"Oh, Herbert!" and "oh, Herbert!" and then their arms were thrown
about his neck, and their warm kisses were on his cheeks--kisses not
unmixed with tears; for of course they began to cry immediately that
he was with them, though their eyes had been dry enough for the two
or three hours before. Their arms were about his neck, and their
kisses on his cheeks, I have said,--meaning thereby the arms and
kisses of his sisters, for the third young lady still lingered a
little in the rear.

"Was it not lucky Clara was here when the news came to us this
morning?" said Mary.

"Such difficulty as we have had to get her," said Emmeline. "It was
to have been her farewell visit to us; but we will have no more
farewells now; will we, Clara?"

And now at last he had his arm round her waist, or as near to that
position as he was destined to get it on the present occasion. She
gave him her hand, and let him hold that fast, and smiled on him
through her soft tears, and was gracious to him with her sweet words
and pleasant looks; but she would not come forward and kiss him
boldly as she had done when last they had met at Desmond Court.
He attempted it now; but he could get his lips no nearer to hers
than her forehead; and when he tried to hold her she slipped away
from him, and he continually found himself in the embraces of his
sisters,--which was not the same thing at all. "Never mind," he said
to himself; "his day would soon come round."

"You did not expect to find Clara here, did you?" asked Emmeline.

"I hardly know what I have expected, or not expected, for the last
two days. No, certainly, I had no hope of seeing her to-night."

"I trust I am not in the way," said Clara.

Whereupon he made another attempt with his arm, but when he thought
he had caught his prize, Emmeline was again within his grasp.

"And my mother?" he then said. It must be remembered that he had only
yet been in the room for three minutes, though his little efforts
have taken longer than that in the telling.

"She is up stairs, and you are to go to her. But I told her that we
should keep you for a quarter of an hour, and you have not been here
half that time yet."

"And how has she borne all this?"

"Why, well on the whole. When first she heard it this morning, which
she did before any of us, you know--"

"Oh, yes, I wrote to her."

"But your letter told her nothing. Mr. Somers came down almost
as soon as your letter was here. He had heard al