ile she took
Cicely into the next room and shut the door. For some time Dickie went
on crying, but presently, when she found that Nurse did not come back,
the sobs quieted down a little, and the small feet were still; then she
lifted her face up from the floor with big tears on her cheeks and
listened. Hark! what was that funny noise? Boom boom! boom! and then a
sort of trampling. It was the circus in the field close by, and
presently other strange sounds reached her ear. She looked at the door
leading into the bed-room--it was fast shut, and Nurse was walking up
and down, singing to the baby in a low soothing tone. Dickie got up
from the floor and stood upright with sudden resolve shining in her
eyes: she would go to the circus in spite of them all!

Fortune favours the disobedient sometimes, as well as the brave, and she
met no one to ask where she was going on her journey through the
passages; when she came to the top of the stairs she saw that the hall
was empty and silent too--only the dog Snuff lay coiled up on the mat
like a rough brown ball. He had not been allowed to go to the circus
either. She went slowly down, holding by the balusters and bringing
both feet carefully on to each step; as she passed him Snuff opened one
bright eye, and, watching her, saw that she went straight to the
cupboard under the stairs, where the children's garden coats and hats
were kept. There they hung, five little suits, each on its own peg, and
with its own pair of goloshes on the ground beneath. Dickie's things
were on the lowest peg, so that she might reach them easily and dress
herself without troubling anyone. She struggled into the small grey
coat, tied the bonnet firmly under her fat chin, and sat down on the
lowest stair to put on the goloshes. Snuff got up, sniffed at her, and
gave a short bark of pleasure, for he felt quite sure now that she was
going into the garden; but Snuff was wrong this time, as he soon found
when he trotted after her. Dickie had wider views, and though she went
out of the garden door, which stood open, she turned into a path leading
to the front of the house and marched straight down the drive. Through
the white gate they went together, the little grey figure and the little
brown one, and along the village street. It was more deserted than
usual, for everyone was either in the circus or gaping at the outside of
it, and Dickie and her companion passed on unquestioned. Soon they
reache