Briefly, he was a pest,--an unspeakable pest.
For the first day or two at the Place, the newness of his surroundings kept Cyril more or less in bounds.

Then, as homesickness and novelty alike wore off, his adventurous soul expanded.
He was very much at home; far more so than were his hosts, and infinitely more pleased than they with the situation in general.

He had an infinite genius for getting into trouble.

Not in the delightfully normal fashion of the average growing boy; but in furtively crafty ways that did not belong to healthy childhood.
Day by day, Cyril impressed his odd personality more and more on everything around him.

The atmosphere of sweet peace which had brooded, like a blessing, over the whole Place, was dispersed.
The cook,--a marvel of culinary skill and of long service, gave tearful warning, and departed.