'Well, don't take Noel; he's not strong, and he easily gets upset.
Besides, it wasn't his doing. If you want to take any one take me--it
was my very own idea.'

Dicky behaved very well. He said, 'If you take Oswald I'll go too, but
don't take Noel; he's such a delicate little chap.'

Lord Tottenham stopped, and he said, 'You should have thought of that
before.' Noel was howling all the time, and his face was very white, and
Alice said--

'Oh, do let Noel go, dear, good, kind Lord Tottenham; he'll faint if you
don't, I know he will, he does sometimes. Oh, I wish we'd never done
it! Dora said it was wrong.'

'Dora displayed considerable common sense,' said Lord Tottenham, and he
let Noel go. And Alice put her arm round Noel and tried to cheer him
up, but he was all trembly, and as white as paper.

Then Lord Tottenham said--

'Will you give me your word of honour not to try to escape?'

So we said we would.

'Then follow me,' he said, and led the way to a bench. We all followed,
and Pincher too, with his tail between his legs--he knew something was
wrong. Then Lord Tottenham sat down, and he made Oswald and Dicky and
H. O. stand in front of him, but he let Alice and Noel sit down. And he
said--