omment as soon as
he saw the man walk. "Got it in Germany, too; I know that peculiar
'swing.' What's his little game, I wonder? And what's a Brazilian doing
in the army of the Kaiser? And, having been in it, what's he doing
dropping into this line--backing a circus, and travelling with it like a
Bohemian?"

But although these thoughts interested him, he did not put them into
words nor take anybody into his confidence regarding them.

As for the other members of the company, he found "the indifferent
rider," known as Signor Antonio Martinelli, an undoubted Irishman of
about thirty years of age, extremely handsome, but with a certain
"shiftiness" of the eye which was far from inspiring confidence, and
with a trick of the tongue which suggested that his baptismal
certificate probably bore the name of Anthony Martin. He found, too,
that all he had heard regarding the youth and beauty of the chevalier's
second wife was quite correct, and although she devoted herself a great
deal to the Brazilian coffee planter and the Irish-Italian "Martinelli,"
she had a way of looking over at her middle-aged spouse, without his
knowledge, that left no doubt in Cleek's mind regarding the real state
of her feelings towards the man. And last, but not least by any means,
he found the chevalier himself a frank, open-minded, open-hearted,
lovable man who ought not, in the natural order of things, to have an
enemy in the world. Despite his high-falutin' _nom de theatre_, he was
Belgian--a big, soft-hearted, easy-going, unsuspicious fellow, who
worshipped his wife, adored his children, and loved every creature of
the animal world.

How well that love was returned, Cleek saw when he went with him to that
part of the building where his animals were kept, and watched them
"nose" his hand or lick his cheek whenever the opportunity offered. But
Nero, the lion, was perhaps the greatest surprise of all, for so tame,
so docile, so little feared was the animal, that its cage-door was open,
and they found one of the attendants squatting cross-legged inside and
playing with it as though it were a kitten.

"There he is, doctor," said the chevalier, waving his hand towards the
beast. "Ah, I will not believe that it was anything but an accident,
sir. He loved my boy. He would hurt no one that is kind to him. Fetch
him out, Tom, and let the doctor see him at close quarters."

Despite all these assurances of the animal's docility, Cleek could not
but rememb