The rest of the journey was accomplished after the usual style of such travels when the aunt and nephews went out together.  Cecil was constantly rebuked and made to sit down, and as constantly resumed his favorite position; so that he ultimately reached home with beautifully clean shoes, having wiped “the dust off his feet” effectually on the garments of his fellow-passengers, while his little brother nestled to his auntie’s side and gazed observantly on his fellow-travellers, arriving at curious conclusions respecting them, to be afterward set forth to the amusement of his hearers.

Leaving the omnibus at the Royal Oak, the trio diverged to one of the streets between that well-known establishment and the Bayswater Road—­a street which had still a few trees and small semi-detached villas, with front gardens left at one end, the relics of a past when Penrhyn Place was “quite the country”; while at the other, bricks, mortar, scaffolding, and a deeply rutted roadway indicated the commencement of mansions which would soon swallow up their humbler predecessors.

At one of these villas, the garden of which was tolerably neat, the little boys and their aunt stopped, and were admitted by a smart but not over-clean girl, who welcomed the children with a cheerful, “Well, Master Cecil, you are just in nice time for dinner!  Come, get your things off; your gran’ma has a treat for you.”

“Has she?  Oh, what is it?  Do tell, Lottie!”

“Don’t mind, dear, if you are tired; your morning-gown will do very well, as we are alone.”

“No, no; I must honor Cecil’s birthday with my best dress.  These trifles are important.”

“I suppose so,” returned her daughter, looking after her gravely, as she left the room.

Mrs. Liddell was tall, and the lines of her figure considerably enlarged.  Yet she had not quite lost the grace for which she was once remarkable.  Her light brown hair had a pale look from the increasing admixture of gray, and her blue eyes seemed faded by much use.  It was a kind, thoughtful, worn face from which they looked, yet it could still smile brightly.

“She looks very, very tired,” thought her daughter.  “I must make her lie down if I can; it is so hard to make her rest!” She too looked uneasily at the mass of writing on the table, and then went away to remove her out-door attire.

The birthday dinner gave great satisfaction.  It was crowned by a plum-pudding, terrible as such a compound must always be in June; but it was a favorite “goody” with the young hero of the day.  Grandmamma made herself as agreeable as though she was one of a party of wits, and drank her grandson’s health in a bottle of choice gooseberry, proposing it in a “neat and appropriate” speech, which gave rise to much uproarious mirth and delight.  At last the feast was over; the children retired to amuse themselves with a horse and a wheelbarrow—­some of the birthday gifts—­in the back garden (a wilderness resigned to their ravages), and Mrs. Liddell and her daughter were left alone.