a
shopkeeper, and to stand in front of each booth in turn, he did not
seem at all anxious to come; and he would bring a cannon with him, and
hide it behind his back when I came to buy vegetables for the dolls'
dinners.

We quarrelled about the cannon. I said no one ever heard of a
greengrocer with a cannon in his shop; and Joseph said it couldn't
matter if the greengrocer stood in front of the cannon so as to hide
it. So I said I wouldn't have a cannon in my fair at all; and Joseph
said he didn't want to come to my fair, for he liked his fortress much
better, and he rattled out, dragging his cannon behind him, and
knocked down Adelaide Augusta, the gutta-percha doll, who was leaning
against the fishmonger's slab, with her chin on the salmon.

It was very hard, and I said so; and then Joseph said there were
plenty of times when I wouldn't let him play with the dolls; and I
said that was just it--when I didn't want him to he wanted, and when I
wanted him to he wouldn't, and that he was very selfish.

So at last he put away his cannon, and came and played at shops; but
he was very stupid, and would look over his shoulder at the fortress
when he ought to have been pretending to sell; and once, when I had
left the fair, he got his cannon back and shot peas out of it, so that
all the fowls fell off the real hooks in the poulterer's shop, and
said he was bombarding the city.

I was very angry, and said, "I shall go straight down, and complain to
godmamma," and I went.

The worst of it was that only that very morning Lady Elizabeth had
said to me, "Remember one thing, my dear. I will listen to no
complaints whatever. No grumbles either from you or from Joseph. If
you want anything that you have not got, and will ask for it, I will
do my best for you, as my little guests; and if it is right and
reasonable, and fair to both, you shall have what you want. But you
must know your own mind when you ask, and make the best of what I can
do for you. I will hear no general complaints whatever."

Remembering this, I felt a little nervous when I was fairly in the
drawing-room, and Lady Elizabeth had laid down her glasses to hear
what I had to say.

"Do you want anything, my dear?" said she.

I began to complain--that Joseph was so stupid; that it seemed so
provoking; that I did think it was very unkind of him, etc.; but Lady
Elizabeth put up her hand.

"My dear Selina, you have forgotten what I told you. If there is
anything t