Very suddenly dark clouds massed themselves in the sky; thunder rolled along overhead. Following two vivid flashes of lightning, there came two heavy crashes of thunder. The boys hurried to the silkworm house. The worms were very much excited, and wove their lifted heads to and frog, refusing to eat. In a day or two some grew ill and died. This was a blow to Mario. He would not have as many cocoons as he had expected. And how he had longed to go to Naples and “see the world”!

Annina, by this time, had become almost perfect through care and practice. Her braid was even and firm, with no gaps in it. She could see very well that her work was better than Fioretta”s. But Fioretta sang happily as she worked, or broke out into delighted accounts of what she would do and see in Naples if she were the fortunate one.