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 usual, but he could not go to sleep for a long time, because he heard the front-door bell ring and afterwards a man's voice and Helen's going on and on in the little drawing-room under the room which was his bedroom.

He went to sleep at last, and when he woke up in the morning it was raining, and the sky was grey and miserable.