"Is that meant for a compliment ?" "No, merely for a reminder.

But if you were born in a circus, I assume that you didn't perform in one." She shook her head.

"No, they took me away when I was a baby--just after Mother died.

I never lived with the circus people, and Father didn't either except when he was a child.

Not that I should have been ashamed of it," she hastened to explain.