“Well, good-bye, my little friend,” said Herr Adler at last, as the boat was slowly steaming within the great stone crescent that guarded the harbour; “perhaps some day we may meet again; but whether or not we do here, we shall meet one day, and know each other again. Be a good boy, and never forget whose child you are. A very happy home-returning to you! What a clamour there will be when they all come out to meet you—brothers and sisters, and horses and dogs! I should like to be there to see!”
“Oh, do come, sir!” cried Squib eagerly. “I’m sure they would all so like it!”
But Herr Adler shook his head, though he was smiling all the time.
“Thank you, my little man, but those pleasant things cannot be. Good-bye, my child. You must go to your parents now.”
The boat had come to a standstill, the great engine had ceased to throb. There began to be a movement amongst the passengers. Squib knew that he must not linger now. Although he was growing to be a big boy, and was not much in the way of kissing now, he suddenly lifted his face to Herr Adler’s and received a kiss from him.
The next minute his friend had passed across the narrow gangway, and was with the crowd on the shore. Squib waved his hand to him once, and then turned quickly back, joining his father and mother almost before they had had time to miss him.
“I was just saying good-bye to Herr Adler,” he said. “I’m so glad we met him again!”
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUSION.
Squib was on the box-seat of the carriage, squeezed in between coachman and footman. His eyes were bright with excitement; his flood of eager questions, which had not ceased to be poured out since leaving the station, now ceased suddenly—for there was the house rising up before his eyes; here was the inner gate dividing garden from park; and there was the great hall door standing open wide, a flood of bright lamplight pouring out into the warm dusk of the summer night.
It was eight o’clock by this time, and the sun had dipped behind the hill (Squib could not quite make out what had happened to that hill; it always used to be so high, and now it looked so funny and low), but there was still a warm red glow all over the western sky, though the shadows were darkening, and the dusk was creeping on. It was almost August by this time, and the longest days had come and gone since Squib had been at home.