“Don’t contradict, sir. I declare I never said a word about blacks. I went into the kitchen and heard a rustling sound between me and the door, and I thought it was one of the fowls come in to beg for a bit of bread, when I looked round, and there on the floor was a monstrous great serpent, twining and twisting about, and if I hadn’t dashed out of the place it would have seized me.”
“A big one, aunt?”
“A monster, my dear. But what are you going to do?”
Norman laughed, and looked at the others.
“Oh, I think we shall manage to turn him out, aunt,” he said.
“But be careful, my dears, and don’t run into danger.”
“Oh no; we’ll get the guns and talk to him through the window.”
“I am glad it wasn’t mamma,” said Rifle.
“Or the girls,” cried his cousin.
“Then I’m of no consequence at all,” said the old lady, wiping her forehead and looking hurt. “Ah, well, I suppose I’m old and not of much importance now. There, go and kill the dreadful thing before it bites anybody.”