A Peep Behind the Scenes | Page 8

had been slipped
through, and tied in a bow at the top. Rosalie seized it eagerly, and
began reading it at once.
'We've got such a good clergyman here,' said the young woman; 'he has
not been here more than a few months, and he has done so many nice
things for us. Mrs. Leslie reads aloud in one of the cottages once a
week; and we all take our work and go to listen to her, and she talks to
us so beautiful out of the Bible; it always does me good to go.'
She stopped suddenly, as she saw Rosalie's mother's face. She had
turned deadly pale, and was leaning back against the box with her eyes
fixed upon her.
'What's the matter, ma'am?' said the kind-hearted little woman. 'I'm
afraid you've turned faint; and how you do tremble! Let me help you in;
you'd better lie on your bed, hadn't you?'
She gave her her arm, and she and Rosalie took her inside the caravan
and laid her on her bed. But she was obliged to leave her in a minute or
two, as her little boy was climbing on the gate, and she was afraid he
would fall.
A few minutes afterwards a great noise was heard in the distance, and a
number of the village children appeared, running in front of the
wild-beast show, which was just passing through. The young woman
took her little boy in her arms, and held him up, that he might see the
elephants and camels, which were marching with stately dignity in
front of the yellow vans.
When they had gone, Toby appeared with the horse, and said his master
had told him he was to start, and he would follow presently with the
rest of the waggons. The horse was soon put in the caravan, and they
were just starting, when the young woman gathered a nosegay of the
lovely flowers in her garden, and handed them to Rosalie, saying, 'Take
them, and put them in water for your mother; the sight of them maybe

will do her good. You'll learn the hymn, won't you? Good-bye, and
God bless you!'
She watched them out of sight, standing at her cottage door with her
child in her arms, whilst Rosalie leaned out of the window to nod to her
and smile at her.
Then they turned a corner, and came into the main street of the village.
'Can you see the church, Rosalie?' asked her mother hurriedly.
'Yes, mammie dear,' said Rosalie; 'it's just at the end of this street. Such
a pretty church, with trees all round it!'
'Are there any houses near it?' asked her mother.
'Only one, mammie dear, a big house in a garden; but I can't see it very
well, there are so many trees in front of it.'
'Ask Toby to put you down, Rosalie, and run and have a look at it as we
pass.'
So Rosalie was lifted down from the caravan, and ran up to the
vicarage gate, whilst her mother raised herself on her elbow to see as
much as she could through the open window. But she could only see
the spire of the church and the chimneys of the house, and she was too
exhausted to get up.
Presently Rosalie overtook them, panting with her running. Toby never
dared to wait for her, lest his master should find fault with him for
stopping; but Rosalie often got down from the caravan, to gather wild
flowers, or to drink at a wayside spring, and, as she was very fleet of
foot, she was always able to overtake them.
'What was it like, Rosalie?' asked her mother, when she was seated on
the box beside her bed.
'Oh, ever so pretty, mammie dear; such soft grass and such lovely roses,
and a broad gravel walk all up to the door. And in the garden there was

a lady; such a pretty, kind-looking lady! and she and her little girl were
gathering some of the flowers.'
'Did they see you, Rosalie?'
'Yes; the little girl saw me, mammie, peeping through the gate, and she
said, "Who is that little girl, mamma? I never saw her before." And
then her mamma looked up and smiled at me; and she was just coming
to speak to me when I turned frightened, and I saw the caravan had
gone out of sight; so I ran away, and I've been running ever since to get
up to you.'
The mother listened to her child's account with a pale and restless face.
Then she lay back on her pillow and sighed several times.
At last they heard a rumbling sound behind them, and Toby announced,
'It's master; he's soon overtaken us.'
'Rosalie,' said her mother anxiously, 'don't