And then, even if fate gave me a kind master, it was another change. First, my foster mother, then Vitalis, then another… Was it to be always so? Should I never find anyone that I could love and stay with always? Little by little I had grown attached to Vitalis. He seemed almost what I thought a father would be. Should I never have a father, have a family? Always alone in this great world! Nobody’s boy!
Vitalis had asked me to be brave. I did not wish to add to his sorrows, but it was hard, so hard, to leave him.
As we walked down a dirty street, with heaps of snow on either side covered with cinders and rotten vegetables, I asked: “Where are we?”
“In Paris, my boy.”
Where were my marble houses? And the trees of gold, and the finely dressed people. Was this Paris! Was I to spend the winter in a place like this, parted from Vitalis and Capi?
Chapter XVITHE PADRONE
Although I knew later how beautiful was the city of Paris, the slums, being my first glimpse, created anything but a favorable impression.
Vitalis, who seemed to know his way, pushed through the groups of people who obstructed his passage along the narrow street we had just turned down.
“Mind, you don’t lose me,” cautioned Vitalis.
But his warning was not necessary, for I trod upon his heels, and to be more sure of him I held a corner of his coat in my hand.