XIII. AND ALL FOR ITALY!
XIV. EVVIVA VENEZIA! EVVIVA ITALIA!
XV. THE HERO OF THE SQUARE
[Illustration: CHICO]
CHAPTER I
OLD PAOLO
Some years before the Great War, there lived in a little house on one of the side canals of Venice, an honest workman and his family. Giovanni Minetti, for such was his name, was employed in a certain glass factory in Murano, while, in all Venice, there was no one with fingers more deft in the making of beautiful lace than Luisa, his wife.
At the time of our story, Andrea, the elder child, was nearly eight, and his little sister, Maria, two years younger.
Consigning the children to the care of her uncle (old Paolo, the caretaker of St. Mark's), Luisa would go each morning to the lace factory, returning just in time to prepare the simple dinner, at eventide.
Those were wonderful days for the children, for though they missed their father and mother, they were always happy with old Paolo.