Laura, glad of an excuse to leave the room, saw Mrs. Baldwin with another lump of delight in her mouth, and another page turned, and flew up the stairs. Here she found a general rebellion. The bad twins, Totty and Dickey, aged ten, were pinching the good twins, Jimmy and Sally, aged twelve. Horry and Dolly, who, not being twins, were called the odd ones, looked on complacently. Laura darted into the middle of the fray, and parted the fighters. "Horry! Dolly! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves to see these children fight so. Horry, you are fourteen, and you, Dolly, are seventeen. Why don't you behave?" "We are behaving," said Dolly, a girl in the stage of long legs, short frocks, and inky fingers. "We haven't touched them. I can't study my French lesson for the noise." "And I've got my algebra to do." "You shouldn't learn lessons on Sunday," said Laura. "Why not? Gerty's gone to business." "She has not. She only went to see if Mr. Tracey found his motor-car that was lost last night." "Ah! And I'm glad of it," cried Horry triumphantly. "He wouldn't let me sit in it to watch." "And a good thing to," said Dolly, pensively picking a hole in her stocking; "you started it last time." "And nearly ran us over," said one of the good twins. "I wish he had," said the bad twins in chorus. "Come and play, Miss Mason. Bible games!" "I have no time. Gerty will be back soon. Now, be good children, and don't disturb your mother. She has a headache. Besides, you must get ready for church." "I hate church," growled Horry. "And if mother thinks I'm going to be a parson, I ain't. So there now." "You'll never go to heaven then," said Sally, who was the most pious of the good twins. "_Oh, mon Dieu, quel dommage!_" said Dolly. "Dolly!" cried Laura, shocked. "I'm only swearing in French. It doesn't sound so bad as using bad words in English." "No," chimed in a bad twin. "I heard the gardener say----" "Hold your tongue, Jimmy; you needn't say the word!" But Jimmy, being bad by nature and training, had made up his mind to say the word, and did so very distinctly. An uproar ensued, which ended by the entrance of Mary Anne Eliza. "Come and be washed." There was a chorus of protests, in the midst of which Laura escaped. Not being inclined to talk further to Mrs. Baldwin, she went out in the garden, which was large and as ill-kept as the house within. At the gate she paused, and leaning over, looked up the lane. It was a beautiful morning, and the air was as balmy as the sky was blue. But the exquisite weather did not banish the dark look from Laura's face. She gazed up the road with compressed lips, and then taking a letter out of her pocket, she read it hurriedly. Thus engaged, she did not see a tall brunette flying down the lane, with a flushed face, and an air of excitement. "O Laura!" cried the newcomer; "O Laura! Such news--dreadful news."