Eyre suggested that we arm our circus people, and Speed promised to
attend to it and to post them at the tent doors, ready to resist any
interference with the performance on the part of Buckhurst's
recruits.

It was already nearly one o'clock as we threaded our way through the
crowds at the entrance, where our band was playing gayly and thousands
of white head-dresses fluttered in the sparkling sunshine that poured
intermittently from a sky where great white clouds were sailing
seaward.

"Walk right up, messoors! Entry done, mesdames, see voo play!"
shouted Byram, waving a handful of red and blue tickets. "Animals all
on view before the performance begins! Walk right into the corridor of
livin' marvels and defunct curiosities! Bring the little ones to see
the elephant an' the camuel--the fleet ship of the Sairy! Don't miss
nothing! Don't fail to contemplate le ploo magnifique spectacle in
all Europe! Don't let nobody say you died an' never saw the only
Flyin' Mermaid! An' don't forget the prize--ten thousand francs to the
man, woman, or che-ild who can prove that this here Flyin' Mermaid
ain't a fictious bein' straight from Paradise!"

Speed and I made our way slowly through the crush to the stables, then
around to the dressing-rooms, where little Grigg, in his spotted
clown's costume, was putting the last touches of vermilion to his
white cheeks, and Horan, draped in a mangy leopard-skin to imitate
Hercules, sat on his two-thousand-pound dumbbell, curling his shiny
black mustache with Mrs. Grigg's iron.

"Jacqueline's dressed," cried Miss Crystal, parting the curtain of
her dressing-room, just enough to show her pretty, excited eyes and
nose.

"All right; I won't be long," replied Speed, who was to act as
ring-master. And he turned and looked at me as I raised the canvas
flap which screened my dressing-room.

"I think," I said, "that we had better ride over to Trecourt after
the show--not that there's any immediate danger--"

"There is no immediate danger," said Speed, "because she is here."

My face began to burn; I looked at him miserably. "How do you know?"

"She is there in the tent. I saw her."

He came up and held his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry I told you,"
he said.

"Why?" I asked. "She knows what I am. Is there any reason why she
should not be amused? I promise you she shall be!"

"Then why do you speak so bitterly? Don't misconstrue her presence.
Don't be a contemptible fool. If I have re