Of course, if you come to the city to attend the Circus, I shan’t run you off when you knock at my door. But my advice to you is to keep away. You are altogether too good now to go to circuses, though I well remember the time when you were not good enough. This talk of yours about turning over new leaves don’t go with the writer of this letter one bit. I knew you too well of old, but even if you think you are better than you used to be, you had best take no chances of a relapse, but stay where you are, which is the advice of
Your one-time friend,
Terry B. P.
“Well,” said Billy, as he finished reading this letter, “if that ain’t the very worst! I must have rubbed his fur the wrong way. He always was the meanest dog I ever knew. This settles it—I’ll never associate with him again.”
While Billy talked big, he had a sneaking feeling all the time that for once Terrence Bull Pup had the best of him. His conscience was not altogether clear about not having answered his letter.
“At any rate,” he wound up, “I’ll go to that old Circus now if I never do another thing. I may have a chance to show that dog a trick or two yet. I’ll start day after tomorrow.”
CHAPTER IV
ON HIS WAY TO THE CIRCUS
IT was ten miles from Cloverleaf Farm to Springfield so Billy Whiskers decided to make an early start for he didn’t want to miss any of the sights by being late. More than that, he could get away much easier before the family were up when it would be necessary to make all kinds of excuses and tell all sorts of fibs, and even then it was as likely as not that the boys would decide that it would be safer for him to be locked up all day, which would make no end of difficulty and delay, even if he finally succeeded in breaking out and making his escape.
The evening before he went around calling on all his friends. While he did not actually bid them good-bye, it was afterward remarked that he had seemed unusually kind and subdued. Polly Parrot, talking it over with the Plymouth Rock family, said that she felt sure all the time that there was something up, but she had never hoped for any such good luck as his clearing out. At which heartless speech the Plymouth Rocks were greatly scandalized, and they told Polly, all talking together, that she ought to be ashamed of herself and that they did not care to associate with her any more until she was ready to take back what she had said and apologize.
“Uh,” said Polly, “Apologize nothing! He’ll be back all too soon. You’ll see,” and she laughed like a crazy person.