hen is, or should be, an annual.  It is never made a pet.  It forms no attachments.  Man is no better acquainted with the hen, as a being, than he was when the first chicken was hatched.  Its business is to live a brief chicken life, lay, and be eaten.  And this reminded Philip that his real occupation was hunting hens’ eggs.  And this he did, in the mows, in the stalls, under the floor-planks, in every hidden nook.  The hen’s instinct is to be orderly, and have a secluded nest of her own, and bring up a family.  But in such a communistic body it is a wise hen who knows her own chicken.  Nobody denies to the hen maternal instincts or domestic proclivities, but what an ill example is a hen community!

And then Philip climbed up the hill, through the old grass-plot and the orchard, to the rocks and the forest edge, and the great view.  It had more meaning to him than when he was a boy, and it was more beautiful.  In a certain peaceful charm, he had seen nothing anywhere in the world like it.  Partly this was because his boyish impressions, the first fresh impressions of the visible world, came back to him; but surely it was very beautiful.  More experienced travelers than Philip felt its unique charm.

When he descended, Alice was waiting to breakfast with him.  Mrs. Maitland declared, with an approving smile on her placid, aging face, that he was the same good-for-nothing boy.  But Alice said, as she sat down to the little table with Philip, “It is different, mother, with us city folks.”  They were in the middle room, and the windows opened to the west upon the river-meadows and the wooded hills beyond, and through one a tall rose-bush was trying to thrust its fragrant bloom.

What a dainty breakfast!  Alice flushed with pleasure.  It was so good of him to come to them.  Had he slept well?  Did it seem like home at all?  Philip’s face showed that it was home without the need of saying so.  Such coffee-yes, a real aroma of the berry!  Just a little more, would he have?  And as Alice raised the silver pitcher, there was a deep dimple in her sweet cheek.  How happy she was!  And then the butter, so fresh and cool, and the delicious eggs—­by the way, he had left a hatful in the kitchen as he came in.  Alice explained that she did not make the eggs.  And then there was the journey, the heat in the city, the grateful sight of the Deerfield, the splendid morning, the old barn, the watering-trough, the view from the hill everything just as it used to be.

“Dear Phil, it is so nice to have you here,” and there were tears in Alice’s eyes, she was so happy.

After breakfast Philip strolled down the country road through the village.  How familiar was every step of the way!—­the old houses jutting out at the turns in the road; the glimpse of the river beyond the little meadow where Captain Rice was killed; the spring under the ledge over which the snap-dragon grew; the dilapidated ranks of fence smothered in vines and fireweeds; the cottages, with flower-pots in front; the stores, with low verandas ornamented with boxes and barrels; the academy in its green on the hill; the old bridge over which the circus elephant dared not walk; the new and the old churches, with rival steeples; and, not familiar, the new inn.