Think it over,'
I said.
"Well, she was pleased, I could see that. But she didn't
half like the idea of changing the original notion. It
was leaving you to your own devices that weighed most
with her against it; she'd set her heart on seeing you
married with her approval. So I said to her, to make an
end of it, 'Well, Mrs Kilbannon,' I said, 'suppose we
say no more about it for the present. I think I see the
finger of Providence in this matter; but you'll talk it
over with Miss Cameron, and we'll all just make it, for
the next few days, the subject of quiet and sober
reflection. Maybe at the end of that time I'll think
better of it myself, though that is not my expectation.'
"'I think,' she said, 'we'll just leave it to Christie.'"
As the Doctor went on with his tale, relaxation had stolen
dumbly about Finlay's brow and lips. He dropped from the
plane of his own absorption to the humorous common sense
of the recital: it claimed and held him with infinite
solace. His eyes had something like the light of laughter
in them, flashing behind a cloud, as he fixed them on Dr
Drummond, and said, "And did you?"
"We did," said Dr Drummond, getting up once more from
his chair, and playing complacently with his watch-charms
as he took another turn about the study. "We left it to
Miss Cameron, and the result is"--the Doctor stopped
sharply and wheeled round upon Finlay--"the result is--
why, the upshot seems to be that I've cut you out, man!"
Finlay measured the little Doctor standing there twisting
his watch-chain, beaming with achieved satisfaction, in
a consuming desire to know how far chance had been kind
to him, and how far he had to be simply, unspeakably,
grateful.
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