'That violin that I was so angry with him for buying!' said Wilmet. 'Well, he is a dear little fellow!'
'And I scolded him for being unkind!' cried Cherry, in despair. 'Oh, is he asleep? I should like to beg his pardon,' and her hand clasped Lord Gerald.
'About the worst thing you could do to the poor boy, Cherry,' said Felix, 'when he is only lying there trying to get his head quiet enough to let him sleep.'
'Nor must you betray me,' added John, smiling at poor conscience-stricken Cherry.
'And it is a mercy the fiddle is gone!' said Alda. 'I used to hear him playing it somewhere among the out-houses in the spring, and it was enough to distract one, added to Theodore's dronings.'
'It must have been like parting with a bit of his life,' sighed Cherry; 'and yet Bernard would not mind him, and they did quarrel!'
'Boys who deal well with juniors at school do sometimes fail with little brothers,' said John. 'Besides, I observe that where there is pride there is always a distaste and dread of those who have much power of ridicule.'
'I suspect, too,' said Felix, 'that Lance has made the turn in life when one gets superfluously earnest, and nothing so upsets influence. I have felt it myself.'
'So all this trouble and vexation has been weighing on the dear little fellow,' said Wilmet. 'No wonder he is not half so well as when he came home!'
'No,' said Felix; 'I wonder whether the Froggatts would let him come to them for a week or two, or whether it would be too dull to be good for him.'