"You hateful boy! You're always up to some monkey tricks!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"'For she can thoroughly enjoy
The pepper when she pleases!'"
jeered Giles, adroitly dodging the smack she designed for him.
And the rest of the family laughed—yes, laughed, in a most heartless and inconsiderate manner.
"Your wits were wool-gathering, Gwen!" said Winnie, quoting a local proverb. "Stumps did it so deliberately and openly that anybody could have caught him who wasn't absolutely dreaming. We were all watching to see if you'd notice."
"The absent-minded beggar!" piped Basil.
"I think you're all very horrid and unkind!" complained the victim, still sneezing.
"Don't be grumpy, Gwen!"
"You must learn to take a joke, childie!" said Father, pushing back his chair and going away to his study.
Father so generally stood up for her that Gwen felt aggrieved. She had always flattered herself upon her capacity for accepting "ragging" with equanimity, but this, she considered, was beyond a joke.