The circus began at two.  Rather than cling to the straps of a crowded car they chose to walk, following the familiar route of the trolley past the car barns and the base-ball park to the bare field under the seared face of Torrey’s Hill, where circuses were wont to settle.  A sirocco-like breeze from the southwest whirled into eddies the clouds of germ-laden dust stirred up by the automobiles, blowing their skirts against their legs, and sometimes they were forced to turn, clinging to their hats, confused and giggling, conscious of male glances.  The crowd, increasing as they proceeded, was in holiday mood; young men with a newly-washed aspect, in Faber Street suits, chaffed boisterously groups of girls, who retorted with shrill cries and shrieks of laughter; amorous couples strolled, arm in arm, oblivious, as though the place were as empty as Eden; lady-killers with exaggerated square shoulders, wearing bright neckties, their predatory instincts alert, hovered about in eager search of adventure.  There were men-killers, too, usually to be found in pairs, in startling costumes they had been persuaded were the latest Paris models,—­imitations of French cocottes in Hampton, proof of the smallness of our modern world.  Eda regarded them superciliously.

“They’d like you to think they’d never been near a loom or a bobbin!” she exclaimed.

In addition to these more conspicuous elements, the crowd contained sober operatives of the skilled sort possessed of sufficient means to bring hither their families, including the baby; there were section-hands and foremen, slashers, mule spinners, beamers, French-Canadians, Irish, Scotch, Welsh and English, Germans, with only an occasional Italian, Lithuanian, or Jew.  Peanut and popcorn men, venders of tamales and Chile-con-carne hoarsely shouted their wares, while from afar could be heard the muffled booming of a band.  Janet’s heart beat faster.  She regarded with a tinge of awe the vast expanse of tent that rose before her eyes, the wind sending ripples along the heavy canvas from circumference to tent pole.  She bought the tickets; they entered the circular enclosure where the animals were kept; where the strong beams of the sun, in trying to force their way through the canvas roof, created an unnatural, jaundiced twilight, the weirdness of which was somehow enhanced by the hoarse, amazingly penetrating growls of beasts.  Suddenly a lion near them raised a shaggy head, emitting a series of undulating, soul-shaking roars.

“Ah, what’s eatin’ you?” demanded a thick-necked youth, pretending not to be awestricken by this demonstration.

“Suppose he’d get out!” cried Eda, drawing Janet away.

“I wouldn’t let him hurt you, dearie,” the young man assured her.

“You!” she retorted contemptuously, but grinned in spite of herself, showing her gums.