amusing drama. The thrill of sensation
which ran through the little assembly at this incident was wonderful.
The children all turned from Punch to regard with large open eyes and
mouths the gentleman who had given a gold sovereign to the showman.
Alick Hudson looked at him with a grin of pleasure, a blush of envy on
his face; the Rector, with an expression of horror, slightly shaking his
head; the Miss Hills with admiration yet dismay. "Goodness, Sarah,
they'll never come now and do it for a shilling to amuse mother!" the
elder of the sisters said.

Miss Dale came hurrying up while still the sensation lasted. "Here is a
chair for you, Mary," said her brother-in-law, "and the play is just
going to begin. I can't help shaking my head when I think of it, but
still you must hear what has just happened. Mr. Compton, let me present
you to my sister-in-law, Miss Dale. Mr. Compton has made the widow's
heart, nay, not the widow's, but the showman's heart to sing. He has
presented our friend with a----"

"Mind you," said Phil, from behind Elinor's shoulders, "I've paid the
fellow only for two."

At which the showman turned and winked at the Rector. To think that such
a piece of audacity could be! A dingy fellow in a velveteen coat, with a
spotted handkerchief round his neck, and a battered hat on his unkempt
locks, with Pan's pipes at his mouth and a drum tied round his
waist--winked at the Rector! Mr. Hudson fell back a step, and his very
lips were livid with the indignity. He had to support himself on the
back of the chair he had just given to Miss Dale.

"I think we are all forgetting our different positions in this world,"
he said.

"I ain't," said the showman, "not taking no advantage through the
gentleman's noble ways. He's a lord, he is, I don't make no doubt. And
we're paid. Take the good of it, Guv'nor, and welcome; all them as is
here is welcome. My mate and I are too well paid. A gentleman like that
good gentleman, as is sweet upon a pretty young lady, and an open 'eart
a-cause of her, I just wish we could find one at every station; don't
you, Joe?"

Joe assented, in the person of Mr. Punch, with a horrible squeak from
within the tent.

The sensations of Elinor during this episode were peculiar and full of
mingled emotion. It is impossible to deny that she was proud of the
effect produced by her lover. The sovereign chucked into the showman's
hand was a cheap way of purchasing a little success, and yet it dazz