is seven-year-old boy was thought
too delicate, and was taught at home by a governess with sandy curls,
who brought books in a needlework bag that we all used to laugh at--I am
sure I don't know why; but her teaching could not have amounted to much,
for I went into the schoolroom one day, and found Tommy riding defiantly
on the rocking-horse, while poor Miss Feechim stood by him with an A B C
in one hand and a long pointer in the other, with which she showed him
the letters. When he said them correctly, Miss Feechim gave him a
sugar-plum out of the bag on her arm, but when he refused to look at
them, which he did as often as not, she only said, "Oh, Tommy!" and
shook her curls, and never attempted to make him mind her; and then he
laughed and called her names, and rocked his horse so violently up and
down that his poor mother came rushing up-stairs white with anxiety to
know what was the matter.

You can imagine after this we were not overjoyed when we heard from
Mother that Lady Mary was so ill her mother had taken possession of her,
and that we were to have the pleasure of Tommy Torment's company at the
seaside. Mother said she was very sorry, but she could not help it. The
doctor said Lady Mary must have complete rest, and no worries; and Lady
Mary had said she could not trust her precious treasure to any one else
but Mother. So, when we set off on our annual holiday, Tommy was stuck
into a corner of the omnibus.

Well, at first, and under Mother's eye, we really did think we had been
rather hard on Tommy Torment, he seemed so like other boys; but
presently, when the novelty had worn off, and he had become tired of
being good, the real Tommy appeared, and for at least a week we had
really what Nurse calls a "regular time of it." There was not a trick he
did not know; and the worst of it was that our boys became tricky too,
and we really did not know how to bear the rough usage we all received,
for we never had a moment's pleasure or peace of our lives; and what
with sand in our hair, wet star-fish down our backs, and seeing our
dolls shipwrecked in their best clothes off the steepest possible rocks,
we never felt secure for a moment, and we actually began to wish
ourselves back in the city, when Nurse fortunately rose to the occasion,
and, taking the law into her own hands, escorted the whole party up to
Mother, which brought matters to a climax; for our boys were so ashamed
of their cruelty and ungentlemanly behavi