the neat little servant kept everything as bright and
clean as a little new pin.

Philip had no one but his sister, and she had no one but Philip. Their
parents were dead, and Helen, who was twenty years older than Philip and
was really his half-sister, was all the mother he had ever known. And he
had never envied other boys their mothers, because Helen was so kind and
clever and dear. She gave up almost all her time to him; she taught him
all the lessons he learned; she played with him, inventing the most
wonderful new games and adventures. So that every morning when Philip
woke he knew that he was waking to a new day of joyous and interesting
happenings. And this went on till Philip was ten years old, and he had
no least shadow of a doubt that it would go on for ever. The beginning
of the change came one day when he and Helen had gone for a picnic to
the wood where the waterfall was, and as they were driving back behind
the stout old pony, who was so good and quiet that Philip was allowed to
drive it. They were coming up the last lane before the turning where
their house was, and Helen said:

'To-morrow we'll weed the aster bed and have tea in the garden.'

'Jolly,' said Philip, and they turned the corner and came in sight of
their white little garden gate. And a man was coming out of it--a man
who was not one of the friends they both knew. He turned and came to
meet them. Helen put her hand on the reins--a thing which she had always
taught Philip was _never_ done--and the pony stopped. The man, who was,
as Philip put it to himself, 'tall and tweedy,' came across in front of
the pony's nose and stood close by the wheel on the side where Helen
sat. She shook hands with him, and said, 'How do you do?' in quite the
usual way. But after that they whispered. Whispered! And Philip knew
how rude it is to whisper, because Helen had often told him this. He
heard one or two words, 'at last,' and 'over now,' and 'this evening,
then.'

After that Helen said, 'This is my brother Philip,' and the man shook
hands with him--across Helen, another thing which Philip knew was not
manners, and said, 'I hope we shall be the best of friends.' Pip said,
'How do you do?' because that is the polite thing to say. But inside
himself he said, 'I don't want to be friends with _you_.'

Then the man took off his hat and walked away, and Philip and his sister
went home. She seemed different, somehow, and he was sent to bed a
little earlier than