"Do give me the particulars, Charlotte!"
"I can't, I tell you, mamma. I only know them myself from hearsay. I was shut up in the dining-room with Georgy, and knew nothing until startled by Honour's cries."
"You were shut up in the dining-room!"
"Just as you found me shut up in this room now. Georgy was asleep, and I had his feet on my lap. I wish you wouldn't ask me about it. It is not a pleasant thing to talk of. I am sorry now for having beaten him."
"You beat him?--Benja?"
"He was naughty after dinner. He had a new watch, and would not lend it to Georgy, and they got quarrelling. He beat Georgy, and I beat him. I am sorry for it now."
"But it was not then that he was burnt!" exclaimed Mrs. Darling, scarcely understanding.
"No. Honour took him away, and I stayed in the dining room with Georgy."
"Did the accident happen immediately?"
"Not for a long while. Two hours, perhaps, I don't know how long exactly. I had been to sleep. It was daylight when he went away, and it was dark when we heard the screams."