"O-oh, what a terrible throw!" sneered a small boy.
Shaun ran and brought back the ball. He tried to be more careful. But once he threw it into the duck pond, and at last he lost it altogether. He heard a child snickering as he came back from an unsuccessful search.
Marjorie said, "Let's go home. I'm tired, anyway."
She looked cross, but she did not say a word to Shaun on the way home.
That night Shaun was dressing to help the butler serve dinner. He looked at his big hands.
He looked at his strong arms and sighed, "Och! Shaun O'Day is too big to be the playmate of a fairy princess!"
But he did not worry until later.
Then that evening when he was helping wash dishes, the cook said, "Watch out, boy. You'll break the dishes yet, with your big, clumsy hands."
He tried so hard to be careful. He tried too hard, perhaps, for what cook had warned him of came to pass. He broke a precious cup and saucer.