"Must you, really? Well, then, I suppose I must. Eh! Madam Patient?"
"If you will please to change your boots, Mr. Philip," quietly repeated Patient, "Madam will be ready to receive you in a few minutes."
"Very well, Madam Patient. I will obey your orders."
And the boots were heard quickly conveying their owner down the corridor. Celia's hair was soon put up, for she was very wishful to make the acquaintance of her half-brother; and she was in the boudoir waiting for him before Mr. Philip Ingram had completed the changing of his objectionable boots.
"Come in!" she said, with a beating heart, to the light tap at her door.
"Are you my sister Celia? I am very glad to see you—very glad. I must congratulate dear old Patient on having finished you sooner than I expected."
The first greeting over, Celia looked curiously at her half-brother. He was not like what she had anticipated, and, except for a slight resemblance about the eyes, he was not like Lady Ingram. He looked older than his years—so much so, that if Celia had not known that he was her junior, she would have supposed him to be her senior by some years. Philip Ingram was of middle height, inclining rather to the higher side of it, slenderly built, thin, lithe, and very active in his movements, with much quickness, physical and mental. He had dark glossy hair, brilliant dark eyes, and a voice not unmusically toned.
"Well, Madam!" he said at last, laughingly; "I hope you like me as well as I do you."
Celia laughed in her turn, and colored slightly. "I have no doubt that I shall like my new brother very much," she said. "Whom do you think me like?"
"That is just what I cannot settle," said Philip, gravely, considering her features. "You are not like Ned, except about the mouth; you have his mouth and chin, but not his eyes and forehead."