For a moment John stood looking at him, wondering what manner of man he was, and thinking, too, of the woman who, he said, had been with him in the train, and who should have alighted with him.  At last, remembering suddenly a message his master had given him, he began: 

’If you please, sir, Mr. Tracy told me to tell you he was very sorry that he could not come himself to meet you.  If he had known that you were coming sooner, he would have done different; but he did not get your telegram till this morning, and then it was too late to stop it.  We are having a great break-down to-night.’

During the first of these remarks Arthur had given no sign that he heard, but when John spoke of a break-down, he lifted his head quickly, and the great black eyes, which Harold noticed later as peculiar, flashed a look of inquiry upon John, as he said: 

‘Break-down?  What is that!’

‘A party—­a smasher!  Mr. Tracy is running for Congress.’ was John’s reply.

And then over the thin face there crept a ghost of a smile, which, faint as it was, changed the expression wonderfully.

‘Oh, a party!’ he said.  ’Well, I will be a guest, too.  I have my dress-suit in some of those trunks.  Frank is going to Congress, is he?  That’s a good joke!  Drive on.  What are you standing there for?’

The carriage door was shut, and, mounting the box, John drove as rapidly toward Tracy Park as the darkness of the night would admit, while the passenger inside sat with his hat over his eyes, and his chin almost touching his breast, as if absorbed in thought, or else not thinking at all.  Once, however, he spoke to himself, and said: 

’Poor little Gretchen!  I wonder how I could have forgotten and left her in the train.  What will she do alone in a strange place?  But perhaps Heaven will take care of her.  She always said so.  I wish I had her faith and could believe as she does.  Poor little Gretchen!’

They had turned into the park by this time, and very soon draw up before the house, from every window of which lights were flashing, while the sounds of music and dancing could be distinctly heard.

Something like Frank’s idea came into Arthur’s mind at the sight.

’It makes me think of the return of the prodigal, only I have not wasted my substance and my father does not come to meet me,’ he said, as he descended from the carriage and went up the broad steps to the piazza, on which a few young people were walking, unmindful of the chill night air.

‘I need not ring at my own house,’ Arthur thought, as he opened the door and stepped into the hall; and thus it was that the first intimation which Frank had of his arrival was when he saw him standing in the midst of a crowd of people, who were gazing curiously at him.

‘Arthur!’ he exclaimed, rushing forward and taking his brother’s hand.  ’Welcome home again!  I did not hear the carriage, though I was listening for it.  I am so glad to see you!  Come with me to your room;’ and he led the way up stairs to the apartment prepared for the stranger.