As for Philip, he was the first one on deck next morning, and by breakfast-time was ravenously hungry and in the best of spirits, notwithstanding his regret at leaving the yacht, which they were to do in time to catch the morning train for Paris. His high spirits continued during the journey, and he chattered and laughed, and teased Marvin, the staid old man-servant, until Lord Ashden was obliged to bribe him to be quiet while he took a nap. The passage from Calais to Dover was unusually rough, but even the qualms of seasickness did not altogether dampen the boy’s spirits.
“We are going home, we are going home,” he kept repeating. “In twenty-four hours we shall see Uncle Seldon and Aunt Delia and the Nortons and Dash. Dear old Dash—oh, I hope he has not forgotten me!”
When they arrived at Dover they found a telegram from Dr. Norton, saying that the rector and his wife had come down to London to meet the travellers, and that they were all awaiting their arrival with breathless interest. Philip held the telegram in his hand all the way to London, and during the long trip in the cab to Kensington, where the Nortons lived, he was half sorry that they were not going directly to Lowdown; but, after all, that would have delayed the meeting just so much longer.
The cab at last drew up before a brightly lighted house, and some one within must have been listening for the sound of wheels, for before the man could leave his box, the front door was thrown open, letting a broad blaze of light out on the pavement.
To Philip’s dazzled eyes it seemed as if the hallway was crowded with airy figures pressing forward to greet them as they entered, but it was only Lillie, Rose, and the governess, in whom, to his joy, he recognized his own old friend, Miss Acton. She had changed but little, but he never would have known in any other place the two tall girls who came forward with rather shy cordiality to greet him. Aunt Delia folded him in her arms, saying, “My darling boy, my own boy, how glad I am to have you here with me again, I have longed for you so!”
Dr. Norton and his wife were delighted to see him, and the girls presently forgot their first shyness in the excitement of asking and answering questions. It was a very merry party which gathered around the supper-table, and Philip was touched to see that Mrs. Norton had planned to have all the dainties of which she remembered Philip to have been particularly fond in the old days at Lowdown. Rose and Lillie fluttered about the room, too happy to sit down quietly with the others, and they kept heaping delicacies on Philip’s plate until he was obliged to assure them laughingly that he did not possess the appetite and digestion of an ostrich, and then suddenly he stopped, with a buttered crumpet half way to his mouth, to ask where Marion was.
Miss Acton explained that she had gone with friends to spend a few days at a country house; she would be back very shortly though, and perhaps might not have gone had she known that Lord Ashden and her cousin were coming so soon.
That supposition was evidently added to soothe a little disappointment that was visible in Aunt Delia’s face. As for Philip, he felt almost relieved that he was not to meet Marion immediately. His old admiration for her beauty had not faded, but equally fresh was his vivid remembrance of her scorn of the little cousin she used to consider a disgrace to the family.
He was very happy for the next few days, giving himself up to the enjoyment of being carried about to all sorts of places by the twins and Miss Acton.
“How nice it is to have a cousin with us!” said Rose; “mamma won’t let us go anywhere alone with Miss Acton since we have grown so big, but with you for a protector we can have no end of larks.”