 have liked if she had not been his sister. The result of his experience
was that women had never done him any good; he was not accustomed to connect
them with any pleasure; if there was a part of Hamlet in connection with them it
had been so completely cut out in the edition of the play in which he was
required to take a part that he had come to disbelieve in its existence; as for
kissing, he had never kissed a woman in his life except his sisters - and my own
sisters when we were all small children together. Over and above these kisses,
he had until quite lately been required to imprint a solemn flabby kiss night
and morning upon his father's cheek, and this, to the best of my belief was the
extent of Theobald's knowledge in the matter of kissing, at the time of which I
am now writing. The result of the foregoing was that he had come to dislike
women as mysterious beings whose ways were not as his ways, nor his thoughts
their thoughts.
    With these antecedents Theobald naturally felt rather bashful on finding
himself the admired of five strange young ladies. I remember when I was a boy
myself I was once asked to take tea at a young ladies' school where one of my
sisters was boarding. I was then about twelve years old; everything went off
well during tea time, for the Lady Principal of the establishment was present;
but there came a time when she went away and I was left alone with the girls.
The moment the mistress's back was turned the head girl, who was about my own
age, came up, pointed her finger at me, made a face, and said solemnly, »A
na-a-asty bo-o-y!« All the girls followed her in rotation, making the same
gesture and the same reproach upon my being a boy. It gave me a great scare; I
believe I cried, and I know it was a long time before I could again face a girl
without a strong desire to run away.
    Theobald felt at first much as I had myself done at the girls' school, but
the Miss Allabys did not tell him he was a nasty bo-o-y. Their papa and mamma
were so cordial, and they themselves lifted him so deftly over conversational
stiles, that before dinner was over Theobald thought the family to be a really
very charming one, and felt as though he were being appreciated in a way to
which he had not hitherto been accustomed.
    With dinner his shyness wore off. He was by
