I hurried to the door.

“Arthur, I will love you always,” I said, choking back my sobs, “and I never, never will forget you, Mrs. Milligan.”

“Remi! Remi!” cried Arthur.

I closed the door. One moment later I was with Vitalis.

“Off we go,” he said.

And that was how I parted from my first boy friend.

Chapter XIII

Weary Dreary Days

Again I had to tramp behind my master with the harp strapped to my shoulder, through the rain, the sun, the dust, and the mud. I had to play the fool and laugh and cry in order to please the “distinguished audience.”

More than once in our long walks I lagged behind to think of Arthur, his mother, and the Swan. When I was in some dirty village how I would long for my pretty cabin on the barge. And how rough the sheets were now. It was terrible to think that I should never again play with Arthur, and never hear his mother’s voice.