creetly retired. He hid the pea-shooter, assumed his
famous expression of innocence, and felt distinctly cheered. The
question as to what exactly would happen when the pea met the baldness
was now for ever solved. The gardener retired grumbling to the potting
shed, so, for the present, all was well. Later in the day the gardener
might lay his formal complaint before authority, but later in the day
was later in the day. It did not trouble William. He dressed briskly
and went down to breakfast with a frown of concentration upon his
face. It was the last day of his old life.

[Illustration: THE PEA DID NOT EMBED ITSELF INTO THE GARDENER'S SKULL
AS WILLIAM HAD SOMETIMES THOUGHT IT WOULD. IT BOUNCED BACK. THE
GARDENER ALSO BOUNCED BACK.]

No one else was in the dining-room. It was the work of a few minutes
to remove the bacon from beneath the big pewter cover and substitute
the kitten, to put a tablespoonful of salt into the coffee, and to put
a two-days'-old paper in place of that morning's. They were all things
that he had at one time or another vaguely thought of doing, but for
which he had never yet seemed to have time or opportunity. Warming to
his subject he removed the egg from under the egg cosy on his sister's
plate and placed in its stead a worm which had just appeared in the
window-box in readiness for the early bird.

He surveyed the scene with a deep sigh of satisfaction. The only
drawback was that he felt that he could not safely stay to watch
results. William possessed a true strategic instinct for the right
moment for a retreat. Hearing, therefore, a heavy step on the stairs,
he seized several pieces of toast and fled. As he fled he heard
through the open window violent sounds proceeding from the enraged
kitten beneath the cover, and then the still more violent sounds
proceeding from the unknown person who removed the cover. The kitten,
a mass of fury and lust for revenge, came flying through the window.
William hid behind a laurel bush till it had passed, then set off down
the road.

School, of course, was impossible. The precious hours of such a day as
this could not be wasted in school. He went down the road full of his
noble purpose. The wickedness of a lifetime was somehow or other to be
crowded into this day. To-morrow it would all be impossible. To-morrow
began the blameless life. It must all be worked off to-day. He skirted
the school by a field path in case any of those narrow souls paid to
empl