



Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)









                                THE LITTLE CLOWN

                                 BY THOMAS COBB

             AUTHOR OF 'THE BOUNTIFUL LADY,' 'COOPER'S FIRST TERM,' ETC.


LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
1901




_CONTENTS_


1. _How it began_

2. _Jimmy goes to London_

3. _At Aunt Selina's_

4. _Aunt Selina at Home_

5. _At the Railway Station_

6. _The Journey_

7. _Jimmy is taken into Custody_

8. _Jimmy runs away_

9. _The Circus_

10. _On the Road_

11. _Jimmy runs away again_

12. _Jimmy sleeps in a Windmill_

13. _The Last_




The Little Clown




CHAPTER I

HOW IT BEGAN


Jimmy was nearly eight years of age when these strange things happened
to him. His full name was James Orchardson Sinclair Wilmot, and he had
been at Miss Lawson's small school at Ramsgate since he was six.

There were only five boys besides himself, and Miss Roberts was the only
governess besides Miss Lawson. The half-term had just passed, and they
did not expect to go home for the Christmas holidays for another four or
five weeks, until one day Miss Lawson became very ill, and her sister,
Miss Rosina, was sent for.

It was on Friday that Miss Rosina told the boys that she had written to
their parents and that they would all be sent home on Tuesday, and no
doubt Jimmy might have felt as glad as the rest if he had had a home to
be sent to.

But the fact