Nobody knew exactly what to say, or which way to look.

But a welcome interruption arrived.
My heart beat suddenly as I heard at the bottom of the stairs a sound.
Some one was coming up two steps at a time.

Nearer and nearer the light feet came, and my agitation told me whom they brought.
There was a rap at the door, a click on the latch, and then, after all these years, I saw once more my dear first master, Charlie Newcome.
Little he guessed I was so near him! He had spent the previous day with Jim, and was therefore no stranger in his rooms; indeed, from the moment he entered them, he appeared as much at home there as their own master.

He greeted the visitors pleasantly, and then, in the old Randlebury style, demanded if breakfast was anywhere near ready, as he was starving.
He had the beginnings of a fierce moustache, he stood six feet high in his boots, and there was a look of power about him which exceeded even the promise of his Randlebury days.

Otherwise he was the same.