THE TWINS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 585, 16 July 1913, Page 3

THE TWINS.

EIIEBUS AND THE TERROR. It bad been an old whim of Nature to make tlie Twins so utterly unlike. No stranger ever too'c Violet Anastasia Dans-ertield, so darkeyed, dark-haired, dark-skinned, of to rich a colouring, so chan refill and piquant a face, for the cousin, much less for the twin-sister, of Hyacinth Wolfrom Dangerdeld, so fair-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed, on whose fine-ly-ch'isselled features rested so perpetual, so contrasting a serenity. But it was a whim of man; of their wicked uncle, Sir Maurice .Falconer, which had robbed them of their pretty names. He had named Violet "Erebus," because, lie saidShe walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry spheres. And he had forthwith named Hyacinth "The Terror," because, he said, the ill-fated Sir John/ Franklin had madfe the "Terror" the eternal companion of "Erebus." Erebus and Terror they became. Even their mother never called them by their proper pretty names save in moments of the severest displea- / sure. "They're good apples," said the •Terror presently, as he threw away the core of his third and took two more from the bag. " They are," said Erebus, in a grateful tone—"worth all the trouble we had with that dog." ".We'd have cleared him out of the orchard in half the time if we'd had our catapults and bullets. It was hard luck being made to pro;mise never to use catapults again," said the Terror sadly. "AH that fuss about a little lead from the silly old belfry glitter!" said Erebus, bitterly. "As if belfries wanted lead gutters ! They could easily have put slates in the place, of the sheets of lead we took," said the Terror. "'Why can't they leave us alone ? -It quite spoils the country not to have catapults," said Erebus, gazing on the rich autumn scene through whiclf they moved with mournful eyes. They crossed over a gate (for the Twins, it was always simpler to climb over a gate tlVan to unlock 'it and walk through) and took their way along the common. They had | gone some fifty yards, when from ! among the gorse on their right a voice cried—'Bang-g-g ! Bang-g-g." The Twins fell to the earth and lay still : and Wiggins came out of the gorse, Ms wooden gun on his shoulder, a smile of proud triumph cn his richly freckled face. lie stood over the fallen Twins, and h:s smile of triumph changed to a scowl of the most savage ferocity. "Ha ! Ha • Shot through the lieads !" he cried. "Their bones will bleach in the pathless forest, while their scalps hang in the wigwam of Red Bear, the terror of the Pawnees !" Then he scaiped the Twins with a formidable, but wooden knife. —Christmas. —"Pearson's Magazine."