“What? rub the horses?”
“No. Why did you look at Ben in that way? And why did it seem such a punishment to him?”
“I wanted him to remember. He knows I never permit him to bring me a horse that isn’t perfectly clean.”
“And will he remember now?”
“Certainly. You saw how severely he was punished this time. He doesn’t want that kind of thing to happen again.”
“But I don’t understand. You did nothing to him. You didn’t even scold him.”
“Of course I didn’t. Scolding is foolish. Only weak-minded people scold.”
“But I shouldn’t have thought Ben fine enough or sensitive enough to feel the sort of punishment you gave him. Why should he mind it?”
“Oh, everybody minds being looked at in that way—everybody who has been doing wrong. You see one always knows when one has done wrong. Ben knew, and when I looked at him he saw that I knew too. So it hurt him. You’ll see now that he’ll never bring you or me a horse on which we can soil our handkerchiefs.”
“Where did you learn all that?” asked Arthur, full of curiosity and interest.