Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_ Bold text displayed as: =bold= PICCINO AND OTHER CHILD STORIES [Illustration: “SO HE WENT TO SHOW IT HIS TROUSERS”] PICCINO AND OTHER CHILD STORIES BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT [Illustration] NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1894, 1897, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS PAGE _Two Days in the Life of Piccino_, _1_ _The Captain’s Youngest_, _87_ _Little Betty’s Kitten Tells Her Story_, _129_ _How Fauntleroy Occurred_, _157_ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE “_So he went to show it his trousers_,” _Frontispiece_ “_Piccino, who lay fast asleep_,” _13_ “_Piccino clung to the donkey, rubbing his cheek wofully against her gray shoulder_,” _19_ “_‘I am going to wash you myself,’ said Lady Aileen, lifting him in her strong white arms_,” _51_ “_The girl stared at him_,” _69_ “_I polished away at the Captain’s sabre_,” _91_ “_Miss Rose put her hands on his shoulders_,” _103_ “_And I shall always be fond of you, Rabbett_,” _125_ “_I did not like the swing at first_,” _143_ “_I left her lap and curled up in her arm_,” _151_ _Fauntleroy’s welcome into the world: “F’ow him in ’er fire!”_ _165_ _His initial act of charity: “Lady,” he said, “lady, f’ont door—want b’ead,”_ _179_ “_I’m very sorry for you, Mr. Wenham, about your wife being dead_,” _191_ “_Are you in society, Mrs. Wilkins?_” _197_ _The real Fauntleroy listening to the story of the ideal Fauntleroy_, _215_ TWO DAYS IN THE LIFE OF PICCINO TWO DAYS IN THE LIFE OF PICCINO CHAPTER I If he lived a hundred years—to be as old as Giuseppe, who was little Roberto’s great-grand-father, and could only move when he was helped, and sat in the sun and played with bits of string—if he lived to be as old as that, he could never forget them, those two strange and dreadful days.