Page:Pagan papers.djvu/149

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

'YOUNG ADAM CUPID.'

No one would have suspected Edward of being in love, but that, after breakfast, with an overacted carelessness, 'Anybody who likes,' he said, 'can feed my rabbits;' and he disappeared, with a jauntiness that deceived nobody, in the direction of the orchard. Now kingdoms might totter and reel, and convulsions change the map of Europe; but the iron unwritten law prevailed, that each boy severely fed his own rabbits. There was good ground, then, for suspicion and alarm; and while the lettuce leaves were being drawn through the wires, Harold and I conferred seriously on the situation.

It may be thought that the affair was none of our business; and indeed we cared little as individuals. We were only concerned as members of a corporation, for each of whom the mental or physical ailment of one of his fellows might have far-reaching effects. It