THE LITTLE ACROBAT

A STORY OF ITALY

BY JANIE PRICHARD DUGGAN

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY NANA FRENCH BICKFORD

BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1919

Copyright, 1919, By Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved Published, September, 1919 Norwood Press Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Presswork by S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

DEDICATED TO MEMORIES OF TWO LITTLE “ANGELICALS” OF ROME SPOTTISWOODE AND SUSIE BY “CUDDIE”

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Along the White Road 1

II Nonna 12

III In the Ring 26

IV The Festival of San Lorenzo 39

V A Gift for the Circus 55

VI Separation 73

VII The Caged Bird of the Fields 91

VIII The Cage Door Opened 105

IX The Flight of the Bird 121

X On the Wing 133

XI Fluttering a Little Farther 150

XII At Last 167

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The pale apparition of Natale startled them all Frontispiece

Mrs. Bishop looked down upon the tent from the garden terrace PAGE 45

The priest led Natale to the other end of the house “ 94

“Capitomboli, such as the boy who was here just now made in the circus at Cutigliano” “ 142

THE LITTLE ACROBAT

A STORY OF ITALY