He was outraged to receive a sudden box on the ear accompanied by a “Get out, you saucy little ’ound,” and the slamming of the front door in his face.
William rejoined his giggling friends, nursing his boxed ear. He felt an annoyance which was divided impartially between the girl who had boxed his ears and the Outlaws who had giggled at it.
“Oh yes,” he said aggrievedly, “S’easy to laugh, in’t it. S’nice an’ easy to laugh ... an’ all of you afraid to go an’ then laughin’ at the only one what’s brave enough. You’d laugh if it was you, wun’t you? Oh yes?” He uttered his famous snort of bitter sarcasm and contempt. “Oh yes ... you’d laugh then, wun’t you? You’d laugh if it was your ear what she’d nearly knocked off, wun’t you? Lots of people ’ve died for less than that an’ then I bet you’d get hung for murderers. Your brain’s in the middle of your head joined on to your ear, an’ she’s nearly killed me shakin’ my brain up like what she did.... Oh yes, s’easy to laugh an’ me nearly dead an’ my brains all shook up.”
“Did she hurt you awful, William?” said Ginger.
The sympathy in Ginger’s voice mollified William.
“I sh’d jus’ think so,” he said. “Not that I minded,” he added hastily, “I don’t mind a little pain like that ... I mean, I c’n stand any amount of pain—pain what would kill most folks ... but,” he looked again towards the house and uttered again his short sarcastic laugh, “p’raps she thinks she’s got rid of me. Huh! P’raps she thinks they can go on stickin’ to the ole black coat what they’ve stole. Well, they’re not ... let me kin’ly tell them ... they’re jolly well not ... I—I bet I’m goin’ right into the house to get it off them, so there!”
The physical attack perpetrated on William by the housemaid had stirred his blood and inspired him with a lust for revenge. He glared ferociously at the closed front door.
“I’ll go’n have a try, shall I?” said Ginger, who shared with William a love of danger and a dislike of any sort of monotony.
“All right,” said William, torn by a desire to see Ginger also fiercely assailed by the housemaid and a reluctance to having his glory as martyr shared by anyone else. “What’ll you say to ’em?”
“Oh, I’ve got an idea,” said Ginger with what William considered undue optimism and self-assurance, “well, if she bought it for a shillin’ I bet she’ll be glad to sell if for more’n a shillin’ won’t she? Stands to reason, dun’t it?”