re, but not so Mr. Arlington.
Somebody had to see to things--that is, if they were not to be allowed
to go to rack and ruin. If other people could not be relied upon to do
their duty, so that everything inside the house and out of it was
thrown upon one pair of shoulders, then it followed as a natural
consequence that that pair of shoulders could not spare the necessary
time to properly finish its meals. This it was that was at the root of
the decay of English farming. When farmers' wives, to say nothing of
sons and daughters old enough one might imagine to be anxious to do
something in repayment for the money and care lavished upon them, had
all put their shoulders to the wheel, then English farming had
prospered. When, on the other hand, other people shirked their fair
share of labour and responsibility, leaving to one pair of hands...

It was the eldest Arlington girl's quite audible remark that pa could
have eaten two helpings of pudding while he had been talking, that
caused Mr. Arlington to lose the thread of his discourse. To put it
quite bluntly, what Mr. Arlington meant to say was this: He had never
wanted to be a farmer--at least not in the beginning. Other men in his
position, having acquired competency by years of self-sacrificing
labour, would have retired to a well-earned leisure. Having yielded to
persuasion and taken on the job, he was going to see it through; and
everybody else was going to do their share or there would be trouble.

Mr. Arlington, swallowing the remains of his glass in a single gulp,
spoilt a dignified exit by violently hiccoughing, and Mrs. Arlington
rang the bell furiously for the parlourmaid to clear away. The pudding
passed untouched from before the very eyes of the twins. It was a
black-currant pudding with brown sugar.

That night Mrs. Arlington appears to have confided in the twins, partly
for her own relief and partly for their moral benefit. If Mrs.
Arlington had enjoyed the blessing in disguise of a less indulgent
mother, all might have been well. By nature Mrs. Arlington had been
endowed with an active and energetic temperament. "Miss
Can't-sit-still-a-minute," her nurse had always called her.
Unfortunately it had been allowed to sink into disuse; was now in all
probability beyond hope of recovery. Their father was quite right.
When they had lived in Bayswater and the business was in Mincing Lane
it did not matter. Now it was different. A farmer's wife ought t