He wa'n't exac'ly smilin', but the' was a look in his eyes that was the next thing to it." "Lordy me!" sighed Mrs.Cullom, as if to herself.

"How well I can remember that look; jest as if he was laughin' at ye, an' wa'n't laughin' at ye, an' his arm around your neck!" David nodded in reminiscent sympathy, and rubbed his bald poll with the back of his hand.
"Wa'al," interjected the widow.
"Wa'al," said David, resuming, "he says to me, 'Would you like to go to the cirkis ?' an' with that it occurred to me that I did want to go to that cirkis more'n anythin' I ever wanted to before--nor since, it seems to me.

But I tell ye the truth, I was so far f'm expectin' to go't I really hadn't knowed I wanted to.

I looked at him, an' then down agin, an' began tenderin' up a stun-bruise on one heel agin the other instep, an' all I says was, bein' so dum'd shy, 'I dunno,' I says.

But I guess he seen in my face what my feelin's was, fer he kind o' laughed an' pulled out half-a-dollar an' says: 'D' you think you could git a couple o' tickits in that crowd?
If you kin, I think I'll go myself, but I don't want to git my boots all dust,' he says.