Phil!

"The atmosphere 
Breathes rest and comfort, 
and the many chambers 
Seem full of welcomes."
--LONGFELLOW.

"Where is Dick?" asked Philippa presently. "I do so want to see him."

"Dickie is away, I am sorry to say," answered his mother mournfully. "We have all been staying with my sister in Yorkshire. Bill and I came home yesterday, but she persuaded me to let him stay for another week."

"It is so good for the little chap to be with other boys," said Major Heathcote. "He has no companions of his own age here. This neighbourhood is curiously short of boys."

"When will he be going to school?" inquired Philippa.

"Oh; not for two years at least," replied Marion quickly. "Don't let us talk of it; I dread the very idea of it."

"Poor little hen with one chick," her husband laughed good-humouredly. "You will hardly recognise Dick, Miss Harford. He has grown enormously since you last saw him. Let me see--that was three years ago, wasn't it?"

"Very nearly three years ago, in Gibraltar," assented Philippa.

"I began to think that Fate had a plot against us, and that we were never going to meet again," said Marion. "It is delightful to feel that you are here at last. I have so much to tell you that I hardly know where to begin."