of his wonderfully good
fortune; but silence meant success, and he locked his secret in his
bosom, not even daring to talk with any one he knew, lest he should
betray himself by some incautious word.

He did not go home to dinner that day, and once or twice he felt
impelled to walk past the candy stand, giving a mysterious shake of the
head at the proprietor as he did so. The afternoon performance passed
off as usual to all of the spectators save Toby. He imagined that each
one of the performers knew that he was about to join them; and even as
he passed the cage containing the monkeys he fancied that one
particularly old one knew all about his intention of running away.

Of course it was necessary for him to go home at the close of the
afternoon's performance, in order to get one or two valuable articles of
his own--such as a boat, a kite, and a pair of skates--and in order that
his actions might not seem suspicious. Before he left the grounds,
however, he stole slyly around to the candy stand, and informed Mr. Job
Lord, in a very hoarse whisper, that he would be on hand at the time
appointed.

Mr. Lord patted him on the head, gave him two large sticks of candy,
and, what was more kind and surprising, considering the fact that he
wore glasses, and was cross-eyed, he winked at Toby. A wink from Mr.
Lord must have been intended to convey a great deal, because, owing to
the defect in his eyes, it required no little exertion, and even then
could not be considered as a really first-class wink.

That wink, distorted as it was, gladdened Toby's heart immensely, and
took away nearly all the sting of the scolding with which Uncle Daniel
greeted him when he reached home.

That night--despite the fact that he was going to travel with the
circus, despite the fact that his home was not a happy or cheerful
one--Toby was not in a pleasant frame of mind. He began to feel for the
first time that he was doing wrong; and as he gazed at Uncle Daniel's
stern, forbidding-looking face, it seemed to have changed somewhat from
its severity, and caused a great lump of something to come up in his
throat as he thought that perhaps he should never see it again. Just
then one or two kind words would have prevented him from running away,
bright as the prospect of circus life appeared.

It was almost impossible for him to eat anything, and this very
surprising state of affairs attracted the attention of Uncle Daniel.

"Bless my heart! what ail