Produced by Timeless Truths Online Library, Charles Franks,
Juliet Sutherland and the DP Team
A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES
BY MRS. O. F. WALTON
Author OF 'CHRISTIE'S OLD ORGAN,' 'SAVED AT SEA' 'SHADOWS,' ETC.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. ROSALIE
II. THE LITTLE THEATRE
III. THE DAY AFTER THE FAIR
IV. THE ACTRESS'S STORY
V. ROSALIE'S FIRST SERMON
VI. A FAMILY SECRET
VII. THE CIRCUS PROCESSION
VIII. LITTLE MOTHER MANIKIN
IX. THE DOCTOR'S VISIT
X. BRITANNIA
XI. THE MOTHER'S DREAM
XII. A LONE LAMB
XIII. VANITY FAIR
XIV. BETSEY ANN
XV. LIFE IN THE LODGING-HOUSE
XVI. A DARK TIME
XVII. ALONE IN THE WORLD
XVIII. THE LITTLE PITCHER
XIX. SKIRRYWINKS.
XX. MOTHER MANIKIN'S CHAIRS
XXI. IN SIGHT OF HOME
XXII. THE LOST LAMB FOUND
XXIII. THE GREEN PASTURE.
[Illustration: ]
A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES
CHAPTER I
ROSALIE
Rain, rain, rain! How mercilessly it fell on the Fair-field that Sundayafternoon! Every moment the pools increased and the mud became thicker. Howdismal the fair looked then! On Saturday evening it had been brilliantlylighted with rows of flaring naphtha-lights; and the grand shows, in themost aristocratic part of the field, had been illuminated with crosses,stars, anchors, and all manner of devices.
But there were no lights now; there was nothing to cast a halo round thedirty, weather-stained tents and the dingy caravans.
Yet, in spite of this, and in spite of the rain, a crowd of Sunday idlerslingered about the fair, looking with great interest at the half-coveredwhirligigs and bicycles, peeping curiously into the deserted shows, andmaking many schemes for further enjoyment on the morrow, when the fair wasonce more to be in its glory.
Inside the caravans the show-people were crouching over their fires andgrumbling at the weather, murmuring at having to pay so much for the groundon which their shows were erected, at a time when they would be likely tomake so little profit.
A little old man, with a rosy, good-tempered face, was making his wayacross the sea of mud which divided the shows from each other. He wasevidently no idler in the fair; he had come into it that Sunday afternoonfor a definite purpose, and he did not intend to leave it until it wasaccomplished. After crossing an almost impassable place, he climbed thesteps leading to one of the caravans and knocked at the door.
It was a curious door; the upper part of it, being used as a window, wasfilled with glass, behind which you could see two small muslin curtains,tied up with pink ribbon. No one came to open the door when the old manknocked, and he was about to turn away, when some little boys, who werestanding near, called out to him—
'Rap again, sir, rap again; there's a little lass in there; she went in abit since.'
'Don't you wish you was her?' said one of the little boys to the other.
'Ay!' said t