Jackanapes, Daddy Darwin's Dovecot and Other Stories by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing
page 22 of 121 (18%)
page 22 of 121 (18%)
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home again. That very afternoon he and Tony rode the two donkeys, and
Tony managed to get thrown, and even Jackanapes' donkey kicked. But it was jolting, clumsy work after the elastic swiftness and the dainty mischief of the red-haired pony. A few days later Miss Jessamine spoke very seriously to Jackanapes. She was a good deal agitated as she told him that his grandfather, the General, was coming to the Green, and that he must be on his very best behavior during the visit. If it had been feasible to leave off calling him Jackanapes and to get used to his baptismal name of Theodore before the day after to-morrow (when the General was due), it would have been satisfactory. But Miss Jessamine feared it would be impossible in practice, and she had scruples about it on principle. It would not seem quite truthful, although she had always most fully intended that he should be called Theodore when he had outgrown the ridiculous appropriateness of his nickname. The fact was that he had not outgrown it, but he must take care to remember who was meant when his grandfather said Theodore. Indeed for that matter he must take care all along. "You are apt to be giddy, Jackanapes," said Miss Jessamine. "Yes aunt," said Jackanapes, thinking of the hobby-horses. "You are a good boy, Jackanapes. Thank GOD, I can tell your grandfather that. An obedient boy, an honorable boy, and a kind-hearted boy. But you are--in short, you _are_ a Boy, Jackanapes. And I hope,"--added Miss Jessamine, desperate with the results of experience--"that the General knows that Boys will be Boys." |
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