young patrician disappeared through the outer door, and the Canovas made their way up a stately marble stair, and through a winding corridor until they came to a long narrow apartment whose walls were hung with canvases.

Here they were greeted by Vittori, the stout and hoary seneschal of the[Pg 186] palace. He wore his crimson robe of office, and a stupendous bunch of keys hung by a chain from his girdle, clanking as he walked.

He bustled up to the Canovas hurriedly, puffing and panting as from some undue exertion.

"Ha, Pasino, you are the very man I most need to see. Those four deep niches in the walls, two at either end of this gallery, are to be filled with the statues which Toretto has just finished. The beastly things were delivered yesterday, and Toretto himself promised to come to see that they were set up properly, but instead, a message was brought from him two hours ago saying that he had sprained his silly ankle and could not stir from the house. The duke will be furious if his marble doll-babies are not on view to-night, and as I wouldn't touch them myself for fear of harming them with my clumsy fingers, I called you for the business. There, in that further ante-room, you will find Toretto's[Pg 187] beauties inside the packing cases, and you are to get them safely into these niches. My-o! My-o! What a load of care falls on a poor old man who is keeper of a palace where one hundred noble guests are expected for a feast! Nobody in all Venetia has more worries and responsibilities. You may have as many men as you want, Pasino, and if your eye spies out any need for decorations in this chamber, send for what you wish. My-o! My-o! The carriages are beginning to arrive, and I must make eleven more arrangements before the feast is ready. You have plenty of time, for this room is not to be used until the ladies come up at the end of the banquet, to drink their Persian coffee," and the seneschal departed, accompanied by the sounds of his labored breathing and jangling keys.

Pasino's task was a delicate one, and though Vittori sent four strong men to aid him, the evening was nearly spent by the time the glistening statues were[Pg 188] released from their temporary prisons and lifted to their pedestals in the gallery niches.

While they worked, sounds of music and subdued laughter floated up to them, and fragrances and appetizing odors were continually wafted from the banquet-hall below.

Tonin worked with the others, and when the sculptured nymphs were brought to view, his delight knew no bounds. Taking up his position before the last erected one, he stood with folded arms, silently, wonderingly drinking in the beauties which Toretto's chisel had effected. He was wholly lost to time and place and was quite unaware that the servants had removed all traces of packing and litter, and that a bevy of maids were now seated in the gallery, weaving garlands at Pasino's order, for the festooning of the unfinished pedestals. He was so absorbed in the snowy goddess before him that he was deaf to everything until old Vittori's voice [Pg 189]suddenly rent the gallery's stillness with something between a groan and a shriek.

"Where is the aquarium? Who's seen my gold-fish? Answer, somebody, or I'll throw you all out of the window! Oh, I shall be disgraced and discharged and maybe half killed! Where is it? Why don't you speak?"

The seneschal's appearance, as well as his words, indicated unusual excitement, for his scarlet robe was thrown open at the throat, his frosty locks were rumpled, his uplifted hands were shaking, and his lips were twitching uncannily.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" demanded a dozen voices, but Tonin darted across to the old man's side with the announcement—

"Giuseppe carried it away this afternoon as a present to his cousin David."

"My-o! My-o! I am lost, I am done, I am dead!" ejaculated the seneschal, wringing his hands.

"What's the trouble, Vittori?" asked[Pg 190] Pasino, laying a quieting hand upon the shoulder of his agitated friend.

"It is this," returned the seneschal hoarsely; "the duke ordered me to send to the table a fresh ornamental centrepiece with each course, making every one handsomer than the one used before it. I did so, and all has now been served but the dessert, and that will be due in about fifteen minutes. For this fancy piece I have filled a great tray with Parma violets on snow, thousands of them—and in the midst of the flowers I planned to set the aquarium of goldfish for a bit of color and life. My-o! My-o! What shall I do?" and once again the seneschal fell to moaning.

"Build a column of fruit in the centre of the tray," suggested Pasino.

"Impossible! I used a pyramid of apricots and nectarines for the second course."

"Wouldn't a lighted candle or lamp do?" inquired Pasino, earnestly endeavoring to find relief for the seneschal.

[Pg 191]

"No! No!" wailed Vittori; "lighted things would melt the snow."

"To be sure," agreed Pasino sympathetically.

"I know something that might be pretty," ventured Tonin timidly.

"What is it?" Vittori demanded.

For answer the boy turned from the seneschal an............