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And in another minute the disguises were stowed away in the cupboard, the door unbolted, and the two Conspirators seated lovingly side-by-side on the sofa, earnestly discussing a book the Vice-Warden had hastily snatched off the table, which proved to be the City-Directory of the capital of Outland.
"Wouldn't do. The boy's such an utter idiot, he'd never learn to answer to it." "Idiot, indeed!" cried my Lady. "He's no more an idiot than I am!" "You're right, my dear," the Vice-Warden soothingly I replied. "He isn't, indeed!" My Lady was appeased. "Let's go in and receive the Ambassador," she said, and beckoned to the Professor. "Which room is he waiting in?" she inquired.
He gave in at last, wished a hasty good-night, and left the room, while his host and hostess interchanged looks of triumph. "Deftly done!" cried the Vice-Warden. "Craftily contrived! But what means all that tramping on the stairs?" He half-opened the door, looked out, and added in a tone of dismay, "The Baron's boxes are being carried down!"
"'Item, that the contents of the Treasury be preserved intact. Why, that's altered into 'shall be at the absolute disposal of the Vice-Warden'! "Well, Sibby, that was a clever trick! All the Jewels, only think! May I go and put them on directly?" "Well, not just yet, Lovey," her husband uneasily replied. "You see the public mind isn't quite ripe for it yet. We must feel our way.
He might have spared himself all anxiety: whatever accidental meaning her words might have, she herself never meant anything at all. "It is all settled!" the Warden announced, wasting no time over preliminaries. "The Sub-Wardenship is abolished, and my brother is appointed to act as Vice-Warden whenever I am absent. So, as I am going abroad for a while, he will enter on his new duties at once."
"Take a stick to him!" shouted the Vice-Warden, as the old Beggar shook the water from his ragged cloak, and again gazed meekly upwards. "Take a red-hot poker to him!" my Lady again chimed in. Possibly there was no red-hot poker handy: but some sticks were forthcoming in a moment, and threatening faces surrounded the poor old wanderer, who waved them back with quiet dignity.
"But it's ever so much shorter, going back, you know! The Baron looked appealingly to the Vice-warden, who chimed in readily. "You can go back five times, in the time it took you to come here once if you start to-morrow morning!" All this time the Sonata was pealing through the room.
"Hist!, her husband hastily interrupted her, as the door opened, and Sylvie and Bruno came in, with their arms twined lovingly round each other Bruno sobbing convulsively, with his face hidden on his sister's shoulder, and Sylvie more grave and quiet, but with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Mustn't cry like that!" the Vice-Warden said sharply, but without any effect on the weeping children.
"A military hero?" said my Lady. The fat little man simpered. "Well, yes," he replied, modestly casting down his eyes. "My ancestors were all famous for military genius." My Lady smiled graciously. "It often runs in families," she remarked: "just as a love for pastry does." The Baron looked slightly offended, and the Vice-Warden discreetly changed the subject. "Dinner will soon be ready," he said.
as the trio left the house, "something about a great battle in which you had the command of the infantry " "True," said the Baron. "The enemy, as I was saying, far outnumbered us: but I marched my men right into the middle of what's that?" the Military Hero exclaimed in agitated tones, drawing back behind the Vice-Warden, as a strange creature rushed wildly upon them, brandishing a spade.
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