Now Boxer was so much bigger than this little stranger in black-and-white, and the little stranger was so very polite, that already Boxer felt that the little stranger must be afraid of him. All Boxer’s previous feeling of bigness and importance came back to him. He wanted to show off. He wanted this little stranger to respect him. To have that stranger suggest that he was rather small to be out alone in the Great World hurt Boxer’s pride. In fact, it made him angry.
“If I were as small as you, perhaps I would feel that way,” retorted Boxer rudely.
“I didn’t use the right word. I should have said young instead of small,” explained the stranger mildly. “Of course, I am small compared with you, but I am fully gown and have been out in the Great World a long time, while you are very young and just starting out. I wonder if your mother knows where you are.”
“It is none of your business whether my mother knows or not,” retorted Boxer more rudely than before, for he was growing more and more angry.
“Certainly not. I haven’t said it was,” replied the stranger, still speaking politely. “I am not in the least interested. Besides, I know anyway. I know that she doesn’t know. I know that you have run away, and I know that you have some bitter lessons to learn before you will be fitted to live by yourself in the Great World. If you will just step aside, I will be much obliged. There is a big piece of bark just back of you under which there may be some fat beetles.”
CHAPTER XXXII
BOXER WISHES HE HADN’T
This is, you’ll find, the law of fate:
Regrets are always just too late.