Having thus prepared the way very skillfully, Madame PradÈre, radiant at the prosperous progress of her enterprise, now revealed her purpose.

"I am very anxious," she said with a charming glance over all her attentive listeners, "to be present at the performance this evening, and I make bold, gentlemen, to beg of you to be present also. In that way all chance of anything amiss occurring will be avoided."

"But you do not forget, Madame," put in the Colonel, "that our being present will mean the absence of the soldiers, who could not sit with us without a breach of discipline."

"Oh! that will be all right, I promise you, Colonel," responded Madame archly. "There'll be no interference with discipline. The soldiers will be placed at the back, and in the front there will be seats reserved for the officers and ourselves."

Madame PradÈre showed a spirit of irresistible pleasantry through it all. She was evidently delighted at having gained the cause of little Nadine, who was so anxiously awaiting the result in the adjoining room.

"And now, gentlemen," concluded Madame, "will you permit me to present to you the chief of my troupe, who is just here, and whom I don't want to keep waiting any longer?"

"By all means, Madame," responded the officers. "It will give us much pleasure."

The servant, FranÇoise, was accordingly directed to bring in Nadine.

"Madame is carried away by these mountebanks," growled FranÇoise as she went back to the kitchen after doing as she had been bid. "It's enough for these strolling players to have children to get her interest ever since she lost her own."

Nadine, blushing and bewildered, stood in the door of the dining-room where FranÇoise had left her. The brilliant company of officers, the sumptuous table decorated with plants and flowers, and laden with dainties such as she had never in her life tasted, and the whole richness of the room, took her breath away, so to speak, and she could not lift her eyes from the floor.

"Don't be dismayed, my child!" said Madame kindly, quite understanding the cause of Nadine's confusion. "Come forward, and give your papers to the Mayor, whom you see there."

Nadine shyly glided up to his worship, and handed him the papers which she took with great care out of the old battered portfolio.

"Do you mean to say that this is the chief of your troupe, Madame?" asked the Colonel in a tone that betrayed surprise and skepticism.

"Yes, Colonel Laurier," Madame replied with a smile of amusement. "That child is the eldest of four, having two brothers and a sister to whom she has been a little mother for the last six months, since they became orphans through the death of their father. She has to attend to all matters of business besides caring for the little ones that are really dependent upon her."

"She is certainly very pretty," murmured one of the captains as he twirled his mustache. Even if his gracious hostess had not already bespoken his presence he would certainly have attended the performance in the evening, for Nadine was worth a second look.

"Madame," remarked the Colonel with a gesture that implied he was entirely convinced, "your protÉgÉs are decidedly interesting, and we shall assuredly be delighted to accompany you to the performance this evening which I am sure will be most entertaining."

Meanwhile the Mayor had been quickly glancing over the papers which Nadine had handed him.

"These are all in order," he said with an important air, "I shall grant the required permission if you will be good enough, Colonel, to give orders to your men to make room for these people."

"That will be done at once," responded Colonel Laurier, and so, thanks to the intervention of the kind lady of the house, the whole matter was satisfactorily arranged.

By this time Nadine had completely regained her spirits, and, before taking her leave, she said in a voice that was made all the sweeter by the deep feeling which its trembling betrayed while she bent low in a graceful courtesy:

"On behalf of my little sister and brothers, I thank you, gentlemen, from the bottom of my heart, and as for myself, I am your most dutiful servant."

Formal as the words sounded they were manifestly sincere, but even more heartfelt were those she added, when, turning toward Madame PradÈre, she exclaimed, as she fixed her fine eyes upon the gracious lady:

"You have been so kind to me, Madame, I cannot express my thanks," and then she glided from the room.

The moment she reached the street she set off at the top of her speed to rejoin the other children. She knew how impatiently they would be awaiting her return, particularly as the question of food for themselves and their animals hung upon her success.

CÆsar was the first to catch sight of her, and one glimpse of her radiant countenance was enough to tell him that all was well.

"You have obtained the permission, haven't you, Nadine?" he cried, so soon as she came within hearing.

"Yes, CÆsar," she panted joyfully. "It's all right, and we can give a performance this evening, when we must do our very best, for we are going to have some important people present;" and the other two having joined them she proceeded to tell them all about her good fortune at the Mayor's house, and the kindness of Madame PradÈre.

They listened with sparkling eyes and many exclamations of wonder and delight. Nadine certainly had a keenly interested and appreciative audience.

"And now, CÆsar," she concluded, "you must go to the market and buy some nice fresh hay for Nalla and Steady."

"But that will take our last cent, and what about our own food?" protested CÆsar, who had the sharp appetite of a growing boy.

"Oh! we'll just have to wait," replied Nadine decisively. "But Nalla and Steady must be attended to."

As she spoke Nalla moved towards his young mistress, and caressed her with his pliant trunk, making at the same time a curious deep sound that somewhat resembled the purring of a giant cat.

"Yes—you old dear—you shan't go hungry even if we have to for a little while. You're our good faithful breadwinner, aren't you?" and she patted the thick soft trunk with her pretty hand.

CÆsar grumbled a little, but did as he was bid. Nadine's rule was as firm as it was gentle, and, however the others might at times object, she rarely failed to have her own way in the end.

So the elephant and the horse were soon enjoying a hearty meal of succulent hay to which they did full justice.

A little later the whole party arrived at the market-place where they found a place made ready for them by the orders of Colonel Laurier, who had not forgotten his promise.

Here Nadine found the gendarme who had been so civil to her in the morning.

"Young girl," said he courteously, "I am to show you the place where you can give your performance, and also to give you Madame PradÈre's instructions. So first of all tell me how you are accustomed to set up your outfit."

"Oh, that is a very simple affair," responded Nadine with an apologetic smile. "We have, you see, our stage," and she pointed to a few planks and trestles which were hung at the sides and underneath the van. "But we have to hire some planks to serve as seats, and these we arrange in a sort of half-circle leaving plenty of room in the center for Nalla to go through his performance."

"So, so!" said the gendarme, shaking his head sagely; "that would be well enough for other occasions, but this time you will not hire any planks. There will have to be better arrangements made, for you are going to be honored with a very brilliant audience," and he pursed up his mouth in a most impressive way, "for whom mere planks would never do at all, and so for the front rows there must be chairs, and very good chairs too!"

"But, sir!" cried Nadine, appalled at the idea of the expense involved in providing such accommodation, "we can't do that! We have no money to pay for chairs!"

"Don't you worry about that, little one," returned the kindly gendarme, placing his hand upon her shoulder in a fatherly way. "Leave it all to me. I have my orders from Madame PradÈre, and shall see that everything is done just as she wishes. Unharness your horse, set up your stage, and let me attend to the rest."

Nadine was puzzled, but the fact that Madame PradÈre had instructed the old gendarme calmed her doubts, and she said blithely:

"Very well, sir, I'll do just as you say."

CÆsar accordingly unharnessed Steady, and then, aided by Nadine, proceeded to take from the van the materials for the stage.

This was always a hard bit of work for their weak arms, but it was particularly hard on the days when they had not had any breakfast. Nevertheless they would go bravely to work with the help of the intelligent elephant, who would lift and carry the heavier planks in his powerful trunk.

To-day, however, they had no lack of helpers, for, no sooner did the soldiers see what they were about, than they hastened to offer their assistance, and in a jiffy the stage was set up instead of taking many weary minutes.

Just as it was finished a servant-maid carrying a large basket came up.

"Madame PradÈre sent this to you," she said, smiling, "she thought you might like something to eat," and she proceeded to produce from the basket a liberal supply of tempting food which she placed upon the stage.

"Truly your mistress is our good angel to-day!" cried Nadine, the tears of joy and gratitude brimming her eyes. "I shall not fail to present to her our thanks before we go away from here."

This was indeed one of the happiest moments of their lives. They forgot they had a single care as they breakfasted heartily upon the tender chicken, the snow-white bread with plenty of brown crust, the golden butter, and the rich milk which their benefactor had provided so thoughtfully. They had never before enjoyed so delicious a repast, and Nadine's natural refinement made her appreciate it all the more because of the elegance of its appointments, for the dishes, the napery, the knives and forks were from Madame's own table.

"May the good God bless her a thousand times and more!" she fervently exclaimed when at last even CÆsar's vigorous appetite was appeased. "What a treat she has given us all! Come now, let us put the things neatly back in the basket. I believe there is enough still left for us to have for dinner."

At three o'clock in the afternoon the Tamby family with the exception of Nadine, who remained in charge of their property, after the manner of performers of their kind, started out to parade the streets so as to let the people know of their presence and the entertainment they proposed to give.

For this purpose a very shabby howdah was with no little difficulty, on account of its weight, fixed upon the patient Nalla's back. In this, little Lydia, with Abel and CÆsar, took their places, trying to look as important as possible.

CÆsar had a drum which he beat at intervals, and whenever there was anybody to listen to him he would call out the place and time of the approaching performance. He always enjoyed this part of the business. He liked being before the public, and to be perched high up on the elephant's back, and attracting so much attention was quite according to his taste.

As for Vigilant, he too had his part to play. He balanced himself cleverly upon Nalla's broad neck just in front of the howdah and supported CÆsar's drumming by volleys of shrill barking which most clearly meant:

"Here we are! Listen to us! Come and patronize our entertainment! We're well worth seeing I can tell you!"