"You must not interrupt," cried Dudley. "This is my story, remember. You never teased me much, but the great thing I couldn't forgive you was that uncle loved you best."
"No, I'm sure he didn't," cried Bernard.
"No more interruptions," said all the children, and Dudley went on.
"Well, you see I was very suspicious and miserable, and I always thought Bernard wanted to make fun of me. When he first began to call me 'Dud,' for short, I thought he meant that I was like the old rags that Joe used to clean the carriages with, for he always used to call them 'old duds.' And then sometimes when I came in from riding on Lightfoot's bare back, with my hair blown every sort of a way, if he said, 'Shall we have our lessons now, uncle? here comes Wylde,' I always thought he was trying to make uncle think I was wild like those horrid Indians we used to read about, while he, Bernard, was always neat and smooth like a little gentleman. So you see there was nothing that Bernard could do or say, that I did not twist around to make myself miserable.
"One day, when I had been playing with my dog Sambo half the morning, and riding Lightfoot the rest of the time, I was called on to recite Latin to uncle, and didn't know one word. But Bernard recited like a book, and when it was over, uncle did not scold me, he never did, but just gave Bernard the pretty picture I had long been wanting, of the boy climbing up over crag and ice, shouting 'Excelsior.'
"That very afternoon we had planned to take a walk together to an old ruined castle, but I was so cross and sullen I wonder Bernard did not slip away and go alone. I can't begin to tell you how envious and unhappy I felt, and I quarrelled so with him about every little thing, that at last he scarcely opened his mouth."
"I don't believe this story is true," said Flaxy indignantly. "I'm sure the Dudley Wylde we know was never so bad and quarrelsome."
Dudley smiled, while Bettine whispered softly, "But he's different now, Flaxy. Do you know his uncle says he is trying to be a Christian?"
Flaxy looked up with a bright tear of sympathy, as Dudley continued.