Mrs. Hamilton knelt down by him, and said quietly:
"My Percy will not disobey mamma, will he?"
"Me want that;" he replied, in the pretty coaxing tone of infancy; and he twined his little round arms caressingly round her neck.
Mrs. Hamilton felt very much tempted to indulge him, but she resisted it.
"But that is not a fit plaything for you, love; besides, it is not mine, and we must not touch what is not ours. Come and see if we can not find something just as pretty, that you may have."
And after some minutes' merry play in her lap his mother hoped he had forgotten it; but the little gentleman was not, he thought, to be so governed. The forbidden plaything was quietly grasped, and he seated himself on the ground, in silent but triumphant glee.
Surprised at his sudden silence, Mrs. Hamilton looked toward him. It was his first act of decided disobedience, and she knew she must not waver. Young as he was, he had already learned to know when she was displeased, and when she desired him very gravely to give her the toy, he passionately threw it down, and burst into a violent fit of crying. His nurse took him struggling from the room, and Mrs. Hamilton quietly resumed her work; but there was such an expression of pain in her countenance, that Eleanor exclaimed,
"Emmeline! I have been watching you for the last half hour, and I can not comprehend you. Do explain yourself."
"I will if I can;" and Mrs. Hamilton looked up, and smiled.
"Why would you not let that poor little Percy have that toy?"