The Terrible Twins

The Terrible Twins, by Edgar
Jepson

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Title: The Terrible Twins
Author: Edgar Jepson
Illustrator: Hanson Booth
Release Date: August 14, 2006 [EBook #19043]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
TERRIBLE TWINS ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: "Cats for the cats' home!" said Sir Maurice Falconer.]

THE TERRIBLE TWINS
By
EDGAR JEPSON

Author of
The Admirable Tinker, Pollyooly, etc.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
HANSON BOOTH

INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1913
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY

[Transcriber's note: The original book was missing pages 3, 4, 53, and
54. There are transcriber's notes at those locations in this e-book. Page
53 is the last page of chapter 2, and page 54 is the first page of chapter
3.]

CONTENTS

Chapter
I
AND CAPTAIN BASTER II GUARDIAN ANGELS III AND THE
CATS' HOME IV AND THE VISIT OF INSPECTION V AND THE
SACRED BIRD VI AND THE LANDED PROPRIETOR VII AND
PRINGLE'S POND VIII AND THE MUTTLE DEEPING PEACHES
IX AND THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM X AND THE
ENTERTAINMENT OF ROYALTY XI AND THE UNREST CURE
XII AND THE MUTTLE DEEPING FISHING XIII AND AN
APOLOGY XIV AND THE SOUND OF WEDDING BELLS

ILLUSTRATIONS
"Cats for the cats' home!" said Sir Maurice Falconer. . . . . .
Frontispiece
"This is different," she said.
We are avenged.
She was almost sorry when they came at last to the foot of the knoll.
The Archduke bellowed, "Zerbst! Zerbst! Zerbst!"
Sir James turned and found himself looking into the deep brown eyes
of a very pretty woman.

THE TERRIBLE TWINS
CHAPTER I
AND CAPTAIN BASTER

For all that their voices rang high and hot, the Twins were really
discussing the question who had hit Stubb's bull-terrier with the
greatest number of stones, in the most amicable spirit. It was indeed a
nice question and hard to decide since both of them could throw stones
quicker, straighter and harder than any one of their size and weight for
miles and miles round; and they had thrown some fifty at the
bull-terrier before they had convinced that dense, but irritated,
quadruped that his master's interests did not really demand his presence
in the orchard; and of these some thirty had hit him. Violet Anastasia
Dangerfield, who always took the most favorable view of her
experience, claimed twenty hits out of a possible thirty; Hyacinth
Wolfram Dangerfield, in a very proper spirit, had at once claimed the
same number; and both of them were defending their claims with loud
vehemence, because if you were not loudly vehement, your claim
lapsed.
Suddenly Hyacinth Wolfram, as usual, closed the discussion; he said
firmly, "I tell you what: we both hit that dog the same number of
times."
So saying, he swung round the rude calico bag, bulging with booty,
which hung from his shoulders, and took from it two Ribston pippins.
"Perhaps we did," said Anastasia amiably. They went swiftly down the
road, munching in a peaceful silence.
It had been an odd whim of nature to make the Twins so utterly unlike.
No stranger ever took Violet Anastasia Dangerfield, so dark-eyed,
dark-haired, dark-skinned, of so rich a coloring, so changeful and
piquant a face, for the cousin, much less for the twin-sister, of Hyacinth
Wolfram Dangerfield, so fair-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed, on whose
firmly chiseled features rested so perpetual, so contrasting a serenity.
But it was a whim of man, of their wicked uncle Sir Maurice Falconer,
that had robbed them of their pretty
[Transcriber's note: page 3 missing]

[Transcriber's note: page 4 missing]

demand, had forbidden them to use them any longer.
The Twins always obeyed their mother; but they resented bitterly the
action of Little Deeping. It was, indeed, an ungrateful place, since their
exploits afforded its old ladies much of the carping conversation they
loved. In a bitter and vindictive spirit the Twins set themselves to
become the finest stone-throwers who ever graced a countryside; and
since they had every natural aptitude in the way of muscle and
keenness of eye, they were well on their way to realize their ambition.
There may, indeed, have been northern boys of thirteen who could
outthrow the Terror, but not a girl in England could throw a stone
straighter or harder than Erebus.
They came to a gate opening on to Little Deeping common; Erebus
vaulted it gracefully; the Terror, hampered by the bag of booty, climbed
over it