He seems as if he'd been washing it and left it too long to soak! My! what a swelled head!" The others joined in the roar of laughter, and Green's face was hidden again directly.
But Nic had not laughed.

He was hurt bodily and mentally.

There was a feeling of regret, too, uppermost, which made him resent this unseemly mirth as cowardly to a fellow enemy.
"You be quiet, Tomlins!" he cried.
"What for ?" retorted the boy.

"You haven't been kicked as I have.

I shall laugh at Gooseberry if I like.