"It will keep him out of mischief," they had said.
They were notoriously optimistic where William was concerned.
William's elder brother only was doubtful.
"You know what William is," he said, and in that dark saying much was
contained.
Things went fairly smoothly for some time. He took the scouts' law of
a daily deed of kindness in its most literal sense. He was to do one
(and one only) deed of kindness a day. There were times when he forced
complete strangers, much to their embarrassment, to be the unwilling
recipients of his deed of kindness. There were times when he answered
any demand for help with a cold: "No, I've done it to-day."
He received with saint-like patience the eloquence of his elder sister
when she found her silk scarf tied into innumerable knots.
"Well, they're jolly _good_ knots," was all he said.
He had been looking forward to the holidays for a long time. He was to
"go under canvas" at the end of the first week.
The first day of the holidays began badly. William's father had been
disturbed by William, whose room was just above and who had spent most
of the night performing gymnastics as instructed by his scout-master.
"No, he didn't _say_ do it at nights, but he said do it. He said it
would make us grow up strong men. Don't you _want_ me to grow up a
strong man? He's ever so strong an' _he_ did 'em. Why shun't I?"
His mother found a pan with the bottom burnt out and at once accused
William of the crime.
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