Then, I am sorry to say, Charlie did a very naughty thing. He pushed Rose roughly, so that she fell down and bruised her poor little knee. She tried not to cry, but the tears would come. And when she saw Charlie disappear around the corner of the house with his hands in his pockets, as if he did not care at all, she began to sob.
“I wish I had not come to the country!” she whimpered.
Now from the parlor window Charlie’s mother had seen this last naughtiness, and straightway she went after her boy, who was kicking his toe against the piazza steps.
“Charlie, you have been a very naughty boy,” she said. “You have hurt your little cousin, and I must punish you. What makes you so bad to-day? I thought you and Rose would have such pleasant times together!”
“I don’t like girls,” said Charlie sulkily. “They are telltales and cry-babies. I am glad I pushed her.”
“Charlie!” exclaimed his mother, much shocked. “Go right up to the dark room and sit down in a chair and stay there until you are sorry. When you are truly sorry you can come out and tell Rose.”
“I shan’t ever be sorry,” said Charlie obstinately. “And I will never tell her that I am.”
“Then you will have no supper to-night,” said his mother firmly. “Go, now. Do as I tell you, Charlie.”
Charlie knew that it was not safe to linger when his mother spoke in that tone. He stamped up the three flights of stairs and opened the door of the dark room. It was a spare chamber that was seldom used, save on Charlie’s naughty days. The blinds were closed tight, and not a ray of the beautiful summer sunshine could enter. Instead, there was a gloomy, greenish dimness, which was not at all pleasant. And the room was very, very still. The rest of the world seemed a long way off.
Charlie dragged a chair into the middle of the room and sat down, kicking the rungs with his feet. It was all Rose’s fault. He had given her only a tiny push, and it could not have hurt her much. She was such a cry-baby and telltale! Of course it must have been she who had told his mother all about it. He could hear the faint sound of old Carlo barking outside, and fancied he caught echoes of Rose’s happy laughter. Yes, undoubtedly the mean little thing was playing with Carlo, enjoying herself in the beautiful sunshine as if nothing had happened, while he was shut up in the old dark room! Charlie thought of all the fine things he had planned to do this day, if something had not gone wrong from the very beginning.