CHORE-BOYS 155 



forgot that the daily round and common task 

 proclaimed his near relationship to the frail family 

 of the Can-does. 



Hardwick was even more cocksure than Heriot, 

 though less convincing, since his only reason for 

 confidence lay in the assurance that he " could do 

 anything." However I gave the paper, the two- 

 foot measure, and the scissors into Hylton-Cave's 

 keeping, the paste and the brush to Hardwick, 

 and went down to the Fort for everybody's mail, 

 delighted to have got rid of an irksome task. 



When I returned half the room was hung with 

 paper, but it seemed a little unusual. I drew nearer 

 to find that it had been pasted on from the outside. 



" I thought it was a queer thing to do," said 

 Hylton-Cave, with his hands in his pockets, and a 

 gleam in his eyes that I mistrusted, only that 

 one never can be sure of anything that lurks behind 

 spectacles. " But you see you gave him the paste 

 and brush, and it wasn't my business to inter- 

 fere." 



" Not your business ! " I said wrathfully. " Didn't 

 you tell me you had both seen and helped your 

 mother put on paper a hundred times ? " 



" Yes, but Hardwick said he knew a professional 

 bill-sticker and they always do it this way because 

 it makes a better job." 



I made them pull every scrap of paper off the walls 

 before supper, and the next day I rose to the occa- 

 sion and attacked the job myself. It chanced that 

 it was my birthday and the loveliest day in the world, 

 but I had to stick to the foot-rule, the scissors, 

 and the paste-pot, and the paper, long after the sun 

 slipped down behind the horizon because I knew 



