“Then will you come upstairs with me, mamma?”
“No, she won’t! You’ll go by yourself, like a man.”
“Mamma——”
Mrs. Thomas intervened cheerily. “Don’t be afraid, dearie,” she said. “Your papa thinks you ought to begin to learn how to be manly; but the lights are lit all the way, and I told Annie to turn on the one in your room. You just go ahead like a good boy, and when you’re all undressed and ready to jump in bed, then you just whistle for me——”
“I don’t want to whistle,” said Ludlum irritably. “I want my bow-an’-arry!”
“Look here!” cried his father. “You start for——”
“I got to have my bow-an’——”
“You mean to disobey me?”
“I got to have my——”
Mr. Thomas rose; his look became ominous. “We’ll see about that!” he said; and he approached his son, whose apprehensions were expressed in a loud cry.