young owners remained in the room it would 

 lie snugly and happily in its mansion even if 

 the lid were closed. But if we all went out it 

 would immediately become conscious of its 

 solitude and would cry piteously, until one of 

 us returned and spoke to it, when it would 

 cease its wailing and snuggle into its flannel 

 once more. We tried this trick before all the 

 servants and with any visitor who came to the 

 house, and it never failed. As I look back 

 upon it, it seems to me that we sported cruelly 

 with affection and companionship. 

 *% On the second morning one of the boys had 

 a brilliantly happy thought. "Why not," he 

 said, "give it a swim in the big bath?" The 

 suggestion was rapturously received. A live 

 duckling in a bath was obviously a better game 

 than a fleet of tin fish the sort that has a stick 

 of steel projecting from the snout drawn by 

 means of a magnet on a hesitating and fre- 

 quently interrupted course. So up we dashed 

 into the paternal dressing-room, carrying our 

 favourite with us. The bath was quickly filled 

 31 



