d as he locked
the stable door he could hear the sounds of music coming from the
direction of the circus grounds, and he was angry at it, because it
represented that which was taking him away from his home, even though it
was not as pleasant as it might have been.

Still, he had no thought of breaking the engagement which he had made.
He went to his room, made a bundle of his worldly possessions, and crept
out of the back door, down the road to the circus.

Mr. Lord saw him as soon as he arrived on the grounds, and as he passed
another ticket to Toby he took his bundle from him, saying, as he did
so: "I'll pack up your bundle with my things, and then you'll be sure
not to lose it. Don't you want some candy?"

Toby shook his head; he had just discovered that there was possibly some
connection between his heart and his stomach, for his grief at leaving
home had taken from him all desire for good things. It is also more than
possible that Mr. Lord had had experience enough with boys to know that
they might be homesick on the eve of starting to travel with a circus;
and in order to make sure that Toby would keep to his engagement he was
unusually kind.

That evening was the longest Toby ever knew. He wandered from one cage
of animals to another; then to see the performance in the ring, and back
again to the animals, in the vain hope of passing the time pleasantly.

But it was of no use; that lump in his throat would remain there, and
the thoughts of what he was about to do would trouble him severely.
The performance failed to interest him, and the animals did not attract
until he had visited the monkey cage for the third or fourth time. Then
he fancied that the same venerable monkey who had looked so knowing in
the afternoon was gazing at him with a sadness which could only have
come from a thorough knowledge of all the grief and doubt that was in
his heart.

There was no one around the cages, and Toby got just as near to the iron
bars as possible. No sooner had he flattened his little pug nose against
the iron than the aged monkey came down from the ring in which he had
been swinging, and, seating himself directly in front of Toby's face,
looked at him most compassionately.

It would not have surprised the boy just then if the animal had spoken;
but as he did not, Toby did the next best thing and spoke to him.

"I s'pose you remember that you saw me this afternoon, an' somebody told
you that I was goin' to join th