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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.
Captain Baster asked for Sir Maurice cheerfully; and his face fell when Erebus told him that he had gone back to bed. Mrs. Dangerfield, informed of her brother's shrinking, had to be very firm with his new friend to induce him to go for a walk with her and Erebus. He showed an inclination to linger about the house till his sun should rise.
As he sang Wiggins looked artlessly at Captain Baster; as he finished everybody was looking at Captain Baster's boots; his feet required them square-toed.
Dangerfield observed this example of the thoughtfulness of her offspring with an air of doubtful surprise. Captain Baster took the cigarette-case and said with hearty jocularity: "Thank you, Error thank you. But why didn't you bring it to me, Terebus? Then you'd have earned that kiss I'm going to give you."
The Twins were busy handing round tea-cups and cakes, but they were aware that their mother's tea-party was a failure. As a rule her little parties were so pleasant with their atmosphere of friendliness; and her guests went away pleased with themselves, her and one another. The Terror was keenly alive to the effect of Captain Baster; and a faint persistent frown troubled his serenity.
They went into the drawing-room in a body and found Captain Baster still talking to their mother, in the middle, indeed, of a long story illustrating his prowess in a game of polo, on two three-hundred-guinea and one three-hundred-and-fifty-guinea ponies. He laid great stress on the prices he had paid for them. When it came to an end, the Terror gave him his cigarette-case. Mrs.
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.
If we don't worry about them, they'll occur to us. They always do," said the Terror, at once practical and philosophical. They walked briskly down to The Plough, the one inn of Little Deeping, where, as usual, Captain Baster was staying, and went in through the front door which stood open.
How could you?" cried Mrs. Dangerfield in a tone of horror. "It wasn't Wiggins! It was me! I taught him. He didn't understand," said Erebus loyally. "I did understand quite. But why did he call me Freckles?" said Wiggins in a vengeful tone. "Nobody can help having freckles." They watched the retreating figure of Captain Baster till it was lost to sight among the gorse, in silence.
The serenity on the Terror's face broke up into an expression of the deepest pain: "Whatever's the matter?" he said in a tone of amazement. "I thought you loved a joke. You said you did yesterday at tea." "You try it on again!" said Captain Baster. "Now, whatever has put your back up?" said the Terror in a tone of even greater amazement.
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