"
Arthur nodded.
"And there's Bertha Afflint and her sister."
It was George's turn to nod approvingly. The sharp-witted Miss Afflint
was a great ally of his.
"And there's a Miss Wishart--Alice Wishart," said Lewis, without a word
of comment. "And with my Aunt Egeria that will be all."
The pair got the cue, and resolved to subject the Miss Wishart whose
name came last on their host's tongue to a friendly criticism.
Meanwhile they held their peace on the matter like wise men.
"What a strange name Egeria is!" said Arthur. "Very," said Lewis; "but
you know the story. My respectable aunt's father had a large family of
girls, and being of a classical turn of mind he called them after the
Muses. The Muses held out for nine, but for the tenth and youngest he
found himself in a difficulty. So he tried another tack and called the
child after the nymph Egeria. It sounds outlandish, but I prefer it to
Terpsichore."
Thereafter they lit pipes, and, with the gravity which is due to a great
subject, inspected their friend's rods and guns.
"I see no memorials of your travels, Lewie," said Arthur. "You must
have brought back no end of things, and most people like to stick them
round as a remembrance."
"I have got a roomful if you want to see them," said The traveller; "but
I don't see the point of spoiling a moorland place with foreign odds and
ends.
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