"Axident! Didn't ye know there was a circus? We're waitin' for the p'rade. I hear it! I hear it comin'!" The crowd surged ahead toward the street curb. Against her will, Miss Theodosia surged, too. Loud cries filled her ears--ecstatic cries of little children. Down the usually quiet street marched, in all its brilliancy of color and tinsel and tawdry splendor, the street parade. Horses curvetted, elephants patiently plodded, huge cars of mystery swung by; clowns smirked, to the riotous joy of that awful crowd. "See him sittin' tail to! That one there--there!" "Look-a that one with the spotted panth! Look at him throw kitheth!" "They's man-eatin' lions in that cage--see the lady sittin' with 'em!" "See that man top o' the band waggin that shoots up his neck _yards_--quick! See him shorten it again!" Miss Theodosia saw all, against her will. All her thirty-six years she had held aside her dainty skirts from people who went to circuses, but how could she hold them aside now? There was not room. She was caught in the swirl and noise and glee. Suddenly a familiar voice struck her ear. Evangeline's voice! Drawn up on the curbing in a vantage-spot that only they who come early and patiently wait can secure, was the entire family of little Flaggs. At a new angle Miss Theodosia was able to see plainly their breathless ecstasy. She could hear what Evangeline was saying. "Oh, isn't it elegant--oh, look, Stefana! Oh, don't you hope circuses'll be free in Heaven--not jus' the p'rade, but the show!" Then and there Miss Theodosia's heartstrings throbbed unmercifully; she could not do anything with them; they would throb. In vain she turned away--looked at other faces--listened to other voices. It was Evangeline she heard, with her wistful cry, and the little line of Flaggs that she saw. "There's Miss Theodosia--there, there, Stefana! She's come to the p'rade!" "Miss Theodosia! Miss Theodosia! Look, Elly Precious, quick!" And it was Elly Precious she saw, held high by eager arms. That minute she yielded to the wild impulse within. She pressed forward to speaking distance. "Who will go to the show with me this afternoon? All in favor say aye." "Mercy gracious, you don't honest mean--" "Miss Theodosia!" Stefana's lean little face actually whitened. "I honest mean. Isn't anybody going to say aye?" "I!" "I!" "I!" The joyous chorus of "I's"! The jubilant waving of every little Flagg! For the moment, the gorgeous tinseled parade was forgotten in the vaster anticipative glories of the show. Miss Theodosia's heartstrings throbbed a little louder but tunefully. She had forgotten her skirts. Shows begin early and last long. Miss Theodosia's show began at the opening of the gates. She and her little string of followers filed in. "Mercy gracious!" breathed Evangeline in awesome delight at the vision spread before her.