The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Devil's Hound by Vicki Lockwood

up to swallow her, she heard the terrible howl of a gigantic hound, and in the next moment, a piercing scream.

CHAPTER 6
    There was hardly any time before Lizzie was due to perform with Nora on horseback. She rushed off to the Sullivans’ caravan, with the vision still haunting her.
    Why would I see a graveyard? Lizzie wondered.It had to have something to do with Kensal Green, but why would someone be digging there at night? And that scream . . . it made her skin crawl.
    No time to worry about that now! Lizzie told herself. I have bigger fish to fry.
    Erin and Ma Sullivan were waiting for her at their trailer when she arrived. “Come on then, my love,” Ma said. “Let’s make a Sullivan girl of you.”
    First, Lizzie’s hair had to be dyed red with henna or the audience would never take her for a Sullivan twin. It was messy, and the henna smelled like overcooked spinach, but the effect was astonishing. Lizzie’s brown hair blazed a coppery red.
    Then it was time to get dressed. Erin’s white costume, spangled with sequins, was laid out and ready. Lizzie quickly slipped it on and stared at herself in a full-length mirror. The dress clung to her like a cloud, as light as a wisp of cotton. Sequins flashed and dazzled as she moved, catching the light from the oil lamp.
    â€œCrikey,” she said, turning this way and that. “I feel so glamorous in your clothes, Erin.”
    â€œWe’re not done yet.” Ma Sullivan sat her down and perched on a stool opposite. “Hold still.”
    Erin looked on approvingly as her mother used a soft brush to dab Lizzie’s cheeks with rouge. It smelled like roses. “This is the real stuff,” Ma Sullivan assured her. “All the most fashionable Parisian dancing girls wear it.”
    As a finishing touch, Ma added some shimmering color to Lizzie’s eyelids and warmed up her lips with some crimson makeup.
    â€œHair next.” With practiced skill, she gathered Lizzie’s unruly hair up and braided it into a long plait. With a silver fastening at the end, it looked just like Nora’s.
    Ma Sullivan stepped back to admire her work. “Ah, Lizzie, if I didn’t know better I’d say I’d had triplets all them years ago. You’re the spitting image of my girls.”
    Erin gave her a quick, fierce hug. “You’re a wonder. Thanks for stepping in like this.”
    â€œYou all took me in and looked after me,” Lizzie said, feeling oddly shy. “I always felt like part of the family. So I’m happy to pretend to be a Sullivan if it helps you out!”
    * * *
    On the far side of the circus ring, opposite the main entrance where the public came in, was an archway made from brightly painted wood. This was the performers’ entrance and exit.
    A beaded curtain hung across the archway, making a glittering barrier. The lighting inside the show tent meant the archway was always dark, so performers could take their places and wait for their cues. It was like the wings in a theater.
    Lizzie waited there in the shadows, watching the show start. Most of the seats were full. Fitzy, she was glad to see, was in top form, firing off jokes and making the crowd roar with laughter. What a relief it must be to have pulled in a decent audience!
    The Boissets were the opening act. After some spectacular trapeze routines that had the crowd gasping, it was time for Dru to perform on the high wire. He and Collette were debuting a new routine. Collette cycled out onto the rope on a small bicylce, drawing wild applause. She pedaled back and forth for a moment, then Dru came toward her from the opposite end, using an umbrella as a balancing pole.
    Lizzie’s heart was in her mouth. Why, oh why did Dru refuse to ever use a safety net?
    Dru and Collette play-acted the parts of a pedestrian and a cyclist meeting in a narrow lane, with neither one willing to step aside for the other. Dru hopped angrily up and down,