Without Family: Chapters 16-17

In Paris, Vitalis decides to lease Rémi to a "padrone" for the winter, while he trains new animals with the proceeds. Garofoli, the "padrone," keeps a group of boys, sold by their poverty-stricken parents, working for him. Rémi meets an ill-looking boy, Mattia, who keeps house because he is no longer capable of working outside. Garofoli beats and starves the boys who do not bring home enough money. When Vitalis finds out that the boys are being flogged, he takes Rémi away. That night, hungry and unable to find a place to stay, Vitalis and Rémi collapse in the snowstorm and huddle with Capi near a gate leading to a big garden.