Chris were
both too excited to play; they stayed in the house most of the time and
questioned Mother 'Larkey about what she had seen at the circus the time
her husband had taken her to one in the city. She was busy sewing on a
dress for Mrs. Johnson which was wanted by Saturday night and was at
length obliged to send them out of doors with orders to stay out until
dinner was ready.

They soon exhausted each other's conversation relative to circuses and
their knowledge and guesses about what they would see, and fell silent.
And the minutes dragged their slow length out towards eleven o'clock.

They could smell the mush and potatoes frying for their early dinner
when Danny returned from the circus ground. They knew at once that he
hadn't succeeded in getting a "ticket to paradise", as Mother 'Larkey
had called their circus passes, nevertheless Chris asked:

"Did you get a ticket?"

"No," replied Danny, sitting down dejectedly. After a while they knew he
didn't intend to say any more. Jerry waited as long as he could and then
asked in turn:

"Didn't the el'funts want any water for dinner?"

"No," stated Danny glumly.

That little word "No" seemed to be all that Danny cared to say about his
experience, and the following silence lasted fully ten minutes. Danny
was the first to break it. He did so after apparently awakening to the
fact that dinner was preparing. He sniffed the penetrating odor of
frying potatoes and mush that had got a little burned, and sat up.

"Gee, but I'm hungry," he said and sniffed again.

"Wasn't there anything you could do for a ticket?" Chris asked.

"No. The man said the early bird got the worm at the circus as well as
in the garden."

After a time Jerry woke to the fact that Danny was looking at him out of
the corners of his eyes in a peculiar, questioning manner that made him
feel uneasy. He turned his glance away.

"I'll give you both my tops an' the shiny horseshoe nail an' baseball
for your circus ticket," Danny proposed.

Jerry's hand flew protectingly to the pocket of his blouse. "No!" he
cried loudly. "I won't! I earned it myself!"

"Well, I ain't tryin' to take it away from you, am I?" Danny asked,
aggrieved. "I jest offered you some of my things for it. There ain't no
law against offerin' to trade, I guess. I'll teach you to skate and let
you use the skates I got at Christmas if you will. An' I'll feed your
white rabbit for you."

"No," said Jerry, edging away from him,