innipeg, whence
he had written all that was lawful or desirable, and themselves at Dr
Drummond's. Miss Cameron said it would give her more freedom to look
about her.

In the midst of all this security, and on the very first day after their
arrival, it was disconcerting to be told that a lady, whose name
they had never heard before, had called to see Miss Cameron and Mrs
Kilbannon. They had not even appeared at church, as they told one
another with dubious glances. They had no reason whatever to expect
visitors. Dr Drummond was in the cemetery burying a member; Mrs Forsyth
was also abroad. "Now who in the world," asked Mrs Kilbannon of Miss
Cameron, "is Miss Murchison?"

"They come to our church," said Sarah, in the door. "They've got the
foundry. It's the oldest one. She teaches."

Sarah in the door was even more disconcerting than an unexpected
visitor. Sarah invariably took them off their guard, in the door or
anywhere. She freely invited their criticism, but they would not have
known how to mend her. They looked at her now helplessly, and Mrs
Kilbannon said, "Very well. We will be down directly."

"It may be just some friendly body," she said, as they descended the
stairs together, "or it may be common curiosity. In that case we'll
disappoint it."

Whatever they expected, therefore, it was not Advena. It was not a tall
young woman with expressive eyes, a manner which was at once abrupt and
easy, and rather a lounging way of occupying the corner of a sofa. "When
she sat down," as Mrs Kilbannon said afterward, "she seemed to untie and
fling herself as you might a parcel." Neither Mrs Kilbannon nor Christie
Cameron could possibly be untied or flung, so perhaps they gave this
capacity in Advena more importance than it had. But it was only a part
of what was to them a new human demonstration, something to inspect very
carefully and accept very cautiously--the product, like themselves, yet
so suspiciously different, of these free airs and these astonishingly
large ideas. In some ways, as she sat there in her graceful dress and
careless attitude, asking them direct smiling questions about their
voyage, she imposed herself as of the class whom both these ladies of
Bross would acknowledge unquestioningly to be "above" them; in others
she seemed to be of no class at all; so far she came short of small
standards of speech and behaviour. The ladies from Bross, more and more
confused, grew more and more reticent, when sudde