And a ghost certainly never had such laughing blue eyes or such light
curls sprinkled with snow and surmounted by a jaunty navy-blue sailor
cap, and a ghost never could give such a spring and catch Marjorie in its
arms and rub its cold cheeks against her warm ones.
"O, Morris," Marjorie cried, "it's like that other night when you came in
the snow! Only I'm not frightened and alone now. This is such a surprise!
Such a splendid surprise."
Marjorie was never shy with Morris, her "twin-brother" as she used to
call him.
But the next instant she was escaping out of his arms and fleeing back to
the fire. Miss Prudence and Morris followed more decorously.
"Now tell us all about it," Marjorie cried, stepping about upon the rug
and on the carpet. "And where is Linnet? And when did you get in? And
where's Will? And why didn't Linnet come with you?"
"Because I didn't want to be overshadowed; I wanted a welcome all my own.
And Linnet is at home under her mother's sheltering wing--as I ought to
be under my mother's, instead of being here under yours. Will is on board
the _Linnet_, another place where I ought to be this minute; and we
arrived day before yesterday in New York, where we expect to load for
Liverpool, I took the captain's wife home, and then got away from Mother
West on the plea that I must see my own mother as soon as time and tide
permitted; but to my consternation I found every train stopped at the
foot of Maple Street, so I had to stop, instead of going through as I
wanted to.
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