Then William heard threatening movements
above, and decided hastily that the battle must cease.

"Backstairs," he said shortly. "Come on."

Marking their track by a running stream of water, they crept up the
backstairs.

But two small boys soaked to the skin could not disclaim all
knowledge of a flooded hall.

William was calm and collected when confronted with a distracted
mother.

"We was tryin' to clean up," he said. "We found all snail marks an' we
was tryin' to clean up. We was tryin' to help. You said so last night,
you know, when you was talkin' to me. You said to _help_. Well, I
thought it was helpin' to try an' clean up. You can't clean up with
water an' not get wet--not if you do it prop'ly. You said to try an'
make Christmas Day happy for other folks and then I'd be happy. Well,
I don't know as I'm very happy," he said, bitterly, "but I've been
workin' hard enough since early this mornin'. I've been workin'," he
went on pathetically. His eye wandered to the notice on his wall.
"I've been _busy_ all right, but it doesn't make me _happy_--not jus'
now," he added, with memories of the rapture of the fight. That
certainly must be repeated some time. Buckets of water and
scrubbing-brushes. He wondered he'd never thought of that before.

William's mother looked down at his dripping form.

"Did you get all that water with just cleaning up the snail marks?"
she said.

William coughed and cleared his throat. "Well," he said,
deprecatingly, "most of it. I think I got most of it."

"If it wasn't Christmas Day ..." she went on darkly.

William's spirits rose. There was certainly something to be said for
Christmas Day.

It was decided to hide the traces of the crime as far as possible from
William's father. It was felt--and not without reason--that William's
father's feelings of respect for the sanctity of Christmas Day might
be overcome by his feelings of paternal ire.

Half-an-hour later William, dried, dressed, brushed, and chastened,
descended the stairs as the gong sounded in a hall which was bare of
hats and coats, and whose floor shone with cleanliness.

"And jus' to think," said William, despondently, "that it's only jus'
got to brekfust time."

William's father was at the bottom of the stairs. William's father
frankly disliked Christmas Day.

"Good-morning, William," he said, "and a happy Christmas, and I hope
it's not too much to ask of you that on this relation-infested day
one's feelings m