too stupid and incapable of working outside. He also keeps the soup pot locked so that Mattia could not eat from it. When the other boys and Garofoli return, Rémi witnesses how terribly Garofoli abuses those who do not bring home the amount of money required: he beats and starves them. When Vitalis comes back and sees how the boys are being flogged, he tells Garofoli that he could go to the police, but Garofoli threatens back to tell "some people just one name which will make Vitalis red from shame". Vitalis takes the wondering and grateful Rémi away. This act of love costs Vitalis his life. That night, unable to find a place to stay, Vitalis and Rémi collapse in the snowstorm under a fence after fruitlessly searching for access to a stone quarry shelter. With the Acquins Rémi wakes up in a bed, with people standing around him: a man, the gardener Pierre Acquin, two boys Alexis and Benjamin, and two girls Étienette (Martha) and little mute Lise, who is about 5–6 years old, and watches Rémi with “speaking eyes”. Rémi learns the terrible truth: Vitalis is dead. In an attempt to discover his identity, the police officers take Rémi to Garofoli, who reveals the truth: Vitalis used to be the famous Italian singer Carlo Balzani. When he aged, he lost his voice and was too proud to sing in lesser venues. He decided to disappear, changing his identity to Vitalis. The family take Rémi and Capi in. Rémi especially adores Lise. He teaches her to read and plays the harp for her. Lise loves a Neapolitan song in particular. Rémi becomes a gardener, and two years of hard work and merry Sundays follow. Then a terrible hailstorm ruins the glass in the greenhouse, and Acquin is in debt to the man he borrowed from to buy his business. He cannot pay and has to enter a debtor's jail. The children are to go to uncles and aunts, in several French towns. Although the children insist that Rémi also belongs to the family, none of the uncles and aunts are willing or able to take care of Rémi. Broken-hearted, vowing to his siblings to visit and bring their father news from them, Rémi takes his harp and Capi and takes to the road. Second Volume Mattia Rémi decides to head south towards Fontainebleau but hasn't gone long when