"I'm so glad to see you!" she said. "But why did you not let us know you
were coming? Did you not receive my invitation?"
"No, I did not, cousin, and thought to give you a surprise. Ah, Travilla,
the sight of your pleasant face does one good like a medicine.
"And these bonny lads and lasses; can they be the little bairns of eight
years ago? How they have grown and increased in number too?" he said,
glancing around the little circle.
He shook hands with each, then introduced his sons, two tall, well built,
comely young men, aged respectively twenty and twenty-two, whom he had
brought with him over the sea.
Malcom was the name of the eldest, the other he called Hugh.
They had arrived in Philadelphia only the day before, and were putting up
at the Continental.
"That will not do at all, Cousin Ronald," Elsie said when told this. "You
must all come immediately to us, and make our house your home as long as
you stay."
Mr. Travilla seconded her invitation, and after some urging, it was
accepted.
It proved an agreeable arrangement for all concerned. "Cousin Ronald" was
the same genial companion that he had been eight years before, and the two
lads were worthy of their sire, intelligent and well-informed, frank,
simple hearted and true.
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