"One hundred and twenty-eight francs!" exclaimed Cæsar, springing to his feet, and waving his cap joyously. "Just think of it! We never had so much money of our own before! And to get it all in one evening! Oh! that kind good Madame, and the polite Colonel, it was because of them we did so well. We owe it to them, don't we, Nadine?" and in the ecstasy of his delight he threw his arms around his pretty sister's neck, and kissed her warmly.
Nadine blushed with pleasure at this rare tribute of brotherly affection.
"Yes, indeed, Cæsar," she responded. "Madame Pradère is certainly our good angel, and we shall all go to thank her again before we leave here. Oh! if only our dear father were still alive, how glad he would be! We never made so much at one performance when he was with us," and at the recollection of her father the young girl's fine eyes filled with tears, and her rosy lips quivered.
But, controlling her grief, she smiled brightly through her tears as she added:
"We shall all have plenty to eat for a good while now, and Nalla, and Steady, and Vigilant will grow fat again. Come now, let us all get to bed. We're tired out, and there'll be plenty to do in the morning."
So in quick time the van was by a few simple changes converted into a sleeping-apartment, and after Cæsar had seen to it that the animals lacked for nothing, the light-hearted quartet of children, having committed themselves to the care of the good God, whom their parents had taught them to love, lay down to sleep, little imagining how rudely their much-needed rest was ere long to be disturbed.