CHAPTER XIII.
AND AN APOLOGY The vindication of their dignity filled the Twins with a cold undated triumph; but they enjoyed the liveliest satisfaction in being able to fish in well-stocked water, because the trout tempted their mother's faint appetite.
She had grown stronger during the summer.

She was not, indeed, definitely ill; she was not even definitely weak.

But, a woman of spirit and intelligence, she was suffering from the wearisome emptiness of her life in the country.

It was sapping her strength and energy; in it she would grow old long before her time.

The Twins had been used to find her livelier and more spirited, keenly interested in their doings; and the change troubled them.