She had the impression that the valley was supporting the Colonel, forming a wall, as though behind him, through its streams, it whispered: 'Yes. This is so. No movement without the Colonel's permission.'
'Why?' he said.
She answered as lightly as she could: 'Oh, because it's not good for a boy to be so much by himself. Roger's too old for him; besides I've smacked his face. There's no one else here of his own age whom he likes. Certainly he should go to school.'
He stood there, not moving, and to her excited fancy he seemed to grow in size.
'I'm not sure that I agree. He's not ready for school.'
She laughed. 'He wants to go terribly.'
'Yes. But he has to learn that he can't have everything he wants. That's what I'm trying to teach him.'
'Oh,' she said, 'but he's not at all a greedy
