the board seats and gasp, when, all dressed in pink and spangles,
I'd go flying through the air--"

"Just like a bird?" questioned Teddy, with a rising inflection in
his voice.

"Yes. That's what I'd like most to do, Teddy," concluded the
lad, his face flushed with the thought of the triumphs that might
be his.

Teddy Tucker uttered a soft, long-drawn whistle.

"My, you've got it bad, haven't you? Never thought you were that
set on the circus. Wouldn't it be fine, now, if we both could
get with a show?"

"Great!" agreed Phil, with an emphatic nod. "Sometimes I think
my uncle would be glad to have me go away--that he wouldn't care
whether I joined a circus, or what became of me."

"Ain't had much fun since your ma died, have you, Phil?"
questioned Teddy sympathetically.

"Not much," answered the lad, a thin, gray mist clouding his
eyes. "No, not much. But, then, I'm not complaining."

"Your uncle's a mean old--"

"There, there, Teddy, please don't say it. He may be all you
think he is, but for all the mean things he's said and done to