Mrs. Sibley, however, who expected him, knew John, and received him with an enthusiastic welcome, and in due time so did Mr. Cattley, who hurried downstairs, half-dressed, to grasp his old pupil by the hand. ‘Is it possible that it is you, John? I doubt, really, whether I should have known you. You have grown a great deal, and got a very manly look. Are you really only twenty-one? I should have thought you four or five years older if I had not known.’ ‘I’ve been knocking a great deal about the world,’ said John. He was pleased to be supposed to look older, like most lads of his age. ‘Yes, I know. I’ve always looked up on the map where you were, to tell Elly. She likes to see the exact place and find out all about it. You’ve not--no; of course you cannot have seen Elly since you came?’ ‘I have come straight from the station,’ said John. ‘I did not so much as see anyone stirring at the windows in the rectory as I passed.’ ‘I am surprised at that,’ said the curate. ‘She was so anxious to be the first to see you. She had half a mind to go to the station. But I thought it better not, and on the whole so did she, for Percy--that is to say, he is apt to take fancies in his head.’ ‘What fancy could he take into his head?’ John asked, ‘that could concern me?’ The curate cleared his throat, and after a moment changed the subject as well as he could. ‘You find me still here, John, though perhaps I should have gone before now. For my part I daresay I should have stayed on all my life: but when Percy got old enough to hold the curacy it seemed to be thought that I should go.’ ‘I am sure they will all miss you dreadfully,’ said John. ‘Do you think so?’ said Mr. Cattley, with doubt in his tone. He sighed a little, but then cheered up again. ‘Well, perhaps it is true that I ought to go. I’ve been here a long time, and perhaps, as Mr. Egerton says, if I delay longer--but I’m a man of use and wont, John, perhaps too much so--perhaps too much so.’ Mr. Cattley sighed softly again, then roused himself, and added, with sudden briskness, ‘But you must want your breakfast--of course after travelling all night you want your breakfast. Mrs. Sibley, I hope you have been thinking of Mr. John’s breakfast--for you know he has been travelling all night.’ ‘It’s quite ready, sir,’ said Mrs. Sibley, ‘and a pleasure it is, sir, if you’ll excuse me saying it, to see him again.’ ‘Why should I excuse you saying it? It is the most natural thing in the world to say. We all think it a pleasure. And tell me, John,’ said the curate, ‘do you find this night travelling suit you? I know business people think it saves time, but it seems to me to knock you up next day.’ ‘I have been so used to it,’ said John. ‘I don’t mind. I can sleep nearly as well as if I were in bed. In some places where I have been, all the best trains go by night, and in America, where the distances are so great, you have to make up your mind to travel night and day.’