He telegraphed that
he would come down at once. I saw him a little before he started, and
was pleased to see how well his tailor had done by him. Towneley himself
could not have been appointed more becomingly. His portmanteau, his
railway wrapper, everything he had about him, was in keeping. I thought
he had grown much better-looking than he had been at two or three and
twenty. His year and a half of peace had effaced all the ill effects of
his previous suffering, and now that he had become actually rich there
was an air of _insouciance_ and good humour upon his face, as of a man
with whom everything was going perfectly right, which would have made a
much plainer man good-looking. I was proud of him and delighted with
him. "I am sure," I said to myself, "that whatever else he may do, he
will never marry again."
The journey was a painful one. As he drew near to the station and caught
sight of each familiar feature, so strong was the force of association
that he felt as though his coming into his aunt's money had been a dream,
and he were again returning to his father's house as he had returned to
it from Cambridge for the vacations.
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