a white napkin.

"Hey!" cried the lady of the caravan, seeing the old man and the child
walking slowly by. "Yes, to be sure I saw you there with my own eyes!
And very sorry I was to see you in company with a Punch; a low,
practical, wulgar wretch that people should scorn to look at."

"I was not there by choice," returned the child. "We don't know our way,
and the two men were very kind to us, and let us travel with them. Do
you know them, ma'am?"

"Know 'em, child! Know _them_! But you're young and inexperienced. Do I
look as if I knowed 'em? Does the caravan look as if _it_ knowed 'em?"

"No, ma'am, no. I beg your pardon."

It was granted immediately. And then the lady of the caravan, finding
the travellers were hungry, handed them a tea-tray with bread-and-butter
and a knuckle of ham; and finding they were tired, took them into the
caravan, which was bound for the nearest town, some eight miles off.

As the caravan moved slowly along, its owner began to talk to Nell, and
presently pulled out a large roll of canvas. "There child," she said,
"read that!"

Nell read aloud the inscription, "Jarley's Waxwork."

"That's me," said the lady complacently.

"I never saw any waxwork, ma'am," said Nell. "Is it funnier than Punch?"

"Funnier!" said Mrs. Jarley, in a shrill voice. "It is not funny at all.
It's calm and--what's that word again--critical? No--classical, that's
it--it's calm and classical."

In the course of the journey Mrs. Jarley was so taken with the child
that she proposed to engage her, and as Nell would not be separated from
her grandfather, he was included in the agreement.

"What I want your granddaughter for," said Mrs. Jarley, "is to point 'em
out to the company, for she has a way with her that people wouldn't
think unpleasant. It's not a common offer, bear in mind; it's Jarley's
Waxwork. The duty's very light and genteel, the exhibition takes place
in assembly rooms or town halls. There is none of your open-air wagrancy
at Jarley's, remember. And the price of admission is only sixpence."

"We are very much obliged to you, ma'am," said Nell, speaking for her
grandfather, "and thankfully accept your offer."

"And you'll never be sorry for it," returned Mrs. Jarley. "So, as that's
all settled, let us have a bit of supper."

The next morning, the caravan having arrived at the town, and the
waxworks having been unpacked in the town hall, Mrs. Jarley sat down in
an armchair in the centre of the