The troubled air did not leave her face during dinner; and it seemed to affect the Twins, for they, too, were gloomy.

They were pleased, indeed, with the beginning of the campaign, but still very doubtful of success in the end.

Where their interests were concerned their mother was of a firmness indeed hard to move.
Moreover, she kept looking at them in an odd considering fashion that disturbed them, especially at the Terror.

Erebus in a pretty light frock of her mother's days of prosperity, which had been cut down and fitted to her, was a sight to brighten any one's eyes; but the sleeves of the dark coat which the Terror wore on Sundays and on gala evenings, bared a length of wrist distressing to a mother's eye.
The fine high spirits of Captain Baster were somewhat dashed by his failure to find his keys and open his portmanteau, since he would be unable to ravish Mrs.Dangerfield's eye that evening by his distinguished appearance in the unstained evening dress of an English gentleman.

After a long hunt for the mislaid keys, in which the harried staff of The Plough took part, he made up his mind that he must appear before her, with all apologies, in the tweed suit he was wearing.