l as she maintained her balance;
her hair and light muslin dress floated behind her supple figure,
which looked like a bird circling in the air.

"Hep! hep!" she kept exclaiming. Meanwhile her eyes were filled with
tears, and to see she had to raise her head; the movement of the horse
made her dizzy; the terrace of seats and the ring seemed to revolve
around her; she wavered once, twice, and then fell down into the arms
of Orso.

"Oh! Orso, poor Orso!" cried the child.

"What's the matter, Jen? why do you cry? I don't feel the pain, I
don't feel it."

Jenny threw both her arms around his neck and began to kiss his
cheeks. Her whole body trembled, and she sobbed convulsively.

"Orso, oh, Orso," she sobbed, for she could not speak, and her arms
clung closer to his neck. She could not have cried more if she had
been beaten herself. So, in the end, he began to pet and console her.
Forgetting his own pain he took her in his arms and pressed her to his
heart, and his nerves being excited by the beating, he now felt for
the first time that he loved her more than the dog loved his mistress.
He breathed heavily, and his lips panted out the words:

"I feel no pain. When you are with me, I am happy, Jenny, Jenny!"

When this was transpiring the manager was walking in the stables,
foaming with rage. His heart was filled with jealousy. He saw the girl
on her knees before Orso; recently this beautiful child had awakened
the lower instincts in him, but as yet undeveloped, and now he fancied
that she and Orso loved each other, and he felt revengeful, and had a
wild desire to punish her--to whip her soundly. This desire he could
not resist. Shortly he called to her.

She at once left Orso, and in a moment had disappeared in the dark
entrance to the stables. Orso stood stupefied, and instead of
following her he walked with unsteady steps to a bench, and, seating
himself, began to breathe heavily.

When the girl entered the stables she could see nothing, as it was
much darker there than in the ring. Yet, fearing that she would be
suspected of having delayed her coming, she cried out in a faint
voice:

"I am here, master, I am here."

At the same moment the hand of the manager caught hers, and he
hoarsely said:

"Come!"

If he had shown anger or badly scolded her she would have felt less
frightened than at this silence with which he led her to the circus
wardrobe. She hung back, resisting him, and repeating quickly:

"O