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can’t reach the hooks.”
    Lizzie reached up and began unhooking the backdrop from its hanger, keeping her eyes on her work. Anita was so small that she only reached Lizzie’s waist, and Lizzie paused and stole a look at her. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but how come you’re so tiny?”
    â€œNever grew much since I was born.” Anita sat down in her chair and pointed up at the backdrop. “Keep on unpinnin’.”
    Lizzie turned back to her work. “Don’t you hate sitting here being stared at by strangers?” She shuddered. “I know I’d hate it.”
    â€œI did to begin with,” Anita admitted. “But I’m used to it now. There’s folks here who look out for me. Life here ain’t as tough as it was out there.”
    Lizzie glanced over her shoulder. “What did you do?” she asked. “Out there I mean?” She wondered if Anita had lived anywhere as awful as Rat’s Castle.
    â€œI did what I could,” Anita told her. “Beggin’, mainly. No one’d give me proper work. And beggin’ was no picnic. People used to throw things at me, kick me. Once someone picked me up and threw me. Like I was no more than a dog.”
    â€œWhy do people have to be mean?” Lizzie asked. She unhooked the last hook and laid the backdrop on the stage.
    Anita pointed to a fresh backdrop folded beside her chair. “I guess they don’t know no better.”
    Lizzie scooped it up and began hooking.
    â€œI’m glad Fitzy found me,” the tiny woman told her. “Saw me beggin’ and asked me to join his circus. Of course, I’d rather be a lady livin’ in a big house with servants and all that, but I’m safe in my penny gaff.”
    Lizzie paused. “What’s a penny gaff?”
    â€œYou’re standing in one,” Anita told her. “It’s a sideshow. Something a person would pay a penny to see.” A loud bell clanged outside, and Anita hopped off her chair. “That’s Fitzy. Sounds like he’s got an announcement.”
    Lizzie quickly finished hooking up the backdrop, then jumped down after Anita and crossed the field to where Fitzy was standing outside the big show tent.
    The Fat Lady stood puffing beside him while the Amazon Queen sat on a barrel sewing fresh feathers onto her headdress. Show folk streamed from every wagon and tent, and Lizzie recognized the acrobats and clowns from the parade. Dwarves toddled beside giants. A boy on stilts stopped and leaned against a rope.
    â€œLizzie!” Erin and Nora came running across the grass.
    Lizzie rushed to meet them. “What’s Fitzy want?”
    â€œDunno.” Erin shrugged.
    â€œThe mayor’s here,” Malachy said, ducking under a rope and stopping beside them. “He’s come to see Pop.”
    â€œThe Mayor of London?” Lizzie gasped. “Here?”
    Nora grinned. “Our pa said he’d come.”
    â€œHe’s made friends with Pop,” Malachy explained.
    â€œWhere is he?” Lizzie scanned the crowd until she saw an older gentleman step from the shadows behind Fitzy. Erin let out a loud whistle, and Malachy hooted as the crowd erupted into cheers.
    â€œHooray for His Lordship!”
    â€œLong live the mayor!”
    Lizzie stared open-mouthed — it was the old gentleman who’d given her soup and the penny. The Lord Mayor of London!
    The mayor waved the crowd into silence. “Thank you for your warm welcome. I’ve come to tell you that when you set up at Victoria Park next month, I will lead the official opening ceremony!”
    As the show folk burst into more cheering, Fitzy stepped forward and shouted, “Three cheers for the mayor!”
    â€œHip hip hooray!” Lizzie shouted with the crowd.
    â€œHip hip hooray!”
    â€œHip hip hooray!”
    â€œThe mayor’s support will mean bigger audiences,” Fitzy went on.