The miller walked back from the fields to his mill.
"That little boy Nello should not spend so much time with Alois," he said to his wife that night.
"There may be trouble later.
He is fifteen years old, and she is twelve."
"He is also a handsome young man," said his wife.
"He is a good boy too."
She looked at the portrait of Alois that Nello had drawn.
It was hanging on the wall next to the wooden cuckoo clock.
"Then, if they ever fell in love," said the wife, "would it matter?
She is rich enough for both of them.
Happiness is the most important thing!"
"That's a foolish thing to say!"
said the miller, slamming his pipe on the table.
"The boy is almost a beggar.
If he becomes a painter, he'll be worse than a beggar.
Promise me that Nello and Alois will not play together again!"
The miller's wife could not bear to separate them completely.
Even so, they were kept apart in many little ways.
After church, Nello wasn't permitted to talk with Alois.
And in the afternoons, her parents kept her busy with chores.
Nello was a proud and sensitive boy.
He realized what was happening and was hurt.
So, Nello and Patrasche no longer went to the mill to visit Alois.
"Why can't I see my friend Alois?" Nello thought.
"I haven't done anything wrong!"
He wondered if he had angered the miller that day in the fields.
He did not know that his only sin was being poor.
Sometimes, Nello and Alois ran into each other.
When that happened, he held her hand and told her to go home.
"Sorry, Alois, but your father will be angry.
He thinks that I make you idle.
You must go."
Nello said this with a sad heart.
Without Alois, the earth did not look as bright as it used to.
But Nello did not complain.
As his grandfather said, "We are poor and must take what God sends.
The poor cannot choose."
One day, little Alois found Nello walking near the canal.
She ran up to him, crying.
Tomorrow was her birthday, but she was not allowed to invite him to her party.
In other years, Nello had always been at her birthday party.
Nello kissed her on the cheek and asked her to stop crying.
He told her, "It will be different one day, Alois.
One day, that little portrait your father has will be worth a lot of money.
Then your father will invite me in again," Nello said.
"Just remember me always, dear little Alois.
If you do, I promise that, one day, I will be a great artist."
"And if I forget you?"
the pretty child asked, pouting a little.
Nello's eyes left her face and wandered to the distant horizon.
There was a smile on his face both sweet and sad.
"I will be great still," he said under his breath.
"I will be great still, or die, Alois."
The next evening, Nello sat at the door of the hut with Patrasche.
He heard the sounds of Alois' birthday celebrations.
"Never mind, Patrasche," he said, with his arms around the dog's neck.
"It will all be different one day."