She drew back, frightened.
"Yours, all yours!" called some voices.
She began picking up the coins as she laughed her thanks. Her chubby little hands were soon so full that she dropped some soldi every time she picked up one. She gave a perplexed sigh, then suddenly made a purse of her apron and filled it with the jingling money. How the people laughed at her cleverness!
Rich little Pappina! The luxuries of the world—her world—were now within her reach. What should she buy? For a moment her bright eyes rested on the strings of macaroni some boys near her were eating. She felt a sudden hunger, but she had wanted a coral necklace too long to spend her money for the mere pleasure of eating, so she started off to hunt for a shop filled with jewels such as Filippo had often told about.
Eating macaroni
Pappina had not gone a hundred feet when she spied Filippo himself, sitting with a group of twinkling–eyed, barefooted boys of his age, playing "Mora," the Italians' favorite game of chance. The boys—shouting, disputing, quarreling, eager to win—were all so intent on the game that not one of them noticed Pappina's approach. Slipping up behind her brother, she clasped one hand over his eyes, asking: "Chi e [Who is it]?" and laughing merrily when she saw his surprise.
Filippo turned sharply toward her and gruffly demanded: "What are you doing here?" In her joy she ignored both his anger and his question. With dancing eyes she jingled her coins.
"See," she cried, "I've been dancing. Come quickly, Filippo; I want a coral necklace; take me where I can buy one."
"Sit down, you simpleton," he growled.