There was a little commotion in front of the verandah, caused by some new arrivals, as Guy and Constancy approached it from the side. A stout lady in a bonnet and a handsome travelling-cloak, came up the steps, looked round her, and made a sudden rush towards them.
“My dear Guy! Oh, what a delightful surprise! I never was so glad to see any one. After all these months, it is indeed a relief to see some one of the family.”
And Mrs Joshua Palmer seized Guy’s hands, and all but embraced him; a ceremony he had carefully avoided from his earliest childhood.
“Why, Cousin Susan! I didn’t know you were still abroad. I’m very glad to see you,” he said, astonished at this effusive greeting.
“And Miss Vyner? How do you do, my love? Well, Guy, and how are you? and is dear Godfrey here too? Jeanie, Jeanie, here’s your cousin.”
Jeanie, blooming, and very well turned out, came up also with outstretched hand.
“How d’ye do, Guy? I’m very glad we’ve met you.”
“You look very warm, Cousin Susan,” said Guy; “won’t you sit down and have some coffee? I suppose your courier—you have one, I see—has engaged your rooms?”
“Oh, my dear Guy, that is part of the pleasure of seeing you. For I am quite certain that courier is a cheat, and if you, with your head for figures, would only look at our bills—” Here she tore open a travelling-bag, and thrust a bundle of papers into his hands. “I can speak to you...”
“Well, mother,” said Jeanie, “you never would allow any one else to help you to manage, however well accustomed they were to travelling.”