t is it?" he asked.

"A circus," answered Trot, with a smile.

"No," said Toddles, jumping up from the floor. "Do you really mean it?"

Trot sat down in a chair, and Toddles stood in front of her, and rested
his two chubby elbows in her lap.

[Illustration: "TROT PUT THE JAR UPON HER HEAD."]

"We must draw up a programme, and carry it out," said Trot, waving one
arm, as she had seen her father do, when he had made the same remark
down-stairs.

Toddles stared; he felt very much impressed, though he did not know in
the least what Trot meant.

"And the circus will be the programme," continued Trot, drawing a dirty,
crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. "I will write it down on
this. They will come at four o'clock."

"Oh, they'll come before that," objected Toddles. "You put 'Tea at 4' on
the letters, and they are sure to come in plenty of time for tea. I
should, because of the two kinds of jam, you know."

"Never mind," said Trot; "we can't do anything before tea, so the first
thing to put down is 4 TEA;" and she wrote the word in big printing
letters.

Toddles watched her silently.

"After tea will come the circus," said Trot. "I wonder how you spell
circus?"

"But will mother let us have the circus?" said Toddles. "There won't be
room in here for all the horses and clowns, and ladies we saw the other
day."

[Illustration: "THERE WAS ... A SMASH"]

Trot laughed. "That isn't the kind of circus I mean," she said; "we're
to be the circus!"

Toddles looked more astonished than ever.

"We shall ask the party to sit in a circle," said Trot; "and then we
shall do things. Perhaps we may as well settle now what to do."

"We must jump through hoops, of course," said Toddles.

"And walk about with things on our heads," said Trot; "balancing, they
call it."

"I do wish we could walk on a rope like the man did the other day," said
Toddles.

"We will," said Trot, writing busily.

The spelling was rather a trouble to her; but Toddles quite
approved of it, and both children were satisfied with the programme when
it was finished, though perhaps any one else might have found difficulty
in understanding it. It looked something like this:

"4 TEA AFTER TEA JUMPING THREW HOOPS BALLUNCING TITE ROPES."

"Won't they be surprised?" said Toddles.

"Now we will practise," said Trot. "As we can't have any horses, I will
hold the hoop, and you shall jump through it."

"That is much too easy," said Toddles. "Coul