"If you spanked him a little more and humoured him la little less, he would obey more readily," said the father.
His words carried no particular menace, and there seemed no reason why the boy should be scared. But perhaps there was something else in the atmosphere that affected his sensitive nerves and sent him unexpectedly into a paroxysm of weeping.
"Stop it," cried his father dark with sudden anger. "Stop it, I tell you."
"You leave the boy alone," cried the mother, her face as white as the father's was red.
"We'll see whether he'll obey or not!"
As he spoke, the father sat down on the nearest chair, picked up the boy and put him face down across his knees.
Keith's heart seemed to stop. He even ceased weeping. Then he heard his mother cry out:
"If you touch the boy, I'll throw myself out of the window!"
"Oh, hell!" came back from the father. With that he half dropped and half flung the boy to the floor, so that the latter rolled across the room and landed under the chaiselongue.
There Keith lay, still as a mouse, until he was pulled out by his mother. He didn't begin to cry again, and he was no longer scared or upset. A few moments later he was undressing and going to bed as if nothing had happened.