Lucia, the Organ-Maiden. 83

but he and she knew of that big hot tear which
fell on her cheek.

Later, a man knocked at the door, gave money
to Paolo, and took the organ away. Then followed
unhappy years for poor Lucia. Not that her new
master, Antonio, was unkind—he was simply a
very careless, untidy man. He left the organ
standing in cold places, where the wind crept in
and chilled her. Once he left the organ for a
while in the street on a stormy day, and the rain
came in through a crack in the case and dripped
on her pretty pink cheeks. The color ran, and
poor Lucia was greatly mortified, and looked it,
too. Sometimes Antonio played much too fast,
and Lucia was, of course, obliged to dance fast,
which, as she was a person of much natural dignity,
was very repulsive to her. Sometimes the Master
forgot to even oil the machine, and once he put in
too much oil. So much that it oozed out over the
floor, and poor Lucia’s pretty pink slippers were
ruined, which, as she was an extremely dainty little
thing, hurt her feelings dreadfully.

But worse was to follow. Antonio, who was