"My legs is nearly broken, I'm so tarred. Chris lost me and left me, and I didn't know the way home. He's a beast!"
"Hush, hush! Now, no more tears. You are growing out of a baby. Go upstairs with Nurse, and you'll feel better after tea."
Nurse took him off and managed to comfort him. Diana toiled upstairs with weary legs, and Chris turned to his mother.
"I've made you angry," he said; "I'm sorry."
"Not angry, only disappointed. I thought I should be able to depend upon you."
"Oh, do, Mums, do! Forgive me. It's all my fault. I was furious with him for not playing fair. I forgot he was only a baby. And he kicks so! When he kicks my shins, I feel I'd like to give him a good thrashing!"
Chris looked at his mother so appealingly that she took him into her arms and kissed him.
"My eldest son," she said softly: "I want to feel that he is my right hand when his father is away!"
Chris gulped down a choke in his throat.
"Oh, I won't fail you next time," he said in a whisper; "give me a next time, won't you?"