Philip, he had been spoiled, as Aunt Jane declared, from the
day of his birth, by the joint effort of all friends and
neighbors. Everybody had conspired to carry on the process
except Aunt Jane herself, who directed toward him one of her
honest, steady, immovable dislikes, which may be said to have
dated back to the time when his father and mother were married,
some years before he personally entered on the scene.

The New York steamer, detained by the heavy fog of the night
before, now came in unwonted daylight up the bay. At the first
glimpse, Harry and the boys pushed off in the row-boat; for, as
one of the children said, anybody who had been to Venice would
naturally wish to come to the very house in a gondola. In
another half-hour there was a great entanglement of embraces at
the water-side, for the guests had landed.

Malbone's self-poised easy grace was the same as ever; his
chestnut-brown eyes were as winning, his features as handsome;
his complexion, too clearly pink for a man, had a sea bronze
upon it: he was the same Philip who had left home, though with
some added lines of care. But in the brilliant little fairy
beside him all looked in vain for the Emilia they remembered as
a child. Her eyes were more beautiful than ever,--the darkest
violet eyes, that grew luminous with thought and almost black
with sorrow. Her gypsy taste, as everybody used to call it,
still showed itself in the scarlet and dark blue of her dress;
but the clouded gypsy tint had gone from her cheek, and in its
place shone a deep carnation, so hard and brilliant that it
appeared to be enamelled on the surface, yet so firm and
deep-dyed that it seemed as if not even death could ever blanch