“That’s what I call pretty sharp shooting,” said Fred.
“And the shot must have gone through and through you,” observed Kitty, quietly. “You remember how you pulled my chair from under me just as I was going to sit upon it yesterday, and made me come down bang on the floor.”
“Yes, and you shook the room so, I thought it would crack the looking-glass; and then you looked round so astonished and silly, I almost died laughing.”
“Oh, Fred!” exclaimed Aunt Fanny; “is it possible you were so rude? If I were an absolute monarch, I would condemn you to be upset once a day for a week in exactly the same manner. I am a great believer in the kind of punishment the boys call ‘tit for tat.’ If a boy should cut the string of your kite, I should cut the strings of all his kites for a whole season, explaining every time—‘That’s for punishment, my fine friend. I don’t think you’ll cut another boy’s kite-string in a hurry.’”
Fred turned very red; but, standing up, he said pleasantly, “Here, Kitty, come and upset me.”
She ran behind his chair, but he did not think she would play this trick before company, and he turned quickly, with such perfect confidence, as she snatched the chair away, that he came down with a most tremendous thump! which made the very windows rattle, amid the shouts and laughter of the rest.
“How do you like it?” asked Aunt Fanny, quietly.
“Not much,” said Fred, grinning in rather a rueful manner. “I’m cured, though. I don’t think I shall upset anybody again; and just let them try it on me—that’s all.”
At this they all laughed harder than ever, and declared that Aunt Fanny’s rule for punishment was the very “best they had ever heard of.