The Terrible Twins | Page 8

of talking to Mum alone. It's most important."
"I understand. But what's that? Anybody could do it," she said in a tone
of extreme bitterness. "It's you that's getting all the real fun."
"But you'll be able to make yourself beastly disagreeable, if you're
careful," said the Terror.
"Of course, I shall. But what's that? I tell you what it is: I'm going to
have my proper share of the real fun. The first chance I get, I'm going
to stone him--so there!" said Erebus fiercely.
"All right. But it doesn't seem quite the thing for a girl to do," said the
Terror in a judicial tone.
"Rats!" said Erebus.
It was well that Mrs. Dangerfield kept Captain Baster waiting; it gave
the purple tinge, which was heightening his floridness somewhat
painfully, time to fade. When she did come to him, he was further
annoyed by the fact that Erebus came too, and with a truculent air
announced her intention of accompanying them. Mrs. Dangerfield was
surprised; Erebus seldom showed any taste for such a gentle occupation.
Also she was relieved; she did not want Captain Baster to propose
before she had taken counsel with her brother.
Captain Baster started in a gloomy frame of mind; he did not try to hide
from himself the fact that Mrs. Dangerfield had lost some of her charm:
she was the mother of the Terror. He found, too, that his instinctive
distaste for the company of Erebus was not ungrounded. She was a
nuisance; she would talk about wet boots; the subject seemed to
fascinate her. Then, when at last he recovered his spirits, grew once
more humorous, and even rose to the proposing point, there was no
getting rid of her. She was impervious to hints; she refused, somewhat
pertly, to pause and gather the luscious blackberries. How could a man
be his humorous self in these circumstances? He felt that his humor

was growing strained, losing its delightful lightness.
Then the accident: it was entirely Erebus' own fault (he could swear it)
that he tripped over her foot and pitched among those infernal brambles.
Her howls of anguish were all humbug: he had not hurt her ankle (he
could swear it); there was not a tear. The moment he offered, furiously,
to carry her, she walked without a vestige of a limp.
Mrs. Dangerfield had no right to look vexed with him; if one brought
up one's children like that--well. Certainly she was losing her charm;
she was the mother of Erebus also.
His doubt, whether the mother of such children was the right kind of
wife for him, had grown very serious indeed, when, as they drew near
Colet House, a slim, tall young man of an extreme elegance and
distinction came through the garden gate to meet them.
With a cry of "Uncle Maurice!" the crippled Erebus dashed to meet him
with the light bounds of an antelope. Captain Baster could hardly
believe his eyes; he knew the young man by sight, by name and by
repute. It was Sir Maurice Falconer, a man he longed to boast his friend.
With his aid a man might climb to the highest social peaks.
When Mrs. Dangerfield introduced him as her brother (he had never
dreamed it) he could not believe his good fortune. But why had he not
learned this splendid fact before? Why had he been kept in the dark?
He did not reflect that he had been so continuously busy making
confidences about himself, his possessions and his exploits to her that
he had given her the smallest opportunities of telling him anything
about herself.
But he was not one to lose a golden opportunity; he set about making
up for lost time with a will; and never had he so thoroughly
demonstrated his right to the name of Pallybaster. His friendliness was
overwhelming. Before the end of lunch he had invited Sir Maurice to
dine with him at his mess, to dine with him at two of his clubs, to shoot
with him, to ride a horse of his in the forthcoming regimental
steeplechases, to go with him on a yachting cruise in the

Mediterranean.
All through the afternoon his friendliness grew and grew. He could not
bear that any one else should have a word with Sir Maurice. The Twins
were intolerable with their interruptions, their claims on their uncle's
attention. They disgusted Captain Baster: when he became their
stepfather, it would be his first task to see that they learned a respectful
silence in the presence of their elders.
He never gave a thought to his proposal; he sought no occasion to make
it. Captain Baster's love was of his life a thing apart, but his social
aspirations were the chief fact of his existence. Besides, there