stello; the man had made
his hideous task almost bearable.

"Now I don't want to lose her and I don't want to lose you," Costello
went on, "but things have got to go right, see? They've got to! You're
one of them kind that can take a tip. Give her what she wants! What's
the difference? You're a gentleman--she's a lady! She doesn't know any
better!"

"I am so sorry, so very sorry to trouble--" faltered Von Barwig.

"You're all right, profess'," broke in Costello, "you earn your money if
it is small pay; but the job goes against you, now don't it?" His voice
was almost soft. "You ain't used to our kind, are you?" The man's
brusque kindness touched Von Barwig, and he choked up a little as he
spoke:

"Well--I--I--I have had higher thoughts. Here in Houston Street life is
strange, and I must take what I find. Times are a little hard, a little
hard, and the parents of my pupils are pushed for money. They don't pay,
otherwise, perhaps I--" and Von Barwig sighed.

"You ain't suited, that's what's the matter!"

"Oh, yes; oh, yes! I--" broke in Von Barwig, afraid that Costello might
dispense with his services altogether. "I acknowledge the curios came a
little on my nerves at first. It was all so strange: the people staring,
the midgets chattering, the stout lady fanning, fanning, always fanning,
the lecturing of the lecturer; and you at the door always calling
'Insides, insides!'"

Costello laughed, "You mean 'Insi-i-ide.'"

"Yes, insides," went on Von Barwig, unconsciously making the same
mistake. Then he added, trying to convince himself, "Better times will
come soon and then, perhaps, we shall part, but for the present I remain,
eh, yes?"

Costello nodded. "As long as you like, profess'; as long as you like!"
and he held out his hand for Von Barwig to shake. As Von Barwig did so,
he said: "I shall always remember it was your money that helped me to
bridge over--my--my difficulties----"

"That's all right, that's all right!" asserted Costello. "You're worth
the money or you wouldn't get it. But don't forget, when the lecturer
says, 'Bosco, Bosco, the armless wonder!' play up lively, see? and when
he says, 'Bites their heads off and eats their bodies; eats 'em alive,
eats 'em alive!' give it to her thumpin'!"

Here Von Barwig drew a deep breath. He was tired, tired unto his very
soul of the whole business; but he had to go on.

"Yes," he said, with a pathetic smile, "she shall eat 'em alive y