no, asleep she did fall, sound as a church, on a sloping bank, and the savage perceiving it, leant his left ear on his left hand, and nodded sideways, to intimate to all whom it might concern that she was asleep, and no shamming. Being left to himself, the savage had a dance, all alone. Just as he left off, the maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance all alone too -- such a dance that the savage looked on in ecstasy all the while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighbouring tree some botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it to the maiden, who at first wouldn't have it, but on the savage shedding tears relented. Then the savage jumped for joy; then the maiden jumped for rapture at the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage. Then the savage and the maiden danced violently together, and, finally, the savage dropped down on one knee, and the maiden stood on one leg upon his other knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state of pleasing uncertainty, whether she would ultimately marry the savage, or return to her friends.

`Very well indeed,' said Mr Crummles; `bravo!'

`Bravo!' cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. `Beautiful!'

`This, sir,' said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, `this is the infant phenomenon -- Miss Ninetta Crummles.'

`Your daughter?' inquired Nicholas.

`My daughter -- my daughter,' replied Mr Vincent Crummles; `the idol of every place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town in England.'

`I am not surprised at that,' said Nicholas; `she must be quite a natural genius.'

`Quite a -- !' Mr Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to describe the infant phenomenon. `I'll tell you what, sir,' he said; `the talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, sir -- seen -- to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your mother, my dear.'

`May I ask how old she is?' inquired Nicholas.

`You may, sir,' replied Mr Crummles, looking steadily in his questioner's face, as some men do when they have doubts about being implicitly believed in what they are going to say. `She is ten years of age, sir.'

`Not more!'

`Not a day.'

`Dear me!' said Nicholas, `it's extraordinary.'

It was; for the infant phenomenon, though of short stature, had a comparatively aged countenance, and had moreover been precisely the same age -- not perhaps to the full extent of the memory of the oldest inhabitant, but certainly for five good years. But she had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance of gin-and-water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps this system of training had produced in the infant phenomenon these additional phenomena.

While this short dialogue was going on, the gentleman who had enacted the savage, came up, with his walking shoes on his feet, and his slippers in his hand, to within a few paces, as if desirous to join in the conversation. Deeming this a good opportunity, he put in his word.

`Talent there, sir!' said the savage, nodding towards Miss Crummles.

Nicholas assented.