I remember when I was
a boy myself I was once asked to take tea at a girls' school where one of
my sisters was boarding. I was then about twelve years old. Everything
went off well during tea-time, for the Lady Principal of the
establishment was present. But there came a time when she went away and
I was left alone with the girls. The moment the mistress's back was
turned the head girl, who was about my own age, came up, pointed her
finger at me, made a face and said solemnly, "A na-a-sty bo-o-y!" All
the girls followed her in rotation making the same gesture and the same
reproach upon my being a boy. It gave me a great scare. I believe I
cried, and I know it was a long time before I could again face a girl
without a strong desire to run away.
Theobald felt at first much as I had myself done at the girls' school,
but the Miss Allabys did not tell him he was a nasty bo-o-oy. Their papa
and mamma were so cordial and they themselves lifted him so deftly over
conversational stiles that before dinner was over Theobald thought the
family to be a really very charming one, and felt as though he were being
appreciated in a way to which he had not hitherto been accustomed.
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