He had not energy enough to go out in the evening of Saturday to meet
the new arrivals, but stayed with Armine, who was in a state of
restless joy and excitement, marvelling at him, and provoking him by
this surprise as if it were censure.
With his forehead against the window, Armine watched and did his
utmost to repress the eagerness that seemed to irritate his brother,
and at last gave vent to an irrepressible hurrah.
"There they are! Cecil has got his sister! Oh! and there she is!
Babie-—holding on to mother, and that must be Mrs. Evelyn with
Fordham-—and there's Elf making up already to the Doctor! Aren't you
coming down, Jock?"
"Not I! I don't want to see you make a fool of yourself before
everybody!-—I say-—you'll have to come up stairs again, you know!
Shut the door I say!"-—shouted Jock, as he found Armine deaf to all
his expostulations, and then getting up, he banged it himself, and
then shuffling back to the sofa, put his hands over his face and
exclaimed, "There! What an eternal brute I am!"
A few moments more and the door was open again, and Cecil, with his
arm round his sister, thrust her forwards, exclaiming—-"Here he is,
Syd."
Jock had recovered his gentlemanly manners enough to shake hands
courteously, as well as to receive and return Babie's kiss, when she
and Armine staggered in together, reeling under their weight of
delight.
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