ffairs.

The face of the princess did not fall again; she said: "But if your
brother comes?"

"Oh, I'll come, anyhow," said the Terror.

The voice called again from the wood below, louder.

"Oh, it isn't the baroness. It's Miss Lambart," said the princess in a
tone of relief.

"You take too much notice of that baroness," said Erebus again firmly.
"Who is Miss Lambart?"

"She's my English lady-in-waiting. I always have one when I'm in
England, of course. I like her. She tries to amuse me. But the
baroness doesn't like her," said the princess, and she sighed.

"Come along, I'll help you down the bank and take you pretty close to
Miss Lambart. It wouldn't do for her to know of this place. It's our
secret lair," said the Terror.

"I see," said the princess.

They walked briskly to the edge of the steep bank; and he half carried
her down it; and he led her through the wood toward the drive from
which Miss Lambart had called. As they went he adjured her to confine
herself to the simple if incomplete statement that she had been walking
in the wood. His last words to her, as they stood on the edge of the
drive, were:

"Don't you stand so much nonsense from that baroness."

Miss Lambart called again; the princess stepped into the drive and
found her thirty yards away. The Terror slipped noiselessly away
through the undergrowth.

Miss Lambart turned at the sound of the princess' footsteps, and said:
"Oh, here you are, Highness. We've all been hunting for you. The
baroness thought you were lost."

"I thought I would walk in the wood," said the princess demurely.

"It certainly seems to have done you good. You're looking brighter and
fresher than you've looked since you've been down here."

"The wood is real open air," said the princess.

CHAPTER IX

AND THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM

The Terror returned to Erebus and found her stretched at her ease,
eating a peach.

"I should have liked one a good deal sooner," he said, as he took one
from the basket. "But I didn't like to say anything about them. She
mightn't have understood."

"It wouldn't have mattered if she hadn't," said Erebus somewhat
truculently.

She was feeling some slight resentment that their new acquaintance had
so plainly preferred the Terror to her.

"She's not a bad kid," said the Terror thoughtfully.

"She's awfully feeble. Why, you had to carry her up this bit of a
bank. She's not any use to us," said Erebus in a tone