The sun was setting before he dried his eyes and began to think of what he should do. The golden evening glow that his memory had cherished was on the water, the hills had taken the violet tints, and the fragrance of the roses perfumed the air. The beauty of the place comforted him, and he thought, "How I wish Stineli could see this!"
When Rico left the bridge, the sun had set and the light of day was fast fading away into darkness. It seemed more like a home than anything he had known for years, and he reluctantly left the place. His first purpose was to take a closer look at the red flowers that he had noticed in the garden. He found a path leading from the street, where he could obtain a good view of them. It seemed to Rico that there must be bushels of the buds among the trees, shrubs, and vines. Again he thought, "If only Stineli could see them!"
Rico could see a sturdy boy in the garden, cutting grapes from the vines. The side door of the attractive white house in front of the garden stood wide open. The young man noticed Rico and stopped his whistling to say, "Come here and play a tune if you can." This was said in Italian, and Rico wondered at his own understanding of the words, for he was sure that he could not speak like that. After the young man had asked some questions and discovered that Rico could not answer, he directed him to the house to play there.
Rico stopped at the door and played and sang Stineli's song from beginning to end. Through the open door he noticed a lady sitting beside a child's bed, sewing. When Rico was about to turn away, a little pale face was raised from the pillow and he heard a voice say, "Play some more, please."
Rico played another melody and again turned to go, but the child repeated, "Play some more."
So it happened time after time until Rico had played all the tunes he knew. When the little boy saw that Rico was really going away, he began to cry, begging Rico to come to him. The lady came out, offering a coin to Rico, who had played for the child with no thought of money. Then it occurred to him again that Stineli had said that people would give him something if he played for them, so he took it and put it into his pocket.
The lady asked where Rico came from and where he was going, but he could not answer.
"Have you parents here?" she continued, and Rico shook his head in reply, thus telling her that he could understand. Then she asked if he were all alone, and Rico nodded. "Then where will you go?" she questioned, and Rico shook his head with a little gesture to indicate that he did not know.