The herald., 1918-02-07

| Then Eva seemed translated into
! fairyland. The clown had kept his
word. More than that. he had added
the feature of music tp the enter.
tainment. for Just as the lads had
| performed their share OF the function,
| two members of the circus band. play
ing comets, appeared on the scene,
and, keeping march time To the march
| they delivered, the clowns daughter,
| all radiant with tulle and tinsel drove
slowly into the ring, seated in her
gilded chariot, white ribbon lines
guiding the two snowy ponies.
And then, the wonder of wonders for
Eva, into the ring bounded the clown.
| oh, but he was funny, and oh, the
rapturOuS delight of Eva and the out
| side audience, aS Napoleon Bonaparte
came upon the scene, the gifted, trick
mule who chased his master in Il cir
Gle, toppled him over the ropes, threw
him off his back and danced about
him on his own hind feet!
Never was so much delight crowded
INTO the space OF single hour, and
the child wonder of the white ponies
came into the room where Eva was.
and kissed her and presented her
with great overlooking bag Of pea
clown made a speech to Eva's factor"
friends, and the air rang with the &C.
carnations of the juvenile group.
$50 you're back from your grand
philanthropic excursion, are you?"
hailed the ringmaster, as the clown
reappeared on the circus grounds.
"YeS, what's your interest, EspeyT'
challenged the clown keenly. "Say.
bear you pretend to be-. and if you had
seen all the good little attention 10
the poor and lowly has worked out.
you'd come out of that close shell 90
yours. Look here. I've given pass
TO that odd dozen amateur actors for
tomorrow night. See that it's hon
Ored. will you?"
What about the six dollars and fifty
cents? OF course you got that"
"Sure did" acknowledged the open
hearted clown frankly. land added as
much more to IL, and donated the
whole of it to buy an invalid chair for
the little miss" and then he was quite
amazed at the persistency Of the ring
master in betraylng an interest in de-
tails of the incident Of the afternoon
even to the location of the widows
home.
At dusk that evening Gurdon Espey
left the circus grounds after carefully
placing n bank note in an envelope. He
sought out the scene Of the amateur
circus of the afternoon and the home
of Mrs. Daniels adjoining. He was
almost stealthy as he advanced up the
garden path. The front door was
closed. but light streamed broadly
across the middle Of the porch, al
though Il was In shadow.
Espey crept up the steps on tip toe.
He stopped down, drew out the en-
velope and attempted to push 1t under
the door, but this set 30 closely shut
that the interstices would not admit
the envelope.
"What Is it, please?" spoke a voice
at the Swallowed end of the porch,
startling Espey quite. and straining
his vision. he made out feminine
form rising from chair.
81 fancy l am detected :" and he half
II, ha
am one of the circus men, madam, and
we are all so interested in that little
tot of yours. that we want to make 1.
easier for her. and I was leaving
trifle-"
There GurdOn Espey paused. There
directly in front OF the window, both
had come to a halt. The full radiance
from the lamplight within flooded their
faces. They were stunned at the I'M
expected confrOntment man and
wife,
"Gurdon!" died upon the lips of the
woman, and she wavered and was
forced to steady herself by grasping
the porch rail.
"Alicer' uttered the man, and the
habitual cynical expression left his
face, and the glowing eyes told of
new soul aroused.
She shrank back. 1t was under the
memory of five years previous when
she had fled from this man as from
pestilence. for soul and body were
given over to drink until She had
feared for her life. She had hidden
away from him and now-he had found
her.
Alice" he said. his tones tremu-
lOus, but not uncertain, "since the day
Of your absence and that of your dear
little one awakened me to realiza-
ton of my utter unworthiness, no drop
Of liquor has passed my lips"
sour little one" she corrected him,
for she recognized In him the regen-
Grated man.
MAY come back?" he added, with
a longing glance through the window
ut little white-robed form lying on
a trundle cot.
Her hands clasped. her eyes were
suffused, her care-wOrn. but still beau
tiful face looked up to him trustingly.
hopeful, longingly.
"Oh. Gurdon !" she sobbed, "win you