"You ain't lost your tongue, have you?" cried Danny.

"Maybe the cat's got it," said Celia Jane, following as usual her elder
brother's lead and laughing at her own wit.

"What you starin' at so hard, Jerry?" called Chris.

Jerry disdained to reply or to let his enraptured gaze wander for a
moment from the dazzling poster. Curiosity soon got the better of Chris
and he started to walk back.

"El'funt!" shouted Chris, when he was near enough to see the poster. His
shout started the whole Mullarkey brood galloping towards the billboard.

"The circus!" cried Danny, from the superior experience of his nine
years. "The circus is coming to town!" He threw himself on the grass by
Jerry and pressed the uneaten apple core into his hand.

"I don't want it," said Jerry.

"Aw, take it, Jerry. I didn't mean to eat so much of it, honest I
didn't. I just wanted to tease you." He closed Jerry's fingers around
the core.

"It doesn't say the circus is coming," Nora observed, pointing to some
lettering in one corner of the poster. Nora was nearly eight years old
and proud of her ability to read print, if the words weren't too
big,--an ability shared by none of the others except Danny.