But the tract was
there, subconscious, plain in the wider glance, the
alerter manner; plain even in the grasp and stride which
marked him in a crowd; plain, too, in the preoccupation
with other issues, were it only turning over a leader in
the morning's Dominion, that carried him along indifferent
to the allurements I have described. The family had a
bond of union in their respect for Lorne, and this absence
of nugatory inclinations in him was among its elements.
Even Stella who, being just fourteen, was the natural
mouthpiece of family sentiment, would declare that Lorne
had something better to do than go hanging about after
girls, and for her part she thought all the more of him
for it.
Chapter IV
"I am requested to announce," said Dr Drummond after the
singing of the last hymn, "the death, yesterday morning,
of James Archibald Ramsay, for fifteen years an adherent
and for twenty-five years a member of this church. The
funeral will take place from the residence of the deceased,
on Court House Street, tomorrow afternoon at four o'clock.
Friends and acquaintances are respectfully--invited--to
attend."
The minister's voice changed with the character of its
affairs. Still vibrating with the delivery of his sermon,
it was now charged with the official business of the
interment.
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