s no excuse for his making other people so too," Mr. Chase
replied. "Eustace, go and tell Herbert to come here at once."

It was a disagreeable errand, and the boy whitened as he turned to
obey. Mr. Chase's prompt, old-fashioned methods were something new
to him. Fault-finding at home had always been reserved for quiet
talks alone with father or mother; they were never made big public
affairs like this.

Eustace found Herbert in his own room pacing up and down the floor
with his hands in his pockets. He had got control of himself by
then, and he turned on his visitor with a look of impatient
surprise.

"What do you want?" he said.

"I'm awfully sorry," Eustace began lamely, "but you've got to come
to grandfather. We were talking about what you said, and he came in
without our hearing. He made us tell him the rest, and I'm afraid
he--he is going to lecture you."

"You--you told tales?" said Herbert scathingly. Without waiting for
a reply he marched past his cousin to the schoolroom. Eustace could
not bear to follow and see him humiliated. It would be just a
little better for him with one person less present, he thought.

"Grandfather was fearfully severe," said Nesta later, when she had
found Eustace prowling about like a bear with a sore head alone in
the grounds. "So you see it was a beastly thing to say. He said
Herbert was no gentleman if he didn't apologize."

"And did he?" asked Eustace shortly.

"He said he was sorry if he hadn't behaved like a gentleman, and it
shouldn't occur again. Most awfully stiffly he spoke, just like a
grown-up, and then grandfather said he might go."

"And that before you and Peter!" exclaimed Eustace in tones of
disgust. "I'm jolly glad I wasn't there; it would have made me feel
a low-down black-fellow if Herbert had apologized to me. I don't
think Peter behaved like a white man, and I mean to tell him so,
too, when I get him to myself."

"Grandfather seems to have taken a fancy to Peter," said Nesta. "He
had come up to fetch him when he overheard me. He said Peter had
already broken his morning, and he had better have the rest of it
and take him a walk. Brenda says she never knew him do such a
queer thing before; he is not generally supposed to be fond of
children, and that is why we have no meals downstairs."

Every one was surprised at Mr. Chase's sudden partiality for Peter,
but the reason was a very simple one. From Peter he could hear more
about Miss Chase than from