Everybody was surprised to see him, and to see him in that guise. Mrs. Chessingham opened her eyes, the ever ready blood flew into Ethel’s fair face, while Letty uttered an exclamation of surprise.
“You here!” she cried.
“Yes,” sighed Sir Archy, beginning to pitch down his sticks, umbrellas and mackintoshes, while he heaped a whole cartload of other things upon the patient valet. “I made up my mind at the last moment that it would be deucedly dull without all of you, and here I am.”
Mr. Romaine, who had been sitting at a little distance, now advanced, his eyes gleaming with a Mephistophelian amusement. In traveling costume, his make-up was no less complete than in full evening dress. His perfectly fitting ulster was buttoned closely around his slight figure; his usual gray hat was replaced by a correct traveling-cap; his dog-skin gloves fitted without a wrinkle. He took in at once the sensation Sir Archy’s unexpected appearance would create in the feminine contingent of the party, and he wanted to be on hand to enjoy it.
“We are very pleased to have your company, Sir Archy,” he said, blandly, “and still more so if you intend patronizing the same hotel that we shall in New York.”
“Thank you,” answered Sir Archy, heartily. “I had intended to do so, having been recommended by Colonel Corbin.”
Just then the Colonel appeared.
“Why, my dear fellow,” he cried, in his rich, cordial voice. “This is truly gratifying. I thought when I bade you farewell this morning it was for a considerable period, until you paid us that promised visit at Corbin Hall,” for the Colonel had become completely reconciled to Sir Archy, and had generously overlooked his experiences during the war.
“Yes,” said Sir Archy, cheerfully, “I was afraid I’d be a horrid bore, following you all up this way, but I felt so dismal after I had told you good-by—swore so hard at Tompkins, and made a brute of myself generally—that at last I concluded I’d better pull up stakes and quit.”
“Nothing could have been more judicious, my young kinsman,” responded the Colonel, “and these ladies, I am sure, are the magnets that have drawn you to us.”