“Ah, ah!  See the little Taglioni!  Why is she not upon the boards of La Sc la?”

What this might mean Cherry could not guess, nor greatly cared to know.  She understood that her friend was pleased, and her little heart beat high with vanity and excitement.  She danced as she had never danced before; and at the end, while Giovanni still applauded, and before she had regained her breath, the child was panting,—­

“I want to go and dance for the rich ladies, like Julietta used to do, and wear her beautiful dresses, and have a wreath.”

“Why not, then?” exclaimed the Italian eagerly.  “Only you must never say so to the woman above there or the boy:  they will not allow it.”

“Won’t mammy and Teddy like it?  Then I can’t go.  Oh, dear!  Why won’t they like it, ’Varny?”

“Because they can’t dance, and they don’t want you to be different from them; and they will be afraid you will tire yourself.  They don’t know that it makes you well and happy to dance, and hear music, as it does me to make it.  They are not like us, these people above there.”

Cherry looked earnestly in his face, and her own suddenly flushed while she replied indignantly,—­

“They’re real good, ’Varny; and I love them same as I do you and Pantalon.  Don’t you love them?”

“Oh! but I adore them, picciola; and I like well that you should place me and Pantalon beside them.  But surely they do not dance, or love music, as we do.”

Cherry shut tight her lips, and shook her head with an uneasy expression.

“Mammy says she don’t believe they dance in heaven:  and Teddy says it wasn’t there I used to learn; for I never went anywhere but to mammy’s room since I was borned.”

“But they do dance in heaven, and sing, and listen to music; and it is because you came from heaven so little while ago that you remember, and they have forgotten,” said Giovanni positively.  “And it is right that you should love these things; and it is right that you should go with me, and say nothing to them till we come back.  I will ask the good woman that I may take you for a walk in a day or two and I will carry the pretty dress and the violin; and, when we are away from the house, you shall put it on, and we will go and dance for the rich people a little while; and some one shall give you beautiful things, and much money, as they did Julietta; and then we will come home, and bring it all to the mammy, and she will be so happy, and see that it is a good thing, after all, to dance.”

“Yes, yes; that will be splendid!” cried Cherry, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.  “I will save every bit of the candy, and all the beautiful dresses, and the roses, and every thing, and bring them to mammy.”

“And the money, that she may buy bread and clothes and wood, and not have to work so hard for them herself,” suggested Giovanni artfully.

“Yes, Teddy gives her money; and she calls him her brave, good boy.  So she’ll call me too, pretty soon; won’t she?”