On the third day of their imprisonment, Susan was sitting moodily on
the floor, sulking as usual, and biting her lips and fretting, when
suddenly the well-beloved "too-to-too-a-too" of the Punch-and-Judy
showman came floating through the window. Wild with delight, she
snatched up the twins, and, rushing to the window, bent her body
forward, and looked out. Yes; there it was--there was the show
Preparations were being made for the drama; the green curtain was
down, the crowd was collecting, and the acting manager was already
taking a critical survey of the persons who loitered, and was mentally
marking down those who would not be allowed to stroll or slink away
without being solicited for a fee. The front of the stage was not
turned towards the window out of which Susan was looking; and she
could only see part of the show. That was a terrible disappointment to
her; and her suffering was really very great when she found that the
gallows upon which Punch was to be hanged was erected just in that
corner of the stage of which she could not obtain a glimpse. She
stamped her foot upon the floor excitedly; and, bending her body still
more forward in her eagerness, poor Daniel slipped out of her arms on
to the pavement. For a moment Susan was so bewildered that she could
not realize what had occurred: but, when she heard the sharp cry of
agony to which Daniel gave utterance, and when she saw the crowd of
people rushing with frightened faces towards the spot where the little
fellow was lying, she ran into a corner of the room with the other
child in her arms, and throwing her frock over her head, cowered down
with her face to the wall, and began to cry. But little notice was
taken of her. Daniel was picked up and carried into the house. He was
not killed; but his two legs were badly broken, and were destined
never to be of any use to him. So, as he had to depend upon artificial
legs for support, Daniel began to learn the use of crutches almost
before he had begun to learn to toddle.
The love that existed between Joshua and Daniel sprang out of an
innocent flirtation which was indulged in by Joshua Marvel and Ellen
Taylor. The amatory youngsters exchanged vows when they were quite
little things, and pledged themselves not to marry any one else: "no,
not for the wide, wide world!" Innocent kisses, broken pieces of
crockery with which they played at dinners and shops on back-window
sills, and the building of grottoes when the oyster-season came round,
were the material bonds which united the youthful loves of Joshua and
Ellen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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