he 'orses go
round so fast, an' the people on their backs cuttin' all manner of
capers, just as if they wur on dry ground. She hid her face in my
weskit, an' wouldn't look up; but I coaxed her a bit, an' when she did
she wur rarely pleased. She clapped her hands, an' her cheeks wur red
with pleasure, an' her blue eyes bright. She wur a pretty little lass,
Mollie wur."

Andrew stopped a minute with his eyes fixed thoughtfully on Dickie, and
yet as though he scarcely saw her. She hugged herself with her little
crossed arms, and murmured confidentially, "Dickie will go to the circus
too."

"There wur a chum of mine sittin' next," continued Andrew, "an' by and
by, when the place was gettin' very hot, an' the sawdust the horses
threw up with their heels was fit to choke yer, he says to me, `Old
chap,' he says, `come out an' take a glass of summat jest to wet yer
whistle.'

"`I can't,' says I, `I've got my little gal to look after. I can't
leave her.' But I _was_ dry, an' the thought of a glass of beer was
very temptin', `no call to be anxious over that,' says he; `you won't be
gone not five minutes, an 'ere's this lady will keep an eye on her fur
that little while, I'm sure.' `Certingly,' says the woman sitting next,
who was a stranger to me but quite respectable-lookin'. `You come to
me, my dearie!' and she lifted Mollie on to her knee an' spoke kind to
her, an' the child seemed satisfied; an' so I went."

Andrew coughed hoarsely but went on again after a minute, speaking more
to himself than Dickie--who, indeed, did not understand nearly all he
had been saying.

"When I got into the `Blue Bonnet' there wur three or four more of my
chums a-settin' round the fire an' havin' a argyment. `'Ere,' says one,
`we'll hear what Andrew Martin's got to say to it. He's a tough hand at
speakin'--he'll tell us the rights on it.' An' before I knew a'most I
wur sittin' in my usual place next the fire, with a glass of beer in my
hand. I wur pleased, like a fool, to think I could speak better nor any
of 'em; an' I went on an' on, an' it wasn't till I heard the clock
strike that I thought as how I'd left my little gal alone in the circus
for a whole hour. I got up pretty quick then, for I thought she'd be
frighted, but not that she could come to any harm. So I went back
straight to where I left her with the woman, an'--"

"What does 'oo stop for?" said Dickie impatiently.

"She wur _gone_, missie!" said Andrew solemnly,