At last he went to sleep and I called “Man, Man,” softly, and Humphrey came wriggling along the grass, like we’d planned. “Shave off the seven locks of Samson’s head,” I whispered, but then I saw that Humph had brought father’s razor because it said “shave,” so I told him not to be so silly, but to run and fetch a pair of scissors. Humphrey was very quick, I will say that, and Lionel didn’t stir, so the exciting part could begin. Humph was the lords of the Philistines now, of course, and I took the scissors. And then--it was dreadful I know--I really cut off Lionel’s curls! Lionel never woke, and the scissors went snip, snip, most beautifully. I did enjoy it, because I thought so hard about its being Samson and Delilah that I couldn’t remember it was naughty. At last the curls were all off, and though the hair wasn’t very even, not like the barber does it, because it was most difficult, still it was beautifully short in places. Humph had been looking on almost too astonished to speak, but when I jumped up and cried, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson,” he rushed at Lionel like I’d told him to. Lionel, though, spoilt it all. He always does. He wouldn’t do anything that was proper, nor have his eyes put out, but just began to howl. He howled and howled, and Cousin Florence and Mother and Father and everybody came tearing out of the house. They all spoke at once, and cried out that Lionel’s appearance was spoilt, and all sorts of things, and certainly, now that I saw him properly, he did look rather bad, and quite ugly. The astonishing part was that they seemed almost as cross with Lionel as with us, though I kept explaining that he’d been asleep all the time, for that was only fair. Finally Father sent Humph and me to our rooms very angrily. But I didn’t mind that, like I did Mother’s coming up that evening and talking to me. It was dreadful. She said that she was disappointed in me and not only had I been rude to guests myself, but I’d made her and Father seem rude; and she told me that Cousin Florence and Lionel were going away early in the morning, so what I’d done had practically driven them out of the house. But the worst was when she said that she had trusted me to look after the others, because I was the eldest, and to be a help to her, but now she found that she couldn’t, and that she must ask Fräulein to always stop with us. I began to wish that I could be dead. At last, though, Mother forgave me. And she said that if I was very good for a long time, then her confidence in me would come back again, and so I’m going to be. And I’m never going to be Delilah again, never, because I see now how wicked she was to cut off any one’s hair without first asking her mother. III VIOLET’S VISIT