"I don't know," said Miss Allardyce ruefully, ignoring the
reproof. "Good gracious, child, what are YOU doing here?"

"You said you was going acwoss ve wiver," panted Wee Willie
Winkie, throwing himself off his pony. "And nobody--not even
Coppy--must go acwoss ve wiver, and I came after you ever so hard,
but you wouldn't stop, and now you've hurted yourself, and Coppy
will be angwy wiv me, and--I've bwoken my awwest! I've bwoken my
awwest!"

The future Colonel of the 195th sat down and sobbed. In spite of
the pain in her ankle, the girl was moved.

"Have you ridden all the way from cantonments, little man? What
for?"

"You belonged to Coppy. Coppy told me so!" wailed Wee Willie
Winkie disconsolately. "I saw him kissing you, and he said he was
fonder of you van Bell or ve Butcha or me. And so I came. You must
get up and come back. You didn't ought to be here. Vis is a bad
place, and I've bwoken my awwest."

"I can't move, Winkie," said Miss Allardyce, with a groan. "I've
hurt my foot. What shall I do?"

She showed a readiness to weep anew, which steadied Wee Willie
Winkie, who had been brought up to believe that tears were the
depth of unmanliness. Still, when one is as great a sinner as Wee
Willie Winkie, even a man may be permitted to break down.