rriage?"

"Lift Tommy up," he whined.

I'd a good mind to chuck him out of the window.

"Lift yourself up," I said, "and shut up. I want to read." Then I'm
bothered if the young cad didn't begin yelling! Just because I didn't
lift him up. I never saw such a blub-baby in all my life. I couldn't
make out what he was up to at first. I thought he was curtseying and
seeing how long he could hold his breath. But when it did come out, my
eye! I thought the engine-driver would hear. I was in a regular funk;
I thought he'd got a fit or something; I never heard such yelling. He
was black in the face over it, and dancing. I'd a good mind to pull the
cord and stop the train. But I thought I'd see if I could pull him
round first.

So I picked him up and stuck him up on the seat. Would you believe it,
Jossy? The moment he was up he stopped howling and began grinning. It
had all been a plant to get me to lift him up; and as soon as he'd made
me do it he laughed at me!

I can tell you it's not pleasant to be made a fool of, even by a kid.

"I'm sitting beside you now," he said, as much as to tell me he'd scored
one off me.

I was too disgusted to take any further notice of him. I suppose he saw
I was riled, and began to be a bit civil. He pulled a nasty sticky bit
of chocolate out of his pocket and held it up to my nose.

"A sweetie for you," he said.

I didn't want to have him yelling again, so I took it. Ugh!--all over
dust and hairs, and half melted.

He watched me gulp it down, and then, to my relief, got hold of the
_Boy's Own Paper_ and began looking at the pictures. He got sick of
that soon, and went and looked out of the window. Then he came and sat
by me again, and began to get jolly familiar. He stroked my cheeks with
his horrid sticky hand, and then climbed up on the seat and tried to
lark with my cap. Then just because I didn't shut him up, he clambered
up on my back and nearly throttled me with his arms round my neck; and--
what do you think?--he began to kiss me!

That was a drop too much.

"Stow it, kid!" I said.

"Dear, dear!" he said, getting regularly maudlin, and kissing me at
about two a second.

"Let go, do you hear? you're scrugging me."

"Nice mannie," he said.

I didn't know what to do until I luckily thought of my grub.

"Like a bun?" said I.

He let me go and was down beside me like a shot. You should have seen
him walk into that bun! His face was all over it, a