"Because of beastly cheek."
And when the Junior Subaltern heard that, he went very tired, and walked home to his mother.
And the Junior Subaltern's mother lived in a cottage under the sky, with a wood at the bottom, where the thrushes sang. And all about you, as you walked in the wood, was green moss and trunks of trees and dappled sunshine; and all above you were leaves with the wind in them like waves foaming; and beyond that, blue sky where a lark rippled.
But the Junior Subaltern cared for none of that now, and just sat down with his back to it all, and ate no dinner to call any for him, because things were so hard.
So his mother sent for the good old doctor, who came on his cob, and leaned a trumpet against the Junior Subaltern's chest.
Then the Junior Subaltern said faintly,
"Are you there?" because he thought it was a telephone, like they have in Abroad.
But the doctor answered,
"Say Ah!"
So the Junior Subaltern said it,