history, and has been distinguished for many things, but not particularly for brains, as far as I can make out from my recent researches. But at last there has arisen one who will make up for that deficiency. You now behold her in the person of Nancy Caroline Clinton, who addresses you. See that ye cherish her and tip her well, or ye will be eternally disgraced in the eyes of posterity."

She ended with a ripple of laughter, shaking back her hair.

"Well, you're the limit," said Dick, with a grin. "Come on, let's go and look at the stables. Is it true that you suddenly find yourself possessed of brains, Twanky? I never suspected it of you."

"My dear Dick," said Joan, as they went down the stairs, "she has been talking about nothing but her brains for the last month, ever since Uncle Herbert last came here to shoot."

"They were always there," explained Nancy, "but he put the match to the tinder. I'm going to write books when I get a little older. But of course I must be properly educated first. I suppose you know we're going to have a really up-to-date, top-hole governess, Dick?"

"Yes, I've heard that," said Dick, "although I don't admire your way of describing her. Lord, what a place to put a horse!"

"If it is the expression 'top-hole' you object to, I learnt it from you," said Nancy. "My ears are receptive."

"Two loose-boxes and three stalls," said Dick. "We can make that do, but they're all on the slant. We'd better begin by altering this at once; the house can wait for a bit."

"Of course the stables are more important than the house," said Joan. "I say, Dick, there is something we want to ask you. Do be a brick and say, yes."

Dick was pursuing his investigations. "Coach-house isn't bad," he said. "Harness-room wants refurnishing. Let's see what the rooms upstairs are like."

They climbed up the steep staircase. "Dick, will you persuade father to do something?" asked Joan.

"What?" asked Dick. "This would be all right for an unmarried groom."

"We want a pony. We've never had anything to ride since poor old Tommy died."

They were clattering down the stairs again. "You want—you want—you want everything," said Dick. "You'll want a four-in-hand next. I don't know whether you want a pig-stye, by any chance. I'll give you this one if you do—ridiculous place to put it! This is where we'll build the game larder. Come on, Twankies, we'll go and look up old Aunt Laura. I want to see what she's taken away from here."

He set off at a smart pace, the twins on either side of him. "I don't know why you want to go putting your oar in about the pony," said Nancy. "I was to tackle father about that."

"Tackle father!" repeated Dick. "Look here! that's not the way to talk about the governor, Nancy."

"Oh, Dick darling, don't call me Nancy. I feel that I'm trembling under the weight of your displeasure."

Joan hastened to her relief. "When she said 'tackle,' she only meant that I betted her four weeks' pocket-money that father wouldn't let us have a pony," she said.

"You mean well, but you've done it now," said Nancy.

"Really, it's about time that you two had somebody to look after you," said Dick. "Who on earth taught you to bet, I should like to know?"

"Humphrey," replied Nancy promptly. "We were standing by him, and he betted us a shilling each that he would bring down the next bird that came over. He didn't, and he paid up promptly."

"We wanted him to bet again, but he refused," said Joan.

"But it gave us a taste for speculation which we shall probably never overcome," said Nancy.

Dick grunted. "Humphrey oughtn't to have done it," he said. "You are not to bet with each other, you two. And that bet about the pony—which was infernal cheek to make, anyhow—is off. Do you hear?"

"Yes, Dick dear," said Joan obediently. "But what does a bet being 'off' mean, exactly?"

"Is it the same as hedging?" asked Nancy.

"It means—well, it means it's off. You know what it means as well as I do. And I don't like your arranging with each other to get things out of the governor, either—or anybody else. You get plenty given you, and it isn't nice for girls of your age to be always on the make."