“But you don’t think there’s anything in what the old cat said? It would be perfectly horrid to have a stepfather!” cried Erebus in a panic.
The Terror walked on, frowning in deep thought.
“Do you think there’s anything in it?” cried Erebus.
“I dare say there is. Sir James is always about with Mum; and he’s always very civil to us—people aren’t generally,” said the Terror.
“Oh, but we must stop it! We must stop it at once!” cried Erebus.
“Why must we?”
“It would be perfectly beastly having a step-father, I tell you!” cried Erebus fiercely.
“It isn’t altogether what we like—there’s Mum,” said the Terror. “She does have a rotten time of it—always being hard up and never going anywhere. And, after all, we shouldn’t mind Sir James when we got used to him.”
“But we should! And look how we stopped the Cruncher!”
“Sir James isn’t like the Cruncher—at all,” said the Terror.