Lizzie stood still to have another look at the picture; for it was nearly dark on Sunday, and only a few of the most glaring points could be seen. And as she looked, she noticed that the name of "Stanley" appeared on the show, and over the roundabout—in fact, the whole fair seemed to belong to the Stanleys, so that Lizzie felt doubly glad she had put on her best frock to visit a lady of such wealth and importance.
After looking about her for some minutes, hoping to see Mrs. Stanley appear from behind some of the caravans, Lizzie stepped up to the edge of the platform, and tried to make the girl understand that she wanted to speak to her, but the din of the steam roundabout, the crack, crack, bang, bang, of the rifles, and the grinding of an Italian organ just inside the wax-work exhibition itself, made this perfectly impossible, and all the notice the girl vouchsafed to her, was to call in a louder tone:
"Walk up, ladies, walk up, the performance is just about to begin. Only one penny to see all the wonders of this marvellous exhibition." And as she repeated these words, the girl moved the gilded stick she carried in front of the gaudily-painted picture, and walked on in lofty disregard of Lizzie's beseeching looks.
At last, as there seemed no other way open to make her arrival known to the lady she was in search of, Lizzie went up the few steps, and presented herself to the man who was taking money in front of the curtain that hung over the entrance to the show.
"I want to see Mrs. Stanley, if you please," she said, putting on her most ladylike air.
The man looked at her with a puzzled expression, and just at that moment the curtain was pushed aside, and two or three boys and girls came out of the exhibition, looking very hot, and bringing an overpowering smell of sawdust and paraffin with them.
"You want to see Mrs. Stanley," said the man slowly, looking the girl all over, and noting every point about her dress and appearance. "And what may you want her for?" he said, resting his elbows on the little green baize-covered table the more easily to look at the girl more closely.
She drew herself up and looked indignant. "I have come to see her," she said; "she told me to come on Sunday evening."
"Oh! She did, did she? Well, then, it's all right, I s'pose. Only she ain't got time to see many visitors, I can tell you, young lady;" and then the man poked his head inside the curtain and called, "Tottie, Tottie, come here."
A pale cross-looking girl, dressed in bright pink tarlatan, came presently to the front.