In view of Finlay's
absence, Dr Drummond, consulting with Mrs Kilbannon,
decided that for the present Elgin need not be further
informed. There was no need, they agreed, to give people
occasion to talk; and it would just be a nuisance to have
to make so many explanations. Both Mrs Kilbannon and her
niece belonged to the race that takes great satisfaction
in keeping its own counsel. Their situation gained for
them the further interest that nothing need be said about
it; and the added importance of caution was plainly to
be discerned in their bearing, even toward one another.
It was a portentous business, this of marrying a minister,
under the most ordinary circumstances, not to be lightly
dealt with, and even more of an undertaking in a far new
country where the very wind blew differently, and the
extraordinary freedom of conversation made it more than
ever necessary to take heed to what you were saying. So
far as Miss Cameron and Mrs Kilbannon were aware, the
matter had not been "spoken of" elsewhere at all. Dr
Drummond, remembering Advena Murchison's acquaintance
with it, had felt the weight of a complication, and had
discreetly held his tongue. Mrs Kilbannon approved her
nephew in this connection. "Hugh," she said, "was never
one to let on more than necessary." It was a fine secret
between Hugh, in Winnipeg, whence he had written all that
was lawful or desirable, and themselves at Dr Drummond's.
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