We sighted Riversley about mid-day on a sunny June morning.  Compared with the view from Bella Vista, our firs looked scanty, our heath-tracts dull, as places having no page of history written on them, our fresh green meadows not more than commonly homely.  I was so full of my sense of triumph in my adventurous journey and the recovery of my father, that I gazed on the old Grange from a towering height.  The squire was on the lawn, surrounded by a full company:  the Ilchesters, the Ambroses, the Wilfords, Captain and Squire Gregory Bulsted, the Rubreys, and others, all bending to roses, to admire, smell, or pluck.  Charming groups of ladies were here and there; and Temple whispered as we passed them: 

‘We beat foreigners in our women, Richie.’

I, making it my business to talk with perfect unconcern, replied

‘Do you think so?  Perhaps.  Not in all cases’; all the while I was exulting at the sweet beams of England radiating from these dear early-morning-looking women.

My aunt Dorothy swam up to me, and, kissing me, murmured: 

‘Take no rebuff from your grandpapa, darling.’

My answer was:  ‘I have found him!’

Captain Bulsted sang out our names; I caught sight of Julia Rippenger’s face; the squire had his back turned to me, which reminded me of my first speech with Captain Jasper Welsh, and I thought to myself, I know something of the world now, and the thing is to keep a good temper.  Here there was no wire-coil to intercept us, so I fronted him quickly.

‘Hulloa!’ he cried, and gave me his shoulder.

‘Temple is your guest, sir,’ said I.

He was obliged to stretch out his hand to Temple.

A prompt instinct warned me that I must show him as much Beltham as I could summon.

‘Dogs and horses all right, sir?’ I asked.

Captain Bulsted sauntered near.

‘Here, William,’ said the squire, ‘tell this fellow about my stables.’

‘In excellent condition, Harry Richmond,’ returned the captain.

’Oh! he ’s got a new name, I ‘ll swear,’ said the squire.

‘Not I!’

‘Then what have you got of your trip, eh?’

‘A sharper eye than I had, sir.’

‘You’ve been sharpening it in London, have you?’

‘I’ve been a little farther than London, squire.’

‘Well, you’re not a liar.’

‘There, you see the lad can stand fire!’ Captain Bulsted broke in.  ’Harry Richmond, I’m proud to shake your hand, but I’ll wait till you’re through the ceremony with your grandad.’

The squire’s hands were crossed behind him.  I smiled boldly in his face.

‘Shall I make the tour of you to get hold of one of them, sir?’ He frowned and blinked.

’Shuffle in among the ladies; you seem to know how to make friends among them,’ he said, and pretended to disengage his right hand for the purpose of waving it toward one of the groups.