ds impartial, he found it
difficult. It was because, on the subject of mothers, he feared he was
up against their one prejudice. He felt rather than knew that their
attitude on this one point might be uncompromising,--mothers were
mothers, and there was an end of it; that sort of attitude, coupled with
extreme reprobation of himself for supposing anything else.

He was surprised and relieved to find he was wrong. Directly they got
wind of the line his explanations were taking, which was very soon for
they were giving their minds to it as they promised and Mr. Twist's
hesitations were illuminating, they interrupted.

"So we were right," they said to each other.

"But you don't know yet what I'm going to say," said Mr. Twist. "I've
only started on the preliminaries."

"Yes we do. You fell out with your mother," said Anna-Rose.

"Quarrelled," said Anna-Felicitas, nodding

"We didn't think so at the time," said Anna-Rose.

"We just felt there was an atmosphere of strain about Clark," said
Anna-Felicitas.

"But talking it over privately, we concluded that was what had
happened."

Mr. Twist was so much surprised that for a moment he could only say
"Oh." Then he said, "And you're terribly shocked, I suppose."

"Oh no," they said airily and together.

"No?"

"You see--" began Anna-Felicitas.

"You see--" began Anna-Rose.

"You see, as a general principle," said Anna-Felicitas, "it's
reprehensible to quarrel with one's mother."

"But we've not been able to escape observing--" said Anna-Rose.

"In the course of our brief and inglorious career," put in
Anna-Felicitas.

"--that there are mothers and mothers," said Anna-Rose.

"Yes," said Mr. Twist; and as they didn't go on he presently added,
"Yes?"

"Oh, that's all," said the twins, once more airily and together.

CHAPTER XIX

After this brief _eclaircissement_ the rest of the journey was happy.
Indeed, it is doubtful if any one can journey to California and not be
happy.

Mr. Twist had never been further west than Chicago and break up or no
break up of his home he couldn't but have a pleasant feeling of
adventure. Every now and then the realization of this feeling gave his
conscience a twinge, and wrung out of it a rebuke. He was having the
best of it in this business; he was the party in the quarrel who went
away, who left the dreariness of the scene of battle with all its
corpses of dead illusions, and got off to fresh places and people who