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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31371-h.zip b/31371-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73fa91b --- /dev/null +++ b/31371-h.zip diff --git a/31371-h/31371-h.htm b/31371-h/31371-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..038a074 --- /dev/null +++ b/31371-h/31371-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3085 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Little Clown, by Thomas Cobb. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Clown, by Thomas Cobb + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Clown + +Author: Thomas Cobb + +Release Date: February 24, 2010 [EBook #31371] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CLOWN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1>THE LITTLE CLOWN</h1> + +<h2>BY THOMAS COBB</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF 'THE BOUNTIFUL LADY,' 'COOPER'S FIRST TERM,' ETC.</h3> + + +<h4>LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS<br /> +1901</h4> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>CONTENTS</i></h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER 1. <i>How it began</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER 2. <i>Jimmy goes to London</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER 3. <i>At Aunt Selina's</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER 4. <i>Aunt Selina at Home</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER 5. <i>At the Railway Station</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER 6. <i>The Journey</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER 7. <i>Jimmy is taken into Custody</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER 8. <i>Jimmy runs away</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER 9. <i>The Circus</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER 10. <i>On the Road</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER 11. <i>Jimmy runs away again</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER 12. <i>Jimmy sleeps in a Windmill</i></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER 13. <i>The Last</i></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#The_Dumpy_Books_for_Children">The Dumpy Books for Children</a><br /> +<a href="#BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</a><br /> +<a href="#A_NEW_SERIES">A NEW SERIES.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Little Clown</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>HOW IT BEGAN</h3> + + +<p>Jimmy was nearly eight years of age when these strange things happened +to him. His full name was James Orchardson Sinclair Wilmot, and he had +been at Miss Lawson's small school at Ramsgate since he was six.</p> + +<p>There were only five boys besides himself, and Miss Roberts was the only +governess besides Miss Lawson. The half-term had just passed, and they +did not expect to go home for the Christmas holidays for another four or +five weeks, until one day Miss Lawson became very ill, and her sister, +Miss Rosina, was sent for.</p> + +<p>It was on Friday that Miss Rosina told the boys that she had written to +their parents and that they would all be sent home on Tuesday, and no +doubt Jimmy might have felt as glad as the rest if he had had a home to +be sent to.</p> + +<p>But the fact was that he had never seen his father or mother—or at +least he had no recollection of them. And he had never seen his sister +Winnie, who was born in the West Indies. One of the boys had told Jimmy +she must be a little black girl, and Jimmy did not quite know whether to +believe him or not.</p> + +<p>When he was two years of age, his father and mother left England, and +although that was nearly six years ago, they had not been back since.</p> + +<p>Jimmy had lived with his Aunt Ellen at Chesterham until he came to +school, but afterwards his holidays were spent with another uncle and +aunt in London.</p> + +<p>His mother wrote to him every month, nice long letters, which Jimmy +always answered, although he did not always know quite what to say to +her. But last month there had come no letter, and the month before that +Mrs. Wilmot had said something about seeing Jimmy soon.</p> + +<p>When he heard the other boys talk about their fathers and mothers and +sisters it seemed strange that he did not know what his own were like. +For you cannot always tell what a person is like from her photograph; +and although his mother looked young and pretty in hers, Jimmy did not +know whether she was tall or short or dark or fair, but sometimes, +especially after the gas was turned out at night, he felt that he should +very much like to know.</p> + +<p>On Monday evening, whilst Jimmy was sitting at the desk in the +school-room sticking some postage-stamps in his Album, he was told to go +to the drawing-room, where he found Miss Rosina sitting beside a large +fire.</p> + +<p>'Is your name Wilmot?' she asked, for she had not learnt all the boys' +names yet.</p> + +<p>'James Orchardson Sinclair Wilmot,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'A long name for such a small boy,' said Miss Rosina. 'It is very +strange,' she continued, 'that all the boys' parents have answered my +letters but yours.'</p> + +<p>'Mine couldn't answer,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Why not?' asked Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'Because they live such a long way off.'</p> + +<p>'I remember,' said Miss Rosina; 'it was to your uncle that I wrote. I +asked him to send someone to meet you at Victoria Station at one o'clock +to-morrow. But he has not answered my letter, and it is very +inconvenient.'</p> + +<p>'Is it?' asked Jimmy solemnly, with his eyes fixed on her face.</p> + +<p>'Why, of course it is,' said Miss Rosina. 'Suppose I don't have a letter +before you start to-morrow morning! I shall not know whether any one is +coming to meet you or not. And what would Miss Roberts do with you in +that case?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' answered Jimmy, beginning to look rather anxious.</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I don't know either,' said Miss Rosina. 'But,' she added, 'I +trust I may hear from your uncle before you start to-morrow morning.'</p> + +<p>'I hope you will,' cried Jimmy; and he went back to the school-room +wondering what would happen to him if his Uncle Henry did not write. +Whilst the other boys were saying what wonderful things they intended to +do during the holidays, he wished that his father and mother were in +England the same as theirs.</p> + +<p>He could not go to sleep very early that night for thinking of +to-morrow, and when the bell rang at seven o'clock the next morning he +dressed quickly and came downstairs first to look for Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'Please, have you had a letter from Uncle Henry yet?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'No, I am sorry to say I have not,' was the answer. 'I cannot understand +it at all. I am sure I don't know what is to be done with you.'</p> + +<p>'Couldn't I stay here?' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' said Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'Why not?' asked Jimmy, who always liked to have a reason for +everything.</p> + +<p>'Because Miss Lawson is not going to keep a school any more. But,' +exclaimed Miss Rosina, 'go to your breakfast, and I will speak to you +again afterwards.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>JIMMY GOES TO LONDON</h3> + + +<p>As he sat at breakfast Jimmy saw a large railway van stop at the door, +with a porter sitting on the board behind. The driver climbed down from +his high seat in front, and the two men began to carry out the boxes. +Jimmy saw his clothes-box carried out, then his play-box, so that he +knew that he was to go to London with the rest, although Miss Rosina had +not heard from his uncle.</p> + +<p>'Jimmy,' said Miss Roberts after breakfast, 'Miss Rosina wants to see +you in the drawing-room. You must go at once.'</p> + +<p>So he went to the drawing-room, tapped at the door, and was told to +enter.</p> + +<p>'It is very annoying that your uncle has not answered my letter,' said +Miss Rosina, looking as angry as if Jimmy were to blame for it.</p> + +<p>'He couldn't answer if he didn't get it,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' said Miss Rosina, 'but I sincerely hope he did get it.'</p> + +<p>'So do I,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps he will send to meet you although he has not written to say +so,' said Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps he will,' replied Jimmy thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>'But,' Miss Rosina continued, 'if he doesn't send to meet you, Miss +Roberts must take you to his house in Brook Street in a cab.'</p> + +<p>'Only suppose he isn't there!' exclaimed Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'At all events the servants will be there.'</p> + +<p>'Only suppose they're not!'</p> + +<p>'Surely,' said Miss Rosina, 'they would not leave the house without any +one in it!'</p> + +<p>'If Uncle Henry and Aunt Mary have gone to France they might.'</p> + +<p>'Do they often go to France?' asked Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'They go sometimes,' said Jimmy, 'because Aunt Mary writes to me, and +I've got the stamps in my Album. And then they leave the house empty and +shut the shutters and put newspapers in all the windows, you know.'</p> + +<p>Whilst Jimmy stood on the hearth-rug, Miss Rosina sat in an arm-chair +staring seriously at the fire.</p> + +<p>'Have you any other relations in London?' she asked, a few moments +later.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Think, now,' she continued. 'Are you sure there is nobody?'</p> + +<p>'At least,' cried Jimmy, 'there's only Aunt Selina.'</p> + +<p>'Where does your Aunt Selina live?' asked Miss Rosina, looking a great +deal more pleased than Jimmy felt. He put his small hands together +behind his back, and took a step closer.</p> + +<p>'Please,' he said, 'I—I don't want to go to Aunt Selina's.'</p> + +<p>'Tell me where she lives,' answered Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'I think it's somewhere called Gloucester Place,' said Jimmy;' but, +please, I'd rather not go.'</p> + +<p>'You silly child! You must go somewhere!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know,' said Jimmy, 'but I'd rather not go to Aunt Selina's.'</p> + +<p>'What is her number in Gloucester Place?' asked Miss Rosina.</p> + +<p>'I don't know the number,' cried Jimmy much more cheerfully, because he +thought that as he did not know the number, Miss Rosina could not very +well send him to the house.</p> + +<p>'What is your aunt's name? Is it Wilmot?' Miss Rosina asked.</p> + +<p>'No, it isn't Wilmot,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Do you know what it is?' she demanded, and Jimmy began to wish he +didn't know; but Aunt Selina always wrote on his birthday, although it +wasn't much use as she never sent him a present.</p> + +<p>'Her name's Morton,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Morton or Miss Morton?'</p> + +<p>'Miss Morton, because she's never been married,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Very well then,' was the answer, 'if nobody comes to meet you at +Victoria Station, Miss Roberts will take you in a cab to Brook Street, +and if your Uncle Henry is not there——'</p> + +<p>'I hope he will be!' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'So do I,' Miss Rosina continued, 'because Miss Roberts will not have +much time to spare. She will take you to Brook Street; but if the house +is empty, then she will go on to Miss Morton's in Gloucester Place.'</p> + +<p>'But how can she if she doesn't know the number?' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Miss Roberts will easily be able to find your aunt's house,' was the +answer.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' cried Jimmy in a disappointed tone, and then he was sent back to +the other boys.</p> + +<p>When it was time to start to the railway station Miss Rosina went on +first in a fly to take the tickets, and they found her waiting for them +on the platform. They all got into a carriage, and Jimmy sat next to +Miss Roberts, who asked him soon after the train started, why he looked +so miserable.</p> + +<p>'I do hope that Uncle Henry will send some one to meet me,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'I hope so too,' said Miss Roberts, who was much younger than Miss +Rosina, 'because I have to travel to the north of England, and it is a +very long journey. I shall only just have time to drive to the other +station to catch my train.'</p> + +<p>'But suppose you don't catch it?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'That would be extremely inconvenient,' she explained, 'because I should +either have to travel all night or else to sleep at an hotel in London. +But I hope your uncle will come to meet you.'</p> + +<p>Long before the train reached London, Jimmy began to look anxiously out +at the window. Presently it stopped on a bridge over the Thames, and a +man came to collect the tickets, and soon after the train moved on again +Jimmy saw that he was at Victoria. The door was opened, and all the +other boys jumped out, and whilst they were shaking hands with their +fathers and mothers Jimmy stood alone on the platform. He looked +wistfully at every face in the small crowd, but he did not know one of +them, and it was plain that nobody had been sent to meet him.</p> + +<p>He followed Miss Roberts towards the luggage van and saw his own boxes +taken out with the rest, and then one by one the boys got into cabs and +were driven away, and Jimmy began to feel more miserable than ever.</p> + +<p>His boxes stood beside Miss Roberts's, and she looked up and down the +platform almost as anxiously as the boy, for she was in a great hurry to +go.</p> + +<p>'Well, Jimmy,' she said, 'nobody seems to have come for you.'</p> + +<p>'No,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'It is really very annoying!' cried Miss Roberts, looking at her watch.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps Uncle Henry has made a mistake in the time,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I think the best thing we can do is to take a cab to Brook Street,' was +the answer.</p> + +<p>'Mightn't we wait just a little longer?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Miss Roberts, 'we have lost quite enough time already. Hi! +Cab!' she exclaimed, and a four-wheeled cab was driven up beside the +boxes. Then a porter lifted these, one by one, and put them on top of +the cab.</p> + +<p>'Get in,' said Miss Roberts, and with a last glance along the platform, +Jimmy entered the cab and sat down. Then Miss Roberts stepped in also, +the old cab-horse started, and Jimmy was driven out of the gloomy +railway station.</p> + +<p>'I hope Uncle Henry will be at home,' he said presently.</p> + +<p>'So do I,' answered Miss Roberts. 'I have not a minute to spare.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps you won't have time to take me to Aunt Selina's!' exclaimed +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'What do you suppose I am to do with you then?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' he said; 'only I don't want to go there!'</p> + +<p>'I am sure I don't want to have to take you there,' was the answer, as +the cab passed Hyde Park.</p> + +<p>Jimmy had been the same way every holiday since he had gone to Miss +Lawson's school, so that he knew he was drawing near to Brook Street. As +the cab turned the corner, he put his head out at the window and looked +anxiously for his uncle's house.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' he cried, drawing it in again.</p> + +<p>'What is the matter?' asked Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'I believe the shutters are up,' said Jimmy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>AT AUNT SELINA'S</h3> + + +<p>Jimmy was quite right. Miss Roberts leaned forward to put her head out +at the window on his side of the cab, and she saw that every shutter was +shut, and that there was a sheet of newspaper in each window.</p> + +<p>'What a nuisance!' she exclaimed, sitting down again as the horse +stopped.</p> + +<p>The cabman got down to open the door, and Jimmy jumped out, on to the +pavement.</p> + +<p>'I daresay they've gone to France,' he said, as she followed him.</p> + +<p>'Still there may be some one left in the house,' answered Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'I don't suppose there is,' said Jimmy, looking as if he were going to +cry.</p> + +<p>'At all events I will ring the bell,' she answered, and Miss Roberts +pulled the bell. Jimmy heard it ring quite distinctly, but nobody came +to open the door.</p> + +<p>'Do ring again,' he said, and once more Miss Roberts pulled the bell. +Then a policeman came along the street, and she went to meet him.</p> + +<p>'Do you know whether this house is empty?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'Been empty the last fortnight,' said the policeman.</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' said Miss Roberts. And then she turned to Jimmy: 'Go back +into the cab,' she continued, and very unwillingly he took his seat +again. 'Gloucester Place, cabman,' she said, with her hand on the door.</p> + +<p>'What number?' asked the cabman.</p> + +<p>'We—we don't know the number,' cried Jimmy, putting his head out.</p> + +<p>'Stop at a shop on the way,' said Miss Roberts as she entered the cab +and sat down; 'if I waste any more time I shall lose my train.'</p> + +<p>'But suppose Aunt Selina isn't at home either?' exclaimed Jimmy, as the +horse started once more.</p> + +<p>'In that case I don't know what is to become of you,' said Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'Because she may have gone to France with Uncle Henry!' Jimmy suggested.</p> + +<p>'We will not imagine anything of the kind, if you please!'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Jimmy, 'but suppose she has gone to France, you know.'</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the cab stopped before a large grocer's shop, and without +losing a moment Miss Roberts stepped out of the cab, followed by Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Will you kindly let me look at a Directory?' she asked; and the tall +young man behind the counter said—</p> + +<p>'Certainly, miss.' He brought the thickest red book which Jimmy had ever +seen, and Miss Roberts opened it at once.</p> + +<p>'Miss Selina Morton—is that your aunt's name?' she asked, looking round +at Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Ye—es,' he answered sorrowfully, for he guessed that she had found out +the number.</p> + +<p>'Come along then,' said Miss Roberts, and Jimmy walked slowly towards +the door. 'Thank you, I am very much obliged,' she continued, smiling at +the shopman; but Jimmy did not feel in the least obliged to him. Miss +Roberts told the cabman the number, and when the horse started again she +turned cheerfully to the boy—</p> + +<p>'We shall soon be there now!' she said.</p> + +<p>'I wish we shouldn't,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Don't you like your Aunt Selina?' asked Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'Not at all,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Why don't you like her?' asked Miss Roberts. 'You ought to like an +aunt, you know.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know why, only I don't,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>It did not take many minutes to drive to Gloucester Place, and although +Jimmy did not know what would happen to him if Aunt Selina was out of +town, still he almost hoped she had gone to France.</p> + +<p>But the shutters were not shut at this house, although each of the +blinds was drawn exactly a quarter of the way down. Jimmy saw a large +tortoise-shell cat lying on one of the window sills, whilst a black cat +watched it from inside the room.</p> + +<p>'If they do not keep us long at the door,' said Miss Roberts, as she +rang the bell, 'I can manage just to catch my train.'</p> + +<p>It was past two o'clock, and Jimmy thought he could smell something like +hot meat. He supposed that if he stayed at Aunt Selina's he should have +some dinner, and that would be a good thing at any rate.</p> + +<p>The door was opened by a tall, thin butler, who looked very solemn and +important. He did not stand quite upright, and he had gray whiskers and +a bald head. If he had not opened the door, so that Jimmy knew he was +the butler, he might have been mistaken for a clergyman.</p> + +<p>'Is Miss Morton at home?' asked Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'No, miss,' said the butler; and he stared at Jimmy first and then at +the boxes on the cab.</p> + +<p>'How extremely annoying!' cried Miss Roberts. 'Can you tell me how long +she will be?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think Miss Morton will return before half-past three,' said the +butler, whose name was Jones. 'Miss Morton has gone out to luncheon, +miss.'</p> + +<p>'This is her nephew,' answered Miss Roberts.</p> + +<p>'Good-morning, sir,' said Jones, rubbing his hands.</p> + +<p>'Good-morning,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I have brought him from Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate,' Miss Roberts +explained, whilst Jimmy stared into the butler's face.</p> + +<p>'I don't fancy Miss Morton expected him,' said Jones.</p> + +<p>'No,' cried Jimmy, 'she didn't.'</p> + +<p>'Miss Lawson is so ill,' Miss Roberts continued, 'that all the boys have +been sent home. I took Master Wilmot to his uncle's house in Brook +Street, but it was shut up. So I have brought him here.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know what Miss Morton will say——'</p> + +<p>Miss Roberts looked at her watch and interrupted the butler before he +had time to finish his sentence. He spoke rather slowly and required a +long time to say anything.</p> + +<p>'I am not going back to Ramsgate,' said Miss Roberts, 'but I have no +doubt Miss Rosina will write to Miss Morton.'</p> + +<p>'I beg pardon,' answered Jones, 'but I don't think Miss Morton would +like you to leave the young gentleman here.'</p> + +<p>'I—I don't want to be left,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Miss Morton is not particular fond of young gentlemen,' said the +butler.</p> + +<p>'Cabman,' exclaimed Miss Roberts in a greater hurry than ever, 'carry in +the boxes. The two smaller boxes, please.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy stood on the doorstep, and Jones stood just inside the hall, and +Miss Roberts held her watch in her right hand, whilst the cabman got off +his seat and took down the trunks.</p> + +<p>'Please be quick,' she said, 'or I shall miss my train after all.'</p> + +<p>The butler stroked his chin as the cabman carried the clothes-box into +the house and put it down near the dining-room door; then he brought in +the play-box, and after that he wiped his forehead with a large red +handkerchief and climbed up to his seat again.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye,' said Miss Roberts, putting away her watch and taking Jimmy's +hand.</p> + +<p>'I wish you would take me too,' answered Jimmy rather tearfully.</p> + +<p>'I can't do that,' she said, 'and I am sure you will be very happy with +your aunt.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt quite sure he shouldn't be happy, and he certainly did not +look very happy as Miss Roberts was driven away in the cab; and when he +saw it turn the corner, he felt more lonely than he had ever felt +before.</p> + +<p>'Well, this is a nice kettle of fish,' said the butler.</p> + +<p>'Is it?' asked Jimmy, not understanding in the least what he meant.</p> + +<p>'I wonder what Miss Morton will say about it?' cried Jones.</p> + +<p>'What do you think she'll say?' asked Jimmy, staring up at the butler's +face.</p> + +<p>'Well,' was the answer, 'you had better come indoors, anyhow,' and Jimmy +entered the house and stood leaning against his clothes-box, whilst +Jones shut the street door.</p> + +<p>'Step this way, sir,' said Jones; but although he took Jimmy to the +dining-room, unfortunately there was no sign of dinner.</p> + +<p>He saw the black cat still sitting on a chair watching the +tortoise-shell cat outside the window, and on the hearth-rug lay a tabby +one, with its head on the fender, fast asleep.</p> + +<p>'You had better sit here until Miss Morton comes home,' said the butler.</p> + +<p>'Do you think she'll be very long?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'About half-past three,' was the answer, and Jones opened the coal-box +to put some more coal on the fire as he spoke.</p> + +<p>'Because I haven't had any dinner at all,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Oh, you haven't, haven't you?' cried Jones, as he stood holding the +coal shovel.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Jimmy, 'and I'm rather hungry.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I don't know what Miss Morton'll say about you,' was the answer. +'So,' he added, as he put away the shovel, 'you think you'd like +something to eat?'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I should—very much,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>The butler went away, but he soon came back with a folded white cloth in +his hands. Whilst Jimmy kneeled down on the hearth-rug rubbing the head +of the tabby cat, Jones laid the cloth, and then he went away again and +returned with a plate of hot roast-beef and Yorkshire pudding and +potatoes and cauliflower.</p> + +<p>He placed a chair with its back to the fire, and told Jimmy to ring when +he was ready for some apple-tart.</p> + +<p>When Jimmy was alone eating his dinner and enjoying it very much, he +began to think it might not be so bad to stay at Aunt Selina's after +all. The black cat came from the chair by the window and meowed on one +side of him, and the tabby cat meowed on the other, and Jimmy fed them +both whilst he fed himself. When his plate was quite empty, he rang the +bell and Jones brought him a large piece of apple-tart, with a brown jug +of cream. Then presently the butler took away the things, and Jimmy sat +down in an arm-chair by the fire with one of the cats on each knee. +Every few minutes he looked over his shoulder to see whether Aunt Selina +was coming, and by and by the bell rang. Jimmy rose from his chair and +the cats jumped to the floor, and, going close to the window, he saw his +aunt's tall, thin figure on the doorstep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>AUNT SELINA AT HOME</h3> + + +<p>Miss Morton had been to lunch with a friend, and she naturally expected +to find her house exactly the same as she had left it. She was a lady +who always liked to find things exactly the same as she left them; she +did not care for fresh faces or fresh places, and she certainly did not +care to see two boxes in her hall.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton was a little short-sighted, but the moment that she entered +the house she noticed something unusual. So she stopped just within the +door before the butler could shut it and put on her double eye-glasses, +and then she stared in astonishment at Jimmy's boxes.</p> + +<p>'What are those?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'Boxes, miss,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'Please don't be stupid,' said Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'I beg pardon,' replied the butler.</p> + +<p>'I see quite distinctly that they are boxes,' she said. 'What I wish to +know is, whom the boxes belong to.'</p> + +<p>'To Master Wilmot,' said the butler.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton gave such a violent start that her eye-glasses fell from her +nose.</p> + +<p>'Master Wilmot!' she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'Yes, miss.'</p> + +<p>'You do not mean to tell me that the boy is here!'</p> + +<p>'He's been here since about two o'clock,' said the butler.</p> + +<p>'Surely he did not come alone?' cried Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'No, miss.'</p> + +<p>'Who brought him?'</p> + +<p>'A young lady who seemed to be his governess,' the butler explained. +'She said that Miss Lawson was ill, and that she'd sent all the young +gentlemen home.'</p> + +<p>'This is certainly not his home,' said Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'No, miss,' answered Jones. 'I told the young lady you wouldn't be best +pleased, but she insisted on leaving him.'</p> + +<p>'Where is Master Wilmot?' asked Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'In the dining-room,' was the answer, and the butler opened the door.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton had spoken rather loudly, quite loudly enough for Jimmy to +overhear every word she had said. It made him feel uncomfortable, and as +the door opened he stood with his back to the window, with his hands in +his jacket pockets, waiting until his Aunt Selina entered the room, and +the butler shut the door after her.</p> + +<p>She put on her eye-glasses again, and it seemed a long time before +either she or Jimmy spoke. She moved her head as if she were looking at +him all over from top to toes. Jimmy began to feel more uncomfortable +than ever, and at last he thought he really must say something.</p> + +<p>'Good-morning,' he cried.</p> + +<p>'Why did the people send you here?' asked Aunt Selina.</p> + +<p>'You see,' said Jimmy, 'Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry were out and the house +was shut up.'</p> + +<p>'I always said it was foolish to travel at this time of year,' was the +answer.</p> + +<p>'So Miss Roberts brought me here,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Well,' exclaimed Aunt Selina, 'I am sure I don't know what is to be +done with you.'</p> + +<p>'I didn't want to come,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Don't be rude,' said his aunt. 'Now you are here, I suppose I must keep +you for to-night. But there is no accommodation here for boys.'</p> + +<p>'I had a very nice dinner, though,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Have you washed your face?' she asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>'No,' he answered, for washing his face was a thing he never felt +anxious about.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton walked to the bell and rang it. A few moments later the +butler re-entered the room, standing with one hand on the door.</p> + +<p>'Jones,' she said, 'take Master Wilmot to the spare bedroom to wash his +face; and give him a comb and brush to do his hair.'</p> + +<p>Jones took Jimmy upstairs to a large bedroom, and poured some water into +a basin. Then he brought a clean towel, and showed Jimmy where to find +the soap and the comb and brush. The butler then left him alone, and the +boy took off his jacket and dipped his hands in the water. When he +thought his hands were clean enough, he washed a round place on his +face, and having wiped this nearly dry, he went to the looking-glass and +brushed the front of his hair where he had made it wet. When he had put +his coat on again he wondered whether he ought to wait for the butler or +to go downstairs alone; but as Jones did not come back, Jimmy opened the +door and went down.</p> + +<p>He saw Miss Morton sitting in an arm-chair, and now that she had taken +off her bonnet and veil he thought she looked more severe than ever.</p> + +<p>'Come here, James,' she said, as he stood near the door. No one else had +ever called him James. 'When did you hear from your mother?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'I didn't have a letter last month,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'I asked when you did have a letter,' said Aunt Selina,—'not when you +didn't have one.'</p> + +<p>'I think it was about two months ago,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Did she say anything about coming home?' asked Aunt Selina.</p> + +<p>'She said I might see her soon,' cried Jimmy. 'I do hope I shall.'</p> + +<p>'Very likely you will,' said his aunt, 'although your mother has not +written to me for six months.'</p> + +<p>'Then how do you know?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Because she wrote to your Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, and your Aunt Ellen +wrote to me. I should not be surprised if your father and mother were on +their way home now. They may arrive in England quite soon.'</p> + +<p>'It would be nice,' said Jimmy, and he began to laugh. 'Will they come +here?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' was the answer. 'I have no accommodation for visitors.'</p> + +<p>'There's the spare bedroom,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I have no doubt,' said Aunt Selina, 'that they will go to Aunt Ellen's +at Chesterham——'</p> + +<p>'Couldn't I go to Aunt Ellen's?' asked Jimmy eagerly.</p> + +<p>'And pray who is to take you?' demanded Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'Why, couldn't I go alone?' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Miss Morton did not answer, but she put on her eye-glasses again, and +looked Jimmy up and down from head to foot.</p> + +<p>'Ring the bell,' she said, and when he had rung the bell and the butler +had come, Aunt Selina told him to send Hannah. Jimmy stood on the +hearth-rug—whilst the black cat rubbed its back against his +leg—wondering who Hannah might be. When she came, he saw that she was +one of the servants, with a red, kind-looking face; and Aunt Selina told +her to take him away and to give him some tea. When they were outside +the door Hannah took his hand, and he felt that he liked having his hand +taken, and she led him downstairs to a small room near the kitchen where +she gave him such a tea as he had never had before. There were cake and +jam, and hot scones, and buttered toast, and although it was not very +long since dinner, Jimmy ate a good meal.</p> + +<p>He told Hannah all about his father and mother and Winnie, and how that +Miss Morton had said perhaps they were on their way home; and he told +her he hoped that his aunt would send him to Chesterham.</p> + +<p>'Because,' he said, 'I know I could go all right alone.'</p> + +<p>Hannah put an arm round him and kissed him, but Jimmy did not much like +being kissed; still he felt lonely this afternoon, and he did not mind +it so much as he would have done sometimes, especially if any of his +schoolfellows had been there.</p> + +<p>'Now,' said Hannah presently, 'I think you had better go back to Miss +Morton.'</p> + +<p>'Must I?' asked Jimmy. 'Because I like being here best.'</p> + +<p>But she led him back to the dining-room, and as soon as he entered the +door Aunt Selina asked what time he went to bed.</p> + +<p>'Eight o'clock at school,' he answered, 'but when I am at Aunt Mary's +she always lets me stay till half-past.'</p> + +<p>'Aunt Mary always spoils you,' said Miss Morton. 'Sit down,' she added, +and Jimmy took a chair on the opposite side of the fire-place.</p> + +<p>'I suppose you don't remember your mother,' she said.</p> + +<p>'No,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Shall you be glad to see her?' asked Aunt Selina.</p> + +<p>'Yes, very glad,' said Jimmy. 'Shan't you?' he asked, looking into his +aunt's face.</p> + +<p>'Of course I shall be pleased to see my sister,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'And I shall be glad to see Winnie, too,' said Jimmy. But Aunt Selina's +words had put a fresh idea into his mind. He seemed never to have +realised until now that the mother whom he had never seen, although he +had thought about her so much, was his Aunt Selina's sister. He thought +that sisters must surely be very much alike; but if his mother was like +her sister, why, Jimmy did not feel certain it would be nice to have her +home again after all. He forgot that he was staring at his aunt until +she asked him what he was looking at.</p> + +<p>'Is my mother as old as you?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I cannot say they teach politeness at Miss Lawson's,' Aunt Selina +answered.</p> + +<p>'But is she?' asked Jimmy, for it seemed very important that he should +know at once.</p> + +<p>'Your mother is a few years younger than I am,' said his aunt, 'but she +would be very angry with you for asking such a question.'</p> + +<p>'Can she be angry?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'She will be very angry indeed when you are naughty,' said Miss Morton. +For a few minutes Jimmy sat staring into the fire.</p> + +<p>'Is—is she like you?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'She is not quite so tall.'</p> + +<p>'But is she like you?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'We used to be considered very much alike,' was the answer, and Jimmy +felt inclined to cry. Then Aunt Selina said it was his bed-time, and he +came close to her and kissed her cheek.</p> + +<p>'Am I to go to Aunt Ellen's?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I shall not tell you until to-morrow morning,' said Aunt Selina; and +Jimmy fell asleep in the large spare room wondering whether he should go +to-morrow to Chesterham or not.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>AT THE RAILWAY STATION</h3> + + +<p>When Jimmy awoke the next morning he found that Hannah was drawing up +his blind. The sun-light fell into the room, and the smoke rose from the +can of hot water on the wash-stand.</p> + +<p>'You must get up at once,' said Hannah, 'or you will be late for +breakfast, and Miss Morton won't like that.'</p> + +<p>He would have liked to lie in the warm bed a little longer, and when at +last he jumped out he felt rather cold. Jimmy was not used to dressing +himself quite without help, for at school Miss Roberts had always come +to tie his necktie and button his collar. He found it difficult to +button it this morning with his cold little fingers; and as for the +necktie, it was not tied quite so nicely as it might have been.</p> + +<p>Still he was ready when he heard a bell ring, and he ran downstairs two +steps at a time, and almost ran against Aunt Selina at the bottom. She +looked more stiff and severe in the morning than she had looked last +night, and not at all the sort of person you would like to run against.</p> + +<p>'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as she entered the dining-room.</p> + +<p>She shook hands with Jimmy and her hand felt very cold; but when once he +was seated at the table the coffee was nice and hot, and so were the +eggs and bacon, and Jimmy had no time to think of anything else just +yet. But just as he was wondering whether he should ask for another +rasher of bacon, his aunt spoke to him.</p> + +<p>'When you have <i>quite</i> finished,' she said, 'I wish to speak to you,' +and after that he did not like to ask for any more.</p> + +<p>So Jimmy pushed back his chair, and his Aunt Selina rose from hers and +went to stand by the fire.</p> + +<p>'I did not wish to tell you last night for fear of exciting you and +keeping you awake,' she said, 'but I wrote to your Aunt Ellen while you +were having tea.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you, I'm glad of that,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I told her I should send you to Chesterham by the half-past twelve +train,' Miss Morton explained, 'and I asked her to meet you at the +station.'</p> + +<p>'Hurray,' cried Jimmy, 'then I am to go this morning.'</p> + +<p>'It is not quite certain yet,' was the answer. 'I asked your Aunt Ellen +to send me a telegram if she could receive you. If the telegram arrives +before twelve, you will go by the half-past twelve train.'</p> + +<p>'But suppose it doesn't come?' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I sincerely trust it will,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'So do I,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I have ordered a packet of sandwiches to be prepared,' said Miss +Morton.</p> + +<p>'Ham or beef?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Ham—do you like ham?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, when there's no mustard,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I told Jones not to have any mustard put on them,' answered his aunt; +'and,' she continued, 'if you go to-day I shall give you half-a-crown.'</p> + +<p>'Shan't I have the half-crown if I don't go to-day?' asked Jimmy +eagerly.</p> + +<p>'I hope you will go,' she said. 'But you must not spend it in waste.'</p> + +<p>'I won't,' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I don't suppose you will stay with your Aunt Ellen long,' said Miss +Morton, 'because there is no doubt your father and mother will soon be +in England, and then they will be able to look after you. Now,' she +added, 'if you think you can keep still and not fidget, you may sit down +by the window and watch for the telegram.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy lifted the tabby cat off the chair, and took it on his knees as he +sat down. While he sat stroking the cat he really did not feel much +doubt about the telegram. He wanted it to come so much that he felt sure +it would come soon, and surely enough it arrived before eleven o'clock.</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose from his chair as Jones brought it into the room on a tray, +and the tabby cat dug its claws into his jacket and clung to him, so +that Jimmy found it rather difficult to put it down. He did not take his +eyes from Miss Morton's face all the time she was reading the telegram.</p> + +<p>'It is extremely fortunate I wrote yesterday,' she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'Am I to go?' asked Jimmy eagerly.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' she answered, 'and who do you think will meet you at Chesterham +station?'</p> + +<p>'Not mother!' cried Jimmy, very excitedly.</p> + +<p>'Your father and mother,' said Miss Morton.</p> + +<p>'And Winnie?'</p> + +<p>'They are not likely to take a child to meet you,' she answered. 'They +arrived only last night, and if they had not received my letter they +would have gone to Ramsgate to-day. As it is they will meet you at the +station, and they think it will be quite safe for you to travel alone if +I see you safely in the train.'</p> + +<p>'Shall you?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'I shall send Jones,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'What time does the train get to Chesterham?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'At four o'clock,' she said; and then she took out her purse and found +two shillings and a sixpence, which she gave to Jimmy. 'Where will you +put them?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'I've got a purse, too,' he answered, and he put his hand in his jacket +pocket and brought out a piece of string, a crumpled handkerchief, a +knife, and last of all a small purse. In this he put the two shillings +and the sixpence, and then he could think of nothing but the joy of +seeing his mother and father. He stood by the window watching the +passers-by and wondering whether his mother was like any of them, and at +least he hoped that she might not be so very much like his Aunt Selina. +He went in search of Hannah and told her all about the telegram. He +longed for the time to come to start for the station, and when he saw +his boxes being taken out to the cab, he danced about the hall in a +manner which made Miss Morton feel very pleased he was going. He put on +his overcoat, and held open the pocket whilst Hannah forced in the large +packet of sandwiches, and although they bulged out a good deal Jimmy did +not mind that at all. He shook hands with his aunt and entered the cab, +and Jones stepped in after him.</p> + +<p>'My father and mother are going to meet me at Chesterham,' said Jimmy as +soon as the horse started. He talked of them all the way to the railway +station—not the same station at which he had arrived with Miss Roberts +yesterday, but a much larger and a rather dirtier looking one, with a +great glass roof. But before Jimmy reached that part of it, he went with +Jones to take his ticket.</p> + +<p>'You are to put it in your purse,' said the butler, 'and mind you don't +lose it.'</p> + +<p>'I shan't lose it,' answered Jimmy, taking out his purse, and as he put +the ticket away he looked to make sure that the half-crown was all +right.</p> + +<p>'Now,' said the butler, 'we'll go and find the train.'</p> + +<p>It was not very difficult to find the train for Chesterham, because it +was waiting all ready at the platform; but when they got to the train it +took Jones a long time to find Jimmy a suitable first-class compartment. +At last he stopped at one which contained an old gentleman and two +ladies. The old gentleman was sitting next to the door, reading a +newspaper, and he did not look at all glad when Jimmy sat down opposite +to him.</p> + +<p>'I think you'll do now,' said Jones.</p> + +<p>'Very nicely, thank you,' answered Jimmy, as the butler stood by the +door, but he was beginning to feel just a little nervous. You must +remember he was not quite eight years of age; he was only a small boy, +and he had never travelled quite alone before. He felt sure he should +like travelling alone, and in fact he did not much mind how he travelled +so that his mother met him at the end of his journey. Still, now that he +had taken his seat and the butler was going away in a few minutes, Jimmy +began to feel a little nervous.</p> + +<p>'Got your sandwiches?' asked Jones, with a hand on the door.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I've got them,' answered Jimmy, feeling them to make certain. +'I've never seen them before, you know,' Jimmy added.</p> + +<p>'What, the sandwiches?' asked Jones.</p> + +<p>'No, my father and mother,' said Jimmy. 'They're going to meet me.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I see,' answered the butler, and he ought to have understood, for +Jimmy had told him a great many times since they left Aunt Selina's +house.</p> + +<p>'You're just going to start,' Jones added.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye,' cried Jimmy, and he put his hand out of the window and the +butler shook it.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye, sir,' he answered, and Jimmy felt quite sorry when Jones let +go his hand.</p> + +<p>But the train was beginning to move; the butler stepped back and took +out his pocket-handkerchief and waved it, but it was to dry his eyes +that Jimmy took out his; for when the train glided away and he could not +see Jones any more Jimmy felt very much alone, especially as the old +gentleman opposite kept lowering his paper and looking down at his +trousers and then frowning at him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE JOURNEY</h3> + + +<p>For the first quarter of an hour after the train started Jimmy was +contented to gaze out of the window, but presently, growing tired of +doing that, he turned to look at the two ladies at the farther end of +the compartment.</p> + +<p>As Jimmy moved in his seat, his boots touched the old gentleman's black +trousers. Laying aside his newspaper the old gentleman leaned forward to +look at them, and then he brushed off the mud. A few moments later +Jimmy's boots touched his trousers again, and the old gentleman began to +cough.</p> + +<p>'I should feel greatly obliged,' he said in a loud voice, 'if you would +not make a door-mat of my legs.'</p> + +<p>'I beg your pardon,' answered Jimmy, and he tucked his feet as far under +his seat as they would go.</p> + +<p>'You should be more careful,' said the old gentleman, and then one of +the ladies suggested that Jimmy should sit by her side.</p> + +<p>'I wanted to look out at the window,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'Well, you can look out at my window,' she said, and so Jimmy went to +the other end of the compartment, and she gave him her seat; and for an +hour or more the train went on its way, stopping at one or two stations, +until presently it came to a standstill again.</p> + +<p>'Where is this?' asked one of the ladies. The other looked out at the +window and said—</p> + +<p>'Meresleigh.'</p> + +<p>'We ought not to stop here,' answered her friend.</p> + +<p>At the other end of the compartment the old gentleman let down his +window: 'Hi, Hi! Guard, Guard!' he cried, and the guard came to the +door.</p> + +<p>'Why are we stopping here?' asked the old gentleman.</p> + +<p>'Something's gone wrong with the engine, sir.'</p> + +<p>'How long shall we stay?' asked the gentleman.</p> + +<p>'Maybe a quarter of an hour, sir,' said the guard. 'We've got to wait +for a fresh engine, but it won't be long.'</p> + +<p>'We may as well get out,' cried one of the ladies, and as soon as they +had left the carriage the old gentleman also stepped on to the platform, +and Jimmy did not see why he should not do the same. So he got out, and +seeing a small crowd near the engine he walked along the platform +towards it.</p> + +<p>The engine-driver stood with an oil-can in one hand talking to the +station-master, but there being nothing interesting to see, Jimmy began +to look about the large station.</p> + +<p>It was then that he began to feel hungry. His feet were very cold, and +the wind blew along the platform, so that Jimmy turned up his overcoat +collar as he stamped about to get warm. As he walked up and down he +noticed a good many people going in and out at a door, and looking in he +saw that it led to the refreshment room.</p> + +<p>Now, Jimmy had two shillings and a sixpence in his purse, and had no +doubt that lemonade could be bought at the counter where a good many +persons were standing. Feeling a little shy, he went to the counter, and +presently succeeded in making one of the young women behind it see him.</p> + +<p>'What do you want?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'A bottle of lemonade—have you got any ginger-beer?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Which do you want?' said the young woman.</p> + +<p>Jimmy could not make up his mind for a few moments, but he stood +thinking with his hands in his pockets.</p> + +<p>'Is it stone-bottle ginger-beer?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'I think I'll have lemonade,' cried Jimmy, and she turned away +impatiently to get the bottle.</p> + +<p>It was rather cold, but still Jimmy enjoyed his lemonade very much, and +before he had half finished it, he put his sixpence on the counter. He +thought it was a little dear at fourpence, and he looked sorry when he +received only twopence change. Then he emptied his glass, and went +outside again, thinking he would eat his ham-sandwiches. But the wind +blew colder than ever, and seeing another open door a little farther +along the platform Jimmy cautiously peeped in. The large room was quite +empty, and an enormous fire was burning in the grate.</p> + +<p>He thought it would be far pleasanter to sit down to eat his sandwiches +comfortably beside the fire than to eat them whilst he walked about the +cold, windy platform. Before he entered the room he looked towards the +train, which still stood where it had stopped. There was quite a small +crowd near the engine, and whilst some persons had re-entered their +carriages, others walked up and down in front of theirs.</p> + +<p>Pushing back the door of the waiting-room, Jimmy went to the farther +end, and sat down on a bench close to the fire. Then he tugged the +sandwiches out of his pocket, untied the string, and began to eat them. +He did not stop until the last was finished, and by that time he began +to feel remarkably comfortable and rather sleepy. He made up his mind +that he would not on any account close his eyes, but they felt so heavy +that they really would not keep open; his chin dropped on to his chest, +and in a few moments he was sound asleep.</p> + +<p>Then for some time all the busy life of the great railway station went +on: trains arrived, stopped, and started again; other trains whistled as +they dashed past without stopping; porters hurried hither and thither +with piles of luggage, and still a small dark-haired boy sat on the +bench in the waiting-room, unconscious of all that was happening.</p> + +<p>Presently Jimmy awoke. He opened his eyes and began to rub them, +thinking at first that the bell which he heard was rung to call the boys +at Miss Lawson's school. But when he looked around him, he soon +discovered that he was not in the school dormitory, and then as he +became more wide-awake he remembered where he really was and began to +fear that he had slept too long and missed his train. Starting up in a +hurry, Jimmy ran out to the platform, and there to his great joy he saw +a train standing exactly where he had left one. A good many people were +waiting by the doors, but Jimmy looked in vain for the two ladies and +the old gentleman.</p> + +<p>'Take your seats!' cried a porter, 'just going on;' so that, afraid of +being left behind, Jimmy jumped into a carriage close at hand. It +happened to be empty, but he did not mind that, and he was only just in +time, for the next minute a whistle blew and the train began to move. It +had not long started, before he noticed that the afternoon had become +much darker; he did not possess a watch, but as far as he could tell it +must be very nearly tea-time. However, he supposed that it could not be +long now before he arrived at Chesterham, and he began to look forward +more eagerly than ever to seeing his father and mother on the platform.</p> + +<p>The train went on, stopping at several stations, and at each one Jimmy +looked out at the window and tried to read the name on the lamps. But he +felt no fear about going too far, because he knew that the train stopped +altogether when it reached Chesterham. It seemed a long time reaching +there, however, much longer than he had imagined; but at last it came to +a standstill, and, looking through the window, Jimmy saw that many more +persons got out than usual. He leaned back in his seat, feeling tired +and cold, and waiting for the train to go on again, when presently a +porter stopped at the window.</p> + +<p>'All change here!' he said.</p> + +<p>'But I don't want to change,' answered Jimmy. 'This isn't Chesterham, is +it?' for he had read the name of Barstead on one of the lamps.</p> + +<p>'Chesterham!' cried the porter, 'I should say not. Chesterham is fifty +miles away on another line. This is Barstead. And if you don't want to +stay all night on the siding the best thing you can do is to get out.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>JIMMY IS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY</h3> + + +<p>Jimmy stared at the porter in great astonishment. His eyes and his mouth +were opened very widely, and he felt extremely frightened. He rose from +the seat and stepped out on to the dark platform.</p> + +<p>'I want to go to Chesterham,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Well, you can't go to Chesterham to-night,' was the answer. 'Where's +your ticket?'</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt in his pocket for his purse, and opening it took out his +ticket.</p> + +<p>'You'd better come to speak to the station-master,' said the porter; and +Jimmy, feeling more frightened than ever, followed him to a small room, +where a tall red-bearded man sat writing at a table which seemed to be +covered all over with papers. When Jimmy entered with the porter the +station-master rose and stood with his back to the fire, whilst the +porter began to explain.</p> + +<p>'You can't get to Chesterham without going back to Meresleigh,' said the +station-master presently. 'Chesterham is on a different line, and there +is no train to-night.'</p> + +<p>'Then what am I to do?' asked Jimmy, turning very pale.</p> + +<p>'That's just what I should like to know!' was the answer. 'But you can't +get back to Meresleigh until to-morrow morning, that's certain.'</p> + +<p>'But where shall I sleep?' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'How was it you got out of the train at Meresleigh?' asked the +station-master.</p> + +<p>'You see,' faltered Jimmy nervously, 'there was an accident to the +engine and we all got out.'</p> + +<p>'Then why didn't you get in again?'</p> + +<p>'I did,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'You didn't get into the right train,' answered the station-master, 'or +you wouldn't be here. Tell me just what you did, now.'</p> + +<p>'Why,' Jimmy explained, 'I went into the waiting-room to eat my +sandwiches and then I fell asleep.'</p> + +<p>'How long were you asleep?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know. It didn't seem very long. When I woke I went on to the +platform and saw a train waiting just in the same place, and I thought +it was the same train.'</p> + +<p>'Well, it wasn't,' said the station-master. 'Whilst you were asleep the +Chesterham train must have started, and the train you got into was the +Barstead train, which is more than an hour later. A nice mistake you've +made.'</p> + +<p>At this Jimmy put his sleeve to his face and began to cry. He really +couldn't help it, he felt very tired, very cold, very miserable, and +very frightened. He could not imagine what would happen to him, where he +should spend the night, or how he should ever reach Chesterham. He +thought of his father and mother going to meet the train and finding no +Jimmy there, and he felt far more miserable than he had ever felt in his +life before.</p> + +<p>The station-master began to ask him questions, and amongst others where +his friends in Chesterham lived. Jimmy did not know the exact address, +but he told the station-master his aunt's name, and he said that would +most likely be enough for a telegram.</p> + +<p>'I shall send a telegram at once to say you're all safe here,' he said; +'and then to-morrow morning we must send you on.'</p> + +<p>'But how about to-night?' cried Jimmy. 'Where am I to sleep?'</p> + +<p>'I must think about that,' was the answer; and then there was a good +deal of noise as if another train had arrived, and the station-master +left his room in a great hurry. He was a very busy man and had very +little time to look after boys who went to sleep in waiting-rooms and +missed their trains. At the same time he did not intend Jimmy to be left +without a roof over his head. So he saw the train start again, and then +he sent for Coote.</p> + +<p>Coote was tall and extremely fat, with an extraordinarily large red +face, and small eyes. He was dressed as a policeman, but he did not +really belong to the police. He was employed by the railway company to +look after persons who did not behave themselves properly, and certainly +his appearance was enough to frighten them. But the station-master knew +him to be a respectable man, with a wife and children of his own, and a +clean cottage about half a mile from the station. So he thought that +Coote would be the very man to take charge of Jimmy until the next +morning. He explained what had happened, and Coote said he would take +the boy home with him.</p> + +<p>'I'll see he's well looked after,' he said, 'and I'll bring him in time +to catch the 7.30 train to Meresleigh in the morning.'</p> + +<p>'You'll find him in my office,' answered the station-master, and to the +office Coote went accordingly.</p> + +<p>Now, if he had acted sensibly in the matter he would have spared Jimmy a +good deal of unpleasantness, and Jimmy's father and mother much anxiety. +But Coote was fond of what he called a 'joke,' and instead of telling +the boy that he was going to take him home and give him a bed and some +supper, he opened the office-door, put his great red face into the room, +and stared hard at Jimmy. Jimmy was already so much upset that very +little was required to frighten him still more. When he saw the face, +with a policeman's helmet above it, he drew back farther against the +wall.</p> + +<p>'None o' your nonsense now, you just come along with me!' cried Coote, +speaking in a very deep voice, and looking very fierce.</p> + +<p>'I—I don't want to come,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Never mind what you want,' said Coote, 'you just come along with me.'</p> + +<p>'Where—where to?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Ah, you'll see where to,' was the answer. 'Come along now. No +nonsense.'</p> + +<p>Very unwillingly Jimmy accompanied Coote along the platform and out into +the street. It was quite dark and very cold, as the boy trotted along by +the policeman's side, looking up timidly into his red face.</p> + +<p>'Nice sort of boy you are and no mistake,' said Coote, 'travelling over +the company's line without a ticket. Do you know what's done to them as +travels without a ticket?'</p> + +<p>'What?' faltered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Ah, you wait a few minutes, and you'll see fast enough,' said Coote.</p> + +<p>What with his policeman's uniform, his red cheeks, his great size, Jimmy +felt more and more afraid, and he really believed that he was going to +be locked up because he had travelled in the wrong train. Instead of +that the man was thinking what he should do to make the boy more +comfortable. He naturally supposed that Jimmy's friends would reward +him, and as it seemed likely that Mrs. Coote might not have anything +especially tempting for supper he determined to buy something on the way +home. After walking along several quiet streets they came to one which +was much busier. There were brilliant lights in the shop windows, and in +front of one of the brightest Coote stopped.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>JIMMY RUNS AWAY</h3> + + +<p>It was a ham and beef shop, and in Jimmy's cold and hungry condition the +meat pies and sausages and hams in the window looked very tempting.</p> + +<p>'You just wait here a few moments,' said Coote, as he came to a +standstill, 'and mind it's no use your thinking o' running away, because +I can run too.' With that he entered the ham and beef shop, leaving +Jimmy outside alone on the pavement. Perhaps Jimmy would never have +thought of running away if the man had not suggested it; but he was so +frightened that he felt it would be better to do anything rather than go +with the policeman. You know that sometimes a boy does not stay to +consider what is really the best, and Jimmy did not stay to think now. +Whilst he saw Coote talking to the shopman in the white apron, through +the window, he suddenly turned to make a dash across the road.</p> + +<p>'Look out!' cried a man, and Jimmy only just escaped being run over by a +one-horse omnibus. He dodged the horse, however, and running towards the +opposite pavement, he knocked against an old woman with a basket. The +basket grazed his left arm, and to judge by what she said he must have +hurt the woman a good deal. But Jimmy did not wait to hear all she had +to say; he only thought of getting away from Coote, and ran on and on +without the slightest notion where he was going. Up one street and down +another the boy ran, often looking behind to see whether he was being +followed, and at last stopping altogether, simply because he could not +run any farther. He sat down on the kerb-stone, and then he saw for the +first time that it had begun to rain quite fast.</p> + +<p>It was a great relief to know that Coote must have taken a wrong +direction, for if the policeman had taken the right one he would have +caught Jimmy by this time. Still he did not intend to sit there many +minutes in case Coote should be following him after all, so a few +minutes later Jimmy got up again and walked on quickly.</p> + +<p>He felt very miserable; it must be past his usual bed-time, and yet he +had nowhere to sleep. He wished he were safely at Chesterham; and he +made up his mind that he would never fall asleep in a waiting-room again +as long as he lived.</p> + +<p>Until now Jimmy had been making his way along streets, but very soon he +saw that there were houses only on one side of the way. He had in fact +come to what looked, as well as he could see in the dark, like a small +common, with furze bushes growing on it, and a pond by the roadside.</p> + +<p>But a little farther on, Jimmy fancied he heard a band playing, and then +he saw what appeared to be an enormous tent, and there were lights +burning near, and curious shadowy things which he could not make out at +all.</p> + +<p>Jimmy was always an inquisitive boy, and now he almost forgot his +troubles in his wish to find out what was happening on the common. So he +walked towards the large round tent, and the band sounded more loudly +every moment.</p> + +<p>By one part of the tent stood a cart, and in this a man was shouting at +the top of his voice. And around the cart a crowd had gathered, chiefly +of rather shabbily-dressed people, and one or two of them stepped out +every minute or so and went inside an opening in the tent, where a stout +woman stood to take their money.</p> + +<p>Near the cart was a large picture, and Jimmy stared at it with a great +deal of interest. The picture represented a lion and a clown, and the +clown's head was inside the lion's mouth; whilst a little way off a very +small clown, of about Jimmy's own age, stood laughing.</p> + +<p>Jimmy had always an immense liking for lions, and also for clowns, and +when they both came together and the head of the one happened to be in +the mouth of the other, the temptation was almost more than he could +resist.</p> + +<p>'Now, ladies and gentlemen, walk up, walk up!' cried the man in the +cart. 'All the wonders of the world now on view. Now's the time, the +very last night; walk up, ladies and gentlemen, walk up.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought that he really might do worse than to walk up. For one +thing he would be able to sit down inside the tent, and for another he +could take shelter from the rain, which now was falling fast. He put his +hand into his pocket to feel for his purse, and recollected that he had +still two shillings and twopence left out of Aunt Selina's half-crown.</p> + +<p>'How much is it?' he asked, going towards the stout woman at the +opening.</p> + +<p>'Well,' she answered, 'you can go in for twopence, and you can have a +first-class seat for sixpence. But if you ask me, a young gent like +you'd sooner pay a shilling.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I think I should,' said Jimmy proudly; and, taking out a shilling, +he gave it to the woman and at once entered the tent.</p> + +<p>There were so few persons in the best seats that a great many of those +in the cheaper ones turned to look at Jimmy as he walked in. But Jimmy +was quite unaware of this, for no sooner had he sat down than he began +to laugh as if he had not a trouble in the world. He forgot that he had +nowhere to sleep, he forgot the red-faced policeman, he even forgot that +he ought to be at Chesterham.</p> + +<p>It was the clown who made Jimmy laugh. He was a little man with a tall, +pointed white felt hat like a dunce's cap; he wore the usual clown's +dress, and generally kept his hands in his pockets as if he were a +school-boy.</p> + +<p>A girl in a green velvet riding-habit had just finished a wonderful +performance on horseback, and after she had kissed her hands to the +people a good many times, she jumped off the horse, which began to trot +round the ring alone. The clown was evidently trying to repeat her +performance on his own account, but each time he tried to mount the +horse it trotted faster, and the clown always fell on his back in the +sawdust. Nothing could be more comical than the way he got up, as if he +were hurt very much indeed, and rubbed himself; unless, indeed, it was +his alarm when the two elephants were brought into the ring and he +jumped over the barrier close to Jimmy in the front seats. Jimmy felt a +little disappointed not to see the clown put his head into the lion's +mouth, but then there were plenty of things to make up for this; and +besides, Jimmy was beginning to feel really very sleepy again, when the +band played 'Rule Britannia' out of tune, and all the people rose to +leave the tent.</p> + +<p>As it became empty, Jimmy began to feel very wretched again. He wondered +where he should sleep, and he could hear that it was raining faster than +ever outside.</p> + +<p>Why shouldn't he wait until everybody else had gone and then lie down on +one of the seats and sleep where he was? Of course he had never slept in +such a place before, and he did not much like the idea of sleeping there +now, but then he had nowhere else to go, and at any rate it would be +better than going outside in the rain.</p> + +<p>So Jimmy made up his mind to stay where he was, and he would have been +lying down and perhaps asleep in another moment, for he was very tired, +when he saw the clown enter the tent.</p> + +<p>He had taken off his pointed hat, and had put on a long loose overcoat +over his clown's dress. As he had been laughing or making fun all the +time he was in the ring, Jimmy thought that he never did anything else; +but the clown looked quite solemn now, and the paint on his face had +become smudged after getting wet outside in the rain.</p> + +<p>'Hullo!' he exclaimed on seeing Jimmy. 'What are you doing here?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' answered the boy.</p> + +<p>'Suppose you do it outside!'</p> + +<p>'But I shall get so wet outside,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Lor! Where's your nurse?' asked the clown.</p> + +<p>'I haven't got one,' cried Jimmy, a little indignantly. 'I go to +school.'</p> + +<p>'Be quick then and go,' said the clown.</p> + +<p>'But I've nowhere to go,' answered Jimmy sadly, 'and I don't know where +anybody is.'</p> + +<p>'Mean to say they've gone away and left you?' asked the clown.</p> + +<p>'They haven't been here.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, so you came to the show by yourself?' said the clown.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' replied Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Well,' was the answer, 'you're a nice young party'; and the clown sat +down on the barrier. 'Come now,' he said, 'suppose you tell us all about +it.'</p> + +<p>So, in a very sleepy voice, Jimmy began to tell the clown his story. He +told him how he had fallen asleep in the waiting-room, and where he had +been going to; but he did not say anything about Coote, because he felt +afraid that the clown might send for the policeman, who would, after +all, put him into prison for travelling in the wrong train.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE CIRCUS</h3> + + +<p>The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a +great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely +keep his eyes open.</p> + +<p>'You seem a bit sleepy,' said the clown.</p> + +<p>'I'm hungry, too,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Well, you can't sleep here,' said the clown, 'and you don't see much to +eat, do you?'</p> + +<p>'No, there isn't much to eat,' Jimmy admitted. 'But,' he added, 'I don't +see why I couldn't sleep here.'</p> + +<p>'Because the tent's going to be taken down,' said the clown. 'We've been +here three days, and we're going on somewhere else.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he +liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all +afraid of him.</p> + +<p>'Just you come along with me,' said the clown, 'and I'll see what I can +do for you. Here, jump over! That's right,' he added, as Jimmy climbed +over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the +performance had taken place. 'You come with me,' said the clown, 'and +we'll soon see whether we can't find you something to eat and a place to +lie down in.'</p> + +<p>They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man +who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the +money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed +they were talking about him.</p> + +<p>'All right,' said the man, 'do as you like; it's no business of mine'; +and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent +together.</p> + +<p>They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking +carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their +sides. There were several vans too, like small houses on wheels, with +windows and curtains painted on them, such as Jimmy had often seen at +Ramsgate, with men selling brooms and baskets, walking by the horses.</p> + +<p>There were no men selling brooms or baskets here, although they all +seemed to be very busy: some being dressed just as they had left the +ring, and others leading cream-coloured and piebald horses, instead of +going to bed, as Jimmy thought it was time to do.</p> + +<p>'Come along,' said the clown, as the boy seemed inclined to stop to look +on.</p> + +<p>'Where are we going?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'You'll see,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'But where is it?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Where I live,' said the clown.</p> + +<p>'Oh, we're going to your house,' cried Jimmy, feeling pleased at the +chance of entering a house again, for it seemed a very long time since +he had left Aunt Selina's.</p> + +<p>'Well,' said the clown, 'it's a sort of house. You might call it a house +on wheels, and you wouldn't be far out.'</p> + +<p>Suddenly Jimmy seized the clown's arm and gave a jump.</p> + +<p>'What's that?' he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'Don't be frightened,' said the clown.</p> + +<p>'Only what is it?' asked Jimmy, with a shaky voice.</p> + +<p>'He won't hurt you,' was the answer. 'It's only old Billy, the lion.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy heard him roar as if he were only a yard or two away, and he felt +rather alarmed, until they had left his cage farther behind.</p> + +<p>'Is that the lion who had your head in his mouth?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Well,' said the clown, 'it isn't in his mouth now, is it?'</p> + +<p>'I didn't see the little clown,' exclaimed Jimmy, and the clown stared +down at the ground.</p> + +<p>'No,' he answered, as if he felt rather miserable, 'we shan't see him +again ever.'</p> + +<p>Then they stopped at the back of one of the vans, and Jimmy saw that +there was a light inside it.</p> + +<p>'Up you get,' said the clown, and Jimmy scrambled up a pair of wide +steps which put him in mind of a bathing-machine.</p> + +<p>The door seemed to be made in halves, and whilst the lower part was shut +the upper part was open. Through this Jimmy could see inside the van, +and it looked exactly like a small room, only rather dirty and untidy. +As Jimmy stood on the steps staring into the van, with the clown close +behind him, a girl came out from what seemed to be a second room behind +the first. She had yellow hair, and her face looked very white; but +although she must have changed her dress, Jimmy felt certain she was the +same girl who had worn the green velvet riding-habit.</p> + +<p>'Hullo!' she cried, seeing Jimmy, but not seeing her father. 'What do +you want?'</p> + +<p>'All right, Nan, all right,' said the clown, and he put an arm in front +of Jimmy to push open the door. Whilst Jimmy felt glad to find shelter +from the rain, the clown went to the back room, which must have been +extremely small, and carried on a conversation with the girl whom he +called Nan. Jimmy felt certain he was telling her all about himself.</p> + +<p>Presently they both came out again, and Nan went to a shelf and brought +some rather fat bacon and bread, and a knife and fork with black +handles. There were two beds—one in the back part of the van and one in +the front. Jimmy sat down on the one in the front to eat his supper, and +before he had finished Nan gave him a mug of tea, which made him feel +much warmer, although it did not taste very pleasant.</p> + +<p>The clown had gone away again, and Jimmy wondered why there was such a +noise outside the van.</p> + +<p>'They're only putting the horses in,' said Nan, when he questioned her.</p> + +<p>'I should have thought they would be taking them out at this time of +night,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'We always travel at night,' she explained, 'and then we're ready for +the performance in the daytime.'</p> + +<p>'But when do you go to sleep?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'When we get a chance,' she said. 'But the best thing you can do's to go +to sleep now. Suppose you lie down in there,' and she pointed to the +room which was boarded off behind.</p> + +<p>'Whose bed is it?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Father's, when he gets time to lie in it,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'But he can't if I'm there,' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'He's got a lot to do before he thinks of bed,' exclaimed Nan. 'He's got +to see to the horses. But I'll lie down as soon as we start, and +presently father and I'll change places.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>ON THE ROAD</h3> + + +<p>It all seemed very strange to Jimmy, and he would not have felt very +much surprised if he had suddenly awakened to find himself back in the +dormitory at Miss Lawson's, and all his adventures a dream.</p> + +<p>The bed did not look very clean, and Jimmy thought at first that he +should not care to lie down on it. He felt too tired to waste much time, +however, and he did not even take off his clothes, but lay down just as +he was, and in half a minute he fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p>And though the horse was put between the shafts, and there was a loud +shouting as the long line of carts and vans began to move, Jimmy did not +open his eyes for some time.</p> + +<p>He might not have opened them even then if Nan, who had also been +asleep, had not risen and opened the door and let in a whiff of cold +air. As Jimmy sat up in the dark and rubbed his eyes, he thought at +first that he must be in a boat, because whatever he might be in, it +rolled about from side to side. Remembering presently where he really +was, he got off the bed, and peeped into the other half of the van. +Seeing that Nan was not there, he went to the door, the upper half of +which she had left open. The rain had quite left off, and the night was +very beautiful. A great many stars shone in the sky; Jimmy had never +looked out so late before, he had never seen the heavens such a dark +blue nor the stars so large and bright. It was four o'clock in the +morning, the air felt very cold, and he could see that they were going +slowly along a country road.</p> + +<p>About a yard from the back of his own van, a grey horse jogged along +between the shafts of another van, with a rough brown pony tied beside +it. Feeling curious to see as much as he could, Jimmy opened the door, +and climbed carefully down the steps. Then he ran to the side of the +road, although he always took care to keep close to the clown's van.</p> + +<p>In front he saw ever so many carts and vans, and behind there were as +many more. There were horses in groups of five or six, and men walking +sleepily along by the hedge. Now and then the lion roared, but not very +loudly; now and then one of the men spoke to his horses; now and then a +match was struck to light a pipe. But for the most part it seemed +strangely silent as the long line wound slowly along the country road. +For a good while Jimmy scarcely heard a sound, but presently, after he +had been in the road a few minutes, he did hear something, and that was +the clown's voice.</p> + +<p>'Hullo,' it said, 'what are you doing out here? Just you get inside +again'; and Jimmy scampered away and ran up the steps and lay down on +the bed. He was soon asleep again, and when he re-opened his eyes it was +broad daylight. He found that the caravan had come to a standstill, but +when he looked out at the door everything seemed as quiet as when they +were on the march. It was not so quiet inside the house, for the clown +lay on the bed which Nan had occupied earlier, and he was snoring +loudly. Jimmy wondered where Nan had gone, but whilst he stood shivering +by the door he saw her carrying a wooden pail full of water.</p> + +<p>'Is that for me to wash in?' asked Jimmy, for he was surprised to find +that there were no basins and towels in the van.</p> + +<p>'Not it,' answered Nan. 'That's to make some tea for breakfast.' He +watched whilst she brought out three pieces of iron like walking-sticks, +tied together at the ends and forming a tripod. Having stuck the other +ends in the ground, Nan collected some sticks, and heaping these +together, she soon made a good fire.</p> + +<p>'Can I warm my hands?' asked Jimmy; and leaving the van, he crouched +down to hold his small hands over the blaze. Then Nan hung a kettle over +the fire and stood watching whilst it boiled. And men and women +gradually came out of the other vans, which stood about anyhow, and they +all looked very sleepy and rather dirty, especially the children who +soon began to collect round Jimmy as if he were the most extraordinary +thing in the caravan. If he had felt less cold and hungry Jimmy might +have enjoyed it all, for there was certainly a great deal to see.</p> + +<p>They seemed to have stopped on another common, but there were small +houses not very far away. The worst of it was that wherever he went he +was followed by a small crowd of children who made loud remarks about +him. Still he wandered in and out amongst the vans, and stopped a long +time before the cage which contained the lion. The lion was lying down +licking his fore-paws, but he left off to stare at Jimmy, who quickly +drew farther away from the cage. A little farther he met two elephants, +a big one and a little one, with three men who were taking them down to +a pond to drink. Jimmy saw some comical-looking monkeys too; and what +interested him almost more than anything were the men who had already +begun to fix the large tent in an open space. It looked rather odd at +present, because they had only fixed the centre pole, and the canvas +hung loosely in the shape of the cap which the clown had worn last +night. On returning to the van, still followed by the boys, Jimmy saw +the clown sitting on the steps eating an enormous piece of bread and +cheese, and drinking hot tea out of a mug.</p> + +<p>'Come along,' said the clown, 'come and have some breakfast'; and Jimmy +sat down on the muddy ground, and Nan gave him another mug and a thick +slice of bread; but Jimmy was by this time so hungry that he could have +eaten anything. Still he felt very anxious to hear how he was to reach +Chesterham without meeting Coote again.</p> + +<p>'I <i>should</i> like to see my father and mother to-day,' he said, as he ate +his breakfast.</p> + +<p>'Not to-day,' answered the clown, 'but it won't be long, so don't you +worry yourself. We're working that way, and we're going to have a +performance there.'</p> + +<p>'At Chesterham!' cried Jimmy, feeling extremely relieved.</p> + +<p>'You'll be there before the end of the week,' said the clown; 'and I +should think your father would come down handsome.'</p> + +<p>Now Jimmy began to feel quite contented again, and there was so much to +look at that he forgot everything else.</p> + +<p>When he was at school at Ramsgate he had seen a circus going in a +procession through the town, and now Nan told him that this circus was +going in a procession, and that it would start at half-past twelve. +Everybody seemed very busy making ready for it, men were attending to +the horses, and the gilded chariots were being prepared, and presently +Nan began to dress.</p> + +<p>'What are you going to be?' asked Jimmy, as she took a bright-looking +helmet from under her bed.</p> + +<p>'Don't you know?' she answered. 'Why, I'm Britannia.'</p> + +<p>A little later she left the van with the helmet on her head, and a large +thing which looked like a pitchfork in one hand. In the other she +carried a shield, and her white dress had flags all over it. By this +time one of the gilded chariots had been made very high; it seemed to be +almost as high as a house, and on the top was a seat. Nan climbed up to +this seat and sat down, and then a black man led Billy the lion out of +his cage with a chain round his neck, and it was funny to see the lion +climb up to the place where Nan was sitting and quietly lie down by her +side.</p> + +<p>The clown was standing on a white horse, with a long pair of reins +driving another white horse; but the black man who had led the lion +drove eight horses, and then there was a band, in red, and two +elephants, and everybody in the circus except some of the children and a +few women formed a part of the long procession.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>JIMMY RUNS AWAY AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>Now, Jimmy thought that he also would like to be in the procession. He +would have liked to dress up as Nan had done, although perhaps he would +not have cared to sit quite so close to the lion. They seemed to have +forgotten all about him, and he was left to do just as he liked. So what +he did was to walk beside the procession into the town, and then to run +on ahead to find a good place to see it pass.</p> + +<p>He got back to the van long before Nan and her father, and being quite +alone, he began to look about him. Hanging on a peg, he saw a lot of old +clothes, which seemed rather interesting, especially one suit that must +have belonged to the little clown.</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at the dress again and again. There were long things like +socks, of a dirty white colour, with a kind of flowery pattern in red +along the sides. Then he saw what looked like a very short and baggy +pair of light red and blue knickerbockers, and also the jacket of light +red and blue too, with curious loose sleeves.</p> + +<p>He would very much have liked to put them all on just to see how he +looked in them, only that he felt afraid that Nan or her father might +return before he had time to take them off again.</p> + +<p>No sooner did they come back than they began to prepare for the evening +performance, and still everybody seemed too busy to give many thoughts +to Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Whose is that little clown's suit?' he asked, while Nan was busy about +the van.</p> + +<p>'Ah,' she answered, 'that was my little brother's,' and she spoke so +unhappily that he did not like to say any more about it.</p> + +<p>But Jimmy wanted more and more to try the suit on himself only just for +a few moments, and he thought it could not possibly do any harm. +Presently Nan, who had taken off Britannia's dress, put on her green +velvet riding-habit, and Jimmy could hear the band playing close by, and +he guessed that the performance was soon going to begin.</p> + +<p>'You can go to bed whenever you like,' said Nan, before she left the +van.</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' he answered, and when she had gone he stood at the door +looking out into the darkness. He could see the flaming naphtha lamps, +and hear the music and a loud clapping inside the great tent, and now +they seemed all so busy that it might be a good time to put on the +little clown's dress.</p> + +<p>First of all Jimmy shut the upper part of the door, so that nobody who +happened to look that way could see inside the van. He took down the +clothes from the peg, and removed his own jacket and waistcoat and +knickerbockers as quickly as possible. Then he found that he must take +off his boots and stockings, and he sat down on the floor of the van to +draw on those with the pattern on each side. They did not go on very +easily, but he managed it at last, and then it was a simple matter to +put on the loose knickerbockers and the jacket.</p> + +<p>As his feet felt cold, he put on his own boots again, and then he stood +on a chair without a back to take down the piece of broken looking-glass +which he had seen Nan use that day. He could not get a very good view of +himself, but he could see that his face was much dirtier than it had +ever been before in his life, and this was not to be wondered at, +because he had not washed it since he left his Aunt Selina's yesterday +morning. And yesterday morning seemed a very long time ago.</p> + +<p>He stood in the middle of the van, trying to look at himself in the +glass, when suddenly it fell from his hand and broke, and Jimmy gave a +violent jump. For to his great alarm he heard distinctly the voice of +Coote, the railway policeman, just outside the van.</p> + +<p>Now Coote had been greatly astonished last night, on coming out of the +ham and beef shop, to see no sign of Jimmy. He had spent two hours +looking for him, and then he gave him up as a bad job. When he told the +station-master what had happened, he was ordered to do nothing else +until he found the boy again, and so Coote had spent the whole day +searching for him. And Coote's instructions were, on finding the boy, to +take him direct to his aunt's house at Chesterham.</p> + +<p>Coote, after looking all over Barstead, thought that perhaps Jimmy had +gone away with the circus people, so he took a train and followed them. +But Jimmy felt as much afraid as ever; he made sure that if Coote caught +him he would be locked up in prison. Thinking that the policeman was +coming into the van, he looked about for a place to hide himself, and at +last he made up his mind to crawl under the bed. It was not at all easy, +because the bed was close to the floor; but still, Jimmy managed it at +last, and lay quite still on the floor, expecting every moment that +Coote would enter. Then he remembered that he had left his own clothes +on the floor, so that if Coote saw them he would guess that their owner +was hiding. Jimmy felt that he would do anything to get safely away, and +he lay on the floor scarcely daring to breathe, until Coote's voice +sounded farther off.</p> + +<p>Crawling out from under the bed again, presently, without stopping to +think, Jimmy opened the door of the van, ran down the steps, and on +putting his feet to the grass, he at once dodged round the van and set +off at a run away from the tent.</p> + +<p>He ran and ran until he was quite out of breath. He seemed to have +reached a country lane; it was very quiet and dark, and the stars shone +in the sky. Jimmy sat down by the wayside, feeling very hot and tired, +and then he remembered that he was wearing the clown's clothes. He +remembered also that he had left all his money and his knife behind him; +but still he did not think of going back, because if he went back he +would be certain to fall into the hands of Coote.</p> + +<p>No, he would not go back; what he would do was to make his way to +Chesterham. It could not be very far, for the clown had said he should +be there in a few days, although the caravan travelled slowly. Why +shouldn't he walk to his aunt's house, and then he would see his mother +and father, who no doubt would look surprised to see him dressed as a +clown. If his mother was really like Aunt Selina she might be very +angry, but then he hoped she wasn't like his aunt, and, at all events, +Jimmy thought she could not be angry with him just the first time she +saw him.</p> + +<p>But, then, he might not be in the right road for Chesterham, and he did +not wish to lose his way, because he had no money to buy anything to +eat, and already he was beginning to feel hungry. The sooner he got +along the better, so he rose from his seat beside the road and walked on +in the hope of seeing some one who could tell him the way. He walked +rather slowly, but still he went a few miles, passing a cottage with +lights in the windows now and then, but not liking to knock at the door. +But presently he felt so tired that he made up his mind to knock at the +next. When he came to it he walked up to the garden gate, but then his +courage failed. He stood leaning against the gate, hoping that some of +the people whose voices he could hear might come out; but presently the +windows became dark, and Jimmy guessed that, instead of coming out, the +people in the cottage had gone to bed.</p> + +<p>Now that he knew it must be very late, Jimmy began to feel a little +afraid. It seemed very dull and lonely, and he longed to meet somebody, +never mind who it was. There was only one thing which seemed to be +moving, and that was a windmill standing on a slight hill a little way +from the road. It seemed very curious to watch the sails going round in +the darkness, but Jimmy could see them rise and fall, because they +looked black against the blue sky. The mill was so near that he could +hear the noise of the sails as they went round, it sounded like a very +loud humming-top, and there were one or two patches of light to be seen +in the mill.</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought that perhaps he might be able to lie down near to it, +although the difficulty was to get to it. But when he had walked on a +little farther, he saw a dark-looking lane on his right hand, and after +stopping to think a little, he walked along it. With every step he took +the humming sounded louder, but presently Jimmy stopped suddenly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>JIMMY SLEEPS IN A WINDMILL</h3> + + +<p>'Hullo!' said a voice close in front of him, and looking up Jimmy saw a +man smoking a pipe. Of course it was too dark for him to see anything +very distinctly, but still his eyes had become used to the darkness, and +he could see more than you would imagine.</p> + +<p>'What are you after?' asked the man.</p> + +<p>'Please I was looking for somewhere to sleep,' answered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Well, you're a rum sort of youngster,' said the man. 'Here, come along +o' me.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy followed him along a path which led to the mill, and as they drew +near to it the great sails seemed to swish through the air in a rather +alarming manner. The man opened a door and Jimmy looked in. The floor +was all white with flour, and dozens of sacks stood against the walls. +The man also looked nearly as white as the floor, and he began to smile +as the light fell upon Jimmy. But the boy did not feel at all inclined +to smile.</p> + +<p>'Why,' he asked, 'you look as if you've come from a circus?'</p> + +<p>'I have,' answered Jimmy, feeling quite stupid from sleepiness.</p> + +<p>'Run away?' said the man. 'Have you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' answered Jimmy, gaping.</p> + +<p>'Got nowhere to sleep?' asked the miller.</p> + +<p>'No,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>'Hungry?' asked the miller.</p> + +<p>'I only want to go to sleep,' said Jimmy, gaping again.</p> + +<p>'Come in here,' said the man, and without losing a moment, Jimmy +followed him into the mill. There the man threw two or three sacks on to +the floor, and told Jimmy to lie down. There seemed to be a great noise +at first, but Jimmy shut his eyes and soon fell sound asleep, too sound +asleep even to dream of Coote or the clown.</p> + +<p>He was awakened by the miller's kicking one of the sacks on which he +lay, and looking about to see where he was, Jimmy saw that it was broad +daylight, and that the sun was shining brightly.</p> + +<p>'Now, then, off with you,' cried the miller, 'before I get into +trouble.'</p> + +<p>'What time is it, please?' asked Jimmy sleepily, as he stood upright.</p> + +<p>'It'll soon be six o'clock,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought it was a great deal too early to get up, and he felt so +tired that he would very much have liked to lie down again, but he did +not say so.</p> + +<p>'Here, take this,' said the man, and he put twopence into Jimmy's hand. +'Mind they don't catch you,' he added.</p> + +<p>'Please can you tell me the way to Chesterham?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Chesterham's a long way,' answered the miller; 'but you've got to get +to Sandham first. Go back into the road and keep to your left. When you +get to Sandham ask for Chesterham.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' said Jimmy, and with the twopence held tightly in his hand +he walked along the lane until he reached the road.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful morning, but Jimmy could do nothing but gape; his +feet felt very heavy, and he wished that he had never put on the clown's +clothes and left his own behind. Still he made sure that he should be +able to reach Chesterham some day, and presently he passed a church and +an inn and several small houses and poor-looking shops. With the +twopence in his hand he looked in at the shop windows wondering what he +should buy for breakfast, and seeing a card in one of them which said +that lemonade was a penny a bottle, Jimmy determined to buy some of +that.</p> + +<p>The woman who served him looked very much astonished, and she called +another woman to look at him too. But Jimmy stood drinking the cool, +sweet lemonade, and thought it was the nicest thing he had ever tasted. +As he stood drinking it his eyes fell on some cakes of chocolate cream.</p> + +<p>'How much are those?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Two a penny,' said the woman.</p> + +<p>'I'll have two, please,' said Jimmy, and he began to eat them as soon as +he left the shop. But he was glad to leave the village behind, because +everybody he met stared at him and he did not like it. Three boys and a +girl followed him some distance along the road, no doubt expecting that +he was really and truly a clown, and would do some tumbling and make +them laugh. But at last they grew tired of following him, and they +stopped and began to call him names, and one boy threw a stone at him, +but Jimmy felt far too miserable to throw one back. Chocolate creams and +lemonade are very nice things, but they don't make a very good +breakfast. The morning seemed very long, and presently Jimmy sat down by +a hedge and fell asleep. He awoke feeling more hungry than ever, and no +one was in sight but a man on a hay cart. But it happened that the cart +was going towards Sandham, and Jimmy waited until it came up, and then +he climbed up behind and hung with one leg over the tailboard and got a +long ride for nothing. He might have ridden all the way to Sandham, only +that the carter turned round in a rather bad temper and hit Jimmy with +his whip, so that he jumped down more quickly than he had climbed up.</p> + +<p>He guessed that he was near the town, because there were houses by the +roadside, and passing carts, and even an omnibus. If Jimmy had had any +more money he would have got into the omnibus; as he had none he was +compelled to walk on. It was quite late in the afternoon when he entered +Sandham, and he had eaten nothing since the chocolate creams. He was +annoyed to find that a number of children were following him again, and +as he went farther into the town they crowded round in a ring, so that +Jimmy was brought to a standstill.</p> + +<p>He felt very uncomfortable standing there, with dozens of children and a +few grown-up persons round him. They cried out to him to 'go on,' and +this was just what Jimmy would have liked to do. He felt so miserable +that he put an arm to his eyes and began to cry, and then the crowd +began to laugh, for they thought he was going to begin to do something +to amuse them at last. But when they saw he did nothing funny as a clown +ought to do, but only kept on crying, they began to jeer at him, and one +boy came near as if he would hit him. Jimmy took down his arm then, and +the two boys, one dressed in rags and the other in the dirty clown's +dress, stood staring at each other with their small fists doubled, when +Jimmy felt some one take hold of his arm, and looking round he saw a +rather tall, dark-haired lady, with a pretty-looking face. Her hand was +on his arm, and her eyes wore a very curious expression, almost as if +she were going to cry also, just to keep Jimmy company.</p> + +<p>But from the moment that Jimmy looked at her face he felt that things +would be better with him.</p> + +<p>'Come with me, dear,' she whispered, and taking his hand in her own she +led him out of the crowd.</p> + +<p>'Where to?' asked Jimmy, wondering why she held his hand so tightly.</p> + +<p>'I think the best thing to do will be to put you to bed,' she answered.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Jimmy, 'I should like to go to bed—to a real bed, you +know—not sacks.'</p> + +<p>'You shall go into a real bed,' she answered.</p> + +<p>'I think I should like to have something to eat first,' he cried.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, you shall have something to eat,' she said.</p> + +<p>If a good many persons had stopped to stare at Jimmy when he was alone, +many more stared now to see a dirty-faced, poor little clown being led +away by a nicely-dressed lady. But the fact was that Jimmy did not care +what they thought. They might stare as much as they liked, and it did +not make any difference. He felt that he was all right at last, although +he did not in the least know who his friend could be. But he felt that +she <i>was</i> a friend, and that was the great thing; he felt that whatever +she did would be pleasant and good, and that she was going to give him +something nice to eat and a comfortable bed to sleep in.</p> + +<p>Somehow he did not feel at all surprised, only extremely tired, so that +he could scarcely keep his eyes open. Things that happened did not seem +quite real, it was almost like a dream. The lady stopped in front of a +house where lodgings were let, although Jimmy knew nothing about that. +The door was opened by a pleasant, rosy-cheeked woman in a cotton dress.</p> + +<p>'Well, I <i>am</i> glad!' she cried; and Jimmy wondered, but only for a +moment, what she had to be glad about.</p> + +<p>'I think some hot soup will be the best thing,' said the lady, 'and then +we will put him to bed.'</p> + +<p>'What do you think about a bath?' asked the landlady.</p> + +<p>'The bath will do to-morrow,' was the answer. 'Just some soup and then +bed. And I shall want you to send a telegram to the Post Office.'</p> + +<p>'You're not going to send a telegram to the policeman,' exclaimed Jimmy; +but as the landlady left the room to see about the soup, the lady placed +her arm round him and drew him towards her. Jimmy thought that most +ladies would not have liked to draw him close, because he really looked +a dirty little object, but this lady did not seem to mind at all.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she held him farther away from her, and looked strangely into +his face.</p> + +<p>'What is your name?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'James—Orchardson—Sinclair—Wilmot,' said Jimmy with a gape between +the words.</p> + +<p>Then she pressed him closer still, and kissed his face again and again, +and for once Jimmy rather liked being kissed. Perhaps it was because he +had felt so tired and lonely; but whatever the reason may have been, he +did not try to draw away, but nestled down in her arms and felt more +comfortable than he had felt for ever so long.</p> + +<p>It was not long before the landlady came back with a plate of hot soup, +and Jimmy sat in a chair by the table and the lady broke some bread and +dipped it in, and Jimmy almost fell asleep as he fed himself. Still he +enjoyed the soup, and when it was finished she took him up in her arms +and carried him to another room where there were two beds. She stood +Jimmy down, and he leaned against the smaller bed with his eyes shut +whilst she took off the clown's dress, and the last thing he recollected +was her face very close to his own before he fell sound asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST</h3> + + +<p>It was quite late when Jimmy opened his eyes the next morning, and a few +minutes afterwards he was sitting up in bed, wondering how much he had +dreamed and how much was real.</p> + +<p>Had he actually got into the wrong train, and run away from a policeman, +and travelled in the van, and put on the little clown's clothes, and +then run away again? Had he really done all these strange things or had +he only dreamed them? But if he had dreamed them, where was he? And if +they were real, where had the clown's dress gone to?</p> + +<p>As Jimmy sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, he hoped that he had not been +dreaming; because if it had been only a dream, why, then, he had only +dreamed of the lady also, and he felt that he very much wished her to be +real.</p> + +<p>Why, she was real! For there she stood smiling at the open door, with a +tray covered with a white cloth in her hand, and on it a large cup of +hot bread and milk, and two eggs.</p> + +<p>'I am glad!' said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'What are you glad about?' she asked, as she placed the tray on his bed.</p> + +<p>'That you're quite real,' he answered.</p> + +<p>'Well,' she said, 'your breakfast is real too, and the best thing you +can do is to eat it.'</p> + +<p>Jimmy began at once. He began with the bread and milk, and the lady sat +at the foot of the bed watching him.</p> + +<p>'Where am I going after breakfast?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Into a nice hot bath,' she said.</p> + +<p>'But after that?'</p> + +<p>'How should you like to go to see your father?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'Do you know him?' asked Jimmy, laying down his spoon in his +astonishment.</p> + +<p>'Very well indeed.'</p> + +<p>'And my mother too?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and Winnie too.'</p> + +<p>'Is she like Aunt Selina?' asked Jimmy, as the lady began to take the +top off his egg.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean Winnie?' she said.</p> + +<p>'No, my mother. Because Aunt Selina said they were like each other, but +I hope they're not.'</p> + +<p>'Well, no,' answered the lady, 'I really don't think your mother is very +much like Aunt Selina.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think she'll be very cross?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I don't think so. Why should she be cross?' As she spoke she took away +the empty cup and gave Jimmy the egg. She cut a slice of bread and +butter into fingers, and he dipped them into the egg and ate it that +way.</p> + +<p>'This <i>is</i> a nice egg,' said Jimmy. 'But,' he continued, 'I thought +perhaps she'd be cross because I got into the wrong train.'</p> + +<p>'Why did you run away from the policeman?' asked the lady.</p> + +<p>'Because he said he should lock me up.'</p> + +<p>'But he was only joking, you know.'</p> + +<p>'Was he?' asked Jimmy, opening his eyes very widely.</p> + +<p>'That's all,' was the answer, and Jimmy looked thoughtful for a few +minutes.</p> + +<p>'I don't think I like policemen who joke,' he said solemnly.</p> + +<p>'Then,' asked the lady, 'why did you run away from the circus? You seem +to be very fond of running away.'</p> + +<p>'I shan't run away from you,' said Jimmy. 'Only I heard the policeman's +voice outside the van and I thought I'd better.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' she answered, 'if you had not run away you would have found your +mother much sooner.'</p> + +<p>'I do hope she isn't like Aunt Selina,' he said wistfully.</p> + +<p>'What should you wish her to be like?' asked the lady.</p> + +<p>'Why, like you, of course,' he cried, and then he was very much +surprised to see the lady lean forward and throw her arms about him and +to feel her kissing him again and again. And when she left off her eyes +were wet.</p> + +<p>'Why did you do that?' asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'She <i>is</i> like me, you darling!' said the lady.</p> + +<p>'My mother?' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'You dear, foolish boy, I am your mother,' she said.</p> + +<p>'Oh,' said Jimmy, and it was quite a long time before he was able to say +anything else.</p> + +<p>A few moments later Mrs. Wilmot rang the bell, and a servant carried a +large bath into the room, then she went away and came back with a can of +very hot water, and then she went away again to fetch a brown-paper +parcel. Mrs. Wilmot opened the parcel at once, and Jimmy sat up in bed +and looked on. He saw her take out a suit of brown clothes, a shirt, and +all sorts of things, so that he should have everything new.</p> + +<p>Then he got out of bed, and had such a washing and scrubbing as he had +never had before. He was washed from head to foot, and dressed in the +new clothes, and when he looked in the glass he saw himself just as he +had been before he left Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate.</p> + +<p>'Now,' said Mrs. Wilmot, 'I think you may as well come to see your +father and Winnie.'</p> + +<p>'Are they here?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes,' she explained, 'I sent to tell them last night, and they +arrived early this morning. Not both together, because we left Winnie +with Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, whilst father went to look for you one +way and I went another.'</p> + +<p>'Then you were really looking for me?' cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>'Why, of course we were,' she answered. 'We knew you were walking about +the country dressed as a little clown. But come,' she said, 'because +your father is anxious to see you.'</p> + +<p>'I should like to see him too,' said Jimmy. 'I hope he's as nice as you +are,' he cried as they left the bedroom.</p> + +<p>'He is ever so much nicer,' was the quiet answer.</p> + +<p>'I don't think he could be,' said Jimmy, as his mother turned the +handle. Then he remembered what the boys had said at school.</p> + +<p>'Winnie isn't really black, is she?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Black!' cried his mother; 'she is just the dearest little girl in the +world.'</p> + +<p>'I'm glad of that,' said Jimmy, and then he entered the room and saw a +tall man with a fair moustache standing in front of the fire, and, +seated on his shoulder, was one of the prettiest little girls Jimmy had +ever seen.</p> + +<p>'There he is!' she cried. 'There's my brother. Put me down, please.'</p> + +<p>'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as his father put Winnie on to the floor.</p> + +<p>But the next moment Mr. Wilmot put his hands under Jimmy's arms and +lifted him up to kiss him, but the odd thing was that when he was +standing on the floor again he could not think of anything to say to +Winnie.</p> + +<p>'I've got a dollie!' she said presently, while their father and mother +stood watching them, 'and I'm going to have a governess.'</p> + +<p>Then they all began to talk quite freely, and Jimmy soon felt as if he +had lived with them always. Presently they went out for a walk to buy +Jimmy some more clothes, and when they came back the children's dinner +was ready.</p> + +<p>'I do like being here,' said Jimmy during the meal.</p> + +<p>'I am glad you got found,' cried Winnie.</p> + +<p>'So am I,' he answered. 'But suppose,' he suggested, 'that I hadn't been +found before you went away again.'</p> + +<p>Then Winnie solemnly laid aside her fork—she was not old enough to use +a knife.</p> + +<p>'Why,' she said, 'you do say funny things. We're not going away again, +ever.'</p> + +<p>'Aren't you?' asked Jimmy, looking up at his father and mother.</p> + +<p>'No,' answered Mrs. Wilmot, 'we're going to stay at home with you.'</p> + +<p>'Are you really—really?' asked Jimmy, for he could scarcely believe it.</p> + +<p>'Yes, really,' said Mr. Wilmot.</p> + +<p>'It will be nice,' said Jimmy thoughtfully, and then he went on with his +dinner.</p> + + +<p>THE END</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Dumpy_Books_for_Children" id="The_Dumpy_Books_for_Children"></a>The Dumpy Books for Children</h2> + +<p>I. <span class="smcap">The Flamp, The Ameliorator, and The Schoolboy's Apprentice</span>, <i>by E. V. +LUCAS</i></p> + +<p>II. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories</span></p> + +<p>III. <span class="smcap">The Bad Family</span>, <i>by Mrs. Fenwick</i></p> + +<p>IV. <span class="smcap">The Story of Little Black Sambo</span>. Illustrated in Colours, <i>by Helen +Bannerman</i></p> + +<p>V. <span class="smcap">The Bountiful Lady</span>, <i>by Thomas Cobb</i></p> + +<p>VI. <span class="smcap">A Cat Book</span>, Portraits <i>by H. Officer Smith</i>, Characteristics <i>by E. +V. LUCAS</i></p> + +<p>VII. <span class="smcap">A Flower Book</span>. Illustrated in Colours <i>by Nellie Benson</i>. <i>Story by +Eden Coybee</i></p> + +<p>VIII. <span class="smcap">The Pink Knight</span>. Illustrated in Colours <i>by J. R. Monsell</i></p> + +<p>IX. <span class="smcap">The Little Clown</span>, <i>by Thomas Cobb</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR" id="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR"></a>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cooper's First Term.</span> Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Gertrude M. Bradley</span>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_NEW_SERIES" id="A_NEW_SERIES"></a><i>A NEW SERIES.</i></h2> + +<h3>THE LARGER DUMPY BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.</h3> + + +<p>I. A SIX-INCH ADMIRAL. <span class="smcap">By G. A. Best.</span></p> + +<p>II. HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY DAYS. By <span class="smcap">E. Florence Mason</span>. With Verses by <span class="smcap">Hamish +Hendry</span>.</p> + +<p>III. PILLOW STORIES. <span class="smcap">By S. L. Heward.</span> With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Gertrude M. +Bradley</span>.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Clown, by Thomas Cobb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CLOWN *** + +***** This file should be named 31371-h.htm or 31371-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/7/31371/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Clown + +Author: Thomas Cobb + +Release Date: February 24, 2010 [EBook #31371] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CLOWN *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE LITTLE CLOWN + + BY THOMAS COBB + + AUTHOR OF 'THE BOUNTIFUL LADY,' 'COOPER'S FIRST TERM,' ETC. + + +LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS +1901 + + + + +_CONTENTS_ + + +1. _How it began_ + +2. _Jimmy goes to London_ + +3. _At Aunt Selina's_ + +4. _Aunt Selina at Home_ + +5. _At the Railway Station_ + +6. _The Journey_ + +7. _Jimmy is taken into Custody_ + +8. _Jimmy runs away_ + +9. _The Circus_ + +10. _On the Road_ + +11. _Jimmy runs away again_ + +12. _Jimmy sleeps in a Windmill_ + +13. _The Last_ + + + + +The Little Clown + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOW IT BEGAN + + +Jimmy was nearly eight years of age when these strange things happened +to him. His full name was James Orchardson Sinclair Wilmot, and he had +been at Miss Lawson's small school at Ramsgate since he was six. + +There were only five boys besides himself, and Miss Roberts was the only +governess besides Miss Lawson. The half-term had just passed, and they +did not expect to go home for the Christmas holidays for another four or +five weeks, until one day Miss Lawson became very ill, and her sister, +Miss Rosina, was sent for. + +It was on Friday that Miss Rosina told the boys that she had written to +their parents and that they would all be sent home on Tuesday, and no +doubt Jimmy might have felt as glad as the rest if he had had a home to +be sent to. + +But the fact was that he had never seen his father or mother--or at +least he had no recollection of them. And he had never seen his sister +Winnie, who was born in the West Indies. One of the boys had told Jimmy +she must be a little black girl, and Jimmy did not quite know whether to +believe him or not. + +When he was two years of age, his father and mother left England, and +although that was nearly six years ago, they had not been back since. + +Jimmy had lived with his Aunt Ellen at Chesterham until he came to +school, but afterwards his holidays were spent with another uncle and +aunt in London. + +His mother wrote to him every month, nice long letters, which Jimmy +always answered, although he did not always know quite what to say to +her. But last month there had come no letter, and the month before that +Mrs. Wilmot had said something about seeing Jimmy soon. + +When he heard the other boys talk about their fathers and mothers and +sisters it seemed strange that he did not know what his own were like. +For you cannot always tell what a person is like from her photograph; +and although his mother looked young and pretty in hers, Jimmy did not +know whether she was tall or short or dark or fair, but sometimes, +especially after the gas was turned out at night, he felt that he should +very much like to know. + +On Monday evening, whilst Jimmy was sitting at the desk in the +school-room sticking some postage-stamps in his Album, he was told to go +to the drawing-room, where he found Miss Rosina sitting beside a large +fire. + +'Is your name Wilmot?' she asked, for she had not learnt all the boys' +names yet. + +'James Orchardson Sinclair Wilmot,' he answered. + +'A long name for such a small boy,' said Miss Rosina. 'It is very +strange,' she continued, 'that all the boys' parents have answered my +letters but yours.' + +'Mine couldn't answer,' said Jimmy. + +'Why not?' asked Miss Rosina. + +'Because they live such a long way off.' + +'I remember,' said Miss Rosina; 'it was to your uncle that I wrote. I +asked him to send someone to meet you at Victoria Station at one o'clock +to-morrow. But he has not answered my letter, and it is very +inconvenient.' + +'Is it?' asked Jimmy solemnly, with his eyes fixed on her face. + +'Why, of course it is,' said Miss Rosina. 'Suppose I don't have a letter +before you start to-morrow morning! I shall not know whether any one is +coming to meet you or not. And what would Miss Roberts do with you in +that case?' + +'I don't know,' answered Jimmy, beginning to look rather anxious. + +'I'm sure I don't know either,' said Miss Rosina. 'But,' she added, 'I +trust I may hear from your uncle before you start to-morrow morning.' + +'I hope you will,' cried Jimmy; and he went back to the school-room +wondering what would happen to him if his Uncle Henry did not write. +Whilst the other boys were saying what wonderful things they intended to +do during the holidays, he wished that his father and mother were in +England the same as theirs. + +He could not go to sleep very early that night for thinking of +to-morrow, and when the bell rang at seven o'clock the next morning he +dressed quickly and came downstairs first to look for Miss Rosina. + +'Please, have you had a letter from Uncle Henry yet?' he asked. + +'No, I am sorry to say I have not,' was the answer. 'I cannot understand +it at all. I am sure I don't know what is to be done with you.' + +'Couldn't I stay here?' cried Jimmy. + +'Certainly not,' said Miss Rosina. + +'Why not?' asked Jimmy, who always liked to have a reason for +everything. + +'Because Miss Lawson is not going to keep a school any more. But,' +exclaimed Miss Rosina, 'go to your breakfast, and I will speak to you +again afterwards.' + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JIMMY GOES TO LONDON + + +As he sat at breakfast Jimmy saw a large railway van stop at the door, +with a porter sitting on the board behind. The driver climbed down from +his high seat in front, and the two men began to carry out the boxes. +Jimmy saw his clothes-box carried out, then his play-box, so that he +knew that he was to go to London with the rest, although Miss Rosina had +not heard from his uncle. + +'Jimmy,' said Miss Roberts after breakfast, 'Miss Rosina wants to see +you in the drawing-room. You must go at once.' + +So he went to the drawing-room, tapped at the door, and was told to +enter. + +'It is very annoying that your uncle has not answered my letter,' said +Miss Rosina, looking as angry as if Jimmy were to blame for it. + +'He couldn't answer if he didn't get it,' cried Jimmy. + +'Of course not,' said Miss Rosina, 'but I sincerely hope he did get it.' + +'So do I,' answered Jimmy. + +'Perhaps he will send to meet you although he has not written to say +so,' said Miss Rosina. + +'Perhaps he will,' replied Jimmy thoughtfully. + +'But,' Miss Rosina continued, 'if he doesn't send to meet you, Miss +Roberts must take you to his house in Brook Street in a cab.' + +'Only suppose he isn't there!' exclaimed Jimmy. + +'At all events the servants will be there.' + +'Only suppose they're not!' + +'Surely,' said Miss Rosina, 'they would not leave the house without any +one in it!' + +'If Uncle Henry and Aunt Mary have gone to France they might.' + +'Do they often go to France?' asked Miss Rosina. + +'They go sometimes,' said Jimmy, 'because Aunt Mary writes to me, and +I've got the stamps in my Album. And then they leave the house empty and +shut the shutters and put newspapers in all the windows, you know.' + +Whilst Jimmy stood on the hearth-rug, Miss Rosina sat in an arm-chair +staring seriously at the fire. + +'Have you any other relations in London?' she asked, a few moments +later. + +'No,' said Jimmy. + +'Think, now,' she continued. 'Are you sure there is nobody?' + +'At least,' cried Jimmy, 'there's only Aunt Selina.' + +'Where does your Aunt Selina live?' asked Miss Rosina, looking a great +deal more pleased than Jimmy felt. He put his small hands together +behind his back, and took a step closer. + +'Please,' he said, 'I--I don't want to go to Aunt Selina's.' + +'Tell me where she lives,' answered Miss Rosina. + +'I think it's somewhere called Gloucester Place,' said Jimmy;' but, +please, I'd rather not go.' + +'You silly child! You must go somewhere!' + +'Yes, I know,' said Jimmy, 'but I'd rather not go to Aunt Selina's.' + +'What is her number in Gloucester Place?' asked Miss Rosina. + +'I don't know the number,' cried Jimmy much more cheerfully, because he +thought that as he did not know the number, Miss Rosina could not very +well send him to the house. + +'What is your aunt's name? Is it Wilmot?' Miss Rosina asked. + +'No, it isn't Wilmot,' said Jimmy. + +'Do you know what it is?' she demanded, and Jimmy began to wish he +didn't know; but Aunt Selina always wrote on his birthday, although it +wasn't much use as she never sent him a present. + +'Her name's Morton,' he answered. + +'Mrs. Morton or Miss Morton?' + +'Miss Morton, because she's never been married,' said Jimmy. + +'Very well then,' was the answer, 'if nobody comes to meet you at +Victoria Station, Miss Roberts will take you in a cab to Brook Street, +and if your Uncle Henry is not there----' + +'I hope he will be!' cried Jimmy. + +'So do I,' Miss Rosina continued, 'because Miss Roberts will not have +much time to spare. She will take you to Brook Street; but if the house +is empty, then she will go on to Miss Morton's in Gloucester Place.' + +'But how can she if she doesn't know the number?' said Jimmy. + +'Miss Roberts will easily be able to find your aunt's house,' was the +answer. + +'Oh!' cried Jimmy in a disappointed tone, and then he was sent back to +the other boys. + +When it was time to start to the railway station Miss Rosina went on +first in a fly to take the tickets, and they found her waiting for them +on the platform. They all got into a carriage, and Jimmy sat next to +Miss Roberts, who asked him soon after the train started, why he looked +so miserable. + +'I do hope that Uncle Henry will send some one to meet me,' he answered. + +'I hope so too,' said Miss Roberts, who was much younger than Miss +Rosina, 'because I have to travel to the north of England, and it is a +very long journey. I shall only just have time to drive to the other +station to catch my train.' + +'But suppose you don't catch it?' asked Jimmy. + +'That would be extremely inconvenient,' she explained, 'because I should +either have to travel all night or else to sleep at an hotel in London. +But I hope your uncle will come to meet you.' + +Long before the train reached London, Jimmy began to look anxiously out +at the window. Presently it stopped on a bridge over the Thames, and a +man came to collect the tickets, and soon after the train moved on again +Jimmy saw that he was at Victoria. The door was opened, and all the +other boys jumped out, and whilst they were shaking hands with their +fathers and mothers Jimmy stood alone on the platform. He looked +wistfully at every face in the small crowd, but he did not know one of +them, and it was plain that nobody had been sent to meet him. + +He followed Miss Roberts towards the luggage van and saw his own boxes +taken out with the rest, and then one by one the boys got into cabs and +were driven away, and Jimmy began to feel more miserable than ever. + +His boxes stood beside Miss Roberts's, and she looked up and down the +platform almost as anxiously as the boy, for she was in a great hurry to +go. + +'Well, Jimmy,' she said, 'nobody seems to have come for you.' + +'No,' answered Jimmy. + +'It is really very annoying!' cried Miss Roberts, looking at her watch. + +'Perhaps Uncle Henry has made a mistake in the time,' said Jimmy. + +'I think the best thing we can do is to take a cab to Brook Street,' was +the answer. + +'Mightn't we wait just a little longer?' he asked. + +'No,' said Miss Roberts, 'we have lost quite enough time already. Hi! +Cab!' she exclaimed, and a four-wheeled cab was driven up beside the +boxes. Then a porter lifted these, one by one, and put them on top of +the cab. + +'Get in,' said Miss Roberts, and with a last glance along the platform, +Jimmy entered the cab and sat down. Then Miss Roberts stepped in also, +the old cab-horse started, and Jimmy was driven out of the gloomy +railway station. + +'I hope Uncle Henry will be at home,' he said presently. + +'So do I,' answered Miss Roberts. 'I have not a minute to spare.' + +'Perhaps you won't have time to take me to Aunt Selina's!' exclaimed +Jimmy. + +'What do you suppose I am to do with you then?' she asked. + +'I don't know,' he said; 'only I don't want to go there!' + +'I am sure I don't want to have to take you there,' was the answer, as +the cab passed Hyde Park. + +Jimmy had been the same way every holiday since he had gone to Miss +Lawson's school, so that he knew he was drawing near to Brook Street. As +the cab turned the corner, he put his head out at the window and looked +anxiously for his uncle's house. + +'Oh!' he cried, drawing it in again. + +'What is the matter?' asked Miss Roberts. + +'I believe the shutters are up,' said Jimmy. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AT AUNT SELINA'S + + +Jimmy was quite right. Miss Roberts leaned forward to put her head out +at the window on his side of the cab, and she saw that every shutter was +shut, and that there was a sheet of newspaper in each window. + +'What a nuisance!' she exclaimed, sitting down again as the horse +stopped. + +The cabman got down to open the door, and Jimmy jumped out, on to the +pavement. + +'I daresay they've gone to France,' he said, as she followed him. + +'Still there may be some one left in the house,' answered Miss Roberts. + +'I don't suppose there is,' said Jimmy, looking as if he were going to +cry. + +'At all events I will ring the bell,' she answered, and Miss Roberts +pulled the bell. Jimmy heard it ring quite distinctly, but nobody came +to open the door. + +'Do ring again,' he said, and once more Miss Roberts pulled the bell. +Then a policeman came along the street, and she went to meet him. + +'Do you know whether this house is empty?' she asked. + +'Been empty the last fortnight,' said the policeman. + +'Thank you,' said Miss Roberts. And then she turned to Jimmy: 'Go back +into the cab,' she continued, and very unwillingly he took his seat +again. 'Gloucester Place, cabman,' she said, with her hand on the door. + +'What number?' asked the cabman. + +'We--we don't know the number,' cried Jimmy, putting his head out. + +'Stop at a shop on the way,' said Miss Roberts as she entered the cab +and sat down; 'if I waste any more time I shall lose my train.' + +'But suppose Aunt Selina isn't at home either?' exclaimed Jimmy, as the +horse started once more. + +'In that case I don't know what is to become of you,' said Miss Roberts. + +'Because she may have gone to France with Uncle Henry!' Jimmy suggested. + +'We will not imagine anything of the kind, if you please!' + +'No,' said Jimmy, 'but suppose she has gone to France, you know.' + +As he spoke, the cab stopped before a large grocer's shop, and without +losing a moment Miss Roberts stepped out of the cab, followed by Jimmy. + +'Will you kindly let me look at a Directory?' she asked; and the tall +young man behind the counter said-- + +'Certainly, miss.' He brought the thickest red book which Jimmy had ever +seen, and Miss Roberts opened it at once. + +'Miss Selina Morton--is that your aunt's name?' she asked, looking round +at Jimmy. + +'Ye--es,' he answered sorrowfully, for he guessed that she had found out +the number. + +'Come along then,' said Miss Roberts, and Jimmy walked slowly towards +the door. 'Thank you, I am very much obliged,' she continued, smiling at +the shopman; but Jimmy did not feel in the least obliged to him. Miss +Roberts told the cabman the number, and when the horse started again she +turned cheerfully to the boy-- + +'We shall soon be there now!' she said. + +'I wish we shouldn't,' answered Jimmy. + +'Don't you like your Aunt Selina?' asked Miss Roberts. + +'Not at all,' said Jimmy. + +'Why don't you like her?' asked Miss Roberts. 'You ought to like an +aunt, you know.' + +'I don't know why, only I don't,' was the answer. + +It did not take many minutes to drive to Gloucester Place, and although +Jimmy did not know what would happen to him if Aunt Selina was out of +town, still he almost hoped she had gone to France. + +But the shutters were not shut at this house, although each of the +blinds was drawn exactly a quarter of the way down. Jimmy saw a large +tortoise-shell cat lying on one of the window sills, whilst a black cat +watched it from inside the room. + +'If they do not keep us long at the door,' said Miss Roberts, as she +rang the bell, 'I can manage just to catch my train.' + +It was past two o'clock, and Jimmy thought he could smell something like +hot meat. He supposed that if he stayed at Aunt Selina's he should have +some dinner, and that would be a good thing at any rate. + +The door was opened by a tall, thin butler, who looked very solemn and +important. He did not stand quite upright, and he had gray whiskers and +a bald head. If he had not opened the door, so that Jimmy knew he was +the butler, he might have been mistaken for a clergyman. + +'Is Miss Morton at home?' asked Miss Roberts. + +'No, miss,' said the butler; and he stared at Jimmy first and then at +the boxes on the cab. + +'How extremely annoying!' cried Miss Roberts. 'Can you tell me how long +she will be?' + +'I don't think Miss Morton will return before half-past three,' said the +butler, whose name was Jones. 'Miss Morton has gone out to luncheon, +miss.' + +'This is her nephew,' answered Miss Roberts. + +'Good-morning, sir,' said Jones, rubbing his hands. + +'Good-morning,' said Jimmy. + +'I have brought him from Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate,' Miss Roberts +explained, whilst Jimmy stared into the butler's face. + +'I don't fancy Miss Morton expected him,' said Jones. + +'No,' cried Jimmy, 'she didn't.' + +'Miss Lawson is so ill,' Miss Roberts continued, 'that all the boys have +been sent home. I took Master Wilmot to his uncle's house in Brook +Street, but it was shut up. So I have brought him here.' + +'I don't know what Miss Morton will say----' + +Miss Roberts looked at her watch and interrupted the butler before he +had time to finish his sentence. He spoke rather slowly and required a +long time to say anything. + +'I am not going back to Ramsgate,' said Miss Roberts, 'but I have no +doubt Miss Rosina will write to Miss Morton.' + +'I beg pardon,' answered Jones, 'but I don't think Miss Morton would +like you to leave the young gentleman here.' + +'I--I don't want to be left,' cried Jimmy. + +'Miss Morton is not particular fond of young gentlemen,' said the +butler. + +'Cabman,' exclaimed Miss Roberts in a greater hurry than ever, 'carry in +the boxes. The two smaller boxes, please.' + +Jimmy stood on the doorstep, and Jones stood just inside the hall, and +Miss Roberts held her watch in her right hand, whilst the cabman got off +his seat and took down the trunks. + +'Please be quick,' she said, 'or I shall miss my train after all.' + +The butler stroked his chin as the cabman carried the clothes-box into +the house and put it down near the dining-room door; then he brought in +the play-box, and after that he wiped his forehead with a large red +handkerchief and climbed up to his seat again. + +'Good-bye,' said Miss Roberts, putting away her watch and taking Jimmy's +hand. + +'I wish you would take me too,' answered Jimmy rather tearfully. + +'I can't do that,' she said, 'and I am sure you will be very happy with +your aunt.' + +Jimmy felt quite sure he shouldn't be happy, and he certainly did not +look very happy as Miss Roberts was driven away in the cab; and when he +saw it turn the corner, he felt more lonely than he had ever felt +before. + +'Well, this is a nice kettle of fish,' said the butler. + +'Is it?' asked Jimmy, not understanding in the least what he meant. + +'I wonder what Miss Morton will say about it?' cried Jones. + +'What do you think she'll say?' asked Jimmy, staring up at the butler's +face. + +'Well,' was the answer, 'you had better come indoors, anyhow,' and Jimmy +entered the house and stood leaning against his clothes-box, whilst +Jones shut the street door. + +'Step this way, sir,' said Jones; but although he took Jimmy to the +dining-room, unfortunately there was no sign of dinner. + +He saw the black cat still sitting on a chair watching the +tortoise-shell cat outside the window, and on the hearth-rug lay a tabby +one, with its head on the fender, fast asleep. + +'You had better sit here until Miss Morton comes home,' said the butler. + +'Do you think she'll be very long?' asked Jimmy. + +'About half-past three,' was the answer, and Jones opened the coal-box +to put some more coal on the fire as he spoke. + +'Because I haven't had any dinner at all,' said Jimmy. + +'Oh, you haven't, haven't you?' cried Jones, as he stood holding the +coal shovel. + +'No,' said Jimmy, 'and I'm rather hungry.' + +'Well, I don't know what Miss Morton'll say about you,' was the answer. +'So,' he added, as he put away the shovel, 'you think you'd like +something to eat?' + +'I'm sure I should--very much,' cried Jimmy. + +The butler went away, but he soon came back with a folded white cloth in +his hands. Whilst Jimmy kneeled down on the hearth-rug rubbing the head +of the tabby cat, Jones laid the cloth, and then he went away again and +returned with a plate of hot roast-beef and Yorkshire pudding and +potatoes and cauliflower. + +He placed a chair with its back to the fire, and told Jimmy to ring when +he was ready for some apple-tart. + +When Jimmy was alone eating his dinner and enjoying it very much, he +began to think it might not be so bad to stay at Aunt Selina's after +all. The black cat came from the chair by the window and meowed on one +side of him, and the tabby cat meowed on the other, and Jimmy fed them +both whilst he fed himself. When his plate was quite empty, he rang the +bell and Jones brought him a large piece of apple-tart, with a brown jug +of cream. Then presently the butler took away the things, and Jimmy sat +down in an arm-chair by the fire with one of the cats on each knee. +Every few minutes he looked over his shoulder to see whether Aunt Selina +was coming, and by and by the bell rang. Jimmy rose from his chair and +the cats jumped to the floor, and, going close to the window, he saw his +aunt's tall, thin figure on the doorstep. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AUNT SELINA AT HOME + + +Miss Morton had been to lunch with a friend, and she naturally expected +to find her house exactly the same as she had left it. She was a lady +who always liked to find things exactly the same as she left them; she +did not care for fresh faces or fresh places, and she certainly did not +care to see two boxes in her hall. + +Miss Morton was a little short-sighted, but the moment that she entered +the house she noticed something unusual. So she stopped just within the +door before the butler could shut it and put on her double eye-glasses, +and then she stared in astonishment at Jimmy's boxes. + +'What are those?' she asked. + +'Boxes, miss,' was the answer. + +'Please don't be stupid,' said Miss Morton. + +'I beg pardon,' replied the butler. + +'I see quite distinctly that they are boxes,' she said. 'What I wish to +know is, whom the boxes belong to.' + +'To Master Wilmot,' said the butler. + +Miss Morton gave such a violent start that her eye-glasses fell from her +nose. + +'Master Wilmot!' she exclaimed. + +'Yes, miss.' + +'You do not mean to tell me that the boy is here!' + +'He's been here since about two o'clock,' said the butler. + +'Surely he did not come alone?' cried Miss Morton. + +'No, miss.' + +'Who brought him?' + +'A young lady who seemed to be his governess,' the butler explained. +'She said that Miss Lawson was ill, and that she'd sent all the young +gentlemen home.' + +'This is certainly not his home,' said Miss Morton. + +'No, miss,' answered Jones. 'I told the young lady you wouldn't be best +pleased, but she insisted on leaving him.' + +'Where is Master Wilmot?' asked Miss Morton. + +'In the dining-room,' was the answer, and the butler opened the door. + +Miss Morton had spoken rather loudly, quite loudly enough for Jimmy to +overhear every word she had said. It made him feel uncomfortable, and as +the door opened he stood with his back to the window, with his hands in +his jacket pockets, waiting until his Aunt Selina entered the room, and +the butler shut the door after her. + +She put on her eye-glasses again, and it seemed a long time before +either she or Jimmy spoke. She moved her head as if she were looking at +him all over from top to toes. Jimmy began to feel more uncomfortable +than ever, and at last he thought he really must say something. + +'Good-morning,' he cried. + +'Why did the people send you here?' asked Aunt Selina. + +'You see,' said Jimmy, 'Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry were out and the house +was shut up.' + +'I always said it was foolish to travel at this time of year,' was the +answer. + +'So Miss Roberts brought me here,' said Jimmy. + +'Well,' exclaimed Aunt Selina, 'I am sure I don't know what is to be +done with you.' + +'I didn't want to come,' answered Jimmy. + +'Don't be rude,' said his aunt. 'Now you are here, I suppose I must keep +you for to-night. But there is no accommodation here for boys.' + +'I had a very nice dinner, though,' said Jimmy. + +'Have you washed your face?' she asked suddenly. + +'No,' he answered, for washing his face was a thing he never felt +anxious about. + +Miss Morton walked to the bell and rang it. A few moments later the +butler re-entered the room, standing with one hand on the door. + +'Jones,' she said, 'take Master Wilmot to the spare bedroom to wash his +face; and give him a comb and brush to do his hair.' + +Jones took Jimmy upstairs to a large bedroom, and poured some water into +a basin. Then he brought a clean towel, and showed Jimmy where to find +the soap and the comb and brush. The butler then left him alone, and the +boy took off his jacket and dipped his hands in the water. When he +thought his hands were clean enough, he washed a round place on his +face, and having wiped this nearly dry, he went to the looking-glass and +brushed the front of his hair where he had made it wet. When he had put +his coat on again he wondered whether he ought to wait for the butler or +to go downstairs alone; but as Jones did not come back, Jimmy opened the +door and went down. + +He saw Miss Morton sitting in an arm-chair, and now that she had taken +off her bonnet and veil he thought she looked more severe than ever. + +'Come here, James,' she said, as he stood near the door. No one else had +ever called him James. 'When did you hear from your mother?' she asked. + +'I didn't have a letter last month,' he answered. + +'I asked when you did have a letter,' said Aunt Selina,--'not when you +didn't have one.' + +'I think it was about two months ago,' said Jimmy. + +'Did she say anything about coming home?' asked Aunt Selina. + +'She said I might see her soon,' cried Jimmy. 'I do hope I shall.' + +'Very likely you will,' said his aunt, 'although your mother has not +written to me for six months.' + +'Then how do you know?' asked Jimmy. + +'Because she wrote to your Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, and your Aunt Ellen +wrote to me. I should not be surprised if your father and mother were on +their way home now. They may arrive in England quite soon.' + +'It would be nice,' said Jimmy, and he began to laugh. 'Will they come +here?' he asked. + +'Certainly not,' was the answer. 'I have no accommodation for visitors.' + +'There's the spare bedroom,' cried Jimmy. + +'I have no doubt,' said Aunt Selina, 'that they will go to Aunt Ellen's +at Chesterham----' + +'Couldn't I go to Aunt Ellen's?' asked Jimmy eagerly. + +'And pray who is to take you?' demanded Miss Morton. + +'Why, couldn't I go alone?' said Jimmy. + +Miss Morton did not answer, but she put on her eye-glasses again, and +looked Jimmy up and down from head to foot. + +'Ring the bell,' she said, and when he had rung the bell and the butler +had come, Aunt Selina told him to send Hannah. Jimmy stood on the +hearth-rug--whilst the black cat rubbed its back against his +leg--wondering who Hannah might be. When she came, he saw that she was +one of the servants, with a red, kind-looking face; and Aunt Selina told +her to take him away and to give him some tea. When they were outside +the door Hannah took his hand, and he felt that he liked having his hand +taken, and she led him downstairs to a small room near the kitchen where +she gave him such a tea as he had never had before. There were cake and +jam, and hot scones, and buttered toast, and although it was not very +long since dinner, Jimmy ate a good meal. + +He told Hannah all about his father and mother and Winnie, and how that +Miss Morton had said perhaps they were on their way home; and he told +her he hoped that his aunt would send him to Chesterham. + +'Because,' he said, 'I know I could go all right alone.' + +Hannah put an arm round him and kissed him, but Jimmy did not much like +being kissed; still he felt lonely this afternoon, and he did not mind +it so much as he would have done sometimes, especially if any of his +schoolfellows had been there. + +'Now,' said Hannah presently, 'I think you had better go back to Miss +Morton.' + +'Must I?' asked Jimmy. 'Because I like being here best.' + +But she led him back to the dining-room, and as soon as he entered the +door Aunt Selina asked what time he went to bed. + +'Eight o'clock at school,' he answered, 'but when I am at Aunt Mary's +she always lets me stay till half-past.' + +'Aunt Mary always spoils you,' said Miss Morton. 'Sit down,' she added, +and Jimmy took a chair on the opposite side of the fire-place. + +'I suppose you don't remember your mother,' she said. + +'No,' answered Jimmy. + +'Shall you be glad to see her?' asked Aunt Selina. + +'Yes, very glad,' said Jimmy. 'Shan't you?' he asked, looking into his +aunt's face. + +'Of course I shall be pleased to see my sister,' was the answer. + +'And I shall be glad to see Winnie, too,' said Jimmy. But Aunt Selina's +words had put a fresh idea into his mind. He seemed never to have +realised until now that the mother whom he had never seen, although he +had thought about her so much, was his Aunt Selina's sister. He thought +that sisters must surely be very much alike; but if his mother was like +her sister, why, Jimmy did not feel certain it would be nice to have her +home again after all. He forgot that he was staring at his aunt until +she asked him what he was looking at. + +'Is my mother as old as you?' he asked. + +'I cannot say they teach politeness at Miss Lawson's,' Aunt Selina +answered. + +'But is she?' asked Jimmy, for it seemed very important that he should +know at once. + +'Your mother is a few years younger than I am,' said his aunt, 'but she +would be very angry with you for asking such a question.' + +'Can she be angry?' asked Jimmy. + +'She will be very angry indeed when you are naughty,' said Miss Morton. +For a few minutes Jimmy sat staring into the fire. + +'Is--is she like you?' he asked. + +'She is not quite so tall.' + +'But is she like you?' asked Jimmy. + +'We used to be considered very much alike,' was the answer, and Jimmy +felt inclined to cry. Then Aunt Selina said it was his bed-time, and he +came close to her and kissed her cheek. + +'Am I to go to Aunt Ellen's?' he asked. + +'I shall not tell you until to-morrow morning,' said Aunt Selina; and +Jimmy fell asleep in the large spare room wondering whether he should go +to-morrow to Chesterham or not. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AT THE RAILWAY STATION + + +When Jimmy awoke the next morning he found that Hannah was drawing up +his blind. The sun-light fell into the room, and the smoke rose from the +can of hot water on the wash-stand. + +'You must get up at once,' said Hannah, 'or you will be late for +breakfast, and Miss Morton won't like that.' + +He would have liked to lie in the warm bed a little longer, and when at +last he jumped out he felt rather cold. Jimmy was not used to dressing +himself quite without help, for at school Miss Roberts had always come +to tie his necktie and button his collar. He found it difficult to +button it this morning with his cold little fingers; and as for the +necktie, it was not tied quite so nicely as it might have been. + +Still he was ready when he heard a bell ring, and he ran downstairs two +steps at a time, and almost ran against Aunt Selina at the bottom. She +looked more stiff and severe in the morning than she had looked last +night, and not at all the sort of person you would like to run against. + +'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as she entered the dining-room. + +She shook hands with Jimmy and her hand felt very cold; but when once he +was seated at the table the coffee was nice and hot, and so were the +eggs and bacon, and Jimmy had no time to think of anything else just +yet. But just as he was wondering whether he should ask for another +rasher of bacon, his aunt spoke to him. + +'When you have _quite_ finished,' she said, 'I wish to speak to you,' +and after that he did not like to ask for any more. + +So Jimmy pushed back his chair, and his Aunt Selina rose from hers and +went to stand by the fire. + +'I did not wish to tell you last night for fear of exciting you and +keeping you awake,' she said, 'but I wrote to your Aunt Ellen while you +were having tea.' + +'Oh, thank you, I'm glad of that,' answered Jimmy. + +'I told her I should send you to Chesterham by the half-past twelve +train,' Miss Morton explained, 'and I asked her to meet you at the +station.' + +'Hurray,' cried Jimmy, 'then I am to go this morning.' + +'It is not quite certain yet,' was the answer. 'I asked your Aunt Ellen +to send me a telegram if she could receive you. If the telegram arrives +before twelve, you will go by the half-past twelve train.' + +'But suppose it doesn't come?' said Jimmy. + +'I sincerely trust it will,' was the answer. + +'So do I,' cried Jimmy. + +'I have ordered a packet of sandwiches to be prepared,' said Miss +Morton. + +'Ham or beef?' asked Jimmy. + +'Ham--do you like ham?' + +'Oh yes, when there's no mustard,' said Jimmy. + +'I told Jones not to have any mustard put on them,' answered his aunt; +'and,' she continued, 'if you go to-day I shall give you half-a-crown.' + +'Shan't I have the half-crown if I don't go to-day?' asked Jimmy +eagerly. + +'I hope you will go,' she said. 'But you must not spend it in waste.' + +'I won't,' cried Jimmy. + +'I don't suppose you will stay with your Aunt Ellen long,' said Miss +Morton, 'because there is no doubt your father and mother will soon be +in England, and then they will be able to look after you. Now,' she +added, 'if you think you can keep still and not fidget, you may sit down +by the window and watch for the telegram.' + +Jimmy lifted the tabby cat off the chair, and took it on his knees as he +sat down. While he sat stroking the cat he really did not feel much +doubt about the telegram. He wanted it to come so much that he felt sure +it would come soon, and surely enough it arrived before eleven o'clock. + +Jimmy rose from his chair as Jones brought it into the room on a tray, +and the tabby cat dug its claws into his jacket and clung to him, so +that Jimmy found it rather difficult to put it down. He did not take his +eyes from Miss Morton's face all the time she was reading the telegram. + +'It is extremely fortunate I wrote yesterday,' she exclaimed. + +'Am I to go?' asked Jimmy eagerly. + +'Yes,' she answered, 'and who do you think will meet you at Chesterham +station?' + +'Not mother!' cried Jimmy, very excitedly. + +'Your father and mother,' said Miss Morton. + +'And Winnie?' + +'They are not likely to take a child to meet you,' she answered. 'They +arrived only last night, and if they had not received my letter they +would have gone to Ramsgate to-day. As it is they will meet you at the +station, and they think it will be quite safe for you to travel alone if +I see you safely in the train.' + +'Shall you?' asked Jimmy. + +'I shall send Jones,' was the answer. + +'What time does the train get to Chesterham?' asked Jimmy. + +'At four o'clock,' she said; and then she took out her purse and found +two shillings and a sixpence, which she gave to Jimmy. 'Where will you +put them?' she asked. + +'I've got a purse, too,' he answered, and he put his hand in his jacket +pocket and brought out a piece of string, a crumpled handkerchief, a +knife, and last of all a small purse. In this he put the two shillings +and the sixpence, and then he could think of nothing but the joy of +seeing his mother and father. He stood by the window watching the +passers-by and wondering whether his mother was like any of them, and at +least he hoped that she might not be so very much like his Aunt Selina. +He went in search of Hannah and told her all about the telegram. He +longed for the time to come to start for the station, and when he saw +his boxes being taken out to the cab, he danced about the hall in a +manner which made Miss Morton feel very pleased he was going. He put on +his overcoat, and held open the pocket whilst Hannah forced in the large +packet of sandwiches, and although they bulged out a good deal Jimmy did +not mind that at all. He shook hands with his aunt and entered the cab, +and Jones stepped in after him. + +'My father and mother are going to meet me at Chesterham,' said Jimmy as +soon as the horse started. He talked of them all the way to the railway +station--not the same station at which he had arrived with Miss Roberts +yesterday, but a much larger and a rather dirtier looking one, with a +great glass roof. But before Jimmy reached that part of it, he went with +Jones to take his ticket. + +'You are to put it in your purse,' said the butler, 'and mind you don't +lose it.' + +'I shan't lose it,' answered Jimmy, taking out his purse, and as he put +the ticket away he looked to make sure that the half-crown was all +right. + +'Now,' said the butler, 'we'll go and find the train.' + +It was not very difficult to find the train for Chesterham, because it +was waiting all ready at the platform; but when they got to the train it +took Jones a long time to find Jimmy a suitable first-class compartment. +At last he stopped at one which contained an old gentleman and two +ladies. The old gentleman was sitting next to the door, reading a +newspaper, and he did not look at all glad when Jimmy sat down opposite +to him. + +'I think you'll do now,' said Jones. + +'Very nicely, thank you,' answered Jimmy, as the butler stood by the +door, but he was beginning to feel just a little nervous. You must +remember he was not quite eight years of age; he was only a small boy, +and he had never travelled quite alone before. He felt sure he should +like travelling alone, and in fact he did not much mind how he travelled +so that his mother met him at the end of his journey. Still, now that he +had taken his seat and the butler was going away in a few minutes, Jimmy +began to feel a little nervous. + +'Got your sandwiches?' asked Jones, with a hand on the door. + +'Yes, I've got them,' answered Jimmy, feeling them to make certain. +'I've never seen them before, you know,' Jimmy added. + +'What, the sandwiches?' asked Jones. + +'No, my father and mother,' said Jimmy. 'They're going to meet me.' + +'Oh, I see,' answered the butler, and he ought to have understood, for +Jimmy had told him a great many times since they left Aunt Selina's +house. + +'You're just going to start,' Jones added. + +'Good-bye,' cried Jimmy, and he put his hand out of the window and the +butler shook it. + +'Good-bye, sir,' he answered, and Jimmy felt quite sorry when Jones let +go his hand. + +But the train was beginning to move; the butler stepped back and took +out his pocket-handkerchief and waved it, but it was to dry his eyes +that Jimmy took out his; for when the train glided away and he could not +see Jones any more Jimmy felt very much alone, especially as the old +gentleman opposite kept lowering his paper and looking down at his +trousers and then frowning at him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE JOURNEY + + +For the first quarter of an hour after the train started Jimmy was +contented to gaze out of the window, but presently, growing tired of +doing that, he turned to look at the two ladies at the farther end of +the compartment. + +As Jimmy moved in his seat, his boots touched the old gentleman's black +trousers. Laying aside his newspaper the old gentleman leaned forward to +look at them, and then he brushed off the mud. A few moments later +Jimmy's boots touched his trousers again, and the old gentleman began to +cough. + +'I should feel greatly obliged,' he said in a loud voice, 'if you would +not make a door-mat of my legs.' + +'I beg your pardon,' answered Jimmy, and he tucked his feet as far under +his seat as they would go. + +'You should be more careful,' said the old gentleman, and then one of +the ladies suggested that Jimmy should sit by her side. + +'I wanted to look out at the window,' he answered. + +'Well, you can look out at my window,' she said, and so Jimmy went to +the other end of the compartment, and she gave him her seat; and for an +hour or more the train went on its way, stopping at one or two stations, +until presently it came to a standstill again. + +'Where is this?' asked one of the ladies. The other looked out at the +window and said-- + +'Meresleigh.' + +'We ought not to stop here,' answered her friend. + +At the other end of the compartment the old gentleman let down his +window: 'Hi, Hi! Guard, Guard!' he cried, and the guard came to the +door. + +'Why are we stopping here?' asked the old gentleman. + +'Something's gone wrong with the engine, sir.' + +'How long shall we stay?' asked the gentleman. + +'Maybe a quarter of an hour, sir,' said the guard. 'We've got to wait +for a fresh engine, but it won't be long.' + +'We may as well get out,' cried one of the ladies, and as soon as they +had left the carriage the old gentleman also stepped on to the platform, +and Jimmy did not see why he should not do the same. So he got out, and +seeing a small crowd near the engine he walked along the platform +towards it. + +The engine-driver stood with an oil-can in one hand talking to the +station-master, but there being nothing interesting to see, Jimmy began +to look about the large station. + +It was then that he began to feel hungry. His feet were very cold, and +the wind blew along the platform, so that Jimmy turned up his overcoat +collar as he stamped about to get warm. As he walked up and down he +noticed a good many people going in and out at a door, and looking in he +saw that it led to the refreshment room. + +Now, Jimmy had two shillings and a sixpence in his purse, and had no +doubt that lemonade could be bought at the counter where a good many +persons were standing. Feeling a little shy, he went to the counter, and +presently succeeded in making one of the young women behind it see him. + +'What do you want?' she asked. + +'A bottle of lemonade--have you got any ginger-beer?' asked Jimmy. + +'Which do you want?' said the young woman. + +Jimmy could not make up his mind for a few moments, but he stood +thinking with his hands in his pockets. + +'Is it stone-bottle ginger-beer?' he asked. + +'Yes,' was the answer. + +'I think I'll have lemonade,' cried Jimmy, and she turned away +impatiently to get the bottle. + +It was rather cold, but still Jimmy enjoyed his lemonade very much, and +before he had half finished it, he put his sixpence on the counter. He +thought it was a little dear at fourpence, and he looked sorry when he +received only twopence change. Then he emptied his glass, and went +outside again, thinking he would eat his ham-sandwiches. But the wind +blew colder than ever, and seeing another open door a little farther +along the platform Jimmy cautiously peeped in. The large room was quite +empty, and an enormous fire was burning in the grate. + +He thought it would be far pleasanter to sit down to eat his sandwiches +comfortably beside the fire than to eat them whilst he walked about the +cold, windy platform. Before he entered the room he looked towards the +train, which still stood where it had stopped. There was quite a small +crowd near the engine, and whilst some persons had re-entered their +carriages, others walked up and down in front of theirs. + +Pushing back the door of the waiting-room, Jimmy went to the farther +end, and sat down on a bench close to the fire. Then he tugged the +sandwiches out of his pocket, untied the string, and began to eat them. +He did not stop until the last was finished, and by that time he began +to feel remarkably comfortable and rather sleepy. He made up his mind +that he would not on any account close his eyes, but they felt so heavy +that they really would not keep open; his chin dropped on to his chest, +and in a few moments he was sound asleep. + +Then for some time all the busy life of the great railway station went +on: trains arrived, stopped, and started again; other trains whistled as +they dashed past without stopping; porters hurried hither and thither +with piles of luggage, and still a small dark-haired boy sat on the +bench in the waiting-room, unconscious of all that was happening. + +Presently Jimmy awoke. He opened his eyes and began to rub them, +thinking at first that the bell which he heard was rung to call the boys +at Miss Lawson's school. But when he looked around him, he soon +discovered that he was not in the school dormitory, and then as he +became more wide-awake he remembered where he really was and began to +fear that he had slept too long and missed his train. Starting up in a +hurry, Jimmy ran out to the platform, and there to his great joy he saw +a train standing exactly where he had left one. A good many people were +waiting by the doors, but Jimmy looked in vain for the two ladies and +the old gentleman. + +'Take your seats!' cried a porter, 'just going on;' so that, afraid of +being left behind, Jimmy jumped into a carriage close at hand. It +happened to be empty, but he did not mind that, and he was only just in +time, for the next minute a whistle blew and the train began to move. It +had not long started, before he noticed that the afternoon had become +much darker; he did not possess a watch, but as far as he could tell it +must be very nearly tea-time. However, he supposed that it could not be +long now before he arrived at Chesterham, and he began to look forward +more eagerly than ever to seeing his father and mother on the platform. + +The train went on, stopping at several stations, and at each one Jimmy +looked out at the window and tried to read the name on the lamps. But he +felt no fear about going too far, because he knew that the train stopped +altogether when it reached Chesterham. It seemed a long time reaching +there, however, much longer than he had imagined; but at last it came to +a standstill, and, looking through the window, Jimmy saw that many more +persons got out than usual. He leaned back in his seat, feeling tired +and cold, and waiting for the train to go on again, when presently a +porter stopped at the window. + +'All change here!' he said. + +'But I don't want to change,' answered Jimmy. 'This isn't Chesterham, is +it?' for he had read the name of Barstead on one of the lamps. + +'Chesterham!' cried the porter, 'I should say not. Chesterham is fifty +miles away on another line. This is Barstead. And if you don't want to +stay all night on the siding the best thing you can do is to get out.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JIMMY IS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY + + +Jimmy stared at the porter in great astonishment. His eyes and his mouth +were opened very widely, and he felt extremely frightened. He rose from +the seat and stepped out on to the dark platform. + +'I want to go to Chesterham,' he said. + +'Well, you can't go to Chesterham to-night,' was the answer. 'Where's +your ticket?' + +Jimmy felt in his pocket for his purse, and opening it took out his +ticket. + +'You'd better come to speak to the station-master,' said the porter; and +Jimmy, feeling more frightened than ever, followed him to a small room, +where a tall red-bearded man sat writing at a table which seemed to be +covered all over with papers. When Jimmy entered with the porter the +station-master rose and stood with his back to the fire, whilst the +porter began to explain. + +'You can't get to Chesterham without going back to Meresleigh,' said the +station-master presently. 'Chesterham is on a different line, and there +is no train to-night.' + +'Then what am I to do?' asked Jimmy, turning very pale. + +'That's just what I should like to know!' was the answer. 'But you can't +get back to Meresleigh until to-morrow morning, that's certain.' + +'But where shall I sleep?' cried Jimmy. + +'How was it you got out of the train at Meresleigh?' asked the +station-master. + +'You see,' faltered Jimmy nervously, 'there was an accident to the +engine and we all got out.' + +'Then why didn't you get in again?' + +'I did,' said Jimmy. + +'You didn't get into the right train,' answered the station-master, 'or +you wouldn't be here. Tell me just what you did, now.' + +'Why,' Jimmy explained, 'I went into the waiting-room to eat my +sandwiches and then I fell asleep.' + +'How long were you asleep?' + +'I don't know. It didn't seem very long. When I woke I went on to the +platform and saw a train waiting just in the same place, and I thought +it was the same train.' + +'Well, it wasn't,' said the station-master. 'Whilst you were asleep the +Chesterham train must have started, and the train you got into was the +Barstead train, which is more than an hour later. A nice mistake you've +made.' + +At this Jimmy put his sleeve to his face and began to cry. He really +couldn't help it, he felt very tired, very cold, very miserable, and +very frightened. He could not imagine what would happen to him, where he +should spend the night, or how he should ever reach Chesterham. He +thought of his father and mother going to meet the train and finding no +Jimmy there, and he felt far more miserable than he had ever felt in his +life before. + +The station-master began to ask him questions, and amongst others where +his friends in Chesterham lived. Jimmy did not know the exact address, +but he told the station-master his aunt's name, and he said that would +most likely be enough for a telegram. + +'I shall send a telegram at once to say you're all safe here,' he said; +'and then to-morrow morning we must send you on.' + +'But how about to-night?' cried Jimmy. 'Where am I to sleep?' + +'I must think about that,' was the answer; and then there was a good +deal of noise as if another train had arrived, and the station-master +left his room in a great hurry. He was a very busy man and had very +little time to look after boys who went to sleep in waiting-rooms and +missed their trains. At the same time he did not intend Jimmy to be left +without a roof over his head. So he saw the train start again, and then +he sent for Coote. + +Coote was tall and extremely fat, with an extraordinarily large red +face, and small eyes. He was dressed as a policeman, but he did not +really belong to the police. He was employed by the railway company to +look after persons who did not behave themselves properly, and certainly +his appearance was enough to frighten them. But the station-master knew +him to be a respectable man, with a wife and children of his own, and a +clean cottage about half a mile from the station. So he thought that +Coote would be the very man to take charge of Jimmy until the next +morning. He explained what had happened, and Coote said he would take +the boy home with him. + +'I'll see he's well looked after,' he said, 'and I'll bring him in time +to catch the 7.30 train to Meresleigh in the morning.' + +'You'll find him in my office,' answered the station-master, and to the +office Coote went accordingly. + +Now, if he had acted sensibly in the matter he would have spared Jimmy a +good deal of unpleasantness, and Jimmy's father and mother much anxiety. +But Coote was fond of what he called a 'joke,' and instead of telling +the boy that he was going to take him home and give him a bed and some +supper, he opened the office-door, put his great red face into the room, +and stared hard at Jimmy. Jimmy was already so much upset that very +little was required to frighten him still more. When he saw the face, +with a policeman's helmet above it, he drew back farther against the +wall. + +'None o' your nonsense now, you just come along with me!' cried Coote, +speaking in a very deep voice, and looking very fierce. + +'I--I don't want to come,' answered Jimmy. + +'Never mind what you want,' said Coote, 'you just come along with me.' + +'Where--where to?' asked Jimmy. + +'Ah, you'll see where to,' was the answer. 'Come along now. No +nonsense.' + +Very unwillingly Jimmy accompanied Coote along the platform and out into +the street. It was quite dark and very cold, as the boy trotted along by +the policeman's side, looking up timidly into his red face. + +'Nice sort of boy you are and no mistake,' said Coote, 'travelling over +the company's line without a ticket. Do you know what's done to them as +travels without a ticket?' + +'What?' faltered Jimmy. + +'Ah, you wait a few minutes, and you'll see fast enough,' said Coote. + +What with his policeman's uniform, his red cheeks, his great size, Jimmy +felt more and more afraid, and he really believed that he was going to +be locked up because he had travelled in the wrong train. Instead of +that the man was thinking what he should do to make the boy more +comfortable. He naturally supposed that Jimmy's friends would reward +him, and as it seemed likely that Mrs. Coote might not have anything +especially tempting for supper he determined to buy something on the way +home. After walking along several quiet streets they came to one which +was much busier. There were brilliant lights in the shop windows, and in +front of one of the brightest Coote stopped. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JIMMY RUNS AWAY + + +It was a ham and beef shop, and in Jimmy's cold and hungry condition the +meat pies and sausages and hams in the window looked very tempting. + +'You just wait here a few moments,' said Coote, as he came to a +standstill, 'and mind it's no use your thinking o' running away, because +I can run too.' With that he entered the ham and beef shop, leaving +Jimmy outside alone on the pavement. Perhaps Jimmy would never have +thought of running away if the man had not suggested it; but he was so +frightened that he felt it would be better to do anything rather than go +with the policeman. You know that sometimes a boy does not stay to +consider what is really the best, and Jimmy did not stay to think now. +Whilst he saw Coote talking to the shopman in the white apron, through +the window, he suddenly turned to make a dash across the road. + +'Look out!' cried a man, and Jimmy only just escaped being run over by a +one-horse omnibus. He dodged the horse, however, and running towards the +opposite pavement, he knocked against an old woman with a basket. The +basket grazed his left arm, and to judge by what she said he must have +hurt the woman a good deal. But Jimmy did not wait to hear all she had +to say; he only thought of getting away from Coote, and ran on and on +without the slightest notion where he was going. Up one street and down +another the boy ran, often looking behind to see whether he was being +followed, and at last stopping altogether, simply because he could not +run any farther. He sat down on the kerb-stone, and then he saw for the +first time that it had begun to rain quite fast. + +It was a great relief to know that Coote must have taken a wrong +direction, for if the policeman had taken the right one he would have +caught Jimmy by this time. Still he did not intend to sit there many +minutes in case Coote should be following him after all, so a few +minutes later Jimmy got up again and walked on quickly. + +He felt very miserable; it must be past his usual bed-time, and yet he +had nowhere to sleep. He wished he were safely at Chesterham; and he +made up his mind that he would never fall asleep in a waiting-room again +as long as he lived. + +Until now Jimmy had been making his way along streets, but very soon he +saw that there were houses only on one side of the way. He had in fact +come to what looked, as well as he could see in the dark, like a small +common, with furze bushes growing on it, and a pond by the roadside. + +But a little farther on, Jimmy fancied he heard a band playing, and then +he saw what appeared to be an enormous tent, and there were lights +burning near, and curious shadowy things which he could not make out at +all. + +Jimmy was always an inquisitive boy, and now he almost forgot his +troubles in his wish to find out what was happening on the common. So he +walked towards the large round tent, and the band sounded more loudly +every moment. + +By one part of the tent stood a cart, and in this a man was shouting at +the top of his voice. And around the cart a crowd had gathered, chiefly +of rather shabbily-dressed people, and one or two of them stepped out +every minute or so and went inside an opening in the tent, where a stout +woman stood to take their money. + +Near the cart was a large picture, and Jimmy stared at it with a great +deal of interest. The picture represented a lion and a clown, and the +clown's head was inside the lion's mouth; whilst a little way off a very +small clown, of about Jimmy's own age, stood laughing. + +Jimmy had always an immense liking for lions, and also for clowns, and +when they both came together and the head of the one happened to be in +the mouth of the other, the temptation was almost more than he could +resist. + +'Now, ladies and gentlemen, walk up, walk up!' cried the man in the +cart. 'All the wonders of the world now on view. Now's the time, the +very last night; walk up, ladies and gentlemen, walk up.' + +Jimmy thought that he really might do worse than to walk up. For one +thing he would be able to sit down inside the tent, and for another he +could take shelter from the rain, which now was falling fast. He put his +hand into his pocket to feel for his purse, and recollected that he had +still two shillings and twopence left out of Aunt Selina's half-crown. + +'How much is it?' he asked, going towards the stout woman at the +opening. + +'Well,' she answered, 'you can go in for twopence, and you can have a +first-class seat for sixpence. But if you ask me, a young gent like +you'd sooner pay a shilling.' + +'Yes, I think I should,' said Jimmy proudly; and, taking out a shilling, +he gave it to the woman and at once entered the tent. + +There were so few persons in the best seats that a great many of those +in the cheaper ones turned to look at Jimmy as he walked in. But Jimmy +was quite unaware of this, for no sooner had he sat down than he began +to laugh as if he had not a trouble in the world. He forgot that he had +nowhere to sleep, he forgot the red-faced policeman, he even forgot that +he ought to be at Chesterham. + +It was the clown who made Jimmy laugh. He was a little man with a tall, +pointed white felt hat like a dunce's cap; he wore the usual clown's +dress, and generally kept his hands in his pockets as if he were a +school-boy. + +A girl in a green velvet riding-habit had just finished a wonderful +performance on horseback, and after she had kissed her hands to the +people a good many times, she jumped off the horse, which began to trot +round the ring alone. The clown was evidently trying to repeat her +performance on his own account, but each time he tried to mount the +horse it trotted faster, and the clown always fell on his back in the +sawdust. Nothing could be more comical than the way he got up, as if he +were hurt very much indeed, and rubbed himself; unless, indeed, it was +his alarm when the two elephants were brought into the ring and he +jumped over the barrier close to Jimmy in the front seats. Jimmy felt a +little disappointed not to see the clown put his head into the lion's +mouth, but then there were plenty of things to make up for this; and +besides, Jimmy was beginning to feel really very sleepy again, when the +band played 'Rule Britannia' out of tune, and all the people rose to +leave the tent. + +As it became empty, Jimmy began to feel very wretched again. He wondered +where he should sleep, and he could hear that it was raining faster than +ever outside. + +Why shouldn't he wait until everybody else had gone and then lie down on +one of the seats and sleep where he was? Of course he had never slept in +such a place before, and he did not much like the idea of sleeping there +now, but then he had nowhere else to go, and at any rate it would be +better than going outside in the rain. + +So Jimmy made up his mind to stay where he was, and he would have been +lying down and perhaps asleep in another moment, for he was very tired, +when he saw the clown enter the tent. + +He had taken off his pointed hat, and had put on a long loose overcoat +over his clown's dress. As he had been laughing or making fun all the +time he was in the ring, Jimmy thought that he never did anything else; +but the clown looked quite solemn now, and the paint on his face had +become smudged after getting wet outside in the rain. + +'Hullo!' he exclaimed on seeing Jimmy. 'What are you doing here?' + +'Nothing,' answered the boy. + +'Suppose you do it outside!' + +'But I shall get so wet outside,' said Jimmy. + +'Lor! Where's your nurse?' asked the clown. + +'I haven't got one,' cried Jimmy, a little indignantly. 'I go to +school.' + +'Be quick then and go,' said the clown. + +'But I've nowhere to go,' answered Jimmy sadly, 'and I don't know where +anybody is.' + +'Mean to say they've gone away and left you?' asked the clown. + +'They haven't been here.' + +'Oh, so you came to the show by yourself?' said the clown. + +'Yes,' replied Jimmy. + +'Well,' was the answer, 'you're a nice young party'; and the clown sat +down on the barrier. 'Come now,' he said, 'suppose you tell us all about +it.' + +So, in a very sleepy voice, Jimmy began to tell the clown his story. He +told him how he had fallen asleep in the waiting-room, and where he had +been going to; but he did not say anything about Coote, because he felt +afraid that the clown might send for the policeman, who would, after +all, put him into prison for travelling in the wrong train. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE CIRCUS + + +The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a +great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely +keep his eyes open. + +'You seem a bit sleepy,' said the clown. + +'I'm hungry, too,' answered Jimmy. + +'Well, you can't sleep here,' said the clown, 'and you don't see much to +eat, do you?' + +'No, there isn't much to eat,' Jimmy admitted. 'But,' he added, 'I don't +see why I couldn't sleep here.' + +'Because the tent's going to be taken down,' said the clown. 'We've been +here three days, and we're going on somewhere else.' + +Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he +liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all +afraid of him. + +'Just you come along with me,' said the clown, 'and I'll see what I can +do for you. Here, jump over! That's right,' he added, as Jimmy climbed +over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the +performance had taken place. 'You come with me,' said the clown, 'and +we'll soon see whether we can't find you something to eat and a place to +lie down in.' + +They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man +who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the +money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed +they were talking about him. + +'All right,' said the man, 'do as you like; it's no business of mine'; +and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent +together. + +They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking +carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their +sides. There were several vans too, like small houses on wheels, with +windows and curtains painted on them, such as Jimmy had often seen at +Ramsgate, with men selling brooms and baskets, walking by the horses. + +There were no men selling brooms or baskets here, although they all +seemed to be very busy: some being dressed just as they had left the +ring, and others leading cream-coloured and piebald horses, instead of +going to bed, as Jimmy thought it was time to do. + +'Come along,' said the clown, as the boy seemed inclined to stop to look +on. + +'Where are we going?' asked Jimmy. + +'You'll see,' was the answer. + +'But where is it?' asked Jimmy. + +'Where I live,' said the clown. + +'Oh, we're going to your house,' cried Jimmy, feeling pleased at the +chance of entering a house again, for it seemed a very long time since +he had left Aunt Selina's. + +'Well,' said the clown, 'it's a sort of house. You might call it a house +on wheels, and you wouldn't be far out.' + +Suddenly Jimmy seized the clown's arm and gave a jump. + +'What's that?' he exclaimed. + +'Don't be frightened,' said the clown. + +'Only what is it?' asked Jimmy, with a shaky voice. + +'He won't hurt you,' was the answer. 'It's only old Billy, the lion.' + +Jimmy heard him roar as if he were only a yard or two away, and he felt +rather alarmed, until they had left his cage farther behind. + +'Is that the lion who had your head in his mouth?' asked Jimmy. + +'Well,' said the clown, 'it isn't in his mouth now, is it?' + +'I didn't see the little clown,' exclaimed Jimmy, and the clown stared +down at the ground. + +'No,' he answered, as if he felt rather miserable, 'we shan't see him +again ever.' + +Then they stopped at the back of one of the vans, and Jimmy saw that +there was a light inside it. + +'Up you get,' said the clown, and Jimmy scrambled up a pair of wide +steps which put him in mind of a bathing-machine. + +The door seemed to be made in halves, and whilst the lower part was shut +the upper part was open. Through this Jimmy could see inside the van, +and it looked exactly like a small room, only rather dirty and untidy. +As Jimmy stood on the steps staring into the van, with the clown close +behind him, a girl came out from what seemed to be a second room behind +the first. She had yellow hair, and her face looked very white; but +although she must have changed her dress, Jimmy felt certain she was the +same girl who had worn the green velvet riding-habit. + +'Hullo!' she cried, seeing Jimmy, but not seeing her father. 'What do +you want?' + +'All right, Nan, all right,' said the clown, and he put an arm in front +of Jimmy to push open the door. Whilst Jimmy felt glad to find shelter +from the rain, the clown went to the back room, which must have been +extremely small, and carried on a conversation with the girl whom he +called Nan. Jimmy felt certain he was telling her all about himself. + +Presently they both came out again, and Nan went to a shelf and brought +some rather fat bacon and bread, and a knife and fork with black +handles. There were two beds--one in the back part of the van and one in +the front. Jimmy sat down on the one in the front to eat his supper, and +before he had finished Nan gave him a mug of tea, which made him feel +much warmer, although it did not taste very pleasant. + +The clown had gone away again, and Jimmy wondered why there was such a +noise outside the van. + +'They're only putting the horses in,' said Nan, when he questioned her. + +'I should have thought they would be taking them out at this time of +night,' answered Jimmy. + +'We always travel at night,' she explained, 'and then we're ready for +the performance in the daytime.' + +'But when do you go to sleep?' asked Jimmy. + +'When we get a chance,' she said. 'But the best thing you can do's to go +to sleep now. Suppose you lie down in there,' and she pointed to the +room which was boarded off behind. + +'Whose bed is it?' he asked. + +'Father's, when he gets time to lie in it,' was the answer. + +'But he can't if I'm there,' said Jimmy. + +'He's got a lot to do before he thinks of bed,' exclaimed Nan. 'He's got +to see to the horses. But I'll lie down as soon as we start, and +presently father and I'll change places.' + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ON THE ROAD + + +It all seemed very strange to Jimmy, and he would not have felt very +much surprised if he had suddenly awakened to find himself back in the +dormitory at Miss Lawson's, and all his adventures a dream. + +The bed did not look very clean, and Jimmy thought at first that he +should not care to lie down on it. He felt too tired to waste much time, +however, and he did not even take off his clothes, but lay down just as +he was, and in half a minute he fell fast asleep. + +And though the horse was put between the shafts, and there was a loud +shouting as the long line of carts and vans began to move, Jimmy did not +open his eyes for some time. + +He might not have opened them even then if Nan, who had also been +asleep, had not risen and opened the door and let in a whiff of cold +air. As Jimmy sat up in the dark and rubbed his eyes, he thought at +first that he must be in a boat, because whatever he might be in, it +rolled about from side to side. Remembering presently where he really +was, he got off the bed, and peeped into the other half of the van. +Seeing that Nan was not there, he went to the door, the upper half of +which she had left open. The rain had quite left off, and the night was +very beautiful. A great many stars shone in the sky; Jimmy had never +looked out so late before, he had never seen the heavens such a dark +blue nor the stars so large and bright. It was four o'clock in the +morning, the air felt very cold, and he could see that they were going +slowly along a country road. + +About a yard from the back of his own van, a grey horse jogged along +between the shafts of another van, with a rough brown pony tied beside +it. Feeling curious to see as much as he could, Jimmy opened the door, +and climbed carefully down the steps. Then he ran to the side of the +road, although he always took care to keep close to the clown's van. + +In front he saw ever so many carts and vans, and behind there were as +many more. There were horses in groups of five or six, and men walking +sleepily along by the hedge. Now and then the lion roared, but not very +loudly; now and then one of the men spoke to his horses; now and then a +match was struck to light a pipe. But for the most part it seemed +strangely silent as the long line wound slowly along the country road. +For a good while Jimmy scarcely heard a sound, but presently, after he +had been in the road a few minutes, he did hear something, and that was +the clown's voice. + +'Hullo,' it said, 'what are you doing out here? Just you get inside +again'; and Jimmy scampered away and ran up the steps and lay down on +the bed. He was soon asleep again, and when he re-opened his eyes it was +broad daylight. He found that the caravan had come to a standstill, but +when he looked out at the door everything seemed as quiet as when they +were on the march. It was not so quiet inside the house, for the clown +lay on the bed which Nan had occupied earlier, and he was snoring +loudly. Jimmy wondered where Nan had gone, but whilst he stood shivering +by the door he saw her carrying a wooden pail full of water. + +'Is that for me to wash in?' asked Jimmy, for he was surprised to find +that there were no basins and towels in the van. + +'Not it,' answered Nan. 'That's to make some tea for breakfast.' He +watched whilst she brought out three pieces of iron like walking-sticks, +tied together at the ends and forming a tripod. Having stuck the other +ends in the ground, Nan collected some sticks, and heaping these +together, she soon made a good fire. + +'Can I warm my hands?' asked Jimmy; and leaving the van, he crouched +down to hold his small hands over the blaze. Then Nan hung a kettle over +the fire and stood watching whilst it boiled. And men and women +gradually came out of the other vans, which stood about anyhow, and they +all looked very sleepy and rather dirty, especially the children who +soon began to collect round Jimmy as if he were the most extraordinary +thing in the caravan. If he had felt less cold and hungry Jimmy might +have enjoyed it all, for there was certainly a great deal to see. + +They seemed to have stopped on another common, but there were small +houses not very far away. The worst of it was that wherever he went he +was followed by a small crowd of children who made loud remarks about +him. Still he wandered in and out amongst the vans, and stopped a long +time before the cage which contained the lion. The lion was lying down +licking his fore-paws, but he left off to stare at Jimmy, who quickly +drew farther away from the cage. A little farther he met two elephants, +a big one and a little one, with three men who were taking them down to +a pond to drink. Jimmy saw some comical-looking monkeys too; and what +interested him almost more than anything were the men who had already +begun to fix the large tent in an open space. It looked rather odd at +present, because they had only fixed the centre pole, and the canvas +hung loosely in the shape of the cap which the clown had worn last +night. On returning to the van, still followed by the boys, Jimmy saw +the clown sitting on the steps eating an enormous piece of bread and +cheese, and drinking hot tea out of a mug. + +'Come along,' said the clown, 'come and have some breakfast'; and Jimmy +sat down on the muddy ground, and Nan gave him another mug and a thick +slice of bread; but Jimmy was by this time so hungry that he could have +eaten anything. Still he felt very anxious to hear how he was to reach +Chesterham without meeting Coote again. + +'I _should_ like to see my father and mother to-day,' he said, as he ate +his breakfast. + +'Not to-day,' answered the clown, 'but it won't be long, so don't you +worry yourself. We're working that way, and we're going to have a +performance there.' + +'At Chesterham!' cried Jimmy, feeling extremely relieved. + +'You'll be there before the end of the week,' said the clown; 'and I +should think your father would come down handsome.' + +Now Jimmy began to feel quite contented again, and there was so much to +look at that he forgot everything else. + +When he was at school at Ramsgate he had seen a circus going in a +procession through the town, and now Nan told him that this circus was +going in a procession, and that it would start at half-past twelve. +Everybody seemed very busy making ready for it, men were attending to +the horses, and the gilded chariots were being prepared, and presently +Nan began to dress. + +'What are you going to be?' asked Jimmy, as she took a bright-looking +helmet from under her bed. + +'Don't you know?' she answered. 'Why, I'm Britannia.' + +A little later she left the van with the helmet on her head, and a large +thing which looked like a pitchfork in one hand. In the other she +carried a shield, and her white dress had flags all over it. By this +time one of the gilded chariots had been made very high; it seemed to be +almost as high as a house, and on the top was a seat. Nan climbed up to +this seat and sat down, and then a black man led Billy the lion out of +his cage with a chain round his neck, and it was funny to see the lion +climb up to the place where Nan was sitting and quietly lie down by her +side. + +The clown was standing on a white horse, with a long pair of reins +driving another white horse; but the black man who had led the lion +drove eight horses, and then there was a band, in red, and two +elephants, and everybody in the circus except some of the children and a +few women formed a part of the long procession. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +JIMMY RUNS AWAY AGAIN + + +Now, Jimmy thought that he also would like to be in the procession. He +would have liked to dress up as Nan had done, although perhaps he would +not have cared to sit quite so close to the lion. They seemed to have +forgotten all about him, and he was left to do just as he liked. So what +he did was to walk beside the procession into the town, and then to run +on ahead to find a good place to see it pass. + +He got back to the van long before Nan and her father, and being quite +alone, he began to look about him. Hanging on a peg, he saw a lot of old +clothes, which seemed rather interesting, especially one suit that must +have belonged to the little clown. + +Jimmy looked at the dress again and again. There were long things like +socks, of a dirty white colour, with a kind of flowery pattern in red +along the sides. Then he saw what looked like a very short and baggy +pair of light red and blue knickerbockers, and also the jacket of light +red and blue too, with curious loose sleeves. + +He would very much have liked to put them all on just to see how he +looked in them, only that he felt afraid that Nan or her father might +return before he had time to take them off again. + +No sooner did they come back than they began to prepare for the evening +performance, and still everybody seemed too busy to give many thoughts +to Jimmy. + +'Whose is that little clown's suit?' he asked, while Nan was busy about +the van. + +'Ah,' she answered, 'that was my little brother's,' and she spoke so +unhappily that he did not like to say any more about it. + +But Jimmy wanted more and more to try the suit on himself only just for +a few moments, and he thought it could not possibly do any harm. +Presently Nan, who had taken off Britannia's dress, put on her green +velvet riding-habit, and Jimmy could hear the band playing close by, and +he guessed that the performance was soon going to begin. + +'You can go to bed whenever you like,' said Nan, before she left the +van. + +'Thank you,' he answered, and when she had gone he stood at the door +looking out into the darkness. He could see the flaming naphtha lamps, +and hear the music and a loud clapping inside the great tent, and now +they seemed all so busy that it might be a good time to put on the +little clown's dress. + +First of all Jimmy shut the upper part of the door, so that nobody who +happened to look that way could see inside the van. He took down the +clothes from the peg, and removed his own jacket and waistcoat and +knickerbockers as quickly as possible. Then he found that he must take +off his boots and stockings, and he sat down on the floor of the van to +draw on those with the pattern on each side. They did not go on very +easily, but he managed it at last, and then it was a simple matter to +put on the loose knickerbockers and the jacket. + +As his feet felt cold, he put on his own boots again, and then he stood +on a chair without a back to take down the piece of broken looking-glass +which he had seen Nan use that day. He could not get a very good view of +himself, but he could see that his face was much dirtier than it had +ever been before in his life, and this was not to be wondered at, +because he had not washed it since he left his Aunt Selina's yesterday +morning. And yesterday morning seemed a very long time ago. + +He stood in the middle of the van, trying to look at himself in the +glass, when suddenly it fell from his hand and broke, and Jimmy gave a +violent jump. For to his great alarm he heard distinctly the voice of +Coote, the railway policeman, just outside the van. + +Now Coote had been greatly astonished last night, on coming out of the +ham and beef shop, to see no sign of Jimmy. He had spent two hours +looking for him, and then he gave him up as a bad job. When he told the +station-master what had happened, he was ordered to do nothing else +until he found the boy again, and so Coote had spent the whole day +searching for him. And Coote's instructions were, on finding the boy, to +take him direct to his aunt's house at Chesterham. + +Coote, after looking all over Barstead, thought that perhaps Jimmy had +gone away with the circus people, so he took a train and followed them. +But Jimmy felt as much afraid as ever; he made sure that if Coote caught +him he would be locked up in prison. Thinking that the policeman was +coming into the van, he looked about for a place to hide himself, and at +last he made up his mind to crawl under the bed. It was not at all easy, +because the bed was close to the floor; but still, Jimmy managed it at +last, and lay quite still on the floor, expecting every moment that +Coote would enter. Then he remembered that he had left his own clothes +on the floor, so that if Coote saw them he would guess that their owner +was hiding. Jimmy felt that he would do anything to get safely away, and +he lay on the floor scarcely daring to breathe, until Coote's voice +sounded farther off. + +Crawling out from under the bed again, presently, without stopping to +think, Jimmy opened the door of the van, ran down the steps, and on +putting his feet to the grass, he at once dodged round the van and set +off at a run away from the tent. + +He ran and ran until he was quite out of breath. He seemed to have +reached a country lane; it was very quiet and dark, and the stars shone +in the sky. Jimmy sat down by the wayside, feeling very hot and tired, +and then he remembered that he was wearing the clown's clothes. He +remembered also that he had left all his money and his knife behind him; +but still he did not think of going back, because if he went back he +would be certain to fall into the hands of Coote. + +No, he would not go back; what he would do was to make his way to +Chesterham. It could not be very far, for the clown had said he should +be there in a few days, although the caravan travelled slowly. Why +shouldn't he walk to his aunt's house, and then he would see his mother +and father, who no doubt would look surprised to see him dressed as a +clown. If his mother was really like Aunt Selina she might be very +angry, but then he hoped she wasn't like his aunt, and, at all events, +Jimmy thought she could not be angry with him just the first time she +saw him. + +But, then, he might not be in the right road for Chesterham, and he did +not wish to lose his way, because he had no money to buy anything to +eat, and already he was beginning to feel hungry. The sooner he got +along the better, so he rose from his seat beside the road and walked on +in the hope of seeing some one who could tell him the way. He walked +rather slowly, but still he went a few miles, passing a cottage with +lights in the windows now and then, but not liking to knock at the door. +But presently he felt so tired that he made up his mind to knock at the +next. When he came to it he walked up to the garden gate, but then his +courage failed. He stood leaning against the gate, hoping that some of +the people whose voices he could hear might come out; but presently the +windows became dark, and Jimmy guessed that, instead of coming out, the +people in the cottage had gone to bed. + +Now that he knew it must be very late, Jimmy began to feel a little +afraid. It seemed very dull and lonely, and he longed to meet somebody, +never mind who it was. There was only one thing which seemed to be +moving, and that was a windmill standing on a slight hill a little way +from the road. It seemed very curious to watch the sails going round in +the darkness, but Jimmy could see them rise and fall, because they +looked black against the blue sky. The mill was so near that he could +hear the noise of the sails as they went round, it sounded like a very +loud humming-top, and there were one or two patches of light to be seen +in the mill. + +Jimmy thought that perhaps he might be able to lie down near to it, +although the difficulty was to get to it. But when he had walked on a +little farther, he saw a dark-looking lane on his right hand, and after +stopping to think a little, he walked along it. With every step he took +the humming sounded louder, but presently Jimmy stopped suddenly. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JIMMY SLEEPS IN A WINDMILL + + +'Hullo!' said a voice close in front of him, and looking up Jimmy saw a +man smoking a pipe. Of course it was too dark for him to see anything +very distinctly, but still his eyes had become used to the darkness, and +he could see more than you would imagine. + +'What are you after?' asked the man. + +'Please I was looking for somewhere to sleep,' answered Jimmy. + +'Well, you're a rum sort of youngster,' said the man. 'Here, come along +o' me.' + +Jimmy followed him along a path which led to the mill, and as they drew +near to it the great sails seemed to swish through the air in a rather +alarming manner. The man opened a door and Jimmy looked in. The floor +was all white with flour, and dozens of sacks stood against the walls. +The man also looked nearly as white as the floor, and he began to smile +as the light fell upon Jimmy. But the boy did not feel at all inclined +to smile. + +'Why,' he asked, 'you look as if you've come from a circus?' + +'I have,' answered Jimmy, feeling quite stupid from sleepiness. + +'Run away?' said the man. 'Have you?' + +'Yes,' answered Jimmy, gaping. + +'Got nowhere to sleep?' asked the miller. + +'No,' was the answer. + +'Hungry?' asked the miller. + +'I only want to go to sleep,' said Jimmy, gaping again. + +'Come in here,' said the man, and without losing a moment, Jimmy +followed him into the mill. There the man threw two or three sacks on to +the floor, and told Jimmy to lie down. There seemed to be a great noise +at first, but Jimmy shut his eyes and soon fell sound asleep, too sound +asleep even to dream of Coote or the clown. + +He was awakened by the miller's kicking one of the sacks on which he +lay, and looking about to see where he was, Jimmy saw that it was broad +daylight, and that the sun was shining brightly. + +'Now, then, off with you,' cried the miller, 'before I get into +trouble.' + +'What time is it, please?' asked Jimmy sleepily, as he stood upright. + +'It'll soon be six o'clock,' was the answer. + +Jimmy thought it was a great deal too early to get up, and he felt so +tired that he would very much have liked to lie down again, but he did +not say so. + +'Here, take this,' said the man, and he put twopence into Jimmy's hand. +'Mind they don't catch you,' he added. + +'Please can you tell me the way to Chesterham?' asked Jimmy. + +'Chesterham's a long way,' answered the miller; 'but you've got to get +to Sandham first. Go back into the road and keep to your left. When you +get to Sandham ask for Chesterham.' + +'Thank you,' said Jimmy, and with the twopence held tightly in his hand +he walked along the lane until he reached the road. + +It was a beautiful morning, but Jimmy could do nothing but gape; his +feet felt very heavy, and he wished that he had never put on the clown's +clothes and left his own behind. Still he made sure that he should be +able to reach Chesterham some day, and presently he passed a church and +an inn and several small houses and poor-looking shops. With the +twopence in his hand he looked in at the shop windows wondering what he +should buy for breakfast, and seeing a card in one of them which said +that lemonade was a penny a bottle, Jimmy determined to buy some of +that. + +The woman who served him looked very much astonished, and she called +another woman to look at him too. But Jimmy stood drinking the cool, +sweet lemonade, and thought it was the nicest thing he had ever tasted. +As he stood drinking it his eyes fell on some cakes of chocolate cream. + +'How much are those?' he asked. + +'Two a penny,' said the woman. + +'I'll have two, please,' said Jimmy, and he began to eat them as soon as +he left the shop. But he was glad to leave the village behind, because +everybody he met stared at him and he did not like it. Three boys and a +girl followed him some distance along the road, no doubt expecting that +he was really and truly a clown, and would do some tumbling and make +them laugh. But at last they grew tired of following him, and they +stopped and began to call him names, and one boy threw a stone at him, +but Jimmy felt far too miserable to throw one back. Chocolate creams and +lemonade are very nice things, but they don't make a very good +breakfast. The morning seemed very long, and presently Jimmy sat down by +a hedge and fell asleep. He awoke feeling more hungry than ever, and no +one was in sight but a man on a hay cart. But it happened that the cart +was going towards Sandham, and Jimmy waited until it came up, and then +he climbed up behind and hung with one leg over the tailboard and got a +long ride for nothing. He might have ridden all the way to Sandham, only +that the carter turned round in a rather bad temper and hit Jimmy with +his whip, so that he jumped down more quickly than he had climbed up. + +He guessed that he was near the town, because there were houses by the +roadside, and passing carts, and even an omnibus. If Jimmy had had any +more money he would have got into the omnibus; as he had none he was +compelled to walk on. It was quite late in the afternoon when he entered +Sandham, and he had eaten nothing since the chocolate creams. He was +annoyed to find that a number of children were following him again, and +as he went farther into the town they crowded round in a ring, so that +Jimmy was brought to a standstill. + +He felt very uncomfortable standing there, with dozens of children and a +few grown-up persons round him. They cried out to him to 'go on,' and +this was just what Jimmy would have liked to do. He felt so miserable +that he put an arm to his eyes and began to cry, and then the crowd +began to laugh, for they thought he was going to begin to do something +to amuse them at last. But when they saw he did nothing funny as a clown +ought to do, but only kept on crying, they began to jeer at him, and one +boy came near as if he would hit him. Jimmy took down his arm then, and +the two boys, one dressed in rags and the other in the dirty clown's +dress, stood staring at each other with their small fists doubled, when +Jimmy felt some one take hold of his arm, and looking round he saw a +rather tall, dark-haired lady, with a pretty-looking face. Her hand was +on his arm, and her eyes wore a very curious expression, almost as if +she were going to cry also, just to keep Jimmy company. + +But from the moment that Jimmy looked at her face he felt that things +would be better with him. + +'Come with me, dear,' she whispered, and taking his hand in her own she +led him out of the crowd. + +'Where to?' asked Jimmy, wondering why she held his hand so tightly. + +'I think the best thing to do will be to put you to bed,' she answered. + +'Yes,' said Jimmy, 'I should like to go to bed--to a real bed, you +know--not sacks.' + +'You shall go into a real bed,' she answered. + +'I think I should like to have something to eat first,' he cried. + +'Oh yes, you shall have something to eat,' she said. + +If a good many persons had stopped to stare at Jimmy when he was alone, +many more stared now to see a dirty-faced, poor little clown being led +away by a nicely-dressed lady. But the fact was that Jimmy did not care +what they thought. They might stare as much as they liked, and it did +not make any difference. He felt that he was all right at last, although +he did not in the least know who his friend could be. But he felt that +she _was_ a friend, and that was the great thing; he felt that whatever +she did would be pleasant and good, and that she was going to give him +something nice to eat and a comfortable bed to sleep in. + +Somehow he did not feel at all surprised, only extremely tired, so that +he could scarcely keep his eyes open. Things that happened did not seem +quite real, it was almost like a dream. The lady stopped in front of a +house where lodgings were let, although Jimmy knew nothing about that. +The door was opened by a pleasant, rosy-cheeked woman in a cotton dress. + +'Well, I _am_ glad!' she cried; and Jimmy wondered, but only for a +moment, what she had to be glad about. + +'I think some hot soup will be the best thing,' said the lady, 'and then +we will put him to bed.' + +'What do you think about a bath?' asked the landlady. + +'The bath will do to-morrow,' was the answer. 'Just some soup and then +bed. And I shall want you to send a telegram to the Post Office.' + +'You're not going to send a telegram to the policeman,' exclaimed Jimmy; +but as the landlady left the room to see about the soup, the lady placed +her arm round him and drew him towards her. Jimmy thought that most +ladies would not have liked to draw him close, because he really looked +a dirty little object, but this lady did not seem to mind at all. + +Suddenly she held him farther away from her, and looked strangely into +his face. + +'What is your name?' she asked. + +'James--Orchardson--Sinclair--Wilmot,' said Jimmy with a gape between +the words. + +Then she pressed him closer still, and kissed his face again and again, +and for once Jimmy rather liked being kissed. Perhaps it was because he +had felt so tired and lonely; but whatever the reason may have been, he +did not try to draw away, but nestled down in her arms and felt more +comfortable than he had felt for ever so long. + +It was not long before the landlady came back with a plate of hot soup, +and Jimmy sat in a chair by the table and the lady broke some bread and +dipped it in, and Jimmy almost fell asleep as he fed himself. Still he +enjoyed the soup, and when it was finished she took him up in her arms +and carried him to another room where there were two beds. She stood +Jimmy down, and he leaned against the smaller bed with his eyes shut +whilst she took off the clown's dress, and the last thing he recollected +was her face very close to his own before he fell sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LAST + + +It was quite late when Jimmy opened his eyes the next morning, and a few +minutes afterwards he was sitting up in bed, wondering how much he had +dreamed and how much was real. + +Had he actually got into the wrong train, and run away from a policeman, +and travelled in the van, and put on the little clown's clothes, and +then run away again? Had he really done all these strange things or had +he only dreamed them? But if he had dreamed them, where was he? And if +they were real, where had the clown's dress gone to? + +As Jimmy sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, he hoped that he had not been +dreaming; because if it had been only a dream, why, then, he had only +dreamed of the lady also, and he felt that he very much wished her to be +real. + +Why, she was real! For there she stood smiling at the open door, with a +tray covered with a white cloth in her hand, and on it a large cup of +hot bread and milk, and two eggs. + +'I am glad!' said Jimmy. + +'What are you glad about?' she asked, as she placed the tray on his bed. + +'That you're quite real,' he answered. + +'Well,' she said, 'your breakfast is real too, and the best thing you +can do is to eat it.' + +Jimmy began at once. He began with the bread and milk, and the lady sat +at the foot of the bed watching him. + +'Where am I going after breakfast?' he asked. + +'Into a nice hot bath,' she said. + +'But after that?' + +'How should you like to go to see your father?' she asked. + +'Do you know him?' asked Jimmy, laying down his spoon in his +astonishment. + +'Very well indeed.' + +'And my mother too?' + +'Yes, and Winnie too.' + +'Is she like Aunt Selina?' asked Jimmy, as the lady began to take the +top off his egg. + +'Do you mean Winnie?' she said. + +'No, my mother. Because Aunt Selina said they were like each other, but +I hope they're not.' + +'Well, no,' answered the lady, 'I really don't think your mother is very +much like Aunt Selina.' + +'Do you think she'll be very cross?' he asked. + +'I don't think so. Why should she be cross?' As she spoke she took away +the empty cup and gave Jimmy the egg. She cut a slice of bread and +butter into fingers, and he dipped them into the egg and ate it that +way. + +'This _is_ a nice egg,' said Jimmy. 'But,' he continued, 'I thought +perhaps she'd be cross because I got into the wrong train.' + +'Why did you run away from the policeman?' asked the lady. + +'Because he said he should lock me up.' + +'But he was only joking, you know.' + +'Was he?' asked Jimmy, opening his eyes very widely. + +'That's all,' was the answer, and Jimmy looked thoughtful for a few +minutes. + +'I don't think I like policemen who joke,' he said solemnly. + +'Then,' asked the lady, 'why did you run away from the circus? You seem +to be very fond of running away.' + +'I shan't run away from you,' said Jimmy. 'Only I heard the policeman's +voice outside the van and I thought I'd better.' + +'Well,' she answered, 'if you had not run away you would have found your +mother much sooner.' + +'I do hope she isn't like Aunt Selina,' he said wistfully. + +'What should you wish her to be like?' asked the lady. + +'Why, like you, of course,' he cried, and then he was very much +surprised to see the lady lean forward and throw her arms about him and +to feel her kissing him again and again. And when she left off her eyes +were wet. + +'Why did you do that?' asked Jimmy. + +'She _is_ like me, you darling!' said the lady. + +'My mother?' cried Jimmy. + +'You dear, foolish boy, I am your mother,' she said. + +'Oh,' said Jimmy, and it was quite a long time before he was able to say +anything else. + +A few moments later Mrs. Wilmot rang the bell, and a servant carried a +large bath into the room, then she went away and came back with a can of +very hot water, and then she went away again to fetch a brown-paper +parcel. Mrs. Wilmot opened the parcel at once, and Jimmy sat up in bed +and looked on. He saw her take out a suit of brown clothes, a shirt, and +all sorts of things, so that he should have everything new. + +Then he got out of bed, and had such a washing and scrubbing as he had +never had before. He was washed from head to foot, and dressed in the +new clothes, and when he looked in the glass he saw himself just as he +had been before he left Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate. + +'Now,' said Mrs. Wilmot, 'I think you may as well come to see your +father and Winnie.' + +'Are they here?' he asked. + +'Oh yes,' she explained, 'I sent to tell them last night, and they +arrived early this morning. Not both together, because we left Winnie +with Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, whilst father went to look for you one +way and I went another.' + +'Then you were really looking for me?' cried Jimmy. + +'Why, of course we were,' she answered. 'We knew you were walking about +the country dressed as a little clown. But come,' she said, 'because +your father is anxious to see you.' + +'I should like to see him too,' said Jimmy. 'I hope he's as nice as you +are,' he cried as they left the bedroom. + +'He is ever so much nicer,' was the quiet answer. + +'I don't think he could be,' said Jimmy, as his mother turned the +handle. Then he remembered what the boys had said at school. + +'Winnie isn't really black, is she?' he asked. + +'Black!' cried his mother; 'she is just the dearest little girl in the +world.' + +'I'm glad of that,' said Jimmy, and then he entered the room and saw a +tall man with a fair moustache standing in front of the fire, and, +seated on his shoulder, was one of the prettiest little girls Jimmy had +ever seen. + +'There he is!' she cried. 'There's my brother. Put me down, please.' + +'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as his father put Winnie on to the floor. + +But the next moment Mr. Wilmot put his hands under Jimmy's arms and +lifted him up to kiss him, but the odd thing was that when he was +standing on the floor again he could not think of anything to say to +Winnie. + +'I've got a dollie!' she said presently, while their father and mother +stood watching them, 'and I'm going to have a governess.' + +Then they all began to talk quite freely, and Jimmy soon felt as if he +had lived with them always. Presently they went out for a walk to buy +Jimmy some more clothes, and when they came back the children's dinner +was ready. + +'I do like being here,' said Jimmy during the meal. + +'I am glad you got found,' cried Winnie. + +'So am I,' he answered. 'But suppose,' he suggested, 'that I hadn't been +found before you went away again.' + +Then Winnie solemnly laid aside her fork--she was not old enough to use +a knife. + +'Why,' she said, 'you do say funny things. We're not going away again, +ever.' + +'Aren't you?' asked Jimmy, looking up at his father and mother. + +'No,' answered Mrs. Wilmot, 'we're going to stay at home with you.' + +'Are you really--really?' asked Jimmy, for he could scarcely believe it. + +'Yes, really,' said Mr. Wilmot. + +'It will be nice,' said Jimmy thoughtfully, and then he went on with his +dinner. + + +THE END + + + + +The Dumpy Books for Children + + I. The Flamp, The Ameliorator, and The Schoolboy's Apprentice, + _by E. V. LUCAS_ + + II. Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories + + III. The Bad Family, _by Mrs. Fenwick_ + + IV. The Story of Little Black Sambo. Illustrated in Colours, + _by Helen Bannerman_ + + V. The Bountiful Lady, _by Thomas Cobb_ + + VI. A Cat Book, Portraits _by H. Officer Smith_, Characteristics + _by E. V. LUCAS_ + + VII. A Flower Book. Illustrated in Colours _by Nellie Benson_. + _Story by Eden Coybee_ + + VIII. The Pink Knight. Illustrated in Colours _by J. R. Monsell_ + + IX. The Little Clown, _by Thomas Cobb_ + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + + +Cooper's First Term. Illustrated by Gertrude M. Bradley. + + + + +_A NEW SERIES._ + +THE LARGER DUMPY BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. + + + I. A SIX-INCH ADMIRAL. By G. A. Best. + + II. HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY DAYS. By E. Florence Mason. With Verses + by Hamish Hendry. + + III. PILLOW STORIES. By S. L. Heward. With Illustrations by + Gertrude M. Bradley. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Clown, by Thomas Cobb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CLOWN *** + +***** This file should be named 31371.txt or 31371.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/7/31371/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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