y--"

Here Rosa fell flat on her back in the deadest of faints. Her limbs were
rigid, her eyes glassy; what had Jerry been doing? It must have been
something very bad, for her to take on like that. I scrutinised him
carefully, while Charlotte ran to comfort the damsel. He appeared to be
whistling a tune and regarding the scenery. If I only possessed Jerry's
command of feature, I thought to myself, half regretfully, I would never
be found out in anything.

"It's all your fault, Jerry," said Charlotte, reproachfully, when the
lady had been restored to consciousness: "Rosa's as good as gold, except
when you make her wicked. I'd put you in the corner, only a stump hasn't
got a corner--wonder why that is? Thought everything had corners. Never
mind, you'll have to sit with your face to the wall--SO. Now you can
sulk if you like!"

Jerry seemed to hesitate a moment between the bliss of indulgence
in sulks with a sense of injury, and the imperious summons of beauty
waiting to be wooed at his elbow; then, carried away by his passion, he
fell sideways across Rosa's lap. One arm stuck stiffly upwards, as in
passionate protestation; his amorous countenance was full of entreaty.
Rosa hesitated--wavered--and yielded, crushing his slight frame under
the weight of her full-bodied surrender.

Charlotte had stood a good deal, but it was possible to abuse even her
patience. Snatching Jerry from his lawless embraces, she reversed him
across her knee, and then--the outrage offered to the whole superior
sex in Jerry's hapless person was too painful to witness; but though
I turned my head away, the sound of brisk slaps continued to reach my
tingling ears. When I looked again, Jerry was sitting up as before; his
garment, somewhat crumpled, was restored to its original position; but
his pallid countenance was set hard. Knowing as I did, only too
well, what a volcano of passion and shame must be seething under that
impassive exterior, for the moment I felt sorry for him.

Rosa's face was still buried in her frock; it might have been shame, it
might have been grief for Jerry's sufferings. But the callous Japanese
never even looked her way. His heart was exceeding bitter within him.
In merely following up his natural impulses he had run his head against
convention, and learnt how hard a thing it was; and the sunshiny world
was all black to him.

Even Charlotte softened somewhat at the sight of his rigid misery. "If
you'll say you're sorry.