To amuse him! True, they knew him well, their little Francis. They knew how it delighted him, when he was well, to go into the fields, and to come home, loaded with white hawthorn blossoms, riding on his father"s shoulders. Mr. Grant had already brought him gilded soldiers, and figures to be shown upon a screen. He placed them on the sick child"s bed, made them dance before his eyes, and, scarcely able to keep back his tears, strove to make him laugh.
"Look, there is the broken bridge. Tra-la-la! And there is a general. You saw one once, don"t you remember? If you drink your medicine like a good boy, I shall buy you a real one, with a cloth tunic and gold lace. Would you like to have a general? ""No, " said the sick child, his voice dry with fever.
"Would you like a pistol and bullets, or a bow and arrows? " "No, " replied the little voice.
And so it was with everything-even with balloons and jumping-jacks. Still, while the parents looked at each other in despair, the little voice replied, "No! no ! no ! "" But what is there you would like, then, darling? " said his mother. "Come, whisper to me-to mamma. " And she laid her cheek beside him on the pillow.
The sick boy raised himself in bed, and, throwing out his eager hands towards some unseen object, cried out, " I wantSlap-bang! "
"Slap-bang ! " The poor mother looked at her husband with a frightened glance. What was the little fellow saying? Was the terrible delirium coming back again. " Slap-bang? " She knew not what that meant. She was frightened at the strangeness of the words, which now the sick boy, with the waywardness that often comes with illness-as if, having screwed his courage up to put his dream in words, he was resolved to speak of nothing else-repeated without ceasing:-"Slap-bang! I want Slap-bang! "
"What does he mean? " she said, grasping her husband"s hand. "Oh! he is lost! "But Mr. Grant"s rough face wore a smile of wonder and relief, like that of one condemned to death who sees a chance of liberty.
Slap-bang! He remembered well the Saturday afternoon when he had taken Francis to the circus. He could hear still the child"s delighted laughter, when the clown-the beautiful clown, all be-starred with golden spangles, and with a huge, many-coloured butterfly glittering on the back of his costume- skipped across the track, tripped up the riding master by the heels, took a walk upon his hands, or threw up to the gas- light the soft felt caps, which he cleverly caught upon his skull, where, one by one, they formed a pyramid; while, at every trick and every jest, his large, droll face expanding with a smile, he uttered the same catchword, sometimes to a roll of music from the band, "Slap-bang! " And, every time he uttered it, theaudience roared, and the little fellow shouted with delight.
Slap-bang! It was this Slap-bang, the circus clown, he who kept half the town laughing, whom little Francis wished to see, and whom, alas! he could not see as he lay pale and feeble in his little bed.
That night, Mr. Grant brought the child a jointed clown, ablaze with spangles, which he had bought at a high price. Four days" wages would not pay for it; but he would willingly have given the price of a year"s labour could he have brought a smileDrawn by A. E. Davies
"Tripped up the riding master by the heels. "to the thin lips of the sick boy.
The child looked, for a moment, at the toy which sparkled on the bed quilt. Then he said sadly, "That is not Slap-bang. I want to see Slap-bang! "If only the father could have wrapped him in the bedclothes, borne him to the circus, shown him the clown dancing under the blazing gas-lights, and said, " Look there ! "But Mr. Grant did better still. He went to the circus, obtained the clown"s address, and then, with legs tottering with nervousness, climbed slowly up the stairs which led to the great man"s rooms. It was a bold task to undertake. Yet actors, after all, go sometimes to recite or sing at rich men"s houses. Who knew but that the clown, at any price he liked, would consent to go to say good-bye to little Francis?
But was this Slap-bang, this charming person who received himin his cosy study, in the midst of books and beautiful pictures. Mr. Grant looked hard at him, and could not recognize the clown. He turned and twisted his felt hat between his fingers. The other waited. At last the poor fellow began to stammer out excuses : " It was unpardonable-a thing unheard of-that he had come to ask; but the fact was, it was about his little boy- such a pretty little boy, sir! and so clever! Always first in his class-except in arithmetic, which he did not understand. A dreamy little chap-too dreamy- as you may see "-Mr. Grant stopped and stammered; then, screwing up his courage, he continued with a rush- " as you may see by the fact that he wants to see you, that he thinks of nothing else, that you are before him always like a star which he has set his mind on--"The poor man stopped. Great beads stood on his forehead, and his face was very pale. He dared not look at the clown, whose eyes were fixed upon him. What had he dared to ask the great Slap-bang? What if the latter took him for a madman, and showed him to the door?
"Where do you live? " demanded Slap-bang. "Oh, close by; " and he gave the address.
"Come! " said the other; " the little fellow wants to see Slap- bang-well, he shall see him. "When the door opened before the clown, the father cried out joyfully, "Cheer up, Francis! Here is Slap- bang. "The child"s face beamed with expectation. He raised himself upon his mother"s arm, and turned his head towards the two men as they entered. Who was the gentleman in an overcoat beside his father, who smiled good-naturedly, but whom he did not know? "Slap- bang, " they told him. It was all in vain. His head fell slowly back upon the pillow, and his great, sad blue eyes seemed to look out again beyond the narrow chamber walls, in search, unceasing search, of the spangles and the butterfly of the Slap-bang of his dreams.