"I say, it isn't really, Garth?"
"Yes, it is. He's coming out now, too."
"Now! But when did he come?"
"He came by last night's boat. He wrote, and sent you a telegram, too, but of course we haven't sent in for the mail for three days—I 'specs they're both in this bundle," said Garth, hauling a packet of letters from his pocket. "So when he got here and found no one to meet him he wouldn't come out last night, and he stayed at the hotel. I met him just starting out in a buggy." Garth gave an irrepressible chuckle. "He didn't know me from Adam. I rode up, and said, 'Hallo, doctor!' and he said, 'Who are you, young man?' and looked at me as if I was a wombat."
"What did you say?" asked his mother.
"I just laughed and laughed, it was so funny. And then he suddenly said, 'By Jove, it's Garth!' and he jumped out of the buggy and came and felt me all over, to see how fat I'd got. So I gave him all the bundles, and I raced on ahead to tell you. He'll be here in two jiffs."
"Then, this is where I hurry," said Aileen. "Thank goodness, I turned out the spare room two days ago! It must have been a brain-wave!"
"Come and we'll help," Tom said to Garth. "Let your pony go."
They flung themselves at what remained of the morning's housework with such good will that preparations for dinner were well established, and every room shining, when the hotel buggy drove up, and they all trooped to the gate.
"Well!" said Dr. Metcalfe, pausing on the veranda. "Let me look at you all."