s now sometimes late on his cues. Polly wondered, at these times,
why the old man's stories were so suddenly cut short just as she was so
"comfy" in the soft grass at his feet. The boys who used to "look sharp"
because of their boss at loading time, now learned that they might
loiter so long as "Muvver Jim" was "hikin' it round for the kid." It was
Polly who had dubbed big Jim "Muvver," and the sobriquet had stuck to
him in spite of his six feet two, and shoulders that an athlete might
have envied. Little by little, Toby grew more stooped and small lines
of anxiety crept into the brownish circles beneath Jim's eyes, the lips
that had once shut so firmly became tender and tremulous, but neither of
the men would willingly have gone back to the old emptiness.

It was a red letter day in the circus, when Polly first managed to climb
up on the pole of an unhitched wagon and from there to the back of
a friendly, Shetland pony. Jim and Toby had been "neglectin' her
eddication" they declared, and from that time on, the blood of Polly's
ancestors was given full encouragement.

Barker was quick to grasp the advantage of adding the kid to the daily
parade. She made her first appearance in the streets upon something very
like a Newfoundland dog, guarded from the rear by Jim, and from the fore
by a white-faced clown who was thought to be all the funnier because he
twisted his neck so much.

From the street parade to Polly's first appearance in the "big top,"
had seemed a short while to Jim and Toby. They were proud to see her
circling the ring in bright colours and to hear the cheers of the
people, but a sense of loss was upon them.

"I always said she'd do it," cried Barker, who now took upon himself the
credit of Polly's triumph.

And what a triumph it was!

Polly danced as serenely on Bingo's back as she might have done on the
"concert boards." She swayed gracefully with the music. Her tiny sandals
twinkled as she stood first upon one foot and then upon the other.

Uncle Toby forgot to use many of his tricks that night; and Jim left the
loading of the wagons to take care of itself, while he hovered near the
entrance, anxious and breathless. The performers crowded around the girl
with outstretched hands and congratulations, as she came out of the ring
to cheers and applause.

But Big Jim stood apart. He was thinking of the buttons that his clumsy
fingers used to force into the stiff, starchy holes too small for them
and o