Dashing up to his own room, he locked the door, and flung off the dark, Italian-looking wig, leaving exposed to view his own dusky-brown hair, which was so like Maud’s in colour and growth. Then out came a sharp razor, and after five minutes’ rapid shaving the black, Vandyke beard had vanished, and the heavy moustache, with its long, pointed ends, was reduced to the ordinary dimensions accorded to Phil’s. Next, the padded coat was discarded, and an old blue smoking-jacket donned, which displayed the true proportions of the slightly-built figure. Some colourless fluid from a stoppered bottle removed a little of the intense blackness from eyebrows and moustache, and robbed the face and hands of some of their olive tinting; and Phil, glancing at himself in the glass, saw that, save for the slight swarthiness of complexion that could not be at once removed, his old self was entirely restored. The transformation was complete. Then he unlocked the door, and waited with a beating heart for the arrival of his host. He could not decide how to meet him, nor what to say; he could not even think connectedly, so great was his excitement and agitation now that the supreme moment had come, when he and his false, treacherous friend should stand for the first time face to face. There was a firm footfall outside, a hand was laid upon the handle of the door; Phil stood still in the middle of the room, and gave permission to enter. The door opened. ‘Now, Signor——’ There was a sudden pause, and for ten seconds utter silence reigned in the room. ‘PHIL!’ shouted Tor; and with one stride he had reached his friend and grasped him by both hands, in a strong, warm clasp that seemed as if it would never relax. ‘Phil himself, by all that’s wonderful! Phil it is, by the powers! though how you got here passes my comprehension! Phil, my dear old fellow, I can’t tell you how thankful I am to see you. Oh, this is glorious!’ With an almost boyish gesture of delight Tor flung Phil’s hands from him, and walked round and round him with a laugh of intense appreciation. Phil stood aghast. He had pictured this meeting day by day for weeks, and never in the wildest flights of his imagination had he heard himself greeted thus. Tor did not even observe his friend’s silence in his own gladness of heart. ‘Phil, you rascal, tell me how you came here? How did you escape from your vessel without my knowledge? I can’t conceive how you came, but it’s such an immense relief to have you back that I don’t care for anything else. Did that Italian fellow smuggle you in? By-the-bye, where is he?’ Tor looked round him with a comical air of perplexity; and then, seeing the coat and wig lying on the bed, and the shaving apparatus upon the washstand, the true meaning of the situation dawned upon him. He sprang upon Phil, and smacked him upon the back with all the force of his strong right arm. ‘Phil, you scamp! you don’t mean to say it was you all the time!’