Dot was in a state of great excitement, and kept repeating to Tess stories of her experiences of the summer previous when Dot, her older sisters and some friends, seated in a box of this very circus, Scalawag, the pony, had been publicly presented to the smaller Corner House girls—a scene, and a sensation, which is told of in a previous volume of this series and which, alas! Tess had missed.
“There’s pink lemonade!” cried Tess. “Oh, I want some of that! Please, Ruth, may I have two glasses?”
“Not of that pink lemonade, Tess,” answered the older girl. “It may be colored with hat dye, for all we know. We’ll see Neale’s Uncle Bill, who will take us to the best place to get something to drink.”
“Just see the fat lady!” went on Dot next.
“Fat lady! Where? I don’t see any!” exclaimed Tess. “Do you mean an elephant?” she asked.
“No. I mean over there!” and Dot pointed to a gayly painted canvas stretched along the front of the tent in which the side shows were showing.
“Oh, that! Only a painting!” and Tess showed in her voice the disappointment she felt.
“Well, the lady is real, and we can go inside and see her; can’t we, Ruth?” pursued Dot. “Oh, I just love a circus; don’t you, Alice?” and she hugged her doll in her arms.
“Yes, a circus is very nice,” was the answer. “But now listen to me,” went on Ruth. “Don’t run away and get lost in the crowd.”
“You couldn’t run very far in such a crowd,” answered Tess.