'I did, sir.' The answer was boldly given.
'Come here!'
And amidst the sudden hush that fell on all the boys, Teddy walked up to the master's desk with hot cheeks and bent head.
'Edward Platt, for the last three days you have been incorrigible. I have kept you in, and given you extra tasks, but neither has had any effect. Now I shall have to do what I have never yet done to you. Hold out your hand.'
Teddy's head was raised instantly, and holding himself erect he bore unflinchingly the three or four sharp strokes with the cane that the master thought fit to give him.
'Now,' said the master, 'you can go home. I will dispense with your attendance for the rest of this morning.'
Teddy walked out without a word: he felt the disgrace keenly, but it was the means of bringing him to himself, and rushing away to a secluded corner in a field he flung himself down on the ground and sobbed as if his heart would break. Half an hour after his uncle, happening to pass through that field, came across him.
'Why, Ted, what be the matter?' he inquired as he lifted him to his feet.
Teddy's tear-stained face and quivering lips touched him so, that he sat down on a log of wood near, and drew him between his knees.
'Are you feeling bad—are you hurt?' was the next question; and then Teddy looked up, and in a solemn voice asked, 'What does the Queen do when her soldiers are beaten instead of getting a victory?'