"_What_ friend?"
"Mr. French. The man what carried me when I was took ill sudden. He gave me it. I di"n"t know it was goin" to go into your slipper. I wun"t of let it if I"d known. An" I di"n"t know it was goin" to bite your toe. It di"n"t mean to bite your toe. I "spect it thought it was me givin" it sumthin" to eat. I expect----"
"Be _quiet_! What on earth did Mr. French give you the confounded thing for?"
"I dunno. I s"pect he jus" wanted to."
"He seems to have taken quite a fancy to William," said Mrs. Brown.
Ethel blushed faintly.
"He seems to have taken a spite against me," said Mr. Brown bitterly.
"How many of the wretched pests have you got?"
"They"re rats," corrected William, "White "uns. I"ve only got two."
"Good Heavens! He"s got _two_. Where"s the other?"
"In the shed."
"Well, _keep_ it there, do you hear? And this savage brute as well. Good Lord! My toe"s nearly eaten off. They ought to wear muzzles; they"ve got rabies. Where"s Jumble? He in the shed, too?" hopefully.
"No. He dun"t like "em. But I"m tryin" to _teach_ him to like "em. I let "em loose and let him look at "em with me holdin" on to him."
"Yes, go on doing that," said Mr. Brown encouragingly. "Accidents sometimes happen."
That night William obeyed the letter of the law by keeping the rats in a box on his bedroom window-sill.
The household was roused in the early hours of the morning by piercing screams from Ethel"s room. The more adventurous of the pair--named Rufus--had escaped from the box and descended to Ethel"s room by way of the creeper. Ethel awoke suddenly to find it seated on her pillow softly pawing her hair. The household, in their various sleeping attire, flocked to her room at the screams. Ethel was hysterical. They fed her on hot tea and biscuits to steady her nerves. "It was _horrible_!" she said. "It was pulling at my hair. It just sat there with its pink nose and long tail. It was perfectly _horrible_!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. BROWN IN LARGE PYJAMAS LOOKED FIERCELY DOWN AT WILLIAM IN SMALL PYJAMAS.]
"Where _is_ the wretched animal?" said Mr. Brown looking round with murder in his eyes.
"I"ve got it, Father," piped up William"s small voice at the back of the crowd. "Ethel di"n"t understand. It was playin" with her. It di"n"t mean to frighten her. It----"
"I told you not to keep them in the house."
Mr. Brown in large pyjamas looked fiercely down at William in small pyjamas with the cause of all the tumult clasped lovingly to his breast.
Ethel, in bed, continued to gasp weakly in the intervals of drinking tea.
"They weren"t in the house," said William firmly. "They were outside the window. Right outside the window. Right on the sill. You can"t call outside the window in the house, can you? I _put_ it outside the house.
I can"t help it _comin"_ inside the house when I"m asleep, can I?"
Mr. Brown eyed his son solemnly.
"The next time I catch either of those animals inside this house, William," he said slowly, "I"ll wring its neck."
When Mr. French called the next afternoon, he felt that his popularity had declined.
"I can"t think why you gave William such dreadful things," Ethel said weakly, lying on the sofa. "I feel quite upset. I"ve got such a headache and my nerves are a wreck absolutely."
Mr. French worked hard that afternoon and evening to regain his lost ground. He sat by the sofa and talked in low tones. He read aloud to her. He was sympathetic, penitent, humble and devoted. In spite of all his efforts, however, he felt that his old prestige was gone. He was no longer the Man Who Carried William Home. He was the Man Who Gave William the Rat. He felt that, in the eyes of the Brown household, he was solely responsible for Ethel"s collapse. There was reproach even in the eyes of the housemaid who showed him out. In the drive he met William. William was holding a grimy, blood-stained handkerchief round his finger. There was reproach in William"s eyes also. "It"s bit me," he said indignantly. "One of those rats what you gave me"s bit me."
"I"m awfully sorry," said Mr. French penitently. Then, with sudden spirit, "Well, you asked for rats, didn"t you?"
"Yes," said William. "But not savage ones. I never asked for savage ones, did I? I di"n"t ask for rats what would scare Ethel and bite me, did I? I was jus" teaching it to dance on its hind legs an" holding up its front ones for it an" it went an" bit me."
Mr. French looked at him apprehensively.
"You--you"d better not--er--tell your mother or sister about your finger. I--I wouldn"t like your sister to be upset any more."
"Don"t you want me to let "em know?"
"Er--no."
"Well, what"ll you give me not to?" said William brazenly.
Mr. French plunged his hand into his pocket.
"I"ll give you half-a-crown," he said.
William pocketed the coin.
"All right!" he said. "If I wash the blood off an" get my hands dirty n.o.body"ll notice."
Things went well for several days after that. Mr. French arrived the next morning laden with flowers and grapes. The household unbent towards him. Ethel arranged a day"s golfing with him. William spent a blissful day with his half-crown. There was a fair in full swing on the fair ground, and thither William and Jumble wended their way. William had eleven consecutive rides on the merry-go-round. He had made up his mind to have twelve, but, much to his regret, had to relinquish the twelfth owing to certain unpleasant physical sensations. With a lordly air, he entered seven tents in succession and sat gazing in a silent intensity of rapture at the Strong Man, the Fat Woman, the Indiarubber Jointed Boy, the Siamese Twins, the Human Eel, the Man-headed Elephant and the Talking Monkey. In each tent he stayed, silent and enraptured, till ejected by the showman to make room for others who were anxious to feast their eyes upon the marvels. Having now completely recovered from the sensations caused by the merry-go-round, he purchased a large bag of pop-corn and stood leaning against a tent-pole till he had consumed it.
Then he purchased two sticks of nougat and with it drank two bottles of ginger-beer. The remaining 4_d._ was spent upon a large packet of a red sticky mixture called Canadian Delight.
Dusk was falling by this time and slowly, very slowly, William returned home. He firmly refused all food at supper. Mrs. Brown grew anxious.
"William, you don"t look a bit well," she said. "You don"t feel like you did the other day, do you?"
William met Mr. French"s eye across the table and Mr. French blushed.
"No, not a bit like that," said William.
When pressed, he admitted having gone to the fair.
"Someone gave me half-a-crown," he excused himself plaintively. "I jus"
had to go somewhere."
"It"s perfectly absurd of people," said Mrs. Brown indignantly, "to give large sums of money to a boy of William"s age. It always ends this way.
People ought to know better."
As they pa.s.sed out from the supper-table, William whispered hoa.r.s.ely to Mr. French:
"It was the half-crown what you give me."