se 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 compassion 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