he didn't like insecks?" he said, aggrievedly.
"_I_ like 'em."

William's mother's despair was only tempered by the fact that this
time William was not the culprit. To William also it was a novel
sensation. He realised the advantages of a fellow criminal.

After breakfast peace reigned. William's father went out for a walk
with Robert. The aunts sat round the drawing-room fire talking and
doing crochet-work. In this consists the whole art and duty of
aunthood. _All_ aunts do crochet-work.

They had made careful inquiries about the time of the service.

"You needn't worry," had said William's mother. "It's at 10.30, and
if you go to get ready when the clock in the library strikes ten it
will give you heaps of time."

[Illustration: AROUND THEM LAY, MOST INDECENTLY EXPOSED, THE INTERNAL
ARRANGEMENTS OF THE LIBRARY CLOCK.]

Peace ... calm ... quiet. Mrs. Brown and Ethel in the kitchen
supervising the arrangements for the day. The aunts in the
drawing-room discussing over their crochet-work the terrible way in
which their sisters had brought up their children. That, also, is a
necessary part of aunthood.

Time slipped by happily and peacefully. Then William's mother came
into the drawing-room.

"I thought you were going to church," she said.

"We are. The clock hasn't struck."

"But--it's eleven o'clock!"

There was a gasp of dismay.

"The clock never struck!"

Indignantly they set off to the library. Peace and quiet reigned also
in the library. On the floor sat William and Jimmy gazing with frowns
of concentration at an open page of "Things a Boy Can Do." Around them
lay most indecently exposed the internal arrangements of the library
clock.

"William! You _wicked_ boy!"

William raised a frowning face.

"It's not put together right," he said, "it's not been put together
right all this time. We're makin' it right now. It must have wanted
mendin' for ever so long. _I_ dunno how it's been goin' at all. It's
lucky we found it out. It's put together wrong. I guess it's _made_
wrong. It's goin' to be a lot of trouble to us to put it right, an' we
can't do much when you're all standin' in the light. We're very
busy--workin' at tryin' to mend this ole clock for you all."

"Clever," said Jimmy, admiringly. "Mendin' the clock. _Clever!_"

"William!" groaned his mother, "you've ruined the clock. What _will_
your father say?"

"Well, the cog-wheels was wrong," said William doggedly. "See? An'
this ratchet-w