William and Ginger, William's faithful friend and ally, were in a state of bankruptcy. They lacked even the paltry twopence necessary to buy sweets in these days of inflated prices, and life was unendurable. They had approached the adult members of their respective families, only to meet that callousness and indifference so characteristic of adults in their dealings with the young....
They sat in the open space of ground behind Ginger's house, and solemnly considered their assets.
Asset 1.—An indiarubber ball with a hole in it, which they had offered to the boy next door for sixpence and which he had refused.
Asset 2.—A pansy root surreptitiously taken from William's father's garden. They had taken this to the local nursery gardener and offered it to him for fivepence-halfpenny. They had afterwards retrieved it from the gutter whither that irascible man had flung it in indignant fury.
Asset 3.—The twins.
The twins really belonged to Ginger. That is to say, they were Ginger's cousins and were paying a visit to Ginger's family. They had been there a week now, and to Ginger it had been a very long week. On their arrival, he had found to his horror that he was expected to take an interest in them, even to the extent of taking them about with him wherever he went.
He had almost become accustomed, by now, to their continual presence, but still he disliked them intensely. In all his daring adventures and escapades and games he was to be hampered by the two of them, George and John, both placid, both plump, both three-and-a-half years old. He had to listen to William's comments on their appearance and mental powers, comments with which he privately agreed, but which, for the sake of the honour of his family, he was obliged to resent and avenge....
To-day, to add insult to injury, his mother had told him to "see that they kept clean," as their mother was coming to take them home that afternoon. That, at any rate, was a blessing. It would be the last day of his persecution. But the ignominy ... that a desperate bravado should have to spend his noble energy keeping children clean....
George and John were sitting now on the ground, pulling up bits of grass and eating them. William and Ginger watched them scornfully.
"Pity we can't make a bit of money out of them," said William.