"it is easier to prevent ill habits than to break them."—old proverb.

i must say that joseph was rather a stupid boy. he was only a year younger than me, but i never could make him understand exactly what i wanted him to do when we played together; and he was always saying, "oh, i say, look here, selina!" and proposing some silly plan of his own. but he was very good-natured, and when we were alone i let him be uncle to the dolls. when we spent the day with maud mary, however, we never let him play with the baby-house; but we allowed him to be the postman and the baker, and people of that sort, who knock and ring, and we sent him messages.

during the first week of our visit to lady elizabeth, the weather was so fine that joseph and i played all day long in the garden. then it became rainy, and we quarrelled over the old swing and the imperfect backgammon board in the lumber-room, where we were allowed to amuse ourselves. but one morning when we went to our play-room, after drilling with sergeant walker, joseph found a model fortress and wooden soldiers and cannon in one corner of the room; and i found a dutch market, with all kinds of wooden booths, and little tables to have tea at in another. they were presents from my [250]godmother; and they were far the best kind of toys we had ever had, you could do so many things with them.

joseph was so happy with his soldiers that he never came near the dutch fair; and at other times he was always bothering to be allowed to play with the dolls. at first i was very glad, for i was afraid he would be coming and saying, "oh, i say, selina," and suggesting things; and i wanted to arrange the shops my own way. but when they were done, and i was taking the dolls from one booth to another to shop, i did think it seemed very odd that joseph should not even want to walk through the fair. and when i gave him leave to be a shopkeeper, and to stand in front of each booth in turn, he did not seem at all anxious to come; and he would bring a cannon with him, and hide it behind his back when i came to buy vegetables for the dolls' dinners.

we quarrelled about the cannon. i said no one ever heard of a greengrocer with a cannon in his shop; and joseph said it couldn't matter if the greengrocer stood in front of the cannon so as to hide it. so i said i wouldn't have a cannon in my fair at all; and joseph said he didn't want to come to my fair, for he liked his fortress much better, and he rattled out, dragging his cannon behind him, and knocked down adelaide augusta, the gutta-percha [251]doll, who was leaning against the fishmonger's slab, with her chin on the salmon.

it was very hard, and i said so; and then joseph said there were plenty of times when i wouldn't let him play with the dolls; and i said that was just it—when i didn't want him to he wanted, and when i wanted him to he wouldn't, and that he was very selfish.

so at last he put away his cannon, and came and played at shops; but he was very stupid, and would look over his shoulder at the fortress when he ought to have been pretending to sell; and once, when i had left the fair, he got his cannon back and shot peas out of it, so that all the fowls fell off the real hooks in the poulterer's shop, and said he was bombarding the city.

i was very angry, and said, "i shall go straight down, and complain to godmamma," and i went.

the worst of it was that only that very morning lady elizabeth had said to me, "remember one thing, my dear. i will listen to no complaints whatever. no grumbles either from you or from joseph. if you want anything that you have not got, and will ask for it, i will do my best for you, as my little guests; and if it is right and reasonable, and fair to both, you shall have what you want. but you must know your own mind when you ask, and make the [252]best of what i can do for you. i will hear no general complaints whatever."

remembering this, i felt a little nervous when i was fairly in the drawing-room, and lady elizabeth had laid down her glasses to hear what i had to say.

"do you want anything, my dear?" said she.

i began to complain—that joseph was so stupid; that it seemed so provoking; that i did think it was very unkind of him, etc.; but lady elizabeth put up her hand.

"my dear selina, you have forgotten what i told you. if there is anything that an old woman like me can do to make your father's child happy, do not be afraid to ask for it, but i will not have grumbling in the drawing-room. by all means make up your mind as to what you want, and don't be afraid to ask your old godmother. but if she thinks it right to refuse, or you do not think it right to ask, you must make the best of matters as they stand, and keep your good humour and your good manners like a lady."

i felt puzzled. when i complained to nurse that joseph "was so tiresome," she grumbled back again that "she never knew such children," and so forth. it is always easy to meet grievance with grievance, but i found that it was not so easy to make up my mind and pluck up my courage to ask in so many words for what i wanted.

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"shall i ask joseph to put away his cannon and come and play at your game for an hour now, my dear? i will certainly forbid him to fire into your shop."

this did not quite satisfy me. as a matter of fact, joseph had left his fortress to play with me; and i did not really think he would discharge his cannon at the poulterer's again. but i thought myself hardly used, and i wanted my godmother to think so too, and to scold joseph. what else i wanted, i did not feel quite sure.

"i wish you would speak to joseph," i said. "he would attend to you if you told him how selfish and stupid he is."

"my dear, i never offered to complain to joseph, but i will order him not to molest you, and i will ask him to play with you."

"i'm sure i don't want him to play with me, unless he can play nicely, and invent things for the dolls to say, as maud mary would," was my reply; for i was getting thoroughly vexed.

"then i will tell him that unless he can play your game as you wish it, he had better amuse himself with his own toys. is there anything else that you want, my dear?"

i could not speak, for i was crying, but i sobbed out that "i missed maud mary so."

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"who is maud mary, selina?"

"maud mary ibbetson, my particular friend—my very particular friend," i explained.

i spoke warmly, for at that moment the memory of maud mary seemed adorable, and i longed to pour my complaints into her sympathetic ear. besides, i had another reason for regretting that she was not with me. when we were together, it was she, as a rule, who had new and handsome toys to exhibit, whilst i played the humbler part of admirer. but if she had been with me, then, what would not have been my triumph in displaying the dutch fair! the longer i thought of her the faster my tears fell, but they did not help me to think of anything definite to ask for; and when lady elizabeth said, "would you like to go home, my dear? or do you want me to ask your friend to stay with you?" i had the grace to feel ashamed of my peevishness, and to thank my godmother for her kindness, and to protest against wanting anything more. i only added, amid my subsiding sobs, that "it did seem such a thing," when i had got a dutch fair to play at dolls in, that joseph should be so stupid, and that dear maud mary, who would have enjoyed it so much, should not be able to see it.