I don't want to go." "Crispin, don't cry!" pleaded the elder.

"Mother won't believe it--don't cry! Old Tasio told us that a fine supper is waiting for us." "A fine supper! And I haven't eaten for a long time.

They won't give me anything to eat until the two gold pieces appear.

But, if mother believes it?
You must tell her that the senior sacristan is a liar but that the curate believes him and that all of them are liars, that they say that we're thieves because our father is a vagabond who--" At that instant a head appeared at the top of the stairway leading down to the floor below, and that head, like Medusa's, froze the words on the child's lips.

It was a long, narrow head covered with black hair, with blue glasses concealing the fact that one eye was sightless.