I remember
when I was a boy myself I was once asked to take tea at a girls'
school where one of my sisters was boarding. I was then about twelve
years old. Everything went off well during tea-time, for the Lady
Principal of the establishment was present. But there came a time when
she went away and I was left alone with the girls. The moment the
mistress's back was turned the head girl, who was about my own age,
came up, pointed her finger at me, made a face and said solemnly, "A
na-a-sty bo-o-y!" All the girls followed her in rotation making the
same gesture and the same reproach upon my being a boy. It gave me a
great scare. I believe I cried, and I know it was a long time before I
could again face a girl without a strong desire to run away.
Theobald felt at first much as I had myself done at the girls'
school, but the Miss Allabys did not tell him he was a nasty
bo-o-oy. Their papa and mamma were so cordial and they themselves
lifted him so deftly over conversational stiles that before dinner was
over Theobald thought the family to be a really very charming one, and
felt as though he were being appreciated in a way to which he had
not hitherto been accustomed.
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