THE WOULDBEGOODS
have consented to let Noël have the beastly ball, but now, of course, he was not going to. He said:
"Oh yes, I dare say. And then you would be wanting the cocoanut and things again the next minute."
"No, I shouldn't," Noël said. It turned out afterwards he and H. O. had eaten the cocoanut, which only made it worse. And it made them worse, too—which is what the book calls poetic justice.
Dora said, "I don't think it was fair," and even Alice said:
"Do let him have it back, Oswald." I wish to be just to Alice. She did not know then about the cocoanut having been secretly wolfed up.
We were in the garden. Oswald felt all the feelings of the hero when the opposing forces gathered about him are opposing as hard as ever they can. He knew he was not unfair, and he did not like to be jawed at just because Noël had eaten the cocoanut and wanted the ball back. Though Oswald did not know then about the eating of the cocoanut, but he felt the injustice in his soul all the same.
Noël said afterwards he meant to offer Oswald something else to make up for the cocoanut, but he said nothing about this at the time.
"Give it me, I say," Noël said.
And Oswald said, "Sha'n't!"
Then Noël called Oswald names, and Oswald did not answer back but just kept smiling pleas-
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