"
Mrs Murchison nudged Stella, who returned the attention,
looking elaborately uninterested, with her foot. Alec
and Oliver smiled consciously; their father, with an
expression of severe gravity, backed up the minister who,
after an instant's pause, continued--
"On Tuesday afternoon next, God willing, I shall visit
the following families in the East Ward--Mr Peterson, Mr
Macormack, Mrs Samuel Smith, and Mr John Flint. On Thursday
afternoon in the South Ward, Mrs Reid, Mr P. C. Cameron,
and Mr Murchison. We will close by singing the Third
Doxology: Blessed, blessed be Jehovah, Israel's God to
all eternity--"
The congregation trooped out; the Murchisons walked home
in a clan, Mr and Mrs Murchison, with Stella skirting
the edge of the sidewalk beside them, the two young men
behind. Abby, when she married Harry, had "gone over" to
the Church of England. The wife must worship with the
husband; even Dr Drummond recognized the necessity, though
he professed small opinion of the sway of the spouse who,
with Presbyterian traditions behind her, could not achieve
union the other way about; and Abby's sanctioned defection
was a matter of rather shame-faced reference by her
family. Advena and Lorne had fallen into the degenerate
modern habit of preferring the evening service.
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