there was—for the captain was stabbed alweady—boilin' away in oil. Their ears was full of it."
Mrs. Handsomebody gripped the arms of her chair, and leaned towards him.
"Alexander, I have never known a child of such tender years to possess so unquenchable a lust for frightfulness. It must be eradicated at all costs."
The Seraph stood, then, balancing himself on the rung of his chair,
"'Once aboard the lugger,'" he sang out, slapping his plump little thigh, "'and the gell is mine!'"
Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair. She said:
"This is appalling. David—John—take your little brother to bed instantly! Take him out of my hearing."
Angel and I each grasped an arm of the reluctant infant and dragged him from the room. He stamped up the stairway between us, with an air of stubborn jollity.
When we had reached the top, he loosed himself from me and put his head over the handrail.
"'John Peel's View Halloo! would waken the dead'—" he roared down into the hall.
But he got no further. Between us we hustled him into the bedroom, and shut the door. Angel
[185]
