at once did as they were told. Even at that moment Geoffry observed that none of the men carried whips.

Bella rose slowly and was about to join the others, when Geoffry sprang from the ground and caught her hand.

'Oh, let me go with you!' he said; 'I shall die if you leave me here! I cannot get work, and I cannot beg. Do take me with you.'

Bella hesitated and glanced at the old man.

'Nonsense!' said he; we have mouths enough to feed without taking on more.'`

One of the men who was standing near him, whispered something to him. Geoffry tried hard to hear what he said, but he could not.

'Can you ride?' asked the old man presently.

'Yes; I have been used to it for years.'

The man looked at him very hard; looked at his almost naked feet, his torn trousers, his dirty hands and face; and then he said, standing with his legs very far apart,

'Suspect as you're a gentleman, my lad.'

Geoffry gave no answer, but he flushed to the temples.

'How come you abroad by yourself, ragged and bare and half-starved, eh? What have you been adoing of?'

'I cannot tell you,' answered Geoffry, still getting more and more red in the face.

Bella went to the man, and put her arm within his, and began talking to him in a coaxing tone of voice; and he tried to shake her off once or twice; but at length he said, in a grumbling sort of tone,—

'Well, have it your own way, Bella, my dear; only don't keep us all day long about it.'

That was how Geoffry found out the woman's name was Bella.

All the vans had moved on, and were climbing a hill, a little way ahead; and those left behind had to walk fast to overtake them, so that neither of them spoke to the other.

When they came to the top of the hill, Bella, thinking that Geoffry looked weak and tired, told him to climb up into one of the waggons, while she herself seemed quite content to trudge in the dust behind.

As they came near to the town, however, all the women mounted the vans, and Bella sat herself down by Geoffry, and said,—

'We shall be all in a hurry presently, dressing for the procession, my dear; and I have no time now to talk to you, but you must not be afraid of Bella, you know. I shan't blab about you, whatever you may have done.'

Geoffry looked in her face and believed her; but he only answered then, I am very unhappy; I have been a very wicked boy; you cannot think how wicked.'

Bella looked at him with a smile, patted his arm, and said, 'You! poor child!' and then she gave a great sigh, and at the same moment they drew up in the middle of a large field just close up to the town.

T was strange to watch the quickness with which everybody moved and acted. seemed but a few moments before all the

It

horses were out of the van shafts, and were

some of them eating the grass around them, and others, the 'tamed steeds,' standing with corn-bags tied to their noses. Just as quickly the men uncovered the carriages which had been muffled in tarpaulins, and showed that they were fanciful show affairs; one in the shape of a dragon without any back, so that the band could sit in his stomach; and others gaily painted with the pictures of gentlemen and ladies flying through the air, or dancing upon nothing, or driving all at once more horses than the circus company possessed.

The women were unpacking boxes in a small square tent which had been put together as quickly as a conjuring trick, and one after the other Geoffry saw the

various men who had been attending to the horses enter the tent and come out again almost directly, some of them dressed as bandsmen, and others, as they supposed, as gentlemen of fashion. The horses were harnessed and bridled (no one rode with saddles in the procession), the bandsmen mounted into their dragon's inside, and began playing very loud, if not very beautifully. The gates of the field were thrown open, and the procession moved slowly along towards the principal street of the town.

Geoffry stood idly looking after them until the music was out of hearing, and then turned back into the field. By this time the large marquee in which the performance was to take place was nearly put up. Three men who had stayed behind were stretching the ropes on to the wooden pegs. Geoffry went to them, and offered to help, and was very busy laying down wooden planks for seats, and covering them with pieces of carpet, until he was surprised by the return of the company.

During the time that Geoffry was working in this way, he discovered that one of the men he was helping was the clown. The other two were what are called gymnasts; they called themselves the Brothers Bellew' in the bills, but their real name was Bellows.

The old woman and Bella had been cooking dinner by a stove which they took from the common van, and now the dinner seemed ready, by the nice smell which came even into the marquee. The women in a little