arden, and he saw the carriage enter the park gates. He said
nothing to any one, but laid down his pipe, and went to meet it. Then
Julius made the first step towards his uncle's affection,--he left the
vehicle when they met, and insisted upon walking by his side.
When they reached the house, his valet was attending to the removal of
his luggage, and they entered the great hall together. At that moment
Mistress Charlotte's remarkable likeness seemed to force itself upon the
squire's attention. He was unable to resist the impulse which made him
lead his nephew up to it. "Let me introduce you, first of all, to your
father's mother. I greet you in her name as well as in my own." As he
spoke, the squire lifted his hat, and Julius did the same. It was a
sudden, and to both men a quite unexpected, ceremonial; and it gave an
air, touching and unusual, to his welcome.
And if that man is an ingrate who does not love his native land, how
much more _immediate_, tender, and personal must the feeling be for the
_home_ of one's own race. That stately lady, who seemed to meet him at
the threshold, was only the last of a long, shadowy line, whose hands
were stretched out to him, even from the dark, forgotten days in which
Loegberg Sandal laid the foundations of it. Julius was sensitive, and
full of imagination: he felt his heart beat quick, and his eyes grow dim
to the thought; and he loitered up the wide, low steps, feeling very
like a man going up the phantom stairway of a dream.
The squire's cheery voice broke the spell. "We shall be ready for church
in a quarter of an hour, Julius; will you remain at home, or go with
us?"
"I should like to go with you."
"That's good. It is but a walk through the park: the church is almost at
its gates."
When he returned to the hall, the family were waiting for him; Mrs.
Sandal and her daughters standing together in a little group, the squire
walking leisurely about with his hands crossed behind his back. It would
have been to some men a rather trying ordeal to descend the long flight
of stairs, with three pairs of ladies' eyes watching him; but Julius
knew that he had a striking personal appearance, and that every
appointment of his toilet was faultless. He knew also the value of the
respectable middle-aged valet following him, and felt that his
irreproachable manner of serving his hat and gloves was a satisfactory
reflection of his own importance.
It is the women of a family that giv
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