Dorothy, and Other Italian StoriesWoolson, Constance Fenimore
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Dorothy, and Other Italian Stories
Woolson, Constance Fenimore
Americans -- Italy -- Fiction; Italy -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, American
To find Mrs. Roscoe's address, so that she could telegraph to her, Miss
Spring was obliged to look through Maso's parcels. She could not ask his
permission, for he recognized no one now; his mind wandered. One of the
bundles contained the best suit, still carefully saved for his mother's
arrival. The other held his few treasures: his mother's letters, with
paper and envelopes for his own replies; the old fairy-book; and Mr.
Tiber's blanket, coverlid, and little collar, wrapped in a clean
handkerchief. The latest letter gave the Paris address.
* * * * *
"My dear little boy! If I could only have known!" moaned Violet Roscoe,
sitting on the edge of the bed with her child in her arms. She had just
arrived; her gloves were still on. "Oh, Maso, why didn't you tell me?"
Maso's face, gaunt and brown, lay on her shoulder; his eyes were
strange, but he knew her. "You mustn't get sick again, mother," he
murmured, anxiously, the fixed idea of the summer asserting itself. Then
a wider recollection dawned. "Oh, mother," he whispered with his dry
lips, "Mr. Tiber's dead. Little Tiber!"
His fever-hot eyes could not shed tears, but his mother cried for him,
overwhelmed by the thought of his lonely sorrow. Then she tried to
comfort him: "Tiber was an old dog, Maso; he was not young when we
bought him, and we have had him many years. Dogs do not live very long,
even the oldest; he had to die some time. And he had a very happy little
life with you, always; you loved him, and gave him everything, and he
loved you. No dog could have had more."
Roberta overheard this attempt; she came to the bedside to add her item
also to the consolation. "Perhaps you will see your pet again, Maso. For
he had his vital spark as well as we have, though in a less degree. If
ours is to reappear in a future existence, I am inclined to think that
his will also. Why not?"
Maso did not understand her; his mother's voice alone reached his dulled
intelligence. But at least Roberta had done her best.
A month later Mr. Reuben J. Coe, of Coesville, New Hampshire, said to
his brother David: "That foolish wife of Tom's is coming home at last.
In spite of every effort on my part, she has made ducks and drakes of
almost all her money."
"Is that why she is coming back?"
"No; thinks it will be better for the boy. But I'm afraid it's too late
for that."
A FLORENTINE EXPERIMENT
One afternoon, three years ago, two ladies were talking together on the
heights of Fiesole overlooking Florence. They occupied the stone bench
which bears the inscription of its donor, an appreciative Englishman,
who in a philanthropical spirit has had it placed there for the benefit
of the pilgrims from all nations who come to these heights to see the
enchanting view. The two ladies were not speaking of the view, however,
but of something more personal. It seemed to be interesting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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