Go now
and rest yourself." Then snatching the balls from her, he called us and
ran down to the basement. But he was not quick enough though to escape
her arm. She caught him to her and kissed him repeatedly. He was the
baby and pet of the family, and he loved her dearly, though he spoke
impatiently to her oftener than either of the other boys.
We had a grand game with Willie. Miss Laura had trained us to do all
kinds of things with balls--jumping for them, playing hide-and-seek, and
catching them.
Billy could do more things than I could. One thing he did which I
thought was very clever. He played ball by himself. He was so crazy
about ball play that he could never get enough of it.
Miss Laura played all she could with him, but she had to help her mother
with the sewing and the housework, and do lessons with her father, for
she was only seventeen years old, and had not left off studying. So
Billy would take his ball and go off by himself. Sometimes he rolled it
over the floor, and sometimes he threw it in the air and pushed it
through the staircase railings to the hall below. He always listened
till he heard it drop, then he ran down and brought it back and pushed
it through again.
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