The time had passed slowly to Toby, and yet Sunday came again -- as
Sundays always come; and on this day Old Ben hunted him up, made
him wash his face and hands until they fairly shone from very
cleanliness, and then took him to church. Toby was surprised to
find that it was really a pleasant thing to be able to go to church
after being deprived of it, and was more light hearted than he had
yet been since he left Guilford when he returned to the tent at
noon.
The skeleton had invited him to another dinner party, but Toby had
declined the invitation, agreeing to present himself in time for
supper instead. He hardly cared to go through the ordeal of another
state dinner; and besides, he wanted to go off to the woods with
the old monkey, where he could enjoy the silence of the forest,
which seemed like a friend to him, because it reminded him of home.
Taking the monkey with him as usual, he inquired the nearest way
to a grove, and, without waiting for dinner, started off for an
afternoon's quiet enjoyment.
XII: TOBY'S GREAT MISFORTUNE
The town in which the circus remained over Sunday was a small
one, and a brisk walk of ten minutes sufficed to take Toby into a
secluded portion of a very thickly grown wood, where he could lie
upon the mossy ground and fairly revel in freedom.
As he lay upon his back, his hands under his head, and his
eyes directed to the branches of the trees above, where the birds
twittered and sung, and the squirrels played in fearless sport,
the monkey enjoyed himself in his way, by playing all the monkey
antics he knew of.
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