I knew it was me because of the clown clothes, and the spots of black.
I began to bark, and Mr. Bonelli turned to one of the men and said, “He knows it,—he knows it, my little Master Grineo. Never before was such a dog as he,” and then he dropped me gently and we went on into the theatre.
X
I HAD learned more about theatres now than I had known at first, and I had learned the names of a great many things about it.
The bright lights in front of the stage were called footlights. Then at each side of the stage were places called “boxes,” and they had chairs in them where people could sit, if they wanted to be very near the stage. When they sat in the boxes they were so near it was almost as though they were on the stage with us. Often there were a lot of children there, and I liked that because they laughed so loud and clapped their hands so hard when we did our tricks. But I didn’t pay so very much attention to anyone but Mr. Bonelli when I was on the stage. None of us did. We had to watch him and his little whip all the time if we were to do the right things.
This evening we had come with just our collars on, and we ran downstairs to the room where Mrs. Bonelli was and she dressed us, and we stayed down there with her until it was time for our act. Then Mr. Bonelli called us. We all ran upstairs together and out on the stage, wagging our tails. It was all just the way it had always been before, but somehow I felt different, and all excited. I kept sniffing and sniffing, and I felt as if Tommy was somewhere near.
We jumped up on our chairs, and Mr. Bonelli spoke to the people and they clapped, and then he came over and turned me round, and I kept turning back just the way I always did, until he said, “All right, Master Grineo, suit yourself then!”
At that I turned and faced the people, just as I always did, and grinned, and right then I heard Tommy’s voice. He was there in the box beside the stage, and he called out, and his voice was shrill,—“It is! It is, mamma! It’s Muffins!”