Bianconi made his preparations for leaving home. A little
festive entertainment was given at a little inn in Como, at which
the whole family were present. It was a sad thing for Bianconi's
mother to take leave of her boy, wild though he was. On the
occasion of this parting ceremony, she fainted outright, at which
the young fellow thought that things were assuming a rather
serious aspect. As he finally left the family home at Tregolo,
the last words his mother said to him were these --words which he
never forgot: "When you remember me, think of me as waiting at
this window, watching for your return."
Besides Charles Bianconi, Faroni took three other boys under his
charge. One was the son of a small village innkeeper, another
the son of a tailor, and the third the son of a flax-dealer.
This party, under charge of the Padre, ascended the Alps by the
Val San Giacomo road. From the summit of the pass they saw the
plains of Lombardy stretching away in the blue distance. They
soon crossed the Swiss frontier, and then Bianconi found himself
finally separated from home. He now felt, that without further
help from friends or relatives, he had his own way to make in the
world.
The party of travellers duly reached England; but Faroni, without
stopping in London, took them over to Ireland at once. They
reached Dublin in the summer of 1802, and lodged in Temple Bar,
near Essex Bridge.
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