Sentence:  Not one of his old friends but had been taken to task, in <WSD>Willie</WSD>'s familiar note of boyish plaintiveness: "Why "don't" you call me by my own name? I never did like <WSD>'Willie</WSD>' - 'William' isn't so bad. But the other sounds like pinafores and bed sheets." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A male given name, diminutive of William.