It was in his nature to enjoy this; but still he would like a
few quiet hours with Sophy first, and these he could secure by hastening
home by the first train. He would reach Upton early in the evening.
It was an hour of intense happiness, and he felt it to his inmost soul.
All the route was familiar to him after he had started from London; the
streets and suburbs rushing past him swiftly, and the meadows, in the
bright green and gold of spring, which followed them. He knew the
populous villages, with their churches, where he was himself well known.
Every station seemed almost like a home to him. As he drew nearer to
Upton he leaned through, the window to catch the first glimpse of his
own church, and the blue smoke rising from his own house; and a minute
or two afterward, with a gladness that was half a pain, he found himself
once more on the platform at Upton station.
"I am back again," he said, shaking hands with the station-master with a
hearty grasp that spoke something of his gladness. "Is all going on well
among you?"
"Yes, Mr. Chantrey; yes, sir," he answered.
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