"Exactly your uncle's laugh. It's good to hear it again. You're a Gray, every inch of you; and, thank God, you're a fine fellow! If you had come down here with an English accent and no 'h's' and a monocle, I should have shut the door in your face. I should, indeed."
"Who, me?" demanded her nephew, forgetting his grammar in his surprise at such a state of affairs. "Not me, dear aunt. America's good enough for me. I've had lots of good times with my English cousins, but America's my home and country."
"Hurrah!" cried Hippy, dashing around the table and seizing the young man's hand. "We're glad to know you. We're proud and happy to make your acquaintance."
There was such an uproar of fun and laughter at this that Tom Gray began at last to see that something had really happened, and that his sudden and unheralded appearance had brought immense relief to the assembled company.
"Don't you think it's time somebody put me on?" he asked finally when the noise had quieted down a little.
"Tom," replied his aunt, "did you tell anyone you were coming to Oakdale for Christmas to visit me!"
"Why, yes," answered Tom after a moment's thought. "I believe I did. In fact I know I did. I was staying for a week in New York, with an English friend, Arthur Butler. I told him all about it. It was on his account that I stayed over one night. I sent the telegram by his servant, Richards."
"Ah, ha!" cried Mrs. Gray. "And pray tell us what that wretch of a servant looked like."
Tom laughed.
"Richards is quite an unusual fellow, a good servant I believe, but rather effeminate and a kind of a dandy——"