"And we couldn't possibly let him take no notice of our letter, Mum--it was such a polite letter--and not take it out of him," said Erebus.

"And it hasn't done any harm, you know. We wanted those trout ever so much more than he did," said the Terror.

Mrs. Dangerfield said nothing for a while; and her frown deepened as she pondered how to deal with the affair. She was still chiefly annoyed that Sir James should have been the victim. The Twins gazed at her with a sympathetic gravity which by no means meant that they were burdened by a sense of wrong-doing. They were merely sorry that she was annoyed.

"Well, there's nothing for it: you'll have to apologize to Sir James--both of you," she said at last.

"Apologize to him! But he never answered our letter!" cried Erebus.

The Terror hesitated a moment, opened his mouth to speak, shut it, opened it again and said in a soothing tone: "All right, Mum; we'll apologize."

"I'll take you to the Grange to-morrow afternoon to do it," said Mrs.

Dangerfield, for she thought that unless she were present the Twins would surely contrive to repeat the offense in the apology and compel Sir James to invite them to continue to fish.

There had been some such intention in the Terror's mind, for his face fell: an apology in the presence of his mother would have to be a real apology. But he said amiably: "All right; just as you like, Mum."

Erebus scowled very darkly, and muttered fierce things under her breath. After supper, without moving him at all, she reproached the Terror bitterly for not refusing firmly.

The next afternoon therefore the three of them walked, by a foot-path across the fields, to the Grange. Surprise and extreme pleasure were mingled with the respect with which Mawley ushered them into the drawing-room; and he almost ran to apprise Sir James of their coming.

Sir James was at the moment wondering very anxiously whether he would find Mrs. Dangerfield on the bank of the stream that evening watching her children fish. His night's rest had trebled his interest in her and his desire to see more, a great deal more, of her. The appeal to him of her frail and delicate beauty was stronger than ever.

At dinner the night before he had questioned Mawley, with a careless enough air, about her, and had learned that Mr. Dangerfield had been dead seven years, that she had a very small income, and was hard put to it to make both ends meet. His compa.s.sion had been deeply stirred; she was so plainly a creature who deserved the smoothest path in life. He wished that he could now, at once, see his way to help her to that smoothest path; and he was resolved to find that way as soon as he possibly could.

When Mawley told him that she was in his drawing-room, he could scarcely believe his joyful ears. He had to put a constraint on himself to walk to its door in a decorous fashion fit for Mawley's eyes, and not dash to it at full speed. He entered the room with his eyes shining very brightly.

Mrs. Dangerfield greeted him coldly, even a little haughtily. She was looking grave and ill at ease.

"I've come about a rather unpleasant matter, Sir James," she said as they shook hands. "I find that these children have been blackmailing you; and I've brought them to apologize. I--I'm exceedingly distressed about it."

"Oh, there's no need to be--no need at all. It was rather a joke," Sir James protested quickly.

"But blackmailing isn't a joke--though of course they didn't realize what a serious thing it is--"

"It was the Douglases doing it," broke in the Terror in an explanatory tone.

"I don't think you ought to have given way to them, Sir James," said Mrs. Dangerfield severely.

"But I hadn't any choice, I a.s.sure you. They had me in a cleft stick,"

protested Sir James.

"Well then you ought to have come straight to me," said Mrs.

Dangerfield.

"Oh, but really--a little fishing--what is a little fishing? I couldn't come bothering you about a thing like that," protested Sir James.

"But it isn't a little thing if you get it like that," said Mrs.

Dangerfield. "Anyhow, it's going to stop; and they're going to apologize."

She turned to them; and as if at a signal the Twins said with one voice:

"I apologize for blackmailing you, Sir James."

The Terror spoke with an amiable nonchalance; the words came very stiffly from the lips of Erebus, and she wore a lowering air.

"Oh, not at all--not at all--don't mention it. Besides, I owe you an apology for not answering your letter," said Sir James in all the discomfort of a man receiving something that is not his due. Then he heaved a sigh of relief and added: "Well, that's all right. And now I hope you'll do all the fishing you want to."

"Certainly not; I can't allow them to fish your water any more," said Mrs. Dangerfield sternly.

"Oh, but really," said Sir James with a harried air.

"No," said Mrs. Dangerfield; and she held out her hand.

"But you'll have some tea--after that hot walk!" cried Sir James.

"No, thank you, I must be getting home," said Mrs. Dangerfield firmly.

Sir James did not press her to stay; he saw that her mind was made up.

He opened the door of the drawing-room, and they filed out. As Erebus pa.s.sed out, she turned and made a hideous grimace at him. She was desirous that he should not overrate her apology.

CHAPTER XIV

AND THE SOUND OF WEDDING BELLS

Sir James came through the hall with them, carelessly taking his cap from the horn of an antelope on the wall as he pa.s.sed it. He came down the steps, along the gardens to the side gate, and through it into the park, talking to Mrs. Dangerfield of the changes he had found in the gardens of the Grange after his last five years of big game shooting about the world.

Mrs. Dangerfield had not liked her errand; and she was in no mood for companionship. But she could not drive him from her side on his own land. They walked slowly; the Twins forged ahead. When Sir James and Mrs. Dangerfield came out of the park, the Twins were out of sight.

Mere politeness demanded that he should walk the rest of the way with her.

When the Twins were out of the hearing of their mother and Sir James, the Terror said:

"Well, he was quite decent about it. It made him much more uncomfortable than we were. I suppose it was because we're more used to Mum."

"What did the silly idiot want to give us away at all for?" said the unappeased Erebus.

"Oh, well; he didn't mean to. It was an accident, you know," said the Terror.

His provident mind foresaw advantages to be attained from a closer intimacy with Sir James.

"Accident! People shouldn't have accidents like that!" said Erebus in a tone of bitter scorn.

When he and Mrs. Dangerfield came out of the park, Sir James diplomatically fell to lauding the Twins to the skies, their beauty, their grace and their intelligence. The diplomacy was not natural (he was no diplomat) but accidental: the Twins were the only subject he could at the moment think of. He could not have found a quicker way to Mrs. Dangerfield's approval. She had been disposed to dislike him for having been blackmailed by them; his praise of them softened her heart.

Discussing them, they came right to the gate of Colet House; and it was only natural that she should invite him to tea. He accepted with alacrity. At tea he changed the subject: they talked about her.