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. So far
as he was aware, John Murchison was just a decent, prosperous, Christian
man, on whose word and will you might depend, and Mrs Murchison a
stirring, independent little woman, who could be very good company when
she felt inclined. As to their sons and daughters, in so far as they
were a credit, he was as proud of them as their parents could possibly
be, regarding himself as in a much higher degree responsible for the
formation of their characters and the promise of their talents. And
indeed, since every one of them had "sat under" Dr Drummond from the
day he or she was capable of sitting under anybody, Mr and Mrs Murchison
would have been the last to dispute this. It was not one of those houses
where a pastor could always be sure of leaving some spiritual benefit
behind; but then he came away himself with a pleasant sense of nervous
stimulus which was apt to take his mind off the matter. It is not given
to all of us to receive or to extend the communion of the saints; Mr
and Mrs Murchison were indubitably of the elect, but he was singularly
close-mouthed about it, and she had an extraordinary way of seeing the
humorous side--altogether it was paralysing, and the conversation would
wonderfully soon slip round to some robust secular subject, public or
domestic. I have mentioned Dr Drummond's long upper lip; all sorts
of racial virtues resided there, but his mouth was also wide and much
frequented by a cr