Page:Jepson--The terrible twins.djvu/300

"Yes, you would run all the way," said Mrs. Dangerfield patiently.

"Well, you'd have run, too, Mum, with a for-
eigner running after you! Just look at that mus-
tache! It would frighten anybody!" cried Erebus in the tone of one deeply aggrieved by unjust inju-
rious suspicions.

"Yes, I see," said her mother with undiminished patience.

She invited the count to come in and rest and get cool; and she allayed his fine thirst with a long and very grateful whisky and soda. He explained to her at length, three times, how he had come to mis-
take Erebus for the flying princess, for he was ex-
ceedingly anxious not to appear foolish in the eyes of such a pretty woman. Erebus left them to-
gether; she made a point of taking a small bottle of salad oil to the knoll. They had no use for salad oil indeed; but it had been an after-thought, and she owed it to her conscience to take it. That would be the safe course.

In the meantime the archduke was sitting im-
patiently in the car, looking frequently at his watch. He had expected the count to return with the prin-