The Italian Twins

Near the banks of the river Arno, in an upper room of the beautiful old

palace of the Grifoni family, Beppina, the twelve-year-old daughter of

the Marchese, lay peacefully sleeping. In his own room across the hall

from hers, Beppo, her twin brother, slept also, though it was already

early dawn of Easter Saturday in the city of Florence, and both children

had meant to be up before the sun, that no hour of the precious holiday

should be lost in sleep.


It was the jingle of donkey bells and the sound of laughing voices in

the street below her windows that at last roused Beppina. Though it was

not yet light, the peasants were already pouring into the city from

outlying villages and farms, bringing their families in donkey-carts or

wagons drawn by sleek oxen, to enjoy the wonderful events which were to

take place in the city on that holy day.