"Strafe the baity old blighter!" gasped David. "I never heard of such meanness!" put in Avelyn. "Actually to _want_ us to miss our train!" "I'd have knocked him over for two pins," declared David savagely. "Wish we'd tried!" growled Anthony. "I don't know who he is, but he's no gentleman!" exploded Avelyn, divided between her ruffled clothes and her ruffled feelings. "Sorry, Pamela, if he's your uncle, but I can't help saying what I think." Pamela was leaning back in a corner. She had taken off her blue tam-o'-shanter, and was trying to re-tie her bronze-brown hair. She looked up quickly. "You needn't mind me. You can say anything you like about him. I only wish he wasn't my uncle. We don't choose our relations, do we?" "Nobody'd choose him if they could help it, I should think," replied Avelyn frankly. "What's his name?" "Mr. Hockheimer." "The Mr. Hockheimer who lives at The Hall?" "Yes." "Why, he's a German, isn't he?" "Yes, but I'm not! I'm as English as I possibly can be." "Then how are you related to him?" "He married my aunt." "Oh!" [Illustration: "DO YOU KNOW THIS WOOD'S PRIVATE PROPERTY?" HE SHOUTED] There was a long pause, and then Anthony volunteered: "If Auntie Belle was to marry a German, I'd never call her 'auntie' again--never!" "It was before the war, and she's dead now," groaned Pamela. "Uncle Fritz has lived twenty years in England." "How is it he's not interned?" asked David. "He's naturalized, you see." "Need you call him 'uncle'?" "I'd rather not, but I've got to. I'd never seen him till I came here a month ago." "And you don't like him?" For answer, Pamela suddenly burst into a storm of passionate tears. "Like him! I hate him! Oh! why did we ever leave Canada and come to England? It's wretched here, and I'm miserable. I'd like to run away!" Then, dabbing her eyes with her pocket-handkerchief: "There, don't take any notice of me, please. I get these fits sometimes. I'll feel better soon. Please don't talk any more to me about uncle." The Watsons glanced at her compassionately, and began to converse among themselves upon other topics. Pamela stared hard out of the window, blinked, and presently regained her composure. When the train arrived at Harlingden, she and Avelyn walked to Silverside together, but they talked of school concerns, and did not reopen the subject of Mr. Hockheimer.