It was a ham and beef shop, and in Jimmy's cold and hungry condition the meat pies and sausages and hams in the window looked very tempting.
'You just wait here a few moments,' said Coote, as he came to a standstill, 'and mind it's no use your thinking o' running away, because I can run too.' With that he entered the ham and beef shop, leaving Jimmy outside alone on the pavement. Perhaps Jimmy would never have thought of running away if the man had not suggested it; but he was so frightened that he felt it would be better to do anything rather than go with the policeman. You know that sometimes a boy does not stay to consider what is really the best, and Jimmy did not stay to think now. Whilst he saw Coote talking to the shopman in the white apron, through the window, he suddenly turned to make a dash across the road.
'Look out!' cried a man, and Jimmy only just escaped being run over by a one-horse omnibus. He dodged the horse, however, and running towards the opposite pavement, he knocked against an old woman with a basket. The basket grazed his left arm, and to judge by what she said he must have hurt the woman a good deal. But Jimmy did not wait to hear all she had to say; he only thought of getting away from Coote, and ran on and on without the slightest notion where he was going. Up one street and down another the boy ran, often looking behind to see whether he was being followed, and at last stopping altogether, simply because he could not run any farther. He sat down on the kerb-stone, and then he saw for the first time that it had begun to rain quite fast.
It was a great relief to know that Coote must have taken a wrong direction, for if the policeman had taken the right one he would have caught Jimmy by this time. Still he did not intend to sit there many minutes in case Coote should be following him after all, so a few minutes later Jimmy got up again and walked on quickly.
He felt very miserable; it must be past his usual bed-time, and yet he had nowhere to sleep. He wished he were safely at Chesterham; and he made up his mind that he would never fall asleep in a waiting-room again as long as he lived.
Until now Jimmy had been making his way along streets, but very soon he saw that there were houses only on one side of the way. He had in fact come to what looked, as well as he could see in the dark, like a small common, with furze bushes growing on it, and a pond by the roadside.
But a little farther on, Jimmy fancied he heard a band playing, and then he saw what appeared to be an enormous tent, and there were lights burning near, and curious shadowy things which he could not make out at all.
Jimmy was always an inquisitive boy, and now he almost forgot his troubles in his wish to find out what was happening on the common. So he walked towards the large round tent, and the band sounded more loudly every moment.
By one part of the tent stood a cart, and in this a man was shouting at the top of his voice. And around the cart a crowd had gathered, chiefly of rather shabbily-dressed people, and one or two of them stepped out every minute or so and went inside an opening in the tent, where a stout woman stood to take their money.
Near the cart was a large picture, and Jimmy stared at it with a great deal of interest. The picture represented a lion and a clown, and the clown's head was inside the lion's mouth; whilst a little way off a very small clown, of about Jimmy's own age, stood laughing.
Jimmy had always an immense liking for lions, and also for clowns, and when they both came together and the head of the one happened to be in the mouth of the other, the temptation was almost more than he could resist.
'Now, ladies and gentlemen, walk up, walk up!' cried the man in the cart. 'All the wonders of the world now on view. Now's the time, the very last night; walk up, ladies and gentlemen, walk up.'
Jimmy thought that he really might do worse than to walk up. For one thing he would be able to sit down inside the tent, and for another he could take shelter from the rain, which now was falling fast. He put his hand into his pocket to feel for his purse, and recollected that he had still two shillings and twopence left out of Aunt Selina's half-crown.
'How much is it?' he asked, going towards the stout woman at the opening.
'Well,' she answered, 'you can go in for twopence, and you can have a first-class seat for sixpence. But if you ask me, a young gent like you'd sooner pay a shilling.'
'Yes, I think I should,' said Jimmy proudly; and, taking out a shilling, he gave it to the woman and at once entered the tent.
There were so few persons in the best seats that a great many of those in the cheaper ones turned to look at Jimmy as he walked in. But Jimmy was quite unaware of this, for no sooner had he sat down than he began to laugh as if he had not a trouble in the world. He forgot that he had nowhere to sleep, he forgot the red-faced policeman, he even forgot that he ought to be at Chesterham.
It was the clown who made Jimmy laugh. He was a little man with a tall, pointed white felt hat like a dunce's cap; he wore the usual clown's dress, and generally kept his hands in his pockets as if he were a school-boy.
A girl in a green velvet riding-habit had just finished a wonderful performance on horseback, and after she had kissed her hands to the people a good many times, she jumped off the horse, which began to trot round the ring alone. The clown was evidently trying to repeat her performance on his own account, but each time he tried to mount the horse it trotted faster, and the clown always fell on his back in the sawdust. Nothing could be more comical than the way he got up, as if he were hurt very much indeed, and rubbed himself; unless, indeed, it was his alarm when the two elephants were brought into the ring and he jumped over the barrier close to Jimmy in the front seats. Jimmy felt a little disappointed not to see the clown put his head into the lion's mouth, but then there were plenty of things to make up for this; and besides, Jimmy was beginning to feel really very sleepy again, when the band played 'Rule Britannia' out of tune, and all the people rose to leave the tent.
As it became empty, Jimmy began to feel very wretched again. He wondered where he should sleep, and he could hear that it was raining faster than ever outside.
Why shouldn't he wait until everybody else had gone and then lie down on one of the seats and sleep where he was? Of course he had never slept in such a place before, and he did not much like the idea of sleeping there now, but then he had nowhere else to go, and at any rate it would be better than going outside in the rain.
So Jimmy made up his mind to stay where he was, and he would have been lying down and perhaps asleep in another moment, for he was very tired, when he saw the clown enter the tent.
He had taken off his pointed hat, and had put on a long loose overcoat over his clown's dress. As he had been laughing or making fun all the time he was in the ring, Jimmy thought that he never did anything else; but the clown looked quite solemn now, and the paint on his face had become smudged after getting wet outside in the rain.
'Hullo!' he exclaimed on seeing Jimmy. 'What are you doing here?'
'Nothing,' answered the boy.
'Suppose you do it outside!'
'But I shall get so wet outside,' said Jimmy.
'Lor! Where's your nurse?' asked the clown.
'I haven't got one,' cried Jimmy, a little indignantly. 'I go to school.'
'Be quick then and go,' said the clown.
'But I've nowhere to go,' answered Jimmy sadly, 'and I don't know where anybody is.'
'Mean to say they've gone away and left you?' asked the clown.
'They haven't been here.'
'Oh, so you came to the show by yourself?' said the clown.
'Yes,' replied Jimmy.
'Well,' was the answer, 'you're a nice young party'; and the clown sat down on the barrier. 'Come now,' he said, 'suppose you tell us all about it.'
So, in a very sleepy voice, Jimmy began to tell the clown his story. He told him how he had fallen asleep in the waiting-room, and where he had been going to; but he did not say anything about Coote, because he felt afraid that the clown might send for the policeman, who would, after all, put him into prison for travelling in the wrong train.
The clown listened to the story very attentively, but Jimmy gaped a great deal while he told it. By the time he finished he could scarcely keep his eyes open.
'You seem a bit sleepy,' said the clown.
'I'm hungry, too,' answered Jimmy.
'Well, you can't sleep here,' said the clown, 'and you don't see much to eat, do you?'
'No, there isn't much to eat,' Jimmy admitted. 'But,' he added, 'I don't see why I couldn't sleep here.'
'Because the tent's going to be taken down,' said the clown. 'We've been here three days, and we're going on somewhere else.'
Jimmy looked disappointed. He rather liked the clown; at all events he liked him a great deal better than Coote, and he did not feel at all afraid of him.
'Just you come along with me,' said the clown, 'and I'll see what I can do for you. Here, jump over! That's right,' he added, as Jimmy climbed over the barrier which separated the seats from the ring in which the performance had taken place. 'You come with me,' said the clown, 'and we'll soon see whether we can't find you something to eat and a place to lie down in.'
They left the tent, and outside the clown stopped to speak to the man who had shouted from the cart and to the stout woman who had taken the money. They often glanced at Jimmy while they talked, so that he guessed they were talking about him.
'All right,' said the man, 'do as you like; it's no business of mine'; and then the clown came back to Jimmy and they walked away from the tent together.
They seemed to be walking in and out amongst a number of curious-looking carts and ornamental cars, the colour of gold, with pictures on their sides. There were several vans too, like small houses on wheels, with windows and curtains painted on them, such as Jimmy had often seen at Ramsgate, with men selling brooms and baskets, walking by the horses.
There were no men selling brooms or baskets here, although they all seemed to be very busy: some being dressed just as they had left the ring, and others leading cream-coloured and piebald horses, instead of going to bed, as Jimmy thought it was time to do.
'Come along,' said the clown, as the boy seemed inclined to stop to look on.
'Where are we going?' asked Jimmy.
'You'll see,' was the answer.
'But where is it?' asked Jimmy.
'Where I live,' said the clown.
'Oh, we're going to your house,' cried Jimmy, feeling pleased at the chance of entering a house again, for it seemed a very long time since he had left Aunt Selina's.
'Well,' said the clown, 'it's a sort of house. You might call it a house on wheels, and you wouldn't be far out.'
Suddenly Jimmy seized the clown's arm and gave a jump.
'What's that?' he exclaimed.
'Don't be frightened,' said the clown.
'Only what is it?' asked Jimmy, with a shaky voice.
'He won't hurt you,' was the answer. 'It's only old Billy, the lion.'
Jimmy heard him roar as if he were only a yard or two away, and he felt rather alarmed, until they had left his cage farther behind.
'Is that the lion who had your head in his mouth?' asked Jimmy.
'Well,' said the clown, 'it isn't in his mouth now, is it?'
'I didn't see the little clown,' exclaimed Jimmy, and the clown stared down at the ground.
'No,' he answered, as if he felt rather miserable, 'we shan't see him again ever.'
Then they stopped at the back of one of the vans, and Jimmy saw that there was a light inside it.
'Up you get,' said the clown, and Jimmy scrambled up a pair of wide steps which put him in mind of a bathing-machine.
The door seemed to be made in halves, and whilst the lower part was shut the upper part was open. Through this Jimmy could see inside the van, and it looked exactly like a small room, only rather dirty and untidy. As Jimmy stood on the steps staring into the van, with the clown close behind him, a girl came out from what seemed to be a second room behind the first. She had yellow hair, and her face looked very white; but although she must have changed her dress, Jimmy felt certain she was the same girl who had worn the green velvet riding-habit.
'Hullo!' she cried, seeing Jimmy, but not seeing her father. 'What do you want?'
'All right, Nan, all right,' said the clown, and he put an arm in front of Jimmy to push open the door. Whilst Jimmy felt glad to find shelter from the rain, the clown went to the back room, which must have been extremely small, and carried on a conversation with the girl whom he called Nan. Jimmy felt certain he was telling her all about himself.
Presently they both came out again, and Nan went to a shelf and brought some rather fat bacon and bread, and a knife and fork with black handles. There were two beds—one in the back part of the van and one in the front. Jimmy sat down on the one in the front to eat his supper, and before he had finished Nan gave him a mug of tea, which made him feel much warmer, although it did not taste very pleasant.
The clown had gone away again, and Jimmy wondered why there was such a noise outside the van.
'They're only putting the horses in,' said Nan, when he questioned her.
'I should have thought they would be taking them out at this time of night,' answered Jimmy.
'We always travel at night,' she explained, 'and then we're ready for the performance in the daytime.'
'But when do you go to sleep?' asked Jimmy.
'When we get a chance,' she said. 'But the best thing you can do's to go to sleep now. Suppose you lie down in there,' and she pointed to the room which was boarded off behind.
'Whose bed is it?' he asked.
'Father's, when he gets time to lie in it,' was the answer.
'But he can't if I'm there,' said Jimmy.
'He's got a lot to do before he thinks of bed,' exclaimed Nan. 'He's got to see to the horses. But I'll lie down as soon as we start, and presently father and I'll change places.'
It all seemed very strange to Jimmy, and he would not have felt very much surprised if he had suddenly awakened to find himself back in the dormitory at Miss Lawson's, and all his adventures a dream.
The bed did not look very clean, and Jimmy thought at first that he should not care to lie down on it. He felt too tired to waste much time, however, and he did not even take off his clothes, but lay down just as he was, and in half a minute he fell fast asleep.
And though the horse was put between the shafts, and there was a loud shouting as the long line of carts and vans began to move, Jimmy did not open his eyes for some time.
He might not have opened them even then if Nan, who had also been asleep, had not risen and opened the door and let in a whiff of cold air. As Jimmy sat up in the dark and rubbed his eyes, he thought at first that he must be in a boat, because whatever he might be in, it rolled about from side to side. Remembering presently where he really was, he got off the bed, and peeped into the other half of the van. Seeing that Nan was not there, he went to the door, the upper half of which she had left open. The rain had quite left off, and the night was very beautiful. A great many stars shone in the sky; Jimmy had never looked out so late before, he had never seen the heavens such a dark blue nor the stars so large and bright. It was four o'clock in the morning, the air felt very cold, and he could see that they were going slowly along a country road.
About a yard from the back of his own van, a grey horse jogged along between the shafts of another van, with a rough brown pony tied beside it. Feeling curious to see as much as he could, Jimmy opened the door, and climbed carefully down the steps. Then he ran to the side of the road, although he always took care to keep close to the clown's van.
In front he saw ever so many carts and vans, and behind there were as many more. There were horses in groups of five or six, and men walking sleepily along by the hedge. Now and then the lion roared, but not very loudly; now and then one of the men spoke to his horses; now and then a match was struck to light a pipe. But for the most part it seemed strangely silent as the long line wound slowly along the country road. For a good while Jimmy scarcely heard a sound, but presently, after he had been in the road a few minutes, he did hear something, and that was the clown's voice.
'Hullo,' it said, 'what are you doing out here? Just you get inside again'; and Jimmy scampered away and ran up the steps and lay down on the bed. He was soon asleep again, and when he re-opened his eyes it was broad daylight. He found that the caravan had come to a standstill, but when he looked out at the door everything seemed as quiet as when they were on the march. It was not so quiet inside the house, for the clown lay on the bed which Nan had occupied earlier, and he was snoring loudly. Jimmy wondered where Nan had gone, but whilst he stood shivering by the door he saw her carrying a wooden pail full of water.
'Is that for me to wash in?' asked Jimmy, for he was surprised to find that there were no basins and towels in the van.
'Not it,' answered Nan. 'That's to make some tea for breakfast.' He watched whilst she brought out three pieces of iron like walking-sticks, tied together at the ends and forming a tripod. Having stuck the other ends in the ground, Nan collected some sticks, and heaping these together, she soon made a good fire.
'Can I warm my hands?' asked Jimmy; and leaving the van, he crouched down to hold his small hands over the blaze. Then Nan hung a kettle over the fire and stood watching whilst it boiled. And men and women gradually came out of the other vans, which stood about anyhow, and they all looked very sleepy and rather dirty, especially the children who soon began to collect round Jimmy as if he were the most extraordinary thing in the caravan. If he had felt less cold and hungry Jimmy might have enjoyed it all, for there was certainly a great deal to see.
They seemed to have stopped on another common, but there were small houses not very far away. The worst of it was that wherever he went he was followed by a small crowd of children who made loud remarks about him. Still he wandered in and out amongst the vans, and stopped a long time before the cage which contained the lion. The lion was lying down licking his fore-paws, but he left off to stare at Jimmy, who quickly drew farther away from the cage. A little farther he met two elephants, a big one and a little one, with three men who were taking them down to a pond to drink. Jimmy saw some comical-looking monkeys too; and what interested him almost more than anything were the men who had already begun to fix the large tent in an open space. It looked rather odd at present, because they had only fixed the centre pole, and the canvas hung loosely in the shape of the cap which the clown had worn last night. On returning to the van, still followed by the boys, Jimmy saw the clown sitting on the steps eating an enormous piece of bread and cheese, and drinking hot tea out of a mug.
'Come along,' said the clown, 'come and have some breakfast'; and Jimmy sat down on the muddy ground, and Nan gave him another mug and a thick slice of bread; but Jimmy was by this time so hungry that he could have eaten anything. Still he felt very anxious to hear how he was to reach Chesterham without meeting Coote again.
'Ishouldlike to see my father and mother to-day,' he said, as he ate his breakfast.
'Not to-day,' answered the clown, 'but it won't be long, so don't you worry yourself. We're working that way, and we're going to have a performance there.'
'At Chesterham!' cried Jimmy, feeling extremely relieved.
'You'll be there before the end of the week,' said the clown; 'and I should think your father would come down handsome.'
Now Jimmy began to feel quite contented again, and there was so much to look at that he forgot everything else.
When he was at school at Ramsgate he had seen a circus going in a procession through the town, and now Nan told him that this circus was going in a procession, and that it would start at half-past twelve. Everybody seemed very busy making ready for it, men were attending to the horses, and the gilded chariots were being prepared, and presently Nan began to dress.
'What are you going to be?' asked Jimmy, as she took a bright-looking helmet from under her bed.
'Don't you know?' she answered. 'Why, I'm Britannia.'
A little later she left the van with the helmet on her head, and a large thing which looked like a pitchfork in one hand. In the other she carried a shield, and her white dress had flags all over it. By this time one of the gilded chariots had been made very high; it seemed to be almost as high as a house, and on the top was a seat. Nan climbed up to this seat and sat down, and then a black man led Billy the lion out of his cage with a chain round his neck, and it was funny to see the lion climb up to the place where Nan was sitting and quietly lie down by her side.
The clown was standing on a white horse, with a long pair of reins driving another white horse; but the black man who had led the lion drove eight horses, and then there was a band, in red, and two elephants, and everybody in the circus except some of the children and a few women formed a part of the long procession.
Now, Jimmy thought that he also would like to be in the procession. He would have liked to dress up as Nan had done, although perhaps he would not have cared to sit quite so close to the lion. They seemed to have forgotten all about him, and he was left to do just as he liked. So what he did was to walk beside the procession into the town, and then to run on ahead to find a good place to see it pass.
He got back to the van long before Nan and her father, and being quite alone, he began to look about him. Hanging on a peg, he saw a lot of old clothes, which seemed rather interesting, especially one suit that must have belonged to the little clown.
Jimmy looked at the dress again and again. There were long things like socks, of a dirty white colour, with a kind of flowery pattern in red along the sides. Then he saw what looked like a very short and baggy pair of light red and blue knickerbockers, and also the jacket of light red and blue too, with curious loose sleeves.
He would very much have liked to put them all on just to see how he looked in them, only that he felt afraid that Nan or her father might return before he had time to take them off again.
No sooner did they come back than they began to prepare for the evening performance, and still everybody seemed too busy to give many thoughts to Jimmy.
'Whose is that little clown's suit?' he asked, while Nan was busy about the van.
'Ah,' she answered, 'that was my little brother's,' and she spoke so unhappily that he did not like to say any more about it.
But Jimmy wanted more and more to try the suit on himself only just for a few moments, and he thought it could not possibly do any harm. Presently Nan, who had taken off Britannia's dress, put on her green velvet riding-habit, and Jimmy could hear the band playing close by, and he guessed that the performance was soon going to begin.
'You can go to bed whenever you like,' said Nan, before she left the van.
'Thank you,' he answered, and when she had gone he stood at the door looking out into the darkness. He could see the flaming naphtha lamps, and hear the music and a loud clapping inside the great tent, and now they seemed all so busy that it might be a good time to put on the little clown's dress.
First of all Jimmy shut the upper part of the door, so that nobody who happened to look that way could see inside the van. He took down the clothes from the peg, and removed his own jacket and waistcoat and knickerbockers as quickly as possible. Then he found that he must take off his boots and stockings, and he sat down on the floor of the van to draw on those with the pattern on each side. They did not go on very easily, but he managed it at last, and then it was a simple matter to put on the loose knickerbockers and the jacket.
As his feet felt cold, he put on his own boots again, and then he stood on a chair without a back to take down the piece of broken looking-glass which he had seen Nan use that day. He could not get a very good view of himself, but he could see that his face was much dirtier than it had ever been before in his life, and this was not to be wondered at, because he had not washed it since he left his Aunt Selina's yesterday morning. And yesterday morning seemed a very long time ago.
He stood in the middle of the van, trying to look at himself in the glass, when suddenly it fell from his hand and broke, and Jimmy gave a violent jump. For to his great alarm he heard distinctly the voice of Coote, the railway policeman, just outside the van.
Now Coote had been greatly astonished last night, on coming out of the ham and beef shop, to see no sign of Jimmy. He had spent two hours looking for him, and then he gave him up as a bad job. When he told the station-master what had happened, he was ordered to do nothing else until he found the boy again, and so Coote had spent the whole day searching for him. And Coote's instructions were, on finding the boy, to take him direct to his aunt's house at Chesterham.
Coote, after looking all over Barstead, thought that perhaps Jimmy had gone away with the circus people, so he took a train and followed them. But Jimmy felt as much afraid as ever; he made sure that if Coote caught him he would be locked up in prison. Thinking that the policeman was coming into the van, he looked about for a place to hide himself, and at last he made up his mind to crawl under the bed. It was not at all easy, because the bed was close to the floor; but still, Jimmy managed it at last, and lay quite still on the floor, expecting every moment that Coote would enter. Then he remembered that he had left his own clothes on the floor, so that if Coote saw them he would guess that their owner was hiding. Jimmy felt that he would do anything to get safely away, and he lay on the floor scarcely daring to breathe, until Coote's voice sounded farther off.
Crawling out from under the bed again, presently, without stopping to think, Jimmy opened the door of the van, ran down the steps, and on putting his feet to the grass, he at once dodged round the van and set off at a run away from the tent.
He ran and ran until he was quite out of breath. He seemed to have reached a country lane; it was very quiet and dark, and the stars shone in the sky. Jimmy sat down by the wayside, feeling very hot and tired, and then he remembered that he was wearing the clown's clothes. He remembered also that he had left all his money and his knife behind him; but still he did not think of going back, because if he went back he would be certain to fall into the hands of Coote.
No, he would not go back; what he would do was to make his way to Chesterham. It could not be very far, for the clown had said he should be there in a few days, although the caravan travelled slowly. Why shouldn't he walk to his aunt's house, and then he would see his mother and father, who no doubt would look surprised to see him dressed as a clown. If his mother was really like Aunt Selina she might be very angry, but then he hoped she wasn't like his aunt, and, at all events, Jimmy thought she could not be angry with him just the first time she saw him.
But, then, he might not be in the right road for Chesterham, and he did not wish to lose his way, because he had no money to buy anything to eat, and already he was beginning to feel hungry. The sooner he got along the better, so he rose from his seat beside the road and walked on in the hope of seeing some one who could tell him the way. He walked rather slowly, but still he went a few miles, passing a cottage with lights in the windows now and then, but not liking to knock at the door. But presently he felt so tired that he made up his mind to knock at the next. When he came to it he walked up to the garden gate, but then his courage failed. He stood leaning against the gate, hoping that some of the people whose voices he could hear might come out; but presently the windows became dark, and Jimmy guessed that, instead of coming out, the people in the cottage had gone to bed.
Now that he knew it must be very late, Jimmy began to feel a little afraid. It seemed very dull and lonely, and he longed to meet somebody, never mind who it was. There was only one thing which seemed to be moving, and that was a windmill standing on a slight hill a little way from the road. It seemed very curious to watch the sails going round in the darkness, but Jimmy could see them rise and fall, because they looked black against the blue sky. The mill was so near that he could hear the noise of the sails as they went round, it sounded like a very loud humming-top, and there were one or two patches of light to be seen in the mill.
Jimmy thought that perhaps he might be able to lie down near to it, although the difficulty was to get to it. But when he had walked on a little farther, he saw a dark-looking lane on his right hand, and after stopping to think a little, he walked along it. With every step he took the humming sounded louder, but presently Jimmy stopped suddenly.
'Hullo!' said a voice close in front of him, and looking up Jimmy saw a man smoking a pipe. Of course it was too dark for him to see anything very distinctly, but still his eyes had become used to the darkness, and he could see more than you would imagine.
'What are you after?' asked the man.
'Please I was looking for somewhere to sleep,' answered Jimmy.
'Well, you're a rum sort of youngster,' said the man. 'Here, come along o' me.'
Jimmy followed him along a path which led to the mill, and as they drew near to it the great sails seemed to swish through the air in a rather alarming manner. The man opened a door and Jimmy looked in. The floor was all white with flour, and dozens of sacks stood against the walls. The man also looked nearly as white as the floor, and he began to smile as the light fell upon Jimmy. But the boy did not feel at all inclined to smile.
'Why,' he asked, 'you look as if you've come from a circus?'
'I have,' answered Jimmy, feeling quite stupid from sleepiness.
'Run away?' said the man. 'Have you?'
'Yes,' answered Jimmy, gaping.
'Got nowhere to sleep?' asked the miller.
'No,' was the answer.
'Hungry?' asked the miller.
'I only want to go to sleep,' said Jimmy, gaping again.
'Come in here,' said the man, and without losing a moment, Jimmy followed him into the mill. There the man threw two or three sacks on to the floor, and told Jimmy to lie down. There seemed to be a great noise at first, but Jimmy shut his eyes and soon fell sound asleep, too sound asleep even to dream of Coote or the clown.
He was awakened by the miller's kicking one of the sacks on which he lay, and looking about to see where he was, Jimmy saw that it was broad daylight, and that the sun was shining brightly.
'Now, then, off with you,' cried the miller, 'before I get into trouble.'
'What time is it, please?' asked Jimmy sleepily, as he stood upright.
'It'll soon be six o'clock,' was the answer.
Jimmy thought it was a great deal too early to get up, and he felt so tired that he would very much have liked to lie down again, but he did not say so.
'Here, take this,' said the man, and he put twopence into Jimmy's hand. 'Mind they don't catch you,' he added.
'Please can you tell me the way to Chesterham?' asked Jimmy.
'Chesterham's a long way,' answered the miller; 'but you've got to get to Sandham first. Go back into the road and keep to your left. When you get to Sandham ask for Chesterham.'
'Thank you,' said Jimmy, and with the twopence held tightly in his hand he walked along the lane until he reached the road.
It was a beautiful morning, but Jimmy could do nothing but gape; his feet felt very heavy, and he wished that he had never put on the clown's clothes and left his own behind. Still he made sure that he should be able to reach Chesterham some day, and presently he passed a church and an inn and several small houses and poor-looking shops. With the twopence in his hand he looked in at the shop windows wondering what he should buy for breakfast, and seeing a card in one of them which said that lemonade was a penny a bottle, Jimmy determined to buy some of that.
The woman who served him looked very much astonished, and she called another woman to look at him too. But Jimmy stood drinking the cool, sweet lemonade, and thought it was the nicest thing he had ever tasted. As he stood drinking it his eyes fell on some cakes of chocolate cream.
'How much are those?' he asked.
'Two a penny,' said the woman.
'I'll have two, please,' said Jimmy, and he began to eat them as soon as he left the shop. But he was glad to leave the village behind, because everybody he met stared at him and he did not like it. Three boys and a girl followed him some distance along the road, no doubt expecting that he was really and truly a clown, and would do some tumbling and make them laugh. But at last they grew tired of following him, and they stopped and began to call him names, and one boy threw a stone at him, but Jimmy felt far too miserable to throw one back. Chocolate creams and lemonade are very nice things, but they don't make a very good breakfast. The morning seemed very long, and presently Jimmy sat down by a hedge and fell asleep. He awoke feeling more hungry than ever, and no one was in sight but a man on a hay cart. But it happened that the cart was going towards Sandham, and Jimmy waited until it came up, and then he climbed up behind and hung with one leg over the tailboard and got a long ride for nothing. He might have ridden all the way to Sandham, only that the carter turned round in a rather bad temper and hit Jimmy with his whip, so that he jumped down more quickly than he had climbed up.
He guessed that he was near the town, because there were houses by the roadside, and passing carts, and even an omnibus. If Jimmy had had any more money he would have got into the omnibus; as he had none he was compelled to walk on. It was quite late in the afternoon when he entered Sandham, and he had eaten nothing since the chocolate creams. He was annoyed to find that a number of children were following him again, and as he went farther into the town they crowded round in a ring, so that Jimmy was brought to a standstill.
He felt very uncomfortable standing there, with dozens of children and a few grown-up persons round him. They cried out to him to 'go on,' and this was just what Jimmy would have liked to do. He felt so miserable that he put an arm to his eyes and began to cry, and then the crowd began to laugh, for they thought he was going to begin to do something to amuse them at last. But when they saw he did nothing funny as a clown ought to do, but only kept on crying, they began to jeer at him, and one boy came near as if he would hit him. Jimmy took down his arm then, and the two boys, one dressed in rags and the other in the dirty clown's dress, stood staring at each other with their small fists doubled, when Jimmy felt some one take hold of his arm, and looking round he saw a rather tall, dark-haired lady, with a pretty-looking face. Her hand was on his arm, and her eyes wore a very curious expression, almost as if she were going to cry also, just to keep Jimmy company.
But from the moment that Jimmy looked at her face he felt that things would be better with him.
'Come with me, dear,' she whispered, and taking his hand in her own she led him out of the crowd.
'Where to?' asked Jimmy, wondering why she held his hand so tightly.
'I think the best thing to do will be to put you to bed,' she answered.
'Yes,' said Jimmy, 'I should like to go to bed—to a real bed, you know—not sacks.'
'You shall go into a real bed,' she answered.
'I think I should like to have something to eat first,' he cried.
'Oh yes, you shall have something to eat,' she said.
If a good many persons had stopped to stare at Jimmy when he was alone, many more stared now to see a dirty-faced, poor little clown being led away by a nicely-dressed lady. But the fact was that Jimmy did not care what they thought. They might stare as much as they liked, and it did not make any difference. He felt that he was all right at last, although he did not in the least know who his friend could be. But he felt that shewasa friend, and that was the great thing; he felt that whatever she did would be pleasant and good, and that she was going to give him something nice to eat and a comfortable bed to sleep in.
Somehow he did not feel at all surprised, only extremely tired, so that he could scarcely keep his eyes open. Things that happened did not seem quite real, it was almost like a dream. The lady stopped in front of a house where lodgings were let, although Jimmy knew nothing about that. The door was opened by a pleasant, rosy-cheeked woman in a cotton dress.
'Well, Iamglad!' she cried; and Jimmy wondered, but only for a moment, what she had to be glad about.
'I think some hot soup will be the best thing,' said the lady, 'and then we will put him to bed.'
'What do you think about a bath?' asked the landlady.
'The bath will do to-morrow,' was the answer. 'Just some soup and then bed. And I shall want you to send a telegram to the Post Office.'
'You're not going to send a telegram to the policeman,' exclaimed Jimmy; but as the landlady left the room to see about the soup, the lady placed her arm round him and drew him towards her. Jimmy thought that most ladies would not have liked to draw him close, because he really looked a dirty little object, but this lady did not seem to mind at all.
Suddenly she held him farther away from her, and looked strangely into his face.
'What is your name?' she asked.
'James—Orchardson—Sinclair—Wilmot,' said Jimmy with a gape between the words.
Then she pressed him closer still, and kissed his face again and again, and for once Jimmy rather liked being kissed. Perhaps it was because he had felt so tired and lonely; but whatever the reason may have been, he did not try to draw away, but nestled down in her arms and felt more comfortable than he had felt for ever so long.
It was not long before the landlady came back with a plate of hot soup, and Jimmy sat in a chair by the table and the lady broke some bread and dipped it in, and Jimmy almost fell asleep as he fed himself. Still he enjoyed the soup, and when it was finished she took him up in her arms and carried him to another room where there were two beds. She stood Jimmy down, and he leaned against the smaller bed with his eyes shut whilst she took off the clown's dress, and the last thing he recollected was her face very close to his own before he fell sound asleep.
It was quite late when Jimmy opened his eyes the next morning, and a few minutes afterwards he was sitting up in bed, wondering how much he had dreamed and how much was real.
Had he actually got into the wrong train, and run away from a policeman, and travelled in the van, and put on the little clown's clothes, and then run away again? Had he really done all these strange things or had he only dreamed them? But if he had dreamed them, where was he? And if they were real, where had the clown's dress gone to?
As Jimmy sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, he hoped that he had not been dreaming; because if it had been only a dream, why, then, he had only dreamed of the lady also, and he felt that he very much wished her to be real.
Why, she was real! For there she stood smiling at the open door, with a tray covered with a white cloth in her hand, and on it a large cup of hot bread and milk, and two eggs.
'I am glad!' said Jimmy.
'What are you glad about?' she asked, as she placed the tray on his bed.
'That you're quite real,' he answered.
'Well,' she said, 'your breakfast is real too, and the best thing you can do is to eat it.'
Jimmy began at once. He began with the bread and milk, and the lady sat at the foot of the bed watching him.
'Where am I going after breakfast?' he asked.
'Into a nice hot bath,' she said.
'But after that?'
'How should you like to go to see your father?' she asked.
'Do you know him?' asked Jimmy, laying down his spoon in his astonishment.
'Very well indeed.'
'And my mother too?'
'Yes, and Winnie too.'
'Is she like Aunt Selina?' asked Jimmy, as the lady began to take the top off his egg.
'Do you mean Winnie?' she said.
'No, my mother. Because Aunt Selina said they were like each other, but I hope they're not.'
'Well, no,' answered the lady, 'I really don't think your mother is very much like Aunt Selina.'
'Do you think she'll be very cross?' he asked.
'I don't think so. Why should she be cross?' As she spoke she took away the empty cup and gave Jimmy the egg. She cut a slice of bread and butter into fingers, and he dipped them into the egg and ate it that way.
'Thisisa nice egg,' said Jimmy. 'But,' he continued, 'I thought perhaps she'd be cross because I got into the wrong train.'
'Why did you run away from the policeman?' asked the lady.
'Because he said he should lock me up.'
'But he was only joking, you know.'
'Was he?' asked Jimmy, opening his eyes very widely.
'That's all,' was the answer, and Jimmy looked thoughtful for a few minutes.
'I don't think I like policemen who joke,' he said solemnly.
'Then,' asked the lady, 'why did you run away from the circus? You seem to be very fond of running away.'
'I shan't run away from you,' said Jimmy. 'Only I heard the policeman's voice outside the van and I thought I'd better.'
'Well,' she answered, 'if you had not run away you would have found your mother much sooner.'
'I do hope she isn't like Aunt Selina,' he said wistfully.
'What should you wish her to be like?' asked the lady.
'Why, like you, of course,' he cried, and then he was very much surprised to see the lady lean forward and throw her arms about him and to feel her kissing him again and again. And when she left off her eyes were wet.
'Why did you do that?' asked Jimmy.
'Sheislike me, you darling!' said the lady.
'My mother?' cried Jimmy.
'You dear, foolish boy, I am your mother,' she said.
'Oh,' said Jimmy, and it was quite a long time before he was able to say anything else.
A few moments later Mrs. Wilmot rang the bell, and a servant carried a large bath into the room, then she went away and came back with a can of very hot water, and then she went away again to fetch a brown-paper parcel. Mrs. Wilmot opened the parcel at once, and Jimmy sat up in bed and looked on. He saw her take out a suit of brown clothes, a shirt, and all sorts of things, so that he should have everything new.
Then he got out of bed, and had such a washing and scrubbing as he had never had before. He was washed from head to foot, and dressed in the new clothes, and when he looked in the glass he saw himself just as he had been before he left Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate.
'Now,' said Mrs. Wilmot, 'I think you may as well come to see your father and Winnie.'
'Are they here?' he asked.
'Oh yes,' she explained, 'I sent to tell them last night, and they arrived early this morning. Not both together, because we left Winnie with Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, whilst father went to look for you one way and I went another.'
'Then you were really looking for me?' cried Jimmy.
'Why, of course we were,' she answered. 'We knew you were walking about the country dressed as a little clown. But come,' she said, 'because your father is anxious to see you.'
'I should like to see him too,' said Jimmy. 'I hope he's as nice as you are,' he cried as they left the bedroom.
'He is ever so much nicer,' was the quiet answer.
'I don't think he could be,' said Jimmy, as his mother turned the handle. Then he remembered what the boys had said at school.
'Winnie isn't really black, is she?' he asked.
'Black!' cried his mother; 'she is just the dearest little girl in the world.'
'I'm glad of that,' said Jimmy, and then he entered the room and saw a tall man with a fair moustache standing in front of the fire, and, seated on his shoulder, was one of the prettiest little girls Jimmy had ever seen.
'There he is!' she cried. 'There's my brother. Put me down, please.'
'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as his father put Winnie on to the floor.
But the next moment Mr. Wilmot put his hands under Jimmy's arms and lifted him up to kiss him, but the odd thing was that when he was standing on the floor again he could not think of anything to say to Winnie.
'I've got a dollie!' she said presently, while their father and mother stood watching them, 'and I'm going to have a governess.'
Then they all began to talk quite freely, and Jimmy soon felt as if he had lived with them always. Presently they went out for a walk to buy Jimmy some more clothes, and when they came back the children's dinner was ready.
'I do like being here,' said Jimmy during the meal.
'I am glad you got found,' cried Winnie.
'So am I,' he answered. 'But suppose,' he suggested, 'that I hadn't been found before you went away again.'
Then Winnie solemnly laid aside her fork—she was not old enough to use a knife.
'Why,' she said, 'you do say funny things. We're not going away again, ever.'
'Aren't you?' asked Jimmy, looking up at his father and mother.
'No,' answered Mrs. Wilmot, 'we're going to stay at home with you.'
'Are you really—really?' asked Jimmy, for he could scarcely believe it.
'Yes, really,' said Mr. Wilmot.
'It will be nice,' said Jimmy thoughtfully, and then he went on with his dinner.
THE END
I.The Flamp, The Ameliorator, and The Schoolboy's Apprentice,by E. V. LUCAS
II.Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories
III.The Bad Family,by Mrs. Fenwick
IV.The Story of Little Black Sambo. Illustrated in Colours,by Helen Bannerman
V.The Bountiful Lady,by Thomas Cobb
VI.A Cat Book, Portraitsby H. Officer Smith, Characteristicsby E. V. LUCAS
VII.A Flower Book. Illustrated in Coloursby Nellie Benson.Story by Eden Coybee
VIII.The Pink Knight. Illustrated in Coloursby J. R. Monsell
IX.The Little Clown,by Thomas Cobb
Cooper's First Term.Illustrated byGertrude M. Bradley.
I. A SIX-INCH ADMIRAL.By G. A. Best.
II. HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY DAYS. ByE. Florence Mason. With Verses byHamish Hendry.
III. PILLOW STORIES.By S. L. Heward.With Illustrations byGertrude M. Bradley.