Roger had quite made up his mind that nothing should induce him to enter the doors of his cousin's home again; and after Mr. Marsh and Edgar had left him, he hurried back to Princess Street, his heart full of rage, and took his family into his confidence. Everyone agreed with him that he had been treated shabbily, and Polly was loud in her declamations against Edgar. It was Mrs. Trent who tried to soothe the boy's angry mood, and pointed out to him that the present occasion was an opportunity for showing a magnanimous spirit.
"You don't mean to say you will make me go to the Rookery to-morrow, do you, mother?" Roger asked hotly.
"No, dear, certainly not," she answered. "You shall do as you please, but—"
"Then I shan't go," he broke in, "so that's settled."
"I shan't go, either," declared Polly.
"You interrupted me in the midst of my sentence, Roger," Mrs. Trent told the little boy in a tone of gentle reproof. "I was going to say that you shall do as you please, but that by to-morrow I trust you may see things in a different light. Edgar has treated you badly, that I grant, but I hope you will forgive him, especially as you say he offered you an apology, and let him see, by going to the Rookery, that you do not bear malice in heart."
Roger made no response but when, that evening, his father said his uncle had sent a message to him to the effect that he should expect to see him on the following day, he realised that he would have to overlook his cousin's cowardly conduct and consent to be his guest. "I daresay Edgar is really sorry, and if so I suppose I ought to forgive him," he remarked to Polly. "And, though I really don't want to go to the Rookery, Aunt Janie always gives us a very good tea; so, all things considered, perhaps we'd better go."
"Very well," agreed his sister, "I daresay you're right. I don't care so much about the tea, but I should like to see the gardens and the greenhouses."
"And the horses," supplemented Roger with a brightening face.
So the following afternoon found Polly and Roger the guests of their cousin at the Rookery. There was unwonted shyness in Edgar's manner as he met them in the hall and escorted them into the drawing-room to speak to his mother, and he glanced askance at a bruise beneath Roger's right eye, which he knew had been caused by his fist whilst Polly and Roger both felt the awkwardness of the situation.