When they came out of the ring for the second time they found Old
Ben, the skeleton, the fat lady, and Mr. Job Lord waiting to welcome
them; but before anyone could say a word Ella had stood on tiptoe
again and given Toby just such another kiss as she did when he told
her that he would surely stay long enough to appear in the ring
with her once.
"That's because you rode so well and helped me so much," she said,
as she saw Toby's cheeks growing a fiery red; and then she turned
to those who were waiting to greet her.
Mrs. Treat took her in her enormous arms, and, having kissed her,
put her down quickly, and clasped Toby as if he had been a very
small walnut and her arms a very large pair of nutcrackers.
"Bless the boy!" she exclaimed, as she kissed him again and again
with an energy and force that made her kisses sound like the crack
of the whip and caused the horses to stamp in affright. "I knew
he'd amount to something one of these days, an' Samuel an' I had
to come out, when business was dull, just to see how he got along."
It was some time before she would unloose him from her motherly
embrace, and when she did the skeleton grasped him by the hand and
said, in the most pompous and affected manner:
"Mr. Tyler, we're proud of you, and when we saw that costume of
yours, that my Lilly embroidered with her own hands, we was both
proud of it and what it contained.
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