Whilst living at this villa, our father was accustomed to take us out for long walks, which were the subject of special regulations.  We were strictly forbidden to ask, “Have we far to go?”—­“What time is it?” or to say, “I am thirsty; I am hungry; I am tired:”  but in everything else we had full liberty of speech and action.  Returning from one of these excursions, we one day found ourselves below Castel di Poggio, a rugged stony path leading towards Vincigliata.  In one hand I had a nosegay of wild flowers, gathered by the way, and in the other a stick, when I happened to stumble, and fell awkwardly.  My father sprang forward to pick me up, and seeing that one arm pained me, he examined it and found that in fact the bone was broken below the elbow.  All this time my eyes were fixed upon him, and I could see his countenance change, and assume such an expression of tenderness and anxiety that he no longer appeared to be the same man.  He bound up my arm as well as he could, and we then continued our way homewards.  After a few moments, during which my father had resumed his usual calmness, he said to me:—­

“Listen, Mammolino:  your mother is not well.  If she knows you are hurt it will make her worse.  You must be brave, my boy:  to-morrow morning we will go to Florence, where all that is needful can be done for you; but this evening you must not show you are in pain.  Do you understand?”

All this was said with his usual firmness and authority, but also with the greatest affection.  I was only too glad to have so important and difficult a task intrusted to me.  The whole evening I sat quietly in a corner, supporting my poor little broken arm as best I could, and my mother only thought me tired by the long walk, and had no suspicion of the truth.

The next day I was taken to Florence, and my arm was set; but to complete the cure I had to be sent to the Baths of Vinadio a few years afterward.  Some people may, in this instance, think my father was cruel.  I remember the fact as if it were but yesterday, and I am sure such an idea never for one minute entered my mind.  The expression of ineffable tenderness which I had read in his eyes had so delighted me, it seemed so reasonable to avoid alarming my mother, that I looked on the hard task allotted me as a fine opportunity of displaying my courage.  I did so because I had not been spoilt, and good principles had been early implanted within me:  and now that I am an old man and have known the world, I bless the severity of my father; and I could wish every Italian child might have one like him, and derive more profit than I did,—­in thirty years’ time Italy would then be the first of nations.

Moreover, it is a fact that children are much more observant than is commonly supposed, and never regard as hostile a just but affectionate severity.  I have always seen them disposed to prefer persons who keep them in order to those who constantly yield to their caprices; and soldiers are just the same in this respect.