His face bore a confusion of ideals; he had the brow of
a Covenanter and the mouth of Adonais, the flame of
religious ardour in his eyes and the composure of perceived
philosophy on his lips. He was fettered by an impenetrable
shyness; it was in the pulpit alone that he could expand,
and then only upon written lines, with hardly a gesture,
and the most perfunctory glances, at conscientious
intervals, toward his hearers. A poor creature, indeed,
in this respect, Dr Drummond thought him--Dr Drummond,
who wore an untrammelled surplice which filled like an
agitated sail in his quick tacks from right to left. "The
man loses half his points," said Dr Drummond. I doubt
whether he did, people followed so closely, though Sandy
MacQuhot was of the general opinion when he said that it
would do nobody any harm if Mr Finlay would lift his head
oftener from the book.
Advena Murchison thought him the probable antitype of an
Oxford don. She had never. seen an Oxford don, but Mr
Finlay wore the characteristics these schoolmen were
dressed in by novelists; and Advena noted with delight
the ingenuity of fate in casting such a person into the
pulpit of the Presbyterian Church in a young country.
She had her perception of comedy in life; till Finlay
came she had found nothing so interesting.
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