The spectators good-naturedly laughed, and some of them wrote on her slate, “Try again, little girl.” Mr. Jubber made an apology, saying that the extreme enthusiasm of the reception accorded to his pupil had shaken her nerves; and then signed to her, with a benevolent smile, but with a very sinister expression in his eyes, to try another trick. She succeeded in this; but still showed so much hesitation, that Mr. Jubber, fearing another failure, took her away with him while there was a chance of making a creditable exit.
As she was led across the ring, the child looked intently at Valentine.
There was terror in her eyes--terror palpable enough to be remarked by some of the careless people near Mr. Blyth. “Poor little thing! she seems frightened at the man in the fine green jacket,” said one. “And not without cause, I dare say,” added another. “You don’t mean that he could ever be brute enough to ill use a child like that?--it’s impossible!” cried a third.
At this moment the clown entered the ring. The instant before he shouted the well-known “Here we are!” Valentine thought he heard a strange cry behind the red curtain. He was not certain about it, but the mere doubt made his blood run chill. He listened for a minute anxiously. There was no chance now, however, for testing the correctness of his suspicion. The band had struck up a noisy jig tune, and the clown was capering and tumbling wonderfully, amid roars of laughter.
“This may be my fault,” thought Valentine. _“This!_ What?” He was afraid to pursue that inquiry. His ruddy face suddenly turned pale; and he left the circus, determined to find out what was really going on behind the red curtain.
He walked round the outside of the building, wasting some time before he found a door to apply at for admission. At last he came to a sort of a passage, with some tattered horse-cloths hanging over its outer entrance.
“You can’t come in here,” said a shabby lad, suddenly appearing from the inside in his shirt sleeves.
Mr. Blyth took out half-a-crown. “I want to see the deaf and dumb child directly!”
“Oh, all right! go in,” muttered the lad, pocketing the money greedily.
Valentine hastily entered the passage. As soon as he was inside, a sound reached his ears at which his heart sickened and turned faint. No words can describe it in all the horror of its helplessness--it was the moan of pain from a dumb human creature.