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ath the Thultan of the Indieth, and he never got the better of it; and thee married a thecond timeā ā€”married a Cheethemonger ath fell in love with her from the frontā ā€”and heā€™th a Overtheer and makinā€™ a fortun.ā€

These various changes, Mr. Sleary, very short of breath now, related with great heartiness, and with a wonderful kind of innocence, considering what a bleary and brandy-and-watery old veteran he was. Afterwards he brought in Josephine, and E. W. B. Childers (rather deeply lined in the jaws by daylight), and the Little Wonder of Scholastic Equitation, and in a word, all the company. Amazing creatures they were in Louisaā€™s eyes, so white and pink of complexion, so scant of dress, and so demonstrative of leg; but it was very agreeable to see them crowding about Sissy, and very natural in Sissy to be unable to refrain from tears.

ā€œThere! Now Thethilia hath kithd all the children, and hugged all the women, and thaken handth all round with all the men, clear, every one of you, and ring in the band for the thecond part!ā€

As soon as they were gone, he continued in a low tone. ā€œNow, Thethilia, I donā€™t athk to know any thecreth, but I thuppothe I may conthider thith to be Mith Thquire.ā€

ā€œThis is his sister. Yes.ā€

ā€œAnd tā€™other onā€™th daughter. Thatā€™h what I mean. Hope I thee you well, mith. And I hope the Thquireā€™th well?ā€

ā€œMy father will be here soon,ā€ said Louisa, anxious to bring him to the point. ā€œIs my brother safe?ā€

ā€œThafe and thound!ā€ he replied. ā€œI want you jutht to take a peep at the Ring, mith, through here. Thethilia, you know the dodgeth; find a thpy-hole for yourthelf.ā€

They each looked through a chink in the boards.

ā€œThatā€™h Jack the Giant Killerā ā€”piethe of comic infant bithnith,ā€ said Sleary. ā€œThereā€™th a property-houthe, you thee, for Jack to hide in; thereā€™th my Clown with a thauthepan-lid and a thpit, for Jackā€™th thervant; thereā€™th little Jack himthelf in a thplendid thoot of armour; thereā€™th two comic black thervanth twithe ath big ath the houthe, to thtand by it and to bring it in and clear it; and the Giant (a very ecthpenthive bathket one), he anā€™t on yet. Now, do you thee ā€™em all?ā€

ā€œYes,ā€ they both said.

ā€œLook at ā€™em again,ā€ said Sleary, ā€œlook at ā€™em well. You thee em all? Very good. Now, mith;ā€ he put a form for them to sit on; ā€œI have my opinionth, and the Thquire your father hath hith. I donā€™t want to know what your brotherā€™th been up to; ith better for me not to know. All I thay ith, the Thquire hath thtood by Thethilia, and Iā€™ll thtand by the Thquire. Your brother ith one them black thervanth.ā€

Louisa uttered an exclamation, partly of distress, partly of satisfaction.

ā€œIth a fact,ā€ said Sleary, ā€œand even knowinā€™ it, you couldnā€™t put your finger on him. Let the Thquire come. I thall keep your brother here after the performanth. I thant undreth him, nor yet wath hith paint off. Let the Thquire come here after the performanth, or come here yourthelf after the performanth, and you thall find your brother, and have the whole plathe to talk to him in. Never mind the lookth of him, ath long ath heā€™th well hid.ā€

Louisa, with many thanks and with a lightened load, detained Mr. Sleary no longer then. She left her love for her brother, with her eyes full of tears; and she and Sissy went away until later in the afternoon.

Mr. Gradgrind arrived within an hour afterwards. He too had encountered no one whom he knew; and was now sanguine with Slearyā€™s assistance, of getting his disgraced son to Liverpool in the night. As neither of the three could be his companion without almost identifying him under any disguise, he prepared a letter to a correspondent whom he could trust, beseeching him to ship the bearer off at any cost, to North or South America, or any distant part of the world to which he could be the most speedily and privately dispatched.

This done, they walked about, waiting for the Circus to be quite vacated; not only by the audience, but by the company and by the horses. After watching it a long time, they saw Mr. Sleary bring out a chair and sit down by the side-door, smoking; as if that were his signal that they might approach.

ā€œYour thervant, Thquire,ā€ was his cautious salutation as they passed in. ā€œIf you want me youā€™ll find me here. You muthnā€™t mind your thon having a comic livery on.ā€

They all three went in; and Mr. Gradgrind sat down forlorn, on the Clownā€™s performing chair in the middle of the ring. On one of the back benches, remote in the subdued light and the strangeness of the place, sat the villainous whelp, sulky to the last, whom he had the misery to call his son.

In a preposterous coat, like a beadleā€™s, with cuffs and flaps exaggerated to an unspeakable extent; in an immense waistcoat, knee-breeches, buckled shoes, and a mad cocked hat; with nothing fitting him, and everything of coarse material, moth-eaten and full of holes; with seams in his black face, where fear and heat had started through the greasy composition daubed all over it; anything so grimly, detestably, ridiculously shameful as the whelp in his comic livery, Mr. Gradgrind never could by any other means have believed in, weighable and measurable fact though it was. And one of his model children had come to this!

At first the whelp would not draw any nearer, but persisted in remaining up there by himself. Yielding at length, if any concession so sullenly made can be called yielding, to the entreaties of Sissyā ā€”for Louisa he disowned altogetherā ā€”he came down, bench by bench, until he stood in the sawdust, on the verge of the circle, as far as possible, within its limits from where his father sat.

ā€œHow was this done?ā€ asked the father.

ā€œHow was what done?ā€ moodily answered the son.

ā€œThis robbery,ā€ said the father, raising his voice upon the word.

ā€œI forced the

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