Maria was not long behind her brother, but the scampi,[Footnote: Fish.]
were already frying in the pan, before Giovanni, in his working shirt,
appeared in the doorway, hungry and ready for his dinner.
"Padre! Padre!" cried Andrea; "only guess--the pet I am to have!" Then,
with scarcely an instant's pause, he went on, in a shrill voice, "A pigeon,
padre, isn't that--GREAT?"
"Well, well!" Giovanni answered, taking his seat at the head of the table,
"and so you are to have a pigeon for a pet. I might have guessed anything
else--a parrot, a little singing bird, or perhaps, a couple of grilli
[Footnote: Crickets.] in a tiny cage, but a pigeon! Why, you play with them
all day long on St. Mark's Square."
"But that is not like having one of one's own," the boy protested.
He made a gesture of disgust. "A parrot, a singing bird, a couple of
grilli! What was his father thinking of?" and in another moment he was
explaining how he would train his bird to be a carrier pigeon, and how
bright its eyes would be, and how strong its wings, until his father
laughed and declared himself convinced that it would be the most wonderful
thing in all the world to own a pigeon.
The fish had quite disappeared from the platter when Giovanni again spoke:
"To-morrow is the Sabbath, and it is the little Maria's birthday--what say
you?"--he addressed himself particularly to Luisa--"shall we go to the
Lido?"
To the Lido! The children's eyes sparkled.
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