“Please don’t make me do the turn today,” she pleaded. “If you will let me off this once, I will try it tomorrow without fail.”
“I have excused you too many times as it is,” replied her father. “Unless you do the somersault every day you never will overcome your fear. You never will become a great rider.”
“I don’t care,” said Eva crossly, although she really cared a great deal. “I wish I could leave this old circus! Then I could do exactly as I please.”
Connie and Veve were astonished to hear the little girl’s remark. And Veve recalled she once had said almost the same thing. She had wished to join the circus so that she could enjoy an easy life.
“No one ever is allowed to do exactly as he pleases, Eva,” her father told her. “But if you’re serious about leaving the circus, it might be arranged. I might send you back to that city called Rosedale with Connie and Veve. You’d like that?”
“I don’t know,” Eva replied, hanging her head.
Mr. Leitsall turned to Connie and Veve. “Do you girls always get to do exactly as you please?” he asked them.
“Oh, no,” answered Connie. “At home I usually have to go to bed at eight o’clock.”
“I’d hate that,” announced Eva quickly. “Here I always stay up until the circus is over. I never go to bed before midnight.”
“We have lessons to study too,” added Veve. “And jobs to do at home.”