an ugly time with the boy?" said
Sidney, then, combing his horse's mane with big gloved fingers.

"Too bad!" said the doctor, shaking his head and pursing his lips.

"No change, Sidney?" Mary asked gravely.

"No. No, I think the little fellow is rather gratified by the stir he's
making. He--oh, Lord knows what he thinks!"

"Give him a good licking," suggested the doctor.

"Oh, I'd lick him fast enough, Bill, if that would bring him round!"
his father said, scowling. "But suppose I do, and it leaves things just
where they are now? That's all I CAN do, and he knows it. His mother
has talked to him; I've talked to him." He looked frowningly at the
seam of his glove. "Well, I mustn't bother you. He's a Carolan, I
suppose--that's all!"

"And you're a Carolan," said the doctor.

"And I'm a Carolan," assented the other, briefly.

Mary found Jean, serious and composed over her sewing, on the cool
north veranda. When they had talked awhile, they went up to see Peter,
who was sprawled on the floor, busy with hundreds of leaden soldiers.
He was no longer gay; there was rather a strained look about his
beautiful babyish eyes. But at Jean's one allusion to the unhappy
affair, he flushed and said with nervous decision:

"Please don't, mother! You know I am sorry; you know I just CAN'T!"

"He has all his books and toys?" said Mary when they went downstairs
again.

"Oh, yes! Sidney doesn't want him to be sick. He's just to be shut up
on bread and milk until he gives in. I must say, I think Sid is very
gentle," said Jean, leaning back wearily in her chair, with closed
eyes. Her voice dropped perceptibly as she added, "But he says he is
going to thrash him to-morrow."

"I think he ought to," said Mary Moore, sturdily. "This isn't
excitement or showing off any more; it's sheer naughty obstinacy over a
perfectly simple demand!"

"Oh, but I couldn't bear it!" whispered Jean, with a shudder. A moment
later she added sensibly, "But he's right, of course; Sidney always is."

Peter was duly whipped the next day. It was no light punishment that
Sidney gave his son. Jean's gold-mounted riding-crop had never seen
severer service. The maids, with paling cheeks, gathered together in
the kitchen when Sidney went slowly upstairs with the whip in his hand;
and Betta and her mistress, their hands over their ears, endured a very
agony while the little boy's cries rang through the house. Sidney went
for a long and lonely walk afterward, a