discover why Coppy should have kissed her. She was not half so nice
as his own mother. On the other hand, she was Coppy's property, and
would in time belong to him. Therefore it behoved him to treat her
with as much respect as Coppy's big sword or shiny pistol.

The idea that he shared a great secret in common with Coppy kept Wee
Willie Winkie unusually virtuous for three weeks. Then the Old Adam
broke out, and he made what he called a 'camp-fire' at the bottom of
the garden. How could he have foreseen that the flying sparks would
have lighted the Colonel's little hay-rick and consumed a week's
store for the horses? Sudden and swift was the
punishment--deprivation of the good-conduct badge and, most sorrowful
of all, two days' confinement to barracks--the house and
veranda--coupled with the withdrawal of the light of his father's
countenance.

He took the sentence like the man he strove to be, drew himself up
with a quivering under-lip, saluted, and, once clear of the room ran,
to weep bitterly in his nursery--called by him 'my quarters.' Coppy
came in the afternoon and attempted to console the culprit.

'I'm under awwest,' said Wee Willie Winkie mournfully, 'and I didn't
ought to speak to you.'

Very early the next morning he climbed on to the roof of the
house--that was not forbidden--and beheld Miss Allardyce going for a
ride.

'Where are you going?' cried Wee Willie Winkie.