It had been a crisp
October day; as Mr Murchison remarked, the fall evenings
were beginning to draw in early; everybody was glad of
the fire in the grate and the closed curtains. Dr Drummond
had come about five, and the inquiries and comments upon
family matters that the occasion made incumbent had been
briskly exchanged, with just the word that marked the
pastoral visit and the practical interest that relieved
it. And he had thought, on the whole, that he might manage
to stay to tea, at which Mrs Murchison's eyes twinkled
as she said affectionately--
"Now, Doctor, you know we could never let you off."
Then Abby had arrived and her husband, and finally Mr
and Mrs Williams, just a trifle late for etiquette, but
well knowing that it mustn't be enough to spoil the
biscuits. Dr Drummond in the place of honour, had asked
the blessing, and that brief reminder of the semiofficial
character of the occasion having been delivered, was in
the best of humours. The Murchisons were not far wrong
in the happy divination that he liked coming to their
house. Its atmosphere appealed to him; he expanded in
its humour, its irregularity, its sense of temperament.
They were doubtful allurements, from the point of view
of a minister of the Gospel, but it would not occur to
Dr Drummond to analyse them.
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