“No, darling,” said Mrs. Brown calmly. “You see, for one thing, he isn’t an orphan.”
“But he’s so awful!” said Ethel. “He’s so unspeakably dreadful!”
“Oh, no, Ethel,” said Mrs. Brown still darning placidly. “Don’t say things like that about your little brother. I sometimes think that when William’s just had his hair cut and got a new suit on he looks quite sweet!”
CHAPTER IX
WILLIAM’S TRUTHFUL CHRISTMAS
William went to church with his family every Sunday morning but he did not usually listen to the sermon. He considered it a waste of time. He sometimes enjoyed singing the psalms and hymns. Any stone-deaf person could have told when William was singing the psalms and hymns by the expressions of pain on the faces of those around him. William’s singing was loud and discordant. It completely drowned the organ and the choir. Miss Barney, who stood just in front of him, said that it always gave her a headache for the rest of the week. William contested with some indignation that he had as good a right to sing in church as anyone. Besides there was nothing wrong with his voice ... it was just like everyone else’s....
During the Vicar’s sermon, William either stared at the curate (William always scored in this game because the curate invariably began to grow pink and look embarrassed after about five minutes of William’s stare) or held a face-pulling competition with the red-haired choir boy or amused himself with insects, conveyed to church in a match box in his pocket, till restrained by the united glares of his father and mother and Ethel and Robert....
But this Sunday, attracted by the frequent repetition of the word “Christmas,” William put his stag beetle back into its box and gave his whole attention to the Vicar’s exhortation....
“What is it that poisons our whole social life?” said the Vicar earnestly. “What is it that spoils even the holy season that lies before us? It is deceit. It is untruthfulness. Let each one of us decide here and now for this season of Christmas at least, to cast aside all deceit and hypocrisy and speak the truth one with another.... It will be the first step to a holier life. It will make this Christmas the happiest of our lives....”
William’s attention was drawn from the exhortation by the discovery that he had not quite closed the match box and the stag beetle was crawling up Ethel’s coat. Fortunately Ethel was busily engaged in taking in all the details of Marion Hatherley’s new dress across the aisle and did not notice. William recaptured his pet and shut up the match box ... then rose to join lustily and inharmoniously in the first verse of “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” During the other verses he employed himself by trying a perfectly new grimace (which he had been practising all week) on the choir boy. It was intercepted by the curate who shuddered and looked away hastily. The sight and sound of William in the second row from the front completely spoilt the service for the curate every Sunday. He was an æsthetic young man and William’s appearance and personality hurt his sense of beauty....