ation.
There must be a mistake somewhere.

The Twins were, on their part also, far more favorably impressed by him
than they had looked to be; his lean tanned face, with the rather large
arched nose, the thin-lipped melancholy mouth, not at all hidden by the
small clipped mustache, and his keen eyes, almost as blue as those of
the Terror, pleased them. He looked an uncommonly dependable baronet.

"Well, and what is this important matter you wished to see me about?"
he said in a more indulgent tone than he had expected to use.

"We saw you in Glazebrook's meadow this afternoon--poaching," said the
Terror in a gentle, almost deprecatory tone.

Sir James sat rather more upright in his chair, with a sudden sense of
discomfort. He had not connected this visit with his transgression.

"And you caught three fish," said Erebus in a sterner voice.

"Oh? Then it was one of you who called 'Cave!' from the wood?" said
Sir James.

"Yes; we didn't want old Glazebrook to catch you," said the Terror.

"Oh--er--thanks," said Sir James in a tone of discomfort.

"That wouldn't have been any use to us," said the Terror.

"Of use to you?" said Sir James.

"Yes; if he'd caught you, there wouldn't be any reason why we should
fish your water," said the Terror.

Sir James looked puzzled:

"But is there any reason now?" he said.

"Yes. You see, you were poaching," said the Terror in a very gentle
explanatory voice.

"And you caught three fish," said Erebus in something of the manner of
a chorus in an Athenian tragedy.

Sir James sat bolt upright with a sudden air of astonished
enlightenment:

"Well, I'm--hanged if it isn't blackmail!" he cried.

"Blackmail?" said the Terror in a tone of pleasant animation. "Why,
that's what the Scotch reavers used to do! I never knew exactly what
it was."

"And we're doing it. That is nice," said Erebus, almost preening
herself.

"But this is disgraceful! If you'd been village children--but
gentlefolk!" cried Sir James with considerable heat.

"Well, the Douglases were gentlefolk; and they blackmailed," said the
Terror in a tone of sweet reason.

"Poaching's a misdemeanor; blackmailing's a kind of stealing," said
Erebus virtuously, forgetting for the moment her mother's fur stole.

"Poaching's a misdemeanor; blackmailing's a felony," said Sir James
loftily.

The distinction was lost on the Twins; and Erebus said with conviction:
"Poaching's worse."

Sir James hated to be