"Mr. _Jones_!" they chorused again.

He flung off his wastepaper basket and turned upon the proprietress of
the establishment who stood by the door.

"I will not brook such treatment," he stammered in fury. "I leave your
roof to-night. I am outraged--humiliated. I--I disdain to explain.
I--leave your roof to-night."

"Mr. _Jones_!" they said once more.

[Illustration: "I CAUGHT HIM SMUGGLING," WILLIAM EXPLAINED PROUDLY.
"HE HAD THOUSANDS AN' THOUSANDS OF CIGARS AND THAT BEER!"]

Mr. Jones, still clasping his bottles, withdrew, pausing to glare at
William on his way.

"You _wicked_ boy! You wicked little, _untruthful_ boy," he said.

William looked after him. "He's my prisoner an' they've let him go,"
he said aggrievedly.

Ten minutes later he wandered into the smoking room. Mr. Brown sat
miserably in a chair by a dying fire beneath a poor light.

"Is he still bleating there?" he said. "Is this still the only corner
where I can be sure of keeping my sanity? Is he reading his beastly
poetry upstairs? Is he----"

"He's goin'," said William moodily. "He's goin' before dinner. They've
sent for his cab. He's mad 'cause I said he was a smuggler. He was a
smuggler 'cause I saw him doin' it, an' I took him prisoner an' he got
mad an' he's goin'. An' they're mad at me 'cause I took him prisoner.
You'd think they'd be glad at me catchin' smugglers, but they're not,"
bitterly. "An' Mother says she'll tell you an' you'll be mad too
an'----"

Mr. Brown raised his hand.

"One minute, my son," he said. "Your story is confused. Do I
understand that Mr. Jones is going and that you are the cause of his
departure?"

"Yes, 'cause he got mad 'cause I said he was a smuggler an' he was a
smuggler an' they're mad at me now, an'----"

Mr. Brown laid a hand on his son's shoulder.

"There are moments, William," he said, "when I feel almost
affectionate towards you."

CHAPTER XII

THE REFORM OF WILLIAM

To William the idea of reform was new and startling and not wholly
unattractive. It originated with the housemaid whose brother was a
reformed burglar now employed in a grocer's shop.

"'E's got conversion," she said to William. "'E got it quite
sudden-like, an' 'e give up all 'is bad ways straight off. 'E's bin
like a heavenly saint ever since."

William was deeply interested. The point was all innocently driven in
later by the Sunday-school mistress. William's family had no real
faith in the Sunday-school as