softly on the turf. Black-eyed gipsy girls, their heads covered with
showy handkerchiefs, came out to tell fortunes, and pale, slender women
with wasted faces followed the footsteps of conjurers, and counted the
sixpences with anxious eyes long before they were gained. As many of the
children as could be kept within bounds were stowed away, with all the
other signs of dirt and poverty, among the donkeys, carts, and horses;
and as many as could not be thus disposed of ran in and out in all
directions, crept between people's legs and carriage wheels, and came
forth unharmed from under horses' hoofs. The dancing-dogs, the stilts,
the little lady and the tall man, and all the other attractions, with
organs out of number and bands innumerable, came out from the holes and
corners in which they had passed the night, and flourished boldly in the
sun.

Along the uncleared course, Short led his party, sounding the brazen
trumpet and speaking in the voice of Punch; and at his heels went Thomas
Codlin, bearing the show as usual, and keeping his eye on Nell and her
grandfather, as they rather lingered in the rear. The child bore upon
her arm the little basket with her flowers, and sometimes stopped, with
timid and modest looks, to offer them at some gay carriage; but alas!
there were many bolder beggars there, gipsies who promised husbands, and
others skillful in their trade; and although some ladies smiled gently
as they shook their heads, and others cried to the gentlemen beside
them, "See what a pretty face!" they let the pretty face pass on, and
never thought that it looked tired or hungry.

There was but one lady who seemed to understand the child, and she was
one who sat alone in a handsome carriage, while two young men in dashing
clothes, who had just stepped out from it, talked and laughed loudly at
a little distance, appearing to forget her, quite. There were many
ladies all around, but they turned their backs, or looked another way,
or at the two young men (not unfavorably at _them_), and left her to
herself. The lady motioned away a gipsy woman, eager to tell her
fortune, saying that it was told already and had been for some years,
but called the child toward her, and, taking her flowers, put money into
her trembling hand, and bade her go home and keep at home.

Many a time they went up and down those long, long lines, seeing
everything but the horses and the race; when the bell rung to clear the
course, going back to