Mr. Bott was “self-made” and considering all things had made quite a decent job of himself, but his manners had not “the repose that stamps the caste of Vere de Vere.” Violet Elizabeth on the other hand had been brought up from infancy in the lap of luxury and refinement provided by the successful advertising of Botts’ Famous Digestive Sauce.
******
The delight with which Robert and Ethel (William’s elder brother and sister) received the invitation to the fancy dress dance was, as I have said, considerably tempered by the fact of William’s inclusion in the invitation. And William, with his natural perversity, was eager to go.
“Any show we want him to go to,” said Robert bitterly, “he raises Cain about, but when a thing like this comes along—a thing that he’ll completely spoil for us if he comes like he always does——” he spread out his arm with the eloquent gesture of one tried almost beyond endurance, and left the sentence unfinished.
“Well, let’s accept for ourselves, and say that William can’t go because he’s got a previous engagement,” suggested Ethel.
“But I haven’t,” said William indignantly, “I haven’t got anything at all wrong with me. I’m quite well. An’ I want to go. I don’ see why everyone else should go but me. Besides,” using an argument that he knew would appeal to them, “you’ll all be there an’ you’ll be able to see I’m not doing anything wrong, but if I was alone at home you wouldn’t know what I was doing. Not,” he added hastily, “that I want to do anything wrong. All I want to do is to make others happy. An’ I’ll have a better chance of doin’ that at a party than if I was all alone at home.”
These virtuous sentiments did but increase the suspicious distrust of his family. The general feeling was that far worse things happened when William was out to be good than when he was frankly out to be bad.
“Oh, I think William must go,” said Mrs. Brown in her placid voice. “It will be so interesting for him and I’m sure he’ll be good.”
Mrs. Brown’s rather pathetic faith in William’s latent powers of goodness was unshared by any other of his family.
“Anyway,” she went on hastily, seeing only incredulity on the faces around her, “the thing to do now is to decide what we’re all going as.”