sy, my dear Jane, over my
sermon. Could it not be postponed, or could not you, my dear?"

"No, William, I could not, for the dark room is not bad enough for
this naughty little girl. She must be whipped, and you must do it.
Fetch the birch rod."

"But really," said Mr. Dolman, looking terribly distressed, "you know
I don't approve of corporal punishment, my dear."

"No more do I, except in extreme cases, but this is one. William, I
insist on your whipping this very bad little girl."

"I don't care if you whip me," said Diana. She stood bolt upright now,
but her round, flushed little face began perceptibly to pale.

Mr. Dolman looked at her attentively, then he glanced at his wife, and
then at the manuscript which lay on his desk. He always hated writing
his sermons, and, truth to tell, did not write at all good ones; but
on this special morning his ideas seemed to come a little more rapidly
than usual--now, of course, he had lost every thought, and the sermon
was ruined. Besides, he was a kind-hearted man. He thought Diana a
very handsome little fury, and was rather amused with her than
otherwise. Had she been left alone with him, he would not have taken
the least notice of her defiant words. He would have said to himself,
"She is but a baby, and if I take no notice she will soon cease to
talk in this very silly manner."

But alas! there was little doubt that Uncle William was very much
afraid of Aunt Jane, and when Aunt Jane dared him to produce the birch
rod, there was nothing whatever for it but to comply. He rose and
walked slowly and very unwillingly across the room. He unlocked the
door of a big cupboard in the wall, and, poking in his large, soft,
flabby hand, presently produced what looked in Diana's eyes a very
terrible instrument. It was a rod, clean, slender, and with, as she
afterwards expressed it, _temper_ all over it. It flashed through her
little mind by and by that, if she could really secure this rod, it
might make a better bow even than the one which she and Apollo had
hidden in the wood, but she had little time to think of any future use
for the birch rod at this awful moment. The terrible instrument in
Uncle William's flabby hand was carried across the room. When she saw
it approaching her vicinity she uttered a piercing shriek and hid
herself under the table.

"Come, come; none of this nonsense!" said Mrs. Dolman. "Punished you
shall be. You must be made to understand that you are to respec