"What are you making that row for, you little ass?" cried Plunger testily.
"Thought I'd cheer you up a bit. You look just awful, Plunger!"
"You look worse than that! Ever seen a petrified mummy? No? Well, just look at yourself in the glass, then! What's your letter about?"
They exchanged letters, and found that they were in precisely the same terms—that both were summonses for them to appear before "the Mystic Order" at the same date and hour.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
"FORGIVE, AND YE SHALL BE FORGIVEN"
The two boys looked at each other blankly. How were they to act? What was to be done? If they refused to obey the summons from the "Mystic Brethren," they knew not what would be the penalty. The more they looked at the letters, with their grotesque design, the more imposing they seemed.
"What's to be done, Freddy?" asked Harry, when they were outside the shop.
"We shall have to go, I suppose!" answered Plunger despondently. "We've given ourselves away, you see. We're one of them—one of the wretched Beetles. We've taken the vow of allegiance. They've got us in a tight corner."