Well, these circus men were very busy drinking brandy and playing cards.

Tip stopped and looked in at them; and, ignorant boy as he was, the thought that good, respectable people would go to see and hear such men as these, seemed very strange.

It couldn't be right, could it?
How was it?
A great many nice people must have blundered terribly if it were wrong; and, on the other hand, if it were not wrong, how did the minister happen to be so afraid of these things?
Why did he himself have so many queer feelings about the matter?
What a trouble he was in! If only he could find somebody or something that would decide it for him! Long before this he had walked away from the hotel; now he had crossed the bridge, gone around behind the mill, and was very near his seat under the elm.

Down he sat when he came to it, still holding fast the two green tickets, but with the other hand diving down in his pocket for the little Bible.

That was getting to be a habit with him, to hunt for this lamp of his whenever he was in darkness.