“Now, don’t move.”
He wrapped his handkerchief around a hoop-stick. Then he inserted both in the other end of the stiff hose. It fitted snugly. He shoved it in and then drew it back.
Nature abhors a vacuum. The young patrician was as amenable to this law as the child of the lowest peasant. She succumbed. It was all over in a minute. Then she burst into a small fury.
“You nasty, bad—ugly boy.”
Young Little winced, but smiled.
“Stimulants,” he whispered to the frightened nurserymaid, who approached; “good-evening.” He was gone.
CHAPTER IV
The breach between young Little and Mr. Raby was slowly widening. Little found objectionable features in the Hall. “This black oak ceiling and wainscoting is not as healthful as plaster; besides, it absorbs the light. The bedroom ceiling is too low; the Elizabethan architects knew nothing of ventilation. The color of that oak paneling which you admire is due to an excess of carbon and the exuvia from the pores of your skin”—
“Leave the house,” bellowed Raby, “before the roof falls on your sacrilegious head!”