Children of the
performers were swinging on the tent ropes, chattering monkeys
sat astride the Shetland ponies, awaiting their entrance to the
ring. The shrieks of the hyenas in the distant animal tent, the
roaring of the lions and the trumpeting of the elephants mingled
with the incessant clamour of the band. And back of all this,
pointing upward in mute protest, rose a solemn church spire,
white and majestic against a vast panorama of blue, moonlit
hills, that encircled the whole lurid picture. Jim's eyes turned
absently toward the church as he sat fumbling with the lock of
the little brown satchel.
He had gone from store to store in the various towns where they
had played looking for something to inspire wonder in the heart
of a miss, newly arrived at her sixteenth year. Only the
desperation of a last moment had forced him to decide upon the
imitation alligator bag, which he now held in his hand.
It looked small and mean to him as the moment of presentation
approached, and he was glad that the saleswoman in the little
country store had suggested the addition of ribbons and laces,
which he now drew from the pocket of his corduroys. He placed
his red and blue treasures very carefully in the bottom of the
satchel, and remembered with regret the strand of coral beads
which he had so nearly bought to go with them.
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