DEDICATED
TO MEMORIES OF
TWO LITTLE “ANGELICALS” OF ROME
SPOTTISWOODE AND SUSIE
BY
“CUDDIE”
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | Along the White Road | [1] |
| II | Nonna | [12] |
| III | In the Ring | [26] |
| IV | The Festival of San Lorenzo | [39] |
| V | A Gift for the Circus | [55] |
| VI | Separation | [73] |
| VII | The Caged Bird of the Fields | [91] |
| VIII | The Cage Door Opened | [105] |
| IX | The Flight of the Bird | [121] |
| X | On the Wing | [133] |
| XI | Fluttering a Little Farther | [150] |
| XII | At Last | [167] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| The pale apparition of Natale startled them all | [Frontispiece] |
| Mrs. Bishop looked down upon the tent from the garden terrace | PAGE [45] |
| The priest led Natale to the other end of the house | “ [94] |
| “Capitomboli, such as the boy who was here just now made in the circus at Cutigliano” | “ [142] |
THE LITTLE ACROBAT
A STORY OF ITALY
CHAPTER I
ALONG THE WHITE ROAD
The July sunshine lay hot and golden over the fields of wheat on the Italian hillsides, and the deep shade of the chestnut woods along the road was more inviting than the white glare beyond. The sun stood directly overhead, and along the middle of that white, dusty road there was not an inch of shadow.
A small brown house on wheels crept slowly along this sunny way, drawn by a queer, ill-matched team of three—a plump white horse with long, silky mane and tail, a large spotted horse with fierce eyes and nostrils, and a lean, little brown pony, with strangely twisted neck.