“My dear boy, if you only could? Oh, Gertrude! how could you be so thoughtless?” she repeated.
“I desired Clement to stay in the nursery, and he disobeyed me,” said Gertrude, gravely.
“And now are you going to punish me?” he asked.
“Go into the nursery, and I will tell you. Go at once.”
“Go away, naughty boy, and not vex your little brother,” said his mother, rocking in her arms the child, who was too weak and weary to resist.
“I didn’t vex Claude. Let him go with us. I’m not a naughty boy.” He looked as though he meditated taking up a position on the sofa.
“Go,” said his sister.
“How will you punish me, then?”
“I will tell you when I come to the nursery,” she said, opening the door for him.
Not very willingly, but quietly, he went; and in a little while they heard his merry voice ringing along the hall.