!
haw! haw!" exploded the showman. "And how many do you suppose of them
farmers come after their money? Not one, little ladies! not one!"

"So the lions saved your money for you?" quoth Tess, agreeably. "That's
most int'resting--isn't it, Dot?"

"I--I wouldn't ever expect them to be so kind from the way they roar,"
announced the littlest Corner House girl, honestly. She had a vivid
remembrance of the big cats that she had seen in the circus the previous
summer.

"They're like folks--to a degree," said Mr. Sorber, soberly. "Some men
is all gruff and bluff, but tender at heart. So's--Why, how-d'ye-do,
ma'am!" he said, getting up and bowing to Mrs. MacCall, whom he just
saw. "I hope I see you well?"

The housekeeper was rather amazed--as well she might have been; but
Tess, who had a good, memory, introduced the old showman quite as a
matter of course.

"This is Neale's uncle, Mrs. MacCall," she said. "Neale doesn't know he
is here yet; but Ruthie has asked him to stay to supper----"

"With your permission, ma'am," said Mr. Sorber, with another flourish of
his hat.

"Oh, to be sure," agreed the housekeeper.

"And Neale runned away from a circus when he came here," said the
round-eyed Dot.

"No!" gasped the housekeeper.

"Yes, Mrs. MacCall," Tess hurried on to say. "And he used to be a clown,
and an acrobat, and----"

"And a lion in a Daniel's den!" interposed Dot, afraid that Tess would
tell it all. "Did you _ever_?"

And Mrs. MacCall was sure she never had!

Meanwhile Ruth and Agnes had run their separate ways. It was Agnes who
was fortunate in meeting the carriage driven by Neale O'Neil. The boy
was alone, and the moment he saw the panting girl he drew in his horses.
He knew something of moment had happened.

"What's brought you 'way out here, Aggie?" he demanded, turning the
wheel so that she might climb in beside him. His passengers had been
left in the country and he was to drive back for them late in the
evening.

"It--it's _you_, Neale!" burst out Agnes, almost crying.

"What's the matter with me?" demanded the boy, in wonder.

"What you've been expecting has happened. Oh dear, Neale! whatever shall
we do? Your Uncle Sorber's come for you."

The boy pulled in his team with a frightened jerk, and for a moment
Agnes thought he was going to jump from the carriage. She laid a hand
upon his arm.

"But we're not going to let him take you away, Neale! Oh, we won't! Ruth
says we must hide you--some