Albert, you may be sure, was standing as close as possible to the foot of the steps, and tumbled curls and rumpled collar soon bore witness to an exceedingly hearty exchange of greetings. But the beauty of it was, that everybody seemed to have every whit as glad a welcome for Uncle Everett as Ted himself; and for Mr. and Mrs. Harris the surprise was in store of finding that Marie-Celeste's steamer friend and Uncle Everett were one and the same person; but surprises being the order of the day just then, everybody was coming to take them quite as a matter of course. Mr. Selden soon sought out an opportunity to tell why he had been so ungracious as not to reveal his identity on the steamer, though he felt naturally that his explanation did not reflect very much to his credit, as was indeed the truth; but Mr. and Mrs. Harris were not the people to bear a grudge against anybody if it could by any reasonable possibility be dispensed with, and of course other explanations were called for. Uncle Everett's presence had to be explained to Harold, and Ted told him all about their week together in London, but not yet about the borrowed money. That confession, together with all the rest, would be made a little later on, when Harold and he should have gotten a little nearer still to each other.