"Colin," said Bee, and, for a moment or two, it almost seemed to the
boy as if Rosy's temper had passed into the quiet little girl, "I am
ashamed of you. You naughty, _cruel_ boy, just when poor Rosy
was----"

She stopped suddenly--"just when poor Rosy was beginning to try to be
good," she was going to have said, forgetting her promise to tell no
one of Rosy's plans,--"just when we were all quiet and comfortable,"
she said instead.

Colin looked ashamed.

"I won't do it any more," he said, "I won't really. Besides there's no
fun in only making her cry. It was only fun when it put her into a
rage."

"Nice _fun_," said Bee, with scorn.

"Well, you know what I mean. I daresay it wasn't right, but I never
meant really to hurt her. And all the fellows at school tease like
that--one can't help getting into the way of it."

"I never heard such a foolish way of talking," answered Bee, who was
for once quite vexed with Colin. "I don't think that's a reason for
doing wrong things--that other people do them.'"

"It's bad example--the force of bad example," said Colin so gravely
that Beata, who was perhaps a little matter-of-fact, would have
answered him gravely had she not seen a little twinkle in his eyes,
which put her on her guard.